Russian National Held Captive for 30 Hours in Bali, Forced to Surrender Crypto Assets

Bali police are investigating a violent robbery in which a Russian national was allegedly held captive for 30 hours and forced to surrender his cryptocurrency assets. The victim, identified as 41-year-old Artem Ivanov, was reportedly ambushed on Jalan Uluwatu in the Badung regency on the evening of Thursday, 2 July 2026, as he returned from work. According to police, the perpetrators, whose number has not been fully disclosed, wore face coverings and handcuffed the victim with plastic ties before taking him to an undisclosed location. During his captivity in a multi-storey house resembling a detention cell, Ivanov was physically assaulted and coerced into providing passwords to his digital asset accounts. The suspects also stole his mobile phone and used keys found on his motorcycle to enter his residence at Villa Ukulele in Pecatu, where they took another phone containing further access to his crypto accounts. The victim was released in the early hours of Saturday, 4 July 2026, near Udayana University Hospital in Jimbaran, where he subsequently received medical treatment. The Bali Police Criminal Investigation Directorate is currently pursuing the suspects, though the investigation has been hampered by a lack of CCTV at the initial abduction site, a quiet and narrow road, and the reported malfunction of the villa’s surveillance system due to an electrical short circuit. Authorities are now focusing on tracing the digital transactions and other strategic leads to identify the perpetrators.