Sextortion scheme changes cryptocurrencies to cover its tracks

Security researchers from Cofense have discovered that cybercriminals have now begun to modify existing sextortion scams by demanding payment from victims in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

The threat actors behind sextortion scams typically send an email, in which they tell their potential victims that they have installed malware on their systems and used it to record them looking at adult content online via their webcam. Ransom is usually demanded in Bitcoin with the threat that if it is not paid, the cybercriminals will send the videos or images they’ve captured to a victim’s family and colleagues.

However, since the email addresses used in these scams are often acquired as a result of a data breach, cybercriminals will sometimes include a user’s passwords in their initial email to make their threats seem more convincing.

As sextortion scams have become more of a threat, businesses have begun to write detection tools to block these emails which look for key words or Bitcoin…