Six men have been arrested and sentenced to six months in prison for robbing and assaulting a European who gave them crypto investment advice, local reports revealed.
According to the report, one of the convicts had invested $30 million in bitcoin after taking advice from a self-acclaimed crypto expert.
Seeing his initial capital increase to $100 million within days, he invited his friends to invest in the digital asset. Unfortunately, a few days later, the cryptocurrency crashed and all of them lost their investments.
After the devastating loss, investors reached out to the supposed crypto expert, asking him how he intends to compensate them. The expert told them to invest in a new crypto asset that was yet to be launched.
The website, which the expert created to trade new digital assets, was compromised by hackers just 15 minutes after creation and this led to the coin crashing to zero.
Enraged by the loss, the gang members broke into the victim’s house and stole around $200,000, three watches, and a diamond ring worth $106,186.
The gang members not only attacked and stole from the victim but also threatened to kill him if he did not return to them the money they lost after taking his advice and investing in Bitcoin.
Not the First of Its Kind
This is not the first time a crypto theft involving physical assault will be occurring. Similar incidents of this kind are becoming common in recent times.
A few months ago, a male British soldier was charged with kidnapping and robbery. The soldier allegedly conspired with three others to physically assault an Italian couple, forcing them to reveal the password to their crypto wallet.
Just recently, a 24-year-old man was given five years in jail for stealing cryptocurrencies worth £34K ($41,900). The criminal used all kinds of violent means like threatening to chop off the victim’s fingers.
