| December 29 2014 |
Hal Finney |
Santa Barbara, California, United States |
Bitcoin developer SWATted after months of harrassment & extortion (original link) |
| January 3 2015 |
Amanda McCollum |
Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
BTM thieves strike smoke shop, fire gun (original link) |
| January 22 2015 |
Martin Wismeijer |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Thieves steal 2 bitcoin ATMs (original link) |
| February 2015 |
Dean Katz |
New York, New York, United States |
Bitcoin trader robbed of $12,000 at gunpoint (original link) |
| May 27 2015 |
Dwayne Richards |
New York, New York, United States |
Firefighter kidnapped, robbed of $1,100, & stabbed by crypto thieves (original link) |
| November 16 2015 |
Robert Nederhoed |
Delft, Netherlands |
Thieves steal bitcoin ATM containing 2,000 EUR (original link) |
| July 11 2016 |
Tadas Kasputis |
Kaunas, Lithuania |
Cryptocurrency executive kidnapped at car wash (original link) |
| July 25 2016 |
Steve Manos |
West Palm Beach, Florida, United States |
Bitcoin trader robbed of $28,000 at gunpoint (original link) |
| August 14 2016 |
Multiple |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Police arrest teens in string of bitcoin-related robberies (original link) |
| November 6 2016 |
Tivoli Brasserie |
Oudenbosch, Netherlands |
Dutch Bitcoin ATM Owner Laughs at Thieves Who Took His Machine (original link) |
| February 16 2017 |
Josoj |
London, England |
Description of robbery during Localbitcoins trade (original link) with Bitcoin Uncensored interview and the robber's side of the story. |
| February 26 2017 |
Rocelo Lopes' wife |
Florianopolis, Brazil |
Wife of crypto exchange owner kidnapped and ransomed (original link) |
| March 14 2017 |
3 Indian Bitcoin traders |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
3 Emiratis pose as cops, kidnap victims and rob them of 25 BTC (original link) |
| June 17 2017 |
Miyuki Noda |
Gifu, Japan |
Woman strangled, attacker takes 100,000 yen worth of BTC (original link) |
| September 4 2017 |
Alexey Sherstne |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Man tortured for $50k in Bitcoins (original link) |
| October 2017 |
Multiple |
Toulouse, France |
4 bitcoin traders robbed at gunpoint (original link) |
| October 2017 |
Multiple |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
"Discount Bitcoin Bandits" committed 5 robberies at gunpoint (original link) |
| October 16 2017 |
Jameson Lopp |
Durham, North Carolina, United States |
Bitcoin developer swatted & extorted (original link) |
| November 4 2017 |
Unidentified |
New York, New York, United States |
Man robbed of $1.8M of ETH (original link) |
| November 15 2017 |
Unidentified |
Istanbul, Turkey |
Gang stole $2.83M in BTC from businessman (original link) |
| December 2017 |
Unidentified |
Reykjavik, Iceland |
600 Bitcoin ASICs stolen (original link) and Follow-up Story (original link) |
| December 26 2017 |
Pavel Lerner |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Bitcoin exchange owner kidnapped & ransomed (original link) |
| 2018 |
"T.W." |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
Home invasion by FBI impersonator who demanded laptop passwords to access cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| January 2018 |
Unidentified |
Odessa, Ukraine |
Several men pose as bitcoin sellers, beat and rob buyer of 1.5 Million UAH ($57,000 USD (original link) |
| January 3 2018 |
"Dallas" |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
Convicted felon accused of firing gun inside downtown Milwaukee condo during Bitcoin sale (original link) |
| January 14 2018 |
Pavel Nyashin |
Leningrad Oblast, Russia |
Blogger Who Boasted About Crypto Wealth Beaten and Robbed For $425k (original link) |
| January 15 2018 |
Maxsim Latsoka & Anna Nikurina |
Phuket, Thailand |
Russian gang steals 100,000 Euros in BTC from young Russian couple (original link) |
| January 18 2018 |
____ Lee |
North Point, Hong Kong |
Bitcoin trader lured to bogus meeting and robbed of HK$1.4M (original link) |
| January 23 2018 |
Canadian Bitcoins |
Ottawa, Canada |
Failed armed robbery attempt of Canadian bitcoin exchange (original link) |
| January 27 2018 |
Danny Aston & Amy Jay |
Moulsford, Oxfordshire, England |
Armed home invasion of Bitcoin trading firm owner (original link) |
| January 29 2018 |
Unidentified |
Cumming, Georgia, United States |
Five men arrested for planning armed home invasion of bitcoin owner (original link) |
| February 9 2018 |
Sailesh Bhatt |
Amreli, India |
Police Officers Beat, Extorted 200 BTC from Businessman (original link) |
| February 19 2018 |
Unidentified |
Moscow, Russia |
Crypto investor has face mutilated, robbed of $1M in BTC (original link) |
| February 21 2018 |
____ Tai |
Taichung, Taiwan |
Four men assault bitcoin seller & transfer 18 BTC (original link) |
| February 23 2018 |
Yury Mayorov |
Moscow, Russia |
Crypto Developer Beaten, Robbed Of 300 BTC (original link) |
| March 2018 |
Undisclosed woman |
Killingly, Connecticut, United States |
2 women invaded home of another woman who had opened a "Bitcoin account" in the name of one of the attackers and used it to steal her money. (original link) |
| March 2018 |
Unidentified Miner |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Miner kidnapped, extorted for $50,000. Kidnappers caught 8 months later. (original link) |
| March 22 2018 |
Multiple gas stations |
Irving, Texas, United States |
Robbers douse clerks with pepper spray, steal from Bitcoin ATMs in Irving and Mesquite (original link) |
| April 8 2018 |
Pang Joon Hau |
Singapore |
Man seeking to buy BTC robbed of $365,000 (original link) |
| April 11 2018 |
Ryan Rice |
Miami, Florida, United States |
Bitcoin buyer shoots robber in self defense (original link) |
| April 25 2018 |
2 unidentified Asian brothers |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Gang of 10 robbed two brothers of AED 7m ($1.9m) in cash who were looking to buy Bitcoin (original link) |
| June 6 2018 |
22 y/o man |
Milan, Italy |
Robbers attempt bitcoin purchase with counterfeit money, beat victims and fire gun, take 50,000 euros (original link) |
| June 13 2018 |
"Synth" |
China |
Home invasion of Skycoin architect resulted in theft of 18.88 BTC and 6,466 SKY (original link) |
| June 19 2018 |
Unidentified |
Wels, Austria |
$250,000 in cryptocurrency taken by robbers posing as postmen (original link) |
| July 6 2018 |
Austin Nedved |
Northborough, Massachussetts, United States |
Armed home invasion of Localbitcoins trader (original link), forum post by victim |
| September 7 2018 |
Nicholas Truglia |
New York, New York, United States |
Friends accused of torturing pal to steal his cryptocurrency (original link) |
| September 24 2018 |
William Sean Creighton |
Granadilla, Curridabat, Costa Rica |
Owner of 5Dimes online sportbook, which accepted bitcoin, kidnapped by cops and ransomed for $1M in BTC. Ransom was paid but he was murdered anyway and body was found a year later in an unmarked grave. (original link) |
| November 2018 |
Kieran Hamilton |
Manchester, England |
Crypto trader stabbed, robbed by home invaders (original link) |
| November 16 2018 |
Andrew ______ |
Lanseria, South Africa |
Bitcoin trader drugged, beaten, and tortured before transferring BTC to attackers (original link) |
| February 10 2019 |
Tjeerd H. |
Drouwenerveen, Netherlands |
Bitcoin trader tortured with drill in front of daughter. (original link) |
| March 12 2019 |
Costcutters |
Far Cotton, Northampton, England |
Bitcoin machine stolen during robbery (original link) |
| March 19 2019 |
Shahid Naseer |
Lahore, Pakistan |
IT professor kidnapped by his student and police, his family paid 9 BTC ransom. (original link) |
| May 14 2019 |
Undisclosed |
Oslo, Norway |
Bitcoin millionaire escapes armed home invader by jumping off balcony (original link) |
| June 30 2019 |
Luftan Shaikh, Mohammad Shazad, Malang Shah |
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India |
Criminal Gang Abducts & Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands 80 BTC Ransom (original link) |
| July 15 2019 |
Bitcoin Exchange |
Sparkhill, Birmingham, England |
Masked raiders hold up Bitcoin Exchange in front of dozens of witnesses (original link) |
| July 26 2019 |
Unidentified |
Wels, Austria |
Man raided in office (en) (original link) |
| August 26 2019 |
Abdul Shakoor |
Dehradun, India |
Kingpin of Kerala bitcoin scam murdered in Dehradun (original link) |
| October 15 2019 |
Arcilio Nogueira de Souza |
Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil |
Gang kidnapped, tied the victim to a tree and beat him for hours, but got nothing because his phone couldn't access the funds; the attackers were arrested over the following years. (original link) |
| November 19 2019 |
Simply Delicious Food Market |
Vernon, British Columbia, Canada |
Thieves break into BTM (original link) |
| 2020 |
Unidentified |
Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China |
Defendants lured a bitcoin holder to a physical meeting under the pretext of teaching him bitcoin trading, then threatened him with fake weapons to make him hand over 1,000 BTC; he refused and they obtained nothing. The court found attempted armed robbery, sentencing the principal offender to 4 years in prison and the accomplice to 2 years and 6 months. (original link) |
| January 2020 |
Iroro Wisdom Ovie |
Abraka, Nigeria |
Man shot & killed by home invaders seeking $10,000 in bitcoin (original link) |
| January 2020 |
17 y/o trader |
Preston, Lancashire, England |
Trader lured to apartment, kidnapped, driven around in car trunk. (original link) |
| January 2020 |
Mr. Zhang |
Taichung, Taiwan |
Zhuang Menglun advertised 100,000 USDT for sale on Telegram to lure buyer Mr. Zhang, who arrived with TWD 2.78 million in cash; when Zhang tried to leave after seeing no USDT transferred, two minors held him, stabbed him, and drove off with the money, and he died at the hospital. The minors were sentenced to 15 years in prison; instigator Zhuang remains at large. (original link) |
| January 8 2020 |
Mark Cheng Jin Quan |
Bangkok, Thailand |
Blockchain advisor kidnapped, held at gunpoint, extorted for $60,000 in bitcoin (original link) |
| January 14 2020 |
Madho Singh |
Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, India |
Madho Singh was abducted at gunpoint, beaten and robbed of INR 4,500 by attackers who had tracked him for days with a GPS chip planted on his car, seeking his bitcoins. Four suspects were arrested in March 2020, with three accomplices still at large; the main accused was already facing prosecution in a similar 2017 case involving about 43 bitcoins. (original link) |
| January 21 2020 |
Mayfair Quick Mart |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
2 men break into BTM, steal cash box (original link) |
| February 10 2020 |
Unidentified couple |
Carlisle, England |
Home invaders force victims to create crypto exchange accounts (original link) |
| February 19 2020 |
Liang Wen-yao |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Five men led by the victim's roommate broke into his Taipei home posing as a police officer, abducted him to a mountainous area of Linkou, and beat him to force out his passwords, but the cryptocurrency had already been transferred, so they split the cash from his bag and abandoned him; all five were sentenced to 11 to 12.5 years. (original link) |
| March 13 2020 |
Unidentified man |
São Paulo, Brazil |
Five armed men tried to force a bitcoin investor to hand over his phone and authorize a bitcoin transfer, but the robbery failed due to circumstances beyond their control. The case only became known when the São Paulo Diário da Justiça published the summons of defendants who could not be found in October 2021. (original link) |
| March 18 2020 |
Unidentified siblings |
Blantyre, Scotland |
Home invader beats woman with Toblerone, forces victim to transfer $200,000 of BTC (original link) |
| April 29 2020 |
Marco Antônio Fagundes |
Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil |
Marco Antônio Fagundes, a founding partner of the InDeal bitcoin pyramid scheme, was abducted by former investors who felt wronged and demanded a 50 BTC ransom (BRL 2,814,899.18 at the time) from his family; the ransom was never paid and he was released the same day after nine hours. Three participants, including an active-duty military police officer and a financial market trader, were later implicated and arrested in Operation 'Talião'. (original link) |
| May 11 2020 |
You Ke-hsun |
Taichung, Taiwan |
Chen Sheng-lin lured USDT buyer You Ke-hsun to a Taichung club with a fake offer of 130,000 USDT for TWD 3,848,000, then called in three accomplices who restrained and strangled the victim while Chen grabbed the bag of cash and fled, injuring You. The four men were sentenced to up to 6 years 10 months for gang armed robbery, with sentences adjusted on appeal. (original link) |
| May 17 2020 |
Le Duc Nguyen |
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
HCMC cops charged with $1.6 mln bitcoin robbery. Follow-up article here. (original link) |
| May 19 2020 |
Exxon Gas Station |
East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, United States |
2 subjects pry open BTM in broad daylight (original link) |
| May 23 2020 |
Ellis Pinsky |
Irvinton, New York, United States |
2 men commit home invasion of hacker, seeking tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin (original link) |
| June 2020 |
Mohammad _____ |
Mashhad, Iran |
Mohammad, 32, leaving a pyramid scheme meeting in Mashhad, was surrounded by three masked men, taken to a rented villa, tortured, and forced under threat of death to give up his bitcoin account password, which mastermind 'Saeed' used to try to transfer the assets. The transfer failed due to a network malfunction, and Saeed's threatening e-mail to the victim allowed police to identify and arrest him and the gang leader. (original link) |
| August 12 2020 |
Osman E. |
Fatih, Turkey |
Lured to an office by a fake bitcoin sale and robbed of TRY 1,300,000. 6 suspected arrested in November. (original link) |
| September 2020 |
Male Freshman |
Kent, England |
Student robbed of bitcoin at knifepoint during first week at university. (original link) |
| September 2020 |
Five foreigners |
Castelo Branco, Portugal |
A nine-person foreign criminal group invaded a rural property in the Castelo Branco area, held five foreign residents captive, and forced one of them at gunpoint to transfer tens of bitcoins (approximately EUR 3 million at the time). Eight defendants were sentenced on March 25 2026 to prison terms ranging from 3 years 11 months to 9 years after an investigation involving Europol and arrests in Portugal and the United Kingdom. (original link) |
| September 2020 |
Unidentified couple |
Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil |
Two armed men overpowered the Brazilian wife of a German businessman in Anápolis and abducted the couple, forcing the victim under death threats to transfer his 555 bitcoins (~USD 5.9 million at the time) before abandoning them four hours later. Fifteen suspects were identified and 32 search warrants executed, but no arrests were made; the traumatized couple left Brazil for Europe. (original link) |
| September 18 2020 |
44 y/o woman |
Ceará, Brazil |
A woman was abducted in Ceará outside a dental clinic by two men working for mastermind Calebe Barbosa do Carmo, who claimed to have been wronged by her sons in a cryptocurrency investment and demanded a BRL 1 million ransom in bitcoin. Police located the kidnappers' rented car within twelve hours; Calebe was arrested in the act, the victim was released unharmed, and the three kidnappers fled and remain wanted. (original link) |
| September 24 2020 |
46 y/o man |
Paullo, Italy |
A Romanian man who had posted an online ad to buy and sell bitcoins arranged via WhatsApp to meet two fake sellers in Paullo; seeing his wad of banknotes, the two 17-year-olds beat him and tore away his backpack containing a laptop and EUR 2,000 in cash. The two minors were arrested thanks to CCTV footage, as was a third 17-year-old considered the mastermind. (original link) |
| October 1 2020 |
Unidentified |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Police kidnap a businessman, torture him, and force his wife to send them 7 bitcoin. (original link) |
| October 5 2020 |
Unidentified man |
La Cote district, Switzerland |
After several days of scouting, a woman visited the home of a friend known to hold bitcoins with a bottle of wine, and a hooded man armed with a taser burst in, demanding the victim hand over his bitcoins; when he refused, the attacker tortured him with taser shocks and beat him. The attacker fled empty-handed when the victim's ex-wife arrived, the motive being a drug-related debt. (original link) |
| October 7 2020 |
Mike's Produce |
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
Botched Bitcoin theft destroys deli (original link) |
| October 13 2020 |
Javier Moscuzza |
Quilmes, Buenos Aires province, Argentina |
Javier Moscuzza, a Quilmes shopkeeper, was held captive for five days while kidnappers initially demanded the equivalent of USD 650,000; after negotiation his brother transferred a bitcoin ransom (USD 65,000 according to the ruling), and the victim was released — the first Argentine kidnapping with a cryptocurrency ransom. Four defendants were sentenced to 8 to 11 years in November 2024, the gang leader was convicted in Venezuela after fleeing, and an accomplice remains at large in Brazil. (original link) |
| October 22 2020 |
Unidentified |
Riga, Latvia |
Man arrested for planning kidnapping and killing owners of cryptocurrencies (original link) |
| December 2020 |
Unidentified |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
4 Ukrainian men attack Bitcoin buyer with deoderant (original link) |
| December 2020 |
Dominican tourists |
Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia |
COP 1,800 million in cryptocurrency — In December 2020, in Medellín, women contacted Dominican tourists through dating apps, seduced them and then administered a sedative substance to incapacitate their will, before accessing their accounts and transferring COP 1,800 million in cryptocurrency. The case is cited by El Colombiano as one of the emblematic cases that prompted the creation of the first judicial wallet by the Colombian Fiscalía to recover stolen crypto assets. (original link) |
| December 8 2020 |
Unidentified man |
Moscow, Russia |
A man who had sold cryptocurrency to a stranger met online was attacked by armed individuals in the restroom of the John Bull Pub in Moscow just after collecting RUB 12 million in proceeds; the attackers took the money and fled in a taxi. No arrests had been announced as of the publication date. (original link) |
| December 17 2020 |
Anubhav |
Ujire, Belthangady, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India |
Eight-year-old Anubhav was abducted from in front of his family home in Ujire, after which his grandfather's wife received calls demanding a ransom of 100 bitcoins (~INR 17 crore). The child was found and released by police the following day and seven accused were arrested on the spot; alleged mastermind Pradeepa, a former bitcoin business operator who knew the family's transactions, is being prosecuted under Section 364A IPC. (original link) |
| December 24 2020 |
Unidentified |
Ternopil, Ukraine |
Man kidnapped and tortured for $800k (original link) |
| December 29 2020 |
Mr. Li |
Xiamen, Fujian, China |
Mr. Li arranged to sell 105,980 USDT for CNY 670,000 in cash to buyer Chen, but after counting the money in Chen's car and transferring the USDT, Chen pulled out a telescopic baton, ejected Li, and fled with both the crypto and the cash. Chen and his three accomplices were arrested within days and all four were placed in detention. (original link) |
| December 31 2020 |
Hu Zonghe |
Taipei, Taiwan |
"Ko Wei-chih" paid Yang Kai-hsiang to abduct the victim who collected cash from USDT trades, who was lured into a designated car near Taipei's THSR Nangang station with TWD 12,600,000; threatened inside the locked vehicle, he lost his suitcase, backpack and two phones before being abandoned in the mountains, walking to a police station two hours later. Yang was convicted of extortion and deprivation of liberty. (original link) |
| 2021 |
Dillon Attard |
Sliema, Malta |
Victim describes his disbelief as $700,000 stolen in front of him (original link) |
| January 5 2021 |
37 y/o man |
Chai Wan, Hong Kong |
Robbers take US$387,000 in cash, 15BTC from man after in-person trade (original link) |
| January 18 2021 |
Unidentified Woman |
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong |
Gang snatches HK$3.5 million from trader at knifepoint (original link) |
| January 23 2021 |
Physical Exchange Employees |
Olsztyn, Poland |
Two employees shot at physical Bitcoin exchange FlyingAtom (original link) |
| February 2021 |
Swiss & German |
Gujranwala, Pakistan |
Armed robbers take $93k in BTC at gunpoint (original link) |
| February 2 2021 |
Mr. Luo |
Xiamen, Fujian, China |
Mr. Luo exchanged more than 172,000 USDT for CNY 1.1 million in cash at a Xiamen tea house; once the crypto was transferred, the buyer claimed a network delay and seized the bag of cash while about twenty accomplices blocked the victim's escape. Police identified the organized gang and arrested fifteen suspects, including the ringleader, within five days in a simultaneous operation across seven cities. (original link) |
| February 4 2021 |
Married Couple |
Stockholm, Sweden |
Armed robbers invade home and force owners to hand over 1M+ SEK in BTC (original link) |
| March 2021 |
L.A. |
Istanbul, Turkey |
After L.A. invested USD 200,000 in cryptocurrencies on S.A.'s advice, S.A. demanded USD 30,000 more than the USD 7,000 already repaid and had an accomplice force him at gunpoint into a vehicle, where under threat L.A. transferred an additional USD 10,000; the attackers later returned to threaten him at his home. Five suspects were arrested after his complaint and referred for unlawful confinement, aggravated robbery and firearms offenses. (original link) |
| March 2021 |
Unidentified |
New York, New York, United States |
A gang operating in Manhattan bars approached patrons and had them ingest drugs before taking their unlocked phones to empty their accounts: at least 40 victims and 7 deaths, including one victim who had USD 30,000 in cryptocurrency transferred from a mobile app while unconscious. 5 men were later arrested and convicted. (original link) |
