Two residents of the Russian city of Tomsk will stand trial for “large-scale theft” involving the theft of millions of rubles worth of cryptocurrency from a local miner. The digital coins were stolen from the owner at gunpoint, authorities said, adding that both criminals are now in custody.
Thieves Face Trial in Russia for Armed Robbery of Cryptocurrency Miner
Tomsk’s Kirovsky Court will soon try two men for their attack on another resident of the Siberian city who made his living mining cryptocurrency. They were able to extort more than 360 million rubles worth of coins from him at the time (more than $4.8 million), Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media reported.
The crime took place in October 2021. The perpetrators attacked the cryptocurrency miner as he was leaving his home. One of them threatened him with a gun-like object and took him back to his apartment.
His accomplice then walked in and the two forced the victim to log into his account on a crypto exchange and transfer them 86 BTC of a wallet containing 90 BTC. It is not clear why they decided not to withdraw the full balance.
Russian police managed to track down and arrest one of the suspects in Saint Petersburg. He has since pleaded guilty and returned the fiat equivalent of a portion of the stolen digital money: 35 million rubles (about $479,000 at current exchange rates). The second man was later arrested.
The regional prosecutor’s office charged the attackers with “robbery committed by a group of people on an especially large scale” under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million rubles.
Attacks against people who own and obtain cryptocurrency have been on the rise in Russia. In July 2021, armed robbers looted a large mining farm near Moscow and stole dozens of video cards used to mint digital currencies. Also last year, $1 million worth of tether was taken from a cryptocurrency trader in the Russian capital.
Do you think that cryptocurrency-related crimes, such as these cases, will continue to spread with the popularity of cryptocurrencies? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
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