Sad News: Kidnappers now requesting bitcoin as ransom in Nigeria {Gov might ban}

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

It's quite a sad time to be a bitcoin (cryptocurrency) enthusiast in Nigeria. While we're trying to spread the positive benefits of the currency across the country and Africa continent as a whole irrespective of the government showing negative signs towards the currency, we have recorded some set backs. Each time we take one step forward the bad eggs of the nation take advantage of the hype and leverage on the anonymousity of the currency. First it was the news of Nigerians using the currency to defraud foreigners, since it was easier and they can't be tracked easily. That development lead to a serious attack on account associated with bitcoin transaction irrespective of your source of income. Some accounts  were reportedly frozen while others were blocked for some days (can't confirm this though since I wasn't affected directly).



Recently, the kidnappers are using it to stay anonymous and avoid been traced. The first time such incident was recorded on the continent was when some Kidnappers requested a random of $120,000 to be paid in bitcoin to release a 13yrs old teenager in South Africa.{CNN reports} now the Nigerians (kidnappers) are buying into the idea of using the currency for their dirty operations. It worries me because what ever Nigerians are engaged in an activity be it good or bad they do it to the extend it becomes a trend which will definitely bring about more regulation and probably a ban on the usages or association with the cryptocurrencies in the country.

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

In other positive news: Nigerian crypto educator returns $80k in bitcoin recieve by mistake.

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[ahmadakbari]

Is this the first time a kidnapping has taken place?
Didn't the kidnapping happen before the creation of Bitcoin?
Didn't the kidnappers get money before?

[Coyster]

Kidnappers have always demanded ransoms in diverse/distinct currencies, if this is to create a bad reputation for the bitcoin, then it ought to have destroyed that of the fiat currencies a long time ago.
Bitcoin transactions are difficult to trace, but in the "case" of a high profile case, it can be. Kidnappers usually demand ransoms(fiat) dropped at specific pickup points, this act to me is usually as difficult to trace as bitcoin transactions are.

All the furore is just the same old negativity towards the system, whichever way kidnappers choose to carry out their illicit trade, it's no business of ours, but that of the police to do their job effectively.

[pixie85]

Shouldn't this be positive news? Even halfwits from poor African countries who can't find a job and have to kidnap people to bring food to the table are using Bitcoin.

This goes against all those who say Bitcoin is only for tech geeks and an average person won't know how to use it or won't spend time to learn.

[Bountyhonter]

Kidnappers all over the world are already requesting bitcoin as ransom so it shouldn't be a surprise that kidnappers here in Nigeria too are also adopting the system, Our government has never shown interest in bitcoin and i don't think this will have any negative effects.

[samputin]

Seems like bitcoin is in demand and is now really known not only by technologically inclined people but those regular people too (with regular, I meant kidnappers). Because these kind of people are now becoming more witty than before, this should be a wake up call to the authorities and the government to regulate cryptos well.

[DDante]

If kidnappers or any criminal organizations are requesting for bitcoin for settlement or ransoms they are obviously requesting for money, bitcoin has gotten to that stage of standing next to fiat so i don't see how this is any different

[RapTarX]

Muslims are seen as terrorist because of IS. Somedays ago, an attack on NZ Mosque by a Christian proved that "Terrorist has no religion."
Terrorist needs to be safe, they are using bitcoin. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the image of bitcoin. Before bitcoin was invented, didn't kidnapper kidnap? You can't blame here bitcoin. If for this reason, Nigerian govt ban bitcoin, I would say all these bitcoin kidnapping is a drama created by govt in order to ban bitcoin.

[bitbunnny]

Shouldn't this be positive news?

I guess, at some point, it can be considered positive. At least, bitcoin is in demand and is now really known not only by technologically inclined people but those regular people too (with regular, I meant kidnappers). Because these kind of people are now becoming witty than before, this should be a wake up call to the authorities and the government to regulate cryptos well.

What is wrong with you? How could use of Bitcoin for criminal purposes be a good news? Or just matters to you that Bitcoin is used, no matter for what
Even without such news Bitcoin still struggles with reputation of illegal activities currency that some people are still convinced in.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Kidnapping and human trafficking is abhorrent. It saddens me that bitcoin, something designed to bring freedom, is being used to facilitate this behavior. I hope justice is swift.

Whenever I see any story about bitcoin being used for illegal activities, I am reminded of an argument made by Andreas Antonopoulos which goes along these lines:

Every currency in the world is used for illegal activities. The black/illegal market is the second largest market in the world in terms of volume, second only to food and drink. If your currency can't be used in the second largest market in the world, then it's not really a currency at all.

[mazdafunsun]

lol. Your screenshot shows that the ransom was asked in 2018. They are not realy smart to ask for BTC, it is easily traceable . If they were smart they would ask for some crypto which is privacy oriented.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

lol. Your screenshot shows that the ransom was asked in 2018. They are not realy smart to ask for BTC, it is easily traceable . If they were smart they would ask for some crypto which is privacy oriented.

Revisit the image, that's a twitter account that tweet facts about Africa. All the account is trying to points out was that something similar happen in 2018 in South Africa. Then the account tweeted the recent incident of kidnappers demanding bitcoin in Nigeria, 2019. Read the OP clearly also, i have already inserter links to verifiable sources of the development dating back to 2018 when CNN first reported the news of kidnappers demanding ransom to be paid in bitcoin in South Africa.

Also included the link to the recent reported incident of kidnappers (in Nigeria) demanding ransom to be paid in bitcoin (which has already been paid).

