When I get those extortion emails, I take 5 minutes to subscribe the sender to a few odd mail-order websites and weird newsletters.

Probably doesn't have much of an impact, but it makes me feel better!

This person is not going to mess with your Armorama account. This is not even a hack. What likely has happened is that someone did hack the accounts at some point, mined the data, and then sold copies of it on the dark web. The person who sent you the email probably purchased a copy, added all the emails addresses into a form letter blast, and sent them out in hopes that a certain percentage of people would freak out enough to do the fraud's bidding. PEOPLE STILL FALL FOR EMAIL SCAMS OVER A DECADE OLD!!! There are enough people out there that these scams continue to catch enough fish to make it profitable, especially since catching these people is relatively difficult for the average person.

If you ignore it nothing will happen. I get them all the time and have not changed one password. They will not contact you again, although you might get another from a different scammer; none of mine have been from the same sender. This person is working on other scams while waiting to see if anything deposits in his special account he set up.

No, because usually the email used to send you the demand was a dummy account created only to send out a bunch of emails. It then gets terminated and new ones created as batches of scams are readied. The sender had no intention of making 2-way communication available; all they want is the money in their Bitcoin purse. He/she doesn't even know who you are because all you to them were was some data inserted into a form letter meant to scare people.

Although it does help to vent at them or think you messed with them back. The Nigerian scammers are the ones to get into a relationship with as you can string them along for a bit if they think you might give them your account info.

Marc, Yes change it, you don't want the hacker trying to impersonate you on this site (for some weird purpose.)

Of course, you should have a unique password for each web account, but in case you don't...

Also, if you get another email with another threat and they mention your new password, please tell us all. It would signify that the hacker may still active and able to access the Armorama/Kitmaker account data.

Shell,
You're probably right; that nothing will ever come of it. But be safe and change your password. No sense tempting fate.

And no one should ever reply to the sender. That only confirms that your email address is valid and might invite another attack from some other direction.

The Passwords on the site are encrypted, but as I understand they un-encrypt using an algorithm that looks for certain combinations. It is why a completely random password made up of numbers, symbols, letters both upper and lower case are the most effective, but even these are not 100% safe nothing is.

So.... the name Equifax doesn't ring a bell?

Years ago there was also major hacking going on with Chase Bank. Instead of shrugging it off as hack it's helpful to know where the hack occurred.

I have been getting E-mails lately from Poland and the Czech Republic telling me that my TV license payment has been rejected and to log in to update my banking details. It was very convincing in all aspects other than I checked the origin of the E-mails and I do not believe the BBC collects via these countries.

Hacking a password only requires time, short passwords are easy (take a short time) long and complicated passwords take more time.
If someone has used a far too easy password it can "contaminate" the whole password database since it exposes the "encryption" algorithm (decode the easy one, deduce the encryption and start working on the complicated passwords).
Changing passwords periodically ensures that:
1. any decoded passwords become worthless
2. makes it harder to hack them since by the time the decoding has succeeded the password has already been changed.

Got a second email today.

Not probably; I am right. I have received two of these emails this week, bringing my total to 17 in the past three years. I have changed nothing. No one is touching your computer.