Montreal police investigating bomb threats, demands for bitcoin payment

Montreal police are investigating after at least five businesses reported receiving an email containing a bomb threat and demanding bitcoin payment.

“They were asking for $20,000 in bitcoin payment,” Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said of the unknown sender. “Each business received the same email.”

READ MORE: ‘It becomes a nightmare’: the rise of the viral bomb threat and how it makes the job of police harder

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Brabant said the targeted businesses were in Ville Saint-Laurent, Rivière-des-Prairies, the Town of Mount Royal and Anjou and that nothing linked the companies to one another.

Officers searched each location but did not find anything suspicious, Brabant told Global News.

READ MORE: Dozens of bomb threats reported across Canada, U.S.

An investigation is underway to determine the source of the email.

Cities across Canada and the United States have reported receiving similar threats.