Scammers Can Blackmail You
It’s a simple but effective trick for someone to blackmail you once they have access to your email account. If scammers have all your private information stored somewhere, it’s trivial for them to either threaten to disclose that information, or even just hold it hostage for a ransom payment.
A long time ago, I witnessed someone get an email in which a scammer demanded thousands of dollars in Bitcoin by threatening to reveal sensitive information to their friends and family.
Fortunately, the scammer didn’t really have any sensitive information, but they did have the person’s email address and password, which was more than enough to send a threat like this one — and scare someone into taking it seriously.