Bomb threats targeting US retailers demand bitcoin payments, FBI involved
Law enforcement authorities in the US are intensifying efforts to investigate a series of bomb threats targeting major retail chains, with the culprits demanding payments in bitcoin, according to a WSJ report. Over the past few months, prominent grocery operators and stores, including Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon’s Whole Foods Market, have been the recipients of threatening calls. The anonymous callers have explicitly threatened to detonate bombs if their demands for bitcoin payments or other forms of currency are not met. In one incident, a Whole Foods Market employee in Chicago received a call claiming that a pipe bomb had been placed inside the store and demanded $5,000 worth of bitcoin, as reported by the WSJ. Similarly, an employee at a Kroger-owned store in New Mexico was instructed to wire money under the threat of an imminent bomb explosion if the police were alerted. You might also like: China allegedly offers bitcoin bounty to murder Australian CCP critic Des...