{"id":13165,"date":"2023-09-09T19:57:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T19:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=13165"},"modified":"2023-09-09T19:57:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T19:57:47","slug":"whats-with-all-the-crypto-deaths-cointelegraph-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=13165","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s with all the crypto deaths?\u00a0 \u2013 Cointelegraph Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script>\n<p><strong>Last month, Bulgarian plumbers were called to clear a blocked drain at an apartment block in the capital of Sofia. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The blockage turned out to be the decomposing remains of 41-year-old United States crypto mogul Christian Peev \u2014 suspected to have been battered to death with a dumbbell by a friend out of jealousy.<\/p>\n<p>Weeks earlier, a group of children stumbled across the body of missing cryptocurrency millionaire Fernando P\u00e9rez Algaba in a river in the Buenos Aries province. Police say he was shot three times before being stuffed into a suitcase, pointing the finger at organized crime.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Missing Crypto Millionaire found dead and chopped up in suitcase. \ud83d\ude25<\/p>\n<p>Police have launched a murder investigation after the dismembered remains of missing millionaire Fernando P\u00e9rez Algaba, 41, were discovered by a group of children in Argentina over the weekend.#Crypto pic.twitter.com\/mnhIKRzAlq<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dulz (@dulzwg) July 27, 2023<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s only the two most recent cases in a 10-month-long stretch of crypto-related deaths \u2014 including a helicopter crash in France, a fatal stabbing in the U.S., and a suspected suicide in South Korea, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>So, what\u2019s connecting all of these grizzly deaths around the world?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-organized-crime-to-blame\"><strong>Organized crime to blame<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ken Gamble, the co-founder and executive chairman of financial crime intelligence firm IFW Global, tells Magazine that many of these kinds of deaths are likely linked to the rise of organized crime and money laundering using crypto.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrypto-related crime has become bigger than ever before. And money laundering using cryptocurrency is now the number one way for every organized crime group on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In May, Gamble\u2019s organization took down a billion-dollar call center scam syndicate in Malaysia. His firm has investigated a number of criminal organizations across Asia and Europe over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s happening is that these organized crime groups, particularly the Chinese, have suddenly come into masses of money. They have had more money now than they\u2019ve ever had traditionally,\u201d said Gamble.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re making so much money that it\u2019s become extremely dangerous now [\u2026] they have to now reach out to more groups and more people to try and move the money \u2014 broadening their money laundering capabilities,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gamble argues this has inevitably led to crypto holders getting mixed up with the wrong crowds.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-retribution-for-deals-gone-south\"><strong>Retribution for deals gone south<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Matt Hussey, former editorial director of Near Protocol and a founder of crypto media firm Decrypt, has also been trying to make sense of the murders.<\/p>\n<p>In a May 19 blog on LinkedIn, Hussey argued that some of the killings are the result of disgruntled investors simply taking matters into their own hands and blamed the \u201cfuzzy area crypto continues to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause crypto straddles the legal and illegal worlds, it is regarded by many as a place where law enforcement does not tread. As a result, retribution and revenge are, for some, the only recourse they have,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read also<\/p>\n<p>                            Features<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency trading addiction: What to look out for and how it is treated<\/p>\n<p>                            Features<\/p>\n<p>Get your money back: The weird world of crypto litigation<\/p>\n<p>In April, a 48-year-old woman was abducted and murdered in the affluent Gangnam District in Seoul, with her assailants suspected of trying to get revenge over a failed crypto investment scheme.<\/p>\n<p>In March, a self-proclaimed Candian \u201ccrypto king\u201d was kidnapped and beaten over three days after he reportedly scammed investors out of millions of dollars. At least one of his alleged captors was one of the dozens of investors who lost money to the alleged scam. Fortunately, the man survived.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video has emerged of self-proclaimed &#8216;Crypto King&#8217; Aiden Pleterski apologizing to investors while appearing badly beaten from a kidnapping pic.twitter.com\/jbhv6EuB6C<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) July 18, 2023<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are people being targeted because they hold crypto or they\u2019ve been involved in some shady deals [\u2026] There are robberies, there are people that are getting murdered because they hold crypto,\u201d added Gamble.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-crypto-holders-are-easy-targets\"><strong>Crypto holders are easy targets<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Some of the deaths could simply be because rich crypto millionaires are seen as easy targets amid a time when the cost of living continues to drive upward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrypto is easy to move and easy to steal. Try walking into a bank and taking some money. Yeah, good luck with that. But beat the crap out of someone and drill holes in them? You\u2019ve got a chance of getting away with it,\u201d wrote Hussey.<\/p>\n<p>Gamble said there is \u201cno doubt\u201d that organizations out there are targeting and issuing hits on people who hold a lot of crypto.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrganized crime figures are going after crypto because it\u2019s not money in the bank; it\u2019s crypto that you can take off someone \u2014 like cash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can steal their credentials and pack their laptop, and if you\u2019ve got their passphrase, you\u2019ve actually got their money.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-or-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-crypto\"><strong>Or, it has nothing to do with crypto<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Of course, there is also a good chance that most of the deaths have nothing to do with crypto or nefarious people at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Out of the 10 reported deaths since November 2022, only the Gangnam woman\u2019s murder in Seoul was seen as the direct result of her connection to crypto. None of the reports have mentioned any cryptocurrency being stolen by their suspected assailants either.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not to mention, three of the deaths aren\u2019t even being treated as potential homicide.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, one could also argue that the rise in reported deaths is simply a result of more mainstream coverage of crypto.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The number of crypto deaths reported by mainstream media went from less than one a year to at least 10 since November 2022, when the crypto industry witnessed the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Data compiled by public relations firm Vuelio shows that the total number of crypto stories pushed by traditional media outlets surged after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried\u2019s crypto exchange, sometimes even beating out the number of stories written by crypto media outlets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It stands to reason that news desks have become more aware of cryptocurrencies over the past year. Someone dying or being murdered somewhere in the world isn\u2019t likely to make a headline, but someone dying due to their connection to a purportedly shady world of crypto? You bet it\u2019ll make a headline.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe<\/p>\n<p>The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a<br \/>\n        week.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"author__name\">Felix Ng<\/h2>\n<p>Felix Ng first began writing about the blockchain industry through the lens of a gambling industry journalist and editor in 2015. He has since moved into covering the blockchain space full-time. He is most interested in innovative blockchain technology aimed at solving real-world challenges.<\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/big-questions-crypto-deaths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, Bulgarian plumbers were called to clear a blocked drain at an apartment block in the capital of Sofia. The blockage turned out to be the decomposing remains of 41-year-old United States crypto mogul Christian Peev \u2014 suspected to have been battered to death with a dumbbell by a friend out of jealousy. Weeks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13167,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165\/revisions\/13167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}