Over the past 24 hours, institutions and businesses across Canada and the United States have faced bomb threats from purported terrorists.
According to messages distributed to media outlets, these terrorists through email, are looking for Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for bombing down business places, public places, and pertinent landmarks.
One email, obtained by KrebsonSecurity, routed through Bloomberg, claimed that its authors were in search of $200,000 in Bitcoin, which is approximately 63 BTC.
In another email, which the Cedar Rapids Police Department got its hands on, it was claimed that a man had carried explosives into “the building where your business is conducted.” The latter threat mentioned stipulated a $20,000 worth of BTC extortion.
So interestingly, as the extortion requested, Bitcoin addresses specified, message format, and explosive cited (tetryl, trinitrotoluene, and hexogen) differs from email to email, some assume that this is a coordinated attack from a group, rather than the act of a single individual.
While these extortionists are talking up a big game, there are no reports indicate saying that explosives have been planted at places targeted. Yet, in a bid to preserve the public’s safety, some agencies and firms have started evacuating their work places.
Some subway stations in Toronto (the largest city in Canada), closed operations due to the attack, but the whole system seems to be up-and-running. A community hospital in Hillsboro also decided to close up shop, evacuating its building on early Thursday afternoon.
However, authorities have said that there isn’t a credible threat. For instance, the New York Police Department, posted an urgent message to its Twitter page, telling its jurisdiction that there are no devices found in the gargantuan urban zone yet.
Representatives from the American Federal Bureau of Intelligence tell Reuters that it is actively looking into the situation. As at the time of writing, no explosion has happened.