| March 10 2021 |
Bank director |
Recife, Brazil |
Man kidnapped by a gang , tied up, and had two teeth knocked out. He was released after he instructed his partner to transfer 4.78 BTC to the attackers. (original link) |
| March 16 2021 |
29 y/o Berlin man |
Munich, Germany |
Robbers steal bitcoin worth almost 100,000 Euros (original link) |
| March 18 2021 |
"F.T." |
Mendoza, Argentina |
Armed robbers steal iPhone, $5k at gunpoint (original link) |
| March 25 2021 |
紀彥銘 |
New Taipei, Taiwan |
Suspecting Chi Yen-ming of embezzling funds from a joint virtual currency investment, Yang Tung-hsiang gathered eight accomplices who abducted him from outside his New Taipei home at 2:12 a.m., bound and blindfolded him, and held him captive in a metal shed. Alerted police intercepted the kidnappers and freed the victim at 4:08 a.m., arresting all nine men. (original link) |
| April 8 2021 |
30 year old miner |
Zaporizhya, Ukraine |
Mining farm owner shoots at looters (original link) |
| April 13 2021 |
Unidentified |
Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
Armed men force their way into Canyon Meadows home, steal cryptocurrency keys (original link) |
| May 2021 |
14 y/o boy |
Bradford, Yorkshire, England |
Teen bitcoin trader kidnapped & ransomed (original link) |
| May 2021 |
___ Ghershony |
Bethesda, Maryland, United States |
Son drugs father, steals $400K in BTC (original link) |
| May 11 2021 |
Peng |
Yichun, Jiangxi province, China |
Lai learned that a teacher nicknamed Peng held at least 5 bitcoins and posted a call for accomplices on Baidu Tieba to rob him; with Xiang he planned to lure the victim to an isolated location, restrain him, and extort his accounts and passwords, but police arrested the pair before any act was carried out. Sentenced to 3 years and 1 year for robbery at first instance, their terms were reduced on appeal, the court finding the offense had only reached the preparatory stage. (original link) |
| May 20 2021 |
Chen Chia-hsien |
Taichung, Taiwan |
After being introduced to three investors under the LINE alias "Lei Luo", the gang lured them to an "investment training" dinner in Taichung, where five masked armed men burst in, bound and blindfolded the victims, and drove them to a mountainous area of Miaoli, where beatings and gun threats forced them to hand over their access codes. The attackers took 37,800 USDT, two Rolex watches and TWD 85,000 before releasing the victims that night. (original link) |
| May 28 2021 |
Babatunde Williams |
Lagos, Nigeria |
Four Lagos State Police Command officers stopped businessman Babatunde Williams under the pretext of a document check, handcuffed and beat him, and after he gave up his phone passcode transferred USD 5,500 (NGN 2.2 million) from his Bitcoin wallet to an accomplice's address. He filed a robbery complaint and the case was referred to the SCIID. (original link) |
| May 29 2021 |
22 y/o man |
Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil |
Two businessmen held captive for three days a 22-year-old they had recruited for sports betting who had diverted funds into cryptocurrency, guarding him in a rented luxury penthouse and demanding BRL 1 million for his release; his brother paid only BRL 50,000. The victim alerted his family during a lapse by the guard, and police freed him and arrested the three captors. (original link) |
| June 2021 |
Jarod Seemungal |
Miami, Florida, United States |
"All my crypto" (testimony) / "most of his crypto" (Bloomberg); his share of the March 2021 theft was about $1.6 million, split with an accomplice and partly already spent (BMW M8) — amount stolen unknown — A few months after cashing in about $1.6 million in cryptocurrency stolen by SIM swap in March 2021 (a share split with an accomplice), Jarod Seemungal, then about 20, was the victim of a home invasion: according to his mother, quoted by Bloomberg Businessweek, two men kicked in the door of his Biscayne Boulevard condo one evening and forced him at gunpoint to transfer most of his crypto to them. Testifying at the federal trial of Remy Ra St Felix (North Carolina, 2024), Seemungal confirmed under oath that he had been "home invaded" and robbed of all his crypto at gunpoint; he said that this robbery, and one suffered by his accomplice "Tidy"/"Neb", led him in summer 2022 to set up the crypto home-invasion network he ran with St Felix. (original link) |
| June 11 2021 |
40 y/o man |
Gyeonggi Province, South Korea |
Woman drugs man she met on chat app, steals $87K from his phone. (original link) |
| June 14 2021 |
22 y/o man |
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong |
Trader temporarily blinded, HK$2 million stolen (original link) |
| June 24 2021 |
39 y/o man |
Leeuwarden, Netherlands |
3 men posing as service technicians beat password out of Bitcoin owner (original link) |
| June 25 2021 |
Ş.Ö. |
Mersin, Turkey |
A 28-year-old software engineer in Mersin was forced into a vehicle at gunpoint by individuals posing as police officers, who sought — unsuccessfully — to seize the funds in his bitcoin account, even with the help of a hacker, before releasing him. Four suspects identified via surveillance cameras were arrested and jailed for armed robbery and unlawful confinement. (original link) |
| June 30 2021 |
Wu Ming-han |
Taipei, Taiwan |
During a partners' meeting on the crypto platform 'Rocket Project' in Taipei, Chiang Ting-chou fired an air pistol and four men beat developer Wu Ming-han, demanding TWD 10,000,000 and holding him captive for nearly eleven hours until a friend transferred USDT 200,000 and TWD 100,000 was taken from his bank account by forced facial unlock. He was released only when the friend, having geolocated his car, arrived announcing she had alerted the police. (original link) |
| July 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Omsk, Russia |
3 men kidnap and extort over $1M in crypto from victim (original link) |
| July 2021 |
Yekaterinburg resident |
Yuzhnouralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia |
A resident of Yekaterinburg who had answered an Avito ad for a 'mining farm' traveled to Yuzhnouralsk with about RUB 300,000 in cash; at the meeting, three previously convicted men attacked him and took the money. All three attackers were arrested and prosecuted for robbery involving a large amount. (original link) |
| July 2021 |
Asian businessman |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
An Asian businessman who answered a flyer advertising bitcoin below market price brought AED 3 million in cash to a villa in Dubai's Al Barsha, where accomplices in protective suits posing as police officers tied, blindfolded and robbed him, then held him captive in Fujairah, tearing off his luxury watch. Two defendants were sentenced to three years in prison, a AED 3.75 million joint fine and deportation, with several accomplices still at large. (original link) |
| July 1 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Colombia |
Bitcoin holder drugged and robbed by Tinder date (original link) |
| July 14 2021 |
Morakinyo Peter & Yusuf Dayo |
Lagos, Nigeria |
Law Enforcement Officers rob 2 men of $50K USD in bitcoin at gunpoint (original link) |
| July 15 2021 |
Bahador K |
Istanbul, Turkey |
A 34-year-old Iranian businessman was set up by a woman who informed a gang about his wealth and transmitted his real-time location; men posing as police officers forced him into a minibus, beat him, and threatened to kill him to obtain his crypto passwords, taking USD 30,000 in cryptocurrency, TL 5,000 in cash, and a promissory note for USD 200,000 signed under duress. After a two-month investigation nine suspects were arrested, with two jailed and seven placed under judicial supervision. (original link) |
| July 20 2021 |
Chinese woman |
Carapicuíba, Brazil |
A businesswoman of Chinese origin was forcibly dragged from a McDonald's in Carapicuíba into an armored car; the motive recorded was a 'business disagreement' and the disappearance of USD 300,000 in virtual currencies. Military police intercepted the two vehicles and arrested six people carrying firearms, all charged with criminal association and kidnapping for extortion. (original link) |
| July 22 2021 |
Unidentified |
Araruama, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Two men from Rio in a car with a cloned license plate were intercepted by a military police operation and admitted they were heading to Araruama to kidnap a bitcoin entrepreneur; their vehicle contained fake civil police uniforms and replica weapons. Both suspects were taken into custody. (original link) |
| July 28 2021 |
39 y/o man |
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong |
Trader robbed of HK$3 million at knifepoint (original link) |
| August 2021 |
3 women |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
4 Africans rob three women of $100,000 in a fake Bitcoin deal (original link) |
| August 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
A cryptocurrency trader meeting a familiar seller at an Amsterdam hotel to buy bitcoins for cash was ambushed by two armed accomplices who burst from the bathroom; the three attackers beat and restrained him and left with EUR 40,000 and his phone, photographing his passport while threatening him against alerting police. The four disguised men were filmed by hotel CCTV but had not been identified at the time of the public witness appeal. (original link) |
| August 2021 |
Korean YouTuber |
Seoul, South Korea |
A man in his twenties who spotted a YouTube streamer showing an account with KRW 8 billion in bitcoin disguised himself as a delivery man, sprayed the victim with pepper spray, shocked him with a stun gun, and demanded KRW 100 million in cash. The victim overpowered him and threw him out; the attacker was sentenced to 5 years in prison. (original link) |
| August 8 2021 |
Wesley Pessano Santarem |
Sao Pedro da Aldeia, Brazil |
Crypto Trader's Murder Blamed On Social Media Bragging (original link) |
| August 18 2021 |
Simon Arthuis |
Plancher-Bas, France |
Computer engineering student drugged, tortured, and killed by 5 men for €200,000 in cryptocurrency (original link) |
| August 31 2021 |
Two men |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Rio's civil police raided a Copacabana apartment where a gang was holding two men bound and tortured — one with part of his ear cut off, the other with fingers severed — demanding BRL 350,000 for their release. Eight people were arrested; the victims turned out to be former members of the same scam group, and the courts refused to release one suspect, citing extortion aimed at obtaining pyramid scheme proceeds and cryptocurrencies. (original link) |
| September 2021 |
Unidentified 31 y/o |
Abkhazia |
Thieves break into garage, steal 20 mining servers worth $10,000. (original link) |
| September 9 2021 |
Mark Geor |
Westmere, New Zealand |
Safe containing $4M of cryptocurrency ripped from house (original link) |
| September 24 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Monte Mor, Brazil |
An operation by Gaeco and the Military Police arrested six people at a rented farmhouse in Monte Mor and thwarted the planned kidnapping of a cryptocurrency investor; the group, including four military police officers and an Army reserve officer, planned to pose as São Paulo civil police and access the victim's crypto wallet, hoping to obtain up to BRL 3 million. Three stolen vehicles, weapons, handcuffs, police badges and other equipment were seized, and two accomplices remained at large. (original link) |
| September 27 2021 |
29 y/o man |
Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia |
Two residents of Sovetsk who learned an acquaintance held a large sum in cryptocurrencies surveilled the victim for two months, kidnapped him outside his Kaliningrad home, and under death threats extracted his passwords, stealing crypto worth RUB 39.8 million plus RUB 403,000 of equipment. After drugging and strangling him and leaving him for dead in a forest, they were caught; the victim regained consciousness and escaped naked to a neighboring house. (original link) |
| October 2021 |
Miner |
Tomsk, Russia |
Armed Robbers attack Miner at his Home, Steal 86 BTC (original link) |
| October 1 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Hoorn, North Holland, Netherlands |
A man approached in a Hoorn parking lot was forced at gunpoint into his own car and driven for an hour while made to hand over his phones and the access codes to his crypto wallet app; abandoned without a phone, he discovered that almost EUR 190,000 in cryptocurrency had been stolen. The mastermind, a work colleague who knew of his holdings, was sentenced to 4 years in prison and his two accomplices to 42 months each, plus joint damages. (original link) |
| October 7 2021 |
Liquor Store |
South Bay, California, United States |
Thieves Break Into Liquor Store to Steal Bitcoin ATM (original link) |
| October 13 2021 |
Gonzalo Refi |
Gerli, Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina |
32 year old victim was lured into an ambush in Gerli by three individuals posing as buyers of cryptocurrency mining racks, was shot twice in the face at nearly point-blank range as he tried to flee in his car, crashing and dying on the spot. The attackers fled without taking the loot; several suspects were arrested in the following days. (original link) |
| October 20 2021 |
Astamur Ardzibna |
Abkhazia |
Man Shot Dead in Hail of Gunfire Over Crypto Mining Rigs (original link) |
| November 2021 |
Zain Hankin |
London, England |
Victim met with Karim Hassan to trade crypto, in the back of his black Audi A6, where he was threatened with a knife and forced to transfer GBP 20,000. Hassan was caught and sentenced to 5 years in prison. (original link) |
| November 2021 |
Abbas Mamuod |
London, England |
Victim met with Karim Hassan to trade crypto, in the back of his black Audi A6, where he was threatened with a knife and forced to transfer GBP 10,000. Hassan was caught and sentenced to 5 years in prison. (original link) |
| November 2021 |
Abdullahi Goloid |
London, England |
Victim met with Karim Hassan to trade crypto, in the back of his black Audi A6, where she was threatened with a knife and forced to transfer GBP 2,500. Hassan was caught and sentenced to 5 years in prison. (original link) |
| November 2021 |
Five people |
Castelo Branco, Portugal |
In November 2021 the same foreign criminal group behind a 2020 raid carried out a second violent, "paramilitary-style" action in the Castelo Branco / Idanha-a-Nova area, holding five people captive but failing to complete the planned bitcoin transfer. The case was prosecuted for aggravated robbery and unlawful confinement, joined with the 2020 Operation "Miragem" charges. (original link) |
| November 2021 |
6 victims |
Haifa, Israel |
Between summer and November 2021, a gang used Telegram to contact people looking to buy cryptocurrency for cash below market price in northern Israel, then robbed them with fake pistols, injuring several victims; total damages were estimated at about ILS 680,000 (up to 1 million according to police). An undercover operation trapped the gang — which even attempted to steal ILS 145,000 from the officers — and seven defendants were indicted for aggravated robbery and criminal conspiracy. (original link) |
| November 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Five Asian nationals attacked an investor parking near his Dubai home, tortured him with needles under his fingernails until he made five transfers totaling 243 units of cryptocurrency valued at AED 2.5 million, the motive being a financial dispute with one of them. All five were sentenced to three years in prison, an AED 2.5 million fine and deportation, upheld on appeal. (original link) |
| November 2 2021 |
Zaryn Dentzel |
Madrid, Spain |
Home invaders torture social media founder, take tens of millions of euros in bitcoin (original link) |
| November 6 2021 |
39 y/o trader |
Hong Kong |
Crypto trader kidnapped by Triad gang, beaten with hammers (original link) |
| November 8 2021 |
Su |
Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
Su, traveling back from selling USDT for TWD 2.6 million in cash, was intercepted by four or five men who beat him with a baseball bat and stun gun while filming; at dawn they used his phone to lure his partner Zhao and beat him until a friend brought the money. Both victims suffered fractures but did not file complaints; police opened an investigation after the video leaked, with no suspect identified. (original link) |
| November 10 2021 |
Emeka Okoro |
Calabar, Nigeria |
NGN 1,700,000 in total (NGN 1,000,000 on October 19, 2021, NGN 700,000 on November 10, 2021) — Emeka Okoro, a cryptocurrency trader in Calabar, was extorted twice in three weeks by police officers from the Akim station: on October 19, 2021, he was stopped in the street in Effio Ette with his brother, had a gun pointed at him and their phones seized, and was ordered to pay 2 million naira or be handed over to the EFCC, ending up paying 1 million; on November 10, armed police officers broke into his apartment, called him a fraudster, demanded 10 million naira and extorted 700,000 naira from him, with the officer holding him at gunpoint being drunk. Subsequently harassed by threatening calls and texts from the gang leader known as "Sir Lion," he fled Calabar with his brother, abandoning his belongings; a spokesperson for the Cross River police promised FIJ full reimbursement. (original link) |
| November 11 2021 |
Sun Chen-jung and Pei Wen-hsin |
Taoyuan, Taiwan |
Wang Sheng-hung gained victims' trust through a Facebook USDT-selling ad and genuine transactions, then, with an accomplice who disguised their license plate, robbed two buyers of TWD 9,990,000 at gunpoint after they handed over the cash. The pair forced their way past a police checkpoint and fled, and were sentenced to 10 years and 8 years 2 months for armed robbery, upheld on appeal. (original link) |
| November 12 2021 |
GBTC Crypto Exchange |
Barcelona, Spain |
Thieves rip bitcoin ATM from crypto store (original link) |
| November 12 2021 |
Mr. Murillo and his father |
La Fortuna de Bagaces, Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
Varela set up a fake bitcoin purchase through a broker, luring cryptocurrency holders to a ranch in La Fortuna de Bagaces, where five armed accomplices bound, beat and threatened the victims; Zhang was forced to transfer about CRC 200 million (~USD 310,000). Two victims escaped from a car trunk en route to being burned, but a third, Jimenez, was burned alive to destroy evidence; Varela was sentenced to 50 years in prison. (original link) |
| November 19 2021 |
34 y/o man |
Orlando, Florida, United States |
Amony Robillard, a Brevard County Sheriff's corrections officer, held a man at gunpoint naked for about three hours in an Orlando Airbnb, forcing him to sign a USD 30,000 contract — restitution for a crypto deal he blamed on the victim — while stealing USD 650 in cash and via an app, and threatening to release compromising videos. Robillard and accomplice Jerise Richer were charged with armed robbery, extortion and unlawful confinement. (original link) |
| November 21 2021 |
"E.Z." |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
Attempted robbery & kidnapping at gunpoint by business associate (original link) |
| December 2021 |
Unidentified Family |
Sukhumi, Abkhazia |
2 masked men break into home, hold family at gunpoint before escaping with three servers and $2,040 in cash. (original link) |
| December 2021 |
Man in his twenties |
London, England |
Abdi Hassan lured a man to a London recreation ground by offering to sell him cryptocurrency, then slashed him with a Rambo-style knife, threw him into a body of water and robbed him. Hassan was sentenced on October 30 2023 to 14 years in prison plus an extended 4-year license period. (original link) |
| December 2021 |
Michael Monteverde & Antoine Luce |
Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Laurentides, Canada |
French crypto influencer Michael Monteverde ('mickalamasse') was lured to a chalet in Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, where three masked armed men beat him, tied him up and waterboarded him to force facial recognition unlock of his phone, leaving with luxury watches, jewelry and 7.70 ETH (~USD 30,000). The funds were redirected to an account of Michael-Elie Moussalem, who fled to the United States in 2022 and has been under arrest warrant since 2024 without ever being tried. (original link) |
| December 2021 |
Man in his forties |
Falkoping, Sweden |
Four men in their twenties posing as electricity meter readers knocked out a man at his Falkoping home, tied him to his bed and threatened him with a knife to force him to hand over his cryptocurrency. They left with more than SEK 135,000 in cryptocurrency, SEK 12,000 in cash and a stack of Pokemon cards. (original link) |
| December 2021 |
O.P. and D.A |
Alanya, Tepe district, Turkey |
A gang of twelve Chechen nationals robbed two foreigners living in a villa in Alanya, taking 10 BTC (~USD 500,000), USD 150,000 in cash and a luxury 4x4 for a haul valued at about USD 650,000. Police recovered the vehicle, identified the network and raided five addresses; six suspects were arrested while four others had already left Turkey. (original link) |
| December 1 2021 |
Unidentified man |
Taichung, Taiwan |
Song Yu-yang and accomplices staged a fake sale of 340,000 USDT, and when the buyer arrived at a Taichung office with TWD 8,700,000 in cash, four men sprayed him with tear gas, knocked him down and grabbed the suitcase, injuring the victim who had clung to the getaway car. Seven defendants were sentenced on appeal to terms of 7 years 2 months to 7 years 10 months for armed group robbery. (original link) |
| December 4 2021 |
Marek W |
Krakow, Poland |
Marek W., a Krakow bar employee who had made about PLN 1 million investing in cryptocurrencies, was overpowered at his door by two brothers — one a former boxer — who taped him, forced him to open his safe, and beat him to death after a botched attempt to make him transfer his cryptocurrencies locked his account. (original link) |
| December 11 2021 |
Camilla Guadagnuolo & Principe Nerini |
Bali, Indonesia |
Robbers take $400K in cash & bitcoin at knifepoint (original link) |
| December 15 2021 |
Vincent Everts |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Armed home invaders threaten TV personality during livestream (original link) |
