“One can easily imagine the terror, the fear and the horror that gripped the airplane passengers who were forced to make an emergency landing, some of whom were injured while evacuating the plane and the terrified panic caused when there was a need to evacuate pupils from schools because of fake bomb threats,”
read the verdict from Judge Zvi Gurfinkel.
Judge Gurfinkel sentenced 19 year old Michael Kadar to 10 years imprisonment for bomb hoaxes and bitcoin extortion.
Kadar who was reported to have accumulated $800,000 in bitcoins from his infamous activities specialized in bomb threats on residences, malls, school and even aircrafts.
The youngster who was home-schooled because of an autistic condition that made it difficult for him to integrate properly built a ‘career’ making bomb threats on people.
He was publicly known as “JCC bomb hoaxer” due to his inclination to target Jewish settlements or Jewish Community Centers (JCC).
The police report says that Kadar was responsible for 2000 bomb threats between 2015 and 2017 and went as far as offering his services on the dark web.
Investigations show that Kardar targeted schools after youngsters who wanted examinations postponed paid him to pull bomb scares that caused schools evacuations.
His threats on aircrafts and airports sometimes had led to fighters being scrambled to escort threatened airplanes.
A Net York Times report said that Kadar extorted $500 whenever he made bomb threats on airlines while schools and residences were made to pay $80 and $4o respectively.
He would accumulate 184 bitcoins which is approximately $800,000 over the course of his ignoble ‘career’ as his demands were routinely met and paid in bitcoins.
The bomb threat career which he started as a minor was a terror campaign that spanned nations such as Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium, and Argentina.
His arrest was due to the coordinated effort of the Israeli police, the FBI and several other security outfits from around the world.
Although investigators found thousands of dollars in his parents’ home where he lived and operated from, Kadar is believed to have the bulk of his earnings in bitcoins but refused to divulge details of such addresses.
A CCN report said,
“Kadar, who made the bomb threats from his parent’s home in Ashkelon, a coastal city in southern Israel, used sophisticated software that altered his voice and disguised his location. An investigation into his crimes took the efforts of the Israeli Police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as other security agencies from around the world.”
