Security Briefing: Child kidnapped for crypto, ransom demanded
The cruel summer of crypto and organized crime has gone global. This week, we're diving into some incidents in Asia you should know about...
Police: Two Chinese women abducted toddler, demanded $660,000 ransom in Tether
Hong Kong police have charged two women from mainland China with kidnapping a three-year-old boy and demanding a ransom in crypto.
The suspects reportedly snatched the boy in a shopping mall on July 3 and requested a ransom of $660,000 to be paid in Tether (USDT), a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Police located the apartment where the boy was held and freed him the next day. He appeared to be unharmed.
🔑 Key Insight: Parents everywhere should be mindful of incidents like this. Physical targeting is taking place worldwide. Avoid disclosing details about your assets online to avoid catching the attention of malicious actors. The internet is just as public as a shopping mall.
Inside the dark underbelly of a crypto scam marketplace
The blockchain analytics firm Elliptic just published a deep dive into Huione Guarantee, an online marketplace popular with scammers in Southeast Asia and tied to the ruling family in Cambodia.
The report discusses a wide variety of scam tactics including romance scams and pig butchering, a type of long game where scammers develop a fraudulent business relationship and entice a victim with phony investments.
The scammers allegedly operate from compounds spread across the continent including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, and many of them are victims themselves, having been trafficked and held against their will to perpetuate the online scams.
Elliptic cited $11 billion in assets sent to wallets used by Huione Guarantee and its sellers and said the true amount is "likely to be higher" given merchant turnover.
🔑 Key Insight: In recent newsletters, we've discussed organized crime in America, but this report is an important look at the same phenomenon in Asia taking place at a more complex level. It's heavy reading but it's important for understanding the scam ecosystem and what to watch for in potential adversaries.
Elliptic Research
Proton launches Docs for private collaborative document editing
Looking to do some writing in private? Proton, the company behind encrypted mail ProtonMail, just launched a new Docs feature.
The feature leans on Proton's end-to-end encryption so you and your collaborators are the only parties who can read your content. Files are stored in Proton Drive, and they can be imported and exported as .docx, .md, and other formats.
🔑 Key Insight: As personal data increasingly becomes a hotbed for surveillance and AI training, it's great to see productivity tools emerge that keep the power in your hands.
Watch: Scaling up self-custody and privacy
Can bitcoin grow to serve mass adoption without sacrificing the security principles we love about it? We believe it can. Hear Jameson's thoughts from a panel discussion at the MIT Bitcoin Expo. Watch here.
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