The University of North Florida and several other colleges and universities in the state have received an extortion threat demanding payment in bitcoins.
The Tampa Bay Times reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating after an email was sent to the schools asking for 1.2 bitcoins and threatening violence if payment was not made.
One-point-two bitcoins equals about $18,000.
An alert that went out to UNF students Wednesday confirming the extortion attempt and asking that any suspicious activity on campus be reported to university police.
In a statement, the FBI said it takes all threats of violence seriously and that the organization is working with state and local law enforcement to investigate the matter.
FBI Statement
The FBI takes all threats of violence seriously, and we are working with our state and local law enforcement partners to investigate this matter.
As always, we encourage the public to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious activities which could represent a threat to public safety. We are unable to comment further, and defer to the respective university police departments regarding campus security as the investigation continues.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