| December 22 2021 |
Brother-in-law of a bitcoin miner |
Moscow, Russia |
Three masked individuals armed with stun guns broke into a Moscow house targeting a wealthy bitcoin miner for more than BRL 7.23 million in BTC, but mistook his brother-in-law for the target and tortured him for bitcoins he did not hold; the victim escaped by jumping out of a window. One suspect was arrested and two remained at large, with the trial held behind closed doors. (original link) |
| December 27 2021 |
2 unidentified males |
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
11 Inmates take 2 inmates hostage, force them to transfer cryptocurrency (original link) |
| Multiple 2022 |
Multiple |
Ufa, Russia |
Traffic officer jailed for robbing 20 million rubles in BTC from multiple detainees (original link) |
| 2022 |
Asian woman |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
The former private driver of a cryptocurrency investor lured her to a meeting with accomplices posing as police officers, drove her for two hours with a plastic bag over her head, extracted her phone password, and transferred 8,000 units of cryptocurrency (AED 30,000) plus stole AED 8,000 in cash and other belongings, before photographing her with threats against filing a complaint. Her memorization of the license plate enabled the four men's arrest; they received prison terms of two to three years, fines and deportation. (original link) |
| January 2022 |
F.A. |
Casablanca, Morocco |
A gang lured a Casablanca money changer active in bitcoin with a fake transfer deal, then abducted him posing as police officers and conducted a fake search of his home to seize his money. Seven people were arrested and about MAD 15 million in cash seized; five defendants, including a police officer, received a total of 41 years in prison. (original link) |
| January 16 2022 |
Gas Station |
Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
Suspects smash gas station with truck, steal Bitcoin ATM (original link) |
| January 17 2022 |
30 y/o couple |
Fabreville, Quebec, Canada |
Four men wearing clown masks forced their way into a Laval residence, severely beat the occupant, fired a shot, and abducted a 26-year-old pregnant woman, who was found with two abductors less than an hour later after calling 911. The case was linked to a CAD 300,000 bitcoin transaction gone wrong; two men were arrested and charged with kidnapping and related offenses. (original link) |
| January 21 2022 |
34 y/o teacher |
Hoboken, Belgium |
3 men invade home, fail to force owner to hand over 3M Euros of BTC (original link) |
| January 22 2022 |
Unidentified American |
Bogota, Colombia |
A member of a Medellin criminal network posing on Bumble as a cryptocurrency expert lured an American citizen to a Bogota hotel, administered an incapacitating substance, and the group emptied his Coinbase account of 298 ETH (~COP 3,213 million). The network was dismantled in May 2025 with arrests in Medellin and Brazil. (original link) |
| January 26 2022 |
Owen Simonin |
France |
Fake insurance adjustor attempts armed home invasion, gets pushed and locked out by victim. (original link) Victim later recorded a video detailing the ordeal. |
| January 29 2022 |
63 y/o guard |
Shekshema, Sharya district, Kostroma oblast, Russia |
Six armed members of an organized group from Yaroslavl oblast stormed a cryptocurrency mining farm set up in a railway wagon at a disused sawmill, threatening the guard and taking mining hardware worth more than RUB 4 million. All six were found guilty of robbery with violence and sentenced to 5, 6 and 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony. (original link) |
| February 2022 |
John Forsyth |
Missouri, United States |
Crypto founder kidnapped, zip-tied, threatened to be thrown off bridge. (original link) |
| February 2022 |
Thiago Asmar |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Thiago Asmar, a Jovem Pan host, was robbed inside an Uber in Sao Paulo; the perpetrators forced him to unlock his phone, then emptied his bank accounts (BRL 200,000) and his Binance account, even opening an account in his name at another bank to funnel the funds. The bank reimbursed him but the exchange refused, and no arrest is mentioned. (original link) |
| February 2 2022 |
Vinay Naik |
Pune, India |
Pune: 8 including cop arrested for kidnapping man to extort Bitcoin worth Rs 300 crore ($50 million USD) (original link) |
| February 3 2022 |
Vinay Jain |
Surat, Gujarat, India |
Auto parts businessman brings suitcase full of $260K worth of cash to do an in-person crypto trade, gets beaten and robbed by 8 men. (original link) |
| February 3 2022 |
Ilya Basin |
Brooklyn, New York, United States |
Crypto consultant hog-tied, beaten during home invasion. (original link) |
| February 5 2022 |
Brazilian businessman |
Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil |
4.485 BTC (nearly BRL 1,000,000) — On February 5, 2022, around noon, a businessman (in the overseas casino sector) on a tourist stay in the São Jorge district was approached as he left his guesthouse by three men armed with a pistol, an assault rifle and a submachine gun who identified themselves as police officers; taken back to the guesthouse with a gun to his head, he was forced to transfer 4.485 BTC (nearly BRL 1 million), the attackers showing him photos of his relatives and then giving him 24 hours to pay more under threat of death to his family. The investigation established that they were three civil police officers from the Coordenadoria de Operações e Recursos Especiais of Goiânia and a civil guard from Cristalina; one of them, Willian da Silva Ribeiro (40), was arrested at his home in Cristalina (a luxury car, a weapon and ammunition were seized), and all four were charged with extortion by kidnapping on February 25, 2022. (original link) |
| February 28 2022 |
Liliana Segovia Navarro |
Barranquilla, Colombia |
After arranging to meet her via social media under the pretext of a business deal, Jairo Medina Vega asphyxiated Liliana Segovia Navarro (36) in her vehicle to steal her more than USD 10,000 in cryptocurrency and concealed her body, later dumping it near Tubara. Sentenced on February 14 2023 to 223 months (18.5 years) for aggravated homicide and theft; an alleged accomplice was captured in June 2026, four years after the events. (original link) |
| March 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
4 men invade home, tie up man, steal $450K from safe. (original link) |
| March 2 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Miami, Florida, United States |
Businessman ambushed by armed robber, has $1M watch & crypto wallet taken. (original link) |
| March 4 2022 |
Electronics Dealer |
Pune, India |
Woman cop suspended for bid to extort crypto from trader (original link) |
| March 10 2022 |
Sylwester Suszek |
Czeladz, Silesia, Poland |
Sylwester Suszek, founder of Polish exchange BitBay (later Zonda, then Zondacrypto), disappeared on March 10 2022 after going to a meeting at a fuel depot with an associate linked to organized crime; his family later received messages claiming he had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom in bitcoin. Former associate Marian Wszolek was charged with kidnapping and money laundering, but no body has been found and about 4,500 BTC under his exclusive control remain inaccessible. (original link) |
| March 12 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
On March 12 2022, on the orders of Adam Iza ('Crypto Godfather'), the brother of an LA sheriff's deputy physically grabbed an associate of victim 'E.Z.' to steal a laptop containing cryptocurrency that Iza claimed as his own; a private investigator employed by Iza kept watch and drove the attacker away. These facts are detailed in paragraph 10 of the federal complaint filed September 23 2024. (original link) |
| March 13 2022 |
Eche Abraham |
Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria |
Abuja-based musician was intercepted on the Okene road by officers of the SWAT unit traveling in an unmarked Hilux; having refused to comply, he was slapped and forced into their vehicle, then taken to a bushy area near Nagazi. The police searched his phone, opened his Binance app showing a balance of USD 23, labeled him a 'Yahoo boy,' demanded NGN 250,000, and prevented him from freely making calls before extorting NGN 100,000 from him via a POS terminal and releasing him. (original link) |
| March 16 2022 |
Pierrick Jamaux |
New York, New York, United States |
Crypto expert shot 5 times by robber seeking Richard Mille watch. (original link) |
| March 16 2022 |
32 y/o woman |
San Francisco, California, United States |
A man in a ski mask and goggles broke into a woman's Bernal Heights home, threatened her with a knife and taped her, then forced her to transfer about USD 3 million in crypto from CoolWallet hardware wallets, typing orders on an iPad to avoid being identified by voice. The suspect, her former personal assistant Tianze Zhang, fled to Taiwan, was arrested in Kaohsiung in May 2022 and extradited; charged with aggravated kidnapping among six counts, he was still awaiting his preliminary hearing as of January 2026. (original link) |
| March 21 2022 |
Yu |
Taichung, Taiwan |
A woman named Zhuo lured her ex-boyfriend Yu to a Taichung motel, letting in about ten men sent by Xu, who suspected Yu of misappropriating his 140,000 USDT (~TWD 4 million); Yu was beaten, dipped in cold and boiling water, stripped of his wallet and bank balances, and forced to sign ten TWD 500,000 promissory notes and take out over TWD 2 million in loans. On appeal the aggravated robbery charge was downgraded to unlawful deprivation of liberty: 2 years 10 months for Huang and 1 year 6 months suspended for Zhuo. (original link) |
| March 30 2022 |
E.Z. |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
Attempted home invasion by 3 armed men; victim fired gun at attackers, who fled. (original link) |
| April 2022 |
Unidentified trader |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
9 robbers invaded the office of a bitcoin trader and took over $1,000,000 in cash. (original link) |
| April 2022 |
Unidentified mining company employees |
Udomlya, Tver Oblast, Russia |
In April 2022, three men violently robbed employees guarding a mining facility in Udomlya (Tver Oblast) and fled with company funds and mining servers worth over RUB 5.7 million in vehicles fitted with fake license plates. The court sentenced them to 8 years 6 months to 9 years 6 months in strict- and special-regime penal colonies (ruling reported March 2025). (original link) |
| April 1 2022 |
Ifeoluwa Lawal |
Ede, Osun State, Nigeria |
Osun State police officers stopped Ifeoluwa Lawal, a Nigeria-based student returning from Cyprus, found a Binance screenshot on his phone, and after hours of intimidation extorted USD 504 from his Binance account via a QR code, having threatened him with the EFCC. His brother photographed the police vehicle's plate, and the Osun police spokesperson announced an investigation. (original link) |
| April 8 2022 |
ATM Operator |
Timișoara, Romania |
A 19-year-old stole a cryptocurrency ATM from a Timișoara shopping center and abandoned it in a field near Vinga, causing RON 286,000 in damages (RON 236,000 cash + RON 50,000 equipment). Arrested the following Saturday, he was held 24 hours; RON 180,200 was recovered, including RON 8,500 buried in his home garden. (original link) |
| April 21 2022 |
Unidentified couple |
Norrköping, Sweden |
Couple tied up and beaten, forced to transfer cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| April 26 2022 |
Mr. Ruan |
Ningde, Fujian, China |
Indebted Zhou recruited Li via a foreign messaging app to abduct Mr. Ruan and extort his large USDT holdings; after a first abandoned attempt in late December 2021, the second expedition traveled to Ningde on April 26 2022 equipped with cable ties, tape and a stun baton, planning to pose as anti-COVID officials. Two recruits tipped off the victim and police; Li and Zhou were arrested the next day and each sentenced to 1 year 10 months for armed robbery at the preparatory stage. (original link) |
| May 2022 |
4 victims |
London, England |
Multiple incidents of crypto muggings around London. (original link) |
| May 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Crypto expert assaulted & robbed by investors for losing money. (original link) |
| May 2022 |
Unidentified couple |
Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil |
A friend of the couple tipped off a gang about roughly BRL 2.5 million in crypto held on a Trezor; the wife was abducted and held in a hideout while other members forced the husband to hand over the private key, then transferred 15.08322957 BTC split across about 120 addresses. Police executed 5 of 6 arrest warrants across four states, and 14 of the 15 bitcoins were frozen and returned to the couple. (original link) |
| May 2022 |
Chinese nationals |
Istanbul, Turkey |
Five men including two active-duty police officers staged a fake official search at a villa in Küçükçekmece where wealthy Chinese tourists were staying, taking a cold wallet holding USD 65,000 in crypto with its password, plus TRY 45,000 in cash. Identified via CCTV, all five were arrested and jailed in Istanbul on May 13 2022; neither wallet nor cash was recovered. (original link) |
| May 2022 |
Chen |
Zhangzhou, Fujian, China |
Zhang lured USDT seller Chen into a car with accomplices under the pretext of "verifying the tokens," then overpowered him in an isolated mountainous area and forced him to hand over passwords to transfer 53,008 tokens; most were squandered on gambling, with 7,148 returned to the victim by police. The Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court upheld the armed robbery conviction on appeal and ordered restitution of RMB 259,629.86. (original link) |
| May 5 2022 |
Costin Miu |
Mamaia, Constanța, Romania |
Costin Miu, a businessman grown wealthy in cryptocurrency, was attacked in a Mamaia parking lot by drug trafficker Alexandru Ioan Dorobanțu and three Nigerians sent from London, then held captive, bound, hooded and stabbed in the abdomen while ordered to surrender his crypto wallet passwords over an alleged EUR 3 million debt. Alerted by neighbors, police foiled the plot: Miu was released after promising EUR 200,000–300,000, Dorobanțu was arrested and sentenced to 7 years 4 months, and the three Nigerians remain at large. (original link) |
| May 20 2022 |
Factory Owner |
Klang, Malaysia |
12 men rob aluminum factory, steal 180 Bitcoin ASICs. (original link) |
| May 28 2022 |
AnishaGF |
Duivendrecht, Netherlands |
Rapper AnishaGF was lured to a Duivendrecht recording studio by rapper Mensa, who let in two men with objects resembling firearms; they took her jewellery and phone, demanded her phone code, and reportedly fired a shot that hit her head. The Amsterdam court found the aim was to access her Bitcoin account through her phone; Mensa later called demanding her crypto wallet codes and threatened to blow up her house. (original link) |
| May 30 2022 |
Truck Driver |
Ciudad del Este, Alto Parana, Paraguay |
315 mining machines (306 model A1 + 9 model S9), unit value USD 300 to 600 — On May 30, 2022 around 10:45 a.m., three individuals traveling in a Toyota Caldina intercepted a white JMC pickup truck near the former Km 7 marker in Ciudad del Este: two of them, armed with pistols, forced the driver out at gunpoint, took him with them and then released him in the Santa Clara neighborhood, before driving off with the vehicle and its 315 ASIC miners (306 A1 units and 9 S9 units, worth USD 300 to 600 each). The same article reports a second theft of mining machines less than ten hours earlier in Hernandarias (Puerta del Sol neighborhood), which led to a chase and an exchange of gunfire with police, with no arrest. (original link) |
| June 2022 |
Unidentified |
Osaka, Japan |
Son of Mitsubishi Electric CEO + 7 men kidnap, torture gym member for crypto assets. (original link) |
| June 11 2022 |
Dipak Vaghasiya |
Surat, Gujarat, India |
Men posing as C.B.I. officers abducted businessman Dipak Vaghasiya and a friend, threatening prosecution over 'blockchain' schemes to extort money in a bitcoin business dispute; Vaghasiya promised to pay, was released, and filed a complaint. The crime branch arrested four suspects in Mumbai and seized fake CBI paraphernalia; the instigator, the victim's brother-in-law and bitcoin business partner Vijay Ramjibhai Sabhadiya, had his bail rejected by the Gujarat High Court on August 8 2025. (original link) |
| June 19 2022 |
Russian woman |
El Campello, Alicante, Spain |
The wife of a Russian crypto-asset manager was abducted and transported gagged in a car trunk toward El Campello, her kidnappers seeking access keys to cryptocurrencies her husband had refused to surrender. Alerted by the couple's lawyer, local police intercepted the vehicle, freed the victim unharmed and arrested two of the three kidnappers; an Alicante judge later linked the abduction to a large crypto scam allegedly ordered by Carlos Garrido. (original link) |
| June 29 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Nashik, Maharashtra, India |
A businessman was pulled from his Audi and forced into another vehicle, his phones seized at knifepoint, and the kidnappers transferred 3.27 units of cryptocurrency (about INR 1 crore) from his Binance accounts, never recovered. The case was registered against eight accused, and alleged mastermind Deelip Bhalchandra Dongre was arrested months later. (original link) |
| July 2022 |
Asian Investor |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Man suffers home invasion, loses ~$50,000 after attempting a face-to-face cash trade to buy bitcoin. (original link) |
| July 2022 |
Vkusvill Supermarket |
Kuchino, Russia |
4 armed mask men rob warehouse, steal 100 GPUs. (original link) |
| July 5 2022 |
丁○○ |
Taichung, Taiwan |
A buyer nicknamed "Xiao Dingdang" arranged to buy 30,000 USDT from trader 丁○○ for TWD 861,000, meeting in front of a Cathay United Bank branch in Taichung; after counting the cash in a rental car, one attacker sprayed him with tear gas as the driver accelerated. The victim grabbed his bag back and jumped from the moving vehicle, fracturing his kneecap and heel bone; both men were convicted of attempted aggravated robbery with a weapon. (original link) |
| July 25 2022 |
26 y/o man |
Horst, Limburg, Netherlands |
A man from Venray was lured to Molengatweg in Horst by an arranged drug sale; when he arrived his car was blocked and his windscreen smashed, then several men in balaclavas pulled him out at gunpoint, hit him on the head and locked him in a car boot. Taken blindfolded to a hut in a forest, he was forced to reveal his drug stash, and the kidnappers tried to extort money from him and make him unlock his cryptocurrency wallet, threatening him with guns and with pruning shears held against his toes. (original link) |
| August 2022 |
Elderly couple |
Rodovia Ayrton Senna, São Paulo State, Brazil |
approximately BRL 100,000 paid in cryptocurrency — In August 2022, an elderly couple was the victim of a 'sequestro relâmpago' (aggravated extortion with restriction of liberty) on the Rodovia Ayrton Senna, in the State of São Paulo: about 100,000 reais were paid to the kidnappers in cryptocurrency. On March 14, 2023, the Goiás Civil Police, at the request of the São Paulo police, arrested a suspect who had received the cryptocurrency in Cidade de Goiás; he tried to destroy his phone and flush 256 g of skunk cannabis down the toilet, and was additionally charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. (original link) |
| August 6 2022 |
30 y/o broker |
Manerba, Italy |
3 men follow a man home, hold him at knifepoint for BTC. (original link) |
| August 7 2022 |
Arjun Bhargav |
Vrindavan Yojana, India |
3 men trick, abduct, torture realtor for 8 BTC. (original link) |
| August 12 2022 |
Juan Jose Benavides Velasquez |
Pilar, Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina |
After a first failed attempt, a commando of Colombians posing as victims of the Daily crypto pyramid abducted the ex-partner of Juan Jose Benavides Velasquez — alleged founder of a cryptocurrency that collapsed in February 2022 — then held the couple, their baby and the ex-mother-in-law captive for over a week under torture while demanding a USD 10 million ransom, also raiding Benavides's home for cash, valuables and notebooks of wallet passwords. In 2025 eight Colombians were sentenced to 11 years, the driver to 5 years, and a former police officer to 3 years. (original link) |
| August 24 2022 |
19 y/o man |
São Paulo, Brazil |
A crypto promoter from Brasília was held for about twelve hours in São Paulo after a nightclub outing, beaten and stripped of about BRL 59,000 (BRL 58,000 in cryptocurrency + BRL 1,000 via PIX) plus his phone, wallet, clothes and shoes, before being abandoned in Guaianases. His friend remained unaccounted for and two suspects were questioned at the police station. (original link) |
| September 2022 |
Middle Aged Couple |
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada |
Multiple suspects posing as police invade home, tie up residents, steal $10M in crypto. (original link) |
| September 6 2022 |
19 y/o hacker |
Lincolnshire, England |
3 men, 1 posing as a cop, arrested while attempting home invasion. (original link) |
| September 12 2022 |
19 y/o man |
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
Man held at gunpoint, assaulted and tied up during Bitcoin trade. (original link) |
| September 12 2022 |
Unidentified couple |
Delray Beach, Florida, United States |
Armed gang invades home, takes jewelry, electronics, cash. Tried but failed to drain Gemini account. (original link) |
| September 15 2022 |
Russian Couple |
Koh Samui, Thailand |
Russian couple extorted by gang of foreign men at coffee shop. (original link) |
| September 15 2022 |
Unidentified young man |
Homestead, Florida, United States |
Armed gang invades home, takes jewelry, electronics. Kidnapped & tortured victim, failed to find his bitcoin. (original link) |
| October 2022 |
24 y/o man |
Nicosia, Cyprus |
Three men took a Limassol resident known for his hacking skills into the Cyprus buffer zone under the pretext of a hunting trip and staged his 'capture' by fake police officers of the pseudo-state, who demanded EUR 150,000 drawn from his cryptocurrency; he cancelled the transfer and fled, later robbed of EUR 1,000 by one suspect. All three were arrested and referred on November 10 2022 to the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia for conspiracy, kidnapping, attempted extortion and related charges. (original link) |
