HotAir has published a story which claims, "Someone has allegedly stolen a copy of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie," and demanded millions in BTC as ransom. The blackmailers threaten to release pieces of the film if their demand is not met.
Drip, drip, drip.
The interesting part, given that we're all here to accumulate STEEM, is the impact of cryptos on crimes of extortion and blackmail:
The incident also dredges up once again the ongoing debate over the problems arising from bitcoin to begin with. In the old days (as in eight years ago) the big problem with almost all forms of extortion of this type was how the criminals could get paid without being caught. Either showing up to claim a bag full of cash or having some sort of electronic transfer involving a bank could generally lead the authorities to you. Now, with bitcoin, you can launder that money pretty quickly and disappear into the ether. It almost sounds as if they could get away with it in this case.
Doesn't THAT raise a host of interesting questions?
"Pay me 2,000,000 STEEM or the puppy gets it!"
| | Certified Curmudgeon “The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.”--Carlo M. Cipolla | |