Quote:A nationwide wave of bomb threat emails demanding a bitcoin payment to halt the explosion are being received by schools, government agencies and private organizations.

AppRiver researchers first saw these emails earlier today and described them as being in the same class as sextortion scams that attempt to scare people into paying in order to keep an embarrassing video from being posted online.

“In these emails, the sender informs the recipient that their “recruited mercenary” has placed an explosive device inside their building which they plan to detonate unless a Bitcoin payment in the amount of $20,000 is made to the BTC address provided in the message,” AppRiver told SC Media in an email.