| October 3 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Florianopolis, Brazil |
A man from Canoas was abducted in Jurere Internacional by four heavily armed men seeking him over cryptocurrency they had lost because of him; the getaway turned into a shootout with Highway Military Police in which an officer was wounded, and the victim used the moment to jump free. Three suspects fled on foot while the driver was captured by BOPE in possession of a grenade launcher. (original link) |
| October 8 2022 |
A 21 y/o & his partner |
Necochea, Buenos Aires province, Argentina |
Two men, one armed with a knife, broke into the penthouse of a trader in Necochea and held him and his partner hostage for about four hours, beating them and forcing crypto transfers, then took cash in three currencies, encrypted USB drives, a computer and phones. Three suspects, recipients of the Binance transfers plus a neighbor who provided information, were arrested in July 2023 and the case was referred to trial in 2024 for doubly aggravated robbery. (original link) |
| October 9 2022 |
Girum Alemayehu |
Aurora, Colorado, United States |
At around 2 a.m., perpetrators used a Hummer as a battering ram to smash through the storefront of the G&E Wine and Spirits store in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. They left with the cash from the ATM, a bitcoin ATM, and a cash register containing a handgun; about three hours later, a second group attempted to burgle the same store while the owner and his wife were still on the premises. (original link) |
| October 12 2022 |
戊○○ |
Taichung, Taiwan |
Directed via Telegram by a ringleader nicknamed 'Huoshan Baofa,' a five-person team staged a fake sale of 60,000 USDT for TWD 1,912,800 at Taichung HSR station; after counting the cash and showing a fake transfer screenshot, one man snatched the bag of bills and an accomplice shoved the pursuing buyer. The buyer overpowered the accomplice and handed her to police; several convictions for group snatch-theft were handed down on appeal. |
| October 17 2022 |
Two brothers |
Valencia, Spain |
A young man was lured to a fake meeting in Valencia, held at gunpoint and forced to call his brother; both brothers were then held in an apartment over an alleged EUR 25,000 debt tied to a cryptocurrency fraud network, released only after partial payments totaling about EUR 1,000. On October 7 2025 the Valencia Provincial Court sentenced three of the four defendants, who had admitted the facts, to suspended prison terms of 2.5 to 4 years and a EUR 2,400 fine. (original link) |
| November 1 2022 |
Female "A.T." |
Barrie, Ontario, Canada |
A woman was kidnapped, tied to a chair, stripped naked, hit in the legs with a hammer, and burned while attackers demanded $1 million in bitcoin. She escaped and the attackers were caught. (original link) |
| November 7 2022 |
Shawn E |
Buenos Aires, Argentina |
A 52-year-old American tourist was drugged and robbed by a woman nicknamed 'Liz' he had met on a dating app and welcomed into his Puerto Madero rental, losing his Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, phone, laptop, driver's license and a wallet containing 80,000 pesos. Three people, including the driver who transported them, were arrested on December 2 2022 during raids in Barracas. (original link) |
| November 23 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Rishon LeZion, Israel |
A Bnei Brak resident arranging a cash-for-crypto exchange in Rishon LeZion was threatened with a weapon, sprayed with gas and robbed of more than ILS 100,000 in cash. Two East Jerusalem residents in their twenties were arrested after a substantial sum was found at their home, and their detention was extended by the court. (original link) |
| November 24 2022 |
Amir |
Tehran, Iran |
'Amir', 35, was lured by his business partner 'Saeed' on the pretext of buying crypto-assets and settling a dispute, then forced at gunpoint to hand over his e-wallet code, transferring crypto worth 8 billion tomans; the two men then shot him dead and buried his body in the desert to eliminate the witness. Saeed was arrested after the victim's father filed a complaint and confessed after three days in custody. (original link) |
| November 26 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Tel Mond, Israel |
A resident of Herzliya who had come to buy bitcoins for cash in Tel Mond was attacked in his vehicle by the seller, who had posed on WhatsApp as a certain 'Adva': the assailants sprayed him with pepper gas, chased him on foot when he fled with his bag, then left with the 77,550 shekels he was carrying. Two suspects (26 and 19 years old, from Kadima-Tzoran) were arrested within hours; on December 11, 2022, the Central District public prosecutor's office charged four people (Ilan Sobolov, 27, Yarin, 19, Moshe Jerbi, 21, and a 16-year-old minor) with aggravated group robbery and criminal conspiracy. (original link) |
| December 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Shymkent, Karatau district, Kazakhstan |
46 mining machines, damage of nearly 44 million tenge — Three friends, one of whom had previously come to repair the electrical system of the mining farm and had scouted the premises on that occasion, broke into a private property in Shymkent at night by climbing over the fence and took 46 mining machines installed in an outbuilding of the house, causing damage of nearly 44 million tenge. Identified through video surveillance and their vehicle, they were arrested in town, confessed, fully compensated the victim, and were sentenced to five years of restriction of liberty for theft (article 188 of the Kazakh criminal code); the sentence was made public on June 14, 2022. (original link) |
| December 2022 |
Aiden Pleterski |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
"Crypto king" abducted, tortured, and beaten for days as his kidnappers sought millions in ransom (original link) |
| December 1 2022 |
Russian Businessman |
Moscow, Russia |
Man kidnapped from his Bentley by 4 men, forced to give access to bitcoin wallet. (original link) |
| December 1 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Zandvoort, Netherlands |
Two masked men broke into a home demanding 'crypto and watches': they struck the victim in the face with a club and with their fists, held him in a chokehold and ordered him to lie face down with his hands behind his back so they could bind him with cable ties. The court established that the occupant of the home, where the victim was staying, was the mastermind who had staged this home invasion to extort a large sum of cryptocurrency from him; the victim resisted, managed to flee and was injured. (original link) |
| December 3 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Lelystad, Netherlands |
Man responds to ad to sell his bitcoin, is attacked by several men & forced to transfer 30K EUR worth of BTC & ETH. (original link) |
| December 11 2022 |
2 Russians |
Phuket, Thailand |
2 men who work on a cryptocurrency were kidnapped and robbed. (original link) |
| December 12 2022 |
Chinese businessman |
Philippines |
Chinese businessman kidnapped and held for six days in the Philippines (original link) |
| December 22 2022 |
Unidentified man |
Little Elm, Texas, United States |
Armed gang invades home, torture victims for 3 hours, take jewelry, fail to find hardware wallet with $1.4m. (original link) |
| December 26 2022 |
Wang |
Zhonghe, New Taipei, Taiwan |
A cryptocurrency wallet manager was lured by a 22-year-old client, Lin, who threatened him into a car and held him captive in a Zhonghe hotel, demanding he raise money before release. Alerted by the victim's partner, the Zhonghe investigation squad assaulted the location the next day, freeing Wang and arresting Lin and two accomplices, and seizing ketamine, an aluminum bat, a Rambo knife and four machetes. (original link) |
| 2023 |
Unidentified man |
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States |
The federal trial brief of in United States v. Remy Ra St Felix states that a home invasion attempt was unsuccessful here but not specifically dated. (original link) |
| 2023 |
Mr. Wu |
Fuqing, Fujian, China |
Zhou and accomplices staged a fake over-the-counter transaction: he bought CNY 400,000 of USDT from sellers including Mr. Wu, confirmed receipt, then demanded the cash back claiming he had received nothing, and the group forcibly took the money before fleeing. Zhou was intercepted by the sellers and handed to police, accomplices turned themselves in, and he admitted the facts at the Fuqing People's Court hearing in April 2023. (original link) |
| Early January 2023 |
Karl Johnson |
Salford, England |
Man knocks on door, threatens to assault victim, leaves after he sends some cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| January 2023 |
Unidentified businessman |
Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil |
Three armed individuals broke into a businessman's residence in Praia Brava (Itajaí, Santa Catarina) and held the victim, his relatives, and his employees for about three hours; through violence and serious threats against his family, the businessman was forced to carry out cryptocurrency transfers, and jewelry, electronic devices, and cash were also taken, for total losses of about BRL 1.2 million. Tracing of the transfers showed the funds scattered toward Argentina and Peru; Operation "Blockchain" by Itajaí's DIC, conducted with Interpol, the Brazilian and Argentine federal police, and the civil police of Sergipe and Goiás, led on 4 and 5 October 2023 to seven arrests (2 in Buenos Aires, 1 in Ituporanga d'Ajuda, 1 in Balneário Camboriú, 3 already incarcerated), with one suspect still at large. (original link) |
| January 1 2023 |
Unidentified man |
China |
A cryptocurrency investor leaving an industry meetup was intercepted and overpowered in a vehicle; the attackers forced his facial recognition to unlock his phone and wallet app, converting his holdings into 4.1 million USDT (about 28 million yuan) and transferring the funds before fleeing. The primary sources report no police confirmation, no victim identity and no arrests. (original link) |
| January 2 2023 |
21 y/o man |
Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong |
A man handing over a USB drive containing about HKD 150,000 in USDT at a Lai Chi Kok bus stop was punched, robbed of the drive, and the attacker fled by car. The victim was hospitalized; police classified the case as theft and assault and assigned it to the Sham Shui Po Crime Squad, with the suspect still at large. (original link) |
| January 3 2023 |
Mr. Zhang |
Zhongli, Taoyuan, Taiwan |
Wang and three accomplices lured USDT seller Mr. Zhang — selling 166,000 USDT for TWD 5,146,000 — to Qingxi Road in Zhongli carrying toy banknotes, a hammer, a knife and a concealed machete; pulling him into their car, the ringleader held the machete to his throat demanding money. Injured, Zhang jumped from the moving vehicle while his friend chased and rammed the car, which was stopped and abandoned by the fleeing four. (original link) |
| January 14 2023 |
Crypto Company |
Barcelona, Spain |
5 men stormed into a company's office armed with tasers and zip ties. (original link) |
| January 18 2023 |
26 y/o couple |
Fairfield, Australia |
Two masked men abducted a couple leaving a Fairfield hair salon and drove them about 200 km to a property near Newcastle, holding them tied to chairs for about 36 hours while demanding crypto ransom of up to AUD 5 million and attempting to sever the man's finger with garden shears, requiring surgery. The victims escaped after two days; police charged two men aged 24 and 25, noting the victims were wrongly presumed to hold large sums. (original link) |
| January 25 2023 |
Mr. Deng & Uncle |
Wuhan, Hubei, China |
Wang offered via Telegram to buy CNY 320,000 of USDT from Mr. Deng, who sent his uncle to the meeting; Wang had the uncle driven to another district, held a knife to his throat and forced him to announce by voice message that the cash had arrived, prompting the nephew to remotely transfer 43,785 USDT (CNY 299,489.4). Wang was arrested the next evening after converting 2,500 USDT; on appeal the court revised his conviction. (original link) |
| Late January 2023 |
Karl Johnson |
Salford, England |
2 men knock on door, threaten victim with knife, leave after he sends cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| February 2023 |
Saudi Royal |
Melbourne, Australia |
TikTok influencer lures Saudi royal to her home where he was imprisoned until he handed over $40K in BTC. (original link) |
| February 2023 |
Unidentified lawyer |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
A lawyer invited a Colombian woman he had met via a dating app to his home; she drugged him with Rohypnol and then used his phone to empty his accounts of 23,000 USD in cryptocurrency and 3,200 BRL from his bank account. The Colombian network, active in Rio and São Paulo, was the target of the MPRJ's Operação Medellín with TRM Forensics: four Colombians were arrested on December 8, 2023 and about 6,000 USDT were recovered, Angie Paola Parra Hoyos was arrested on February 28, 2025 in Colombia and then extradited, and six Colombians were indicted in the second phase in April 2025. (original link) |
| February 1 2023 |
Ankur Surana |
Guwahati, Assam, India |
Ankur Surana, 30, was abducted in Guwahati by one of his kidnappers, whom he knew, while driving to a resort party, and held captive; his sister received demands via a QR-code link for 104 bitcoins (about 20 crore rupees), a method never before seen in India. Under police pressure he was released injured in the early hours of February 4; five resort employees were arrested and three accomplices remained at large. (original link) |
| February 25 2023 |
Yuri Boytsov |
Bali, Indonesia |
4 men invade crypto blogger's home, beat him until he transfers $284,000 in BTC. (original link) |
| February 27 2023 |
German man |
Medellin, Colombia |
20 year old Venezuelan woman drugs and robs man of 1 BTC. (original link) |
| March 2023 |
Cao & employees |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Wu, 32, presenting himself as head of a Bamboo Union branch, broke into a Taipei crypto analysis company accusing manager Cao of letting a subordinate embezzle NT$12 million of gang funds; Cao and three employees were held captive for four and a half days under threat of being 'buried alive in the mountains' until they transferred 400,000 USDT (~NT$12 million) and signed a NT$15 million promissory note. Taipei police arrested five gang members in late March 2023, seizing machetes, axes, batons and masks. (original link) |
| March 9 2023 |
Peter Vuong |
Sydney, Australia |
Gang kidnaps boyfriend of crypto trader's relative, demands $5M ransom while torturing him for 6 days. (original link) |
| March 10 2023 |
62 y/o Chinese businessman & interpreter |
Bangkok, Thailand |
Victims were abducted in Bangkok by five men dressed as police officers — actually immigration bureau personnel — and driven around for over four hours under threat of prosecution, with 60,000 USDT demanded; the victim's son negotiated and paid 30,000 USDT before they were released. Three immigration officers were arrested, one remains at large, and dismissal proceedings were initiated. (original link) |
| March 20 2023 |
Virendra Malik |
Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India |
Couple stages robbery to steal bitcoin from their friend, but he doesn't comply. (original link) |
| March 29 2023 |
48 y/o woman |
Seoul, South Korea |
4 men kidnap woman, steal crypto, murder her. (original link) |
| April 2023 |
Unidentified Woman |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Driver & 3 friends lured an investor into a fake deal, robbed, electrocuted, stripped naked, and took blackmail videos. (original link) |
| April 2023 |
Unidentified man |
Turin, Italy |
Two men aged 43 and 47 showed up at a Turin financial intermediary's business demanding the return of a USB drive they claimed held one million euros in bitcoins, though the victim had no connection to it, issuing death threats and against his family and business, with a fire breaking out at the premises. After his complaint the Rivoli carabinieri placed them under house arrest on June 22 2023 by order of the Turin court for aggravated attempted extortion. (original link) |
| April 2023 |
Three brothers |
Milan, Italy |
Three young brothers were assaulted and held captive in a Milan bed and breakfast by three Sardinian men claiming to have been defrauded by them, with the kidnappers demanding EUR 120,000 in cryptocurrency plus the return of valuable watches. Geolocation of the ransom calls let the carabinieri free the victims and arrest the perpetrators, who were definitively sentenced to 9 years and 1 day. (original link) |
| April 2023 |
Three Dominican tourists |
Medellin, Colombia |
Two women contacted three Dominican tourists via dating apps and lured them to an El Poblado nightclub in Medellín, administering scopolamine; the victims were taken to a rented apartment where their passwords were extracted and accounts emptied over 16 hours — 21 purchases totaling 11 million pesos plus about 43 million pesos in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The two women were captured, accepted the charges, and the Fiscalía created a judicial wallet to return the frozen crypto. (original link) |
| April 2023 |
Several men |
Birmingham, England |
For ten months a gang of five men used fake Grindr profiles to lure LGBT+ men to meetings in Birmingham and Derby, assaulting them, threatening them with knives and using their phones to empty their accounts, for total damages around GBP 100,000; one victim was drugged and forced to unlock his phone, his wallets emptied through more than 80 transactions. On January 13 2025 Birmingham Crown Court sentenced the five men to prison terms of up to 17 years and 3 months. (original link) |
| April 12 2023 |
76 y/o couple |
Durham, North Carolina, United States |
2 men posing as construction workers invade home, force transfer of $250K in crypto. (original link) |
| April 15 2023 |
Ronaldo Esteban Peralta Bogado |
Presidente Franco, Alto Parana, Paraguay |
Between 8 and 10 armed men broke into the Arimar mining farm at Km 11 Monday in Presidente Franco around 2 a.m. and overpowered the 18-year-old guard, spending about two hours dismantling and loading 492 ASIC miners, plus a truck, laptops, phones, 100,000 pesos and the surveillance DVR. No arrests had been reported at publication. (original link) |
| April 17 2023 |
C |
Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea |
Two men broke into the Anyang home of a man running a crypto trading 'leading room,' taped and held him captive, demanding the return of invested funds — the main suspect claiming to have lost KRW 5 billion on his advice — and forcing him to ingest zolpidem; the safe was not opened and nothing was taken. The victim alerted a neighbor, police intervened, and the Anyang court issued detention warrants for aggravated robbery and unlawful confinement. |
| May 2023 |
Two couriers for a crypto company |
Anapa, Russia |
A Muscovite and two accomplices posed as police officers to stage fake arrests: they abducted and held captive a courier for a cryptocurrency company in Anapa, then a second one in Moscow whose car they also stole, beating them, threatening to kill them and confronting them with false accusations of fraud and terrorism financing. They demanded RUB 5 million per courier from their families and RUB 25 million from the company's director to 'avoid prosecution.' Sentenced by the Anapa court to 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony and a RUB 140,000 fine (kidnapping, extortion of a very large amount, robbery, vehicle theft), the organizer had his sentence upheld on cassation appeal on August 11, 2026; the cases of the two accomplices were separated. (original link) |
| May 3 2023 |
Unidentified man |
Benalmádena, Spain |
3 men kidnap crypto businessman, demand €1 million ransom. He was rescued by police. (original link) |
| May 26 2023 |
Smoke Shop |
Houston, Texas, United States |
7 men arrested after ramming store with stolen truck in failed attempt to steal Bitcoin ATM. (original link) |
| June 2023 |
Crypto Entrepreneur |
Tel Aviv, Israel |
Crypto entrepreneur robbed at gunpoint in his home in Tel Aviv (original link) |
| June 2023 |
Unidentified family |
L'Ile-Bizard, Montreal, Canada |
Three masked men overpowered a man leaving his home in L'Ile-Bizard and forced him at knifepoint to transfer his bitcoins via a Binance QR code — which he made fail — while his partner was bound at gunpoint and their infant torn from her arms; the man alerted 911 via his smartwatch and both victims eventually escaped. Joe-Marshall Altidort, 22, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on February 10 2026 to 10 years in a penitentiary; his accomplices were never arrested. (original link) |
| June 5 2023 |
Unidentified man |
Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
Kuo Che-an set up an ambush on Instagram with three accomplices, posing as a buyer of 20,000 USDT and luring the seller to a Kaohsiung apartment; there he beat the victim with a baseball bat while others pepper-sprayed him and produced a knife, forcing him to hand over wallet credentials from which 20,000 USDT were transferred, 18,000 resold and split. The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced the perpetrators on March 31 2026 to terms up to 8 years for armed robbery by a group of three or more, with a suspended sentence for the accomplice who compensated the victim. (original link) |
| June 12 2023 |
Kayla Pawa |
Birkenhead, Auckland, New Zealand |
Kayla Pawa, 28, was abducted from her bedroom by armed intruders linked to the Nomads gang and held across two Auckland locations for 24 days, during which she was tied up, beaten with a bat and hammer, burned with a blowtorch, threatened with finger amputation and forced to dig her own grave — all to break her will into revealing a crypto password she insisted she did not know. She escaped from a vehicle on July 6 2023 and flagged down an ambulance. (original link) |
| June 22 2023 |
