Extortion Fraud is Still on the Rise

McAfee Intelligence details a sharp rise in extortion email scams from Feb 20 to Mar 23, 2023, with examples of messages that allege device or account compromise, threaten exposure, and demand Bitcoin—sometimes obfuscating wallet addresses to evade tracking; analysis of blockchain abuse reports shows increasing weekly payments to these addresses, and the report concludes with practical steps for users to avoid, verify, and report such fraud.