Key Takeaways
- Brazilian police arrested a man who mailed explosives and ricin to executives, demanding a $300K bitcoin ransom.
- Despite using encrypted emails and self-custody crypto wallets, authorities tracked him via a subway payment.
- The lone wolf confessed, but police are still investigating if any victims actually paid the bitcoin ransom.
Lone Wolf Arrested by Police After Sending Bomb Threat Letters to Financial Executives
The Brazilian Civil Police managed to solve a case that involved sending dozens of letters to financial executives and residents of luxury condos in São Paulo, threatening to launch attacks with explosives against them.
The letters, which directed death threats towards their recipients and described a terrorist attack plan with drones loaded with dynamite and C4, included real explosive material. To avoid becoming victims of the attack, the letters asked residents to send 1.7 million reais (nearly $300K) worth of bitcoin to a QR code address included in the letters.
After a lengthy investigation, authorities tried to track the self-custody Bitcoin wallet included in the letters and the emails created with a Switzerland-based encryption service. But the best lead came from tracking the man’s physical trail at the Post Office. The police identified the man as Ítalo Francisco Mendes Barbiot after he was caught on camera paying a subway fare using a digital app on his smartphone.
Mendes Barbiot’s arrest also helped the police solve another similar case, which involved similar letters being sent to executives of an unidentified crypto exchange, threatening to poison them and asking for a ransom in bitcoin. At that time, the letters contained ricin, a lethal toxin produced in the seeds of the castor plant that can kill a person in very small doses.
Investigators linked these cases after a graffiti artist determined the writing on the letter envelopes was similar. Mendes Barbiot told police he was responsible for both incidents. He stressed that he had sent the letters out of financial desperation, as he was unemployed and had social engineering skills.
“From everything we’ve identified, it was a lone wolf. He was doing everything he could to obtain some financial value from that bitcoin wallet he gave those victims,” said Nelson Fernandes, divisional delegate of the Anti-Kidnapping Division.
Police continue investigating whether some victims paid the bitcoin ransom out of fear, or whether there is a possible connection to other perpetrators who might have carried out wrench attacks on some of the letter recipients.
Nonetheless, reports did not indicate whether any crypto funds were confiscated in the action.
