Four more charged over crypto kidnapping case

Police on Thursday said four more people had been charged in connection with the kidnapping of a man caught up in a cryptocurrency investment scam. 

The force said four men, aged between 25 and 40, will appear this morning at Kowloon City Magistrates Court charged with conspiracy to kidnap the 39-year-old victim. 

A 29-year-old woman who was also arrested in the case has been released on bail pending further investigation. She will have to report to the police in mid-December. 

So far, a total of 11 men and two women have been arrested in the case. Three suspects have been charged and appeared in court on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. 

On the morning of November 6, the victim was lured to Kowloon Bay by a buyer he met online, who said he was interested in buying Tether cryptocurrency for HK$4 million. 

The victim was then taken to a unit of an industrial building nearby. Several men assaulted him with a hammer and iron bars, severely injuring him, and kidnapped him. 

The kidnappers forced the victim to give them his mobile phones and passwords to his online banking account and cryptocurrency trading platforms. They also demanded the victim contact his family and friends for ransom by lying to them that he was in debt. 

The kidnappers originally asked for HK$8 million, but the ransom was later increased to HK$30 million. The police said the victim’s family did not pay any ransom. 

The victim was transported to an unknown container terminal via a private car in the early hours of November 7. He was brought to a remote squatter hut in Nam Hang Tsuen in Tai Po on the night of the same day.  

The victim’s family reported to the police on November 9. Police began their investigation on November 10 and identified the location where the victim was held. 

On Friday night, the victim escaped from the window of the unit. Officers waiting in ambush immediately rescued him and raided the hut, arresting two kidnappers on site.