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CASE 144  |  2 Russians from Cryptus team  |  December 11, 2022  |  Thailand
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DATABASE RECORD
  id                  144
  date                December 11, 2022
  original_date       December 11, 2022
  year                2022
  month               12
  quarter             2022-Q4
  victim              2 Russians from Cryptus team
  location            Phuket, Thailand
  country             Thailand
  scenario            Armed Robbery in Public Space
  description         2 men who work on a cryptocurrency were kidnapped and robbed.
  kidnappings         1
  violence_torture    1
  drugs_alcohol       0
  weapons             1
  theft               1
  life_taken          0
  money_wanted        $25000
  coin_type           (null)
  reports             PhuketNews
  notes               (null)
  has_processed_date  1
  created_at          2025-11-13 05:44:45

AI SUMMARY  [generated at bulk import, NOT verified against sources]
  **Victim:** 2 Russians from Cryptus team
  
  **Attackers:** Unknown number of perpetrators
  
  **Attack Method:** Armed Robbery in Public Space - victim kidnapped
  
  **Violence Used:** Physical violence
  
  **Crypto Stolen:** $25000
  
  **Status:** Investigation ongoing

LINKED SOURCES
  [url]  https://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-assaulted-in-armed-extortion-robbed-of-us-45k-in-cash-crypto-86552.php

NOTES ON THIS FILE
  * matched to sheet row 145: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLE 1
  Source   PhuketNews
  URL      https://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-assaulted-in-armed-extortion-robbed-of-us-45k-in-cash-crypto-86552.php
  Origin   reported_K&R sheet, row 145, column "Articles"
  Length   2,323 chars
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russians assaulted in armed extortion, robbed of US$45k in cash, crypto
PHUKET: Two Russians working with the virtual currency Cryptus team in Phuket have been attacked and robbed of US$20,000 in cash and a crypto wallet reported to be carrying US$25,000 in cryptocurrency.
crimeviolenceRussianpolice
By The Phuket News

The attack occurred in Soi Cherng Talay 16 at about 1am on Sunday (Dec 11), noted the report to police.
The report, received by Capt Yanapat Malai, deputy inspector at Cherng Talay Police, was submitted at 5:52pm on Sunday.
The report confirmed the amounts stolen, and that both victims said they did not know the assailants.
The copy of the police report presented to The Phuket News had obscured the names of the two people attacked, but confirmed they were both Russian nationals.
A medical report by MIssion Hospital Phuket issued on Sunday confirmed that one of the two people attacked was 27 years old and had suffered bruises and abrasions in the attack.
News of the attack and armed extortion became public after “Leo | Cryptus”, introducing himself as co-creator of the virtual currency Cryptus, on Monday posted in Russian language on the web platform Telegram.
“Leo” urged people to help publicise news of the attack.
QSI International School Phuket
“Now my team and I live in Phuket. An armed robbery took place 2 days ago, kidnapping my partners. At this stage, we have written a statement to the police and passed on information about the gunman and the alleged organiser of the abduction,” Leo wrote.
The attackers were Russian speakers, he confirmed.
“Kidnappers of my partners threatened with guns and knives, tied hands,” Leo reported. “As a result, $25,000 was stolen by extortion.”
“We are now preparing a press release for the media with a detailed account of the situation, a recording of the conversation with the gunman and photographs of the [damage done by the] beatings,” Leo continued.
“I would very much like to ask you to publish the release [this] data in your community, I think that it will be useful for the inhabitants of Phuket to know that a gang is operating on the island that hunts down guys with crypto and kidnaps them,” he added.
The complaint filed with police marked that the victims asked police to pursue their investigation to the full extent of the law.

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FETCHED ARTICLE 1  [RAW EXTRACT — NOT YET TRIMMED]
  !! This is the whole page as extracted. It still contains site furniture,
  !! and may contain teaser headlines for UNRELATED cases. Trim on read-through.
  !! Do not quote from it without checking the passage belongs to this case.
  Source     thephuketnews.com
  URL        https://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-assaulted-in-armed-extortion-robbed-of-us-45k-in-cash-crypto-86552.php
  Field      url
  Retrieved  2026-09-05T12:51:39+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200)
  Language   unknown
  Kept       paragraphs ALL 56 paragraphs, untrimmed
  Length     6,997 chars
  Integrity  sha256 322945283cb24958ce6bb41a9362229e2843bd76e89b80eb702bab9c6c0d0258
  Trimmed    NOT TRIMMED. Full page extract; trim on read-through.
  Caveat     retrieved from a live page on the date above. Unlike text copied
             from the spreadsheet, there is no second copy to hash it against.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL (unknown, verbatim as retrieved)

Russians assaulted in armed extortion, robbed of US$45k in cash, crypto

Poll |
 Currency |
 Weather |
 Facebook |
 Youtube |
 Search

PHUKET: Two Russians working with the virtual currency Cryptus team in Phuket have been attacked and robbed of US$20,000 in cash and a crypto wallet reported to be carrying US$25,000 in cryptocurrency.