Mr. Liu |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Two men posing as crypto buyers lured trader Liu to a Neihu meeting in Taipei, where Lin overpowered him with a machete, blindfolded and zip-tied him while Yang used his phone to impersonate him: 84 then 21,000 USDT were transferred plus TWD 10,000 cash taken, before the pair fled to split the loot at a KTV. The Shilin District Court sentenced them on May 21 2025 to 7 years and 8 months for aggravated robbery. |
| July 2023 |
Crypto entreprenuer |
Rudny, Yekaterinburg, Russia |
A four-man gang from Altai Krai — tipped off by a police economic-security head who sold them Interior Ministry data for RUB 300,000 — kidnapped a cryptocurrency entrepreneur in Rudny after weeks of surveillance, beating him and threatening him with firearms until he surrendered wallet logins; over RUB 5.6–5.8 million in crypto were transferred and resold. Tried by jury, the defendants received 7 to 14 years in a strict-regime colony plus fines in November 2025, including 10 years for the former officer. (original link) |
| July 5 2023 |
Two Turkish nationals |
Medellin, Colombia |
Two Turkish nationals contacted through a dating app were taken to a Medellín apartment and made to drink a substance leaving them unconscious for two days; the attackers then transferred more than 165 million pesos in crypto plus 19 million in goods. The network 'Los Criptocitas,' using scopolamine through fake sexual services offered to foreigners, saw three members arrested in Dosquebradas with COP 150,560,000 and eight phones seized. (original link) |
| July 5 2023 |
Yeh Chia-jung |
Tainan, Taiwan |
A group formed on Telegram by an organizer nicknamed 'James' and led by Chung Jui-chien (鍾睿謙) bought a car without registration papers and three air pistols the same day, then lured Yeh Chia-jung into a fake exchange of USDT 60,000 for TWD 1,900,000 in front of the Carrefour on Zhongshan Road in Rende, Tainan, on July 5, 2023 at 10:37 p.m. Once Yeh got into the back of the vehicle, two men held him at gunpoint, struck his left cheek with the butt of an air rifle, and forced him to hand over his phone passcode, which they used to send his associate a fake cash receipt confirmation, triggering the transfer of the USDT 60,000 to a designated wallet; Yeh was released at an intersection in Rende and his iPhone was thrown out of the window during the getaway. |
| July 7 2023 |
Chien Huan-ju |
New Taipei, Taiwan |
A Telegram organizer nicknamed 'Doctor Strange' recruited two accomplices for a fake purchase of 95,000 USDT (~TWD 3,035,250) in Sanchong; the seller was locked in the car, choked and immobilized, and her iPhone containing the wallet torn away. She refused to give the passcode and escaped with wounds to wrist and knee; the phone was resold the next day for TWD 8,500. |
| July 16 2023 |
Unknown Couple |
Queens, New York, United States |
Fake FBI agents in Porsche tase and tie up couple, steal Mercedes, $40K in cash, crypto (original link) |
| July 16 2023 |
Unidentified man |
Birmingham, England |
The victim was abducted on Broad Street in Birmingham, forced into a van, force-fed cannabis and nitrous oxide, then held for over twelve hours while attackers used his stolen phone's biometrics to steal GBP 2,458 from accounts and nearly GBP 18,000 in crypto. The incident was part of a nine-robbery conspiracy against gay and bisexual men lured via fake Grindr profiles, which drew sentences of 12 years to 17 years 3 months on January 13 2025. |
| July 20 2023 |
56 y/o woman |
Élancourt, France |
A man disguised as a delivery courier and two accomplices forced their way into a woman's home, taping her from feet to shoulders and threatening her with a machete and hammer to extort 10 million euros in crypto from her son, a New York-based crypto entrepreneur; only 30,000 euros were actually paid. She freed herself from the gag and screamed, and a neighbor climbed in through a window and freed her. |
| July 27 2023 |
Kevin Butler |
East Meadow, New York State, United States |
Remy Ra St Felix, head of the home invasion team of the Florida-based Seemungal network, traveled from Florida to Long Island, New York, to break into the home of a family of five in East Meadow: he had identified his target, Kevin Butler, a cryptocurrency holder, had his address, photos of his house, and his driver's license, was surveilling the home, and was discussing on Telegram with the accomplice 'Neb' a plan to access the victim's Coinbase account by using his child as 'leverage.' He was arrested by law enforcement on the morning of July 27, 2023, alone in his vehicle in the parking lot of a McDonald's in West Hempstead, before carrying out the act: police seized a pistol at his feet, an AR-style rifle, and plastic zip ties in the trunk. On September 11, 2024, he was sentenced to 47 years in prison. (original link) |
| August 6 2023 |
Lin Ting-yu |
Taipei, Taiwan |
USDT trader Hsieh Ming-lun and six accomplices coordinated via Telegram to rob the buyer instead of delivering tokens; during a banknote count at Taipei's Songshan Station two men appeared with knives pressed to the courier's abdomen and the trader's throat, seizing the bag of money and the phone. The buyer had himself set up a scam — the bag held only TWD 370,000 real out of 5,270,000 claimed. |
| August 19 2023 |
Bitcoin ATM |
Rome, Italy |
Criminals rammed a car through the storefront of the Dima shopping center in the Bufalotta district of Rome and made off with an ATM dedicated to buying bitcoin. Officers from the Fidene police station seized CCTV footage to identify the perpetrators; no arrest was reported. (original link) |
| August 24 2023 |
Father of influencer TeufeurS |
Cures, Sarthe, France |
A man posing as an Amazon delivery driver kidnapped the 60-year-old father of Malta-based gaming influencer TeufeurS; the son paid a EUR 1.7 million crypto ransom after receiving a video of his father bound with an automatic weapon strapped to his head. The same criminal network was later linked to the January 2025 kidnapping of a Ledger co-founder. (original link) |
| September 2023 |
Muhammed Boduroglu |
Istanbul, Turkey |
Muhammed Boduroglu, 41, described as a hacker, was lured to a Kocaeli meeting by five individuals who tortured him to extract his crypto wallet password and then beat him to death, breaking his neck, around mid-September 2023. His body was found half-buried in a vacant lot in the Akfirat district of Tuzla and identified by fingerprints; five suspects were later arrested. |
| September 3 2023 |
Italian man |
Phuket, Thailand |
Russian MMA fighter & twin brother rob man of watches, seek Ledger wallet. (original link) |
| October 2023 |
Karl Johnson |
Cardishead, England |
Victim dragged into a flat, tied up, assaulted, locked in a cupboard all night until they received cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| October 2023 |
Karl Johnson |
Salford, England |
Days after previous attack, victim was kidnapped, had bag placed over head, released after sending cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| October 2023 |
24 y/o man |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Four friends aged 21 to 24 who learned the victim held cryptocurrency forced their way into his Kyiv home, beat him and forced him at knifepoint to transfer about USD 28,000, also taking papers, USD 1,400 cash and bank cards before locking him in the apartment. The four were arrested in October 2023 and sent to court in May 2024 for robbery and unlawful confinement, facing up to 15 years. (original link) |
| October 3 2023 |
Unidentified couple |
Södertälje, Sweden |
4 masked robbers invaded home, tied up victims. (original link) |
| October 26 2023 |
Matías Oviedo |
Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina |
At least five armed individuals entered influencer Matías Oviedo's home-studio in Paraná in the early hours of October 26 2023, tied him and two companions up and forced him at gunpoint to transfer about USD 15,000 in crypto from his Binance account. Police traced the funds and arrested four young men aged 27–28 on December 5 2023. |
| October 30 2023 |
Crypto Exchange |
Tbilisi, Georgia |
6 men rob exchange office, take $900K USD in crypto. (original link) |
| November 6 2023 |
Middle-aged couple |
Rönninge, Sweden |
Couple tied up, beaten, and threatened with their own kitchen knives. (original link) |
| November 8 2023 |
Marcio Rodrigues da Silva |
Zurich, Switzerland |
A Brazilian entrepreneur investing since 2018 through purported Swiss contacts was summoned to Zurich for a 'personal identification' before withdrawing gains; at the airport his luggage vanished via a boarding-pass swap in Barcelona, and after fingerprints and passport were taken he was bundled into a van and driven to France, held twelve days at gunpoint while his captors sought his phone with 'millions' in access. He overpowered the last guard on the twelfth day and escaped, reaching Barcelona. |
| November 10 2023 |
Binance Client |
Montenegro |
Executives lured into fake business trip, kidnapped, forced to empty wallets of $12M USDT. (original link) |
| November 10 2023 |
21 y/o man |
Portland, Oregon, United States |
4 men fly from FL to OR, kidnap target from apartment, torture him until he revealed seed phrase. (original link) |
| November 18 2023 |
33 y/o man |
Punggol, Singapore |
A man arranging a Telegram exchange of SGD 81,060 in cash for crypto was robbed by a 16-year-old recruited on Telegram, who grabbed the money and fled, briefly brandishing a kitchen knife before dropping it; bystanders helped restrain him until police arrived. The full amount was recovered. |
| November 30 2023 |
Karl Johnson |
Salford, England |
Victim was kidnapped from a friend's house, had bag placed over head, rescued by police after anonymous tip sent. (original link) |
| December 7 2023 |
Zhang Hao & Lu Hsin-chen |
Luzhou, New Taipei, Taiwan |
Recruited that same morning on Telegram by two strangers ("小阿仁" and "XUNW"), Lin Tien-chen (林天辰) posed as a cryptocurrency seller and arranged to meet two buyers at a Louisa cafe Armed with pepper spray and a folding knife, he sprayed their faces and then grabbed the TWD 1.7 million in cash they had brought, before fleeing; chased by the victims, he threw the money by the roadside and hid in a bedding store, where police arrested him. |
| December 22 2023 |
Unidentified Couple |
Saint-Coulomb, Ille-et-Vilaine, France |
Two gloved, masked armed individuals broke into a Saint-Coulomb couple's home as their 2-year-old slept upstairs, demanding "EUR 400,000" or "a cryptocurrency USB key"; the father was zip-tied, beaten and cut with a knife, with threats to rape his partner and throw the child out the window. He seized a shotgun and drove them off, though they returned to remove traces and take two small gold bars and a headset. |
| December 25 2023 |
23 y/o miner |
Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia |
Miner kidnapped from home, ransomed, rescued by police. |
| December 25 2023 |
4 mining employees |
Hernandarias, Alto Paraná, Paraguay |
Around twelve armed men arriving in a medium-sized truck broke into a cryptocurrency mining warehouse in the San Francisco neighborhood of Hernandarias, a border town near Ciudad del Este, and overpowered the four employees present. They made off with approximately 430 mining machines, as well as three rifles belonging to the site's security guards. (original link) |
| 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Hebei, China |
An OTC USDT trader meeting familiar buyers at a hotel had his 400,000 USDT transferred and cash seized; ten people identified through conversations, withdrawal records and CCTV were convicted of robbery with violence and sentenced to 8 to over 10 years, with USDT 53,262 seized restored. Neither the date nor jurisdiction was published. |
| 2024 |
Two Brothers |
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine |
In summer 2024 a six-man organized group surveilled a crypto operator's bank withdrawals, then beat him and his brother — heads enclosed in plastic bags — and took them to a suburban house demanding a fabricated UAH 600,000 debt; when unpaid, they raided a partner's home for over UAH 157,000 in cash, jewelry and equipment before abandoning the brothers. Six members were arrested by KORD on September 25 2024. |
| January 2024 |
Tega Abikure |
Abuja, Nigeria |
Tega Abikure, founder of crypto company Kumo Africa, was abducted mid-Abuja in January 2024 and recounted being beaten, tortured and humiliated during captivity, without detailing his release. Recorded fragments suggest the kidnapping was linked to a failed OTC bitcoin transaction eight months earlier in the United States; rivals allegedly coveted his large crypto portfolio. (original link) |
| January 3 2024 |
29 y/o man |
Anavyssos, Attica, Greece |
A programmer parked outside a friend's home in Anavyssos was restrained by men posing as police officers, taken in his own car, and locked in another vehicle's trunk in a wooded area, where violence and threats extracted his phones, cards and PINs and forced fingerprint-unlock of his crypto app for EUR 3,000 in transfers. Bound, handcuffed and sprayed with bleach, he freed himself and alerted police; a 25-year-old Moldovan was arrested on the spot. (original link) |
| January 8 2024 |
17 y/o man |
Gargas, France |
A high school student was abducted on his way to school in Gargas (Vaucluse) by individuals who were actually looking for another young man from the town, known to them only by his online pseudonym, in order to extort a cryptocurrency security key giving access to several tens of thousands of euros. Realizing their mistake, the kidnappers released the teenager, who filed a complaint with the Apt gendarmerie. |
| January 16 2024 |
42 y/o man |
Cluj, Romania |
Restaurant owner kidnapped, doused in diesel, force fed alcohol, has finger cut off, until he transferred $200K USD in crypto. (original link) |
| January 18 2024 |
Roberto Felipe Mejía Caicedo |
Envigado, Antioquia, Colombia |
Roberto Felipe Mejía Caicedo, 43, a Cali influencer, was lured to a shopping center on the Medellín–Envigado border under the pretext of a crypto deal and abducted to a country house, held about 36 hours by members of 'La Oficina' who demanded 3,000 million pesos and forced him to transfer USD 184,000 in crypto before he alerted his bodyguard by WhatsApp. CTI and army Gaula units located the house, freed him unharmed and arrested five kidnappers on the spot. |
| January 19 2024 |
The Dubliner Irish Pub |
Bucharest, Romania |
At around 3:30 a.m., two men stole a bitcoin ATM terminal from a pub. According to the capital's police, they had rented a vehicle abroad, bought tools specifically for breaking into and carrying off the ATM, and had scouted the location beforehand, then destroyed a surveillance camera during the operation; the damage is estimated at RON 87,500, including over RON 85,000 in cash contained in the machine. (original link) |
| January 28 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Leipzig, Germany |
Three men recruited by a former business partner who knew the victim held at least a five-figure crypto sum waited in his Leipzig stairwell; one, armed with a machete, forced the door, struck him and held the blade to his throat demanding his laptop and e-wallet password, while an accomplice pinned his partner to the wall. The victim resisted and shouted, suffering deep hand cuts from a glass table; the attackers fled without taking anything. |
| January 31 2024 |
Belarusian couple |
Phuket, Thailand |
5 Russians arrested in crypto abduction case (~USD 801,200) (original link) |
| February 2024 |
Unidentified |
Winnsboro, Texas, United States |
"GothFerrari" broke into victim's home and stole hardware wallet with ~100 BTC ($5M+); sentenced to 78 months under RICO conspiracy as part of $250M crypto theft ring. (original link) |
| February 18 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Têche, France |
During the night of 18 to 19 February 2024 in Têche (Isère), a driver who had just sold a quad bike for cash was stopped on the road by fake police officers driving a vehicle fitted with a flashing light and wearing jackets marked "Police". Believing it was a traffic stop, he let them approach; the criminals handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and held him for about four hours, until around 3 a.m., forcing him to transfer EUR 75,000 in cryptocurrency before releasing him. |
| February 26 2024 |
Abu Bakkar Siddique |
Chattogram, Bangladesh |
About USD 272,000 from Binance (about BDT 3 to 3.1 crore) + BDT 10 lakh — On the night of 26 February 2024, a Detective Branch team (North-South zone) of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police led by Inspector Ruhul Amin detained freelancer Abu Bakkar Siddique and a friend in the Bayezid area, seized their phones, threatened them with a false cybercrime and money-laundering case, then took them to the DB office in Mansurabad. In custody, the officers forcibly unlocked his phone with his fingerprint, logged into his Binance account and transferred about USD 272,000 to another account, and took BDT 10 lakh from his bank account. (original link) |
| February 29 2024 |
Two victims |
Wellington, New Zealand |
In two Wellington supermarket car park robberies of P2P crypto traders (February 29 and March 5 2024), the attacker struck one victim repeatedly in the neck and pointed a handgun-like object at the second's head, taking about NZD 7,000 per victim (approx. NZD 14,000 total). Hiram Kanona St John Tufuga pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced on July 4 2025 to three years ten months, with NZD 2,000 reparations per victim. (original link) |
| March 2024 |
Uber Riders |
Scottsdale, Arizona, United States |
Fake Uber driver stole $200K+ in crypto from customers' Coinbase accounts by taking their phones. (original link) |
| March 7 2024 |
Mr. Kwong |
Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
Mr. Kwong, 40, had withdrawn HKD 1,000,000 in cash on behalf of his employer to buy discounted USDT in a Hung Hom industrial building; one man greeted him, then four others burst in brandishing meat cleavers, the first suspect counted and took the entire sum, and the five masked men fled. The Kowloon City district crime squad arrested the unit's 56-year-old tenant that same day for robbery. |
| March 10 2024 |
Young Couple |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Gang of 4 kidnaps couple and robs them of $25,000 in cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| March 12 2024 |
Two women |
Rijswijk, Netherlands |
Two masked men who arranged a meeting through kinky.nl broke into a Rijswijk home, threatened the two women residents with firearms, taped and held them captive for hours; they took EUR 7,500 cash, crypto, and cards, forced facial-recognition transfer of EUR 26,001 to a Bitvavo account, and withdrew EUR 10,000 from ATMs (total approx. EUR 43,501). A man later received six years in prison for the violent crypto robbery. |
| March 13 2024 |
Sunoco gas station |
Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
Three men robbed a Birmingham, Alabama Sunoco gas station around 2:40 a.m., taking a Bitcoin ATM and firing shots at a man, who was uninjured. Police released suspect images and appealed for witnesses; no arrests had been announced by then. |
| March 15 2024 |
___ Yevgini |
Samui Island, Thailand |
Gang of 6 Russians robs Russian man and wife at coffee shop for 1.8 million baht in BTC. |
| March 21 2024 |
Man in his forties |
Seoul, South Korea |
KRW 100,000,000 — On March 21, 2024, at around 0:45 a.m., about ten men in their twenties, friends or classmates who had split up roles (luring, theft, getaway, blocking pursuers), arranged via Telegram to meet a man in his forties in Yeoksam-dong to sell him Tether below market price. While pretending to transfer the coins from a phone and then to count the money, they restrained the victim, beat him, and fled with a paper bag containing 100 million won; they in fact held no cryptocurrency at all and had obtained the victim's information via Telegram. |
| March 22 2024 |
Li Kuo-hsiang |
Taichung, Xitun District, Taiwan |
Tsai Chia-yu set up a fake sale to buyer Li Kuo-hsiang of TWD 6,420,000 in crypto at a Taichung studio with two accomplices and pepper spray; on the signal an accomplice overturned the table to grab the cash bags, the victims resisted and the money spilled, and Li was injured in the struggle. Li and a friend pinned one attacker until police arrived; Tsai fled but was arrested hours later, along with the driver. |
| April 2024 |
An adult man |
Tehran, Iran |
A man from out of town was abducted outside a Tehran hospital by three young men who beat him and forced him into a car, then called his wife threatening death and demanded IRR 500 billion in Tether over an unpaid IRR 50 billion USDT debt. Sensing police were near, they released the hostage unharmed without receiving anything and fled. |
| April 2024 |
40 y/o man |
New York, United States |
A man went to a lower Manhattan hotel for a cash-for-crypto exchange and was lured to a room where two accomplices waited; the three beat him, taped his wrists, ankles and mouth, and fled with USD 20,000 in cash. The NYPD released surveillance footage of the three suspects, aged 18 to 22. (original link) |
| April 1 2024 |
Liao |
Taichung, Dali District, Taiwan |
A heavily indebted USDT trader, Lin, paid a friend TWD 100,000 to rob his regular client Liao during a fake sale of TWD 3 million in USDT in Dali (Taichung); once Liao boarded with TWD 3,303,000 in cash, Chen strangled him from the back seat with kraft paper simulating a weapon and took the bag. Both were arrested within nine hours, the money returned, and each sentenced to 3 years 6 months for aggravated robbery. |
| April 2 2024 |
36 y/o man |
Limassol, Cyprus |
A 36-year-old Russian national meeting a stranger in Limassol to exchange EUR 50,000 for crypto was grabbed by the throat in his car while two other foreign nationals seized the bag of cash, all three fleeing. Limassol CID opened an investigation and a judicial arrest warrant was issued against a 35-year-old, the two accomplices remaining unidentified. |
| April 2 2024 |
Mr. Lau |
Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
A 19-year-old crypto trader was summoned to a Hung Hom hotel room he shared and held captive and beaten by six men and two women demanding HKD 180,000 in trading profits, struck with a softball bat before alerting relatives by phone. Police arrested three men including his roommate and a 17-year-old for unlawful confinement, extortion and causing bodily harm; five other participants fled. |
