Key takeaways:
- Four suspects have been taken into custody by police in connection with the suspected kidnapping and murder of a 29-year-old foreign national Bitcoin user in Kyiv, Ukraine.
- After hearing shouts and witnessing multiple individuals assaulting and shoving a man into a car, the residents called the police.
Four suspects have been taken into custody by police in connection with the suspected kidnapping and murder of a 29-year-old foreign national Bitcoin user in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the theft of $170,000 in Bitcoin.
According to Kyiv Police, the four suspects, who are all male and between the ages of 24 and 29, planned the attack and launched it at midnight on July 29.
After hearing shouts and witnessing multiple individuals assaulting and shoving a man into a car, the residents called the police.
According to the police, the victim was brought to an abandoned structure and coerced into sending 2.55 Bitcoin (about 7 million Ukrainian hryvnias) before being strangled to death and his body being buried in a forest.
In an effort to hide the crime, Kyiv Police further claimed that the four men altered the car’s look and license plate. After converting the Bitcoin into stacks of US dollars and euros, the culprits were apprehended by Kyiv Police.
Prosecutors in Kyiv intend to file charges for homicide, robbery, unlawful deprivation of liberty carried out by a coordinated group of individuals, and crime concealment. A life term in jail might be imposed on all four of the detainees.
Over the years, the crypto sector has been plagued with both explainable and unexplained deaths.
A crypto millionaire’s body was discovered in pieces in Argentinean luggage in 2022, while another individual was killed in Bulgaria by being struck with a dumbbell and having their body parts flushed down the toilet.
According to Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp, many of these thieves usually use public forums, conferences, meetups, and social media posts to find potential victims.
According to Lopp, peer-to-peer exchanges (especially with people you don’t trust), showing off your wealth on social media, and dressing in apparel with crypto branding are all severely discouraged.
As part of a large-scale investigation into financial crime, Hong Kong police have detained four individuals, including a 14-year-old. On July 26, the suspects were placed under arrest and charged with possessing and using 5,000 counterfeit banknotes and plotting to commit fraud.
