WonderFi Technologies CEO was kidnapped for a ransom of $1 million

What’s new? The CEO of Toronto-based crypto firm WonderFi Technologies, Dean Skurka, was kidnapped for ransom. After his release, he said that a group of unknown men forced him into a car and transferred $1 million, with the kidnapping taking place during rush hour downtown. Skurka later clarified in a media comment that he was safe and the company’s funds and data were not affected in the incident.

Material by CBC

What else is known? Police are still investigating and have not released additional details, the entrepreneur has also not commented on social media about the incident.

WonderFi, backed by co-host of the popular TV show Shark Tank and multimillionaire Kevin O’Leary, is one of Canada’s most prominent crypto firms. Its shares under the ticker WNDR are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). According to Google Finance, the company has a capitalization of $75 million.

In a statement on October 30, WonderFi said it has $1,35 billion in assets under custody.

WonderFi owns crypto firms Coinsquare, SmartPay, Tetra Trust, and Bitbuy, a crypto exchange where Skurka served as president from January 2018 to July 2023.

The company’s flagship products are WonderFi Layer 2 (L2) blockchain and WonderFi Wallet, a non-custodial crypto wallet.

Similar situations with entrepreneurs, crypto traders, and even people not connected with digital assets have happened before. For example, in July, four suspects were arrested in Kyiv for the kidnapping and murder of a 29-year-old foreigner. They forced the trader to transfer $170 000 worth of bitcoins, after which they strangled him and buried his body in the woods.

The same month, unknown perpetrators kidnapped a three-year-old child in a Hong Kong shopping mall and demanded a ransom of 660 000 USDT stablecoins. Police later arrested the criminals and released the kidnapped boy, he was not injured.

Also in July, a couple from China was kidnapped in Malaysia on a highway near the town of Cyberjaya. The man and woman were held captive for several days until the man’s relative transferred $1,1 million in bitcoins to the criminals’ account. Police arrested several suspects in August.

In January, in Greece, a group of criminals pretended to be a police patrol to kidnap a 29-year-old computer programmer. They took him into the woods and forced him to transfer 3000 EUR worth of cryptocurrencies, after which the victim managed to escape.

In 2023, a group of men broke into the villa of investment blogger Yuri Boytsov in Bali and forced him to hand over crypto wallet passwords. Notably, one of the attackers was also wearing a police uniform. The blogger lost $284 000 worth of bitcoins.

At the same time, four teenagers from London were sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for stealing $150 000 worth of cryptocurrencies in a series of robberies with weapons.

In 2021, unknown assailants attacked a miner from Tomsk in his own driveway and, threatening him with a gun, forced him to transfer 85 of the 90 bitcoins he had in his possession at the time.

That same year, a Moscow crypto trader had $1 million stolen from him. He met with an already familiar buyer in the office, where he transferred the tokens in exchange for cash. After that, two unknown men broke into the office and took away the bag with the money.