Crypto kidnapping: How armed gangs hunt internet high rollers

Kidnapping and extortion are a growing concern in the crypto world, with cases rising alongside the price of bitcoin.

Festo Ivaibi couldn’t escape.

He was on what was supposed to be a quick drive to clear his head near the waterside in Kampala, Uganda, when three cars suddenly surrounded him.

Five armed people came up to his car, some dressed in what appeared to be military uniforms.

“They knocked on my car window. I tried to reach out to my phone, but I realized that probably they could shoot or something,” Ivaibi said. “I just didn’t know what to do. I just started praying.”

The assailants blindfolded him and took him away in one of their cars.