| April 10 2024 |
Mr. Chen |
Chiayi, West District, Taiwan |
In Chiayi, a gang of eight staged a fake USDT sale: trader Mr. Chen handed TWD 2.36 million to Lou for counting when a minor accomplice pepper-sprayed him and the driver sped off with fake plates; Chen clung to the windshield until Lou ordered acceleration and swerving, throwing him to his death. In February 2025 the Chiayi court sentenced Lou to 13 years and Qiu to 11 years 2 months for robbery causing death, and six accomplices to 7 months to 3 years; the money had been returned to the family. (original link) |
| April 11 2024 |
Man in his thirties |
Seoul, South Korea |
In a Gangnam officetel, a man lured a buyer promising below-market USDT then struck him repeatedly on the head with a blunt object and fled with the KRW 500 million cash brought for the deal. Arrested the next day and charged with attempted murder in aggravated robbery, with two getaway accomplices also arrested; most of the cash was recovered, and Gangnam police linked the case to a series of at least four OTC USDT robberies. |
| April 17 2024 |
Crypto Entrepreneur |
Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland |
Robert Barr, 28, an inmate at Edinburgh Prison, organized attacks on cryptocurrency holders from his cell: after a January 2024 burglary of a Bonnyrigg crypto start-up co-founder's home netted a Ledger wallet but no PIN, two masked men came on April 17 2024 to seize the crypto assets but gave up when faced with the video doorbell. No crypto was obtained; Barr's estimated target holdings exceeded GBP 2 million. (original link) |
| April 18 2024 |
11 Traders |
Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore |
4 men rob suspected Chinese crypto gambling ring of $3M USD. |
| April 22 2024 |
Mining Farm |
Minga Guazú, Alto Paraná, Paraguay |
A gang of about fifteen attacked a Minga Guazú mining farm and made off with 362 bitcoin mining machines; police arrested a suspected fence reselling miners and seized 15 more machines in a search, recovering 21 total, while the robbers remained at large. |
| April 27 2024 |
Unidentified |
Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada |
Violent home invasion, suspect arrested at airport and eventually sentenced to 7 years. (original link) |
| May 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Four residents of Kyiv and the Kyiv and Cherkasy oblasts, posing as law enforcement officers, targeted a 20-year-old online business founder after estimating his income, falsely accused him of collaborating with Russia, and threatened him with lengthy detention for high treason, offering to "settle the matter" for USD 250,000. The victim transferred 250,000 USDT (over UAH 10 million), which the extortionists immediately converted to cash; the four suspects were identified and then arrested during simultaneous searches, and were notified of suspicion under Article 189, Part 4 of the Criminal Code (extortion, up to 12 years). |
| May 5 2024 |
Quentin Cepeljac |
London, England |
Belgian barber Quentin Cepeljac bragged about being a successful crypto dealer to impress a woman, who invited him to her luxury flat — a trap where he was attacked with a wrench; he turned out to hold only £6.71 in crypto. The attackers were quickly caught because they had rented an Airbnb for the trap. |
| May 7 2024 |
Mrs. Chu |
Sheung Shui, New Territories, Hong Kong |
Four men blocked Mrs. Chu's car in Sheung Shui, forcibly taking her while beating her husband with fists and a stun gun, then ordered her to settle a HKD 15 million debt linked to her crypto investments before releasing her near Ta Kwu Ling; she went straight to police. Nothing was handed over; both spouses were hospitalized and two men, father and son, were arrested the next day for assault and unlawful confinement. |
| May 9 2024 |
Sofian F |
Pibrac, France |
Six masked armed men blocked Sofian F., described as a drug trafficker, and a friend selling a car in Pibrac, abducting them; the friend was released hours later but Sofian was held two days in Toulouse-suburb hideouts, beaten and tortured into surrendering about EUR 60,000 in bitcoin, EUR 100,000 cash, a Rolex and other items (~EUR 200,000 total). The alleged organizer reportedly targeted him over a EUR 15,000 drug debt because of his reputation for wealth. |
| May 13 2024 |
Shepherd & Sekayi Sikhosana |
Honeydew, South Africa |
Eight men posing as Interpol agents abducted crypto-recovery company operator Shepherd Sikhosana from his Honeydew office and his wife from their Pretoria home, illegally crossing with them into Zimbabwe where they were held captive with phones confiscated; prosecutors say the goal was seizing USD 13.9 million in crypto the company had recovered for the wife. Harare police freed the couple on May 19 after relatives passed their location; Moses Nhachi Chademana was charged and refused bail. (original link) |
| June 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Berlin, Germany |
Nukri M., a 45-year-old Ukrainian lawyer, and accomplices allegedly planned from June 2024 to abduct a Berlin-Mitte businessman reputed to hold EUR 2 million in crypto, drag him into a vehicle and take him to a Polish apartment to force transfers, believing he would not report it. An undercover agent had infiltrated the group and the abduction never took place; Nukri M. was wanted since July 2024. (original link) |
| June 4 2024 |
Naman Jain & Ranbeer Rajput |
New Delhi, India |
Naman Jain, lured to buy USDT in Model Town (New Delhi), was attacked in his car by three men on a motorcycle who snatched his bag of INR 3.5 lakh at gunpoint; he held on and was pistol-whipped and stabbed twice in the chest, requiring surgery, but the attackers fled without the money. The investigation identified six accused and established that Tarandeep Singh orchestrated this type of robbery under cover of crypto transactions. |
| June 6 2024 |
46 y/o doctor |
São Paulo, Brazil |
A doctor from Campinas meeting a woman from a dating app in São Paulo was overpowered, taken into another vehicle, and the kidnappers used his phone to steal about USD 100,000 in crypto along with Pix transfers. He escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle; Military Police tracked the phone and arrested three suspects. (original link) |
| June 15 2024 |
21 y/o man |
Saarbrücken, Germany |
Victim was pulled into a dark vehicle, beaten and threatened with death until he surrendered phone and crypto codes, his Solana (~EUR 150,000) transferred, then thrown out in an industrial area. Five men were arrested in October 2024; four stood trial from April 1 2025 for extortionate kidnapping before the Saarbrücken juvenile chamber. |
| June 17 2024 |
Ramesh Nair |
London, England |
3 men armed with machetes invade home, force owner to transfer 1,000+ ETH. |
| June 20 2024 |
Mr. Xia and Mr. Sun |
Manila, Philippines |
Two Chinese medical-equipment executives lured to Manila by a fake distributor and shell company were abducted at the airport on June 20 2024 and mistreated, with families receiving death threats; kidnappers demanded 25 million yuan then accepted 3 million paid in USDT on June 24. Both hostages were killed despite payment, and Philippine, Chinese and American police investigated. (original link) |
| June 21 2024 |
Kevin Mirshahi |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
A cryptocurrency influencer beaten to death in a torture room. (original link) |
| June 22 2024 |
Liu Po-cheng |
Taipei, Taiwan |
USDT trader Liu Po-cheng boarded a car near Taipei's Neihu tech park for a supposed sale when Lin Cheng-hsiang pointed a switchblade, blindfolded and tied him, the driver brandishing a second blade; impersonating him on his phone they had a contact transfer 21,084 USDT (~TWD 700,000) plus TWD 10,000 cash before dumping him in Shulin. Arrested two days later, Lin and intermediary Chang were sentenced to about 7.5 years each for aggravated robbery with a weapon, upheld on appeal. |
| June 23 2024 |
Isidro Bogado Ozuna |
Minga Guazú, Alto Paraná, Paraguay |
Six to seven perpetrators held Minga Guazú mine site manager Isidro Bogado Ozuna at gunpoint, assuring him they only wanted equipment, then made off with 150 mining machines; the young man fled into woods and reported an hour later, later declining to file a complaint or identify the owners as the site was suspected of illegal power draws. |
| July 2024 |
Unidentified |
New Mexico, United States |
As part of the DOJ network prosecuted for ~USD 263 million in crypto thefts, Marlon Ferro ('GothFerrari') broke into a New Mexico victim's home in July 2024 to steal a hardware wallet, coordinated in real time with Malone Lam, who allegedly tracked the victim via iCloud. The organization ran a cell dedicated to burglaries of surveilled crypto holders; Ferro was sentenced to 78 months in the RICO case. |
| July 3 2024 |
3 y/o boy |
Tseung Kwan, Hong Kong |
2 women abduct toddler from mall, demand $660,000 USDT ransom. (original link) |
| July 10 2024 |
Unidentified Man |
Angers, France |
2 men invade home, threaten victim with knife & crowbar, demand 10,000 EUR. (original link) |
| July 10 2024 |
Unidentified |
Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain |
Five Eastern European men posing as police officers beat two people believed to hold crypto in a Majadahonda shopping center parking lot and forced them toward a van, part of a crypto-linked extortion plot; already under surveillance, they were caught in the act by the Guardia Civil, who freed the victims and seized imitation firearms, tactical clothing, cable ties and a GPS tracker. The five were placed under judicial order. |
| July 11 2024 |
Chinese National |
Cyberjaya, Malaysia |
18 people kidnap 2 victims, hold them for $1.2M ransom, get in shootout with police. (original link) |
| July 11 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Melbourne, Australia |
Charles Gardiner, believing a former investment adviser had stolen AUD 20,000 from him, threatened him by email, scouted his home and showed up with Travis Thickens who lured him out with a fake towing story; held about two and a half hours and driven around under threats to shoot him or burn his face with a blowtorch, the victim was forced to withdraw AUD 1,000 and transfer AUD 2,000 (of AUD 14,000–19,000 demanded). Alerted via Find My, police intercepted the vehicle and seized a fake pistol; Gardiner received 12 months' prison plus a 15-month CCO, and Thickens 7 months plus a 12-month CCO, for blackmail and theft. |
| July 12 2024 |
British Crypto Trader |
Bangkok, Thailand |
5 people tie up trader, assault, and rob him. (original link) |
| July 22 2024 |
26 y/o Trading Coach |
Bavdhan, India |
Gang of 5 kidnaps trader and robs him at knifepoint of $18,000 in USDT (original link) |
| July 28 2024 |
29 y/o Moroccan man |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
4 men kidnap foreigner, rob, & murder him for 3 BTC. (original link) |
| July 29 2024 |
Tim Heath |
Talinn, Estonia |
Crypto billionaire attacked at rental home by men posing at painters, successfully fights them off and prevents kidnapping. (original link) |
| August 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Minsk, Belarus |
Two men disguised as electricians forced their way into a Minsk IT specialist's flat, threatened him with an imitation Makarov air pistol, handcuffed and tortured him with a stun gun, demanding transfer of 5,750 BTC (~BYN 1 billion); when he refused they tied him up with a 24-hour deadline. Nothing was transferred; one attacker was sentenced on May 13 2025 to 13 years in a reinforced-regime colony plus a fine, while his accomplice fled abroad. (original link) |
| August 2024 |
Shi |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Guo, posing as a broker who claimed he had himself been robbed in a crypto purchase, lured buyer Shi to a Taipei exchange of 200,000 USDT for TWD 6.45 million cash, then he and four accomplices attacked with pepper spray and tape; Shi and his armed friend fought back, wounding two attackers, and kept the money. All seven parties were arrested the same day and referred for prosecution. (original link) |
| August 4 2024 |
Ke Jibao |
Bangkok, Thailand |
Gang of 4 Chinese nationals sneak into gated estate, commit armed home invasion, rob $2M USD of cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| August 7 2024 |
11 Israelis |
Puntarenas, Costa Rica |
8 men, possibly police, overpower security guard, rob 11 tourists of 10+ BTC. (original link) |
| August 15 2024 |
Unidentified |
Verdun, Quebec, Canada |
3 men invade home of crypto entrepreneur, torture him for hours until he transfers $15K. (original link) |
| August 22 2024 |
23 y/o man |
Concesio, Italy |
A man from Lissone who had lost money entrusted to him for bitcoin investment was held captive several hours in a Concesio apartment by eight people, tied up, beaten and strangled with a rope to make him repay; he escaped by climbing down to a lower balcony where occupants called for help. The Carabinieri are investigating, with the victim's account still to be verified. (original link) |
| August 25 2024 |
Radhika & Suchil Chetal |
Danbury, Connecticut, United States |
Parents of $243M heist thieves get carjacked & kidnapped in botched ransom plot. (original link) |
| August 29 2024 |
19 y/o |
Hougang, Singapore |
Man seeks p2p trade of cash for USDT, punched by attackers, successfully escapes. (original link) |
| September 2024 |
A 20 y/o man |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Four men posing as police officers came to an online entrepreneur's home, accused him of treason over alleged cooperation with a Russian, and coerced him into transferring nearly UAH 10 million (~USD 250,000) in crypto, cashed out the same day. The four were notified of suspicion of group extortion under martial law in early September 2024, two held without bail; searches uncovered fake press and law-enforcement ID cards, ammunition and luxury cars. |
| September 13 2024 |
Gabriel Di Noto |
Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina |
Accountant / crypto trader met a woman on Tinder, likely drugged, beaten by several men, forced to transfer funds, then murdered. (original link) |
| October 2024 |
35 y/o man |
Sofia, Bulgaria |
2 men posed as police, kidnapped victim, held a gun at his head for an hour and demanded 14 bitcoin from him. They failed to get any BTC, let the victim go, and were arrested 2 months later. |
| October 16 2024 |
A man living in Richebourg |
Richebourg, Pas-de-Calais, France |
Three men presenting themselves as anti-terrorism police surrounded a Richebourg resident outside his home and entered intending to steal his cryptocurrency; it was the trivial theft of a EUR 50 Transformers toy that exposed the deception and let gendarmes reconstruct the case. The crypto haul was likely nil or marginal. |
| October 16 2024 |
Mr. Sai |
Bang Phli Yai, Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan province, Thailand |
A gang of twelve including nine Thai police officers broke into Mr. Sai's home brandishing a fake court search warrant, accused him of passport fraud, and demanded THB 300 million or 10 million USDT, extorting 170,148 USDT (~THB 6.3 million) over two days after taking him and his wife to a police interrogation room. Seven suspects including six officers were arrested on October 30 2024; two interpreters remain at large. |
| October 24 2024 |
Four cryptocurrency traders aged 17-18 |
Moscow, Russia |
Five individuals posing as police officers broke into a Moscow apartment occupied by four crypto-trading youths aged 17–18, forced them to the floor, searched the flat and left with RUB 1.36 million in cash. Three suspects of comparable age were arrested the next day; the victims suspect a tip-off tied to their crypto activity. |
| October 27 2024 |
3 Family Members and a Nanny |
Chicago, Illinois, United States |
6 men accused of kidnapping family from Chicago townhouse and forcing a transfer of $15 million in cryptocurrency (original link) |
| November 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
3 teens kidnap man who hosted a crypto event. Drove him out to the desert, forced him to transfer $4 million at gunpoint. (original link) |
| November 2024 |
Unidentified woman |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Woman whose office was being renovated told construction worker about being a crypto investor; soon after a gang invaded her home and robbed her of over $50,000 USD in bitcoin along with other valuables. (original link) |
| November 2024 |
A cryptocurrency entrepreneur from Volgograd |
Volgograd, Russia |
Two Volgograd police officers forced a crypto entrepreneur into a Volkswagen Touareg and extorted his wallet passwords, transferring ~USD 283,000 in crypto later resold for ~RUB 22 million, of which RUB 7 million went to the officers. Both were arrested and prosecuted for kidnapping and extortion, which they deny. |
| November 2024 |
Unidentified man |
Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany |
A man was lured by a childhood friend into a staged attack on the B270: two armed men threw the friend in a trunk and forced the victim into the back seat threatening his family, then extorted transfers prosecutors put at EUR 20,000 plus EUR 750,000 in crypto (only EUR 10,300 proven at trial). When a further million was demanded he drove them to his Luxembourg bank and alerted an employee, leading to one arrest; the Zweibrücken court sentenced the three confessed defendants to up to six and a half years. |
| November 6 2024 |
Dean Skurka |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
WonderFi CEO kidnapped during rush hour, held until $1M ransom paid. (original link) |
| November 6 2024 |
Dan Oteleanu |
Dragasani, Valcea, Romania |
Dan Oteleanu, a church cantor grown wealthy from bitcoin investments, was lured into an apartment and thrown into a car by three masked men, then locked in a room, bound and threatened with death while they used Face ID to try to transfer ~EUR 90,000 from his Kraken account — impossible, as the funds were locked in staking. Released after medical care was needed, five suspects were placed in pretrial detention on January 22 2025. (original link) |
| November 6 2024 |
3 Businesses |
Portland, Oregon, United States |
A fake maintenance crew in matching uniforms stole at least three bitcoin ATMs from Oregon businesses (two in Portland, one in Albany) between October and November 2024, unbolted and loaded into a silver Dodge Ram, per surveillance video; about USD 400 in cash was in the deli's machine. No arrests had been announced when the article was published. |
| November 8 2024 |
Forum Moderator |
Victoriaville, Québec, Canada |
Attempted kidnapping by 4 individuals who wanted to torture him to steal forum mod's bitcoins. (original link) |
| November 8 2024 |
Viacheslav Leibov |
Phuket, Thailand |
Tourist robbed by armed gang in friend's hotel room, forced to transfer $250K USDT. Robbers were captured a few days later. (original link) |
| November 17 2024 |
Dmitri Samsonov |
Bali, Indonesia |
Two men on a motorcycle intercepted crypto investor Dmitri Samsonov and his partner near a Bali hotel, beating him unconscious and dragging him toward the jungle while the second attacker forced the woman to fetch money and valuables from their hotel; the haul exceeded 63,000 USDT plus a forced RUB 38,000 transfer, two iPhone 15 Pro Max units and a MacBook Pro (total damage RUB 7,368,782). Four expatriate Russian suspects were placed on a federal wanted list, with no arrest to date. (original link) |
| November 20 2024 |
Gen Z Quant kid |
United States |
13 year old's dog stolen after he rug pulled a token on pump.fun (original link) |
| November 21 2024 |
Four men |
Taichung, Taiwan |
About ten attackers linked to the Bamboo Union abducted four men over a disputed USDT transaction, holding them captive three days across four locations, beating them with belts, bottles, bats and a spiked mace, forcing degrading filmed acts to pressure families for ransom and stealing 15,000 USDT. Police arrested 15 people in March 2025 (including the gang leader, already sentenced to 14 years for forgery, and five minors); the Taichung prosecutor indicted them in May 2025 for criminal organization, aggravated kidnapping for ransom and aggravated sexual assault. |
| November 22 2024 |
Unidentified Man |
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
Sex worker accused of kidnapping, stealing $300K in crypto from man she met at nightclub. (original link) |
| December 2024 |
Several unidentified victims |
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
A Riyadh gang of seven Syrians in an irregular immigration situation lured victims wanting to buy digital currencies and real estate, then held them captive and assaulted them with firearms using rental vehicles with stolen plates, stealing about SAR 1.3 million transferred to backers outside the Kingdom. All seven were arrested and referred to the public prosecutor's office. |
| December 1 2024 |
Wang Shu |
Chengdu, China |
Software engineer lured by X account promising sex, ambushed at hotel by a gang that robbed him of 6 BTC. (original link) |
| December 3 2024 |
Family |
North Richmond Hills, Texas, United States |
3 suspects posing as DoorDash delivery workers invade home, demand wallet. Wife calls 911 and they are quickly caught. (original link) |
| December 3 2024 |
Coinflip ATM |
Melbourne, Australia |
Crypto ATM stolen from shopping center. (original link) |
| December 10 2024 |
Man met at bars in Brickell |
Miami, Florida, United States |
Cassandra Dianne Thompson met her victim at Brickell bars and followed him home, where a drink she prepared left him unconscious; she took USD 10,000 cash and his iPhone, transferring USD 72,860 in DOGE, HBAR, XRP and ADA (with ~USD 230,000 more blocked by Coinbase) before fleeing on a morning flight to New York. Airline, T-Mobile, Coinbase and Venmo records identified her; she was booked into Miami-Dade jail on USD 25,000 bail. |
| December 15 2024 |
Igor Lermakov |
Ungasan, Bali, Indonesia |
A Russian gang of four men ambushed a Ukrainian on the road in Bali; the victim was kidnapped and beaten until he handed over USD 200,000 in crypto from his Binance account. The gang leader was arrested a month later trying to flee to Dubai. |
