Cybercriminals have been harassing schools across the UK yesterday, sending over 24,000 bomb threats across the UK. The perpetrator has spoken up about the incident, hinting that it might have originated from a feud over Minecraft.

More than 400 schools were evacuated yesterday, according to the Express, after an email chain was sent out claiming to “have sent in a student with a bomb,” while trying to implicate US-based Minecraft server host VeltPvP. “The bomb is set to go off in 3 hours times, if you do not send $5,000 USD to [veltpvpcom].”

“We've been being harassed by a group of cybercriminals that are trying to harass us in any way possible,” explains VeltPvP in a statement on Twitter, “We're extremely sorry for anyone who had to deal with this, but just know it's fake.”

This message actually evacuated 400 schools in the UK https://t.co/med1VfQ3R8 pic.twitter.com/9pkBFZhLsY

— Tom (@SuchSpeed) March 19, 2018

Police forces across the country investigated the matter before Northumbria Police released a statement to confirm that the incident was being treated as a hoax. “Detectives have looked into the emails – which appear to originate from the US – and can confirm that there is no viable threat,” explained the police department.

Sky News has reportedly been in contact with some of the perpetrators, who recognise that their actions are “horrible” but justify themselves based on the supposed actions of VeltPvP, claiming the host has initiated DDoS attacks against competitor servers.

17-year-old VeltPvP CEO Carson Kalle denies these allegations, stating that the rivalry between the perpetrators and VeltPvP is purely “one-sided.” He believes that the perpetrator is someone who could have been banned from his server in the past and carried a grudge.

KitGuru Says: While video games are a powerful medium, it’s sad when real world threats are made to distress others based on immaterial things. While unlikely, hopefully the perpetrators are caught before they cause more harm.

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