[The Cryptovator]

I am really not feeling good during read OP. This is really not good for bitcoin community at all. Bitcoin community want to spread positive words worldwide about bitcoin, so every government will realise about bitcoin future. But if happen like this kidnap, then government will take step against bitcoin once a time. There major crime happening with real money, but seems criminals moving into bitcoin in order to stay anonymous. Bad news is, bad thing always spread with high speed. So worldwide criminals would know about bitcoin and its anonymity. So they might follow current criminals who have kidnapped. In a result crime rate would increase and criminal will be anonymous.

I have no idea how we will prevent that kind of crime. Perhaps government could trace them through communication. Because criminals should have contact with victims family any way. So government could use latest technology to trace them. I think by this way we could prevent criminals and we could save the trust of bitcoin.

[pundit]

Its really sad that such incidents are taking place in Nigeria or other parts of the world. I think the worst part is not that kidnappers are asking ransom in Bitcoin but it is that kidnappers exist and govt is unable to eliminate them. If there would not be Bitcoin then kidnappers will find other way to get money as ransom, there is no limit, ,they may ask for any valuable thing. Currently its BTC because its hard to trace transaction done on blockchain and a high amount can be transferred within no time. Govt should take some hard steps to stop criminal activities.

[coin-investor]

They saw Bitcoin as something that can make things easier to acquire than asking for fiat, all they need is a transaction txt and they can check if the funds have arrived. Kidnapping is a very very old crime and it did not come because Bitcoin exists, people can prefer to use fiat. gold or anything, we should not blame Bitcoin or feel sad because of any form of payment can be used in a kidnapping.

If the criminals are careless, they can be tracked they should have opted for privacy coins instead.

[omone1]

This should be the first time this men of the underworld are demanding for bitcoin as a ransom payment in Nigeria. And from the information I saw, though am yet to authenticate the source of the info, it seems the kidnappers have been caught. We certainly can't take bad guys off their game, the law is there to deal with them.

[crypthough]

The fact of Kidnapping is very sad and things like that shouldn't be a part of this world. But it's no matter if they demand BTC or Doller or some other currency the fact that they kidnap is the real problem. And the governments should focus on avoiding kidnaping or other bad and illegal activities instead hate BTC for this. BTC don't kidnap people.

[Brakt]

The problem is that all the advantages butcoin has all can also be use by kidnappers. The problems is not Bitcoin, the problem are the goverments and the people how dont understand BTC and don't know how to adress regulations or policies to avoid the missuse of BTC. Their ignorance of the subject makes them think BTC is the devil.

[stompix]

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

None.
What's the solution of stopping a thief running away in a car or on a motorcycle?
What's the solution to stop drones filled with explosives or drugs flying around?

Criminals will use what's more convenient and easy to get for their activities and bitcoin, in this case, fits both.

Just think a bit, in a high ransom kidnapping, you can kidnap the victim, tie it up in some forgotten place, get out of the country even before the family finds out about the crime and then demand the ransom from a continent away.  You get paid, you tell (or not) where the victim is and good luck for the police on finding you. By the time they pinpoint you you would have already managed to enough some coins at some kyc free atms , get a new set of fake papers and enjoy your new life in another country with no extradition policy.
Do you think the police in Bolivia will care about a kidnap in Laos? Or the Kazakh about one in Mali?

Accept it and get over, there will be far worse cases to come, it doesn't change the basics.

[Distraction]

It is frustrating to hear that we see Bitcoin's name in dirty works too. It doesn't mean that Bitcoin is dangerous but there will be many people that will believe Bitcoin is mostly used for things like this.

[FlamingFingers]

lol. Your screenshot shows that the ransom was asked in 2018. They are not realy smart to ask for BTC, it is easily traceable . If they were smart they would ask for some crypto which is privacy oriented.

privacy coin such as Monero,  dash zcash will have been untraceable,  they might be caught through kyc from exchange perhaps,   these are the kind of guys who give bitcoin a bad name with such action,  there is no way that such occurrence won't happen though,  but trust the media,  they gonna do their job in talking bad about it,

[milewilda]

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

Same as usual and its better not to stress out yourself on how to avoid this thing and minding about BTC reputation because no matter what, it will pop out like mushrooms with these kind of news.We know that BTC is capable when it comes to anonymous payments and its hard to be traced on and thats why those criminal minds will really took advantage with it.
Not to be racist but we've known that Nigerians do have higher numbers in terms of scammers and fraudsters.They are just making their entire country looks bad in terms of crypto reputation and same goes with BTC image drags with it.

[eaLiTy]

Is this the first time a kidnapping has taken place?
Didn't the kidnapping happen before the creation of Bitcoin?
Didn't the kidnappers get money before?

This has happened before but when the kidnappers are asking random in a transparent currency which can be tracked like bitcoin, even then everyone is ready jump against bitcoin and it will be a common theme, i am certain that the people behind these illegal activities will be caught in due time. Criminals will always find a way to do illegal activities and the authorities must be vigil enough to catch these culprits and if that happens these ransom with bitcoin will end.

[avikz]

Is this the first time a kidnapping has taken place?
Didn't the kidnapping happen before the creation of Bitcoin?
Didn't the kidnappers get money before?

Correct! But you are taking the entire news in wrong sense! Besides the Kidnapping, what particularly is sad to us, is the involvement of bitcoin in such kind of serious crime! No one here blamed bitcoin for this incident, rather the involvement of bitcoin is concerning to us! While we all are aware of the positive side of cryptos, at the same time we should be watchful of its negative usage as well!

[DoublerHunter]

Is this the first time a kidnapping has taken place?
Didn't the kidnapping happen before the creation of Bitcoin?
Didn't the kidnappers get money before?

This has happened before but when the kidnappers are asking random in a transparent currency which can be tracked like bitcoin, even then everyone is ready jump against bitcoin and it will be a common theme, i am certain that the people behind these illegal activities will be caught in due time. Criminals will always find a way to do illegal activities and the authorities must be vigil enough to catch these culprits and if that happens these ransom with bitcoin will end.

