Warning: This article contains discussions of torture and extreme violence that some may find distressing.
There has been a dramatic increase in cryptocurrency-related crimes in recent years, but few are quite as brutal as the situation that one crypto millionaire and his wife had to suffer, as kidnappers forced them to watch each other be tortured to death.
This year is by far the best it has ever been to be a cryptocurrency investor, as sky-high prices for Bitcoin are joined by an overall market boom, which many link to Donald Trump's election victory late last year.
Plenty of people have managed to exponentially increase their fortunes thanks to the rapid increase in value of certain coins, yet that consequently also attracts the attention of criminals looking to exploit the newfound riches of investors.
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Previous reports have shown certain crypto enthusiasts subject to torture in the aim of accessing personal accounts, and one popular social media influencer even saw her home invaded by criminals who did so to steal the millions she had invested into Bitcoin.
The horrific death of crypto millionaire Roman Novak and his wife Anna have only continued to leave people fearful of publicizing their fortunes, as Russian investigators have revealed the truth behind their murder.
Both of their bodies were discovered in a Dubai desert in October, and it appears as if the pair were lured into a meeting in the Hatta mountain resort by criminals posing as 'investors'.
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The pair were then kidnapped by these criminals, and allegedly 'forced' to watch each other subjected to various methods of torture in an attempt to 'extort' their cryptocurrency fortunes by gaining their access codes.
Investigators claim that the kidnappers were successful in their attempts to do this, as the codes were eventually handed over, but it is believed that the wallets were already empty, prompting the criminals to murder both Roman and Anna following the torture.
Their bodies were then placed in polyethylene bags and covered in strong chemicals in order to speed up the decomposition process and destroy and DNA evidence that might link the kidnappers to the murder, after which their bodies were buried in the desert.
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"The investigation has established that the killers had accomplices who helped organize the abduction," claimed Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee.
"They rented cars and premises where the two victims were held by force. After the murder, the perpetrators disposed of the knives and the victims' personal belongings, leaving them in different emirates."
Three individuals have since been arrested in connection to the crime, with Yury Sharypov, 46, and Vladimir Dalekin, 45, pleading guilty to the charges. The third, 53-year-old Konstantin Shakht, has denied his involvement.