Manchester court sentences 7 for kidnapping, $124K crypto extortion

[tabas]

Justice has been served and the bad guys are always there trying to see who can they extort. I'm sorry for the man that they have been extorting and maybe that guy was too vocal on them and that's why they have become aware that he holds crypto a lot. The lesson that we can learn from the same scenarios is to be quiet and keep ourselves low profile. Don't be too boastful in social media because we'll get nothing from that, avoid the fuss from chasing clout just because your portfolio is up.

[coupable]

Be quiet. Be private. Don't talk about you owning any crypto in the public, some family members may also be considered public too. If.you do talk about cryptocurrency be as vague and discreet as possible. There are bad people everywhere online and offline. There will be more of these stories.

Good point about sharing some details with family members. This can be a deadly step and more dangerous than telling strangers because family members know more about your daily life than strangers. At worst, the family members you share these details with may be trustworthy, but there is no guarantee that they will not share the news with their friends and it becomes difficult to limit the scope of the information.
In general, it is never advisable to share stories about our private lives including our sources of income and details of our investments. It is not only about crypto but all valuable assets that we can earn through hard work or successful investment. With crypto, the situation is made more dangerous because of the privacy feature that gives criminals an incentive to plan and commit crimes.

[Sanitough]

Sometimes being too proud of our crypto holdings can put us at risk, just like what happened to that person. So, no matter where you live, even in a country with top-notch security, it's not always smart to make it public that you're holding crypto. Unless you're a big shot in the crypto world like Elon Musk or Michael Saylor, who know how to keep themselves safe, as a regular guy with a decent amount of crypto, it's best to keep quiet. You really have to choose between fame and staying safe, and honestly, if I were in that situation, I'd always choose safety over the spotlight.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Why doesn't the article tell how this gang found out that the victim had bitcoins? The first time he gave it away, but in his naivety, he didn't think to change his place of residence. One day, the gang found out about him, but there were no psychics there; how did they find out about him? The guy was talkative or boastful, which is the same thing. But the fact that having one case of extortion, he did not change anything in himself just says that his drama may not end.

[Agbamoni]

This anonymous transactions of a thing has become what we get to fear about now for our life. It hurt to see that things that are developed to provide ease and security for people has now become what the bad ones use as a reason to harm people. The awareness of Bitcoin anonymous transaction to this criminals has made them easily take money from people even in online scamming. And i guess they used wallet account not exchange account if not the transaction should be reported so that the exchange account will be blocked.

Justice has been served and the bad guys are always there trying to see who can they extort. I'm sorry for the man that they have been extorting and maybe that guy was too vocal on them and that's why they have become aware that he holds crypto a lot. The lesson that we can learn from the same scenarios is to be quiet and keep ourselves low profile. Don't be too boastful in social media because we'll get nothing from that, avoid the fuss from chasing clout just because your portfolio is up.

It wasn't stated that the money was returned to the victim. Perhaps they must have spend all the money before they were caught. Am also happy that justice was served and it should be a lesson to all those who will want to try something like this again.

[Asuspawer09]

It would totally be a huge mistake to brag about cryptocurrency if you know you hold a huge amount or you have savings on cryptocurrency you dont really need to share it with anyone, especially strangers, friends, etc. And probably even to your family, Personally I would make an exception to my family if you trust them or your spouse, but other than that dont share it with anyone else but this kind of risk is already in there.

Having some kind of password or seed phrase is not going to be that safe especially if they know you are holding a cryptocurrency they could easily just force you to open a wallet and send your funds to them just like what happened here, and recently there was a lot of news that is similar to this one so, that just means that it is already a thing. Unless you are some kind of VIP that have a good security, I mean there are a lot of investors or people that invest on cryptocurrency that probably have thousands or million of dollars but just lives in a small house that doesnt really have a good security, maybe it can easily be force, if someone with a gun came in on your house and force you can you do anything about it? if not just be safe and stay anonymous on your crypto investments.

[Mpamaegbu]

Anonymous person reported them because he is afraid of his or her own life. Also why only demanding for cryptocurrencies and not fiat? Privacy is very important.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/gang-members-sentenced-kidnapping-cryptocurrency-investor

It's like the court took note of their ages while sentencing them because I noticed that the older folks got lesser years imprisonment. Anyway, there's something that didn't go down well with me in the victim's behaviour and that's – why didn't he report the matter by himself rather than the chanced anonymous caller that alerted the police? Secondly, if he was that scared of reporting it for his life; why didn't he relocate from that environment to an unknown place? He wouldn't point money as an issue why he didn't relocate because he had it. There must be something fishy there.

Just like i said on a similar post few days ago, about crypto privacy, keep this shit to yourself.
No one needs to know how much you have. Act poor, don't flash and you'll be ok

Except it's for marketing purposes to get more people to sign up with their referral links, I don't see any reason why people flash their achievements, showing screenshots and receipts online. It's childish behaviour, honestly.

[Orpichukwu]

Anonymous person reported them because he is afraid of his or her own life. Also why only demanding for cryptocurrencies and not fiat? Privacy is very important.

In the article, they never really mentioned which crypto was stolen from the victim; they just generalised the name "cryptocurrency." We don't even know if it's some sort of shitcoins or centralised altcoins, which could easily be frozen or tracked if the scammers make a little mistake, and due to the jail sentence, it appears that one of the suspects was given a lesser penalty. Probably the person could be, who knows about crypto among all other suspects, which his work was just to handle the transfer of the coins, since they believe it can't be tracked or traced back to them since it's not a bank or something that can be traced.

[uchegod-21]

Be quiet. Be private. Don't talk about you owning any crypto in the public, some family members may also be considered public too. If.you do talk about cryptocurrency be as vague and discreet as possible. There are bad people everywhere online and offline. There will be more of these stories.

