Not too many people will be surprised to learn numerous scams involving the coronavirus have come to life. One of these scams focusing on Bitcoin, and claims to “infect entire families”.

There is always someone interested in using a global pandemic to their advantage.

Bitcoin Ransomware and the Coronavirus

In this particular case, the criminal – or criminals – aim to obtain Bitcoin.

A new form of ransomware has been discovered by the ExecuteMalware team a few days ago.

It is not uncommon for ransomware strains to demand a Bitcoin payment at any given moment.

This particular malware’s creator goes one step beyond.

He or she claims that, if a payment is not made, they will infect their entire family with the novel coronavirus. 

That is a very odd and rather insensitive claim to make.

Thankfully, it is also a  threat that no one would be able to uphold under any circumstance.

Leveraging the novel coronavirus to obtain roughly $4,000 in Bitcoin seems a bit odd.

No one is willing to pay such a high ransom demand either, regardless of any additional threats made in the process.

Rest assured this will not be the final type of malware to leverage the coronavirus crisis either.

Criminals often thrive when global panic ensues, as they hope to increase their chances of success.