^ There is 30% of being track if you are using crypto or the thing the worst there's no chance for that. Kidnappers can mix the bitcoin they had via bitcoin mixer company and after that, they can freely withdraw the bitcoin little by little. Bitcoin is prone to criminal activities and let's do hope the authority will have extremely actions regarding those crimes by expanding their intelligent unit.

[crypthough]

It is frustrating to hear that we see Bitcoin's name in dirty works too. It doesn't mean that Bitcoin is dangerous but there will be many people that will believe Bitcoin is mostly used for things like this.

In fact, people always forget that other currencies like the dollar are way more used for illegal activities. The Dollar is in everyday use for drug/weapon dealing and other illegal things. But people used to ignore this fact. A currency itself is there to be spent and the people can decide what they buy with it. If people abuse a currency for bad purposes, it's clear that the human being is the problem and not the currency itself. Beyond that the majority uses things normally and not for illegal purposes. Everybody has a kitchen knife at home, can it be used for bad things? Of course. But is a kitchen knife bad for the fact that you can hurt someone with it?

[1Referee]

It is frustrating to hear that we see Bitcoin's name in dirty works too. It doesn't mean that Bitcoin is dangerous but there will be many people that will believe Bitcoin is mostly used for things like this.

Why is it frustrating? I have given up on caring about these news articles a long time ago. People just need to grow a thicker skin and accept that criminals of all sorts use the best forms of money to their advantage. In most cases that's physical cash, but in some cases Bitcoin or other cryptos too. Not a big deal. Money is money at the end of the day.

Neither fiat or Bitcoin should be blamed for what people do with it. These are mere tools that people have at their disposal. It shows that Bitcoin is useful to all layers of an economy.

[qwertyup23]

Shouldn't this be positive news? Even halfwits from poor African countries who can't find a job and have to kidnap people to bring food to the table are using Bitcoin.

This goes against all those who say Bitcoin is only for tech geeks and an average person won't know how to use it or won't spend time to learn.

You can view this news into two perspectives:

1. Economic Perspective; and
2. General Welfare.

For the first perspective like what you have mentioned, a country that is as poor as Nigeria is utilizing bitcoin in their country. Their economic condition does not hamper their accessibility towards this opportunity of earning cryptocurrencies in their country. At first, I did not think that it may be possible for them to gain access but this gives hope in the future in using cryptocurrencies as the next generation of money.

For the second perspective, we cannot deny the fact that any crime is an unfortunate event. Although kidnapping results to a serious crime which illegally deprives the right of an individual, a life cannot be traded and be regarded as equal to money or property. If people are using bitcoin as their ransom, this may negatively impact the reputation of bitcoin further.

[ahmadakbari]

Shouldn't this be positive news? Even halfwits from poor African countries who can't find a job and have to kidnap people to bring food to the table are using Bitcoin.

I don't blame Bitcoin for being used in kidnapping as kidnappers can use fiat too. But the news is not good.
If one of your family members is kidnapped and you are asked for bitcoin, how would you react? Does this make you happy?
What if bitcoin is used for selling drugs as the seller cannot earn money via any other job and selling drugs is the only think he is able to do?

[electronicash]

fuck that. they now started to learn more of the technology.  we are still in the early stage expect to see more of these kind of news in the area when transactions like this is going to be successful. we've seen this before not even in Africa. i bet those Somalian pirates will also be demanding BTC to their victims. every possible btc to fiat exchange would soon be asking for KYC to track all elements.

[carter34]

If kidnappers or any criminal organizations are requesting for bitcoin for settlement or ransoms they are obviously requesting for money, bitcoin has gotten to that stage of standing next to fiat so i don't see how this is any different

I wonder how and why op is trying to make the African continent and those in Nigeria look like they are the first to experience this incident.
Bitcoin has been rumoured or said to be used for illicit activities so what is the difference? Is unfortunate that the news is coming from a particular region but hackers and scammers have been all over. The anonymity of bitcoin is the reason is thriving in such.
I would have considered this thread as fud to bitcoin but nope, it only means bitcoin awareness is growing.

[Artemis3]

It's quite a sad time to be a bitcoin (cryptocurrency) enthusiast in Nigeria. While we're trying to spread the positive benefits of the currency across the country and Africa continent as a whole irrespective of the government showing negative signs towards the currency, we have recorded some set backs. Each time we take one step forward the bad eggs of the nation take advantage of the hype and leverage on the anonymousity of the currency. First it was the news of Nigerians using the currency to defraud foreigners, since it was easier and they can't be tracked easily. That development lead to a serious attack on account associated with bitcoin transaction irrespective of your source of income. Some accounts  were reportedly frozen while others were blocked for some days (can't confirm this though since I wasn't affected directly).

Recently, the kidnappers are using it to stay anonymous and avoid been traced. The first time such incident was recorded on the continent was when some Kidnappers requested a random of $120,000 to be paid in bitcoin to release a 13yrs old teenager in South Africa. CNN reports now the Nigerians (kidnappers) are buying into the idea of using the currency for their dirty operations. It worries me because what ever Nigerians are engaged in an activity be it good or bad they do it to the extend it becomes a trend which will definitely bring about more regulation and probably a ban on the usages or association with the cryptocurrencies in the country.

The recent development Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

Well they are being fools. Bitcoin is easier to trace, and at some point the world is going to have some sort of blacklist address database so every time this happens, money involved will likely be frozen the moment it hits some exchange or mixer.

But i guess they are taking the chance now when none of this currently exists, at least not formally in the clear. Tho i don't know what exactly happens with things such as the stolen money from Binance, how do they inform the other exchanges etc.

