A Bitcoin Trader Attacked by a Group of Robbers in the Netherlands

By Kapil Gauhar

As reported by a local news outlet De Telegraaf on February 23, a Bitcoin Trader has been attacked by a group of robbers in his home in the Netherlands. According to the reports, the criminals were disguised as the Police.

A 38-year-old Tjeerd H. was purportedly the victim of a violent raid right in his home in Drouwenerveen on February 10, wherein a group of thugs wearing balaclavas, bulletproof vests and a police coat threatened him with firearms.

While the intention of breaking into the man’s home is not established clearly, De Telegraaf conducted their own investigation revealing that Tjeerd H. had been trading cryptocurrency for quite a long. De Telegraaf also notes in the report that the sources from the police confirmed the same version.

Cryptocurrency thieves have become not just an online threat, as Bitcoin owners have been attacked upfront by criminals and forced to deposit a huge amount of digital currency into anonymous wallets.

In January 2018, an in-person Bitcoin burglary also happened on the holiday resort of Phuket province in Thailand. A Russian businessman was purportedly held hostage unless he logged onto his computer and transferred nearly $100,000 of Bitcoins to the attackers.

Also last year, the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) in Gujarat, India investigated the alleged kidnapping and extortion of 200 BTC from a businessman Sailesh Bhatt by police. Sailesh alleged that on February 9, 2018, CBI officer Sunil Nair first got him beaten by a few other officers, in a room at the CBI unless he paid a ransom of nearly $770,000, not specifying in what kind of currency.