Mail Bombing in exchange of Bitcoin

[plvbob0070]

An anonymous person in Netherlands is bombing letters just to ask Bitcoin for him to stop what he's doing. This mailbomber wants Bitcoin and he won't stop unless he gets the Bitcoin payment he wants.

First bombing happens in Amsterdam when a worker tosses a package when he heard a hissing sound while arranging the mail. Fortunately no one got injured with the explosion. The second bombing happens less than an hour after the first bombing in Kerkrade. Although no one also got injured, there's a note asking for bitcoin to prevent further bombings.

With the investigation of the police, they said that both bombings are connected yet they have no link about the person who's exploding things up. They also haven't revealed the amount of Bitcoin the bomber was asking, but they're still doing further investigation.

This is also not the first time someone asked for Bitcoin in Netherlands. Almost the same incident happened last 2015, both were bombing things and asking for bitcoin.

Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/a-mailbomber-in-the-netherlands-wants-a-btc-payment-to-stop-blowing-things-up



It's a little alarming that they would really go that far just to ask for bitcoin. I don't think it's a big explosion but they can still hurt other people and they're damaging the image of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as well. I don't know why would they do that because obviously, the police won't just send them Bitcoin so the explosion would stop. Because if they will do that, then everyone might just do the same in order to receive bitcoin so they'll just keep on investigating until they caught the suspect.

PS: I'm gonna delete this if it was off-topic

[XCANA]

Much as I see it as a trap the government or the police shouldn't pay such dubious individual all in the name of bombing in exchange. This would generate mixed reactions towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. Maybe they are cooking some attacks through news media against Bitcoin if they went ahead to pay in bitcoin to the bomber.

Let the police swiftly go into investigation and fetch them out from their hidden, who knows, it might even be bitcoin hatters that want the ransom. Bitcoin is not for illegal activities even though choice belongs to individuals involve spending the coin.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

PS: I'm gonna delete this if it was off-topic

Definitely not off-topic and I'm glad you made this thread since I wouldn't have found out about this otherwise.

What is this guy thinking?  I get why he's asking for bitcoin, as it's anonymous and he probably thinks the cops or government are just going to send it to his wallet and he can disappear with his digital riches--but there's no way the authorities would ever go for such a deal.  They never have, never will.  If they did, there would be no stopping anybody from pulling the same bullshit. 

The only thing accomplished here is to give bitcoin a black eye, because I'm sure there are some news sites/shows/whatever that are playing up that angle of the story.  It's not even relevant what form of payment this dick is asking for; the unwashed, unthinking, uncritical masses will have yet more proof of how evil bitcoin is.  Ugh.

[passwordnow]

Damn!
This person is crazy, they really are going too far and doesn't care even if they harm people. This isn't the purpose of bitcoin, for blackmailing, not it's not for that.
I thought that it's just email blasting or email spamming but this is for real, a real bomb, small or not as long as it's hurting people this is truly wrong. He will be caught soon, I hope.

[20kevin20]

Damn!
This person is crazy, they really are going too far and doesn't care even if they harm people. This isn't the purpose of bitcoin, for blackmailing, not it's not for that.
I thought that it's just email blasting or email spamming but this is for real, a real bomb, small or not as long as it's hurting people this is truly wrong. He will be caught soon, I hope.

There have been criminals sending bombing mails and demanding Bitcoin for them before. If this Netherlands situation is seen as a negative thing for Bitcoin and people start to FUD it again through "it's widely used in illegal activities and by criminals"-like statements, that's a plain stupid move. Almost anything valuable is and can be used in illicit activity. Bitcoin is only better because they can simply send an address without anyone knowing its source/owner, rather than demanding fiat payment.

[stompix]

What is this guy thinking?  I get why he's asking for bitcoin, as it's anonymous and he probably thinks the cops or government are just going to send it to his wallet and he can disappear with his digital riches--but there's no way the authorities would ever go for such a deal.  They never have, never will.  If they did, there would be no stopping anybody from pulling the same bullshit.  

I've watched this week around 10 episodes of live pd, every ten minutes I was asking myself the same question, what were those idiots thinking!
Maybe he is out of options, wanting to make it big or at least get free food and cable for the next 10 years or he is simply insane.

Anyhow, if he goes on he will be tracked, if those things are really dangerous, taking into account the size of the letters he isn't using stuff you can buy at Aldi or Tesco. If not there those won't be that dangerous.
We're talking about letters, not parcels here.

Damn!
This person is crazy, they really are going too far and doesn't care even if they harm people. This isn't the purpose of bitcoin, for blackmailing, not it's not for that.

No, that's the purpose of the explosive!

