Kidnappers Demanded 100 BTC Ransom For Indian Investor’s Son

Kidnappers demanded 100 BTC in a new ransom attack towards an Indian investors’ son who is eight years old. The criminals demand a ransom of $2.3 million in BTC so let’s read more in today’s bitcoin scam news.

In a new BTC-related kidnapping event in Karnataka India, kidnappers demanded 100 BTC ransom for the son of the local businessmen and crypto investor. The police already captured six suspects on the case and they were all related to the victim’s family. The eight-year-old boy from India was kidnapped with a ransom note demanding 100 BTC which is worth $2.3 million. The incident happened in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka while the child was playing in his family house in the Mangaluru district a few days ago.

According to the reports, the child’s father and grandfather were local businessmen and investors in crypto. Right after the family contacted the police, the kidnappers reduced their ransom demand from 100 to 60 BTC and threatened the family that they will impose heavy sanctions for approaching the police. The local authorities formed a special police group that traced the new ransom message from a cell tower in the city and managed to arrest and accuse six people that were involved in the case, that were all related to the boy’s family.

The last BTC-ransom kidnap case is far from being the only one that is reported in the country. Earlier this year, the police arrested Norwegian millionaire Tom Hagen in a crypto-related crime where he was suspected of the murder of his wife as a part of a crypto ransom case. Unlike traditional financial tools, BTC and crypto use blockchain and are considered harder to trace. The main cryptocurrency is also considered the main asset that is used in the so-called Darknet market to purchase drugs and to execute other illegal deals.

Crypto usage on the darknet reached $1.5 billion in 2020 while the annual report from Chainalysis shows that there’s a connection between the data and the COVID-19 pandemic. The official analysis shows that the 2020 revenue on the darknet, is bigger than the one in 2019 despite the drop in March and April. However, Chainalysis reported that the Darknet revenue started accelerating from May to December and broke the short-term correlation with the prices. Another report from Kaspersky noted that as BTC grows more valuable, the more attractive it will become to bad actors:

 “With the pandemic likely to cause a wave of poverty in 2021, and certain economies and local currencies possibly plummeting or crashing, it’s predicted that fraudulent activities targeting Bitcoin will be increasingly attractive to threat actors.”