Ukraine detains suspect over abduction of cryptocurrency owner and $2.5 million theft

Ukrainian law enforcement detained at Boryspil airport one of the suspects in the kidnapping of a person and extortion of cryptocurrency from them. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reports.

According to investigators, in April 2021 two suspects forcibly placed the victim in a car and drove him to a village in the Kyiv region. The criminals held him in a rented house and, under threats, gained access to the victim’s cryptocurrency wallets with assets worth $2.5 million.

The victim was later taken to a forest in Poltava region, where belongings and money were seized.

The suspects were put on the wanted list. One was detained after returning from abroad; the whereabouts of the second are being established.

As part of the investigation, accounts that the suspects had gained access to were blocked. Half of the funds were recovered, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.

Earlier, ForkLog reported that in Kaliningrad, criminals forced a local resident to transfer cryptocurrency worth $523 000 and threw him into a forest. The suspects were arrested.

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