If you don’t give me Bitcoin, I’ll blow up the building! Hyundai Group headquarters received a bomb threat email, and the suspect demanded 13 BTC

The Hyundai Group headquarters located in Yeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, received an explosion threat email today (19th). The email stated that "if 13 Bitcoins (BTC) are not paid, the Hyundai Group building in Jongno-gu will be blown up at 11:30 am."
(Preliminary summary: The ransomware organization Qilin launched a supply chain attack on the "South Korean financial industry"! 28 companies were affected, and 2TB of sensitive data was leaked)
/>(Background supplement: The Taiwanese government holds (confiscates) 210 Bitcoins! More than 2,000 ETH, nearly 300 BNB. The total amount exceeds NT$1.3 billion)

The Hyundai Group headquarters located in Yeonji-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, received an explosion threat email today (19th). The email stated, "If 13 Bitcoins (BTC) are not paid, it will be launched at 11:30 a.m. They blew up the Hyundai Group building in Jongno-gu." Some South Korean media reports mentioned that the threat even extended to the headquarters of Hyundai Motor Group in Yangjae-dong. The content mentioned that "after blowing up the Hyundai Group building, they will take the bomb to Yangjae-dong and detonate it."

Summary of the incident

According to the South Korean police, a 112 report was received at around 11:42 a.m. that day, and Hyundai Group immediately instructed all employees to return home and switch to remote work to ensure safety. The police quickly dispatched a special attack team and an explosion team to enter the building to conduct a comprehensive search, covering the East and West Buildings. The search ended at about 1:53 pm, and no explosives or suspicious items were found.

The police are currently tracing the IP address of the sender of the email and related clues. The initial assessment is that it is a false threat, but they will continue to investigate whether it is related to recent serial cases.

It is worth mentioning that this incident is not an isolated incident, but part of a recent series of false bombing threats targeting major South Korean companies. A number of similar cases have occurred in the past few days:

• December 18: A threat appeared on the Kakao Customer Center message board, claiming to install explosives at Samsung Electronics' Suwon headquarters, Kakao's Pangyo and Jeju headquarters, Naver and other places.
• December 17: A notice of an explosion at the branch headquarters appeared on the KT online application page.

However, no actual explosives were found after searches in all cases, and it was suspected to be a prank or extortion fraud. The police suspect that the incident may have been committed by the same person or group and are currently expanding the scope of their investigation. Although the actual terrorism risk is assessed as low, the continuous incidents have caused uneasiness in the business community and the public, and relevant units are calling on the public to be more vigilant.

A masked man threw a smoke bomb and killed someone at Taipei Station

Also today, a real terrorist attack occurred in Taiwan: During the rush hour, Taipei MRT Bannan Line Taipei Station M7 and M8 A serious attack occurred near the exit: a man wearing a gas mask took out multiple smoke grenades from his suitcase and threw them. A loud noise erupted instantly and a large amount of pungent smoke was released. The platform and passageways were filled with smoke. People mistakenly thought there was a fire or explosion and fled in panic, causing great panic.

According to police and eyewitness descriptions, the suspect not only threw smoke bombs, but also suspected of using petrol bombs and long knives to attack. After committing the crime, the suspect quickly fled Taipei Main Station and transferred to Zhongshan MRT Station to continue committing crimes. He threw smoke bombs again and stabbed many passers-by at random with a knife outside Zhongshan Station and near the Eslite Nanxi store. The police quickly surrounded the Eslite Nanxi store building. During the roundup, the suspect fell from the fifth floor and was seriously injured and later died in the hospital. The entire incident injured at least nine people, including the suspect, many of whom were life-threatening or seriously injured.

Regarding the above incidents, while we feel sympathy and regret for the victims, we also remind readers that whether it is a false threat or a real terrorist attack, the public should remain vigilant in the near future to avoid unreasonable disasters.