More bad publicity - pay us a million in btc or we spread Ebola

[markj113]

"PRAGUE (AFP) - Blackmailers are threatening to spread Ebola in the Czech Republic unless Prague pays them a million euros' worth of the virtual Bitcoin currency, police said Monday.

An e-mail allegedly from the blackmailers claiming they had "biological material" from an infected patient in Liberia was published by the country's top commercial TV station, TV Nova, on Monday.

"An unknown perpetrator or perpetrators are blackmailing this state, threatening to spread the Ebola virus," the country's deputy police chief Zdenek Laube told reporters.

"From the very beginning these culprits have been seeking to spread panic, which is their primary goal," he added."


http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/europe/story/blackmailers-threaten-czech-republic-ebola-outbreak-bitcoin-currency-2014102

[TheButterZone]

This is called extortion inoculation. BS enough times and nobody will pay BTC to any extortionist.

[bornil267645]

How can people think about that kind of stuff. This kind of activity should be treated very forcefully. And I hope Ebola gets them first before they can spread it.

[Slunt]

Lol you've got to laugh at these childish scammmers. Nobody is going to fall for this and certainly no one is going to pay it. They're just trying their luck. Hope they get caught.

[cbeast]

This is called extortion inoculation. BS enough times and nobody will pay BTC to any extortionist.

Someone should start a bitcoin vigilante fund to catch that idiot.

[medUSA]

The world has heard enough times that bitcoin is used by terrorists and drug dealers. This is wouldn't damage the name of bitcoin anymore than it is now.

If Czech government pays (I know they won't), the community (users, exchanges, mixers) would have an opportunity to openly help a government to track terrorists! That's good publicity for us

[Chompa]

It's hard to believe and likely not true, but there is a risk for such virus to be used by terrorists.

It doesn't hurt reputation of Bitcoin. At some point any publicity makes people curious about the techmoney and more will start to use it.

[rockyrotcoin]

Lol.. there is no such thing as bad publicity.

[PRCmorning]

It's hard to believe and likely not true, but there is a risk for such virus to be used by terrorists.

It doesn't hurt reputation of Bitcoin. At some point any publicity makes people curious about the techmoney and more will start to use it.

It actually does hurt bitcoin. Specially the anonymity part is what these people take advantage of. The government can easily take advantage of that.

[BitCoinNutJob]

I dont think this is bad publicity tbh, we have little control if people want to do this kinda thing, expect a lot more until the government catchup and develop simple ways to track down transactions on the blockchain.

[Palmdetroit]

Little do they know, the west wants lots of cases to stock up on blood antibodies. (why else would they fly it in)

[Unbelive]

"PRAGUE (AFP) - Blackmailers are threatening to spread Ebola in the Czech Republic unless Prague pays them a million euros' worth of the virtual Bitcoin currency, police said Monday.

An e-mail allegedly from the blackmailers claiming they had "biological material" from an infected patient in Liberia was published by the country's top commercial TV station, TV Nova, on Monday.

"An unknown perpetrator or perpetrators are blackmailing this state, threatening to spread the Ebola virus," the country's deputy police chief Zdenek Laube told reporters.

"From the very beginning these culprits have been seeking to spread panic, which is their primary goal," he added."


http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/europe/story/blackmailers-threaten-czech-republic-ebola-outbreak-bitcoin-currency-2014102

They should take cash. With bitcoin they will be easily traced.
Or at least some Cryptonote coin.

[Q7]

Can call it bad publicity but there are probably someone who still does not have any slightest idea of bitcoin will now decide to check it out

[LFC_Bitcoin]

This isn't bad publicity.

What's any different to Mexican kidnappers taking a child from a rich family & demanding a 2 million USD ransom in cash?

No publicity is bad publicity, hopefully people google BTC & come on board.

[commandrix]

This is called extortion inoculation. BS enough times and nobody will pay BTC to any extortionist.

Someone should start a bitcoin vigilante fund to catch that idiot.

Maybe somebody will. Til then, there's Roger Ver's Bitcoin Bounty Hunter website. http://bitcoinbountyhunter.com/

[Febo]

This is called extortion inoculation. BS enough times and nobody will pay BTC to any extortionist.

Someone should start a bitcoin vigilante fund to catch that idiot.

Maybe somebody will. Til then, there's Roger Ver's Bitcoin Bounty Hunter website. http://bitcoinbountyhunter.com/

Maybe Czech Republic government should.

[funtotry]

This is called extortion inoculation. BS enough times and nobody will pay BTC to any extortionist.

They payment method that a terrorist is really not relevant. Most governments refuse to negotiate with terrorists because of the risk that other groups will simply do similar things in order to extort money from governments.

The reason why they are asking for payment in bitcoin is because it is very easy to 'move' bitcoin and it is difficult to trace the identity of someone who owns/controls a specific address.  

EDIT: they are really just highlighting features of bitcoin

[Ron~Popeil]

Morons that want a quick way to obtain wealth instead of working for it. I hope they get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent. There is a special place in hell for people that try to capitalize on the fear of others.

[TheButterZone]

One of the next scams will be "pay us a million BTC, Satoshi, or we'll redirect one of the near-miss asteroids into planet earth".

[2double0]

Nice try scammers. It will never work, they likely do not have any substance maybe some fluid which they call "ebola".
Otherwise Czech is doomed for real.