The world is full of shit and people no longer feel safe simply because they own Bitcoin or they are considered as crypto traders, I think insecurity and poverty is the reason behind all this things if not I don't see any good reason why people will not be happy to talk about what they do or the kind of investment they are into. How do people get encouraged to invest in cryptocurrency when you don't feel safe to talk to them about it and you being an investor, we all should be careful not to lose our lives because of what we own, the world is crazy.

One thing is that when they hear that you are into crypto or bitcoin, they will automatically think you are worth thousands and millions of dollars. They don't just understand that poor people are into crypto and atimes nothing is in the portfolio. This is rampant is the 3rd world countries where they think big of crypto but does not involve.

Luckily one day, an anonymous person called police about the victim well being after the gangster took him somewhere. Police later arrested seven people which are referred to as gang members. They have been sent to prison. You can read more about it in the news.

If you are lucky to escape the first day, just report to the police. If you don't, they will keep coming until anyday you are unable to send, they'll kill you.

[tabas]

Justice has been served and the bad guys are always there trying to see who can they extort. I'm sorry for the man that they have been extorting and maybe that guy was too vocal on them and that's why they have become aware that he holds crypto a lot. The lesson that we can learn from the same scenarios is to be quiet and keep ourselves low profile. Don't be too boastful in social media because we'll get nothing from that, avoid the fuss from chasing clout just because your portfolio is up.

It wasn't stated that the money was returned to the victim. Perhaps they must have spend all the money before they were caught. Am also happy that justice was served and it should be a lesson to all those who will want to try something like this again.

It can be recovered in some other means though and what's important here is that the victim's life has been spared and the extortionists have been sentenced. We need to keep ourselves low and not do the talk when it comes to finances. Not everybody needs to know how much your salary is, how much you have in crypto, and other assets that you have. It'll be a lesson to everybody and we always get to see news like this every cycle just like in 2021, there were a bunch that I've read in articles.

[alani123]

These criminals are quite dumb in my opinion. They terget average Joed that just happen to open crypto.

Why not terget any rich person and tell them to buy crypto? If the criminal's demands were simply a dent to the wealthy person's total funds they'd be likely to find a way to pay. However these average joes are far less likely to leave such case be when everything they have is stolen from them.

I'd just say criminals targeting small time crypto bros are super dumb. Luckily these ones got what they deserved.

[Alphakilo]

I'd just say criminals targeting small time crypto bros are super dumb. Luckily these ones got what they deserved.

They could have made the equivalent of the crypto in the time they will spend in the jail. I think it is possible if they do their homework and work hard. They could have bought a book or two about Bitcoin and learnt how to earn Bitcoin.

It is way easier to earn some Bitcoins now than many years ago. Too easy. They got what they deserve and that's the same thing that will happen to others planning the same act.

[PX-Z]

Me getting in crypto space has always been like this, getting paranoid of getting abducted due the nature of work, that's why keep my mouth shut and don't give any specific response when acquaintances asking my nature of work online, i just said it's digital marketing feelancing lol. Only close friends knows im into crypto doing shits

[Die_empty]

Why doesn't the article tell how this gang found out that the victim had bitcoins? The first time he gave it away, but in his naivety, he didn't think to change his place of residence. One day, the gang found out about him, but there were no psychics there; how did they find out about him? The guy was talkative or boastful, which is the same thing. But the fact that having one case of extortion, he did not change anything in himself just says that his drama may not end.

One of the reasons why I like crypto investment is that you can be a millionaire and nobody around your area will know it. Unlike keeping money in the bank where the staff has your details and bank balance, wallet addresses have just numbers and alphabets.

This victim might have told someone about his crypto. He might not have told many people or boasted about his coin, it could be a close friend or family member who has planned these attacks. These days trustworthy people are scarce this is why you need to keep many things secret.

[Ojima-ojo]

Just like i said on a similar post few days ago, about crypto privacy, keep this shit to yourself.
No one needs to know how much you have. Act poor, don't flash and you'll be ok

Take your cryptocurrency secret to the grave while alive that is how secret one can be to avoid possible security threats, most at time's we can across cases that sound so funny and carelessly handled and all pointed to a lack of discipline and privacy I'm the side of the cryptocurrency holder.


I read about a guy whose friend set him up because he disclosed his cryptocurrency holding and wallet balance to the friend, he got reported to the police as dealing illegal drugs to earn the crypto, and it was discovered later that the friend connived with the corrupted police just to defraud him.

[Charles-Tim]

As people are knowing more about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, something like this will begin to happen because bad people will look for ways to extort people which will involve the coins for payment. That is the reason privacy is very important. About this matter, I think this man's matter is more than lack of privacy. It is also about lack of bravery. He is not brave at all. Luckily the bad actors were arrested and sentenced to many years in prison. I think it supposed to be life imprisonment.

[Odohu]

As people are knowing more about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, something like this will begin to happen because bad people will look for ways to extort people which will involve the coins for payment. That is the reason privacy is very important. About this matter, I think this man's matter is more than lack of privacy. It is also about lack of bravery. He is not brave at all. Luckily the bad actors were arrested and sentenced to many years in prison. I think it supposed to be life imprisonment.

I more scared now than ever to tell people about Bitcoin because the threat against Bitcoiners is growing at an alarming rate. The moment people know that you are into Bitcoin, the first thing that come to their mind is that you are rich; this itself is a threat because you may not have security protection as such, you become a target if there are bad guy around. The noise that followed Bitcoin hitting $100k was so loud that it aroused people's curiosity so much. I will not be surprise if kidnappers now make it a norm to collect ransom in BTC because it offers them some level of protection, not full protection though.