Vietnamese Residents Charged with Theft and Kidnapping of $1.5 Million in Cryptocurrencies and Face Trial (Report)

Vietnamese Residents Charged with Theft and Kidnapping of $1.5 Million in Cryptocurrencies and Face Trial (Report)

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court has reportedly tried 16 Vietnamese who may be behind a $1.5 million crypto heist and kidnapping. Interestingly, two of the defendants are former police officers.

Vietnam is one of the world leaders in cryptocurrency adoption. Despite its increasing popularity, the government has not imposed any legal framework on this asset class.

The cinematic story

According to a local media outlet, the whole thing is dramastartedin 2018, when Le Duc Nguyen advised Ho Ngoc Tai to sell around 1,000 BTC (worth about $4.2 million at the time) to buy other digital currencies.

Still, the investment didn't go as planned, leading Tai to believe he was a victim of a crypto scam. Unable to accept the loss, he put together a team in May 2020 whose goal was to recover the assets.

The 16-person unit (including two former police officers) tracked Nguyen's whereabouts using GPS devices installed in his vehicle. The subjects rented a van, purchased realistic weapons, and kidnapped the target at gunpoint.

While in custody, the team insisted that Nguyen's brother transfer the original amount of 1,000 BTC to Tai's wallet. However, the gang discovered that his relative did not have the requested amount and “only” returned $1.5 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The victim was later abandoned in the town of Thu Duc: about 15 kilometers north of the center of Ho Chi Minh City.

Law enforcement authorities in the Vietnamese city recently brought Tai and his 15 suspected accomplices to justice. It is noteworthy that the mastermind of the operation initially admitted that he was behind the crime. However, during the course of the investigation, he retracted his confession. For their part, the remaining defendants said they assumed Tai would collect Nguyen's debts normally and not through kidnapping.

Vietnamese love cryptocurrencies

The Asian country is often at the forefront of studies focused on cryptocurrency adoption. The blockchain service provider – Chainalysis –appreciatedin September 2022 that Vietnam is the world leader in this field with a score of 1,000. The company also noted that 21% of locals have used or owned digital currencies at some point in their lives.

The “Vietnam Crypto Market Report 2022” released in March this yearshowedthat the asset class remains very popular within the country's borders. According to the study, 17% of Vietnamese (around 16.6 million people) are HODLers. Almost a third of them have invested in Bitcoin.

The report claims that Vietnam is second only to Thailand in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of cryptocurrency adoption.

.