Ashley Madison Data Leak: 2 Ashley Madison Clients Commit Suicide Over Hack, Award Offered
Two Ashley Madison customers in Canada allegedly took their own lives after their data was hacked as part of the massive data leak on the affair website.
Toronto police are not confirming the suicides, but also said there were hate crimes as a result of the Ashley Madison hack, the BBC reports.
Police in Canada held a news conference at the Toronto Police Headquarters Monday regarding their investigation on the Ashley Madison hack.
The Ashley Madison hack affected 33 million accounts. Personal details, like names, email addresses and emails, were leaked to the "Dark Web." Ashley Madison's parent company Avid Life Media is offering a $500,000 reward for anyone who provides them information that leads to the arrest of the hackers.
Toronto acting staff Superintendent Bryce Evans issued a warning to the hackers during Monday morning's press conference: "Your actions are illegal and will not be tolerated. This is your wake up call."
Criminals have also taken advantage of victims of the website's hack by threatening to expose their information if they do not pay them to keep quiet, Newsweek reports.
Law enforcement is urging victims to contact their local police agencies if they believe their information has been compromised. Police are not commenting on victims of the hack.
"We're talking about families, about their children, about their wives, about their male partners. Can you imagine going home and talking about it at the dinner table?" Evans said. "It's going to have an impact on their lives."
Besides their identities, victims of the Ashley Madison hack could also be vulnerable to financial losses. Evans confirmed that credit card data was included in the data dump of customer information, but he believes it was just the last four digits of credit card numbers. Victims of the hack are encouraged to review their financial transactions.
Canada-based Avid Media has been working with all law enforcement officials and is not suspected of any illegal activity.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com