Vietnam Court Holds Trial in $1.5M Crypto Robbery and Kidnapping Case

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City brought 16 suspects to trial in a case that involved kidnapping and stolen crypto on May 10.

According to local media, Ho Ngoc Tai, Tran Ngoc Hoang, and a group of accomplices took 35 billion VND (~$1.5 million) in crypto from Le Duc Nguyen.

Kidnapping and Crypto Theft Case

In 2018, Ho Ngoc Tai sold about 1,000 Bitcoins, equivalent to VND 100 billion, to invest in other cryptocurrencies following the advice of Nguyen. However, his investment tanked. Tai believed that Nguyen had conned him and wanted a refund.

Tai hired others to find Nguyen and planned a crypto robbery in May 2020. Two of the gang members were former police officers. They used GPS trackers on the victim’s car to keep tabs on his whereabouts. The accused reportedly hired a van and purchased realistic-looking BB guns to scare Nguyen into paying him back.

On the night of the robbery, one of the gang members purposely crashed his motorbike into the vehicle being driven by Nguyen. After he got out to check on the situation, the other members kidnapped him, forcing him into the van at gunpoint.

The group then forced the victim to ask his brother to transfer the original amount of 1,000 Bitcoins to Tai. After the gang found out that Nguyen’s brother didn’t have this, Tai took Nguyen’s mobile phone and transferred himself around VND 35 billion worth of crypto. According to the report, the group then abandoned the victim in the city of Thu Duc.

Last month, Indian police in the National Capital Region of Noida arrested three in a crypto robbery attempt. According to reports, police arrested three people, including a husband and wife. It is alleged that they faked a robbery at their own home. They were nabbed after they tried to obtain information about a friend’s cryptocurrency investment portfolio worth millions.

Vietnam Second in ASEAN in Crypto Adoption

Nearly 17 million people in Vietnam are said to be cryptocurrency owners, according to the Vietnam Crypto Market Report 2022. According to Triple-A, one in five of its residents hold cryptocurrencies. This makes Vietnam the second-highest-ranked ASEAN nation in crypto adoption terms after Thailand.

According to the report, Vietnam presently has 200 active blockchain initiatives. Games and metaverse projects made up 28.8% of the total. For instance, Ho Chi Minh City is the headquarter for the fantasy game Axie Infinity.

Some attribute Vietnam’s crypto dominance to the country’s low crypto taxation, restricted access to financial services, and inflation insurance. However, many Vietnamese crypto investors reportedly lost money in the aftermath of the FTX collapse.