Crypto traders are facing an increasing threat of kidnappings and extortion, as evidenced by a number of alarming cases reported in recent weeks.
In France, police rescued a man who was found tied up in the trunk of a car in Le Mans. The man’s captors had demanded a ransom from his son, a crypto influencer living in Dubai. According to local French outlet France Bleu Normandie, the incident took place on the night of January 1st, when officers intercepted a stolen vehicle at a gas station in Le Mans. Upon opening the trunk, they discovered a disoriented 56-year-old man who had been doused in gasoline.
The victim recounted that masked attackers had broken into his home on New Year’s Eve, tied him and his wife up, and transported him nearly 500 kilometers across the country. The captors used encrypted networks to demand a ransom from his son. The perpetrators managed to escape the scene, and an investigation is currently underway.
The surge in Bitcoin’s value has led to a rise in crypto-related crimes. On December 17th, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $108,135, drawing increased attention to the crypto sector. The booming crypto market, which has grown from $1 trillion to $3.64 trillion in the past year, has attracted criminals looking to exploit the trend through ransomware, kidnappings, and extortion schemes.
In Pakistan, seven individuals, including a Counter-Terrorism Department officer, were arrested on January 3rd for kidnapping a local crypto trader. The victim, Mohammed Arsalan, was abducted in Karachi on December 25th. The kidnappers forced him to transfer $340,000 through his Binance account before leaving him near the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah. A first information report (FIR) was filed under Pakistan’s Penal Code for kidnapping and extortion.
Similar incidents have also occurred in Australia and Canada. In Australia, a Saudi royal was lured into a kidnapping plot through a dating app. The victim was tied up and threatened with having his fingers cut off unless he transferred $40,000 in Bitcoin. The perpetrator, Catherine Colivas, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, extortion, and theft but received a 30-month community corrections order instead of jail time due to factors such as mental health issues and a difficult upbringing.
In Canada, the CEO of WonderFi, a Canadian crypto exchange, was kidnapped in downtown Toronto during rush hour and released after a $1 million ransom was electronically paid.
According to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, ransomware gangs extorted over $1.1 billion in cryptocurrency payments from victims in 2023. Chainalysis analysts noted that the ransomware landscape is both widespread and constantly expanding, making it difficult to monitor every incident or trace all ransom payments made in cryptocurrencies.