Taiwanese Police Arrest Scammers After Nation's First Bitcoin Robbery

Al Jazeera reports that Taiwan police have arrested four men following a bitcoin robbery, making it the first cryptocurrency theft reported in the country. Taiwan police say it is the first time the island nation has seen such a crime, and that the amount stolen was roughly worth $170,000, or five million Taiwanese dollars.

According to police, three men in their early 20's managed to persuade a man named Tai to the city of Taichung after saying they were interested in buying bitcoins, although they were only interested in taking the cryptocurrency forcefully. When Tai showed the three men proof of his bitcoins and the value of them, the scammers subsequently attacked him and his friend, and then transferred his 18 bitcoins from Tai's account to their own.

Taichung city police say that the suspects involved tried to pass off the incident as a drunken argument, forcing the victim to drink a strong Taiwanese liquor known as Kaoliang. "The police saw bloodstains at the scene... After further investigation, it was discovered to be a bitcoin virtual currency robbery," the police statement read. When police arrived at the scene following a call about a dispute, one man was detained, while the other two attackers fled.

The two suspects were tracked down on the nearby island of Kinmen, while a fourth mind believed to be the man responsible for conceiving the robbery plot, was detained shortly after. Meanwhile, the UK saw its first cryptocurrency armed robbery last month. Even as the value plummets, people are hungry for that digital coin.