A local Arizona TV station, KGUN9, reported that the alleged kidnappers have demanded $6 million in a Bitcoin payment. The purported captors demanded that the payment be made by 5 p.m. on Monday, otherwise threatening Guthrie’s life. Savannah Guthrie and her siblings said they would pay a ransom in a video posted to Instagram over the weekend. To pay the ransom, the Guthrie family would have to acquire Bitcoin, typically by opening an account with a crypto exchange, according to a spokesperson at Chainalysis.
In either case, they would then transfer the requested amount to the wallet address provided by the captors. Bitcoin addresses, which are public, are long strings of random numbers and characters that can only be opened with a corresponding private key controlled by the wallet owner. The public nature of Bitcoin’s blockchain means it’s possible to watch funds move on so-called explorer sites like this one. While the public record does not include explicit names or locations, blockchain forensics firms are often able to associate addresses with certain crypto exchanges or criminal gangs.
In some cases, law enforcement can intervene to seize funds or intercept a transaction. “Prompt response from exchanges and law enforcement is the only hope to stop the money,” said Nicholas Smart, VP of a blockchain investigations company called Crystal Intelligence. In the Guthrie case, a retired FBI agent cited by the New York Post notes the ransom note’s use of the term “USD,” suggesting overseas origins or a hoax. A second note has been conclusively found to be fake and led to the arrest of the sender, but authorities continue to treat the KGUN9 note as plausible.
Leave a Reply