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Bitcoin Crime

Toronto Crypto Company CEO Kidnapped, Held For $1 Million Ransom Before Being Released (www.cbc.ca) 34

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC News: The head of a company specializing in cryptocurrency was kidnapped and held for ransom in downtown Toronto during rush hour Wednesday. Police were called about a kidnapping in the area of University Avenue and Richmond Street W. just before 6 p.m., says a spokesperson with the Toronto Police Service. The suspects forced the victim into a vehicle and made a demand for money, the spokesperson said. The man was later located in Centennial Park in Etobicoke uninjured.

CBC Toronto has learned the victim is Dean Skurka, the president and CEO of Toronto-based financial firm WonderFi. He was released after a ransom of $1 million was paid electronically, a source close to the investigation said. Police say the investigation is ongoing and have not released any further details. [...] The alleged kidnapping happened the same day WonderFi released its third quarter earnings results, showing a 153 per cent increase compared to its third quarter in 2023.

Toronto Crypto Company CEO Kidnapped, Held For $1 Million Ransom Before Being Released

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  • by 50000BTU_barbecue ( 588132 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @05:20PM (#64928957) Journal

    Easy way to launder a quick million

    • I hope he beat himself with a $5 wrench before giving up the crypto. Its important to fulfill the entire comic.

    • Beat me to it, This has to be a variant on the rug pull. Just grab some quick easy cash from your customers and investors and get free PR for your shitty crypto company.

      • by shanen ( 462549 )

        Concurrence.

        But as regards your sig, it's too early to say. For example, why not say the term lasts for life rather than four years? The second term is only for the clone.

    • by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @06:04PM (#64929063)

      Given he's in crypto - that was absolutely my first thought. Nobody's getting kidnapped, in downtown Toronto, mid rush-hour. The guy's seen too many movies and came up with a stupid story.

    • How exactly does that work? Paying your own ransom doesn't make the money clean. And now you have a million dollar that you have to hide...

      • by ffkom ( 3519199 )
        A million dollar you (if the story was true) do not have anymore may not be taxed the same as a million dollar you still own. Kind of the same "trick" most larger corporations pull all the time, where they pretend to have to give almost all their profits to some company in a low-tax country (coincidentally owned by the same owners), because they claim to have to pay "license payments" or such nonsense to that letter-box company.
        • A million dollar you (if the story was true) do not have anymore may not be taxed the same as a million dollar you still own.

          The point of money laundering is taking dirty money and making it "clean" (seems to come from a legitimate resource) so you can do things like pay taxes on it. So literally the opposite of what you (and the OP) described.

          Kind of the same "trick" most larger corporations pull all the time, where they pretend to have to give almost all their profits to some company in a low-tax country (coincidentally owned by the same owners), because they claim to have to pay "license payments" or such nonsense to that letter-box company.

          That's profit shifting, moving legal profits to a lower tax district to you have to pay less tax. Very different than what's described here.

          If the CEO was in on it then it would probably be embezzlement, though if you're the CEO of a financial firm you're probably not risking jail for a mil

      • I think that maybe the word laundered was used incorrectly. I know nothing about this, but given the story, my first thought is that $1M has already been stolen and the story was made up to hide the embezzlement. I would hope that investigators take a long hard look at this possibility. But you are right, that's not laundering.
        • Usually embezzlers don't call attention to themselves on the 6 o'clock news. Also embezzlement is usually ongoing, undetected (because of the aforementioned discretion), for years.
          Then again, it's usually small amounts or plausible amounts.
          In any case, I doubt the million is very far away from our kidnapee.

    • The company should take the ransom out of his salary. There's no way the shareholders should have to pay it.
  • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @05:20PM (#64928959)

    Pay the ransom in crypto.

    Oh wait... The kidnappers probably prefer real money.

  • by sunderland56 ( 621843 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @05:30PM (#64928977)

    Be nice to your employees. Otherwise they may not pay your ransom.

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      Accidental Red Chief scenario. They refuse to pay but he's so obnoxious the kidnappers send him back anyway.

    • Employees have nothing to do with whether the CEO's ransom is paid. He's a decision for members of the board, and CEOs are usually nice to them.

    • by Pimpy ( 143938 )

      Or stagger the ransom:
      - 1 million to let him go
      - 2 million and we keep him

  • by Anonymous Coward

    The plan for all cryptocurrencies isn't what they want to make you think it is. It's more sinister than the egalitarian image the crypto boys portray for it.

    After the 2008 financial meltdown, cryptocurrencies were born out of it, declared to be the means by which people could be freed from banks/governments, and promised to avoid any such future meltdowns from happening ever again.

    But the crypto boys watched closely the result of that meltdown, and formulated their plan: create a new form of currency, and

    • All quite believable, despite being a re-post, but it could just simply be an elaborate plan to make ransoms easier to pay.

      • Heh, I just read this again and I realized that it's basically just the short way of saying what you're saying, so yea... I agree.

    • The Plan is not as sophisticated or sinister as it sounds. Its just a bunch of weasels that understand how banking works, and that banking is heavily regulated, but crypto is not (yet).

      What catapulted bitcoin into the professional realm was when heavily moneyed investors realized they could manipulate bitcoin pricing by "arbitrage". This is how FOREX is managed and FOREX traders make money. Its basically 1908 banking without a central bank (yet). Except bitcoin is not actually "money", but a virtual com

  • Muuuhhaaahhh (Dr Evil Laught)
  • by ebcdic ( 39948 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @06:48PM (#64929201)

    Cryptocurency is organized crime, this is just typical gangster stuff.

  • There's no way, NO WAY, that somehow they will get away with the money. No! Not a chance. The blockchain will ensure that the criminals are caught. Thank Jesus for defi. Trump 2028!

    Crypto is only good for criminals, either gun-toting or scamming.

  • "Cryptocurrency ripe target for theft: expert " - how is this different than cash?
    • by ffkom ( 3519199 )
      The biggest differences are:
      * cash is actually useful for everyday payments, plus person A can hand cash to person B without having to also pay greedy payment service C.
      * a thief has to be physically present to steal cash, which is not only a significant risk for the thief, but also makes it impossible to steal cash just via some data cable from a far away location
    • by ElKry ( 1544795 )

      "Cryptocurrency ripe target for theft: expert " - how is this different than cash?

      How often do you carry 1 million in cash in your wallet?

  • Professional criminals get smarter every year.

Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle. -- Steinbach

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