Three Florida youngsters are dealing with fees of kidnapping, theft, and extortion after allegedly abducting a person at gunpoint and stealing $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens.
In line with native media, two of the suspects, each 16 years outdated from Pasco County, Florida, are being tried as adults, with one held on $4 million bail and the opposite positioned below home arrest with digital monitoring. A 3rd teen reportedly fled the nation and stays at massive.
The trio allegedly ambushed the sufferer in November after he was returning house from internet hosting a crypto occasion in Downtown Las Vegas, earlier than driving him greater than 70 miles out to a distant desert space close to White Hills, Arizona.
There, the sufferer was threatened and informed that if he didn’t cooperate, he wouldn’t “live to see another day.” He was additionally warned that his father can be killed if he resisted.
Underneath stress, he handed over passwords to his crypto accounts, giving the attackers entry to thousands and thousands in digital property, together with NFTs. After draining his accounts, the kids allegedly dumped him within the desert, leaving him to stroll 5 miles to a gasoline station the place he managed to name a pal for assist.
Investigators imagine a fourth individual might have been concerned remotely. In line with police experiences, the sufferer overheard a telephone name on speaker through the ordeal, suggesting somebody was directing the youngsters or speaking with them in actual time.
Authorities haven’t but recognized this particular person, however suspect they performed a key position in orchestrating the assault.
The FBI can be helping native regulation enforcement within the investigation, and a preliminary listening to for the 2 teenagers in custody is scheduled for June.
The incident provides to a rising variety of violent crimes linked to digital property, as crypto holders develop into more and more focused by kidnappers and extortionists.
As beforehand lined on crypto.information, earlier this yr, Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped from his house in France, with the abductors reportedly demanding a cryptocurrency ransom. He was rescued two days later in a police operation described by authorities as “ultra-sensitive.”
Just a few months earlier, Malaysian authorities arrested 14 people in reference to the kidnapping of two victims in Cyberjaya. The attackers acquired a $1.2 million ransom in crypto earlier than releasing the hostages. 4 suspects stay at massive.
In line with a GitHub checklist maintained by Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp, there have been 21 offline crypto robberies reported to date in 2025, following 28 incidents in 2024.
