Dubai police use AI to nab group behind $1.9M crypto heist

Ten members of a gang have been arrested in Dubai, accused of carrying out a cryptocurrency heist that resulted in the theft of $1.9 million worth of BTC. Their millionaire lifestyle didn’t last long, however, as the crimes are said to have taken place on Wednesday, and by Saturday, the entire gang had been rounded up, Gulf News reported.

The idea probably looked better on paper than it did in practice. According to the news outlet, the gang took over an empty office under the pretense of purchasing it for their new office space. It then set their nefarious plan in action, seeking out potential victims in a market in Al Muraqqabat using the ruse that it was interested in buying cryptocurrency. It didn’t take long to find two candidates, both brothers, who agreed to meet the “buyers” at their office.

When the brothers showed up, they were assaulted and robbed at gunpoint. Of the 10 members of the gang, six were reportedly waiting at the office and three more were keeping watch outside. The last was probably getting the Cristal champagne ready.

The brothers were tied up and left inside the office, but managed to free themselves. They went to the police the same day, and were able to recognize the group’s leader. He was found in a neighboring emirate, confessed and taken into custody. With 48 hours, all 10 suspects were found in four different emirates and arrested.

According to the Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, the police and used both smart programs and artificial intelligence to track and locate the members of the gang.

There have been several high-profile cryptocurrency thefts already this year. In January, a Russian crypto blogger got a little carried away, boasting of he had amassed a fortune from digital currency. He was later assaulted at his home and reportedly had about $380 million worth of rubles stolen, according to reports.

In another crypto caper, a Malaysian man was reportedly attacked this month in Singapore and robbed of about $365,000 in what turned out to be a bogus BTC sale.

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