Psychologists must be advising scammers on their methodology.
The subject of the emails warns the receiver:
- Do you know who is watching you?
Obviously, the scammer is exploiting another universal human trait. If the receiver falls for the trick, s/he will find an even more compelling reason to click the link found in the body of the email:
- Do you trade files online? Then they will come after you. The RIAA is all over the news with lawsuits against people like you. Your privacy can be safe again with our new technology. Use this software to protect your privacy and your right to use the net.
The sender(s) pretend to empathize with the potential victim (the receiver of the email), obviously.
And then they provide a fake link --or even the bare nameless dotted decimal address-- along the line of (from actual scam mail):
- Download Tor
Needless to say, do not click on the link. Underneath the above is an nameless dotted decimal address where the scammer will be exploiting your operating system and/or applications. The actual scam site addresses underneath the formatted (and non-formatted, as well) link above are:
- 71.43.100.56
- 74.67.76.100
Again, do not fall for this kind of abuse. The sad thing is that this kind of abuse is being debated in self described democratic nations, like Germany, to spy on their citizens. See for example the article from NetworkWorld.