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Heavy.com reports that there have been a number of email bomb threats sent out demanding blackmail payments in bitcoin. An example of one message follows:
"Good day. My mercenary has carried the bomb (lead azide) into the building where your business is conducted. My mercenary built the explosive device under my direction. It can be hidden anywhere because of its small size, it is impossible to destroy the supporting building structure by this explosive device, but if it denotates there will be many wounded people.
My recruited person is watching the situation around the building. If he notices any suspicious activity, panic or cops the device will be blown up.
I can call off my man if you make a transfer 20,000 usd is the price for your safety and business. Transfer it to me in Bitcoin and I assure that I have to withdraw my mercenary and the bomb will not detonate. But do not try to deceive me – my guarantee will become valid only after 3 confirmations in blockchain."
So does this sound like somebody who speaks English natively? Can you predict where this is coming from? Can you predict what kind of person sent this? Can you predict what kind of mess this is going to create? Who are you betting is really behind this?
Also at The Register, threatpost, Krebs on Security, and Ars Technica.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 14 2018, @02:52PM
This was either done by a person who knows that this is going to torque the screws of law enforcement, or a person who doesn't. If it is just some numbskull kid, well then the fun ends there.
The fun starts when we ask: What if the responsibile party actually knows how dangerous of an idea this actually was? At that point motive becomes a consideration.
I can guess what the reaction of politicians and wall street will be already. They'll declare that anonymous payment systems are funding terrorism, (like they've done before) and declare war on private interpersonal commerce. (like they've done before) That would provide plenty of motive for a false flag operation, because let face it. Wall street scams are going to push more and more commerce towards digital currency. Some people are going to regard that as a bad thing.
The other option, is possibly a domestic state actor. Possibly the CIA or the Secret Service. They hire a Russian hacker through a local Russian mafia contact to create a faff. The newsies choke on it with enthusiasm. The above claims are touted far and wide, which creates a excuse to test out some new whiz bang gear. Maybe even start a foreign war. And there is never a day when the Secret Service isn't looking to raid a securities firm that has the gual to sell a private reserve currency.
Another option is that it is a false-false flag. The Russian government actually did do it, but can simply rely on the fact that the U.S. government is so lacking in credibility, that nobody believes it's claims anyway. The fed and the news flop around quacking like a wounded duck, and the rest of the world cringes at all the rediculous drama. Essentially their just keeping us falling back into the same well laid trap.
Personally I'm inclined to think it is/was part of a NYC banking scam of some sort. After all, when are those guys not involved?