Bitcoin Blackmail Attempts Reported To Loudon Police

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA—For the second time in two days, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office has taken reports of residents who threatened with blackmail in an attempted Bitcoin scam. In both cases, the targets received a letter demanding money be wired in Bitcoin on their "secrets" would be revealed, according to the daily crime log.

One report was in the 23000 block of Expedition Drive in Ashburn and the other was in the 17000 block of Francis Farm Place. In each incident, the resident recognized the letters as a scam and ignored the implied threat. Others across the country haven't been so vigilant.

Last month in Michigan, Patch reported similar incidents where Bloomfield Township police said letters with a Nashville, Tennessee, postmark were sent to two residents. The anonymous sources ordered the letter's recipients to pay $2,00o in Bitcoin, or warned their secrets kept from their wives would be revealed. The same threat for money was made in Connecticut, where victims were threatened via email, phone or letter to pay $3,500 with the virtual currency or else.

"I'm going to cut to the chase," the letter sent to victims says. "I know about the secret you are keeping from your wife. More importantly, I have evidence of what you have been hiding. I won't go into the specifics here in case your wife intercepts this, but you know what I'm talking about."

In all the versions of the scam, a perpetrator contacts an unsuspecting victim and tells them that they know a secret about them. To avoid having the secret publicly revealed, the victim is ordered to pay a certain amount of money via the digital currency Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is an anonymous online monetary system, and money transferred in the format cannot be traced or recovered, according to authorities.

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