South African Criminals Demand Bitcoin Ransom
An unknown group of individuals from a crime syndicate have sent an anonymous message to an anti-crime website of the South African Government, demanding 5 BTC as ransom.
These individuals allegedly have a 9-year old child in their custody and will only release the child after 5BTC is transferred to them.
The administrator of the anti-crime group Western Cape Gangwatch, reported that they received this communication and the BTC was to be transferred within 48 hours.
The kidnappers have said that they would cease communication in 48hours if the money is not transferred. They have even provides an address for the BTC to be sent.
Gangwatch collaborates with the law enforcement agencies quiet often and have done so again for this little girl. The group also conducted attempts to track down the email ID and the address provided but to no avail.
Here is what they said to a local media outlet, “We are trying to track it via the Bitcoin code, but believe the email the person is using was probably created at an internet cafe, which automatically deletes it and there is no IP address available either.”
The Bitcoin address however has been traced and has a single usage history. The address had a transaction last December of about 0.0168 BTC. Which was subsequently moved away to an exchange.
Before moving the Bitcoin to an exchange they were shifted to another address that had over 120 BTC. Post that the BTC was shifted to an exchange and was presumably converted to fiat currencies.
Gangwatch’s spokesperson then went on to implore the kidnappers to let the little girl go. And side-by-side, there is an effort to gather that money to send the ransom.
The nine year old child is a girl of South African origin named Linathi Titshala. The search for her and her kidnappers is ongoing. And is being led by the law enforcement agencies of South Africa.
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Hitesh Malviya is the Founder of ItsBlockchain. He is one of the most early adopters of blockchain & cryptocurrency enthusiast in India. After being into space for a few years, he started IBC in 2016 to help other early adopters learn about the technology.
Before IBC, Hitesh has founded 4 companies in the cyber security & IT space.
