Two intruders tortured a Minsk resident and threatened to kill him, demanding to transfer cryptocurrency to them. One managed to escape, the other appeared in court.

A court in Belarus has sentenced a Grodno resident to 13 years in prison in a case of robbery and extortion of cryptocurrencies worth more than 1 billion Belarusian rubles (27.1 billion rubles at the current exchange rate).

According to the prosecutor's office of Belarus, a man and an accomplice disguised as electricians entered the apartment of a resident of Minsk and demanded to transfer bitcoins to them, torturing and threatening to kill.

The crime occurred in August 2024. During the investigation, it was established that the attackers had threatened a resident of Minsk with an air pistol similar to Makarov's pistol, with a mock-up silencer.

«The "electricians" also handcuffed the victim, tortured him with a taser and demanded to transfer 5,750 bitcoins to their virtual wallet," said Kirill Chubkovets, deputy head of the main directorate of the General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus.

The resident from Minsk did not succumb to the threats and did not transfer the cryptocurrency to the extortionists. Then they tied him up and gave him 24 hours to fulfill the requirements. According to Chubkovets, one of the criminals was caught, and the second managed to leave the country.

"The court found the Grodno resident guilty and sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment to be served in a penal colony under enhanced security conditions. The convict was also fined 500 basic units (about 21 thousand Belarusian rubles)," Chubkovets said.

He added that "the verdict has not yet entered into legal force and can be appealed in due course."

Cases of extortion of cryptocurrencies with the use of violence and kidnappings are occurring more and more frequently in different countries of the world.

Last week in the United States, a group of teenagers were accused of kidnapping, extortion and stealing $4 million worth of crypto assets.

They ambushed the victim in the evening in the parking lot near the house in Las Vegas. They threatened him with a gun, forced him to get into his car, covered his head with a towel and told him that they would kill him and his father if they disobeyed.

The victim transferred the cryptocurrency and NFT to them, after which he was taken to another state and abandoned on the road. He had to walk about 5 miles to a gas station, where he was able to call a friend.

In early May, in France, a group of men abducted the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire and demanded a ransom of between €5 million and €7 million. The police arrested the intruders. It was reported that they had cut off the abducted man's finger.

The same injury was inflicted on the co-founder of the French Ledger company, David Baland, when he and his girlfriend were abducted from their home in Paris at the end of January, also demanding a ransom.

Be careful and please take care of yourself!