Share this article
FTC Issues Warning on Bitcoin Blackmail Scams
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers warns about a new type of bitcoin scam that attempts to blackmail men.
By Muyao Shen
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:18 a.m. Published Aug 22, 2018, 7:00 p.m.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about a new type of bitcoin scam that attempts to blackmail men.
Scammers are sending letters threatening to expose an alleged secret to men, and asking for a "confidentiality fee" paid through bitcoin, wrote Cristina Miranda, a member of the FTC's Division of Consumer and Business Education on Tuesday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
An example letter stated:
"I know about the secret you are keeping from your wife and everyone else. You can ignore this letter, or pay me a $8,600 confidentiality fee in bitcoin."
The letters reportedly also provide instructions on how victims can make these payments.
The education division, whose goal is to protect consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices, also provided guidance on how men can avoid losing funds to bitcoin-related blackmail scams.
The agency recommended that potential victims report letters "immediately" to both local police and the FBI.
While the FTC specifically said the scam is targeting men, comments suggested that it may also be targeting women. One comment, by username Hana, said "I am a female and have also received a similar threat."
"The email had somehow confiscated one of my passwords and threated to use pictures, etc. to make pornographic videos and posters using my face. They also demanded that I pay thousands of dollars in bitcoin," she added.
This is not the first time that the FTC has discussed cryptocurrency-related scams. As CoinDesk reported previously, the agency also hosted workshops on cryptocurrency scams and fraud back in June.
Federal Trade Commission image via Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
LUNC Surges Over 160% in a Week as Do Kwon Sentencing and Token Burns Draw Traders
The rally is driven by speculation that a final verdict could bring clarity to the project, as well as technical factors like token burns.
What to know:
- Terra Classic (LUNC) surged 74% to $0.0000072, up 160% in the past week, on exploding trading volume, ahead of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon's sentencing on Dec. 11.
- The rally is driven by speculation that a final verdict could bring clarity to the project, as well as technical factors like token burns, with 849 million LUNC destroyed in the past week.
- The token's momentum is also fueled by Binance's pause on LUNC withdrawals ahead of the Terra Chain's v2.18 upgrade, which aims to improve network stability, despite the token remaining volatile.
Top Stories
