Police have received three reports of businesses being sent "threatening" emails demanding payment of £10,000 in Bitcoin.
The scam emails have been received in the last 24 hours and police are urging business owners not to respond to them.
The emails contain the subject line “last letter” and use strong language to demand the £10,000 payment by Bitcoin is made within three days.
The sender claims they have a flight booked to the UK and threaten the recipient with violence if they do not send them the money.
All three emails reported to Dyfed-Powys Police contained the same wording and are specific that the payment should be made using the crypto-currency Bitcoin. Bitcoin payments do not go through the regular banking system and would therefore be untraceable.
Detective Sergeant Rob Gravelle, from the digital communications and cyber crime unit, said: “A scam email appears to be circulating, targeting businesses across the force.
“The sender is threatening violence unless a large amount of money is sent. Thankfully the three people who have reported the emails to us have not paid any money, but we are concerned that some business owners might feel threatened into transferring the funds.
“We would urge anyone who has received an email of this kind not to click on any links, not to reply to the email, or contact the sender in any way, not to open any attachments, and report the incident to Action Fraud.”
Reports of similar emails can be made to Action Fraud at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ or by calling 0300 123 2040.