Quote:Since 2018, a constant stream of extortion email scams have been targeting users with fake threats designed to scare you into sending a payment in bitcoins to avoid an embarrassing leak or threat of legal action.
These extortion emails are being sent through large spam botnets or through smaller campaigns undertaken by lone attackers.While more people have become aware of these attacks, the amount of extortion emails being sent out continues to trend upward as attackers continue to create new variants.
 
According to a new report by Symantec, between January 1st and May 29th, 2019 they have blocked approximately 289 million extension emails from reaching their clients.
"Between January 1 and May 29, 2019, just under 289 million of these types of emails were blocked by Symantec technologies," Symantec stated in a report.