Four men have been arrested following the kidnapping and subsequent murder of a 29-year-old Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto trader, all so they could steal his three BTC tokens.
The news emerges amid a disturbing surge in crypto-related crimes, including kidnappings and ransom demands.
As per local media reports , Police have arrested a group of four men aged 24 to 29 years old for kidnapping, robbing, and murdering a Morrocan man in Kyiv, Ukraine.
According to the Kyiv Police, it was all planned in advance , writing to Telegram:
“They learned that the man had Bitcoins worth several million hryvnias. They tracked down where he lived, waited for him, forced him into a car and took him to an abandoned building in Kyiv region.”
The perpetrators cashed out the funds after coercing the man into transferring the $170,000 worth of Bitcoin to their cryptocurrency wallets. Tragically, they then proceeded to kill the man.
“To hide the traces of the crime, the license plates and appearance of the car were changed, and the body was taken to the forest, where it was buried,”
Residents in the Solomianskyi district reported the crime to Kyiv Police around midnight after hearing screams and witnessing several unknown figures attack and force a man into a car.
Kyiv Police immediately launched a special operation in response. Prosecutors will reportedly seek life imprisonment for the offenders.
The crypto space has witnessed many inexplicable attacks and, unfortunately, tragic deaths in years gone by.
Whether stealing Bitcoin ATMs, extorting, kidnapping, or outright murdering individuals, physical Bitcoin attacks are a new reality of the 21st century.
In-person attacks are becoming more common. Just this month, in Hong Kong, a 3-year-old boy was kidnapped and held for a ransom of 660,000 USDT.
In a separate incident, two Chinese/Chinese-American entrepreneurs were taken hostage in the Philippines, with kidnappers demanding roughly $2 million in USDT. Despite making a payment of $109,000, the victims were unfortunately found dead.
With crypto’s rise to the peak of mainstream culture following the crypto euphoria of 2021, crypto assets such as Bitcoin have become even more desirable to criminals. Now, attacks are becoming a little more sophisticated and a little more brutal.