[squatter]

It's a little alarming that they would really go that far just to ask for bitcoin.

It's not really about Bitcoin per se. On a fundamental level, they are just trying to extort money. Extortionists have engaged in countless similar schemes intent on extorting cash, like this one. Cases like this just prove the point that bitcoins are increasingly seen as real money now.

[pixie85]

He's asking for Bitcoin because its an easy way of getting a ransom. What are the alternatives?

A cash dump? You have to retrieve it somewhere and risk being caught or at least photographed. The police usually put tracking devices in the money or paint bombs.
Using a fake bank account? Very hard to do and how will you take the money out? Using an ATM? There are cameras on every corner.
Bitcoin is a logical choice here but I'd choose one of the anonymous altcoins. Maybe he just wants something he used in the past and he's never traded altcoins before?

[bitbunnny]

Maybe is this interpreted on a wrong way. The goal of attacker wasn't to get Bitcoin, he wanted financial gain but the reason why he asked for Bitcoin was anonimity or better to say relative anonimity compared to fiat currencies.
This is similar to online extortions, ransomware and similar where perpetrators ask Bitcoin to stop performing their criminal activities.
No matter that Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity it's still much harder to trace it than fiat.

[hatshepsut93]

Bitcoin is a logical choice here but I'd choose one of the anonymous altcoins. Maybe he just wants something he used in the past and he's never traded altcoins before?

I think criminals choose Bitcoin to increase their chances of receiving money, buying Bitcoin is already a barrier itself, but buying Monero (for example) is even harder for a layperson, they'd have to get their hands on Bitcoin first and then trade it for Monero on some small exchange that still lists privacycoins. And if a criminal knows their stuff, they will mix their coins multiple times, then buy some privacycoin without doing KYC, then sell it for Bitcoin somewhere else, and only then cash out.

[minairia3]

To be honest this kind of stuff is not surprising and what I am thinking is why the hell that crazy asshole will ask for bitcoin? I dont think Government will pay for this just to stop this nonsense chaos he is barking.

Maybe is this interpreted on a wrong way. The goal of attacker wasn't to get Bitcoin, he wanted financial gain but the reason why he asked for Bitcoin was anonimity or better to say relative anonimity compared to fiat currencies.

So what you mean here is the attacker is just simply gaining attention to avoid the usage of bitcoin? Is that so? Or trying to explain that bitcoin is no longer anonimity and can be trace now easily. Of course it is, cause its transparent blokchain method. Anyway your statement is quite vague but IMO, attacker wants to have a chaos that link bitcoin to news so there will be a huge fud or something to pull back its price.

[joniboini]

No matter that Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity it's still much harder to trace it than fiat.

It depends on how you do your transaction. Even if you use a mixer if it's designed with a lot of flaws somebody can still trace the tx. Fiat, and by that I mean cash, is way more difficult to trace.

This bombing is rather odd. The perpetrator must have a lot of materials to make the bomb and he can use it 'freely'. Especially when there's no guarantee he will get the bitcoin.

[Tipstar]

That's pretty stupid way to ransom. A sure way to get caught.
He can use his expertise to sell his work rather than risking his freedom. Though unethical, there are many people in Europe that are looking for explosives.  They might be buying them as a hobby or just for fun. The person could sell them those explosives rather than mailing it himself/herself.

[BlackFor3st]

An anonymous person in Netherlands is bombing letters just to ask Bitcoin for him to stop what he's doing. This mailbomber wants Bitcoin and he won't stop unless he gets the Bitcoin payment he wants.

First bombing happens in Amsterdam when a worker tosses a package when he heard a hissing sound while arranging the mail. Fortunately no one got injured with the explosion. The second bombing happens less than an hour after the first bombing in Kerkrade. Although no one also got injured, there's a note asking for bitcoin to prevent further bombings.

With the investigation of the police, they said that both bombings are connected yet they have no link about the person who's exploding things up. They also haven't revealed the amount of Bitcoin the bomber was asking, but they're still doing further investigation.

This is also not the first time someone asked for Bitcoin in Netherlands. Almost the same incident happened last 2015, both were bombing things and asking for bitcoin.

Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/a-mailbomber-in-the-netherlands-wants-a-btc-payment-to-stop-blowing-things-up



It's a little alarming that they would really go that far just to ask for bitcoin. I don't think it's a big explosion but they can still hurt other people and they're damaging the image of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as well. I don't know why would they do that because obviously, the police won't just send them Bitcoin so the explosion would stop. Because if they will do that, then everyone might just do the same in order to receive bitcoin so they'll just keep on investigating until they caught the suspect.

