Don’t worry if you get an email bomb threat that demands bitcoin as ransom, first contact your local police to tell them about the threat. Currently, Australia and New Zealand both are victim of bitcoin bomb threat. The sender or scammer demands bitcoin and if you fail to send, they will explode a bomb.
This type of threat has already been sent to the United States and Canada, but the current email threat is using some different heading and explosives that they claim to detonate in Australia and New Zealand. They have targeted schools, government buildings and media outlets in the United States and Canada.
These things create several problems in country such as emergency evacuations which has already happened in North America. However, Australia or New Zealand hasn’t yet reported such problems. Cybersecurity has already accepted that the email bomb threat has been received by Australia and New Zealand.
Australian Cybersecurity Agency shared a website address https://cyber.gov.au/business/publications/bomb-threat-scam/ where they have published a brief message about the email bomb threat. However, when I visited the site page, I got nothing there. There is a link on the page where you can report regarding a scam.
“The emails claim an explosive device has been hidden in the recipient’s premises, and will be detonated unless a ransom is paid in bitcoin.”
This message is enough to make someone scared. However, the Cybersecurity agency has already started working on this email threat and Australian citizens are advised not to respond or send bitcoin to the scammer.
“The ACSC believes this to be a scam, however as a precaution, state policing agencies are treating this as a real threat until confirmed otherwise. If you receive the email, we encourage you to contact your local police service.”
In New Zealand, the computer emergency response of the government (CERT NZ) has also shared a website page https://www.cert.govt.nz/businesses-and-individuals/recent-threats/bomb-threat-emails-affecting-new-zealanders/ where you can read article written on “Bomb threat emails affecting New Zealanders”.
Like ACSC, CERT NZ also advised New Zealanders not to send ransom to the sender. In this scenario, you must contact local police so that they can take action against the sender.
Source:
https://www.ccn.com/pay-up-or-else-bitcoin-bomb-threat-emails-show-up-in-new-zealand-and-australia/