Bitcoin Forum

What if you had, let's say....5000 Bitcoins in your custody and suddenly someone demanded it as a ransom in exchange for someone very important to you, would you make the exchange?

The first question here is how did that kidnapper knew I have a lot of Bitcoins. Second, I don't need to exchange my bitcoins because he is demanding for bitcoin and not for fiat, either way, I will not find any exchanger that will be exchanging that massive number of bitcoins.

That is a very hard question dude... but it depends on the person that the person asks for, if it is from my family i would consider it, but if it is a friend or any other people that i dont threat to much, i wouldnt do it.
At the moment 5000 bitcoins are more than 23 million dollars, that is a huge amount and i dont think that there is an exchanger that is holding such that amount of money.

Of course, I will do it because bitcoin is useless when compared to a person's life.
lately there have been many crimes involving bitcoin. Such as ransomware that seizes all data inside the computer and requests ransom using bitcoins.

I would do it if it my wife, sue longs, or parents. Other than I would negotiate.

That is the same than ask how much would you give away for those you love? Surely we would try to negotiate first and find a reasonable solution for both parties (with the police trying to discover who is the kidnapper), but in the end if no alternatives would be agreed by the kidnappers I would have to give all the money they would be asking for... The life of those people you love value much more than any amount of BTCs in the world.

yes of course, it all becomes priceless if for a loved one, all will be given without having to count the amount. and I agree with you.

I will abide with no doubt at all. What does bitcoin for? when that important person will be dead. Bitcoin is just a money but life is worthless and if I can saved that person i will give all. That's it. The problem is I don't have those 5000 bitcoin even 1btc that's frustrating.

One of the most important rules with Bitcoin is never tell anyone that you have that much Bitcoin otherwise it can be used as a tool to demand from anyone in a form of a ransom. Now, of course, life can be more important so we would not blame anyone to just say yes when someone can be demanding Bitcoin in exchange for the life of someone close to us. We can always buy new Bitcoin anyway but it is impossible to replace someone's life once it is gone for good.

This question is just showing us that Bitcoin has become the popular medium for criminals to demand money from their victims. Hopefully something can be done about it...one that will not compromise the Bitcoin network but at the same will not allow any possible crime perpetrator to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

How did the kidnapper that you use bitcoin and you have 5000 Bitcoins. Well the first move would be to secretly contact the authorities/law enforcer to secretly device a plan to capture this guy cause transferring the ransom through bitcoin is really a bad move once you've sent the bitcoin therw is no guarantee that the kidnapper will free your love ones or worst he might already kill him/her. So the best way is to convert into your fiat currency and meet up with the kidnapper for money and hostage transfer.

Well I have heard stories that bitcoin was used for ransom. If you are a fan of Game of Thrones, some people tried to hack the next episodes from HBO and the enterprises tried to ask bitcoin from the hackers.

This is messed up... I don't even want to think about it. I mean, Bitcoin is a good way to ask for ransom but realistically it is not anonymous anyways.

I have already mentioned it before that cryptocurrency can indeed be used for wrongdoing...
Now another situation arises...
Using BTC as a form to ransom someone whom you loved.
Of course i would give anything just to have my loved ones back...
.
But i would also try to dig into it...
How could someone know that i have such a huge amount of bitcoin hidden in my wallet...
Of course if i've given someone such information then it would only be to my close realatives and loved ones.
Then if such situation occurs then it can be safe to say that someone whom i valued that i even share my bitcoin amount, is doing this to me...
An inside job it is....
How sad life could be if even your loved ones can betray you simply because of bitcoin....
But that's the reality which is not far from happening....
:D

Yes, I will use the 5000 bitcoin to exchange for my loved ones.  Life will be meaningless without them and money can be earned.

Yap Because i always see to it that i have enough security for btc. This is why even if i have many btc, i try not to divulge it anyone even family as possible. Because there is a tendency that even your family will brag about how much you earn to kins or even some of there friends. And now adays money is not that easily earned especially in the low class society. You could be a walking bank account if they knew how rich you are.

Well, what you are saying is actually happened.

Few months back some ransomware (I would appreciate if you can point out name!) locked files on computer and demanded bitcoin as ransom to unlock it.

Many paid the demanded amount so yeah..

This has been the trend nowadays. I think anonymity and value is the primary reasons why Bitcoin is the choice of crooks. HBO paid the hackers in BTC also when the hackers stole some vital data from Game of Thrones.

This is a serious incident. And if it's going to happen I'd rather choose life than money. No matter who else is here. If I have that money of course. No matter who the person lives, why not do it all. You look around can see what's happier. Money or life.And if you know it, whatever wealth you give it it will only save your loved one

i don't know and i can not thinking with clear because actually i don't have 5000 bitcoins right now and i don't know where i should to go to have that amount. but i think for someone very important to me, i will do anything for him/her. i hope now and in future, i don't have this experience because this will make bad influence for me and my life.

This is why we are telling people not to advertise their bitcoin holdings to people on public forums. It is also frowned on to dox users on these forums, because you put them in harms way by doing this. You have a right to your privacy and that includes your financial privacy. < even from governments >

A corrupt government employee can sell your information to criminals to highlight you as a possible target for hacking or even a target for kidnapping. ^grrrrrrr^

Use mixer services to protect your financial privacy and your identity, not for criminal intent. Protect your family from these people. 

