Bogus ‘BianLian’ Gang Sends Snail-Mail Extortion Letters
March 5, 2025 – Published on Dark Reading
Someone claiming to represent the BianLian ransomware group is sending top executives from various organizations snail-mail extortion letters informing them that their IT network has been compromised and threatening to delete or leak sensitive company data.
Sending physical letters through the mail system is an unusual move for a cybercriminal group, which typically sends ransom notes in digital form following a cyberattack. The letters mimic those conventional ransom notes, demanding a payment within 10 days in exchange for not leaking the data, researchers from GuidePoint Security revealed.
However, none of the organizations that received the letters appeared to have been victims of ransomware attacks from the real BianLian — a Russia-based, double-extortion ransomware group that’s been active since 2022 — nor any other threat group.
The letter instructs the recipient to pay the ransom to an included Bitcoin wallet, “which is made easier by including a QR code containing the wallet address,” senior threat intelligence analyst Grayson North from GuidePoint Security wrote in the company’s post.
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