================================================================================================ CASE 221 | Spanish Businessman | March 23, 2025 | Brazil ================================================================================================ DATABASE RECORD id 221 date March 23, 2025 original_date March 23, 2025 year 2025 month 3 quarter 2025-Q1 victim Spanish Businessman location Ipiranga, Brazil country Brazil scenario Authority Misuse description Man kidnapped by 2 fake police officers, held for a week and drugged, demanded $50M, escaped on his own. kidnappings 1 violence_torture 1 drugs_alcohol 1 weapons 1 theft 1 life_taken 0 money_wanted (null) coin_type (null) reports bitcoin.com notes scammer kidnapped and extorted by fake police, victim then drugged one captor and fled has_processed_date 1 created_at 2025-11-13 05:44:45 AI SUMMARY [revised on review, verified against the sources in this file. Live DB still holds the shorter bulk-import summary — apply this to it.] **Victims:** Rodrigo Perez, a Spanish businessman linked to financial crimes in Paraguay and Ecuador who was himself wanted by Interpol, seized in São Paulo, Brazil. **Attackers:** Men in fake police uniforms; Ronaldo Batista, a retired military policeman, was arrested and confessed, while the second kidnapper remained at large. Authorities did not rule out gang involvement. **Attack Method:** In late March 2025 the fake officers used an official-looking truck to take Perez to a makeshift prison, where he was held for five days tied to a bed. **Violence Used:** He was kept drugged with sleeping pills, restrained and harassed throughout. **Crypto Demanded/Stolen:** By his account the kidnappers took close to $50 million in cryptocurrency from him. **Status:** Perez escaped by winning his captors' trust and drugging the guard with the same sleeping pills; when he reported the kidnapping, authorities found he was himself Interpol-wanted. They continue to treat him as a victim while aware of his alleged crimes, and Batista was arrested when the site was raided. LINKED SOURCES [url] https://news.bitcoin.com/a-thriller-gone-real-alleged-scammer-kidnapped-by-fake-police-loses-50-million/ NOTES ON THIS FILE * matched to sheet row 222: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ARTICLE 1 Source bitcoin.com URL https://news.bitcoin.com/a-thriller-gone-real-alleged-scammer-kidnapped-by-fake-police-loses-50-million/ Origin reported_K&R sheet, row 222, column "Articles" Length 2,275 chars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Thriller Gone Real: Alleged Scammer Kidnapped by Fake Police, Loses $50 Million An individual wanted by Interpol, lost $50 million in a kidnapping that involved drugs, fake police officers, and a daring escape in Brazil. Rodrigo Perez was kidnapped on March 24 by fake police officers who kept him drugged and handcuffed to a bed for five days. WRITTEN BYSergio GoschenkoSHARE Fake Police Officers Kidnap Alleged Scammer in Brazil, Stealing $50 Million In a case described by local media as worthy of a Hollywood movie, an individual was kidnapped by fake policemen in Brazil in order to steal his cryptocurrency stash. Rodrigo Perez, a Spanish businessman linked to several financial crimes in Paraguay and Ecuador, was detained by individuals using fake police uniforms on March 24 in São Paulo. The fake policemen used an official-looking truck to transport the prisoner to a location used as a makeshift prison, where he was kept for five days, tied to a bed, drugged with sleeping pills, and subjected to harassment. Perez managed to escape by gaining the trust of his captors. According to local media, he drugged the man assigned to watch him with the same sleeping drugs used on him. However, when notifying authorities about his kidnapping, they discovered that Perez was indeed wanted by Interpol for his alleged participation in a series of crypto-linked schemes in Latin America. Perez told authorities that the kidnappers had taken close to $50 million in cryptocurrency from him. Ronaldo Batista, a retired military policeman, was arrested when authorities raided the location where Perez was held. Batista confessed to his participation in Perez’s kidnapping, while the second kidnapper remains at large. Authorities are not ruling out the possibility of gang involvement, given Perez’s alleged history of financial fraud. The fate of Perez after this kidnapping is uncertain, as authorities are still treating him as a victim but are also aware of his alleged participation in schemes in other countries. Perez’s kidnapping marks an increase in the prevalence of $5 wrench attack cases in the crypto industry. This modus operandi has become more popular lately, as cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, and bad actors are increasingly aware of its existence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 news.bitcoin.com URL https://news.bitcoin.com/a-thriller-gone-real-alleged-scammer-kidnapped-by-fake-police-loses-50-million/ Field url Retrieved 2026-09-05T12:48:00+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200) Language unknown Kept paragraphs ALL 32 paragraphs, untrimmed Length 3,742 chars Integrity sha256 f102ce1eb38aab47f7ec0667664263bc993d29e26c466eb884f1c0a16ecea34c 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) A Thriller Gone Real: Alleged Scammer Kidnapped by Fake Police, Loses $50 Million This article was published more than a year ago. Some information may no longer be current. An individual wanted by Interpol, lost $50 million in a kidnapping that involved drugs, fake police officers, and a daring escape in Brazil. Rodrigo Perez was kidnapped on March 24 by fake police officers who kept him drugged and handcuffed to a bed for five days. Fake Police Officers Kidnap Alleged Scammer in Brazil, Stealing $50 Million In a case described by local media as worthy of a Hollywood movie, an individual was kidnapped by fake policemen in Brazil in order to steal his cryptocurrency stash. Rodrigo Perez, a Spanish businessman linked to several financial crimes in Paraguay and Ecuador, was detained by individuals using fake police uniforms on March 24 in São Paulo. The fake policemen used an official-looking truck to transport the prisoner to a location used as a makeshift prison, where he was kept for five days, tied to a bed, drugged with sleeping pills, and subjected to harassment. Perez managed to escape by gaining the trust of his captors. According to local media, he drugged the man assigned to watch him with the same sleeping drugs used on him. However, when notifying authorities about his kidnapping, they discovered that Perez was indeed wanted by Interpol for his alleged participation in a series of crypto-linked schemes in Latin America. Perez told authorities that the kidnappers had taken close to $50 million in cryptocurrency from him. Ronaldo Batista, a retired military policeman, was arrested when authorities raided the location where Perez was held. Batista confessed to his participation in Perez’s kidnapping, while the second kidnapper remains at large. Authorities are not ruling out the possibility of gang involvement, given Perez’s alleged history of financial fraud. The fate of Perez after this kidnapping is uncertain, as authorities are still treating him as a victim but are also aware of his alleged participation in schemes in other countries. Perez’s kidnapping marks an increase in the prevalence of $5 wrench attack cases in the crypto industry. This modus operandi has become more popular lately, as cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, and bad actors are increasingly aware of its existence. 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