Do not make a deal with criminals! They're greedy. Even if you already send money as a ransom, they will continue to blackmail you. The best way is to leave it to the authorities to thoroughly investigate the case we are facing!

I would do this, give the 5000 bitcoins for my beloved person, but I would keep 1 bitcoin for me to invest it in mining. In 5-10 years I will recover from this loss. But in my opinion few people have 5000 bitcoins.
 Another possibility is that I would give 0.1 bitcoins to 10000 people to bring my beloved person back to me.

This would be the correct way to deal with the situation. It's never a good idea to actually reveal your financial status or net worth to anyone else, because people will always just use you if they can, and someone blackmailing you would most definitely not stop after that. Some might release the hostage, only to make the situation happen again in the future because they know you are ready to pay, and when you would "know" you're getting your loved one back it would be an easy way for them to make money in the future as well.

What you are saying same thing can happen in fiat currency also when anyone knows about your wealth then same they will do with it. So it is not that bitcoin is bad but its users choice of how is he using it. Only if the users who is holding high bitcoins if disclose to some one let it be near one also is harmfull. Even if you are rich in fiat currency you should be carefull by giving your details. and never keep high bitcoins in one wallet always keeps them in split so that no one can know that which wallet have high bitcoins so that they can try to hack it.

That is a very big ransom money they are asking, and I think that it is impossible to happen that someone will ask for that kind of money. Besides, how will they know that you had that amount of bitcoin? Answering your question, I will be willing to give a part of my bitcoin as a ransom but not all of it. 5000 bitcoin 'is a lot dude, I'll just give enough money to them since they can't possibly know the exact money I have.

money and people. For me people are more important than money. Money can be earned again. The person who lost it is permanent

Of course i would, bitcoin is used as a currency, and if it comes to it i would use it to pay off the ransom. Of course after i get my family or dear ones back, i will contact authorities to get btc back

5000 Bitcoins is a big sum, maybe with 50 BTC you can pay the police or FBI, and they can find the people who are redeeming you :D
I think is for stupid, make any exchange for 5000 BTC, if you have this sum it mean that you are rich and you can do all what do you want :)

If my family will be the concern of course i will choose my family over the bitcoin. I was investing and earning bitcoin to support my family in order for them to live so what is bitcoin if i lost my family. Everthing we work hard and gained for will be useless if we lost them.

That is a hard question to be honest. I will pay the ransom if the hostage is my wife or sister,other than that, i won't pay the ransom  :).

Ah, What a question and what a decision to make ? You said it all the person being important to me. Nothing will be spared to free such person. But i will still fight till the source of such crime is known and justice met.

Let them have them :D
20 millions we are talking about here mate.

How could I trust the criminal will go with his end of the deal? Does he have a high trust rating on bitcointalk? Can we use an escrow? :D

I really wouldn't want to feed the shark. I am sorry, but I will keep my millions for the good of mankind.

if it happens to my wife and child, then I will try to negotiate first and find a way out like report it to the police, and if there is no way out again, anything I will do to protect the people I care about. because affection can not be replaced with bitcoin,

It all depends on what is on the other side, If something has that level of utility value then I would definitely pay 5000 BTC against that thing.

Example: Suppose, you are lost in the desert for a week and you have no food or water left and someone is offering you a water bottle and 6 Apples OR extremely valuable diamond against your money (say 5,000 BTC) then what would you choose? The answer is simple, anyone would prefer something that would help him to survive even if, on the other hand, the diamond is worth 5000,000 BTC because the utility value of food and water will be worth much much much more than that diamond.

I think it is a common sense if and ever if you have a love ones that has been kidnapped by someone then I think it is really indeed normal to give all what is in demand by the kidnappers, and I think it is only money because money is not really important for me and the lives of my relative are the ones that I need, well I don't know if someone here would actually pick bitcoin over their relatives.

I am a cold heart person. If someone is this lazy that he or she can become a hostage, I will simply leave that person like as it was destined to happen. Most of the time, it will confuse the criminals.
However, if it was really to save a person, I would contact a security specialist, ask him to track the transaction and tell me the details. Obviously, I would do it after making sure that the guy is saved.

Yes. Definitely. For me, the life of some of my dear ones are more important than money. But some of the kidnappers kill their hostages even after the ransom is paid. I don't want incidents such as that.

Life is priceless. However I would play a trick on the kidnapper and tell him I only have 2500 bitcoins and not 5000 , I will tell him, I lost them gambling during these last days. I would divide these amount of bitcoins in different wallets and only show him a few wallets which have 2500, surely I would do some mixing so he doesn't know who is my original wallet. Beside that I would tell him that I will land him the bitcoin when I meet him but before I would have called the police, or private investigators paid in big amount from my bitcoin and surely the kidnapper would have nowhere to go.

Good that this is fiction only and not reality.

This is kinda pointless to think about in my opinion. First, if you have 5k bitcoins...don't go around telling everyone, unless you were prepared to pay for your safety like known rich people do (guards and whatnot)

In a lot of kidnap situations the criminals never get their ransom amount and either get arrested of killed if a police force attempts to free the kidnapped people. I'd rather let the police handle it than paying the ransom amount because you are never sure they will release the beloved person.

