Bomb threat emails sent nationwide, including U-M

The information below was sent via email to the IT Security Community and Frontline Notify groups on December 13, 2018.

Bomb threats have been made via email across the country, including here at the University of Michigan. The FBI is investigating and working with law enforcement. According to several media reports, officials are saying that these emails are not believed to be credible.

The U-M Police Department has received reports of these threatening emails and is passing information on to the FBI. Members of the U-M community who receive these threatening emails can report them to Detective Tom Cargill of the U-M Police Department ([email protected]).

Always be suspicious of emails that threaten you and ask for immediate payment to end the threat. The examples of these particular emails that Information Assurance has seen warn of a bomb and demand payment or the bomb will explode. They seem to be a new variation on extortion emails, similar to others reported in recent months (Extortion emails increasing at U-M, Email extortion scams continuing with variations).

In general, if you receive extortion email, do not make the payment requested. Instead, report the extortion attempt to your local police.