A MAN has been left terrified after receiving a chillingly convincing scam email that included his personal information and a picture of his house.

Experts are warning against a new tactic by scammers that consists of demanding money from victims after scaring them with threatening messages.

Atlanta resident Lonnie Ross, who received a scam emailCredit: WSBTV

Ross read the fraudulent email, which threatened to expose his personal informationCredit: WSBTV

A picture of Ross’ mailbox was included in the email, which was later revealed to be taken from Google Street ViewCredit: WSBTV

Atlanta resident Lonnie Ross recently received an email containing some of his personal information.

He was immediately taken aback by a familiar picture included in the message.

“It had my phone number, address, email, my name, and what really got me – they took a picture of my mailbox,” he told local ABC affiliate WSB-TV.

The threatening message contained a picture of his front yard and mailbox.

“It’s like someone close by, you know?” Ross told WSB-TV.

“So walking down my street, driving a car so they ride up on me.”

The fraudulent email was written in a casual tone, saying that the scammer was making a “deal” with recipients by demanding ransom money from them.

“It’s important you pay attention right now. Take a moment to breathe,” the email started.

According to a post of the email on Reddit, the message quickly moved to more intimidating language.

“Cause we’re about to discuss a deal between you and me, and I ain’t playing games,” the email continued.

The scammer threatened to expose information captured by spyware they claimed to have installed on the recipients’ devices.

The criminals demanded Ross pay a $2,000 ransom in Bitcoin after warning they were gathering personal information on him through access to his devices.

However, a cybersecurity expert assured that the threats were empty after multiple WSB-TV viewers reported receiving similar email threats.

“It’s very well written, very convincing,” cybersecurity researcher Willis McDonald said.

GOOGLE TRICK

McDonald said the cybercriminals don’t have the access that they claim to – and that the threatening pictures were simply taken from Google Maps on street view.

He said that if anyone doesn’t want their home pictured on maps, they have the option to request their home be blurred on Google Street View to protect their privacy.

The expert said the frauds might have access to personal information like email addresses and phone numbers due to a data breach.

“This is a direct result of something like that, where your data has been breached,” the expert told WSB-TV.

“It’s got your phone number, your email, your name.”

To prevent data breaches, make sure your passwords are strong and that you use two-factor authentication.

McDonald said that AI tools like Chat GPT can assist scammers in creating persuasive messages to trick potential victims.

“By using things like AI tools, they’re able to make more convincing letters,” McDonald said.

“They’re able to make, you know, revisions on the fly really quick.”

You can report online scams on the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The email sent to Ross telling him to ‘pay attention’Credit: WSBTV