The Top 25 Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scam Addresses to BitcoinWhosWho.com in 2020* received 9.5994793 total BTC.
Every single address is associated with the “sextortion” email scam first reported here in March 2018. There are many variations of the scam, but basically claims to have webcam footage of the email recipient visiting adult websites and demands payment in bitcoin or else the video will be sent to their contacts.
The average amount scammed was .092 BTC.
Top 25 Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scam Addresses of 2020
The first report of a Central Intelligence Agency officer sending ransom emails demanding bitcoin in exchange for concealing evidence of child porn was received March 16. Since then dozens of similar reports have come in, each demanding $10K USD payment to a different multi-sig address. As of this posting none of the reported addresses have received ransom payments.
The number of bitcoin ever to be mined may be capped at 21 million but the total supply will always be less. How much less is a critical valuation metric for bitcoin economists. There are a variety of ways and reasons bitcoin can be taken out of circulation. The purpose of this post is to examine one reason: “burn addresses”.
There will be winners and losers in the race to become the best bitcoin extortionist emailer. The latest bitcoin scam email campaign looks like it will be one of the losers.
Starting this morning, from U.S. sources, BitcoinWhosWho.com began receiving reports of a fake bomb threat demanding $20k in bitcoin or a “mercenary” would blow up their building. So far no one has paid any of the 15 bitcoin addresses that have been identified. But, it would only take a few people falling for this to make it worthwhile for the scammer.
The email typically states the bomb or explosive device is made of “lead azide”, “Tetryl” or “Hexogen” but also “tronitrotoluene” has been reported.
Notably, the author really wants to be clear that everything is proceeding “according to my guide”. Oh, and BTW, the bomb will go off by the end of the day if you don’t pay.
The addition of two Iranian SamSam ransomware bitcoin addresses to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list ushered in a new era in Know Your Customer, Counter Terrorist Financing and Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/CTF/AML) regulation compliance for bitcoin transactions. From now on, no one is allowed to transact with these two bitcoin addresses:
It’s a significant first. For responsible crypto exchanges and bitcoin ATMs operating in this wild west legal environment there are very few FREE KYC/CTF/AML compliance tools available. BitcoinWhosWho.com provides open-source data necessary to adhere to burgeoning global KYC/CTF/AML procedures involving bitcoin transactions.
Monitor OFAC List
Prevent scam addresses from registering at an exchange.
Bitcoin Transaction Profiling
Warn customers before they send bitcoin to an accused scammer.
Wallet Risk Assessment
Mark wallets which have transacted with “scam” wallets to a higher degree of risk.
There is strong evidence to support either thesis. Bitcoin Pizza Day is May 22. No better time to review the evidence. Whose pizza is worth $98 million today?
[tweetshare tweet=”Whose pizza is worth $98 million today? @dominos or @PapaJohns #bitcoinpizzaday”]
Eight years ago “Jercos” sold “Laszlo” 2 pizzas for 10,000 BTC. It was the first transaction in bitcoin history for an economic good or service. At the time 1 BTC was $USD00.08.
The total amount of bitcoin in circulation decreased by almost 9 in 2017 due to “burn” addresses. Burn addresses, like the Genesis Block, are deadlier than “zombie” addresses, because there is no chance of coming back once BTC is sent to it. There are almost 400 known bitcoin burn addresses, i.e. valid addresses with no private key, to which, for a variety of reasons, people have sent 2,759.42507135 over the years. In 2017, 9 of these addresses received 8.97140133 BTC. That is way down from 2016 when 26.04 BTC was burned. Continue reading 8.97 Bitcoins Burned In 2017→
BitcoinWhosWho received multiple reports from around the world about a bitcoin scam run by “mybtgwallet.com” today. The total received by the addresses reported so far exceeds 261 BTC.
Actual accounts taken from selected scam reports
This site was listed on the official bitcoingold.org website as a wallet provider. It has since been removed…
Phished the mnemonic seed and stole many people’s coins. The site was linked from official bitcoin gold website.