| December 18 2024 |
Entrepreneur from Dubăsari |
Dubăsari, Moldova |
USD 400,000 in bitcoins (targeted, not obtained) — Three men aged 39 to 43 from Dubăsari and Anenii Noi abducted an entrepreneur from Dubăsari and transported him to Poland to try to make him open his crypto wallet containing USD 400,000 in bitcoins, part of which was to go to the criminal group known as "the Chinese." No bitcoins were obtained: the abductors were arrested on December 18, 2024 at the Leușeni border checkpoint as they were preparing to take the victim to Serbia, and were placed in detention for 30 days for extortion. |
| December 19 2024 |
Benjamin Appiah Boateng |
Laboma Beach, Ghana |
Businessman lured to meeting, handcuffed, beaten, electrocuted for 15 hours before being rescued by police. (original link) |
| December 22 2024 |
São Paulo doctor |
São Paulo, Brazil |
Four criminals waited for a São Paulo doctor at his home, restrained him for five hours and used his facial recognition to open his Binance account, transferring USD 86,000 (~BRL 500,000) — even paying a fee to instantly unlock USD 36,000 in staking — while deliberately leaving BRL 300,000 in his checking account untouched on the mastermind's orders. The victim suspects inside betrayal, as the attackers entered with a non-cloneable gate remote; police are investigating with no suspect identified. (original link) |
| December 24 2024 |
Stéphane Winkel's Wife |
Brussels, Belgium |
Wife of crypto influencer who bragged about wealth was kidnapped by 3 men, police chase led to car crash. (original link) |
| December 24 2024 |
Unidentified Man |
Limassol, Cyprus |
Christmas Eve Limassol heist as man gets away with 100 thousand Euros in cash (original link) |
| December 24 2024 |
22 y/o man |
Bello, Antioquia, Colombia |
Three alleged members of the 'las Brisas' gang held a 22-year-old captive in Bello, holding him responsible for USD 8,000 lost on a crypto platform he had introduced them to, and demanded COP 12,000,000 for his release. The police Gaula unit freed the victim in a house raid and caught the three in the act, including the alleged gang leader; no ransom was paid. (original link) |
| December 25 2024 |
Arsalan Malik |
Karachi, Pakistan |
Crypto trader in Karachi, Pakistan abducted by 5 men in a police van and forced to transfer $340,000 at gunpoint. (original link) |
| December 28 2024 |
17 y/o |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
LAPD officer & man tied to Israeli mob commit home invasion, robs $350,000 in cryptocurrency. Victim tried to show them an empty wallet at first but they were not convinced and threatened to waterboard him. |
| 2025 |
At least three unnamed victims |
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria |
Five serving Rivers State police inspectors ran a kidnapping syndicate from September 2025 to January 2026, intercepting passersby at gunpoint during fake checkpoints and forcing victims to unlock phones and surrender banking and crypto wallet codes; one victim lost NGN 4.5 million from an Opay account and USD 1,742 from his crypto wallet (total NGN 7.3 million), with two others losing NGN 7.3 million and NGN 1.5 million. The five inspectors were dismissed. |
| 2025 |
4 crypto entrepreneurs |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
An armed group of four former police officers — including two National Police colonels — and a civilian accomplice kidnapped at least four crypto-sector entrepreneurs, surveilling targets, traveling in official vehicles while posing as police, holding victims at gunpoint and forcing them to transfer cryptocurrency or sign fictitious debt acknowledgments; about USD 2,200,000 was handed over in total, one Kyiv-abducted victim having to raise USD 5,000,000 partly through borrowing. The Kyiv oblast prosecutor's office closed the investigation and referred the case to court at the end of May 2026 for banditry, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, robbery and extortion. (original link) |
| January 2025 |
Australian businessman |
Chalong, Thailand |
An Australian businessman living in Thailand was robbed twice by a gang of fellow countrymen led by 'Billy': first four men broke into his Phuket villa and forced transfers and cash totaling ~THB 10.5 million, then in late January 2025 a group forced him on Koh Samui to transfer 2.8 BTC, bringing losses to ~THB 21 million. Billy was arrested May 10 2025 at a THB 30 million Pattaya villa where police found two live lions, and an influencer admitted receiving ~900,000 baht for the 'debt recovery'. |
| January 1 2025 |
Influencer's father |
Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France |
Crypto influencer's father was kidnapped on New Year's Eve (original link) |
| January 5 2025 |
Russian Man |
Phuket, Thailand |
Man attacked and tied up in hotel, refuses to give up phone password, is knocked out and has cash stolen. (original link) |
| January 6 2025 |
A tax adviser from Côte-d'Or and his partner |
Norges-la-Ville, France |
After the partner of a tax adviser holding substantial digital assets found a GPS tracker outside their Norges-la-Ville home, the Dijon BRI set up surveillance and arrested a four-man team from the Lyon region on January 6 2025 with a stolen van containing gloves, cable ties, tear gas, petrol cans and nails; they planned to hold the victim captive to force access to his crypto wallet. Nothing was obtained; the operation was allegedly ordered from prison via encrypted messaging. |
| January 13 2025 |
Miami Jeweler |
Miami, Florida, United States |
Gang of 4 men arrested by FBI on their way to rob jeweler of $2M. (original link) |
| January 14 2025 |
Masis Erkol |
Pattaya, Thailand |
Man tied up in condo, forced to transfer $290,000 in cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| January 14 2025 |
19 y/o man |
Gornji Milanovac, Serbia |
A group posing as police officers — with ministry IDs, police lights and plates stolen in Novi Sad — stopped a 19-year-old in a schoolyard in Gornji Milanovac and forced him into a car, stealing under death threats two USB keys holding wallet data worth EUR 400,000, then abandoning him near a gas station. Five men aged 22 to 31 were arrested on January 30 2025 and a 17-year-old targeted; the keys, laptop, vehicles and fake IDs were seized. |
| January 16 2025 |
Taehwa Kim |
Makati, Philippines |
Korean bitcoin trader kidnapped, held hostage for 3 days. No crypto taken. (original link) |
| January 20 2025 |
Chinese National |
Jeju, South Korea |
Gang of 6 people meet OTC trader in luxury hotel, assault and rob him of $580K in cash and crypto. (original link) |
| January 21 2025 |
David Balland & Wife |
Vierzon, France |
Ledger co-founder & wife kidnapped and ransomed, his finger was severed, rescued by GIGN. Ransom was partially paid but later seized via Tether (original link) Ringleader was later arrested. (original link) |
| January 22 2025 |
Herminio Andrés Paredes |
Hernandarias, Alto Paraná, Paraguay |
Three armed masked men broke into the bedroom of Herminio Andrés Paredes and his partner in Hernandarias, tied them with a cable and repeatedly questioned them about crypto mining machines they mistakenly believed were stored in the house, then searched every room without finding any. Finding no equipment, they took Gs 10,000,000 hidden in the wardrobe, three phones and a motorcycle before fleeing. |
| January 24 2025 |
30 y/o man |
Troyes, France |
Crypto miner was lured to a meeting, taken hostage, 20K EUR ransom demanded. Police rescued him & arrested 4 suspects. (original link) |
| January 26 2025 |
38 y/o man |
Amora, Seixal, Portugal |
Four men threatened a 38-year-old with a firearm and beat him in an Amora street, demanding money, phone, passwords and access codes to his bank and cryptoasset accounts before fleeing; cryptoassets and cash were indeed stolen. The Judicial Police arrested two of the four on May 19 2025 for aggravated theft, weapon possession and assault; the other two remain at large. |
| January 30 2025 |
Brazilian Family |
Campo Limpo Paulista, Brazil |
Criminals invade home, hold family hostage, force transfer of $16,000 USD in cryptocurrencies (original link) |
| February 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Okota, Lagos |
Woman conspires with brother & gang to rob her boyfriend of 3 iPhones and $10K USD of bitcoin. (original link) |
| February 2025 |
29 y/o man |
São Paulo, Brazil |
Man lured into OTC trade, ambushed and kidnapped at shopping center. Wife called police and gave them location of his phone; he was rescued. (original link) |
| February 2025 |
Five people present in the apartment: four men and one woman |
Brasov, Romania |
Seven individuals rented the apartment above a Brasov crypto trading meeting place; in February 2025 five in balaclavas and 'Politia'-marked clothing broke in staging a home search, zip-tying the four men, and after a failed conversion attempt used violence and coercion to force transfers of over USD 595,000 to their wallets, also taking watches and currency worth about USD 100,000. Operation Jupiter (June 2025) led to 28 searches in eight counties and three arrests. |
| February 2025 |
The family's younger son |
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine |
USD 500,000 in cryptoassets (targeted, not obtained) — A father and his eldest son, residing in Croatia, commissioned from abroad the kidnapping and torture of the younger son in Ukraine in order to make him hand over a USB key containing USD 500,000 in cryptoassets, recruiting perpetrators in the Zaporizhzhia region. The National Police of Ukraine infiltrated the plot, replaced the perpetrators with its own officers, staged the kidnapping and sent fake photos of the bloodied victim; the instigators were caught out after a second payment and are being prosecuted under Article 189 §4 of the Criminal Code (up to 12 years and confiscation). |
| February 2025 |
Mr. Qiu |
Miaoli, Miaoli County, Taiwan |
Five men contacted Mr. Qiu via Messenger and Telegram claiming they would sell him 20,000 USDT for TWD 600,000 cash; at the meeting Cai pepper-sprayed him while Zheng whisked him away on a scooter wrapped in tape to hide its plates, and the group scattered after regrouping at a temple. Gu, Cai and Zheng were arrested and prosecuted for snatch theft; the two men named Li remain under arrest warrants. (original link) |
| February 2025 |
6 Businesses |
Melbourne, Australia |
From mid-January to mid-February 2025, an organized network using stolen vehicles burgled Melbourne-area businesses, taking six cryptocurrency dispensers and about AUD 50,000 in collectible cards. The February 17 search turned up five firearms, ammunition, about a hundred car keys, a pill press and tools; four men were charged, and police suspect Middle Eastern organized crime syndicates commissioned the thefts. (original link) |
| February 2025 |
35 y/o man |
Damavand, Tehran region, Iran |
Victim was lured by his friend Siavash to a garden near Damavand, where Siavash and an accomplice, Hamid, tied him up and tortured him to extract the password to his bitcoin wallet, estimated at 20 billion tomans; when he resisted they shot him dead and buried the body, and the bitcoins were never recovered. Siavash's conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court and sent for retrial, while Hamid's 25-year sentence was upheld. (original link) |
| February 2025 |
3 young men |
Moscow, Russia |
In February and March 2025, three active Moscow police officers showed their service IDs, accused young men of terrorism complicity and threatened arrest before offering to 'settle' the matter, extorting the equivalent of USD 27,400 in crypto from one and about USD 15,000 (~RUB 1.2 million) from two others, with a civilian suspected of acting as the group's 'banker'. Criminal cases for abuse of power were opened on April 18 2025, with total damage estimated at about RUB 4 million. |
| February 2 2025 |
34 y/o man |
Costa del Sol, Spain |
A crypto trader who casually mentioned his profession to men he met at a hotel was later invited over, taken hostage, and held for a EUR 30,000 ransom. He called a friend, who alerted police and got him rescued. (original link) |
| February 8 2025 |
20 y/o man |
Paris, France |
Crypto investor lured to meeting by woman, abducted by 3 men who demand 40K EUR. (original link) |
| February 8 2025 |
Trader & friend |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Li You-kuan, a leader of the Hongren cell of the Bamboo Union who had lost his commissions after his intermediary switched exchanges, organized an ambush against a cryptocurrency trader in Taipei: on February 8 2025 the victim and a friend were pinned at knife and gunpoint, tied up, forced to transfer more than 330,000 USDT (NT$10.93 million) and to film a 'voluntary' transfer video, then released after two hours. The same gang attacked a cryptocurrency trainer and his wife a week later. |
| February 15 2025 |
Crypto trainer & wife |
Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan |
TWD 13,000,000 (cash + cryptocurrencies) + a Maserati — In mid-February 2025, a man working in cryptocurrency training and his wife were lured to Ximending (Taipei) under the pretext of a video shoot whose script had been arranged the day before; on arrival, the attackers changed the meeting location and nine men dressed in black surrounded them, handcuffed them, beat them and threatened them with a knife and a firearm to force them to transfer all their cash and cryptoassets, amounting to TWD 13 million, and to take their Maserati. Held captive for a day and a half, photographed naked under duress, the victim had his head split open against a steel bar (two stitches); more than five months after the complaint was filed, no suspect had been arrested, with the couple stating that the gang had already robbed one of their friends a week earlier. (original link) |
| February 19 2025 |
Armando Taveres |
Sao Pedro do Sul, Portugal |
In February 2025 four foreign men, assisted by a Portuguese businesswoman, targeted a Luso-Brazilian financial intermediary at his home in Sao Pedro do Sul, believing he held codes releasing several million dollars in dividends; under coercion they forced him on February 20 to retrieve a device from a bank safe deposit box in Viseu supposedly containing thousands of bitcoins, but he claimed a technical problem, returned to the bank and raised the alarm, triggering the PSP and Judicial Police. Four men were jailed pending trial, followed by the businesswoman; all five were subsequently convicted. |
| February 24 2025 |
30 y/o Chinese Man |
Jeju City, South Korea |
4 Chinese suspects stab man lured to perform a trade in hotel room, steal 85 million won. (original link) |
| February 28 2025 |
Chinese Man |
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
Chinese gang kidnaps victim, extorts 600,000 USDT, are quickly apprehended by police. (original link) |
| March 2025 |
30 y/o man |
Sweden |
Victim kidnapped by gang who took him into the woods, kicked and punched him, poured gasoline over him, threatened to set him on fire, placed pliers to his hand, and threatened to cut off his fingers. (original link) |
| March 2025 |
Unidentified |
Mont-sur-Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland |
Victim was lured into a trap, beaten, tied up, forced to give access to his accounts, emptied of around $200,000. (original link) |
| March 2025 |
Naiping Hou |
Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States |
Naiping Hou, 74, father of the chief investment officer of crypto fund Coincident Capital, was last seen mid-March 2025 at his Rancho Cucamonga home and not reported missing until a May 4 wellness check found the house emptied of furniture and belongings; more than USD 1,000,000 was siphoned from his accounts through withdrawals, unauthorized vehicle sales, and gold and crypto purchases, with 'robotic' texts sent to family from his phone. The sheriff and FBI treat the case as a possible kidnapping motivated by the family's crypto fortune; no arrests and no trace of the victim to date, with a USD 250,000 family reward. |
| March 2025 |
22 y/o man & his mother |
Chelyabinsk, Russia |
Four men who had entrusted funds to a 22-year-old Chelyabinsk crypto trader who lost them on the markets demanded repayment plus interest totaling RUB 8,000,000; in March 2025 they kidnapped him and held him captive for a week in a house where he was beaten, and in May they made the same demands of his 48-year-old mother. The four suspects were arrested, with two high-end vehicles and cash seized. |
| March 2 2025 |
Kaitlyn Siragusa |
Houston, Texas, United States |
Popular Streamer Amouranth posts screenshot of $20M BTC wallet, becomes victim of armed home invasion. Her husband defended her by shooting an attacker. (original link) |
| March 10 2025 |
Two Teenagers |
Braine-l'Alleud, Walloon Brabant, Belgium |
During the night of March 9-10 2025, Belgian federal police spotted a reconnaissance operation by a French commando in Braine-l'Alleud and arrested ten people including a minor before any attack; searches uncovered in Loverval a plastic-lined torture room stocked with cable ties, saws, pliers and other tools, intended for kidnapping and torturing the 13- and 17-year-old relatives of a crypto-wealthy investor for ransom. In March 2026 the Brussels court convicted seven defendants to 12-14 years; the suspected mastermind, arrested in Tangier and linked to several French crypto kidnappings, faces extradition. |
| March 11 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Kiryat Bialik, Israel |
A man who announced in a WhatsApp crypto trading group that he wanted to buy USD 5,000 of digital currency was lured to a park in Kiryat Bialik, where after handing over 50 $100 bills 'to verify their authenticity' he was pepper-sprayed by an unidentified accomplice while the defendant pushed him, and the two fled with the money. An indictment for aggravated robbery was filed on March 31 2025, requesting detention until the end of proceedings. |
| March 13 2025 |
41 y/o Wong |
Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong |
Man sells HK $318,000 worth of cryptocurrency, is then beaten with a stick and robbed of the cash he received. (original link) |
| March 17 2025 |
A resident of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain |
On the evening of March 17 2025, a group posing as police officers intercepted a victim in his building's private parking lot in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, drove him to an industrial warehouse, and held him for several hours, forcing him under threats and assault to make a large cryptocurrency transfer and taking cash and valuables before abandoning him with warnings not to alert authorities. Operation 'Kripto' led in August 2026 to seven arrests, including two pretrial detentions. |
| March 20 2025 |
Employees of a stock-investment scam call center |
Gyeonggi, South Korea |
On the morning of March 20 2025, a gang of young organized-crime members broke into a call center used for a stock-investment scam, threatened employees with edged weapons and extorted 43,700 USDT (KRW 64.44 million). The two ringleaders, who had met in detention, had planned the robbery against the fraudulent operation, recruiting young affiliates and supplying the weapons. |
| March 21 2025 |
Retired Teacher |
Imbiribeira, Brazil |
Crypto manager surveilled, mother kidnapped, ransomed for 5 BTC. 4 people were later arrested. (original link) |
| March 23 2025 |
Spanish Businessman |
Ipiranga, Brazil |
Man kidnapped by 2 fake police officers, held for a week and drugged, demanded $50M, escaped on his own. (original link) |
| March 27 2025 |
27 y/o Turkish man |
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong |
Man brought a bag containing €5 million in cash to trade for crypto when he was attacked by two assailants, one of whom slashed him with a knife. He fought them off and they were later arrested. (original link) |
| March 29 2025 |
Anson Que |
Mecauayan, Bulacan, Philippines |
A businessman was lured by a woman to a house and taken hostage; the attackers demanded USD 20,000,000 in cryptocurrency and received over USD 3,000,000 in multiple tranches, killing the victim anyway. (original link) |
| April 2025 |
Unidentified |
Spain |
Five arrested for kidnapping, killing man in plot to steal his crypto assets. (original link) |
| April 2025 |
A 22 y/o man |
Moirans, France |
A 22-year-old man from Isère was lured to a fake romantic date via social media and driven to Moirans, where masked individuals pulled him from the vehicle at shotgun point, beat and held him for several hours; convinced from his online posts that he held a large sum in cryptoassets, the attackers left with his watch, jewelry and car keys and unsuccessfully demanded money the next day. Five suspects aged 21 to 23 were arrested on November 5 2025 and placed under formal investigation for unlawful confinement, attempted extortion and armed robbery. (original link) |
| April 2025 |
A business owner from Lara State |
Lara State, Venezuela |
In late April 2025, a business owner from Lara State was abducted by an armed commando and held 19 days; relatives paid between USD 500,000 and 800,000 in USDT out of the USD 1 million demanded before his release in mid-May. The gang, nicknamed 'Los Cripto Activos', included serving and former CONAS officers: five were arrested and five others remain at large. |
| April 4 2025 |
Crypto miner |
Magistralny, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia |
On the night of April 4-5 2025, four residents of Magistralny climbed the fence of an industrial site, broke into a warehouse and stole 28 mining machines worth more than RUB 5.3 million, later moved between hiding places. The equipment was recovered from a truck and returned; the court found them guilty of group theft on an especially large scale, sentencing them to suspended terms of 1 year 8 months to 2 years. (original link) |
| April 12 2025 |
Chuang Wen-che |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Chuang Wen-che, 23, was randomly approached in Songshan District by a man claiming to 'negotiate a debt' on behalf of a scam organization that accused him of embezzling TWD 20 million; taken to a private site in Shilin, he was stripped, shackled and beaten by four men until he surrendered his phone passcodes, after which USDT 6,859.9 was transferred and TWD 9,334 withdrawn, and a ransom reduced to TWD 6 million was demanded from his mother. Police, alerted early that morning, located the vehicle and freed the victim in under eight hours, arresting the kidnappers and seizing handcuffs, baseball bats, machetes and stun batons. |
