A Russian cryptocurrency scammer and his wife were kidnapped and murdered in the United Arab Emirates.

PANews reported on November 9th that, according to Cryptoslate, Russian entrepreneur Roman Novak and his wife Anna were kidnapped and murdered in the United Arab Emirates. Roman Novak had defrauded investors of millions of dollars through various cryptocurrency projects. In 2020, he was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud. Afterwards, Novak moved to Dubai, where he created the cryptocurrency app Fintopio and allegedly raised hundreds of millions of dollars from new investors. In early October, Novak and his wife traveled to Hatta, near the border between the UAE and Oman, to attend a seemingly promising investor conference. However, they changed vehicles and disappeared without a trace.

After several days of silence, Roman Novak's relatives raised the alarm. Russian and UAE authorities launched an investigation, suspecting the couple had been lured to a rented villa under false pretenses, and what was supposed to be a business meeting suddenly turned into a kidnapping and ransom attempt. The kidnappers attempted to coerce Roman Novak into handing over a large amount of cryptocurrency, reportedly stored in wallets and accounts linked to his apps and past scams. The kidnappers failed, and tragedy struck: Roman Novak and his wife were both murdered.