A Bitcoin trader in South Africa was lured to a residence under false pretences and set upon by five individuals who wanted his cryptocurrency. The crime took place in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg.
A hot iron
According to local news source Soweto Urban, “Andrew”, of Lanseria, was invited to give a presentation at a private residence by met a man he had met on Facebook, and later in person. When he got there, someone came up behind him and knocked him out by way of a chemical-soaked cloth to the face.
He awoke in a different house, surrounded by five individuals. These stripped him, assaulted him, and burned him with a hot iron, demanding to know his account details. They also threatened to kill him.
He transferred Bitcoin worth approximately 900,000 rand ($65,984) worth of Bitcoin to the assailants, who also robbed him of two mobile phones, two laptops, 3,000 rand in cash, and then dumped him blindfolded on the side of a road.
Andrew is currently in intensive care being treated for burns.
Other violent crime
In September 2018, a Cape Town businessman named Liyaqat Parker was held hostage for over two months by kidnappers that demanded 50 bitcoins. And outside of South Africa, a complicated case in India saw a man complain to the police that he himself was kidnapped by nine corrupt police officers. In the end it transpired that of a different individual; he had taken revenge for losing money in a-related scheme. He extorted millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin from his victims, and is currently in hiding.
Violent crimes involving Bitcoin do seem to have peaked; in late 2017/early 2018 stories seemed to be breaking more frequently. Examples include: armed men attempting to rob a Bitcoin exchange in ; a man assaulted and forced to transfer bitcoins in ; armed men breaking into a house and threatening a man’s family to get him to transfer bitcoins in ; a gang in involved in kidnappings and fraud; and a New York man (armed of course) accosting a man and stealing his digital wallet.
There seems to have been fewer of these kinds of stories as the year has progressed; perhaps there is after all a positive to be found in the waning value of cryptocurrencies. This, however, is unlikely to be a comfort to Andrew.
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