Acting all smart eh? Not a smart move if you can't bear the consequences.
You just might get half of your loved one in that case. No legs, no arms, no ears, no eyes. He/she might end up wishing he/she was dead instead.

Well thats the usual deal but how can you be sure that the kidnapper really released your loveones for you? What are your assurance? remember they are a kidnapper and you cant trust them, I think it must be better that there is a physical giving of ransom money face to face and getting your loveones than transfer it on a blockchain. But still its better to coordinate with authorities and involved them in doing the planning.

Unfortunately these are situations that put bad light on bitcoin and that bitcoin is just another criminal tool. If I had that money I would pay if that could save the life. But I don't have such big amount of money and criminals always make good checks before they strike so it's not very likely this could happen to me.

Asking for ransom in bitcoin is not something new as in the case of ransom ware and its because they have the premonition that they cannot be tracked down by law enforcement agencies. For me, if I have that amount of btc although I don't think that its possible but I have that to save someone dear to me, I would do it without thinking twice because the moment the life is gone nothing else can be done.

First of all I would not tell anyone that I have that much amount of bitcoins with me. And secondly if someone demand bitcoins for exchange of one of my loved ones then I will definitely give them my bitcoins as family comes first and it's more important than anything.

Situation would be same as in case of hard cash the difference is that transaction with bitcoin will be non traceable. Bitcoin or any other mode of money is innocent in itself. Its people who makes it look good or bad with the things they do with it. By the way there would be no chance that some kidnaper know about the bitcoins in your wallet. As hacker will steal directly from your pc and the one who knows about the bitcoins in your wallet must be your close one.

Wow.5000 btc is quite a amount,lets see 5000 btc when converted to usd will be 23,175,000~ approximately.
But for me nothing is as valuable as life,and if I had to give 5000 btc as a ransom ,I would give it to the person,but then if I am smart enough at that moment to figure out to not lose my money and save a person's life,I would risk it then and bust that dumb person out of the blue.

What I will do is simply stop imagining such crap!

it is a very bad event, and it is more sad that all of it will be loaded into cryptocurrencies, but unfortunately it is very compatible, with such innovations as the development of technology.

I think your point of views are right. There is no reason to exchange all your btc for someone else which is an important to you, You can just give him your real currency.  Also as you said, I don't think that is an exchanger which allow you to convert this massive numbers of btc, maybe we should use a lot of exchangers to do that.

Well why not? Bitcoin is just an asset and is replaceable but someone very important to you is not. It could be your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings, or anyone that has so much importance to you. I will make the exchange. Of course you will do anything so that there will be no casualties or any form of compliment. But if the time comes, I won't think twice to make the exchange.

What will you do if you have a million dollars and suddenly someone demands a ransom in exchange for some one important to you? Will you make the exchange? That should answer it for you.

Both of you did not get the term "exchange" on the OP. It is not an exchange like Bittrex, Kraken, etc so that you can exchage it to fiat. OP said, are you willing to give your BTCs in exchange for that someone. Understand the topic first before answering recklessly.

Of course without a doubt I would exchange it and give it willingly to the kidnapper because I can still earn bitcoins after that, though it would be hard to earn that amount but at least I could say to myself that the life of my loved one is much important than having lots of bitcoins. But the real question should be how did the kidnapper know about bitcoin, it's like the series Game of Thrones; wherein the hacker ask for money from HBO but should be in bitcoin and said he has the copy of the left series and would release it in public ahead of time if he will not be given the certain amount in bitcoin but never heard of any feedback from any Directors or owners of HBO.

Bitcoin as an ransom was used in several attacks starting from entire system hacks to global ransomware demands. The decentralized and anonymous functioning has made it to be more of an asset used for such negative role than good needs.

Except my family i don't know anyone who deserves 1 bitcoin to release him.

Dam if I have 5000 bitcoin which is $ 25,000,000 USD then I would be most happiest person in the world and would have been enjoying the life on the most expensive beach around the world. Sipping my wine with my girl and enjoying the massage parlour etc etc. Why the hell I would get myself into trouble of ransoming someone for any bloody person or important thing.


These 5K bitcoin would be the most important thing for me at that time. There is no way I'm gonna care about anything else.

This situationer is too imaginative, like inspired by too much watching television and movies with the same pattern. Well, I'd give you my answer just the same. I'd exhaust all possible means before settling with the demand. Perhaps we can meet somewhere in the middle and make compromises. But if they won't give in. I would give them what they want. Life is valued simply more than all bitcoins combined.

its not a question at all  , all of us want to earn for one sole reason to survive,provide the needs of those whom we love
so i would not think twice giving up my bitcoin to save a love of my life.

I will be very surprised because the kidnapper know I got Bitcoin but I will use it to pay the ransom, what is the used of the money if we can't save and enjoy it with the person we care about, we can always look for more money and people that I care is priceless

Well first, how the kidnapper know that i have huge amount bitcoins without telling him nor see the bitcoin address where the BTC5000 at secondly how can i identify who the victim was which he used as a ransom against me? well if that is my family i will definitely give him the 5000 bitcoins.

