It has recently been revealed that, on November 16, a bitcoin (BTC) trader from Lanseria, South Africa was reportedly drugged, beaten, and robbed.
The trader, named Andrew, reported that he met a man through Facebook who invited him to do a presentation on bitcoin at Ntuli Street in Meadowlands Zone Five. According to Andrew, at around 1 pm of that day, he arrived at the agreed upon location where he was supposed to deliver the crypto-related presentation to two women and four men.
Tortured For Crypto
Soon after he entered the premises, someone came from behind and stuck a drug-infused cloth in his face (according to Andrew). The trader then claims to have passed out, and after regaining consciousness, he reportedly found himself at a different location.
Andrew was then brutally tortured, assaulted, and his clothing was stripped off, according to an incident report prepared by the Meadowlands police. The report further noted that the criminals forced the victim to give them his FNB account information, and also the password to his bitcoin wallet.
Andrew was burned with a hot iron and the attackers – who have not been identified – threatened to kill him if he did not comply with their demands. After being tortured, Andrew transferred around 15 bitcoins, an amount worth approximately 800,000 South African Rands (ZAR) or $59,000, to an account provided by the attackers.
Forced To Hand Over Personal Property
Andrew was also forced to transfer 100,000 ZAR (appr. $7,360) from his bank account to another account that belonged to the criminals. In addition to forcing the victim to transfer large sums of crypto and local currency to their accounts, the unidentified group stole two Apple iPhones, two laptops, and about 3,000 ZAR in cash from Andrew.
After brutally assaulting and robbing the bitcoin trader, the attackers reportedly dropped him off at Kliprivier Rd (a city of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng). As mentioned in the incident report, the victim’s torso, hands, legs, and buttocks had sustained serious burn wounds.
Police officials said the robbery case had been opened and that Andrew had been admitted to the Alberton Union Hospital’s intensive care unit.
