In this digital age, criminals are turning to snail mail to try and extort residents in Maidenhead, Wycombe and South Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom.
At least eleven residents have reported receiving blackmail letters, which threaten to expose the recipient as a pedophile if they do not send two bitcoins in a 72-hour period.
The letter reads:
DO NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER
You have been carefully selected for this letter and WE HAVE done our research.
If you do not follow these instructions to the letter you and your family will be subjected to a campaign that will include writing to your neighbours informing them of your love for young boys. We will spread this rumour at your local school which will result in you, your family and your home becoming the target for attacks and vandalism. Whether the rumours are true or not does not matter in the slightest. You know what what people will think once we put the ideas in their heads? No smoke without fire is what they will think. Previous targets of ours have been forced to pack up and move. Do you want to have to put yourself and your family through this? Imagine the looks you will get once these letters start hitting your neighbours doormats?
The ONLY way to prevent this from happening is for your to pay us the sum of 2 (two) Bitcoins. You have 72 hours to buy 2 of these coins and send them to our Bitcoin account. Informaiton on where and how to buy the coins is easily available through Google.
If you tell anyone else about this letter or it’s contents, for example The Police then we will go ahead with the action and your family will go through hell.
Our bitcoin account number is:
X
The clock is ticking, You have 72 hours.
Officers think that in all eleven cases, the letters are linked to one another (which seems obvious).
“Do not be alarmed if you receive a letter like this. Our advice is to try not to touch the letter too much so that it can be preserved for forensic examination and then call 101. Do not respond to the letter or purchase any of the bitcoins,” said Det Sgt Peter Wall of Force CIS Maidenhead.
“Some people may simply discard letters like this when they receive them but for others it can be very distressing. This is a clear attempt at blackmail and we need to gather all the information we can to aid our investigation and trace the offenders behind these nasty letters.”
“If anyone has any information about these letters or has received one, please contact me via the Thames Valley Police 24-hour enquiry line, 101,” he added.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] Thames Valley Police