Singapore police arrest 3 for teen attack during crypto exchange

• Police in Singapore arrested three men after a teen reported an attempted robbery involving $24,000.
• The 19-year old ZK was looking to exchange the cash for USDT when two men attacked him.
• Strait Times has reported that police have charged 29-year old Benedict Yee Hong Fai with the attack and attempted robbery. 

Singapore police have charged a man over an attack against a 19-year old during a meeting arranged to facilitate face-to-face crypto for cash exchange.

According to the Straits Times, police arrested three men in connection with the attempted robbery of a 19-year-old crypto trader.

The teen, identified as ‘ZK’, was trying to buy USDT from a seller he contacted on Telegram when two men ambushed and punched him while he waited to meet the alleged seller.

Crypto trader tried to exchange $24k for USDT

Per official police accounts, the attack on the teen happened as the trader tried to exchange 32,000 Singapore dollars ($24,000) for the USDT stablecoin. ZK agreed to an offline peer-to-peer exchange, settling to meeting with Benedict Yee Hong Fai, 29.

Yee allegedly contacted ZK via Telegram, offering to transfer the USDT in exchange for the $24k in cash.

But while the original venue for the face-to-face exchange was inside a public shopping mall, Yee changed it at the last minute. The new location was a parking lot near the mall. Two men – 19 and 20 years old – were arrested in connection with punching ZK and attempting to rob him.

Reportedly, ZK escaped with his money by fleeing to the shopping mall.

According to police records, the incident happened on Aug. 29. Investigations led to the arrest of the three suspects between Aug. 30 and Sept. 3.

Yee is accused of being the mastermind of the attempted robbery and will remain in custody until the hearing of his case on Sept. 12. The Strait Times says the other two suspects have not been charged officially yet and are helping with police investigations.