Russian Programmer Kidnapped After Flaunting Wealth, Loses 10.4 BTC

Five men have been arrested in Ivanovo, Russia, over the kidnapping and robbery of a programmer in his 20s, whose crypto wallet lost about 10.4 BTC. According to ChainCatcher, citing Kommersant, the suspects identified him through social media posts showing luxury cars and trips abroad. The men allegedly abducted him to a garage on September 6, assaulted and threatened him, and took 1 million rubles in cash, an iPhone and a MacBook. They also transferred about 10.4 BTC from his wallet to unidentified addresses, bringing the total reported losses to more than 84 million rubles. The victim was later abandoned in a wooded area. Police said an internet outage caused by drone attacks led the suspects to use regular phone calls, which investigators intercepted before arresting them. All five have prior serious criminal convictions. Some of the stolen proceeds were used to buy property and cars, and the suspects face up to 15 years in prison.