Karachi Police Register Case in Crypto Trader Abduction and Robbery
On Thursday, the Karachi police filed a case against suspects involved in the abduction and robbery of a cryptocurrency trader. The victim, Jan Sher Khan, also known as JS Rao, was allegedly forced at gunpoint to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from his digital wallets.
Incident Details
CCTV footage of the incident reportedly shows a car colliding with a motorcycle to stop it. The motorcyclist then flees, but three suspects chase him down, capture him, assault him, and force him into the car before driving away. Police at Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station registered a case based on Rao's complaint and launched an investigation. Authorities are using additional CCTV footage from the area to identify the suspects and trace their vehicle.
Victim's Account
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rao said that he worked as a freelancer. On Tuesday night, his friend dropped him off near Kamran Chowrangi, where his motorcycle was parked. According to Rao, he was riding home on his motorcycle when, at around 2:30 am, a car struck him and knocked him to the ground. "Four armed men forced me into their vehicle and took me to an unknown location," he said.
Rao stated that the kidnappers transferred data from all his online accounts, obtained the passwords to those accounts, and used his fingerprints to authorize transfers of funds to other accounts. He further claimed that the suspects also contacted members of his cryptocurrency-related community, asked them to send dollars to his account, and then transferred those funds to various accounts under their control. This continued until the morning.
Afterwards, the kidnappers put him back in the vehicle, drove around for a considerable time, and eventually abandoned him at another location. "When I removed the blindfold from my eyes and asked someone where I was, I learned that I was in the Bin Qasim area. After that, I used Bykea to return home," Rao said.
Financial Loss
Rao stated that he had recovered all but one of his accounts and that approximately $500,000 was withdrawn from his accounts. He added that he had recently won a South Asia competition organized by Binance and that the prize money from that competition was among the funds taken.
