Norwegian police release new details in crypto kidnapping case

Norwegian police have released new details of an alleged kidnapping case linked to the extortion of a €9 million (£7.8 million, £11 million) ransom in cryptocurrency.

The disappearance of 68-year-old Anne-Elisabeth Hagen, the wife of a wealthy real estate investor and one of Norway's richest men, has puzzled investigators for nearly three years. Investigators have been unable to discover who is behind the sinister conspiracy involving cryptocurrencies, encrypted messages, the dark web, a multimillionaire and his missing wife.

Now the head of the investigation has asked the public for help after revealing new details of the case in an interview with the Norwegian tabloid VG.

Anne-Elisabeth Hagen disappeared without a trace from the small Norwegian town of Lørenskog in October 2018. A ransom note demanding 9 million euros in cryptocurrency was later discovered in Hagen's house.

Anne-Elisabeth was the wife of Tom Hagen, one of Norway's richest men. He was described in the press as a low-key property and energy magnate with an estimated net worth of 1.9 billion krone (£147 million).

After initially suspecting a kidnapping, the police later changed their theory and assumed that the murder had been covered up.

Last year, Tom Hagen and a man in his 30s were charged with murder in connection with the case. When Tom Hagen was arrested in April 2020, police told the media that they believed no kidnapping had taken place and there had never been an opposing party demanding ransom.

“In other words, the police believe this case is a clear, planned fraud,” a statement said at the time.

According to VG, both men are still charged and deny any wrongdoing. Yahoo Finance UK has contacted Svein Holden, Tom Hagen's lawyer, for comment. He did not respond in time for publication.

Anne-Elisabeth has still not been found, and the Norwegian police inspector in charge of the case spoke to Norwegian tabloid VG this week in an attempt to uncover new evidence and solve the case. Inspector Gjermund Hanssen revealed for the first time new details about the exact steps the person or persons behind the plot took to arrange the cryptocurrency ransom and communicate with police.

New details include:

• the kidnapper(s) used Bitcoins to communicate with the police via encrypted messages;

• a VPN was used to conceal the location;

• another cryptocurrency, Dash, was used to cover the money trail;

• and the individuals behind the plot used a stolen identity to set up accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, Huobi and KuCoin.

According to VG, authorities believe that complex and advanced knowledge of cryptocurrencies and related areas such as the dark web is key to the case. They hope that publishing the details will enable outside experts to help them solve the case.

The story continues

“We wonder who in 2018 had both the skills and the willingness to do this to Anne-Elisabeth Hagen,” Hanssen told VG.

Hagen was last heard from when she called her son at 9:14 a.m. on June 28, 2018. Tom Hagen reported her missing later that same day.

A crucial piece of evidence was a “threatening letter” left on a chair in the hallway of the Hagens' house. The letter demanded that Tom Hagen transfer €9 million in the cryptocurrency Monero to the alleged kidnappers and contained detailed instructions on how to do so.

Monero (XMR-EUR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency first released in 2014. It allows anyone to send or request money, but no outsider can know the source, amount, or destination.

More details about the letter have since emerged. Hanssen said it contained a link to a document on Pasted.co – a website popular with hackers where people can exchange plain text. A password was given to access the Pasted.co document: “Anne”. Norwegian police believe this suggests that the kidnapping was planned well in advance.

The document contained two cryptocurrency addresses. The note said that Tom Hagen should send bitcoins to one of the addresses for encrypted communication, with 12 different amounts meaning 12 different things. The other address was for ransom payments.

In the weeks and months that followed, a series of anonymous communications took place between those associated with the Pasted.co document and the police. The communications took place via anonymous web browsers such as Tor and via email.

In a final exchange of letters in July 2019, the kidnappers demanded payment of part of the €9 million Monero ransom. With the help of the police, Tom Hagen paid €1.35 million. After that, the trail went cold and, according to local reports, there was no further communication.

Norwegian police declined to comment.

Anyone with information should contact the Norwegian police.

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