South Korea Stunned by Crypto-Is Crypto Crime on the Rise?

The purported kidnapping and murder of a 48-year-old lady in Gangnam, Seoul, has devastated South Korea. This crime appears to have been motivated by cryptocurrency, and it occurred in the capital city of Seoul.

There have been four suspects taken into custody.

The suspected criminal act was captured on camera and made public through news broadcasts, such as the footage that can be found below, which is a report from the national broadcaster MBC.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW FOR MORE CLARIFICATIONS

At approximately 11:46 p.m., in the wealthy Seocho district, the footage appears to show three males assaulting a woman who is walking down the street.

The district is home to the majority of the most successful cryptocurrency companies in the country.

After that, it seems as though the males are attempting to drag the woman into a car.

According to Chosun, Maeil Kyungjae, Joongang, and EToday, four male suspects ranging in age from 24 to 36 years old have been taken into custody by the police in connection with the incident.

It is suspected that three people are depicted in the film carrying out the attack, with the youngest person perhaps being an accomplice who was hired to “follow” the woman for a period of several months.

The identity of a victim has not been made public, but it has been claimed in the media that she was a “former employee” of a company that deals with cryptocurrencies.

It was said that she had a significant quantity of cryptocurrency assets, such as Bitcoin (BTC).

The woman’s husband has allegedly been detained for fraud relating to cryptocurrencies and is currently being held in prison by the police pending his trial, according to the police.

Police stated that “there may be further collaborators in addition to” those that were arrested and that they were actively searching for “additional suspects.”

Could Crypto Be the Reason for Such a Cruel Killing?

The investigation has led the authorities to believe that the guys abducted the woman, held her captive for two days, dosed her with ketamine, and eventually smothered her before traveling to the nearby city of Daejeon.

The body of the victim was discovered in the vicinity of the Daecheong Dam in the city.

Photographs of the men being arrested by the police were published by various sites in the media.

The man, who is 24 years old, is said to have told the police that one of the other suspects approached him for assistance in January, but he denied taking part in the kidnapping.

The investigation led the police to suspect that the 35-year-old man was the ringleader and that he had spent about $61,000 in the victim’s previous company, which was also a company where he had previously worked. The police believe that he was unable to recover any of the money that he had invested.

The suspect, who is 36 years old, is believed to have been persuaded by this man to assist him in kidnapping the victim. A third man, aged 30 years old, owed money to the 36-year-old male, who is believed to have implied that he would forgive the loan provided the younger man participated in the scheme.

According to the report, one of the suspects confessed to the police that the act “was carried out with the intention of taking the coins that belonged to the victim.”

Is There a Rise in Cryptocurrency-Related Crime in South Korea?

The police have stated that the crime was premeditated and have added that it appears the men utilized cash and pay-as-you-go mobile phones in order to evade capture and avoid prosecution.

Police reiterated their assertion that the robbery was financially motivated and that the suspects intended to steal the victim’s cryptocurrency assets. They said that this was their official explanation for the crime.

According to the observations made by the police, at least two of the suspects once attended the same college.

After being found guilty of stabbing his fiancée to death and then throwing her over a 19th-floor apartment building balcony, the CEO of a cryptocurrency company received a sentence of 25 years in jail in the month of December of the previous year.

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