Some kidnappers are breaking new ground with their ransom demands by asking for cryptocurrency instead of cash.

Bitcoin was demanded as ransom last week for the first time in Mexico in the kidnapping of a Chihuahua lawyer.

Thania Denisse Medina Rodríguez, 33, was taken by armed men as she was leaving her office in downtown Chihuahua city at about 6:00pm last Wednesday.

Later, her captors demanded an undisclosed amount of money in bitcoin, which her relatives paid.

But authorities did not wait for Medina’s release and thanks to the work of the state Attorney General’s anti-kidnapping and cybercrime units located the lawyer and her five kidnappers on Friday.

One of the five and the purported ringleader has been identified as Germán Abraham Loera Acosta, a 23-year-old motivational speaker with a burgeoning YouTube channel called GermanLoeraMX.

Loera also owns a marketing, design and software firm called InnLab through which he carried out several projects for local lawmakers.

The authorities have reported that the ransom money was fully recovered at the time of the kidnappers’ arrest, along with three vehicles, a handgun and the mobile phones used to negotiate with Medina’s relatives.

Source: El Universal (sp), Infobae (sp)