Bomb Threats To Businesses Was Overseas Phishing Scam: Police

FORSYTH, GWINNETT COUNTIES, GA — The Forsyth County Sheriff Office reports the numerous calls Thursday from business owners across Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties about bomb threats, was an overseas “phishing scam.”

According to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, these threats demanded a ransom of crypto currency, or Bitcoin. FCSO Criminal Investigations assisted uniform patrol personnel with recovering reports and certain electronic evidence. So far, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office reports 10 emails were reported and investigated in Forsyth County. It is unknown how many were sent in Gwinnett County.

The preliminary investigation by Forsyth shows that these emails originated outside of the United States. These emails appear to be what are commonly referred to as a “phishing scam” whereby the senders were requesting monies to be deposited onto a BitCoin account.

Similar emails have been reported throughout the country and we have forwarded all of our collected information to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

We ask our citizens and business owners to remain vigilant, if one of these bomb threat emails are
received, do not delete, and call FCSO immediately at 770.781.3087 or 911.

SEE ALSO: Bomb Threats Being Made To Businesses: Police

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