Four people who ransomed Brazilian mother for Bitcoin arrested: reports

Four people who kidnapped and held a Brazilian woman until her son paid a ransom of five bitcoins have been arrested, according to local news reports .

Police in the northeastern city of Recife, located in Brazil's Pernambuco state, said they arrested the gang that conspired to kidnap a retired professor, who is also reportedly the mother of a man working in crypto.

Back in March, the gang kidnapped the mother and held her in captivity at gunpoint for more than 12 hours until her son, who lives in Portugal, paid the ransom of five bitcoins, which the authorities say was at the time worth R$3.3 million (about $600,000 currently).

The group, made up of two men and two women, had apparently been stalking the son's social media before kidnapping the mother.

Sadly, kidnapping and crypto are far from uncommon. Large crypto holders in France, United Kingdom and United States have also been targeted. Last month, three men were sentenced to 12 years each in prison for kidnapping the wife of a crypto investor in Belgium.