BlockBeats reported on January 5 that cryptocurrency traders are becoming targets of kidnapping and extortion, as highlighted by several cases reported in recent weeks. French police recently rescued a man tied to the trunk of a car in Le Mans after the kidnappers demanded a ransom from his son, a cryptocurrency KOL living in Dubai.
The incident occurred on the evening of January 1, when Le Mans police stopped a stolen vehicle at a gas station. After opening the trunk, they found a 56-year-old man covered in gasoline. The victim said that the masked assailants broke into his home on New Year's Eve and kidnapped him and his wife.
In Pakistan, seven people, including a counter-terrorism officer, were arrested on January 3 for kidnapping a local cryptocurrency trader. The victim was abducted on December 25 in Manhopil, Karachi, and the kidnappers forced him to transfer $340,000 through a Binance account before abandoning him.
Last December, 24-year-old Catherine Colivas, with the help of three accomplices, kidnapped a Saudi Arabian royal and threatened to cut off his fingers in exchange for $40,000 in Bitcoin. Although she pleaded guilty, she has not been jailed.
Toronto police are still investigating the kidnapping of Dean Skurka, CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange WonderFi. Skurka was abducted during rush hour in downtown Toronto on November 6 last year and was released after a $1 million ransom was paid electronically.