Man Set Up and Extorted of $500,000 Worth of USDT by Criminals in Hotel Room: Report

A Ukrainian man reportedly lost $500,000 worth of USDT after being set up for a robbery in a Thailand hotel room.

The Bangkok Post reports that Viacheslav Leibov, 23, told Thailand police a friend of his invited him to visit a hotel room in Phuket when criminals wearing masks accosted him.

The criminals tied him up with ropes and cable ties and demanded he transfer $500,000 worth of Tether’s stablecoin USDT or they would break his fingers. They were armed with a hammer and a “long” knife.

After he made the transfer, they tied him to a bed and warned him not to report the crime, before fleeing. He managed to free himself and report the crime to a police station in Kamala.

In an update, the Bangkok Post reports that law enforcement has arrested the four suspects involved in the crime: Arman Grigoryan, 21, an Armenian, Alfred Chernyshuk, 18, a Ukrainian, Ruslan Musaiev, 22, a Ukrainian, and Mraz Atoian, 21, a Russian.

Police say they arrested the suspects in a hotel room in Phang Nga, a nearby province.

During interrogation, the suspects allegedly told police they had tried to hire a driver to go to Malaysia, but the driver refused so they got hotel rooms instead.

Police say the victim had known one of the suspects for a long time, having met through crypto trading. The friend and suspect allegedly decided to rob him with the help of the three other suspects after learning how many digital assets he had.

The four suspects are being held in custody and face charges of armed robbery and illegally detaining and confining another person.

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