ChainCatcher reported that Ukrainian police arrested a criminal gang on Monday for allegedly impersonating law enforcement officials and threatening a young entrepreneur to face criminal charges for fictitious crimes, thereby extorting $250,000 in USDT. According to a statement, the four suspects detained by the Cyber Police and the National Police Internal Security Department face up to 12 years in prison.
The group allegedly intimidated the entrepreneur, accusing him of collaborating with Russia and threatening him with a long prison sentence for treason. They offered $250,000 in exchange for "solving the problem" and asked that it be transferred in the form of cryptocurrency.
Fearing legal consequences, the entrepreneur agreed to the request and transferred 250,000 USDT to a crypto wallet controlled by the gang. According to the statement, the criminals then quickly moved the stolen funds through crypto exchanges.