A Canadian volunteer moderator of a crypto forum has reportedly gone into hiding with his family after kidnappers allegedly attempted to abduct him and force him to give up his Bitcoin.
The victim, who wasn’t identified in the Canadian French-language news outlet La Presse’s Jan. 6 report, claimed the would-be abductors were prepared for horrific violence before he and his children managed to escape.
“The guys had equipment to torture me. They had a 2-foot by 2-foot tarpaulin with a hole in the middle and [green hoses] around it to cut a limb and stop the bleeding.”
“It’s incredible violence,” the man told La Presse.
This latest incident comes amid a rising number of robberies, kidnappings and muggings involving cryptocurrencies over the last year.
The man said he and his children have moved from one Airbnb to the next to hide their whereabouts and that police had concluded the offenders’ motive was to steal funds from his crypto wallet.
“[The perpetrators] would have seen posts on a Facebook page that I’ve been moderating for several years and thought I had 2.5 million Bitcoin,” the man told La Presse.
“That is far from being the case. I’m a very ordinary guy. I may have 10,000 dollars.”
The man first contacted the police on Nov. 4 after two men wearing surgical masks threatened him outside his home. The pair fled after he managed to close the door on them.
Then, on Nov. 8, while putting his daughter in the back seat of his car, he spotted a black vehicle with no license plates near his home. He was followed while driving and phoned the police. When he pulled over, a gun was pointed at him.
Four people were arrested, and two of them were brought to court last November, accused of conspiring to kidnap and possession of prohibited firearms.
The alleged assailants were released pending trial, which is scheduled for March, and remain under house arrest, where they cannot leave unless for legitimate work, La Presse reported.
The victim didn’t appear to be happy with the Court of Quebec’s decision to release the suspects on bail as he has been forced to “burn the few savings” he has left to continue evading the suspects.
Related: 4 suspects forced a Bitcoiner to transfer BTC before killing him, police say
Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp has tracked at least 181 reports involving crypto robberies, kidnappings, murders or related incidents since December 2014, including some incidents that occurred over this past holiday period.
On New Year’s Day, French police rescued a man found tied up in the trunk of a car in Le Mans after his captors made a ransom demand to his son, a crypto influencer living in Dubai.
On Christmas Day, a Pakistan-based crypto trader was reportedly kidnapped by several men in a police van and forced to transfer $340,000 while held at gunpoint.
On Dec. 24, the wife of another crypto influencer was reportedly kidnapped by three men, with a police chase leading to a car crash in Belgium.
Lopp has previously recommended against peer-to-peer trades — particularly with people you don’t trust — flaunting wealth on social media and wearing crypto-branded clothing.
“The general premise is that if criminals are less aware of you, they are less likely to target you.”
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