Dragon’s Den star offers reward as Twitter user threatens his daughter

UK Dragon’s Den TV star, entrepreneur and active Twitter user Duncan Bannatyne has found himself at the sore end of social media today as someone used Twitter to demand money and threaten his daughter.

The offender used Twitter to draw Bannatyne’s attention to a Pastebin message, which reads

“My name is Yuri Vasilyev and I’m looking for a £35,000 investment to stop us hurting your Hollie Bannatyne. We will bring hurt and pain into your life.

We are watching her. She is very attractive. Want photos?

Tweet using the hashtag #4money to confirm payment will be made.”

Bannatyne responded to the threat with a public offer of £25,000 for Vasilyev’s “capture” or “Double if his arms are broken first”. (UPDATE: this tweet has since been deleted).

Responding to followers’ questions, Bannatyne noted that he had traced the IP address of Vasilyev to an Internet cafe in Moscow, and noted that his daughter has protection. Bannatyne upped the reward to £30,000, clarifying that it is for the offender’s arrest.

Bannatyne’s Twitter followers have been hot on the case, tracking down Livejournal and Facebook profiles they believe to relate to the individual concerned.

While we don’t know how serious Bannatyne is about actually paying out a reward, he’s definitely serious about tracking down whomever is responsible.

UPDATE: Bannatyne appears to have (probably wisely) deleted the tweet which claimed “I offer £25,000 reward for the capture of the coward who calls himself @YuriVasilyev_ Double if his arms are broken first“. It’s still in our Storify embed below, however. The £30,000 reward offer for an arrest still stands, however.

Thanks to Lachy Groom for the story tip.