The surge in Cryptocurrency prices in the market has seen a rise in the crime rate as well. Criminals are going high tech in order to get their hands on Bitcoins given the fact it has been on a rise and also unlike paper currency, it cannot be tracked. The latest incident involves kidnappers taking a cryptocurrency expert hostage in return for Bitcoins.
Pavel Lerner is a well-known bitcoin authority in Ukraine and is an executive at cryptocurrency exchange Exmo, who was kidnapped by an armed gang wearing masks near his office. The Kidnappers demanded a ransom of 1 million worth of Bitcoins in order to release Lerner. He was however released a couple of days later, maybe because someone made the transfer of bitcoins for him or he did it himself. Exmo has assured the users that their coins are absolutely safe since even Lerner does not have access to individual accounts. This is the first crime related to cryptocurrency in Ukraine, but we are sure that there will be more around the world due to the rise of cryptocurrencies.
