Classes at Garfield High School in Seattle's Central District came to an abrupt halt Friday after an email threatened to detonate explosives on campus unless a bitcoin payment was made. The building was evacuated, officers launched a full sweep of the grounds, and students and staff were briefly dismissed before being allowed back in when no devices were found and a handwritten note turned up inside the school's Quincy Jones Performance Center.
Police Sweep Campus, Find No Bomb
Seattle police and the department's arson and bomb squad rolled out to the 23rd Avenue campus after Garfield's principal called 911 around 2 p.m. Officers then carried out a methodical search of the school. As reported by Capitol Hill Seattle, nothing suspicious turned up, and school operations returned to normal once the sweep wrapped up.
Extortion Email Demanded Bitcoin
Detective Eric Muñoz told The Seattle Times that the emailed threat claimed bombs were already in the building and would go off within two hours unless the senders received $1,600 in bitcoin. Muñoz said it was not clear whether the sender meant $1,600 worth of bitcoin or 1,600 bitcoin, but either way the message tried to turn fear into a payout. During the response, police recovered a handwritten note from a recycling bin in the Quincy Jones Performance Center. No suspect was in custody as of Wednesday evening, and detectives said the investigation remains active.
Pattern Echoes Past Bitcoin Hoaxes
Security researchers have seen this kind of thing before, with mass emails that demand cryptocurrency while threatening violence often turning out to be disruptive scams rather than credible, carefully planned attacks. Authorities still treat each one as a real threat. Similar waves of so-called "bitcoin bomb" emails have led to evacuations at schools and businesses in past years, according to WIRED, and the FBI has urged anyone who receives such messages not to pay up and to report the threats to law enforcement instead.
Legal Consequences
Under Washington law, threatening to bomb a school is a crime, and claiming it was "just a joke" does not get anyone off the hook. RCW 9.61.160 makes such threats a class B felony, according to the Revised Code of Washington. State extortion statutes in chapter 9A.56 can also come into play when a payment is demanded, and prosecutors will weigh possible charges while investigators work to trace email headers or any related cryptocurrency transfers.
How To Report Tips
Detectives said they are chasing digital leads, including tracking any bitcoin addresses referenced in the message and working with partners to trace where the communications originated. Anyone with information is asked to call the SPD Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000, according to the SPD Blotter, or to submit tips to Seattle Public Schools' SaferWatch at 206-222-HELP (4357), as the district notes.
Most incidents like this end up being hoaxes, but police stress that every threat has to be taken seriously because ignoring even one could have tragic consequences. Officials said they will share more information as the investigation moves forward.
