Or you overestimate how many competent psychos are out there scheming to do anything to make money.
Doing a kidnapping and getting a ransom is probably not too hard, but being on the run forever afterwards might not be worth it to most. People with money can hire their own bounty hunters/or plain criminals to go after them afterwards. Or just announce a bounty high enough (in dark channels, your high profile security company has access to) so people will do the hunt for free.
Most people like to boast about their action - so competent here means keeping quiet about it forever and coming up with a good excuse for why they have that money.
Really for anyone competent with crypto and unethical there are so many legal or semi ways to get money. Pump and dumps, rug pulls, launch your own meme coin etc.
But there’s already a decent chunk of people committing organized violent crime. Cartels set up their own shadow cellphone networks and run submarines. Maybe there are just easier crimes that pay better with a lower risk profile
"Cartels set up their own shadow cellphone networks and run submarines. Maybe there are just easier crimes that pay better with a lower risk profile"
Indeed, selling drugs is apparently easier. And I can imagine the cartels don't want to risk their daily buisness, by kidnapping the wrong person from the west, as that would mean more heat on their buisness. But they surely do kidnappings and worse. Mostly in their fight for local control as far as I know.
Like what, Russian and NK ransomware? Of course the perpetrators need to we physically in those countries, which is unattractive. Everywhere else the'll get caught.
