Digital wealth, physical harm:
The rise of crypto kidnapping
During the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in physical violence toward individuals within the crypto industry or associated with crypto wealth. 1 This new variant of kidnapping for ransom demonstrates the adaptation of criminals and organized crime groups( OCGs) to the digital age. It is a convergence crime that sits at the intersection of traditional violence as well as cyber and financial crime. To some extent, crypto kidnapping can be considered as the physical counterpart to cyberattacks. While cybercriminals exploit and break into computer systems remotely, kidnappers exploit human vulnerabilities and directly violate physical integrity. The harm from crypto kidnapping goes far beyond financial loss as victims face threats, violence and even torture.
The aim of this article is to examine crypto kidnapping by analyzing the modus operandi of this new form of crime. The article also concludes by outlining risk mitigating best practices for the private sector to respond to and prevent this new form of criminality.
Understanding crypto kidnapping
Crypto kidnapping is a new variant of ransom kidnapping 2 that targets individuals who occupy high or strategic positions within private cryptooriented companies such as founders and executives, as well as individuals perceived as wealthy crypto holders such as entrepreneurs, investors, traders or social media influencers. It is worth mentioning that there may be some overlap between crypto kidnapping and express kidnapping 3 if the victim is held for a short period of time and forced to transfer their crypto wealth from their electronic device. However, crypto kidnapping typically follows the traditional ransom kidnapping model where the victim is held hostage while the relatives or colleagues of the victim are extorted to pay the ransom. The monetary ransom in this form of kidnapping is paid in cryptocurrency and often involves millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. Crypto kidnapping requires a higher level of sophistication due to its operational complexity and the higher risk of traceability if mishandled. Crypto kidnapping is also resource-intensive to execute and involves both technical and human resources, which partly explains why only OCGs are able to successfully execute this type of operation. It also combines different crime components: primarily traditional and violent crime( e. g., physical abduction, confinement, coercion, torture and the use of weapons), cybercrime
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