Kevin

The CEO of Toronto crypto firm WonderFi Technologies was reportedly kidnapped and forced to pay a $1 million ransom for this release, CBC reported on Nov. 7.
Dean Skurka was “forced” into a vehicle in downtown Toronto during “rush hour” on Nov. 6. He made a $1 million electronic transfer to secure his release, a source close to the investigation <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/kidnapping-toronto-businessman-cryptocurrency-1.7376679" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">told </a>CBC.
Skurka reportedly confirmed via email that he was involved in an “incident” on Nov. 6 but is safe and that company funds and data were not impacted.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and have not released any further details, CBC said.
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 <img alt="WonderFi CEO kidnapped and forced to pay $1M ransom: Report" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-11/019308c8-32a2-7fa9-bce6-01b0addb6a56" title="">
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 WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka. Source: LinkedIn
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Skurka and WonderFi haven’t publicly commented on the ordeal on X or their website. Cointelegraph has reached out to WonderFi for comment.&nbsp;
Skurka’s incident adds to a concerning trend of crypto executive and influencer abductions, often motivated by the intent to steal large sums of money.
Four suspects were arrested in July for allegedly <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/four-suspected-killing-bitcoiner-stealing-170000-dollars" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">kidnapping and murdering</a> a 29-year-old foreign national Bitcoiner in Kyiv, Ukraine, stealing $170,000 worth of Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>).
Six Malaysian nationals were also charged with <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/malaysians-kidnap-chinese-demand-1-million-usdt-ransom" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">kidnapping a Chinese national</a> and demanding a ransom of $1 million worth of stablecoin Tether (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">USDT</a>) a few weeks later in August.&nbsp;
WonderFi, backed by Shark Tank co-host and multimillionaire Kevin O’Leary, is one of the most prominent public-listed crypto firms in Canada, tickered WNDR on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It has a market cap of $75 million, Google Finance <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.google.com/finance/quote/WNDR:TSE" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">data</a> shows.
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 <img alt="WonderFi CEO kidnapped and forced to pay $1M ransom: Report" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-11/019308c6-6648-723a-9b2b-d97a05968b2a" title="">
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 Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/wonderfi_dean/status/1851392229417353610" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://x.com/wonderfi_dean/status/1851392229417353610">Dean Skurka</a>
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The firm develops, incubates and invests in centralized exchanges and decentralized protocols.&nbsp;
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/man-tried-recover-losses-bitconnect-ponzi-kidnap-extortion" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Man allegedly tries to ‘recover’ losses from BitConnect, kidnapping two</a>
Two of its most used products are its WonderFi <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/a-beginners-guide-on-blockchain-layer-2-scaling-solutions%5D" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">layer 2 blockchain</a> and <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/crypto-wallets-explained" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">non-custodial wallet,</a> WonderFi Wallet.
WonderFi <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.wonder.fi/press-release/wonderfi-achieves-30-increase-in-bitcoin-treasury-assets-since-implementation-of-strategic-buying-program" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">revealed</a> it holds $1.35 billion worth of assets under custody in an Oct. 30 statement.
WonderFi is the owner of crypto firms Coinsquare, SmartPay, Tetra Trust and Bitbuy — a <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/canadian-crypto-exchanges-reach-1-billion-assets-under-management" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">crypto exchange</a> where Skurka previously <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/canadian-crypto-exchanges-reach-1-billion-assets-under-management" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">served as President</a> from Jan. 2018 to July 2023.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/china-usdt-scam-indodaxs-free-money-damage-control-asia-express/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">China’s ‘point running’ crypto scams, pig butchers kidnap kids: Asia Express</a>

WonderFi CEO kidnapped and forced to pay $1M ransom: Report

Cointelegraph

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