A South African Bitcoin trader almost met his maker recently after being abducted by suspected kidnappers. The victim who goes by the name Andrew was drugged, beaten and tortured. Narrating his experience to local news outlet Soweto Urban, he said he was lucky to escape the ordeal. It all started after receiving an invitation from a Facebook contact so that he could offer a presentation on cryptocurrencies.

Victim Was Forced To Transfer Bitcoins To The Kidnappers

He is reported to have gone to an undisclosed residence to conduct his presentation at around 1 pm to an audience of six people. According to him one of these individuals snuck up on him and stuffed a cloth on his face- which he believes had a sleeping drug that left him unconscious.

After regaining his consciousness, he found himself in a completely different location, and five individual surrounded him: two women and three men.

According to the report, they stripped him naked and gave him a severe beating. The kidnappers proceeded to ask for his bank account details as well as the password to his crypto wallet.

He was at first adamant to give up his crypto holdings but after the torture and threats to sear him with hot iron he cracked under pressure. He transferred Bitcoin worth around R 800,000 (around $59,000) to the kidnappers BTC wallet address.

They forced him to transfer also another R 100,000 (around $7,200) to their Bank account.

The victim was in possession of R 3,000 (around $200) in cash, two laptops and two iPhones which were all taken by the thugs.

When the assailants were done with him, they blindfolded him and dropped him off at Kliprivier Road.

He is currently receiving medical care at Alberton Union Hospital, where he’s being treated for burns and bruises all over his body.

Interestingly, earlier this year there was another kidnapping that involved cryptocurrencies, A 65-year-old businessman was kidnapped on his way to work and was only released after his family had paid 50 Bitcoins to the abductors.