extortion news stories on Newser

NM Town Elects Mayor Who's Barred From City Hall

Kevin Spak — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:39:08 CST

Sunland Park, New Mexico, elected 28-year-old Daniel Salinas as mayor yesterday, but Salinas is going to have a tough time doing the job; he's forbidden by law from stepping foot on city property or talking to city workers. Salinas, the town's current mayor pro tem, has been charged with extortion...

Hacker Releases Symantec Code After Extortion Fails

Rob Quinn — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:25:00 CST

A hacker has made good on a threat to release the source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere tool after failing to extort $50,000 from the antivirus company. The release raises fears that other hackers could find security holes in the product, but Symantec says it was prepared for the move,...

Feds Bust Woman in Duggar Extortion

Polly Davis Doig — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:00 CST

For anyone who has ever wished TLC would ax the reality abomination known as 19 Kids and Counting, you have company, albeit slightly batty company. Seems feds have charged Iowa photog Teresa Hunt with trying to extort the parent company of TLC, which airs Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's show,...

Kidnapped Dog Dumped Dead on Tracks

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:16:51 CDT

Mourn poor Jagger, a friendly, goofy English bulldog who was like "one of the family" to his wheelchair-bound mistress. He was kidnapped last month from his home in Washington state and held for a ransom of $1,000, plus prescription pain pills—demands texted to Jagger's owner along with threats...

Bombers Tried to Extort Money From Ikea: Cops

John Johnson — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:28:57 CDT

Bizarrre extortion case: Two men in Poland are charged with setting off bombs at eight Ikea stores throughout Europe over the last several months. Police say the pair demanded that the furniture chain pay $8 million for the bombings to stop, reports CNN . Only a few minor injuries were reported...

Businessman Blackmailed Berlusconi: Cops

Matt Cantor — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:44:05 CDT

The “bunga bunga” fallout continues: Police nabbed an Italian businessman for allegedly blackmailing Silvio Berlusconi in the sex scandal that’s clouded his tenure as prime minister. Giampaolo Tarantini has acknowledged recruiting women for Berlusconi’s alleged sex parties, but he’s maintained that the PM didn’t know that some were escorts. Police...

Aussie 'Collar Bomb' Suspect Busted in Kentucky

Rob Quinn — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:04:00 CDT

An Australian suspected of being the man who broke into a Sydney home and attached a phony collar bomb to a teenage girl has been arrested in Kentucky. Paul "Doug" Peters, 50, was arrested in a Louisville suburb by a team of FBI agents and Australian police, reports the Sydney...

Neck Bomber Left Bizarre Clues

Kevin Spak — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:17:05 CDT

Whoever chained a fake bomb to 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver’s neck must have been well-read. The perpetrator left behind a ransom note that was signed “Dirk Struan”—the protagonist of James Clavell’s 1966 novel Tai-Pan , which told the story of two warring businessmen during the 1842 Opium War, MSNBC reports. Pulver’s...

'Bomb' Attached to Australia Girl a 'Very Elaborate Hoax'

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:42:22 CDT

A device, thought to be a bomb, attached to an Australian teen for 10 hours yesterday was actually "a very, very elaborate hoax," police say. A masked man affixed the device to Madeleine Pulver, 18, with "a chain or something similar," says an officer, which took some time to remove...