This is so tricky for Google.

Given instances of identical tactics (buying backlinks, bot traffic, etc.), they must determine intent; i.e. whether it's a fraudster trying to benefit the site in question, or a scammer trying to malign the site in questionhttps://t.co/AM7gKDlwV5

— Austin Petersmith (@awwstn) February 17, 2020

Pay up, or we'll make Google ban your ads: email-based extortion scam threatens to flood Web sites with junk ad clicks and force Google's automated fraud detection systems to limit or ban the site's AdSense account https://t.co/X9z5HSpMjG pic.twitter.com/qV6lqgKLwG

— briankrebs (@briankrebs) February 17, 2020

Ah cryptocurrency. All these extortion attempts can't happen without Bitcoin. So I guess it is good for something other than just buying drugs. https://t.co/Rv0SSh89kO

— Nicholas Weaver (@ncweaver) February 17, 2020

Nice little publishing business you got there...

Shame if something happened to it.

That this is even feasible is peak through-the-looking-glass Internet weirdness.
https://t.co/EE9aY9bIx1

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) February 18, 2020

Threat for online sellers to be aware of and must be concerning to Google https://t.co/qFIe5eoi61

— EcommerceBytes (@EcommerceBytes) February 17, 2020

Traditional store extortion - we'll smash your store and frighten away your customers. Modern extortion = we'll scare away your advertisers https://t.co/DoRA2Z6mVX

— Paul Power (@peerside) February 18, 2020

Insidious scheme https://t.co/QNbNo3dHPh

— Rob Leathern (@robleathern) February 17, 2020

Give us $5,000 in Bitcoin or we'll get your ads banned from Google.

Another nasty consequence of GG's lack of support -- there's no one to talk to when this stuff happens, hence the attackers probably get a lot of paydays. https://t.co/4L6EvwG57f pic.twitter.com/4obnRKrKZC

— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) February 17, 2020

ICYMI: Google AdSense ransom emails - beware https://t.co/pqxcIWddmK pic.twitter.com/mtko2G0ZLk

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 18, 2020

Google AdSense ransom emails - beware https://t.co/pqxcIWddmK pic.twitter.com/b04gO6vsW8

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 18, 2020

Google AdSense ransom emails - threatening invalid traffic if you do not pay up https://t.co/pqxcIWddmK pic.twitter.com/3MKmtePdcH

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 18, 2020

2/18 $5,000を72時間以内に払わなければ、無効なトラフィックを送り、アドセンスの収益を下げるぞ、的な脅迫メールが送られているとのこと。米国の例でしょうが。 https://t.co/L9IbUFXKdL @rustybrickさんから

— Tomoyuki Sugao(菅尾智之) (@TomoyukiSugao) February 18, 2020

eeeeeeeeeeesh this is low https://t.co/jST0bZsdqZ

— sh⚤shana w⚤dinsky (@swodinsky) February 18, 2020

So what happens if the blackmailer actually goes through with it and you get your website banned. How long will it take for @Google's non-existant support to remedy the situation and get your site back in the #Adsense publishing network?https://t.co/s9EjYjDl6n

— Chris Thompson (@CThompsonATL) February 18, 2020