Bitcoin Exchange Targeted By Armed Robbers Who Fled Empty-Handed, One Arrested

It looks like petty criminals are also beginning to get on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. Of course, it is not through a Ponzi scheme-type fraud or hacking some bitcoin, because that wouldn’t exactly qualify as petty.

Three armed robbers showed up at a bitcoin exchange in Ottawa, Canada, Tuesday morning, and waving handguns at the four employees they found inside, tied them all up, according to Ottawa Police. One of the four employees was also struck on his head with a handgun, and according to CBC Ottawa, the robbers were looking for cash.

There was also a report by Coindesk that said the robbers tried to force one of the exchange employees “to make an outbound transaction,” but that information could not be verified from any other source.

There was a fifth employee of the exchange in the premises, in another room, who the robbers hadn’t seen, and that employee contacted the police, who arrived before any money (or bitcoin) was taken from the exchange. One of the suspects was seen running into a ravine area by the arriving police, and following a chase, he was arrested.

The arrested man was identified as 19-year-old Jimmy St-Hilaire. The police also released photographs of the other two suspects on the run, both black males, who weren’t named. The police said they would also speak to another person of interest who was inside the exchange when the suspects arrived there.

While the police didn’t identify the exchange, calling it only “a bitcoin related financial institution,” Motherboard looked at the general area mentioned by the police and found a company called Canadian Bitcoins operating out of there.

“Yesterday, there was an attempted robbery at our office in Ottawa. As police have mentioned, no one was seriously hurt during the incident, but one staff member did sustain minor injuries. Our focus is on supporting our staff at this time as well as working with the police in their investigation,” a company spokesperson told Motherboard.

Even though bitcoin is off its mid-December high point of over $19,300, it was still trading at over $11,300 at 1:30 a.m. EST Friday, which makes it easy to see why robbers and thieves would find it attractive.