Hong Kong authorities captured three teenagers and rescued a 19-year-old who had fallen victim to a harrowing ordeal involving assault and unlawful detention last month.
The police are actively hunting the remaining six individuals – comprising four males and two females – suspected to be involved.
Hong Kong Teen Assaulted Over Crypto Profits
According to a report by SCMP, the victim was lured under the guise of meeting people and trading crypto assets. Upon arrival in a room at the Harbour Grand Kowloon Hotel on Tak Fung Street, however, the suspects demanded HK$180,000 (worth approximately $23,000) in profits from crypto trading.
The victim was then subjected to threats and brutal assault with baseball bats by two of the nine suspects present at the scene.
The 19-year-old victim managed to alert a friend, who then informed the law enforcement. Six suspects in connection with the case fled the scene, but the police were able to arrest two outside the hotel. Another one was detained within the premises.
An insider was quoted saying,
“The victim was allegedly detained when he went there to meet the nine suspects – seven men and two women. The group demanded he pay HK$180,000 in profits earned from trading virtual currencies.”
The arrested individuals, aged between 16 and 19, face charges including assault, unlawful detention, and blackmail, according to the detectives from the Kowloon City anti-triad squad who are handling the case.
Hong Kong authorities witnessed a notable rise in digital asset-related crimes in Hong Kong over the past three years. Reported cases increased from 1,397 to 3,415, with corresponding amounts involved rising from HKD 824 million to HKD 4.398 billion, indicating nearly a tripling of incidents during this period.
Crypto Crime Wave
Crypto crimes have also wreaked havoc across the world. Last May, six individuals faced charges of kidnapping, torturing, and extorting a man in Maharashtra, India, who had failed to provide returns on their investment in crypto. The victim claimed that the accused forcibly arranged a sale deed for his flat to recoup money, transferring the property into their names.
In South Korea, former spy turned hitman Lee Kyung-woo received a life sentence in October for kidnapping a woman from a posh district in Seoul amidst a crypto dispute, subsequently administering a lethal dose of ketamine obtained from a plastic surgery clinic.
The couple, having suffered losses of at least 1 billion Korean won ($760,000) in crypto investments, hired Lee, who allegedly posed as a former undercover agent, to eliminate the woman who had encouraged their investment and steal her digital assets.
In yet another alarming case, a 23-year-old crypto miner was abducted outside his residence in Izhevsk, Russia on Christmas Day. The kidnappers transported him to an undisclosed location and then contacted his brother via Telegram, demanding over 15 million rubles for his release. They allegedly threatened to frame the victim with drug possession and hand him over to authorities if their demands were not met.