group claims to have Romney's tax returns, holding them for ransom

[downtown]

Here is the story:

Mitt Romney’s tax returns are reportedly in the hands of a team of hackers who plan on releasing them publicly at the end of the month unless a ransom is paid.

The group allegedly obtained the files from PricewaterhouseCooper’s Tennessee office on Aug. 25, in what was described on PasteBin as a Mission Impossible-like caper:


Romney’s 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building. Once on the 3rd floor, the team moved down the stairs to the 2nd floor and setup shop in an empty office room. During the night, suite 260 was entered, and all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied. A package was sent to the PWC on suite 260 with a flash drive containing a copy of the 1040 files, plus copies were sent to the Democratic office in the county and copies were sent to the GOP office in the county at the beginning of the week also containing flash drives with copies of Romney’s tax returns before 2010. A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.

The files are to be released to the public on Sept. 28, according to the PasteBin document.

The release, however, could allegedly be avoided if Romney’s camp were to wire transfer $1 million in Bitcoins — an online currency that is difficult both to trace and to identify.

“The keys to unlock the data will be purged and whatever is inside the documents will remain a secret forever,” states another PasteBin document. “Failure to do this before September 28, the entire world will be allowed to view the documents with a publicly released key to unlock everything. And the same time, the other interested parties will be allowed to compete with you.”

A call to to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Tennessee office was not immediately returned.

Romney’s tax returns have been a lightning rod for criticism from President Barack Obama and Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who claimed that the presidential hopeful hasn’t paid taxes for more than a decade.

“Never in modern American history has a presidential candidate tried so hard to hide himself from the people he hopes to serve,” Reid said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday.

So far, Romney has released a tax return for 2010 and plans on doing so for his 2011 filing. He has refused to release any returns from before 2010.

“I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more,” Romney said in a debate in January, according to the New York Times. “I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”

http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/hacker-ransom-romney-tax-returns/

First, I haven't read this on any other website, so take it with a boulder of salt...BUT..

1) Do you think this is legit? If not, do you think this scenario is POSSIBLE, where a 3rd party releases the tax returns?

2) If you're Mitt, and you could do this without anybody knowing it, would you pay the ransom?

What do you think?

 

[Archbob]

Its a lose-lose situation for Romney. If he pays, everyone knows he's got something to hide. If he doesn't, he's probably screwed.

 

[Der Golem]

How can he be screwed? I don't think his supporters care about his earnings.

 

[dutchfire]

Oooh, this could be interesting!

I think it very well might be legit, although I would expect PWC to keep these sensitive files behind lock and key.

 

[JollyRoger]

It's not the earning that are at issue.

 

[Quackers]

If this is true, this is brilliant. What a story to follow for the next few months. I agree with FallenAngel, they have got Romney by the testicles. I think Romney should just release everything he's got as I think this is a case of damage limitation now; unless they can engineer a comprimise with the group. Maybe he could get away with releasing a few more non-controversial years...

 

[dirtyparrot]

I wouldn't pay the extortion. If they indeed have the documents, he's probably screwed either way. And all he would have to fall back on is the honesty of the extortionist. While, I'm mildly curious about his taxes, breaking into people's offices isn't the way to go.

 

[Leoreth]

How can he be screwed? I don't think his supporters care about his earnings.

Because elections are won in the center?

 

[Antilogic]

In before "-gate" name attached and Democrats are blamed for dirty tactics.

Can't tell veracity from the story alone--it is a pretty incredible tale. I'm waiting for more news.

 

[Quackers]

Hacker-gate.
Is that satisfactory?

 

[warpus]

If this was true they would provide some proof that it is.

It just looks like a money grab to me.

 

[Antilogic]

Hacker-gate.
Is that satisfactory?

PriceWaterHouseCooper has water in the name, so maybe waterhousegate?

Although, I think I've seen that name Cooper around these forums...

 

[Crezth]

Glad to see the libertarian currency of Bitcoins being used for blackmail and coercion. Ayn Rand would be proud.

 

[Murky]

This whole thing is a bit silly.

There is some fairly simple logic to follow with your taxes if you want to serve in government someday.

Don't do unethical things with your taxes or anything else. Especially anything that has an official record. If you don't plan to pay your fair share of taxes then don't run for anything. It will eventually be revealed and unless your opponent is much worse you will lose anyway.

Make sure everything is in perfect order and make these documents available upon request so that you can easily prove that you've got nothing to hide. Be totally transparent in terms of your past financial history or people will view you as a person with something to hide.

 

[Quackers]

PriceWaterHouseCooper has water in the name, so maybe waterhousegate?

Although, I think I've seen that name Cooper around these forums...

I'm happy with that. I think PriceWaterHouseCooper-gate would be awesome in the first few gates but it would be quickly abbreviated to PWHC-gate and ruin everything. Also the media would have to write it out properly everytime. So yes either waterhousegate or hacker-gate. We will let Borachio decide.

 

[Der Golem]

Because elections are won in the center?

No. All of the voters pretty much have their mind already made up.

 

[downtown]

Glad to see the libertarian currency of Bitcoins being used for blackmail and coercion. Ayn Rand would be proud.

How do they work? I've only heard about them in connection to coercion stuff like this, or the underground weapons and drug trade.

 

[El_Machinae]

He should spend $10 million on revenge. Horseheads; chainsaws; bounty hunters; and lawyers.

 

[Crezth]

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

How do they work? I've only heard about them in connection to coercion stuff like this, or the underground weapons and drug trade.

It's basically a decentralized crypto-currency, created via a computer's sweat and toil.

Every computer that uses bitcoins has a bitcoin "wallet" that contains, through a thick layer of encryption, a series of data points that express how many bitcoins are in the wallet. Bitcoins are obtained in a process called "bitcoin mining," where basically your computer crunches equations for days and days before it finds the solution to a given, random problem, yielding 1 bitcoin. It's the ultimate libertarian wet dream of currency: no central government dispenses it, and everyone can make more of it by themselves - all they need is time and electricity.

You can trade bitcoins with other people using online trading sites like Mt. Gox, and the exchange rate is generally something tenuous due to proliferate amounts of hackers and scammers. It's hard to the point of impossible to spoof actual bitcoins, but the online trading websites are so inept that they are continually crashing - either because someone broke into the system, or because market forces kill their precious currency. On multiple separate occasions, the price of bitcoins have been "reset" following market crashes when one smart guy sells all his bitcoins for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Free market, indeed.

In its heyday, bitcoins were popular and their value was rising precipitously. But it was a rotten, unsustainable system, and bitcoins nowadays aren't even worth the money it takes to use electricity to run a computer to generate them. It's a doomed currency, but its cryptographical nature makes it popular among extortionists and contraband dealers.

That's it for your Bitcoin 101 lecture today, class. Next time, we discuss Bitcoin's fanatical, rabid fanbase composed mostly of young libertarians, Randroids, and wannabe mega-industrialists; or "How I learned to stop worrying and laugh at internet libertarians."

edit: Oh, yeah, some real looney-tunes thought the best way to pay alum to their favorite nutty currency was to pay alum to their favorite nutty politician. Without paying him for using his likeness, of course.

Spoiler goooold :

 

[History_Buff]

@ Bit Coins.

Also, there's probably some serious law breaking happening here. Should go well for all involved.

How do they work? I've only heard about them in connection to coercion stuff like this, or the underground weapons and drug trade.

If the folks on SomethingAwful are to be believed, they don't really work at all.