Hong Kong authorities arrested three teenagers. Six more people are wanted – four men and two women. What is it about? For assaulting a cryptocurrency investor.
A cryptocurrency investor from Hong Kong was attacked
According to SCMP, a 19-year-old investor was lured to a meeting with the perpetrators of the attack under the guise of cryptocurrency trading. Upon arriving at his room at the Harbor Grand Kowloon Hotel on Tak Fung Street, the suspects demanded as much as HKD 180,000 (approx. USD 23,000) from him.
Two of the nine suspects at the scene then attacked the victim with baseball bats.
The 19-year-old victim managed to alert his friend, who then notified law enforcement authorities. Six gang members (I guess you could say that in this context) fled the scene. The police managed to arrest two people near the hotels and a third person shortly thereafter.
The victim was allegedly detained when he went there (to the hotel) to meet nine suspects – seven men and two women. The group demanded that she pay HKD 180,000 for profits made from trading virtual currencies
– says the source of the SCMP portal.
The age of the criminals is terrifying. These are people aged 16 to 19. Now they will be charged with assault, unlawful detention of another person and blackmail.
Torture or cryptocurrencies!
This is not the only case where criminals want to force money or cryptocurrencies from the victim. Last May, six people in India were accused of kidnapping and torturing a man who had previously promised them that he would make money for them in the digital asset market. This condition could not be met. The victim signed the deed of sale of her apartment under duress.
And in South Korea, a man was sentenced to life in prison in October for kidnapping a woman from a posh district of Seoul. The perpetrator administered a lethal dose of ketamine obtained from a plastic surgery clinic to the victim. What adds spice is the fact that he was a former service agent who was hired by people who lost on an investment in cryptocurrencies promoted by a woman.
In Russia, a 23-year-old cryptocurrency miner was kidnapped outside his residence in Izhevsk. It happened on Christmas Day. The kidnappers took him to their hideout and contacted his brother via Telegram, demanding over 15 million rubles for his release. They threatened that if their demands were not met, they would frame the victim for possession of drugs and hand him over to the authorities.