Nope, I will not do it and i will immediately go to the authority to report that kind of incident and i will cooperate with them and we will try to make a smart plan which we can take the person that is very important for me without risking my 5000 bitcoins because that is a lot of money and also a huge potential in long term so i will not.

I dont think that kidnapper will know you own some bitcoin unless you give them a good clue to think so ;D ;D ;D

Really? Even if you can report it to the authority how will you deal with it if the victim will instantly kill the person that is important to you when he senses that you reported it to the police? Even if that is the case, I don't think that cooperating with the kidnapper is wise so I might try your method even if it is risky. We might not now because in some cases kidnapper kills the hostage when ransom is given.

That is a huge amounts of bitcoin 5000. If I do have that numbers and my family is in dangerous situation eventhough it would hurt me much I will follow what the kidnapers demanded for the safety of that important someone. Maybe if he got 5000 bitcoin maybe he/she is into business. I can replaced it in no time. Life is more important than bitcoin.

When it comes to kidnapping, it's a matter of life and death and this is something I don't toy with but from where I come from, I don't think anybody can kidnap and then ask for bitcoin becuase I doubt if they know what bitcoin is all about and how functional it could be of they are to ask for it. If I have the amount, I would pay for a loved one.

Kind of a moot question.

Any criminal with half a brain would know about the transparency of bitcoin transactions. The FBI Interpol would be on them like stink on a cigar

This is why  criminals ask for crypto like monero or something similar, not bitcoin.

Bitcoin is not attractive for criminal enterprise.

This notion should be nipped in the bud as corrupt government will want to step in to "protect" you with their heavily armed jack-booted thugs.

If someone are very much dear to me, then there is no reason that I wouldn't give anything i have to protect them.

First rule: everyone has the right for anonymity or privacy. used it.

Second rule: don' show your cards, that would attract criminals. If you possess a thousand of Bitcoin, keep it with yourself.   

 

I will negotiate if they will accept some altcoin instead.  ;D

Kidding aside, I will give it to them. Money can be earned but life is not.

Cheers  ;D

The first thing is why do they know you're holding a lot of bitcoin like that ? So the area will decrease down to your family or maybe your friends. So if i had that much bitcoin, i would save it for myself man. Even if you have to do that to save your family or close friend, by looking at the bitcoin price at the present, dude no one can handle that much money for you in one night. So i think it's a hard thing.

Everything is digital and bitcoin can be used as Ransom as it happened a few months back when a few people introduced a virus which locks the computer and ask for some money in the form of bitcoin and those who paid, on their computer was unlocked.

That Virus was named as "Ransomeware" and it was the first virus of its type which really attacked the whole world and even the world biggest multinationals we not saved from this. No one would have though this could have happened and those who made this and got a lot of bitcoin from this, remained anonymous as all the transactions were in bitcoins and no intelligence agency can track them or sue them.

Yes maybe the kidnapper is a close friend or family member thats why they know that you have a bitcoin.
But one of my family get on trouble i think i will ask to kidnapper that i want to him in person including my loved ones.

Your question was not realistic pal, 5000BTC is a huge amount if I am going to convert it into my currency. In the first place, all of us here if you are deeply knowledgeable in bitcoin individually we have our own password and private into our wallet addresses. Probably all of us here also are not sharing our password and the private unless you tell your private to anyone to whom you din't know it personally.

To be very honest, my mind is stuck at the amount. Honestly, I don't even have that much bitcoins and trying to feel how it would feel like to have that much amount and what a heart breaking moment that would be to give away 5000 bitcoins. Would the person even survive?

suppose it's like that and ask for a ransom to me then I will pay, what else is at stake my nearest person, because in my opinion the most valuable property is the family

Apparently this must have been a crazy move by someone close to me. Let us even assume the person is just demanding 5000 bitcoin randomly, I am sure he must be stupid enough not to know that 5000bitcoin isn't a small amount of money to come by. Nevertheless, I can't fall for stupid pranks of such. I'd rather let the feds do their work. Even if my mum was kidnapped, she would tell me first not to be stupid enough to fall for such demand.

That someone knows you very well that you have that amount of Bitcoin because Bitcoin is decentralized and unless you flaunt it, there's no way they can trace who owns those Bitcoin, I would have to cross the bridge when I get there because right now I don't have that amount of Bitcoin not even 100 bitcoin.

That would be a much prize being demanded I can't even have a solid 1bitcoin in my wallet then they demand by that, it's really a big amount it worth billions. There is no case if they want a ransom for a bitcoin but I think it would only be a matter of choice by the demander or the one being demanded.

That's just crazy. Of course if somebody I loved was in danger I would pay it. That's just sitting there trying to come up with something to say on the floor I'm to create traffic.

I that case there many possible things that you able to do, calling a police for proper decision for that case, the the question is would you make bitcoin to exchange maybe if there no other option I will do this things because what is the value of money if your love-one will die, I`m sure that no one can denied that you cannot do the same thing.

It is a logic and situational analysis we must to set the priority, what is the most important.

absolutely yes because life is more important than bitcoin. you can still earn bitcoin but life of that important person you cant bring it back.

