Pastor fakes own kidnap, demands 3 BTC ransom from family

An evangelical pastor from São José dos Campos, Brazil, staged his own kidnapping in an attempt to shake down his own family for 3 (three) BTC. When his family refused to pay the bitcoin ransom, the pastor turned himself in.

Alexandre Geraldo dos Anjos (34) — an evangelical pastor of the Assembleia de Deus Missão (Assembly of God Mission), from São José dos Campos, Brazil — was, alas, overcome by greed last week, when he let himself fall into sin and stray from God’s mission.

Dos Anjos went missing on Monday, February 26. He was last seen hanging out with another pastor in the Vista Verde neighborhood, in the eastern part of town.

When one of Dos Anjos’s friends contacted his family to let them know that he had been abducted and that the kidnappers were asking for 3 bitcoins for his safe release, the family refused to pay the ransom and called the police.

Four days later, Dos Anjos came out of hiding and went to the Igaratá police station.

At first, he unconvincingly claimed he had escaped from captivity. However, when the police turned him over to the São José General Investigations Office, the fallen pastor caved under pressure and confessed to staging his own abduction.

“We received a complaint yesterday stating that the pastor had had lunch at a restaurant in Jacareí. We went there to investigate, we took the video surveillance footage and saw that he appeared calm. When he began to tell the story of the kidnapping, it became obvious he was lying,” General Investigations Office deputy Neimar Camargo said.

 

According to Camargo, the pastor claimed he needed the money to pay some heavy debts.

Dos Anjos bought a SIM card and texted one of his friends making it look like he was a kidnapper asking for ransom. The friend was unaware of the plot, the São José dos Campos police said.

“He had asked for a ransom of 3 bitcoins [note: roughly R$106,000 Brazilian real], but his family didn’t pay,” deputy Camargo told Globo.

 

Released under judicial control for now, Alexandre Geraldo dos Anjos faces criminal charges, and, likely, a fresh round of questioning from his wife and mother to his two-year-old son.

Image source: Globo