Bitcoin Ransom Plot Leads to 13-Year Sentence for Ontario Kidnapper

Key Takeaways:

• Keyron Moore received a 13-year sentence and 20-year sex offender registry.
• Criminals used a syringe and physical threats to force victims into paying BTC.
• Global data shows a sharp increase in kidnappings linked to cryptocurrency ransom demands.

A Toronto-area kidnapping linked to a $1 million Bitcoin ransom has resulted in a 13-year prison sentence for 39-year-old Keyron Moore, while his younger accomplice awaits sentencing. 

The case adds to a growing global pattern of abductions where criminals leverage cryptocurrency's perceived anonymity to demand large ransom payments.

Victim Threatened With Heroin Syringe in Ransom Plot

On August 22, Justice M. Townsend delivered the ruling in Newmarket, sentencing Moore with credit for three years already served. 

A non-publication order protects the victim's identity, who is referred to in court documents only as A.T. Moore was convicted of forcible confinement, sexual assault with a firearm, and reckless discharge of a gun. 

Whoa 😳—this story is wild. A guy named Keyron Moore just got slapped with a 13-year prison sentence after kidnapping a woman and demanding $1 million in Bitcoin. The victim was abducted outside a plaza, tortured, and threatened with a syringe full of fentanyl. She somehow… pic.twitter.com/60vhNhCBbf

— Seven Crypto 🐋 (@SevenWinse) September 23, 2025

In addition to the prison term, he received a lifetime weapons ban and will be listed on the sex offender registry for 20 years. His co-accused, identified only as S.M. under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, will be sentenced on October 3, 2025. Moore is prohibited from contacting him while in custody.

The crimes occurred on November 1, 2022, when A.T. was abducted at gunpoint outside a plaza in Thornhill. She was forced into a vehicle, driven to Barrie and confined in a garage, where she was assaulted and threatened. 

The attackers burned her hair and dragged a syringe across her skin, claiming it contained heroin, while demanding $1 million in Bitcoin ransom. They threatened to inject or shoot her if their demands were not met.

A.T. eventually escaped through a garage door and alerted the police.

Growing Wave of Crypto-Linked Kidnappings 

The Ontario case reflects a disturbing rise in kidnappings tied to Bitcoin ransom demands worldwide. 

In May 2025, Italian national Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan was kidnapped in New York and held captive in a Manhattan townhouse for nearly three weeks. 

Carturan was subjected to assault and threatened with a chainsaw to force him to reveal his cryptocurrency wallet password. He eventually escaped, and the suspects were arrested.

John Waltz, known as the Crypto King of Kentucky held a man for 17 days, torturing him to get his Bitcoin password

They rented a home for $75,000 per month, “Prosecutors detail just a shocking level of torture”

– The man was urinated on
– Electrocuted with electric wires
-… pic.twitter.com/jpbpPuJM1y

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 30, 2025

In Europe, authorities dismantled a local gang tied to a string of crypto ransom abductions dating back to 2023, arresting the group’s mastermind in Morocco in June 2025.

Global data shows a sharp increase in these crimes, fueled by leaked databases and oversharing of Bitcoin wealth on social media. 

In response, some Bitcoin investors are adopting extreme measures to keep these assets out of reach. 

Didi Taihuttu, best known as the head of the “Bitcoin Family,” now stores his private keys across four continents to mitigate the risk of physical coercion.