Bitcoin would make an excellent thing to use for ransom seeing as it is pseudo-anonymous if the perpetrator was smart enough he could potentially hide his identity and never get caught. :P

If the close-one is not kidnapped, then may be I won't. I can get a hell lot of security for a fraction of bitcoins I have. Any moving to another country can also be an option

If the close-one is actually kidnapped, still maybe not. Unfortunately, professional kidnappers don't like to keep traces. I would inform the law enforcement along with exchanging the money.

For me,At first life,then money. so i will easily exchange with them(ransomer).

Before I pay, I make sure there is no other way I can take back my love one without paying ransom. I do not want to negotiate with criminals but if it involves my love ones, I'll give away my bitcoins in a heart beat. Bitcoins I can earn again but loves ones only have one life. They are more important than any form of money.

This question is fun! Well if this is the only way for me to ransom someone who is important to me, that's fine. Life is more important that Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be always earned. But Bitcoin should not be my life.  :-X

thats a huge amount of bitcoin well its really hard to let it go
but life vs money i would not dare take chances of losing someone dear to me
people we love are the reason why we do the things we are doing now

Yes i can exchange my bitcoin for the important person in my life. Its just money you can earn it again. I think they cannot  do ransom and the exchange is bitcoin because they even know if you have lots of bitcoin unless they hack your bitcoin wallet.

this is indeed very difficult, but it is true for you, because we can not possibly keep the money from letting someone go, we can ransom and lose all the bitcoin we have and reunite with our loved ones, this is the step where we can work harder to recover our lost assets

Why do you think satoshi nakamoto or these top bitcoin miners have hidden their original identity? The sole reason is such threats. There is always one person who is a step ahead of you. So try to conceal the fact that you own any bitcoin as much as possible. It is not anything like discouraging bitcoin but just taking your safety precautions. By the way yes I would give the ransom if the person is important to me.

wow its a hard question, i have a question too how the kidnapper know about my 5000 bitcoins? is he targeted my bitcoin from beginning or what?
i think my answer is yes, i will meet kidnapper physically and do transaction in that time, to exchange bitcoin with my beloved people, and after that i will call the cops and tell the cops what happen. and i hope the kidnapper will caught

This is a complete side-note and slightly off-topic, but I read about the DB Cooper case yesterday and it is fascinating. The guy hijacked an airplane in 1971 and got away with $200,000. Although, they believe there is no way he would have survived. If Bitcoin existed back then he could have used that instead of the cash money. hahaha

5000 Btc is a huge amount of money, But still I would choose it as a ransom, even if it cost more than that. But I will also find another way to keep my loved ones and bitcoin/money safe at the same time. I believe there is still a way, even in the hard times. Because some kidnappers are traitor, even if we give our money to them they will still kill the person we loved, so we always need to find another way.

By the word custody it mens that the bitcoins are not mine and I have captured someones's BTC that to 5000 BTC which is very large amount i.e. nearly 19363400.00 US Dollar in today's market and if someone demands it as ransome in exchange for someone very important to me, then I will definately do the deal as for such huge amount of cash anyone could hurt my loved one and for me Life is more percious than Money.

I'd hunt that MF and let him eat lead.

I think this is not possible because how would the kidnapper know that I am a member of a bitcoin community or that I am holding a bitcoin when I am not identifiable in my account. And also, it I cannot find someone who can exchange his bitcoins with mine for a big amount so I think this is not possible. Lastly, why wouldn’t the kidnapper like a true money anyway?

Among the most important rules with Bitcoin to anyone is that you have a lot of Bitcoin used as a tool to ask from anyone in a ransom form. Of course, life may be more important so we will not blame anyone who can demand Bitcoin in exchange for the life of someone close to us.
The tendency is that even your family will brag about what you earn for your relatives or even some friends there. is not easy to earn especially in low class society

In many cases the kidnappers never receive their ransom and are either arrested if killed by a police force trying to free those kidnapped. I want to let the police handle it rather than pay the ransom because you are never sure they will drop the lover.

First of all, if you are holding that many Bitcoins (or any other crypto-currency), then please keep it as a secret. From what I have seen during all these years, the Bitcoin sector tends to attract a disproportionate number of criminals, conmen and fraudsters. So it is better to keep your holdings as a secret rather than falling victim to any of these bad people.

I think the kidnapper know you because he know that you have bitcoin

but lets say yess it is happening .. do you believe that the assurance of your loveones when the transsaction is done will be safe?

BITCOIN is not that hard to give in fact its just seconds to send and receive right just my thoughts

But it can be a very hard decision. Suppose all of your life savings are in Bitcoin. And if you are giving all those coins to the kidnapper, then you will be ruined. So in order to save just one life, you may be destroying countless others.

I really hate Ransomwares, a friend of mine were hacked by a ransomware a few months ago, he had to pay $1500 to the person who sent the ransom to him, he is a designer/developer, and he really needed his computer back.. I dont know why there is still people who abuse the cryptocurrency system to hack people or just steal money, i can not understand it.

i will not give it..
because i think 5000 bitcoin is too much be a ransom in order to free someone from prison.

Life is more important so we will not blame anyone when someone can demand Bitcoin in exchange for the life of someone close to us. It is always possible to buy a new bitcoin to replace someone's life when it's gone.
will also try to delve into it ...
How can someone know that I have a large bitcoin hidden in my wallet ...
 If I gave someone information to close my real people and loved ones.
If such situations happen then it's safe to say that someone that I value that I even share my bitcoin amounts is doing this to me ...
 And now it is not easy to earn especially in low class society. is a walking bank account if they know how wealthy you are.

