WSJ: Cryptocurrency company owners are being kidnapped en masse for ransom
20 May 19:34
A wave of violence against cryptocurrency company owners is growing worldwide, with criminals kidnapping entrepreneurs and demanding ransom in digital currency. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The latest case occurred in Paris: unknown persons tried to kidnap the daughter of the head of the Paymium crypto exchange with her young child. The attack was repelled thanks to the intervention of the victim’s husband and neighbors, although the man himself was injured.
Earlier in France, David Ballan, co-founder of Ledger, was kidnapped. The attackers demanded €10 million and sent videos of torture, one of which showed Ballan’s finger being cut off. He and another hostage were later released after a partial ransom (€3 million), which the company managed to almost completely recover thanks to the blocking of cryptocurrency transactions.
In total, at least five kidnappings have been reported in France in recent months, and there were dozens of such cases around the world last year alone.
Eric Larsheveck, another Ledger co-founder, said the situation resembles the “Mexicanization of France” and warned that businessmen are increasingly considering emigration due to lack of security.
Criminals are helped by the leakage of personal data of crypto owners through hacker attacks. To protect themselves, many of the so-called “crypto elite” try to remove personal information from the network, change their addresses, and remove their presence on social media.
