South Korea Stunned by ‘Crypto-motivated’ Murder – Is Crypto Crime on the Rise?
South Korea has been rocked by the apparent kidnap and murder of a 48-year-old woman in Gangnam, Seoul – a crime that seems to have been motivated by crypto. Four suspects have been arrested.
The alleged crime was caught on camera and shared in news reports, such as the video below – a report from the national broadcaster MBC.
The video appears to show three men attacking a woman on a street at 11:46pm in the affluent Seocho neighborhood. The district is home to most of the nation’s biggest crypto firms.
The men then appear to drag the woman into a car.
Per Chosun, Maeil Kyungjae, Joongang, and EToday, four men aged between 24 and 36 have been placed into police custody in connection with the crime. Three are believed to be the assailants in the video, with the youngest thought to be an accomplice who was employed to “follow” the woman for several months.
The identity of the victim was not revealed, but media outlets reported that she was a “former employee” of a crypto-related company. She reportedly owned considerable amounts of tokens, such as Bitcoin (BTC).
Police stated that the woman’s husband had been arrested on crypto-related fraud charges. He is currently in police custody awaiting trial.
Officers added that “there may be more accomplices besides” those arrested – and were currently looking for “additional suspects.”
Police think the men kidnapped the woman, held her for two days, drugged her with ketamine, and eventually suffocated her – before driving to the nearby city of Daejeon. The victim’s body was found near the city’s Daecheong Dam.
Media outlets released photographs of the men being taken into police custody.
The 24-year-old reportedly told police that one of the other suspects asked him to help in January, but
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