Teenager Arrested Over Mass College Bomb Hoax
A teenager thought to be at the center of the Minecraft gamers feud was arrested following an explosion that shut down hundreds of schools and colleges across the UK.
The 19-year old was arrested by Hertfordshire police after more than 24,000 threats were sent to schools informing them of an impending bomb attack in the event that cash was not handed over.
The emails were spoofed to look as if they had been sent by a gaming platform called VeltPvP. VeltPvP is a Minecraft player-versus-player server, of the kind that companies make use of to sell their products to gamers.
A teenager thought to be at the center of the Minecraft gamers' squabble was arrested following a mass bomb hoax closed hundreds of schools across the UK. Hertfordshire police arrested the 19-year-old following 24,000 emails were sent out to schools informing them of the threat of attack.
These emails were sent to disable VeltPvP and were intended to cause the abuse of the domain to be suspended.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has stated that there was no credible threat to the emails received this week.
Two MORE Beasts are now heading towards East to bring... Advertisers warn Facebook that Facebook isn't doing enough
They said they understood the concerns of teachers and parents however, they stressed that there was no credible threat from the emails that were sent to schools.
"However, we take the information seriously. We cannot comment further as this is an ongoing investigation.
Signs were erected outside Cardinal Road School in Feltham following the bomb hoax emails
The parties involved in the fight said that their adversaries had engaged in illegal activities to hinder one another's businesses.
'It is horrible, it's not the nicest thing', one hoaxers who were involved in the scam was asked if he regretted the effect the letters had had on school pupils who were forced to leave.
Placing the blame on VeltPvP the hoaxer claimed that the network was involved in a campaign of Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks - which he alleges were used to attempt to block other competitors' Minecraft servers.
Parents were urged to pick up their children following the threat of a bomb hoax email
VeltPvP issued a statement stating that they were being targeted and hounded by cybercriminals.
We're very sorry for everyone who was affected by this, but just know it's not real.'
The email was sent to more than 400 colleges and schools across the nation. It claimed that the bomb was already planted and would explode if the money wasn't given.
Cardinal Road School, Feltham, West London was one of the schools to receive the hoax email.
Benga's Blog
Police forces from London, Bristol, Liverpool and Bedfordshire were among those who were questioned.
Some parents requested to be allowed to pick up their children from school amid concerns about the emails.
Six schools in Hertfordshire were also affected: Abbots Hill, Valley School, Stevenage, The Sele School, Duncombe School, Stanborough School, Watford, St Albans High School and Valley School.
