Former Ukrainian police kidnapped crypto entrepreneurs and extorted millions of dollars

The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has completed a pre-trial investigation into a group of four former police officers and a previously convicted civilian suspected of systematic kidnapping and robbery of crypto entrepreneurs. The total amount of money demanded exceeded $ 2.2 million.

Two suspects, former colonels, acted as organizers of the criminal group. They recruited fellow officers and a civilian accomplice with a criminal record to join the group. According to the investigation, prior to their arrest, the defendants served in the Main Police Department in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol — Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia since 2014 — as well as in one of the Kyiv police units. After the arrest, all of them were dismissed from the police.

The suspects are charged with creating and participating in an armed group, kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, robbery, extortion, and illegal drug possession. At least four crypto entrepreneurs have fallen victim to this scheme: they were tracked down, captured at gunpoint, detained, and forced to hand over money or sign documents recognizing non-existent debts.

One of the documented episodes took place in Kyiv: the victim was kidnapped at gunpoint, forced to sign a fictitious «debt» for $ 5 million, and then transported between several classified locations. The group acted in a coordinated manner with a clear division of roles, using official vehicles, encrypted messengers, and impersonating law enforcement officers.

The group’s criminal activity was stopped in November 2025, and the case file was submitted to court. The suspects have not yet been formally charged.

This case fits into the alarming global trend of so-called «wrench attacks» — physical coercion of cryptocurrency holders to transfer assets. According to the blockchain security company CertiK, 72 confirmed attacks of this type were recorded in 2025 alone, 75% more than a year earlier, and the confirmed losses exceeded $ 40.9 million. In March, a Los Angeles jury convicted former LAPD officer Eric Halem of kidnapping and robbery: he and his accomplices posed as police officers and forced a 17-year-old cryptocurrency wallet owner to transfer $ 350,000 in bitcoin. In the same month, in Versailles, criminals also posing as law enforcement officers forced a couple to transfer about $ 1 million in bitcoin at knifepoint.

Cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Beck noted that cryptocurrencies pose a particular risk due to the ability to instantly transfer assets across borders and under duress. «The victims' cryptocurrency may have been cryptographically secure — but that lost its value once violence, coercion and coerced agreements came into play,» he emphasized. In environments with high levels of corruption and institutional instability, such schemes are harder to detect, and criminals have more room for manipulation due to «confusion, fear and fictitious legal pressure,» the expert warned.