In any case yes, crime has used all sorts of valuables in the past, and that is not the fault of the valuable. Fiat (cash) is still the preferred method used for crime, and yet fiat doesn't get abolished.

[ChrisPop]

You can't name that bad news for bitcoin. Until now they've all requested cash as ransom. If bitcoin and cash weren't existent they would ask for gold or whatever the "MAIN" (key point) currency is. Of course that Bitcoin is not or hardly traceable so it is more convenient for bad guys to use it.

[adzino]

Sadly you are making it sound like Nigerians are kidnapping people because bitcoin now exists. Dude, kidnapping took place in Nigeria even before bitcoin was invented. They asked for ransom in fiat money. Now all they are doing is asking ransom payment in cryptocurrency rather than fiat currency. Are you saying the kidnapping will stop as soon as bitcoin has been removed from the country? Lol no. It will still happen. Tell your government to take proper steps against the crime rather than wasting time in doing bullshit stuffs like banning bitcoin.

[ahmadakbari]

Tell your government to take proper steps against the crime rather than wasting time in doing bullshit stuffs like banning bitcoin.

Even if bitcoin is the only payment system can be used by kidnappers, banning that wouldn't be helpful. I don't think kidnappers pay attention to the rules governments make. They will continue to use bitcoin even if that's illegal. As you said truely, Nigerian government should think of the crime itself not the payment system.

[leftgirly]

This is definitely not the first or last time that kidnappers are requesting money from their victims as ransom. Nigeria is one country that is known for high incidence of kidnapping issues but the sad aspect here is the kidnappers taking advantage of the convenience of bitcoin payment to perpetrate their bad deeds.

[harizen]

This is sad news for the family but not totally a sad news in terms of the image about bitcoin.

There are lots of incidents already before where bitcoin was used in illegal activities. Authorities are aware of that. Bitcoin being used should be taken out of the discussion. Instead, authorities there should focus more on improving police or military strategy to hunt down this kidnapper.

Even for let's say bitcoin should be prohibited in that country for those people not to take advantage of it illegally, it will even stop the illegal activities there? Definitely not.

[drumamat]

It is such news that repels new users to use or invest using cryptocurrencies.And the method chosen by the criminals,on their part, will encourage others to use it.And this is a very dangerous trend.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Sadly you are making it sound like Nigerians are kidnapping people because bitcoin now exists.

May I rephrase that statement of yours, "Kidnappers in Nigeria and not Nigerians are kidnapping" because your statement sounds like you're referring to all Nigerians as kidnappers, which weren't as thia activity can be found in every part of the world. Now to clear you, the thread was created to express my worries on the image of the currency in the country. When things like this happen we the enthusiast pay the price like i explained in OP. The cash ransoms are sometimes traceable especially when the police are interesting in apprehending the suspects involved but with bitcoin that's almost impossible.

The thread was created to highlight this issue, thought I'll get some replied close to potential solutions to this problem. Seen some interesting suggestion like blacklist of address and any address associated with that account to prevent this guys from profiting from the anonymousity of bitcoin but doubt how effective that'll be.

[AjithBtc]

This isn't the only incident where bitcoin is used for the bad, it has come across several such incidents. Here it is kidnap, I've come across a website where we can just pay bitcoin in advance and submit the address of the person who needs to be killed or beaten badly. Once things gets completed the pending amount needs to be transacted.

Bitcoin stays strong, which is all because of the majority using it for the good compared to the very few who always have a mind to use things in the negative way.

[Oceat]

Wow, I never thought that bad people would come across to this kind of idea. The government should do something about this before it starts to be a norm for bad people. We never know it might happen in another country. Supposedly, Bitcoin is used for transactions anonymously as an alternative payment for any services or products. Although using it in the black market is nothing new to us but this is the first time that I encounter such news.

[Reid]

Shouldn't this be positive news? Even halfwits from poor African countries who can't find a job and have to kidnap people to bring food to the table are using Bitcoin.

This goes against all those who say Bitcoin is only for tech geeks and an average person won't know how to use it or won't spend time to learn.

Have the same freaking idea once I saw the thread title.
I dont know what is wrong with me but something felt right out of it.

I mean like WOW. Kidnappers using bitcoin? That is some sick idea from sick people who just want the money.
I guess anything goes by now. They are really thinking about it as a currency.

[rodel caling]

Awst that is so much sad news and hurt from the crypto community, but we need to accept that if that kidnapping incident is true bad element take advantage to ask bitcoin as payment because of the anonymity and using bitcoin as ransom is quick and fast transaction wothout any requesting identity transfer the funds, we bitcoin is good same from fiat that can help for the people needs but the bad is the people make weong way how to earn bitcoin or money.

[jake zyrus]

It's just the same with usual kidnapping. It's just the kidnappers are into bitcoin. It's just bad to see this kind of news knowing that it could affect the image of cryptocurrency and bitcoin to other people. It could give a bad image to it and some would probably think that bitcoin is something bad or for illegal purposes which is really not. It's a pity that they're using bitcoin to do bad things and for their own benefits.

[mitchr4]

It's just the same with usual kidnapping. It's just the kidnappers are into bitcoin. It's just bad to see this kind of news knowing that it could affect the image of cryptocurrency and bitcoin to other people. It could give a bad image to it and some would probably think that bitcoin is something bad or for illegal purposes which is really not. It's a pity that they're using bitcoin to do bad things and for their own benefits.

No wonder criminals use Bitcoin as their transaction because it is anonymous. Even though we can track where the coin went but we don't know who is behind it. We have to think that Bitcoin isn't wrong. The criminals could have used other currencies only those who do not yet know very well about Bitcoin, related this currency to crime.