PS: I'm gonna delete this if it was off-topic

This is a very desperate move if in case the bombing are connected to the person who are asking for bitcoin just to stop their actions.

Only terrorist can pull this kind of action or an opposition of the government behind this incident and they are using some black hat hackers to deliver the message. What is worst is that they are using bitcoin as a means of payment which can hardly damage the image of bitcoin.

[molsewid]

There's a possibility that the bomber last 2015 and the bomber right now are linked to each other. Or the bomber now wants to copy the bomber in 2015 to get bitcoin?

I want to know if the bomber in 2015 was caught? And want to know if the bomber in 2015 gains some bitcoin in this kind of act?

This is a very desperate move if in case the bombing are connected to the person who are asking for bitcoin just to stop their actions.

Only terrorist can pull this kind of action or an opposition of the government behind this incident and they are using some black hat hackers to deliver the message. What is worst is that they are using bitcoin as a means of payment which can hardly damage the image of bitcoin.

But if this attack is from the terrorist they will admit it.

[Ucy]

Much as I see it as a trap the government or the police shouldn't pay such dubious individual all in the name of bombing in exchange. This would generate mixed reactions towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. Maybe they are cooking some attacks through news media against Bitcoin if they went ahead to pay in bitcoin to the bomber.

Let the police swiftly go into investigation and fetch them out from their hidden, who knows, it might even be bitcoin hatters that want the ransom. Bitcoin is not for illegal activities even though choice belongs to individuals involve spending the coin.

Exactly. A fiat "hater" could easily do thesame thing and demand for cash. I guess an attacker could also use this to justify cashless transactions if a Country is still cash based.

There are available ideas that can be used to deal with crime money without violating Bitcoin core values/features. Values like censorship resistant, privacy/anonymity, immutablity, trustless/permissionless transactions, transparency etc are very important. I think you don't deny people this important rights or values if they aren't guilty of any/serious crime.

[jhonjhon]

This is how desperate this person is because he would go as far as bombings just to get the bitcoin he wanted. This type of action will only give a bad impression regarding bitcoins in the sense that other people would think bitcoin can make people crazy and do stupid things. I just wish he’ll get arrested, if he truly wants bitcoin he need to work for it and not disturb other people just for him to get one.

[millionaireshs]

An anonymous person in Netherlands is bombing letters just to ask Bitcoin for him to stop what he's doing. This mailbomber wants Bitcoin and he won't stop unless he gets the Bitcoin payment he wants.

First bombing happens in Amsterdam when a worker tosses a package when he heard a hissing sound while arranging the mail. Fortunately no one got injured with the explosion. The second bombing happens less than an hour after the first bombing in Kerkrade. Although no one also got injured, there's a note asking for bitcoin to prevent further bombings.

With the investigation of the police, they said that both bombings are connected yet they have no link about the person who's exploding things up. They also haven't revealed the amount of Bitcoin the bomber was asking, but they're still doing further investigation.

This is also not the first time someone asked for Bitcoin in Netherlands. Almost the same incident happened last 2015, both were bombing things and asking for bitcoin.

Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/a-mailbomber-in-the-netherlands-wants-a-btc-payment-to-stop-blowing-things-up



It's a little alarming that they would really go that far just to ask for bitcoin. I don't think it's a big explosion but they can still hurt other people and they're damaging the image of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as well. I don't know why would they do that because obviously, the police won't just send them Bitcoin so the explosion would stop. Because if they will do that, then everyone might just do the same in order to receive bitcoin so they'll just keep on investigating until they caught the suspect.

PS: I'm gonna delete this if it was off-topic

This can give a bad impression for bitcoin indeed. I am upset that there are people that was desperate enough to commit that kind of unlawful behaviour. There are a lot of ways to earn bitcoin we just need to work for it.
Also, does the bomber last 2015 succesfully get bitcoins? Does he get caugt?

[FlightyPouch]

What is happening? They are that desperate to earn or get bitcoin? It is good that bitcoin is getting all over social media but I am not expecting that it will be this bad, even worse. As far as I know, there are no reports in the country that died because of that but someone was hospitalized because of the inhalation of the smoke on site. Take care, you guys.

[valuater]

What is happening? They are that desperate to earn or get bitcoin? It is good that bitcoin is getting all over social media but I am not expecting that it will be this bad, even worse. As far as I know, there are no reports in the country that died because of that but someone was hospitalized because of the inhalation of the smoke on site. Take care, you guys.

There will always be things like that in the business world, especially businesses that do have good prospects like bitcoin, not a surprise if they have bad actions just to get a few bitcoins this actually makes the name bitcoin can be bad for some people who are indeed new to bitcoin.