First i will haggle the price and i will tell the kidnapper that my bitcoin is not 5000 anymore. the maximum price that i can give to him is 2000 btc and thats all of my btc. i will show them my transactions and i will make my some alibi ex: i lose in trading btc through exchanges. 2000 bitcoins is 7 million dollars with exchange value to 1 btc = 3500 USD.

Then after that i will tell to the bitcoin community my experience and i will share my BTC address and will seek for donation on good people.

This is too alarming if this kind of idea will be present in crypto space. How did the culprit know that you have a lot of bitcoin? Unless he/she know you personally that you are a millionaire through bitcoin I think.  ???

But if the case that your family was involve here, then get my bitcoin for christ sake. I will trace you no matter what.

how? Depends on what you do. most of my close friends and relatives know that i'm earning bitcoin so if it happens it must be one of them but i thibk there are

also people who are advertising bitcoin in their social medias which will be a difficult. although theres nothing wrong with advertising bitcoin on them but there

is always a right way to do that e.g if you have a pretty large amount of btc its not right to let people know its estimated or exact amount-- imean there are

other ways to spread advertise bitcoin if youre doing that you're merely boasting. i'm not encouraging you guys but having bitcoin as a ransom is actually

smart as it makes them difficult to trace

Bitcoin have a lot of advantages but we cannot ignore its disadvantages. Ransom is also one of the disadvantage of bitcoins. A lot of hackers are doing this i.e. first they penetrate into your systems and then lock it down and then asks for ransom in the form of bitcoins to unlock your systems, so beware of security of your systems.

Shh, stop posting like this. You are giving idea to evil guys. Nowadays thieves are not wearing masks anymore. They are posting their faces in video. And they create their scam icos.

This is the saddest part from Bitcoin where it can be use to pay for killing, kidnapping, software hijacking. etc.

I think no one in their right mind would say that they would choose Bitcoin over someone that they loved or treasure as they would always choose that we save the person that is kidnapped. No amount of Bitcoin can ever replace that person that is just kidnapped or worse being tortured and the fact that you chose money over that person if you do choose Bitcoin is something that kills your conscience and morals.

These are the old ways where you send the ransom physically and they free up your lover  ;) and in between the police comes and arrest the
kidnappers. ;D  The times has changed. These days hackers attack the computer system and get the computer locked. Then the programmed system ask for ransomware in the form of bitcoin to unlock the computer. You pay the specific amount to the bitcoin address and your computer get unlocked. You never know whom you send the bitcoin, the police never came and neither do they know what happen and where the money went.

Kidnapping in first world countries is a nearly dead crime. No one does it because they've almost always been caught and law enforcement descends en masse on that type of thing. And the kidnapper would have to be pretty stupid to ask for Bitcoin.

Law enforcement is getting cleverer all the time at tracing Bitcoin and someone somewhere trips up eventually.

Would I pay up? I wouldn't really have much alternative but I'd make sure I did everything I could to catch them out somehow. If there's a person involved then the kidnappers have a physical presence somewhere along the line unless they imprison them in their Japanese pod hotel and threaten to gas them remotely.

It is a very hard to answer because 5000 bitcoins is not that small amount, and also the life of important to us is also priceless so this will be so hard for me to choose. But I'll still pick the latter because human live has more worth than bitcoin. Ill just work my ass of again.

You probably meant the virus Petya. It seems to me that this virus is specially created for those who use to store their coins offline wallets. That's why I don't trust this method of storing my bitcoins. I think online wallets are more secure.

I don't want to answer your question. lol :D  because I think it's a joke and I laugh reading what you say.

such as soap operas on television. sorry buddy, you make me laugh.

I too thought of the same when I first read about it. It is funnier than we think if you try to imagine it.
The situation depends on lots of factors and a hack ransom is possible but a kidnap ransom is highly unlikely.

Of course I would. Money can't be earned again, people can't be replaced

Why not? Yes, I would give him to settle the situation.
Criminals are collecting ransom in any form both fiat and bitcoin.
So, you guys should stop using such examples, it's blackmail in such manner.
We want people to love bitcoin and use it for god-sake. So why with the negative thoughts anyway?
Get your mind right, and stop all these bullshit because bitcoin is beyond the imagination of all these criminals. 
   

I agree. Bitcoin is actually irrelevant to the question here. If you have money, criminals and thugs will be after it. The government should work towards providing a safe environment to everybody.

What could be so important than holding the 5000 bitcoin with me? I'm already rich and there is nothing much valuable as equal to 5000 bitcoin.


