- Tether has stood firm against blackmailers who used fake documents to try and get ₿500 out of them
- The deadline passed yesterday, but Tether confirmed they would not pay
- The scammers forged internal documents between Tether and their banking partners
Tether has stood firm against blackmailers who attempted to ransom them for ₿500 in return for releasing documents the blackmailers claimed would “harm the bitcoin ecosystem”. Tether announced on Sunday that it had seen what purported to be internal documents circulating online, but denounced these as forgeries, calling the demand “a pretty sad attempt at a shakedown”. The news comes just days after the company drew a line under its legal troubles with the Office of the Attorney General of New York (OAG), when it was presumably looking to enjoy a quiet spell out of the headlines.
PSA: Forged documents are circulating online purporting to be between @tether_to personnel and reps of Deltec Bank & Trust and others. The documents are bogus. 1/5
— Tether (@Tether_to) February 28, 2021
Tether Calls Threat Attempts “Increasingly Desperate”
Tether’s tweet thread on the ransom attempt stated that the fraudulent documents were purportedly internal documents sent between Tether and their banking partners. The blackmailers demanded the ₿500, worth around $24 million today, be paid by yesterday or they would release the documents. Tether outlined their position quite succinctly by saying “We are not paying.”
The USDT issuer said that attempts to damage their reputation are getting “increasingly desperate”, and asked that their customers, personnel, and the crypto community at large “be vigilant and practice good operational security.”
“Pretty Sad Attempt at a Shakedown”
Tether added that while the attempt was “a pretty sad attempt at a shakedown”, they were nevertheless taking it seriously and have reported the incident to the police. Given that they have just come through an embarrassing legal ordeal with the OAG, where it was revealed that they had no banking facilities for many months and could therefore not prove that their tokens were backed 1:1, the last thing Tether would want is for genuine papers on the matter to be leaked.
Fortunately this does seem to have been a sham attempt, but it is a reminder that a real incident like this is never far away.
