1300% Increase in Bitcoin Abuse Reports in April Driven by Sextortion

The number of extortion reports related to Bitcoin (BTC) has surged by 1,300% in April, as scammers appear to be capitalizing on the isolated population during quarantine.

A platform dedicated to tracking such incidents allows users to report cases where criminals attempt to extort Bitcoins from victims. The site was established by Alan Reed in response to the WannaCry ransomware attack. Since the beginning of 2020, there have been approximately 68,000 reports, which include 21,000 unique Bitcoin addresses.

This significant rise in reports may reflect the growing prevalence of scams amid challenging times.