[bryant.coleman]

Some of these criminals have a false assumption that Bitcoin transaction can't be traced back to the users. They will find out the truth once they try to cash out their ransom amount. As long as they transfer the coins from one wallet to the other, it is going to be fine. But the moment they try to convert the Bitcoin to fiat currency, the anonymity will be lost. I don't know how efficient are the law enforcement authorities in Nigeria. But it should be easy for them to track the criminals and arrest them, in case they are trying to cash out the amount sometime soon. They should have demanded the ransom in either Monero or some other anonymous cryptocurrency. Anyway, they can think about it while serving the prison time.

[michellee]

I am wondering where the kidnappers know about bitcoin? So that means they are accepting the new transfer system and they don't want to get trace by the police. I think that is big news to us, bitcoin community because even the kidnappers now already know about bitcoin and they want to hide their identity by using bitcoin. But that's not mean that bitcoin could only be used for negative things like what the kidnappers did, but bitcoin could be used for positive things, and we should spread about the positive of using bitcoin.

[yazher]

In my opinion, this is bad thing for the bitcoin, because it will give bitcoin a bad image for the people.
when it links to some unlawful behavior like kidnapping bitcoin will get a bad image and will stay on that way for long.
until someone who is popular enough to tell them that bitcoin is not used that way they only think about what they saw on the TV.

[btc_angela]

Yeah, this is really sad news specially involving bitcoin as the "supposedly" ransom money. But it is hard to stop it from happening because they know they can hide themselves from authorities specially if this kidnappers know a thing or two about using mixers to hide their tracks and footprints. And it will take a lot of effort from the Nigerian government to hunt them down.

[Jating]

I guess bitcoin is really global then, just imagine kidnappers demanding bitcoin as ransom payment in Nigeria? Or they could be kidnappings all over the world today that we don't know yet that uses this method in order to conceal their criminal acts.

https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/07/15/police-rescued-bitcoin-traders/

https://www.ccn.com/80-bitcoin-ransom-demanded-for-alleged-down-under-kidnapping-of-chinese-student/

I don't want to say it, but it looks like kidnappers are going to exploit bitcoin's supposedly (psuedo)anonymity.

[rahmatullah9305]

It turns out that bitcoin is a criminal payment tool in Negeria, this is very sad, more and more are craving for digital currency Bitcoin, including criminals. Like the kidnappers in this country who took the victim hostage and asked for a ransom of Bitcoin. maybe This is the first case in the country, which is related to Bitcoin.

[Kakmakr]

Unfortunately Nigeria has a long history of scams and they are even called the scamming capital of the world.    They became famous for the "Advanced Fee Scam" and that stigma will stay with them forever. 

The Nigerian government are part of the problem, because there are a lot of corruption in their government too. Just look how people are still impoverished with all the oil and gas that was found there. <High unemployment and corruption push people to crime and scams to survive.> 

The Nigerian government should look in the mirror, before they want to point a finger at Bitcoin.

[EdenHazard]

This isn't the only incident where bitcoin is used for the bad, it has come across several such incidents. Here it is kidnap, I've come across a website where we can just pay bitcoin in advance and submit the address of the person who needs to be killed or beaten badly. Once things gets completed the pending amount needs to be transacted.

Bitcoin stays strong, which is all because of the majority using it for the good compared to the very few who always have a mind to use things in the negative way.

This is nothing to do with bitcoin afterall ... these abusive behavior have been exist since long long time ago , just because they mention bitcoin / misuse it doesn't mean bitcoin is evil entirely.

We might could admit at some point that there's a vulnerable feature in cryptocurrency such as the transaction process is anonymous for several cryptocurrencies they are even offering a completely anonymous untraceable transaction but at this point bitcoin itself well known as a pseudonymous... you can still trace the transaction through the blockchain.

We have heard a lot of similar cases like this and they are ended up arrested, you know what? IT'S TRACEABLE.
Bitcoin ecosystem is getting more and more mature as time goes by , this kind issues would dissapeared slowly.

[jostorres]

Sorry about that in your country mate, I have heard of this issue of kidnapping really becoming rampant in Nigeria, but don’t know what you government is doing about it. Bitcoin is a tool for payment which anyone could use even the devil himself, if you kill the tool, you have still not killed the devil.

Kidnapping has always been an issue in Nigeria which occurs frequently in the remote area of Nigeria literally every day, which many of those people don’t even know what bitcoin is all about, the one that has used bitcoin are the ones that are educated which it is not only crypto they use but other technological ideas, attaching it to cryptocurrency will only end up making your country to go again cryptocurrency, what needs to really be tackled in your country is the kidnapping and let justices reign.

[stompix]

Well they are being fools. Bitcoin is easier to trace, and at some point the world is going to have some sort of blacklist address database so every time this happens, money involved will likely be frozen the moment it hits some exchange or mixer.

The moment this will happen it is going to be the end of bitcoin, fortunately, it's impossible.

Do you realize the implications of what you said? It means that the "world" will be able to basically freeze any funds just like the banks are doing now. Who will this centralized coin? We could all migrate to ripple if this happens, there will be no difference at that point anymore.

Some of these criminals have a false assumption that Bitcoin transaction can't be traced back to the users. They will find out the truth once they try to cash out their ransom amount. As long as they transfer the coins from one wallet to the other, it is going to be fine. But the moment they try to convert the Bitcoin to fiat currency, the anonymity will be lost.

Yeah, what happened to the mt gox stolen coins? Have they tracked the culprits?
Have they tracked the bitstamp hackers? Have they tracked the binance hackers?
Do you know how much they've recovered from the bitfinex hack? 23 BTC out of 100k.

I don't think there is any type of cases with less success rate in recovering funds than those related to cryptos.

