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Court to try 2 Russians for stealing 86 Bitcoins from Crypto Miner – Mining Bitcoin News
Two residents of the Russian city of Tomsk will be charged with “large-scale robbery” 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 stand trial in Russia for armed robbery of cryptocurrency miner
The Kirovsky Court in Tomsk will soon try two men for their attack on another resident of the Siberian city who was profiting from mining cryptocurrencies. They were able to extort coins worth more than 360 million rubles at the time (over $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 left his home. One of them threatened him with an object that looked like a gun and brought him back to his apartment.
Then his accomplice came in and the two forced the victim to log into his account at a crypto exchange and transfer them 86 BTC from a wallet containing 90 BTC. It is unclear why they decided not to withdraw the full balance.
Russian police managed to track down and arrest one of the suspects in St. Petersburg. He has since pleaded guilty and returned the fiat equivalent of a portion of the stolen digital cash – 35 million rubles (close to $479,000 at current exchange rates). The other man was arrested later.
The regional prosecutor’s office has charged the attackers with “robbery committed by a group of persons on a particularly 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 earn cryptocurrency have been on the rise in Russia. In July 2021, armed robbers raided a large mining farm near Moscow, stealing dozens of display cards used to mint digital currencies. Also last year, 1 million dollars in shackles was taken from a crypto trader in the Russian capital.
Do you think crypto-related crimes like these cases will continue to proliferate with the popularity of cryptocurrencies? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.
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