Malaysian hackers took the Chinese hostage for $1M USDT, according to the report.
Six Malaysian nationals – a couple and four individuals – were accused of kidnapping a Chinese national and demanding a ransom of 4.44 million Malaysian Ringgit ($1 million) in the Tether USDT stablecoin.
The accused, aged between 25 and 29, abducted the man on July 11 at one of the exits of the expressway connecting the cities of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. The group demanded a ransom of 1 million Tether (USDT) tokens. The release of the victim.
The hacker asked for a stable coin ransom
The indictment alleges that the Chinese man was wrongly arrested for a ransom of 1,007,696 USDT, local media Malay Mail reported.
On August 15, the six defendants pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping charge. However, Judge Amir Effendi refused bail for the alleged hostages and rescheduled the next court hearing for October 8.
“After considering all the arguments and the nature of the case, the court decided that the bail was not granted.”
Meanwhile, the local police are working to find four more suspects linked to the abduction, all of whom are members of an 18-member experienced kidnapping gang.
A large syndicate of crypto kidnappers
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussain Omar Khan confirmed that four other gang members were shot dead in separate encounters on August 3.
If convicted under the Kidnapping Act, the six Malaysians face a minimum of 30 years in prison or a maximum of 40 years and can.
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Deputy Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transition Akmal Nasrallah Mohd Nasir said that between 2018 and 2023, an estimated $723 million worth of electricity was lost to illegal crypto mining operators.
Source: Akmal Nasir
“Theft of electricity by people who spend cryptocurrency is because they believe that this activity cannot be detected because there are no meters in their premises,” Nasser explained during an event to destroy 2,022 seized items, including Bitcoin (BTC), worth $467,000. Mining machines and electrical equipment.
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