I have received this message, and several of you out there have received them too. It is a bit disconcerting when you see it because it appears it has been sent from your email address to your email address. The person sending it states they have hacked into your email account, which is what it looks like. – Chances are though it is not real. First take a look at an example ( note the highlighted parts):
The format of the message is the same, I have seen it in multiple places over the past month. The message is often an image file embedded in the message, not editable text. The reason they do this is to get around spam filtering which would normally trap messages like this.
The first thing to note is it appears as though it was sent to and from the same mailbox. If that was your mailbox, it means someone has hacked into it? No, probably not. But I can understand why someone would be concerned about receiving a mail like this.
It is seeking payment in Bit Coins which I don’t think can be traced to people, unlike a bank payment or “normal financial transaction”. Which is probably why this scam is operating.
If you get one of these, don’t panic. It is most likely a spoofed message, meaning someone has manipulated the email headers to make it appear that they have sent the message from your email box. By checking the header of the email, it is possible to detect where the email really came from. If the sender address is not via your mail box, it did not come from your mailbox. On the examples I have taken apart they all come from compromised servers which have a newsletter function built into them. Someone has figured out how to use the bulk mailing feature in the newsletter function. So it is highly likely that hundreds of these spoofed messages go out each time. They have also never been the same server, and each server is in a different country. This one came from Argentina, but was initiated from the USA.
Drop me a line if you are worried, I can check the email header (a part of the email that is normally hidden from you).