And from wiki, a whole bunch of info on bitcoin. not regulated and a fair amount of fraud over time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
Can I ask another stupid question?
Where do you buy Bitcoin? Do you have to buy Bitcoin in American money or the official currency of some other country? Who sells Bitcoin to you? Couldn’t something like this be a racket, in which the criminal element sells you the Bitcoin needed to pay the ransom that they are trying to extort from you?