The Ashley Madison hack has sparked “spin-off” crimes including extortion and might have led to two suicides, Canadian police said on Monday, as the adultery Web site’s parent company offered a sizeable reward for leads on the culprits.
The release last week of stolen e-mails and data from about 32 million members of the Canada-based site — including payment transactions, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers — has stirred up a privacy nightmare for users.
“As of this morning, we have two unconfirmed reports of suicides associated to the leak of Ashley Madison customer profiles,” Toronto Police Service Staff Superintendent Bryce Evans told a news conference.
Evans also pointed to crimes including extortion, blackmail and online scams claiming to provide access to the leaked data and offers to delete it from the Web for a fee.
One scam threatens to expose users unless payment of 1.05 bitcoins, or C$300 (US$226.78), is received, saying in an e-mail: “Consider how expensive a divorce lawyer is ... and then think about how this will affect your social standing among family and friends. What will your friends and family think about you?”
The data dump on the so-called “dark Web” comes a month after a hacker group identified as the “Impact Team” stole the files, saying they were trying to shut down the site.
“This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world and is very unique on its own, in that it exposed tens of millions of people’s personal information, including their credit card data,” Evans said.
“The ripple effect of the Impact Team’s action has and will continue to have a long-term social and economic impact,” he said.
“They have already sparked spin-offs of crimes and further victimization,” he added.
Ashley Madison, launched in 2001, is owned by Avid Life Media. The Toronto Police Service, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, US Homeland Security and the US FBI are investigating the hack, dubbing the probe “Project Unicorn.”
Evans said Ashley Madison is cooperating with the investigation and police have found “no criminal wrongdoing” by the company, as was alleged by the hackers.
Avid Life Media is offering a C$500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the hackers.
Meanwhile, Ashley Madison and its parent company on Monday were also sued in US federal court in California by a man who claims that the companies failed to adequately protect clients’ personal and financial information from theft, saying he suffered emotional distress.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles by a man identified as John Doe, seeks class-action status.
Avid Life Media was sued in Canada last week in a class-action suit that seeks about US$760 million in damages.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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