Cryptocurrency traders are increasingly becoming targets of kidnapping and extortion, as highlighted by several reported cases in recent weeks.
According to local French media France Bleu Normandie, French police rescued a man who was tied up in the trunk of a car in Le Mans, after the kidnappers demanded ransom from his son, a cryptocurrency KOL living in Dubai.
The incident occurred on the evening of January 1, when Le Mans police intercepted a stolen vehicle at a gas station. Upon opening the trunk, they found a 56-year-old man soaked in gasoline.
The victim said that masked attackers broke into his home on New Year's Eve, kidnapped him and his wife, and transported him nearly 500 kilometers away. The kidnappers used a cryptocurrency network to demand ransom from his son.
In Pakistan, on January 3, seven people, including an anti-terrorism officer, were arrested for the kidnapping of a local cryptocurrency trader.
The victim, Mohammed Arsalan, was kidnapped on December 25 in Manhoopir, Karachi. Reports indicate that the kidnappers forced him to transfer $340,000 via his Binance account, before abandoning him near the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah mausoleum. The perpetrators successfully fled the scene, and the investigation is ongoing.

In December, a 24-year-old woman, Catherine Colivas, kidnapped a member of the Saudi royal family with the help of three accomplices, threatening to cut off his fingers to force him to pay $40,000 in Bitcoin. Although the woman pleaded guilty, she was not sentenced to prison. Catherine Colivas faces up to 25 years in prison at a hearing in Victoria, Australia. She pleaded guilty to kidnapping, extortion, reckless injury, theft, and firearms charges. However, the judge deemed her situation 'special' based on her age, upbringing difficulties, mental health status, rehabilitation prospects, and the death of her brother while awaiting trial, concluding that 30 months of community service was sufficient.
Meanwhile, Toronto police are still investigating the kidnapping case of Dean Skurka, CEO of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange WonderFi. According to CBC News, Skurka was kidnapped during peak hours in downtown Toronto on November 6 and was released after electronically paying a ransom of $1 million.

According to data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, ransomware gangs extorted over $1.1 billion in cryptocurrency from victims in 2023. (Cointelegraph)