Chinese newspaper warns firms over Bitcoin extortion scam

China Business Journal warned on July 30 that fraudsters had impersonated the publication while demanding Bitcoin from companies threatened with negative news coverage. Summary China Business Journal says scammers demanded Bitcoin while impersonating reporters and threatening targeted companies online. The newspaper says the Proton Mail messages were unauthorized and appeared to constitute fraudulent activity. No Bitcoin address, payment amount or confirmed victim loss was publicly disclosed in Thursday’s statement. According to the newspaper’s statement, the scammers contacted businesses through an address hosted by Proton Mail. They claimed that undercover investigations had uncovered damaging information about the targeted companies. The senders allegedly threatened to publish the purported findings unless the companies transferred Bitcoin. The publication said it had not authorized the messages and considered the operation a suspected fraud scheme. Scammers allegedly used negative coverage as leverage The emails appeared to combine two established fraud methods: impersonating a recognized organization and threatening reputational damage to force payment. China Business Journal ...