outh Korea was shaken by the apparent kidnapping and murder of a 48-year-old woman in Gangnam, Seoul, which appears to have been driven by cryptocurrency. Four suspects have been detained in connection with the incident. The alleged offense was captured on camera and disseminated in news stories, including the footage below, which is a report from the state broadcaster MBC.
According to reports, the video footage depicts three men assaulting a woman on the street in the upscale Seocho neighborhood at 11:46 pm. The district is home to the majority of the country's largest cryptocurrency companies. The men can then be seen pulling the woman into a vehicle.
According to reports from Chosun, Maeil Kyungjae, Joongang, and EToday, four individuals aged between 24 and 36 have been arrested by the police in relation to the incident. Three of them are suspected to be the attackers seen in the footage, while the youngest is believed to have acted as an accomplice who was hired to track the woman for several months. Although the identity of the victim has not been disclosed, media sources indicate that she was a former employee of a company linked to cryptocurrencies and held substantial quantities of tokens like Bitcoin (BTC).
The authorities revealed that the woman's husband had been detained on allegations of fraud associated with cryptocurrencies. He is currently under police custody and awaiting trial. Law enforcement officials also mentioned that there could be other accomplices apart from the ones already detained and that they were actively seeking further suspects.
Authorities are investigating whether the motive for the violent murder was connected to cryptocurrencies. Law enforcement officials suspect that the individuals abducted the victim, detained her for 48 hours, administered ketamine to drug her, and then suffocated her before driving to Daejeon, a nearby city. The victim's corpse was discovered near the Daecheong Dam in the city. Photos of the suspects being arrested by the police were published in various news outlets.
According to reports, the 24-year-old suspect claimed that one of his accomplices had requested his assistance in January but denied involvement in the abduction. Law enforcement authorities suspect that the 35-year-old individual was the leader of the group and had invested approximately $61,000 in the victim's former firm, where he had previously worked.
It is believed that he lost all of his invested funds. Police claim that he convinced the 36-year-old suspect to assist in the abduction. Additionally, the 36-year-old had loaned money to a third suspect, aged 30, who owed him the debt.
The 36-year-old allegedly told the 30-year-old suspect that he would forgive his debt if he helped them. One of the suspects apparently told the police that the kidnapping was carried out with the intention of stealing the victim's cryptocurrency holdings.
Has Crypto-Related Crime Increased in South Korea?
The suspects in the recent kidnap and murder of a woman in Seoul, South Korea, were arrested and accused of stealing her cryptocurrency. Police claim that the crime was planned and that the suspects used disposable phones and cash to evade arrest. This is not the only case of crypto-related crime in South Korea, as a CEO of a crypto company was sentenced to 25 years for murdering his girlfriend last year. Additionally, the country has seen an increase in drug trafficking that is fueled by cryptocurrency.
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