A kidnapping incident related to Bitcoin has happened in India where kidnappers have abducted an eight-year-old boy and are asking his father to pay a huge ransom in Bitcoin. The father of the child is a cryptocurrency investor and local businessman in the country. They have demanded a ransom of 100 Bitcoin (BTC) for releasing the boy.
A Ransom of $2.3 Million Worth of BTC Is The Demand Of Kidnappers
This incident of kidnapping took place recently on the 17th of December in Ujire taluk of Mangaluru district in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka. Surprisingly, the boy was abducted right in front of the house while he was playing, as per an article report of the local news media outlet Hindustan Times.
Now, kidnappers are demanding a huge ransom of approximately $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin (100 BTC) in exchange for the release of the boy. As soon as the family came to know about the incident, it immediately contacted the police. Shortly after that, the amount of ransom demanded by kidnappers has been reduced from 100 BTC to 60 BTC. However, they have also threatened the family saying that if they reach out to the police again they will have to face “dire consequences”.
Six suspects, in this case, have been taken into custody who are well recognized to the family of the boy. The arrest of these individuals became possible through tracing the message sent by the criminals from a cell tower in the Hassan district of Karnataka. They are now being investigated and might be involved in the kidnapping of the boy.
According to the report, both the grandfather and the father of the child are well-known investors of cryptocurrency and are local businessmen as well. Particularly, they are investors of Bitcoin. It seems that kidnappers already knew about the boy’s family and that is why they asked for a ransom in Bitcoin.
Crypto Usage Crosses Over $1.5 Billion On The Darknet in 2020
Cryptocurrencies are now increasingly being used on the darknet. Especially, the world’s largest digital currency in terms of market cap Bitcoin is preferred by hackers or kidnappers and is mostly used on the darknet as the main digital asset for illegal activities.
This year, the use of crypto on the darknet even surged high. Reportedly, the usage of cryptocurrency has jumped above the figure of $1.5 billion on the darknet this year. And Bitcoin is becoming more attractive to malicious actors as it is becoming more and more valuable with the passage of time.