UPDATE 12:55 p.m.

An email sent to three Penticton car dealerships this morning containing a bomb threat was asking for bitcoin payments.

Skaha Ford dealer principal Brad Jinjoe said the email asked for the untraceable cryptocurrency, and threatened a bomb would be detonated if a payment was not made.

“About two weeks ago we received one that was similar,” he said. “It didn’t have to do with a bomb, but it had to do with webcams and people’s computers catching them doing things they shouldn't have done and pay bitcoin and we won't release the videos.”

Jinjoe said his dealership has now been cleared and employees are back in the building.

Numerous other dealerships in B.C. and Alberta received the email, as well as businesses in the United States.

"At this time, it appears that these threats are meant to cause disruption and/or obtain money," the New York Police Department tweeted this morning. "We’ll respond to each call regarding these emails to conduct a search but we wanted to share this information so the credibility of these threats can be assessed as likely NOT CREDIBLE."

The Calgary Police also tweeted that they have responded to similar calls this morning.

One of the emails sent to American businesses is copied below.

Good day.  My mercenary has carried an explosive device (lead azide) into the building where your company is located. My recruited person constructed the bomb according to my guide. It can be hidden anywhere because of its small size, it is impossible to destroy the building structure by my explosive device, but there will be many victims in the case of its detonation.

My man is controlling the situation around the building. If any unnatural behavioror emergency is noticed the bomb will be exploded.

I would like to suggest you a bargain. You send me 20'000 usd in BTC and the device will not explode, but don't try to deceive me -I warrant you that I will withdraw my recruited person solely after 3 confirmations in blockchain.

My payment details (btc address): 

You have to transfer bitcoins by the end of the working day, if you are late with the payment explosive will detonate.

Nothing personal this is just a business, if I do not receive the bitcoin and the bomb detonates, next time other companies will send me more money, because it is not a single incident.

For security and anonymity ,  I wont log into this email. I check my  wallet every thirty minutes and if I see the transaction I will give the command to my man to get away.

If a bomb blows up and the authorities see this letter:

We are not the terrorist organization and do not take any  responsibility for acts of terrorism in other buildings.

UPDATE 12:25 p.m.

Employees from three Penticton car dealerships have been sent home after bomb threats were emailed to the Duncan Avenues businesses.

Police say Penticton Honda, Penticton Hyundai and Skaha Ford all received anonymous bomb threats by email Thursday morning.

Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says all the dealerships received the same threat, which led to the evacuation of the buildings.

“A dog that can detect explosives is just arriving on scene to clear the buildings,” he said shortly before noon.

As the Penticton dealerships were being evacuated, RCMP received reports of similar threats made to Vernon, Kamloops and other B.C. car dealers.

“At this time we are still treating it very serious until we can confirm whether the threat is real or not.”

UPDATE 11:45 a.m.

RCMP Const. James Grandy has advised Castanet of multiple bomb threats being received by the Honda, Hyundai and Skaha Ford dealerships in Penticton.

Grandy says, "police have actively blocked off the 500 block of Duncan Ave. W, and evacuated all neighbouring businesses."

ORIGINAL 11:34 a.m.

RCMP in Penticton have a portion of Duncan Avenue blocked off as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning.

Duncan Avenue runs from Highway 97 to Fairview Road. RCMP tell Castanet the car dealerships in the area have received bomb threats which they are taking very seriously.

Castanet Penticton News Director Colin Dacre says a source at the scene indicates several other dealerships in the Okanagan, specifically Vernon and also Kamloops have likewise received threats.

The RCMP bomb unit, including sniffer dogs, is now on scene.

More coming