You do realise what is the price for bitcoin right ? It's more than billion dude and why would I sell it for anything. I will literally have high level security around my house. lol,


With that kind money I can spend my life easily and my would be more important at that point. With 5K bitcoin in wallet I will also get 4-5% returns for long storage each month. Just imagine I will have the money making machine. :-)

well that is a huge amount of bitcoin ,its really hard to let go of that
but when you come to think of it
life is still important specially when its someone dear to you
money doesnt matter at all without them anyways

How did the kidnapper that you use bitcoin and you have 5000 Bitcoins. Well the first move would be to secretly contact the authorities/law enforcer to secretly device a plan to capture this guy cause transferring the ransom through bitcoin is really a bad move once you've sent the bitcoin therw is no guarantee that the kidnapper will free your love ones or worst he might already kill him/her. So the best way is to convert into your fiat currency and meet up with the kidnapper for money and hostage transfer.

not a chance bitcoin can used as a ransom. why? because how can the kidnapper know that you have that amount of bitcoin? if you'll say he hacked your wallet, why dont he just transfered your bitcoin to his wallet? he wouldn't trouble himself to kidnap someone that is special to you if he can just hack you wallet.

This is a serious incident. And if it's going to happen I'd rather choose life than money. No matter who else is here. If I have that money of course. No matter who the person lives, why not do it all. You look around can see what's happier. Money or life.And if you know it, whatever wealth you give it it will only save your loved one

I thought This would be more hilarious if this is a true scenario..If the reansom would be just a bitcoin in Kidnapping case..I think there would be just a shoet time for the victim's family to save the ransom just in online and just pay it through online Just as easy..

Well life has no price. I will do it to get their freedom.

i will make the exchange, if the person is very important to me, i would never let them down and do my best to save them because i know there are many thing more important than bitcoin, i can work again to have bitcoin later but i will never have that person again if lost them just because i kept bitcoin.

Well, since we are already talking about something that will be considered creations of our very fertile minds, then I will not give them my bitcoins. Nor will I allow them to be successful in getting that someone very important to me. I would rather use my Bitcoins to buy guns and ammo and gather some paid hard mercenaries and attack the culprit. This will be much better than giving up that easily.  ;D

Bitcoin getting used as ransom quite often goes viral making it a big news. This happenes because of the decentralized platform it functions and the support it provides in hiding the identity of the person involved in the specific transaction. This helps in wide spread and also gains negative comments.

for how to solve this problem, just incase if like this happens to me, yes I totally give/exchange my bitcoin to my dearest someone who will kidnap and bitcoin accepted as a ransom, even that bitcoin are come from my very hard work just to collect/have that bitcoin but for my dearest someone life to be exchange, bitcoin are nothing, to compare to my dearest someone's life, bitcoin can earn on some activity that related on it, but a life cannot bring back again. so I decide to choose to exchange my bitcoin as a ransom.

Unstoppable price rise in bitcoin currency (7040$) has attracted many evil persons towards it.
Person possessing bitcoins are happy for price rise but worried abut its safety.
Now those with 5000 bitcoins will experience  sleepless nights.
Giving ransom of 5000 bitcoins depends on many things.
How the kidnapper know i have that much bitcoins? Because its not a cash that one see on physical.
It shows that there are some security lapses in my system.
Instead of negotiations i will contact the authorities first and will do as per their instructions.

I will give bitcoin as ransom so that i can rescue my loved ones. Then, i will start again and earn more bitcoin. Well, money is more important than bitcoin. I'd be happy to give it to kidnappers.

depend on who it is?
i think if they know i have 5000 bitcoin in my wallet, he must be people that know or close to me.
i will give if it my family and i will track until i know who it is. or i will say i dont have much bitcoin if it my friend

Well I think I don’t agree with you with regarding this because bitcoin is only used in some countries and it’s also true that in these countries still there are a lot of people who are still not a part of bitcoin so I don’t think so someone can ask about bitcoin in a ransom so I think we must start to believe in positive things not negative.

maybe i will choose people that important for me, because people can't bought by money or bitcoin, if you lose them i believe that you will feel guilty and regret it after that, so i choose save my people that i loved

It depends on the situation brother. First of all, I will do it that I will give my bitcoin only if the person they kidnapped is very important to me. Other than that, I will not do it.

why would i ever tell anybody about my wealth and amount of BTC i hold? and if you want to know something like if BTC is ransom money or drug money, well, not only BTC or Coins, everything that has value can be used as a medium of ransom or extortion.

yes i will do that because life is more important in anything like money.I can earn money but a life of a person and the time that i spend in important person is more good value than money.The money in life is all we need but helping others is more good and its have sense

Well if someone has 5000 bitcoins I am sure he would be damn smarter and will never let anyone know that he has such an amount. I thibk even satoshi hide his indentity for a reason. And obviously if the person is more important to you than all your money you will surely give up all your bits to get the person back.

If I had this much money - I guess I'll have ways to earn more or have other valuable assets, I'll pay.

this is very good queston :D bitcoin is a currency where criminnals can demand freely with any date saved or documented as legal and physical..
this can be a kidnap for ransom thing! and YES i will send bitcoin iun exchange of a person that is very important to me .

I dont know why you made this kind of post. but if I'm private. I will definitely give everything I have as long as the person I care about is free from problems.
because money can not buy a life

5000 bitcoins is nothing compared to a human life. Moreso if the person is very important to you. In fact, all the bitcoins in the world, I would give it all up for a human life.

I think that people or that kidnapper is smart and clever to do that and have it in his mind because if he want bitcoin to act as an ransom money he do know what bitcoins capability and its potential but if thats  happen to me i will lie to him that i dont have any bitcoins and i dont have it. Because he would not know who really i am and maybe he know that who i am on this forum or etc he cant see or he wont see how much coins do i have in my wallet and i will not tell him because that will trigger him to make a lot of more moves to make. Maybe if its real money i will exchange some of my coins but i wont tell him that i will exchange it first.

