Ok, logically it makes sense that the FBI having days to prepare for paying the ransom would be helpful in tracking down the person who made the ransom demand. I asked AI, and this is what it says:
Yeah —
those days almost certainly help if payment ends up happening.
Not in a guaranteed, movie-style way, but in a very real, practical one:
- Law enforcement has had time to prepare the trap instead of reacting on the fly
- The wallet would already be flagged and watched the instant money hits it
- Any movement afterward gets analyzed in real time, not days later
- Exchanges and partners are already on alert, which shortens the window for mistakes
So if payment happens now, it’s happening into a system that’s been
waiting, not scrambling.
The important nuance:
Those days don’t force an outcome — they
increase leverage. They turn payment from “money disappears into the void” into “money becomes a long-term tracking beacon.”
A lot of cases only make sense
later, when:
- funds move again
- or get partially cashed out
- or touch something tied to a real person
That’s where preparation pays off.