Sextortion Scams Exposed: Analyzing 1,900 Messages for Cybercriminal Trends and Failures
Analyzing 1,909 sextortion messages reveals that threat actors often use cryptocurrency addresses for just a few days, with 46% being used only once. Despite the brevity, 72% of addresses received payments, indicating some success. Average extortion amounts were $1,716, with a few demands reaching as high as $43,000.
Hot Take:
Looks like sextortion scammers are about as committed to their Bitcoin wallets as I am to my New Year’s resolutions. Spoiler: not very.
Key Points:
- 1,888 sextortion messages analyzed, with 193 unique Bitcoin addresses identified.
- Cryptocurrency addresses used for sextortion are typically short-lived, with a median use of just 2 days.
- The requested extortion amounts ranged from $250 to a jaw-dropping $43,000.
- Seventy-two percent of the addresses received payments, with an average of approximately $9,150 per address.
- The trend suggests a decreased effectiveness of sextortion scams over time.
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