I think this is not possible because how would the kidnapper know that I am a member of a bitcoin community or that I am holding a bitcoin when I am not identifiable in my account. And also, it I cannot find someone who can exchange his bitcoins with mine for a big amount so I think this is not possible. Lastly, why wouldn’t the kidnapper like a true money anyway?

They use it as a ransom, as it is easy to hide, it is difficult for governments to follow, and it does not expose them to risks when buying and selling, but this does not mean that btc was designed for this purpose.

if i recive it by mistake will back it and take 5% from it

then start my exchange service from it. or any lending project. even holding it will give me too many dollars.

This is why we should never reveal about our Bitcoin holdings to anyone. (Unfortunately I have made that mistake many times here in this forum). And this is exactly what the authorities are forcing us to do. They want us to reveal our crypto-coin holdings, so that they can tax us to the death. And this in turn makes us sitting ducks for the criminals.

Absolutely yes because liveliness is more important than bitcoin. You can yet earn bitcoin but vigor of that important person you can't bring it benefit occurring.

So what i feel here is that you are trying to say that thieves and hackers are more secure these days as they use digital currency to get the ransom and this makes them totally safe as bitcoin is anonymous and  transaction cant be tracked like bank accounts etc. But i dont think it is that easy. Not everyone is so genius and  a programmer to develop such a virus which block the computer networks. We cant limit the hackers to be only programmers or the thieves has to learn programming to hack in the modern world.

Bitcoin is used by all.Even the hackers and the thieves used it for a trnscation. Since bitcoin is the safest mode of transcation as compared to others,they will prepare this.Even you  can send or receive the bitcoin without showing you ID or mail id or phone number,that much security is their in bitcoin.

Nope i am not going to make that trade at all, How could the kidnapper know that i have that number of bitcoins in my wallet in the first place. There must be an inside job going around here. They better go for a loan and clear up this issue themselves. Human live is valuable but so is bitcoin.

If I only had a .1, this is still a no brainer. you cant put money over people; that money will sit sour in your pocket, while you think about what you traded for it. bitcoin is perfect for receiving funds anon; the issue is when you want to spend those coins. anything besides a p2p transaction for cash is going to involve a bit of kyc. and the coins are marked, you are running a risk if they touch any account that you have associated with, even in the past. id rather take cash tbh. way cleaner and easier to launder.

It totally decentralized and that kidnapper don't know how much bitcoin i have in my wallet. maybe i can give 1 bitcoin for an exchange whom is very important to me. it doesn't matter who he is what important is they will give my request.

This is some kind of moral question. Telling the truth I don’t like this question. There are no any details. Who we are talking about for example. If this a dear person then there are no restriction even in addition to ransom.

I will give the 5000 bitcoins. No questions asked. You can never have someone be replaced by material things like bitcoins. I would sacrifice a life of a person just for 5000 bitcoins. No money nor bircoins can ever replace a life. I hope people would respond the same way I did and value life over bitcoins.

maybe i will redeem it even though 5000 bitcoin if it concerns the safety of people who are very important to me, say one of our family members.

I think it is possible on an online business but it is really hard to encounter here and as of now since I join bitcoin I don't hear anything like that before and that's not a great way to get money in bitcoin.

Bitcoin is just like money, I can still earn it, it is just a material thing what most important is the life of the people especially my family. Let's say that I am selfish enough and did not give what they wanted me to give and then that person involve suddenly dies because of traumatic circumstances or with the situation do you think I can sleep well?

The kidnapper is smart to ask for a ransom in bitcoin currency. But if that happens, I will give up 5000 Bitcoin to free the family I love.

Well if its someone that's very important, then you have to weigh if your btcs are more to you than that person. Especially now with the valie of bitcoin. But i probably wouldn't think twice about giving up that much wealth if its my family or loved ones. I'd gladly start from scratch again

Yes, I will, because bitcoin is only a virtual thing, but family is the most important.
It doesn't need to be thought about.

Okay first I would want to know how does the kidnapper knew I have that kind of bitcoins. But yes if someone so important to me were kidnapped and the people ask bitcoin as ransom then its fine.

Obviously NO.
Why should I? I won't even say that it depends on the data and its worth (except if it's too private or if it's something really confidential).
Ransomware cases have increased too much with the rise of Bitcoins and I believe the cyber-criminals are now trying to trap those victims only who have "Bitcoins" in their possession. We need to remain very cautious and should always have everything secured (especially the data we have that needs to be kept safe, whether it's related to our privacy, business or Bitcoins).

This is not the question about the features of money. This is a question about values. What is worth more money (bitcoins) or the happiness of your relatives. That’s all. Nothing more. This is not the question about Bitcoin at all.

That would be a much prize being demanded I can't even have a solid 1bitcoin in my wallet then they demand by that, it's really a big amount it worth billions. There is no case if they want a ransom for a bitcoin but I think it would only be a matter of choice by the demander or the one being demanded.

it's very clear I do not want to pay him because they ordinary criminals will not know what bitcoin is and if they insist we can not trace who the owner is before we send bitcoin at his bitcoin address.