Who was Wesley Pessano Santarem? Crypto trader, 19, shot dead while driving his Porsche
A young cryptocurrency trader was reportedly shot dead at the wheel of his red Porsche Boxster in São Pedro da Aldeia, a municipality in Brazil. Gunmen reportedly unleashed a “hail of bullets” on the 19-year-old.
The shooting reportedly took place on August 4, 2021. Video footage filmed in the aftermath of the shooting in broad daylight shows the victim lying motionless in the driver’s seat of his car with his white T-shirt soaked in blood.
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Who was Wesley Pessano Santarem?
Santarem was 19 at the time of his death. He was popular on Instagram with more than 133,000 followers. As per local news reports, he was a resident of Cabo Frio, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.
In an older interview with a local news organization, Santarem claimed that at the age of 16, he began working in a telemarketing company, earning Brazilian Real 400 ($75.92) a month. At the age of 17, he said that he had lost all his money. However, at 18, he claimed to have developed a strategy that allegedly made him enormous profit -- once he supposedly earned Brazilian Real 13,000 ($2467.54) in one minute.
As per a report in The Sun, a bullet wound in his neck was seen in the video shot after his death. The tabloid also reported that his death comes in the wake of gangs increasingly targeting so-called “Insta-bragging” Bitcoin traders and influencers, who flaunt their wealth on social media.
Santarem was one of them. Having reportedly made a fortune as a cryptocurrency trader and investor, his Instagram is full of photos of him alongside his red Porsche and stacks of cash. The 2021 Porsche Boxster starts at $62,000. The Boxster T retails for $71,000, and the Boxster S costs $74,000. And there are models that cost even more.
According to the tabloid, he was driving to the hairdresser's shop to get a haircut when he was ambushed. The killing took place in front of bystanders, who said the killers were driving a silver Volkswagen Voyage. As per law enforcement officials, at least four bullets hit Santarem, including one shot to the head. His friend, who was traveling in the passenger seat at the time, was reportedly injured in the shooting as well.
The police have not yet revealed the killers’ identities or the possible motive for the crime. However, some local media organizations are reporting that it was a case of mistaken identity.
In August 2019, the body of Abdul Shukoor, an Indian man, was found inside a car parked in front of a hospital in Dehradun, an Indian city. Shukoor was a young entrepreneur who founded two cryptocurrency exchanges and raised a fortune of Rs 450 crore ($60 million) from various people, promising profits.
His plans, however, failed when the value of Bitcoin dropped. As investors started putting pressure on him to return the money, Shukoor along with his nine other partners fled to Dehradun. There, the other nine partners plotted to hold Shukoor against his will to get the password for the two exchanges. They tortured him for two days. Shukoor died in the process.