The post by ’Leo | Cryptus’ on Telegram. Image: Screenshot

The copy of the police report. Image: Supplied

The medical report by Mission Hopsital Phuket. Image: Supplied

The attack occurred in Soi Cherng Talay 16 at about 1am on Sunday (Dec 11), noted the report to police.

The report, received by Capt Yanapat Malai, deputy inspector at Cherng Talay Police, was submitted at 5:52pm on Sunday.

The report confirmed the amounts stolen, and that both victims said they did not know the assailants.

The copy of the police report presented to The Phuket News had obscured the names of the two people attacked, but confirmed they were both Russian nationals.

A medical report by MIssion Hospital Phuket issued on Sunday confirmed that one of the two people attacked was 27 years old and had suffered bruises and abrasions in the attack.

News of the attack and armed extortion became public after “Leo | Cryptus”, introducing himself as co-creator of the virtual currency Cryptus, on Monday posted in Russian language on the web platform Telegram.

“Leo” urged people to help publicise news of the attack.

“Now my team and I live in Phuket. An armed robbery took place 2 days ago, kidnapping my partners. At this stage, we have written a statement to the police and passed on information about the gunman and the alleged organiser of the abduction,” Leo wrote.

The attackers were Russian speakers, he confirmed.

“Kidnappers of my partners threatened with guns and knives, tied hands,” Leo reported. “As a result, $25,000 was stolen by extortion.”

“We are now preparing a press release for the media with a detailed account of the situation, a recording of the conversation with the gunman and photographs of the [damage done by the] beatings,” Leo continued.

“I would very much like to ask you to publish the release [this] data in your community, I think that it will be useful for the inhabitants of Phuket to know that a gang is operating on the island that hunts down guys with crypto and kidnaps them,” he added.

The complaint filed with police marked that the victims asked police to pursue their investigation to the full extent of the law.

Taswegian |
 16 December 2022 - 11:21:35

Don't say I didn't tell you!

this has often happened to people from other nations, that they have been attacked and robbed by compatriots. rarely the case with Russians. Phuket has definitely become safer since there are hardly any Europeans, Africans, Australians, Americans, etc. coming

Pooliekev |
 15 December 2022 - 15:35:53

@Christysweet. Yes, I'm sure they do. Otherwise, why inform the police? Common sense really.

..in tourist areas. The other locals can stay in more rural regions ! Wouldn't that be nice ? Some serial poster would love it !

To many Russians here and people start moaning. The same people did moaning about to many Chinese visitors or to many visitors from India or about to many visitors from Arabic countries. Sure they wold like to see a quota regarding tourists. 90 % visitors from North America,Western European countries and Australia ! 10 % for other countries ! And Thai's only those who serve them in tourist are...

christysweet |
 15 December 2022 - 12:50:40

So do 'Leo' and his 'partners' have B visas and work permits to conduct their Cryptus transactions ?Fairly sure such a biz violates both Thai labor and financial laws.

And it seems that russians among each other starting 'wars' here on Phuket. How much are they willing to pay the police for investigation to full extent of the law? Doubt or RTP like to come in between cartel quarels of russians <-> russians without orders from BKK.

Of course many illegal russian activities are popping up. Many of these russians don't want to return to present Russia and forced to fight in Ukraine. So, legal/illegal they try to make a living here. Seen the IB image/practises I guess a extended visa period is not difficult to realize.

This happens everywhere that Russians come 'en mass'. The worst elements of their society always seem to lodge themselves very firmy and prey (mostly) on their own people. Not to mention their involvement in prostitution, money laundering, extortion and other serious crimes. (Pattaya). RTP have got the Chinese triads leader here so how about dealing with the more dangerous criminals too.

Taswegian |
 15 December 2022 - 08:39:54

Careful you people, I can see an angry response coming from Pooliekev and Harald. You know what they think of Russian tourism to Thailand...

Thaitourist |
 15 December 2022 - 01:58:09

And of course these Russians had work permits? The rest of the world cuts off contact with Russia, but in Thailand they can come and continue their crimes

who is out with $20k in cash & $25k in a crypto wallet at 1am in the morning , not someone doing something legal i would assume

Capricornball |
 14 December 2022 - 16:43:10

Ahhh...the first of the Russian crime circles to surface, but what do you expect when the entire demographic of Phuket changed to predominantly Russian travelers in less than a month. I'd guess that the presence of mafia style criminals is much higher than we can know, and I have heard from reliable sources that illegal russian businesses are growing fast (including public trans/massage)

CaptainJack69 |
 14 December 2022 - 16:38:56

Who walks around with 20,000 USD in cash?! Especially crypto traders, all their funds are kept online. No, these are exactly the sort of shady characters you want to keep out of a country but all Thailand seems to see is the suitcase full of cash and not the violence and human rights violations behind it. Russians!

Maybe it was the Klitschko brothers , would not want to mess with those lads, ha, ha.

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generated from attacks-export-Gart-website.json + reported_K&R  |  case 144
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