The apparent kidnapping and murder of a 48-year-old lady in Gangnam, Seoul, has shocked South Korea. The crime appears to have been motivated by cryptocurrency. There have been four arrests of suspects. The purported crime was documented on camera and published in news stories, such as the one from the national broadcaster MBC in the video below. At 11:46 p.m. in the affluent Seocho neighborhood, the footage appears to show three men assaulting a woman on the street. Most of the largest crypto companies in the country are based in this district. The woman is then seen being dragged into a vehicle by the men.
Per Chosun, Maeil Kyungjae, Joongang, and EToday, four men aged between 24 and 36 have been placed into police custody in connection with the crime. Three are believed to be the assailants in the video, with the youngest thought to be an accomplice who was employed to “follow” the woman for several months.
The identity of the victim was not revealed, but media outlets reported that she was a “former employee” of a crypto-related company. She reportedly owned considerable amounts of tokens, such as Bitcoin (BTC).
Police stated that the woman’s husband had been arrested on crypto-related fraud charges. He is currently in police custody awaiting trial.
Officers added that “there may be more accomplices besides” those arrested – and were currently looking for “additional suspects.”
Police think the men kidnapped the woman, held her for two days, drugged her with ketamine, and eventually suffocated her – before driving to the nearby city of Daejeon. The victim’s body was found near the city’s Daecheong Dam.
Media outlets released photographs of the men being taken into police custody.
The 24-year-old reportedly told police that one of the other suspects asked him to help in January, but denied taking part in the kidnap.
Police believe that the 35-year-old was the ringleader, and that he had invested almost $61,000 in the victim’s former company – a firm where he too was once employed. Police think that he lost all the money he had invested.
This man, police think, convinced the 36-year-old to help him kidnap the woman. A third man, aged 30, owed money to the 36-year-old – who allegedly said that he would write off the debt if the younger man joined in.
One of the men reportedly told police that the crime “was committed with the purpose of stealing the coins owned by the victim.”
