At the end of last month, a shocking kidnapping and extortion case occurred in New Taipei City. A cryptocurrency trading influencer with the surname Chen was invited by fans to a café to share investment insights, but unexpectedly fell into a premeditated kidnapping trap, was beaten by three suspects, forced into a car, and compelled to hand over approximately 5.5 million New Taiwan dollars worth of USDT. After receiving the report, the police quickly investigated and arrested two suspects within 24 hours.
Fan interaction became bait, and he was beaten by three people and kidnapped.
According to the victim, the cryptocurrency influencer with the surname Chen later explained on social media that the suspects pretended to be fans and interacted with him for a long time, repeatedly expressing a desire to learn trading techniques in person. Chen ultimately agreed, and the two sides arranged to meet at a café on the evening of November 29. The atmosphere of their nearly hour-long exchange was harmonious, with no signs of anything unusual.
After the meeting, the suspect claimed to have brought a gift and hoped Mr. Chen would come to the car to pick it up. Mr. Chen, not suspecting anything, followed to the parking lot that the suspect had premeditated. Unexpectedly, two other accomplices suddenly emerged from the bushes, continuously beating Mr. Chen and spraying pepper spray, subsequently forcing him into a car and taking him to the suburbs, coercing him to hand over all his cryptocurrency assets.
Mr. Chen pointed out that, ultimately, he sold all his spot assets as instructed and transferred 170,000 USDT (approximately NT$5.5 million) to the suspects. After that, Mr. Chen was taken to Taoyuan Airport and abandoned.
Police arrested two suspects in one day; the exchange provided condolence money.
According to reports, after receiving the report, the police reviewed surveillance footage, quickly identifying the identities of three suspects, and arrested 32-year-old Mr. Wu and 31-year-old Mr. Li within 24 hours. The two were sent to the New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office on charges of restricting freedom, robbery, and injury, and are currently in detention without visitation. The police stated that the accomplice with the surname Chen is still being pursued by the special investigation team.
Five days after the incident, Mr. Chen recorded a video to reassure his fans. After reviewing the on-chain transaction records, he found that the stolen cryptocurrency assets had flowed into a mixing service and were dispersed to multiple cryptocurrency wallets, making it almost impossible to recover.
Mr. Chen helplessly stated: "I want a decentralized currency, which indeed requires taking on the risk of not having centralized control. As for why I was targeted? I believe this was premeditated, possibly selecting some names, just to see who would be foolish enough to come out and share their investment experiences and mindset with netizens, and that person is me."
Six days after the incident, Mr. Chen revealed that BingX exchange proactively contacted him to express condolences and offered about 95,000 USDT (approximately NT$3 million) as condolence money. Mr. Chen stated that part of the funds he was robbed of was transferred from his BingX account, and he was quite surprised to be able to get this money back.
The incident sparked discussions online, with some netizens believing that the suspect targeted cryptocurrency influencers due to the easily transferable nature of cryptocurrencies. Some netizens also reminded to be vigilant when meeting strangers, suggesting to choose public places with many people to avoid going to remote locations.
Source