Author Archives: cazalla

Google, Godaddy, And CoinBase Go Political – Kill Accounts For Conservative Action And Advocacy

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Hot on the heels of the Daily Stormer's domain name being hijacked by Google, fans of the DS who donated bitcoin to its owner Andrew Anglin via Coinbase are reporting their Coinbase accounts have now been terminated. In response to the bans, some users are unwittingly blaming Bitcoin itself, saying:

…So much for anonymous currency.

It's clear that many in the alt-right deride bitcoin and do so to their own detriment. These are the same people who call for violence but quickly retract such statements and cry when confronted by the first sign of it, claiming they are about solutions while continuing to ignore Bitcoin for the most part.

A List Of Known Bitcoin Ransom Cases

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2017-07-01 – India – "Ransom demand made in Bitcoins, six in police net" – The kidnappers released Jain after six days. It is unclear if his family members paid the ransom. The police are tight-lipped on the matter.

2017-05-01 – Brazil – "Woman in Brazil rescued after kidnappers demanded bitcoin ransom payment" – The 32-year-old wife of a Brazilian "Bitcoin businessman" has been rescued by local police after she was grabbed by kidnappers who demanded a ransom be paid in Bitcoin.

2017-04-27 – Israel – "Israeli-American teen arrested over Australian school bomb hoax calls" – Media reports say he had almost $US500,000 in his Bitcoin account at the time of his arrest, some purportedly coming from students who wanted exams postponed.

2016-10-04 – United Kingdom – "Simon Cowell, Lord Sugar and Kate Moss 'were on hitlist drawn up by killer who tortured antiques dealer into handing over Wind in the Willows book." – Having killed one guy, perp then emailed VC Adrian Beecroft demanding 200 Bitcoin telling him I know where your daughter goes to school.

2015-10-29 – Taiwan – "I thought I was going to die!" – The kidnappers had threatened to dig out the eyeballs or chop off the legs of the Pearl Oriental Oil chairman known as Wong Yuk-kwan if his family did not pay a HK$70 million ransom in Bitcoin.

2015-09-26 – United Kingdom – "Give me 50,000 or I'll poison your pumpkins! What Bitcoin blackmailer told farmer who produces half the UK's supply." – David Bowman feared his livelihood would be destroyed after he was blackmailed by a former soldier who threatened to poison his entire crop with cyanide.

2015-01-30 – United States – "Police Alert Residents To Bitcoin Extortion Scam" – Farmington Police say a demand for $2,000 in Bitcoin comes in the mail, threatening the addressee and his or her family. It claims to know their address, schedule, and how to kill them, undetected.

2015-01-20 – Costa Rica – "Following alleged kidnapping, Canadian expat recovering at Costa Rica home, says attorney" – The alleged kidnappers had demanded nearly half a million dollars in the crypto currency Bitcoin.

Naturally, it's possible that these kidnappings and failed attempts to extort a Bitcoin ransom as reported by the media are inaccurate or fabrications (clickbait), but it seems just as likely such acts are occurring and likely to grow as the demand for Bitcoin grows. It's also possible that successful attempts to garner a Bitcoin ransom go unreported by media, police and government as well as the victims.

Pumpkin Extortion Attempt Squashed

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The Daily Mail reports (archive) a 53 year old ex-soldier has been jailed after he attempted to blackmail an elderly pumpkin farmer into paying him £50,0001 in bitcoin. Fearing for his livelihood, farmer David Bowman reported the threat to police and was then instructed by the UK's Foods Standards Agency to plough the field of concern, resulting in the loss of £120,0002 of stock. Continue reading →

  1. Approximately $75,000 USD. ↩

  2. Approximately $182,000 USD. ↩

Editor Under Fire

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A heavily redacted document detailing the deposition of CoinFire editor Michael Johnson regarding what were threats presumably made by Homero Joshua Garza of GAW Miners and his cohorts has been released. While the document does not mention Mr Garza by name, it is clear to anyone familiar with the GAW Miners and Paycoin debacles that many of the numerous gaps in the document are a reference to him and his partners in crime.

The original PDF document is available here, and the text of that document is quoted below. It outlines threats of assassination as well as Michael Johnson's eagnerness to work with LEA due to concerns for his own safety as well as that of family, friends and colleagues. Continue reading →

Pirateat40 Pleads Guilty To Securities Fraud

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Despite entering a plea of not guilty earlier this year, Trendon Shavers AKA pirateat40 has plead guilty to one charge of securities fraud related to the operation of a ponzi scheme, better known as the Bitcoin Savings and Trust. As reported by Reuters (archive), Shavers has agreed not to appeal any sentence at or below 41 months in duration and will face sentencing early next year on February 3rd.