Romney's tax returns - first Bitcoin extortion?

[evoorhees]

This seems like a hoax.  Time to move on.

"Reference to avoid Fakes that only you will have.
1.all these considerations did not deter me from the path of duty
2.he moment I understood the will of my Heavenly Father"

I'm guessing this was included to prove to PwC that the theft was legit. I would imagine the lawsuit for allowing the data to be stolen will cost them far more than than $1M.

What does that mean... that was included somewhere?

[Piper67]

This seems like a hoax.  Time to move on.

"Reference to avoid Fakes that only you will have.
1.all these considerations did not deter me from the path of duty
2.he moment I understood the will of my Heavenly Father"

I'm guessing this was included to prove to PwC that the theft was legit. I would imagine the lawsuit for allowing the data to be stolen will cost them far more than than $1M.

What does that mean... that was included somewhere?

They might be passwords :-)

[HostFat]

What does that mean... that was included somewhere?

http://pastebin.com/1j1yzQ9S
http://pastebin.com/zdU1TK40

[bbit]

he just got my  vote!!!

[hashman]

If this was real, they would have provided some kind of proof they possess these documents. Perhaps the information from a non-incriminating line, which would only be known by Romney or someone who has the documents. Kidnappers always send a photo of the kidnapped person holding today's newspaper to prove they have the person and they're alive.

Since no such evidence was shown, it is very probably a hoax.

Did you read the article? It lists a very specific location from where the tax returns were taken. I would imagine if the tax returns were actually in that location, they might have them. They also mention a scanned signature image.

They also give excerpts from the returns, I don't see how these could be in a tax return but evidently they are clear proof for somebody who has the documents:

Reference to avoid Fakes that only you will have.
1.all these considerations did not deter me from the path of duty
2.he moment I understood the will of my Heavenly Father

A bigger problem with this in my view is that there's no proof the documents won't be released anyway even after 100k coins are TXed. 

You'd have to be a total fool to pay.. right? 

[HostFat]

The simpler way is just share the encrypted file everywhere and send only to romney the key, then he will know that it's true

[evoorhees]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

[darkmule]

If you look at the blockchain info for the two addresses given by the alleged extortionists, they have a number of very small transactions, all in amounts like 0.01 0.0011100101 BTC and so on, all in the last day or so.  If you trace those back to the last address in the list, it is generally a recently created account with no activity until recently.  If you go back five or six, though, occasionally you hit an address that actually has a substantial amount of money in it.  For example, one I can find has 326 transactions, the earliest 2-18-2012, and currently contains 191.31036195 BTC.

I'm not going to post the blockchain link here.  I'm not particularly interested in "solving" this thing, and you can all duplicate this same "feat" easily enough and post it here if you like.  

My guess would be the odd tiny transactions are binary code of some sort, perhaps adding up to a message like "lulz."  But whoever did this apparently does have some knowledge of the network and how to mask transactions to some extent.

My first belief was they were just completely throwaway accounts created never to be used.  Some people went to some trouble to put a small amount of money in them in oddly structured transactions, though.

[HostFat]

Did you read the entire discussion? You should do it

[jimbobway]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

Hmmm...starting to get from virtual to real.

[cypherdoc]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

LOL. "“A million dollars seemed kind of low,” Barwick said. “If you’re going to go for a million, why not go for $100 million.”"

A symptom of a society hooked on easy money.

[dissipate]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

Alright, we know who did it. It was Erik Vorhees! This is a man who wants to destroy democracy and popularize Bitcoin in order to get more gambling addicts to use his Satoshi Dice gambling site! 

[BkkCoins]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

LOL. "“A million dollars seemed kind of low,” Barwick said. “If you’re going to go for a million, why not go for $100 million.”"

A symptom of a society hooked on easy money.

Ha ha. Couldn't ask for $100 million with Bitcoin... but it does sound like this all took place more in private than it seemed earlier, which tends to make it sound more real than if it were announced publicly from the start.

[jimbobway]

This is going viral and being retweeted by news networks.  Brace for impact.

[Explodicle]

$100 million is feasible if you consider that such an enormous buy would raise BTC/USD. Hell, even $1 million would cause quite a spike. It raises the question - why denominate a bitcoin ransom in dollars? Does Romney send them $1 million in bitcoins as of before or after the purchase?

Seems like a hoax to me.

[CoinDiver]

Romney should buy $20 million in BTC, pay the ransom, then sell everything left back off.

[darkmule]

I agree on the hoax aspect.  It doesn't seem like whoever did this really thought through the mechanics of what getting "$1 million USD" of Bitcoins would entail, or more likely, didn't care, because they were never intending on getting it.

I just hope for the pranksters' sake they covered their tracks better than it looks like they did.  Even without the tax returns, demanding money in return for silence is generally going to be considered extortion, and for a change, they've picked on someone politically connected enough to demand the feds "do something."  

[hottweelz]

I call BS.

It's way too easy to catch this guy.  He thinks the Bitcoin anonymity will protect him/them.  BUT its all the other loopholes of the Technology world that will bust him.

You heard it here first.

[malevolent]

It's not the first bitcoin extortion. I know at least of one more, a group of hackers in Poland is threatening hosting companies with DDoSes unless they decide to comply with their terms of paying 25 BTC monthly subscription (that was the amount in May, dunno if it changed).

[evoorhees]

LOL looks like it's unfolding further...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120905/WILLIAMSON/309050153/Romney-tax-return-claim-made-packages-left-Williamson-GOP-office?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp&nclick_check=1

Alright, we know who did it. It was Erik Vorhees! This is a man who wants to destroy democracy and popularize Bitcoin in order to get more gambling addicts to use his Satoshi Dice gambling site! 

Hehehehe I don't want to destroy democracy, why would you say that??  I just want to be able to opt-out, just like I've done with the Federal Reserve