Topic: Bitcoin + GPS + Drones + Dead Drops / Kidnapping - page 2. (Read 1594 times)

tracking cryptocurrency payments is a wet dream. one can always convert their bitcoins into peercoins/nubits and send them through multiple exchanges before cashing out the fiat (if at all). also, dirty money can always be used for paying for dirty goods and services. there could even appear a second market for "dirty" coins that need to be laundered.

There was a company trying to start up with new forensic blockchain analysis techniques that might be able to trace mixed coins. I'm not sure if they had anything that worked yet, and I can't remember the name of the company, but it may have been Coinalytics. There was a thread here with a link to some new forensics technology but I can't find it now. There might be something buried in the Coinalytics website that could help track where ransom payment coins go to.

http://coinalytics.co/

that's probably how the US will push/justify the RFID chip on every human being.


If there is no need for conversion then this won't be an issue. If there is a need for conversion then think of the following scenario.

1. find a billionaire
2. steal his cat
3. announce that you will give them the GPS coordinates when 1 BTC reaches 100 000$ on all major exchanges.
4. the billionaire will move the market
5. all bitcoin sellers will become criminals during that period of time
6. the real criminal will sell a couple of hundred of bitcoins and lives happily ever after

the latter is possible during the times when bitcoin has a market cap smaller than the billionaire's wallet

If I felt that I was a target for a kidnapping, I would wear an implantable gps device and give access to my friends, family and colleagues.

In the West at least proper kidnapping (ie strangers grabbing a juicy target for pure money) is virtually extinct as a crime. For some reason Law Enforcement goes insane for it. It's definitely a healthy industry elsewhere in the world.

We've no idea what this tidal wave of technology will bring us but there's no doubting there'll be the odd unpleasant sideline developed by nefarious folks. I think plenty of criminals forget the fiat element though. You may end up with thousands of coins, turning them into cash if you have that need will become ever trickier under the radar. If and when the need for conversion is gone then things may get heavier.

I don't think it would be possible to do anything about Bitcoin payments without draconian new Bitcoin transaction laws in every country worldwide. If they forced all exchanges and mixers worldwide to give details of any transactions their government requests it could stop crimes, if the governments shared their data. However I don't think they would all cooperate to that extent when some countries are at war with each other, and I don't think they would all agree to pass the same laws.

I guess someone will came up with some way to track Bitcoin transactions in some way. However, it does not happen, perhaps tracking money should be renounced as a way to catch criminals. Not all are caught because they used marked money.

Thanks for starting this. I have my own "impending nightmare" scenario that this thread is perfect for discussion.
********************************************

It's an ordinary night in 2025, in the home of an upscale family in middle America. The wife's cell phone rings.

"Hi, Jane here..."

"Lady, you got a 2023 Mercedes Z-class, right? License plate 847 GHM. You heard those stories in the news about the hacking right?

"Uhh, right - "

"Lady, listen up carefully. We got you hacked. We can take over your car's semi-autonomous driving controls whenever we want. So if you want to stay out of the ditch tomorrow, you need to send us $500 in bitcoin, right away. Nothing personal. I'll text you the bitcoin address in a minute. Remember, stay safe - and don't forget that guy who's fighting a lawsuit because he didn't pay and his car hit that kid."

"Wait, uhh"

"Tonight lady. Deadline is midnight." *CLICK*

(Distressed, the lady of the house begins pulling up her bitcoin account as the text comes through, preparing to pay. Husband walks in.)

"Honey, who was that?"

"Hackers."

"Oh no. You're not going to pay them, are you??"

"What choice do we have? You've seen the news stories. Even if 90% of them are scammers who are lying, we can't take the risk. You've seen the stories. And remember what happened to Mandy and John?"

"I know, I know... it's just.... it's the 3rd time this year."
********************************************

With the rapid adoption of semi-autonomous driving, I see this scenario being very likely.  (I'm a supplier engineer directly involved with the GM Super Cruise semi-autonomous car going on sale next year, and the industry is rushing headlong down this path.) The barriers to entry for the criminals is very low - all it will take are a few news stories to get the ball rolling, and then every half-wit can jump in and claim to be hacking cars whether they have the skills or not. With low risk of getting caught, why wouldn't criminals try this?

A big part of the answer is going to have to be advanced and robust security in the vehicles themselves. I'm not satisfied with the state of things with vehicles, not by a long shot. But any way to deal with it on the payments side would also be helpful. I realize this conflicts badly with the goal of privacy with bitcoin, but the problem isn't going to go away just by wishing it would.

Sooner or later criminals start using Bitcoin. When that happens, it is very possible that legal enforcements can't do anything about certain kinds of crimes (see ransomware, for example).

I have spawned this thread to start fighting these new kinds of crimes before they manifest in our everyday life. Has anyone thought what could stop criminals from utilizing Bitcoin with such a great success? I wouldn't want to give up my Internet privacy / rights to visit the (deep) Internet anonymously. It's sort of a human right thing. However, I wouldn't want to become a victim to some new kind of international Bitcoin Mafia either. How to accomplish this? Is it even possible?

Perhaps it requires a total shift in the social paradigm. For example, instead of boasting about their wealth on the social media, people would start hiding their wealth and pretending to be poor so that criminals wouldn't target them.

Right now it is just too damn easy to blackmail almost anyone. Civilians are already attaching handguns to their personal drones for fun. Perhaps soon those armed drones start mugging pedestrians in the dark alleys, demanding bitcoins. And with the help of GPS, kidnappers would never have to actually meet their victim in real life. They would just announce the coordinates of the kidnapped child after having received the requested amount of bitcoins.