A teenager believed to be at the center of an Minecraft gamers feud has been arrested after an explosion that shut down hundreds of colleges and schools across the UK.
The 19-year old was detained by Hertfordshire police after some 24,000 threatening emails were sent out to schools, warning of a bomb attack imminently in the event that cash was not handed over.
The emails were spoofed to appear as if they had been sent by a gaming network called VeltPvP. Freezing A Moment VeltPvP is an Minecraft player-versus player server, of the kind that companies make use of to sell their products to gamers.
A teenager who is believed to be at the heart of a Minecraft gamers' squabble has been detained following an explosion that shut down hundreds of schools across the UK. The 19-year-old was detained by Hertfordshire police after 24,000 emails were sent out to schools warning them of an imminent attack
These emails were sent to disable VeltPvP and were intended to cause the abuse of the domain to be stopped.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) declared that there was 'no credible threat to the emails' received this week.
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They stated that they understood the concerns of teachers and parents however, they stressed that there was no real threat from the emails that were sent to schools.
"However we take the communication seriously. As this is a live investigation we are unable to provide further information.'
In the wake of the hoax email bombs there were signs posted outside Cardinal Road School in Feltham
The dispute was based on the belief that rivals were involved in illegal activities to stop one another from doing business.
"It's awful, it's not the nicest thing', one of the hoaxers involved stated when asked if regrets the impact the letters had had on the school pupils who were forced to leave.
The blame is being placed on VeltPvP the hoaxer claimed that the network was involved in a series of Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks - which he claims were employed to block other competitors' Minecraft servers.
Following the fake bomb email threat, parents were asked to return their children to their homes.
VeltPvP released a statement that stated that they were being harassed and hounded by cybercriminals.
"We are deeply sorry for those who were affected by this, but we want to inform you that this is a fake."
The email was sent to more than 400 colleges and schools across the nation. It claimed that the bomb was already planted and could explode if no money was given.
Cardinal Road School in Feltham West London was one of the schools that were targeted by the fake email.
Police forces from London, Bristol, Liverpool, Bedfordshire and the the North East were among those investigating.
Parents at some schools requested to be able to pick their children up in the wake of concerns about the emails.
Six schools across Hertfordshire were also among those affected: Abbots Hill in Hemel Hempstead, Valley School in Stevenage, The Sele School in Hertford, Duncombe School in Hertford, Stanborough School in Watford and St Albans High School.