TL;DR Breakdown
- US Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state workers were recently threatened in a letter.
- The unknown sender(s) are demanding payments in Bitcoin.
- Authorities, however, said the threat is not credible.
A United States politician, Gretchen Whitmer, who has been serving as the governor of Michigan for the past two years, was recently sent a threat letter according to the Michigan State Police. In the mail, the anonymous senders requested about $2 million in Bitcoin (BTC). However, the state authorities flagged the threat as a Bitcoin extortion scheme, saying also that they don’t believe the death threats are credible.
Authorities investigate death threats on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Aside from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the unknown senders also threatened the state employees in the letter. As reported, the sender wants the governor to transfer about $2 million worth of Bitcoin to them by January 25, else the state workers “would die.” Speaking on this, Shanon Banner from the Michigan State Police said they’ve made no arrest in the case, as they don’t think the threats are credible.
However, “the Michigan State Police takes very seriously any threats made against elected officials or others,” he added. Already, the state police began investigating the incident immediately after they learned about the letter. “Part of that review included consulting with the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center. Ultimately, it was determined not to be a credible threat.”
Meanwhile, this is coming a few days after the United States Capitol building was breached by the president’s supporters. According to reports, the Michigan State Capitol Commission will assemble a session to deliberate about prohibiting citizens from carrying firearms with the state Capitol.
Bitcoin threats are becoming a serious issue
Hackers and other bad actors are increasingly confiding in cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, to threatening individuals and organizing, perhaps, due to the anonymity that comes with it. In the past year, Cryptopolitan reported many companies, including Campari, that was hacked and sent threatening messages of exposing their data to the public, except they pay in a certain amount in Bitcoin.
In the same year, several businesses in Australia received bomb threats mails, which also demanded payments in Bitcoin.
