In July 2023, in the village of Rudny, an armed group, including a former police officer, kidnapped a crypto investor, demanding access to his cryptocurrency wallets. The criminals were counting on assets exceeding 500 million rubles. They held the victim in the Lower Isetsk Forest, forcing him to reveal the login and password to one of the wallets. Then the criminals withdrew 5.6 million rubles in USDT. Investigators were able to trace the transaction when the criminals attempted to cash out 4 million rubles through a third-party buyer. The police detained the suspects in August 2023. Earlier, a Belarusian court sentenced a man to 13 years in prison for robbery and extortion of bitcoins, who was kidnapped and tortured in Minsk. These cases illustrate the rise in crimes related to digital assets and the need to strengthen security and control measures in the cryptocurrency sphere.
