A five-men gang which kidnapped Liyaqat Parker, a South African businessman, has honoured the payment of a 50 BTC ransom for his release. The businessman was captured on 9th of July 2018, right in front of his business office located in Fairway Close, N1 City, South Africa.
Although details of his release are still vague, the family made a statement saying that 50BTC was paid to the kidnappers, for the release of Liyaqat. However, no real details of the reason behind his kidnapping were identified. The local authorities reported that this incidence was one of many businessmen kidnappings recorded in the last three years. This type of kidnapping has led to the death of one businessman, and other two men, that were kidnapped, are missing.
In the past few years, there is evidence of kidnappers insisting that their ransom is paid in crypto. Only in South Africa 15 cases have been reported as kidnapped and ransomed for BTC.
Another case involving 13-years old South African was also reported. In which, the kidnapper demanded a ransom worth about £92,000 to be paid in cryptocurrency.
Similar incidents in other countries like Ukraine, India, and Russia have also been reported.
With the rate at which kidnappers ask to get paid using cryptocurrency, and especially Bitcoin, you can’t help but wonder about the change in the kidnappers’ tactics. Using crypto, especially anonymous coins such as Monero and Zcash, make it very difficult for the local authorities to trace the kidnappers.
This article was published on: Sep 19, 2018