WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Police in New Zealand are investigating email threats received by some residents that claim explosive devices were hidden in their offices, the cyber security agency CERT NZ said on Friday after similar threats were made in the United States and Canada.
Police were working to confirm the validity of the threats, although they were likely to be an "opportunistic scam", the agency said. The emails claimed a bomb would be detonated unless an amount of ransom was paid in bitcoin.
A rash of bomb threats were emailed to hundreds of businesses, public offices and schools across the United States and Canada demanding payment in cryptocurrency but none of the threats appeared credible.
CERT NZ said the emails received by New Zealanders appeared to be very similar to those in the United States and Canada.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Paul Tait)