Dozens of Bomb Threats Reported Across America In Apparent Bitcoin Ransom Scam (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: On Wednesday afternoon, a wave of bomb threats were reported at various locations across the United States. On social media, numerous law enforcement departments issued alerts notifying citizens that they're looking into bomb threats targeting businesses, schools, government offices and even private residents. It appears the threats are being sent by email. NBC News said "dozens" of threats had been reported, but the full extent of these threats is not yet clear. A number of news organizations and law enforcement agencies report remarkably similar sounding emails mentioning a bitcoin ransom of $20,000. And some Twitter users have shared emails they've received demanding the cryptocurrency and warning that an explosion would only encourage others to pay up. NBC News quoted the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau's brief statement on the investigation: "We are currently monitoring multiple bomb threats that have been sent electronically to various locations throughout the city. These threats are also being reported to other locations nationwide and are not considered credible at this time."

Comments

Another example

[Ecuador]

Another example to show that apart from more talked about things like global climate change etc, the spam-prone email system is one of the great scourges of our time. I know every time this came up here people could not propose anything without getting that pre-compiled response that detailed everything that won't work, but surely the current situation can be abated.
For example, we have things like SPF/DKIM which seem to help when used. How about starting a black list of mail servers that ignore them, to force them to change their policy? That's what I sort of do for one of my domains which has a catch all - spammers use it to randomly generate email addresses. I have SPF/DKIM so normally an email provider can easily see they are spam and not even process them. Instead, they try to deliver them find out a shitload of them are trying random inexistent addresses and send ME a failed delivery message (over 1000/day), even though it should be obvious I did not send them in the first place. But, it's just a couple of dozen mail servers (mostly Russian) that do that in my case, so these emails don't even make it to my spam folder nowadays.

Deep State distraction

[Anonymous Coward]

On the day three Clinton Foundation whistleblowers are testifying. Nice false flag there, Deep State and Hillary lovers. Don't worry. Your time is coming, HRC.

Re:Dipshit Donnie?

[bobbied]

You have to be pretty fucking stupid to ask for Bitcoin as ransom, since they can be tracked and traced perfectly, forever.

Quite so. You'd think that the feds would be ready to pounce on any coin redeemed for cash and are right now tracing down all transactions attached to the wallet associated with the ransom demands, if there are any.

The Orange Asshole has been losing his mind on Twitter, trying to distract the planet from the seemingly endless parade of his cohorts going to prison. Is it possible Dipshit Donnie did it? Who else is that stupid and has as much of a motive? At this point, it wouldn't surprise me.

Well, All I can say is why would he bother? There are PLENTY of ways to "wag the dog" if he wanted should the Twitter ranting not be enough distraction for him.

By the way... Having dodgy friends is no crime in and of itself and the US Constitution makes it clear that "guilt by association" isn't a governing legal principle in the USA. Or as Rudy puts it, "It is not a crime to hire a bad lawyer. " Personally, I figure I'll wait to pass judgment until all the facts are known from Mueller's investigation on all of this, but if you want to, fine. Just remember, Trump has been declared dead multiple times a month since the campaign and yet lived to tell the tale, so I'd urge a bit or caution in doing it this time, at least right away. Let's see if anything sticks before we go off half cocked..