A 23-year-old Ukrainian tourist in Phuket, Thailand, was kidnapped and forced to transfer 8.56 million baht in USDT stablecoins (around $250,000) to two armed robbers. The victim, Viacheslav Leibov, was
threatened with violence until he complied with the robbers’ demands. Initially, the two robbers, an Armenian and a Ukrainian, demanded $500,000 in USDT but eventually agreed to settle on a lower amount.