A notorious Russian crypto businessman, known for his involvement in various fraud schemes, and his spouse have been murdered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The couple was lured to a meeting with “investors” but kidnapped for ransom, with the perpetrators hoping to take hold of the man’s cryptocurrency wallet, believing it held billions in digital assets.

Russian crypto scammer murdered in the Middle East

Convicted crypto scammer Roman Novak and his wife Anna have become the victims of a gruesome murder in the UAE, Russian media unveiled.

According to multiple reports before the weekend, the two had been kidnapped, but the attackers killed them when they failed to obtain the wanted ransom.

On October 2, the spouses were expecting to meet investors in Hatta, an inland exclave of the Emirate of Dubai, Russian online news outlet Fontanka informed on Friday.

Their chauffeur took them to a parking lot, next to a lake, where they got into another car and drove towards the place of the scheduled meeting.

Their phones were connected to the network in Hatta for two more days, 78.ru and the daily Izvestia wrote, but they stopped answering calls.

After October 4, the devices were also registered by mobile operators in Oman, and then in Cape Town, South Africa, before eventually going offline.

Anna’s father, who flew to Dubai to take custody of Novak’s minor children, declined to disclose details of what exactly happened, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Novaks were reportedly killed by other Russians

According to the online edition of the St. Petersburg-based regional TV channel 78, the kidnappers were after Roman Novak’s digital wallet.

They tortured him and his wife, using knives, and when they failed to gain access, the criminals murdered the couple, dismembered their bodies and buried them in the desert.

The killers had accomplices, who helped them organize the kidnapping, rent cars and a villa in Hatta, where the victims were taken.

After committing the crime, they tried to destroy any evidence, the website further revealed, quoting Svetlana Petrenko from the Investigative Committee, the federal investigating authority of Russia. She stated:

“After the murder, the suspects disposed of the knives and personal belongings of their victims, leaving them in the territory of different emirates.”

The official noted that work continues to establish all circumstances and identify all individuals involved in the ugly murder in the Middle East.

So far, three suspects have been arrested in Russia’s second-largest city – Konstantin Shakht, Yuri Sharypov, and Vladimir Dalekin – all Russian citizens. Shakht is a former police officer.

Some media reports claim that a total of seven people have been apprehended, including four who acted as money mules in schemes involving financial transactions.

The main motive behind the attack on the family – cryptocurrency extortion – was confirmed by Irina Volk, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), who told TASS:

“According to the available information, in October of this year, on the territory of a foreign state, the suspects kidnapped a man and his wife with the aim of extorting cryptocurrency.”

Roman Novak has been repeatedly accused of fraud in the past, leading Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media noted in a report about his tragic death.

In 2020, a district court in St. Petersburg sentenced him to six years in prison on fraud charges. The case concerned a cryptocurrency exchange software called Transcrypt. He was convicted of embezzling $4 million.

Later, the crypto trader allegedly misappropriated some $500 million collected from investors in the Middle East and China, among other countries, to fund another of his crypto business projects, per sources close to Russian law enforcement agencies.

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