{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]],"date-time":"2026-04-24T14:07:08Z","timestamp":1777039628384,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,1]],"date-time":"2026-03-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772323200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100019920","name":"Naif Arab University for Security Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NAUSS-25-R15"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NAUSS-25-R15"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100019920","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sextortion has rapidly expanded into a global cyber-enabled crime that leverages anonymous digital communication and decentralized payment systems. This study examines the financial infrastructures underlying contemporary sextortion by conducting a two-phase analysis of 87 confirmed cases involving cryptocurrency payments. Using blockchain forensic tools and open-source intelligence, the research traces fund movements across perpetrator-controlled wallets, identifies laundering techniques such as mixers, peel-chain transfers, and exchange-based cash-outs, and links these behaviors to narrative patterns within victim reports. The results reveal a dual-tier ecosystem in which mass-produced, multilingual extortion scripts coexist with divergent laundering typologies that differentiate lower-value, high-volume scams from more organized and higher-yield operations. By integrating qualitative and quantitative evidence, this study provides a forensic framework for detecting illicit cryptocurrency activity, improving threat classification, and strengthening investigative and regulatory responses to sextortion and related crypto-enabled interpersonal crimes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info17030236","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,2]],"date-time":"2026-03-02T12:39:56Z","timestamp":1772455196000},"page":"236","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Uncovering Cryptocurrency-Enabled Sextortion: A Blockchain Forensic Analysis of Transactions and Offender Laundering Tactics"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0419-9681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kyung-Shick","family":"Choi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Social Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3189-5444","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohamed","family":"Chawki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Law, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh 14812, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5863-854X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Subhajit","family":"Basu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Law, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Europol (2023). 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