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Man Fakes His Own Kidnapping to Steal $1,150,000 Worth of Bitcoin

Sun, 08/29/2021 - 18:36
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Alex Dovbnya
A Venezuelan man allegedly defrauded his victims by masterminding a fake kidnapping
Man Fakes His Own Kidnapping to Steal $1,150,000 Worth of Bitcoin
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Venezuela's largest national police agency is looking for a 23-year-old man who allegedly staged his own kidnapping in order to steal $1.15 million worth of Bitcoin.

According to the authorities, Andrés Jesús Dos Santos Hernández told his victims that their funds had been stolen.

He came up with a sham story about his captors forcing him to transfer his holdings from Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, to numerous wallet addresses. This, of course, was just a charade for his fraud.

So far, the scammer’s whereabouts remain unknown.

Related
$70 Million Bitcoin Ransom Demanded by REvil Gang
Earlier this month, Venezuelan merchant Gustavo Torres González got killed after his family members didn’t manage to pay the 0.5 BTC ransom that the victim’s kidnappers were demanding.

In late 2017, an executive of the Exmo cryptocurrency exchange got kidnapped in Ukraine but was later released after paying a $1 million ransom.

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About the author

Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.