[Chrystora123]

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

people who don't understand how Bitcoin works and how to exchange it will definitely think that Bitcoin is the best way to expedite crime, to exchange the Bitcoin they get from the ransom, they need a bank... in my opinion, asking for a ransom with Bitcoin is the stupidest way, they will only be tracked by the Blockchain system and the Bank.

[gentlemand]

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

It all depends on law enforcement.

In a developed country you'd have to be a madman to kidnap in the first place, it's effectively a dead crime, and even madder to use Bitcoin. The chances of being traced are extremely high.

If Nigerian law enforcement isn't up to scratch then I presume it'll flourish.

[putukin]

It's quite a sad time to be a bitcoin (cryptocurrency) enthusiast in Nigeria. While we're trying to spread the positive benefits of the currency across the country and Africa continent as a whole irrespective of the government showing negative signs towards the currency, we have recorded some set backs. Each time we take one step forward the bad eggs of the nation take advantage of the hype and leverage on the anonymousity of the currency. First it was the news of Nigerians using the currency to defraud foreigners, since it was easier and they can't be tracked easily. That development lead to a serious attack on account associated with bitcoin transaction irrespective of your source of income. Some accounts  were reportedly frozen while others were blocked for some days (can't confirm this though since I wasn't affected directly).



Recently, the kidnappers are using it to stay anonymous and avoid been traced. The first time such incident was recorded on the continent was when some Kidnappers requested a random of $120,000 to be paid in bitcoin to release a 13yrs old teenager in South Africa.{CNN reports} now the Nigerians (kidnappers) are buying into the idea of using the currency for their dirty operations. It worries me because what ever Nigerians are engaged in an activity be it good or bad they do it to the extend it becomes a trend which will definitely bring about more regulation and probably a ban on the usages or association with the cryptocurrencies in the country.

The recent development [Kidnappers free Abuja victim after ‘$15,000 ransom paid in bitcoin] will definite damage the image of the currency in the country and around the whole especially Africa, if it becomes a trend. What are the possible solution to avoid this trend becoming an easy way out for the kidnappers thereby spoiling the currency image. And what's your take on this issue.

I always said that scammers spoil the image of Bitcoin. Incidents in Nigeria are likely to lead to crypto regulation throughout Africa. How to exclude fraud manipulations using Bitcoin? It is necessary to connect the government and solve this problem

[Golftech]

Another event that will use the system of anonymity for their own benefits, I do remember watching Greys Anatomy, one of their episodes have this story line where the hospital system was hacked and the ransom that the hackers as is  bitcoin, they gave bad image but in the larger picture it's just the same with any currency which is used for transacting, for a short term issue it will affects those who don't have enough knowledge about this industry but to
those who already been here, it will not shake anything and will pass just like an ordinary situation.

[krb91]

I read the news and I was appalled to say the least.  The ransom was $15 k paid in BTC.  this serves to show that one should be careful with declaring ones cryptocurrency holdings.  I read the father paid with 'his' BTC. It's likely he is a hodler of some BTC and whoever kidnapped his daughter knew he had some crypt holdings.

[Bes19]

Bitcoin has been used in criminal acts since before coz criminals stays anonymous but i don't think it will have a big impact on bitcoin coz it already happened many times. It saddened me coz some people think that BITCOIN is a scam where in fact it's not. It's just that people used it as a front for their own benefit.

[Bitcoininvestment]

It's a pity that we cannot do anything about it. It's not bitcoin's fault at all. It's all in the human. How they will treat or use bitcoin for their own benefits. We all know that bitcoin is also place for illegal transactions. And that's also the reason why some are afraid and against bitcoin.

[pixie85]

Shouldn't this be positive news? Even halfwits from poor African countries who can't find a job and have to kidnap people to bring food to the table are using Bitcoin.

This goes against all those who say Bitcoin is only for tech geeks and an average person won't know how to use it or won't spend time to learn.

Have the same freaking idea once I saw the thread title.
I dont know what is wrong with me but something felt right out of it.

I mean like WOW. Kidnappers using bitcoin? That is some sick idea from sick people who just want the money.
I guess anything goes by now. They are really thinking about it as a currency.

It's not even about kidnappers, but kidnappers in Nigeria. Friggin Nigeria, the capital of poverty.

According to a report by the Brookings Institution, data from the World Poverty Clock show that Nigeria now has over 87 million people living in poverty.

A country where people live in straw huts and people know how to utilize Bitcoin. We've come a long way in adoption.

You can view this news into two perspectives:

1. Economic Perspective; and
2. General Welfare.

For the first perspective like what you have mentioned, a country that is as poor as Nigeria is utilizing bitcoin in their country. Their economic condition does not hamper their accessibility towards this opportunity of earning cryptocurrencies in their country. At first, I did not think that it may be possible for them to gain access but this gives hope in the future in using cryptocurrencies as the next generation of money.

For the second perspective, we cannot deny the fact that any crime is an unfortunate event. Although kidnapping results to a serious crime which illegally deprives the right of an individual, a life cannot be traded and be regarded as equal to money or property. If people are using bitcoin as their ransom, this may negatively impact the reputation of bitcoin further.

Good post. I agree.

What is wrong with you? How could use of Bitcoin for criminal purposes be a good news? Or just matters to you that Bitcoin is used, no matter for what
Even without such news Bitcoin still struggles with reputation of illegal activities currency that some people are still convinced in.

I'm just being objective. Crime is always going to be there and if Bitcoin ever reaches mass adoption it's going to be used for it even more. If you can't stop crime you can always be happy that they are choosing Bitcoin over USD which is used by crime lords all over the world.

[Reatim]

Is this the first time a kidnapping has taken place?

No it’s not

Didn't the kidnapping happen before the creation of Bitcoin?

