Singapore Bitcoin robbery: $278,000 lost by investor

An investor who wanted to buy Bitcoin in Singapore has become a victim of a group of fraudsters. The information has been shared throughout the social media and digital currency outlets at the end of the last week.

Pang Joon Hau who went to Singapore from Malaysia to get the big sum of digital coins has been robbed by a duo - Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad who posed as a broker and Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope who impersonated a seller in Hotel 81. After they realized that Pang indeed brought the money, they assaulted him and disappeared with the sum.

The police has already apprehended both suspects and told they were also checking the origin of Pang’s money — it is a well-known fact that sometimes the money converted in cryptocurrency are acquired illegally.

In a similar case from Taiwan, the victim has been robbed of his Bitcoin possessions by fake buyers which mirrors the aforedescribed situation. In both cases, it is unclear why the deals were arranged offline, as it makes much more sense to negotiate the terms long before any transactions take place.

Singapore’s legislation on Bitcoin is not the strictest in the region despite the serious determination of the authorities to enforce the law in other spheres. As noted by the central financial regulators, Bitcoin financial environment and crypto economy are small, can easily be monitored and should any major drops occur, the fiat market will not be affected.

Image courtesy of Tourist Destinations