Three convicted in a case of abduction in Brussels
A Belgian court has just pronounced 12 -year -old prison sentences to three men involved in the kidnapping of the wife of a cryptography investor last December. The Brussels Criminal Court did not buy its allegations to act under pressure – instead, they will also have to pay the victim more than a million euros in damages.
It all started outside the couple’s house in the forest, Brussels. The woman was forced in a van, but her husband, Stéphane Winkel – a well -known commercial trainer in Crypto circles – alerted the police in a way. A prosecution followed, ending near Bruges where the police arrested the van and arrested the suspects. The victim was unscathed, at least physically.
But here is the thing: the court clearly indicated that these three were not the brain behind the operation. Whoever has planned it is still there.
Problem of removal of the cryptography of France
This is not an isolated case. In France, there was a strange and disturbing peak of the abductions linked to the crypto. Last month, an influencer from Tiktok, 26, was seized by four men near Paris. They wanted € 50,000 in crypto, apparently because of his publications on social networks on this subject. It turns out that his accounts were almost empty, so they let him go.
Then there was the father of the investor who was taken and brutally tortured for a ransom of 7 million euros. Or the attempted removal of the daughter of a CEO of an Crypto exchange, which only failed because passers -by and its partner intervened.
France alone represented six of the 22 abductions confirmed by cryptography worldwide last year, according to Cybernews. It’s more than everywhere else. For what? Probably because the country has a high number of visible cryptography figures – think of the big book, in Paymium and others.
And let’s not forget the violation of data from the big book in 2020. This leak exposed the personal details of thousands of portfolio buyers, including domestic addresses. It is not difficult to connect the points there.
What now?
The sentences in Belgium could end, but the biggest scheme does not disappear. These cases continue to happen because, frankly, it sometimes works. The crypto moves quickly and the tracing of payments is not always easy.
The police pay attention at least. But for the moment, people with any type of public crypto profile might want to keep a low profile. Or at least check their locks twice.