No it’s not

Didn't the kidnappers get money before?

No it’s not


But this was the first time they asked for Bitcoin (atleast as what I’ve learned)

And with this they can get the ransom safely,anonymously and easy things that will provide more victims as these criminal can abused the advantage of being decentralized and anonymous

In fiat they can be tracked by currency serial numbers

In banking payments same as traceable,but in crypto?they are free

[bhabygrim]

And how could the people know that the kidnapper's would release their hostage?
They want to make the transaction much more easier for them so that they couldn't be tracked.
What if the ranson got paid and the kidnappers didn't give the hostage back?

[bryant.coleman]

Yeah, what happened to the mt gox stolen coins? Have they tracked the culprits?
Have they tracked the bitstamp hackers? Have they tracked the binance hackers?
Do you know how much they've recovered from the bitfinex hack? 23 BTC out of 100k.

I don't think there is any type of cases with less success rate in recovering funds than those related to cryptos.

The authorities have traced back the Mt Gox robbery to Alexander Vinnik, who is currently in a Greek prison. And as per reliable reports, his associates in Russia are trying to reach a deal with the authorities and their lawyer is claiming that they are ready to give up whatever amount they got from the hack (which may be upto BTC200,000).

The Binance and Bitfinex hacks occurred recently and once the hackers try to convert their bounty to fiat cash, the authorities will get their chance to arrest them and confiscate the stolen coins. The chances are low, but there have been success stories. And obviously, the victims need to wait for many years to get any of that stolen amount reimbursed to them.

[pinkpanther03]

Isn't Nigeria was located at the country of Africa? if this is true, this might be one of the reason why other government country are opposing cryptocurrency or bitcoin it is because of this cases, due to the kidnappers are anonymous. And since it is from Nigeria, meaning they are African people, were most of the African people now are not trustworthy, this will get affect 100% if there are some ico, ieo own by African people hard to support it, because of this incident happened now.

[stompix]

~

The authorities have traced back the Mt Gox robbery to Alexander Vinnik, who is currently in a Greek prison

Vinnik is accused of laundering, I'm asking you about tracing the coins and finding the culprits.

And as per reliable reports, his associates in Russia are trying to reach a deal with the authorities and their lawyer is claiming that they are ready to give up whatever amount they got from the hack (which may be upto BTC200,000).

Reliable sources?
Zookeepers allover the world are scared their penguins are dying of laughter after reading that news.
There are 830k coins in total missing from MtGox, 200k has been recovered and are under control of Kobayashi, some scammers claim they might recover another 200k, still that leaves 400k coins.

The Binance and Bitfinex hacks occurred recently and once the hackers try to convert their bounty to fiat cash, the authorities will get their chance to arrest them and confiscate the stolen coins. The chances are low, but there have been success stories. And obviously, the victims need to wait for many years to get any of that stolen amount reimbursed to them.

Yeah, recently, 3 years ago...But funny how you avoided Bitstamp, was that a bit too not so long ago?
What about the others? Bitcoin7, Cryptsy, Bitfloor, Bitmarket....for god's sake I could write names till Christmas
What about the first MtGox hack?

A country where people live in straw huts and people know how to utilize Bitcoin. We've come a long way in adoption.

Do you think they kidnap people living in huts asking for 25 satoshi ransoms?
The best zones of Lagos are more expensive than cities in Europe, houses there can easily go over 3mils$.

[Miklight88]

this aint problem to me regard bitcoin or cryptocurrency but thse that use it as an avenue to scam people of use as a ransom are the devil part ,even cash has been use in many ocasition and till now no trace , so am not border as the price specify in that chat is a lie but $15000 was the amount and that has nothing to do with bitcoin .

[LogitechMouse]

I will share my opinion from both sides since I see good and bad things regarding this.

Bad: This can affect the price of Bitcoin since it is being used in bad things but... Bitcoin is being used in the black market already and some of the terrorists are using it too. Its just they are not publicizing it unlike this situation??

Good: More buyers = higher price . Simple as that

[Theb]

Can't the authorities take advantage of this kinds of crimes already? I know that other countries are blacklisting addresses linked with illicit activities. The Nigerian authorities could really take advantage of this on flushing them out once they send the ransom because they will be able to track them easily. If they blacklisted the address they have sent the BTC into then they would just trapping them giving them the chance to recover the coins back. This has been done with fiat currencies creating marked money there is really no difference except the marked money is digital.

[Kyraishi]

I think you're going at this with a flawed mindset, which is making you reach the following conclusion. In my opinion, the following news isn't actually very impactful, unless you have the views of a bitcoin-hater and try and paint a picture where the kidnapping only occurred because BTC existed and that BTC is the fuel for all of this, even though it's just a payment method - make it seem like this was not possible without BTC, and that criminals only deal in BTC.

This is incorrect. Ask any criminal nowadays, they all prefer cash over BTC. BTC has a public ledger amost other things which makes the currency extremely difficult to use for any criminal transacting huge amounts.

You need to think of think as crypto as another alternative payment method, like skrill, PayPal, bank transfers. When you end up with the mindset that the dark-net is fueled by crypto (big surprise, fiat currencies are still the most used currency for dark-net transactions), you are starting the race with 1 leg.

I'm more interested in if the government choose to pursue this case and find the kidnappers, I definitely see the government using the case to set a precedent and try and prevent these activities from occurring again.

[bryant.coleman]

Reliable sources?
Zookeepers allover the world are scared their penguins are dying of laughter after reading that news.
There are 830k coins in total missing from MtGox, 200k has been recovered and are under control of Kobayashi, some scammers claim they might recover another 200k, still that leaves 400k coins.

