Bitcoin wallet addresses are inherently available for the public to view. As part of our research around the stolen mysql database and bitcoin ransom demand, we found that the demand address had received a grand total of 0 BTC.

It's not particularly surprising the address shows no past activity. It's possible that each demand includes a different wallet address. From a 'consumer' perspective, it does little to build any sense of trust. The scammer has taken the database and wants me to trust that the database will be returned upon payment, without any proof of a past successful payment. It's a tough sell for the 'consumer' who already doesn't necessarily want to deal with the hacker.

Ultimately, there are far too many problems with paying the ransom demand. Whether the database is returned or not is somewhat besides the point. Paying a ransom rewards encourages these types of actions to continue. If the profit potential decreases, the motive to hack and scam will also diminish. BitcoinAbuse.org is a database of addresses used in scams of all types. The site encourages victims of ransom demands to report addresses, in order to help track activity.

The biggest reason to file a report about a certain address is it will help others see they are not alone. Many people are getting the exact same spam emails and they are all phony. Hopefully by sharing this information fewer people will fall for these scams.

We've filed an abuse report on the address used in this recent scam and encourage others to do the same if the situation arises.