This case happened in India. Captors kidnapped three people; two of them were crypto traders. Captors demanded 80 Bitcoin worth of $840,000 as ransom from them. Before invention of digital coins, captors used to demand fiat currency as ransom. However, time has changed and people are being kidnapped to ransom for cryptocurrency.
After a 13-hour operation, police rescued captives and arrested a gang of seven people who allegedly involved in this kidnapping case. Besides, the gang has played a key role in several crimes that include extortion, loot, kidnapping and robbery.
Police shared the name of rescued people:
- Luftan Shaikh – 19-year-old
- Malang Shah – 44-year-old
- Mohammad Shazad – 36-year-old
According to the captives, the gang members used belts, sticks and other things to torture them. However, nothing mentioned here about what other things they used. But it could have been dangerous. Luckily they are saved by authorities.
“The gang kidnapped Shaikh and Shazad, two bitcoin traders, and demanded 80 Bitcoins ($840,000) worth ₹8 crore ($1.2 million). Shah was kidnapped two days later. The gang demanded ₹10 lakh from his family members,” deputy commissioner of police Vika Sharma said.
The captives haven’t yet mentioned whether they paid any of the extortion money or cryptocurrency.
Source: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/07/15/police-rescued-bitcoin-traders/