The news I was referring to was published in Coindesk, and therefore I would consider it as reliable:

https://www.coindesk.com/2-billion-lost-in-mt-gox-bitcoin-hack-can-be-recovered-lawyer-claims

The Mt Gox hackers (as per my assumption) included individuals from all over the globe. A large part of them were supposedly from Russia. The law firm ZPL (Zheleznikov and Partners Legal) claims that they know the identities of the Russian nationals, who in total received somewhere around BTC170,000 to BTC200,000 of the stolen coins. They are ready to give this data to the authorities in return for a commision of 50% to 75% of the recovered amount (to be payable only after the recovery is made).

Now don't think that the remaining coins can't be recovered. There were rumors after the robbery that most of the hackers were from the former USSR. So I would guess the remaining coins were pocketed by individuals from countries such as Ukraine and Estonia. Once the first set of individuals are identified and interrogated, then more coins can be recovered.

[Oasisman]

Bitcoin has been used in criminal acts since before coz criminals stays anonymous but i don't think it will have a big impact on bitcoin coz it already happened many times. It saddened me coz some people think that BITCOIN is a scam where in fact it's not. It's just that people used it as a front for their own benefit.

from that we realize that bitcoin is very helpful for crime so that the criminal remains anonymous. Sad, because we cannot stop these criminal activities in bitcoin world

Nope, nothing can stop criminals as long as there is money involved. Cases like this exist even before Bitcoin was created. Lucky, they had found a hole to take advantage of from the technology's anonymous transactions feature. Everyone knew that this will probably happen. Least that will happen is to ban Bitcoin from the countries that records a crypto related criminal activities, or completely regulate Bitcoin.

[stompix]

The news I was referring to was published in Coindesk, and therefore I would consider it as reliable:

Really fucked up times we're living right now, a quasi blog like website with independent bloggers and freelancer copying articles from other media and making them more clickbaitish has become a reliable source of information.

They are ready to give this data to the authorities in return for a commision of 50% to 75% of the recovered amount (to be payable only after the recovery is made).

Lols, you realize what you're saying here?  
Even if this is Russia, there is no place on this damn earth where a company can come and ask the authorities for a 50% commission to reveal data about a criminal case. If they even propose that for real they would be arrested themselves for this, and if there would be a real inquiry into this case in Russia and them refuse to release the data they claim to have they would end up in prison, in some European countries this can fall into preventing the course of justice and it comes with up to 20 years special treatment  .

Bottom line...
NOTHING was solved.
NO culprit was found!

Which again, goes against your whole tracing coins theory which has been proven unsuccessful in almost all hack cases.

[coolcoinz]

Nigerian princes are being kidnapped! The world is coming to an end.
I don't believe this will cause a ban, but you can never be sure what the politicians will come up with. The case of politicians laundering money with bitcoin in India comes to mind. It actually could end this way in Nigeria, but if they think this will stop the kidnappings they are wrong.

[Swingle]

If Bitcoin is banned in Nigeria all because kidnappers now requesting it as a means of ransom it might be a loss to Nigerians. This isn't the first time Bitcoin is been requested as payment for ransom nor Nigeria the first ever country this will or had happened to. Nigerian government need to solidify their security feat and give confidence to her citizens. The rate at which people are been kidnapped globaly us very alarming.

[Mike Mayor]

Wow if those kidnappers got 120k in 2016 they must have crap load worth now. This is not the first time this happened. When social media first came out did we ban it because someone was kidnapped? Bad things are on the internet in some places so does it mean we must end the internet? It is not the subject matter that is the problem it is what you do with it that is the problem.

[imstillthebest]

If Bitcoin is banned in Nigeria all because kidnappers now requesting it as a means of ransom it might be a loss to Nigerians.

not only thier loss but also ours  . we can also feel the impact if certain countries like nigeria have  sucesfully ban bitcoin  .

This isn't the first time Bitcoin is been requested as payment for ransom nor Nigeria the first ever country this will or had happened to.

yeah it isnt  . there are many negative news before on most countries and bitcoin were always on the subject  . that includes most common crimes like hacking , scamming and some are kidnapping  . btc's repuation are affected by these bad news but good thing that positive news also appears .

Nigerian government need to solidify their security feat and give confidence to her citizens. The rate at which people are been kidnapped globaly us very alarming.

you said it right . kidnapping is also present on other countries not just on nigeria , thats why thier government cant totally stop it but they can still do something to lessen it like deploying more security and cctv's on most places   .

[GMoore87]

There is no point in blaming Bitcoins for this. If it was not Bitcoins, they would be asking for fiat

[Vishnu.Reang]

Lols, you realize what you're saying here?  
Even if this is Russia, there is no place on this damn earth where a company can come and ask the authorities for a 50% commission to reveal data about a criminal case. If they even propose that for real they would be arrested themselves for this, and if there would be a real inquiry into this case in Russia and them refuse to release the data they claim to have they would end up in prison, in some European countries this can fall into preventing the course of justice and it comes with up to 20 years special treatment  .

Bottom line...
NOTHING was solved.
NO culprit was found!

Which again, goes against your whole tracing coins theory which has been proven unsuccessful in almost all hack cases.

I don't have much knowledge about all these laws. But there is one thing that I don't understand. If this is true, then what's wrong in making a deal with these Russian guys? Five and half years have passed since the Mt Gox scandal and the stolen funds (BTC650,000 + tens of millions of USD in fiat cash) remains untraceable. If these guys can help recovering some of that stolen amount, then what is wrong in cutting a deal?

[Mulann2]

Nigeria government have never legalize crypto in the country anyone doing so is doing at his/her own risk, I don't know why OP is trying to sound like the government have approved the use of crypto before, the government should worry about improving the economy, these are among the pressing issues that needs urgent attention.