TechFlow News, May 30: Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office recently charged a criminal group—comprising several former police officers—with kidnapping cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and extorting ransom payments totaling over $2.2 million.
The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the group included four former police officers, among them two retired colonels, as well as one civilian with a prior criminal record. They allegedly used official police resources and vehicles to impersonate law enforcement officers and carry out kidnappings and extortion targeting individuals in the cryptocurrency industry.
Investigations have confirmed at least four cryptocurrency entrepreneurs were victimized. In one case, a victim residing in Kyiv was abducted at gunpoint and forced to sign fraudulent debt documents worth $5 million.
All implicated officers have since been dismissed from service, and the case has been transferred to court for trial.