| April 13 2025 |
Ismail |
PIB Colony, Pakistan |
Gang poses as police, kidnaps victim, forces him to hand over Bitcoin. |
| April 26 2025 |
A Russian man |
Incheon, South Korea |
KRW 150,000,000 (about USD 104,500) — On April 26, 2025, around 2:00 p.m., on a public street in Yeonsu-dong (Incheon), an Uzbek woman handed over KRW 150 million in cash to a Russian seller as part of a cryptocurrency transaction; three Russian accomplices then attacked him, beat him, and took back the bag of money. The gang had prepared a vehicle with a false license plate, which was abandoned after the incident on a deserted road in Yeongjongdo. |
| April 27 2025 |
Richford S.A. |
Altos, Paraguay |
About a dozen masked men in military-style clothing, armed with rifles and handguns, stormed the Richford S.A. mining data center in Altos, tied up the guards, took employees hostage and made off with 360 to 500 ASIC mining machines (estimated USD 2,000-2,500 each) belonging to a French national, plus phones, computers, a revolver and the video surveillance equipment. Eleven machines were found in Ciudad del Este in late May and a truck driver was arrested and charged on May 29 2025. (original link) |
| April 30 2025 |
Unidentified family |
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England |
In the early hours of April 30 2025, six to seven men broke into a house in Aylesbury, gathered the seven occupants aged 21 to 75 and demanded cryptocurrency transfers; when the victims could not comply they were violently beaten, leaving one with a fractured spine. The gang had used GPS trackers and signal jammers; Glen Johnson, arrested at the scene, was found guilty on March 6 2026 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. |
| April 30 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina |
On April 30 2025, at least four armed individuals overpowered a crypto-asset trader at his Resistencia home, beat him and held him captive about four hours, using his biometric data to unlock his phone and transfer about USD 150,000 in digital assets before forcing him to delete his crypto apps. An OnlyFans content creator who had prior contact with the victim reportedly supplied the gang with his address, schedule and the nature of his operations. |
| May 2025 |
2 victims |
Madrid, Spain |
A 50-year-old Spaniard of Russian origin posed as a cryptocurrency seller on social media and arranged to meet buyers in shopping center parking lots in Leganés, Madrid and Valladolid; once victims got into his stolen car with fake plates he threatened them with a handgun (in reality fake) and stole the cash intended for the purchases, totaling EUR 28,000. Arrested on May 9 2025 in possession of the fake pistol and over EUR 1,500 cash, he was brought before the courts and incarcerated. (original link) |
| May 2025 |
Multiple victims |
Batman, Turkey |
A criminal organization 'focused on cryptocurrencies' was dismantled in Batman on May 11 2025 after a six-month investigation: a female key figure selected crypto holders and supplied their addresses and schedules, while other members in balaclavas handcuffed victims at wrists and ankles, abducted them at gunpoint and transferred their crypto to other accounts, also firing at night on certain victims' businesses and vehicles. Simultaneous operations in three provinces identified 10 suspects, 9 of whom were jailed. |
| May 1 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Paris, France |
Father of crypto millionaire abducted in broad daylight, 5M EUR ransom demanded, finger severed before being rescued by police. (original link) Ringleader was later arrested. (original link) |
| May 2 2025 |
Global Hass |
Caaguazú, Paraguay |
In the first minutes of May 2 2025, an armed group overpowered the security guard at the Global Hass crypto-mining company in Caaguazú, brought in a heavy-duty truck and loaded about 130 mining machines they had unplugged and ripped out, along with the solar panels powering the installation. The Caaguazú police opened an investigation amid a series of attacks on mining sites in the region. |
| May 6 2025 |
28 y/o Italian man |
New York, New York, United States |
Crypto entrepreneur tortures man for weeks with a chainsaw & taser in a luxury $30K+ per month apartment. Victim escaped w/o giving up funds. (original link) |
| May 6 2025 |
Unnamed complainant |
Kumbla, Kasaragod district, Kerala, India |
On May 6 2025, a group abducted the complainant at Kumbla (Kerala), beat him and stripped him of 20,743 USDT; six accused are being prosecuted under the BNS, two were arrested on June 4 2025 and denied bail by the Kerala High Court on July 2 2025, and accused nos. 1 and 6 remain at large. |
| May 9 2025 |
Jacob Irwin-Cline |
London, England |
American tourist drugged by fake Uber driver who drained wallets of $123K in BTC & XRP. (original link) |
| May 13 2025 |
Pierre Noizat's daughter |
Paris, France |
Attempted abduction of crypto exchange CEO's daughter in broad daylight, caught on camera, attackers were fought off by her partner & bystanders. (original link) Ringleader was later arrested. (original link) |
| May 14 2025 |
Mining Facility |
Coronel Bogado, Paraguay |
3 Chinese citizens entered Paraguay illegally, tried to rob a mining facility, got in a shootout with police, were deported. (original link) |
| May 15 2025 |
Cryptocurrency trader |
Kyiv, Ukraine |
Four men in military-style clothing presenting themselves as a security agency forced a cryptocurrency trader into a car near Kyiv's Volodymyrskyi market and drove him to a basement, where at gunpoint he transferred USD 170,000 from his wallets, gathered another USD 130,000 in cash from relatives and was ordered to hand over half his business profits monthly. Prosecutors say the gang was led by an officer of a Ukrainian assault battalion armed with a service pistol and an AK-74, and targeted crypto traders. |
| May 17 2025 |
Festo Ivaibi |
Kampala, Uganda |
Crypto founder abducted by men posing as military, forced to transfer $500,000 at gunpoint. One suspect later arrested. (original link) |
| May 18 2025 |
Mother & Son |
Normandie, France |
Victims were being surveilled, had GPS tracker placed on their car. Police counter-surveilled the kidnappers and arrested 5 people before they attacked. (original link) |
| May 21 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Seoul, South Korea |
Russian nationals lure victim to hotel for crypto trade, attempt to rob him of 1 billion won, but victim escaped. (original link) |
| May 26 2025 |
Crypto Entrepreneur |
Nantes, France |
Police arrest 10 men in balaclavas, foiling their attempted kidnapping of a crypto entrepreneur. Ringleader was later arrested. (original link) |
| May 27 2025 |
Russian Couple |
Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Chechens invite victims to dinner, take them hostage and demand ransom. A friend sends them $43,000 and they flee to UAE. (original link) |
| May 29 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Utrecht, Netherlands |
Outside a Utrecht bowling alley, three men pulled the victim into an isolated alley and, for about thirty minutes, threatened reprisals against his relatives (holding a handwritten note with names and addresses supplied by a complicit friend) while he transferred cryptocurrencies worth about USD 30,000, then attempted to extort a further EUR 100,000. He filed a complaint that same night. |
| June 2025 |
Multiple Victims |
Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina |
Unknown (multiple victims; no figure published) — In early June 2025, the Chaco police and the cybercrime division of the Buenos Aires city police dismantled a gang in Resistencia that identified cryptocurrency holders, broke violently into their homes, and, using beatings and firearm threats, forced them to transfer their crypto assets to accounts controlled by the group, then to delete their original accounts to erase the trace of the operations. Ten searches led to nine arrests and the seizure of cryptocurrency, cash, firearms, electronic equipment and vehicles; the suspects are being prosecuted for aggravated robbery and unlawful deprivation of liberty. |
| June 10 2025 |
A man presented as a cryptocurrency scammer |
Brussels, Belgium |
A man presented as a cryptocurrency scammer was lured to Brussels by a fake romantic date, then intercepted by four men who locked him in an underground parking garage basement in Evere and tortured him for about an hour with a hot iron, electrical cables and waterboarding; one tormentor, a restaurant owner, said he had lost EUR 40,000 after entrusting him with his bank card and codes. On January 23 2026 the four men were sentenced to 5 years (3 suspended); the woman who acted as bait was acquitted. |
| June 13 2025 |
26 y/o man |
Juvisy-sur-Orge, France |
TikTok trader kidnapped by 4 men as he was returning home, attackers demanded 50K EUR, released after opening his wallet and finding a tiny balance. (original link) |
| June 17 2025 |
23 y/o man |
Maisons-Alfort, France |
A 23-year-old man was held for several hours, and the kidnappers demanded a 5k ransom from his wife. (original link) |
| June 24 2025 |
Unidentified businessman |
Goiania, Brazil |
Victim tricked into attending a business meeting that ended up being a wrench attack trap. Attack failed, 2 attackers were killed by police, mastermind was caught fleeing to Miami. (original link) |
| June 24 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Yongin, Gyeonggi, South Korea |
In the underground parking lot of a Yongin commercial building, two men lured a buyer they had met via social media with an over-the-counter crypto transaction at a discounted rate, then overpowered and beat him as he got into their vehicle and fled with a bag containing KRW 70,000,000 (~USD 51,000). The accomplice was arrested at the scene and the fleeing ringleader on June 30 in Seoul's Gangnam-gu; both are prosecuted for aggravated robbery. |
| June 25 2025 |
33 y/o businessman |
Bengaluru, India |
OTC trade of $240,000 worth of rupees into USDT. Half a dozen men interrupted the transaction and robbed him. (original link) |
| June 26 2025 |
David / D.B. |
Pattaya, Thailand |
Four men presented as Russians forced their way at gunpoint into the Jomtien (Pattaya) hotel room of a young Russian national, handcuffed, blindfolded and beat him, filming him to pressure his partner in Bangkok, and forced him to transfer the equivalent of about 1.9-2 million THB in bitcoin; the partner also deposited a Rolex Daytona (~500,000-600,000 THB) in a hiding place, bringing the total to ~2.5 million THB. The victim was abandoned and filed a complaint that evening; a Russian suspect was arrested but charged only with illegal residence, with the bitcoin tracing still under investigation. |
| June 30 2025 |
3 people |
Bangkok, Thailand |
OTC trade of $100,000 USD worth of baht for crypto in a mall parking garage. The 7 suspects had done smaller trades with the victims previously. (original link) |
| July 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia |
Four men who had arrived in a rental car called the victim claiming to have damaged his vehicle in order to get him to come outside; four individuals in camouflage clothing and balaclavas then forcibly took him back into his apartment, tied him up and beat him, then forced him to hand over the access codes to his phone and his account on an exchange platform, from which they transferred the equivalent of 4.6 million rubles in cryptocurrency. Identified through surveillance cameras, they were arrested in Bashkortostan. |
| July 2025 |
The operator of a bitcoin ATM |
Greinsfurth, Austria |
Unknown (value of the machine not disclosed) — During the night of Thursday July 17 to Friday July 18, 2025, burglars forced open the entrance door of an office building in Greinsfurth (Amstetten) and, using an unidentified means of transport, made off with the heavy bitcoin ATM installed in a room on the upper floor. The criminal investigation unit (KAD Wieselburg) collected forensic evidence and is reviewing CCTV footage and neighborhood testimony; no other bitcoin ATM theft was known in Lower Austria, and no arrest has been reported. |
| July 1 2025 |
Occupants of a private residence in Hillside |
Hillside, Ontario, Canada |
Shortly before 5 a.m. on July 1 2025, the Ontario Provincial Police responded to an armed home invasion in Hillside, east of Huntsville, closing Highway 11, issuing a shelter-in-place order and pursuing suspects with a canine unit. Eight people aged 16 to 32 were charged between July 2025 and February 2026 with armed robbery, kidnapping with a firearm, unlawful confinement and armed assault; neighbors claimed the attack targeted cryptocurrency, but the OPP declined to confirm the motive. (original link) |
| July 3 2025 |
36 year old man |
London, England |
A man was befriended by a group of 4 men while drinking, who eventually followed him home and knocked him out with a wrench before forcing him to use Face ID to access accounts and transfer cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| July 5 2025 |
"Buenos Aires" |
Gurjão, Paraíba, Brazil |
During the night of July 5 2025, four masked men prowled around the home of 'Buenos Aires', founder of Fiji Solutions and convicted for a crypto pyramid scheme; alerted, he called the police, who were met with gunfire, and the ensuing chase ended with the vehicle rolling over near Gurjão, killing one occupant while the other three fled. A suspect arrested the next day confessed to the attempted kidnapping, saying he was to handle 'the financial part'; two men remain at large and police are investigating the link to the pyramid scheme. |
| July 7 2025 |
Woman |
Suresnes, France |
A woman was attacked at her home and punched 10 times in front of her husband and children. (original link) |
| July 8 2025 |
38 y/o man |
Queens, New York, United States |
Victim kidnapped by 6 men and held for 10 days until he transferred $6,000 in fiat & cryptocurrency (original link) |
| July 10 2025 |
Roman Smeliov |
Jimbaran, Indonesia |
At a home in Jimbaran (Bali), two Russian gangsters strangled Roman Smeliov, 42, with tape and beat him while two uniformed Indonesian immigration officers threatened him with deportation, imprisonment or death and seized his phone — only to realize they had the wrong target, a Russian mastermind having paid an officer to locate a man 'R' who owed IDR 2.3 billion. Bali's police chief said the Russian network had operated at 27 crime scenes between January and July 2025 with a consistent abduction-violence-forced-crypto-transfer modus operandi; four suspects were arrested and presented to the press on August 1 2025. |
| July 12 2025 |
2 men in 20s |
London, England |
Men who flaunted wealth on social media kidnapped and tortured for 2 days before being rescued by police (original link) |
| July 12 2025 |
Arthur |
Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
During the night of July 11-12 2025, a trader and programmer leaving Belo Horizonte with friends for Rio de Janeiro said the couple diverted the route, pointed a gun at his neck, tied him up and forced him under threat of death to transfer about BRL 600,000 in crypto; military police alerted by gunfire in Brumadinho found him shouting from a stopped BMW that he was being held captive, and the couple later turned themselves in. The suspects dispute this version — one claims he was lured into a trap — and pretrial detention had not yet been ratified at publication. |
| July 14 2025 |
Dilip Gaud & Ramesh Sharma |
Jodhpur, India |
5 constables kidnap 2 men and extort them with threats of false criminal charges until they handed over cash and $9,000 USD worth of cryptocurrency. Cops were later arrested and fired. (original link) |
| July 15 2025 |
Prince Pandey |
Ahmedabad, India |
3 men lured a trader into a trap and assaulted him while demanding 50,000 USDT. The victim's father contacted police and they managed to find and rescue him. (original link) |
| July 16 2025 |
B.B |
Belgrade, Serbia |
RSD 6,000,000 in cash (over EUR 50,000 according to the Greek press), brought for a USDT purchase; no cryptocurrency was part of the loot — Contacted on Telegram by a fake seller calling himself 'Marko', a cryptocurrency buyer agreed to buy USDT for EUR 55,000 to 60,000 and went on 16 July 2025 at about 10 pm, with his partner and a bag holding 6 million dinars in cash, to a locked exchange office on Ustanicka Street in Belgrade. The sellers pushed him against the door, one of them hit him on the head and an unidentified accomplice threatened him with a knife ('let go of the bag or I'll stab you') while another snatched the bag; the attackers fled to a Skoda Superb driven by a fourth man. |
| August 2025 |
A middle-aged man |
Kerman, Iran |
Unknown (debt arising from digital asset transactions, not quantified by police) — A middle-aged man was abducted in the city of Kerman by a group whose motive, established by the provincial judicial police, was to recover a debt arising from cryptocurrency transactions. Injured, he was abandoned by his captors in the Mahan road area; four suspects, including one of the main suspects arrested within days, were taken into custody and the search continues for the others. |
| August 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Utrecht, Netherlands |
On August 25 2025, four men wearing jackets marked 'Justitie' held a Utrecht resident captive for hours in his home — hooded, gagged, bound and pushed under the shower with a firearm constantly pointed at him — to obtain credentials and empty his crypto account, taking more than EUR 40,000 in cryptocurrencies plus cash, USB keys, car keys, a laptop, a phone and a wallet; the injured victim was hospitalized. Several suspects were arrested; a 23-year-old from Amsterdam acknowledged a logistical role at a February 16 2026 hearing, while another was released for lack of evidence. |
| August 2 2025 |
30 y/o man |
Parañaque City, Philippines |
4 Chinese nationals kidnapped a man seeking money transfer services. Victim was handcuffed, threatened with a firearm, physically harmed, and forced to transfer $50,000. (original link) |
| August 2 2025 |
Juan Mauricio Padilla Piraban |
Lima, Metropolitan Lima, Peru |
On August 2 2025 in Lima, six men posing as National Police officers intercepted Colombian crypto investor Juan Mauricio Padilla Piraban as he left his hotel for the airport, put him in a police patrol car and held him captive for hours at gunpoint in an abandoned house, first demanding USD 1,000,000 then USD 400,000 from his digital wallet, with an accomplice 'hacker' tasked with converting and transferring the funds. Tracked by police intelligence, the kidnappers changed vehicles several times before pushing the victim from a moving car; he was recovered unharmed, nothing was paid, and several active-duty officers were arrested. |
| August 5 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Paris, France |
5 men threatened, kidnapped, and beat a crypto industry worker before stealing 2M euros in bitcoin from him. The attackers were quickly captured by police. (original link) |
| August 6 2025 |
Norwegian family |
Oslo, Norway |
Robbers posing as food-delivery workers tied up a family with three children in their home and threatened to shoot the mother unless the family handed over their cryptocurrency. (original link) Nine people were later charged, with one man apprehended. |
| August 11 2025 |
Álvaro Romillo |
San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, Spain |
At around 3 a.m. on August 11 2025, five masked armed men with a signal jammer, guided by a sixth accomplice by phone, broke into crypto entrepreneur Álvaro Romillo's villa near Madrid shortly after his return from Ibiza; he and his partner were gagged, bound and held about four hours with pistols chambered at their heads, the attackers demanding EUR 40 million in crypto and obtaining a forced transfer of EUR 1,300,000 plus cash, jewelry, 30+ watches and 20 gold coins — roughly EUR 3 million total. On May 28 2026 the Policía Nacional announced the dismantling of the Tren de Aragua-linked network: six Venezuelans were arrested, three remanded, for this home invasion and two similar apartment invasions, one in which a resisting victim was shot in the face. |
| August 13 2025 |
Mihailo Petrovic and Diego Bravo |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
At a Rio de Janeiro event, three women offered two British tourists caipirinhas laced with a drowsing substance ('boa noite Cinderela') and, once the victims were unable to react, withdrew GBP 2,100 from their accounts (GBP 300 converted to crypto, GBP 1,800 in four transactions), while an attempted GBP 16,000 transfer failed on facial recognition. The Rio prosecutor's office indicted them in August 2025 for theft with improper violence, aggravated electronic fraud theft and criminal association, requesting pretrial detention. |
| August 16 2025 |
29 y/o man |
Saint Petersburg, Russia |
A 25-year-old man from the Tosno district got himself hired as a security guard at a Saint Petersburg crypto exchange office with the sole purpose of robbing it; taking advantage of a moment when only the manager was present, he pepper-sprayed him in the face and fled with RUB 11,000,000. He bought a Mercedes G-Wagen with the proceeds and was arrested near Moscow; prosecuted for armed robbery, he already has a criminal record. |
| August 22 2025 |
Chinese businessman |
Colombo, Sri Lanka |
Chinese nationals kidnap man, hold him hostage for a day until he hands over 60,000 USDT. |
| August 26 2025 |
Alexandre |
Paris, France |
A former cryptocurrency trader, aged 35, was kidnapped and held captive between Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines). The kidnappers demanded €10K from his wife for his release. (original link) |
| August 27 2025 |
Alexander |
Phuket, Thailand |
A Russian national went to a house for a business investment consultation; when he arrived, a group of four Russians assaulted him and forced him to transfer 35,000 USDT. The attackers fled the country, but one was caught aboard a ferry. (original link) |
| August 29 2025 |
23 y/o Swiss man |
Valence, Drôme, France |
A man was kidnapped and tortured for 4 days, possible mistaken identity. He was rescued by GIGN and 7 suspects were arrested. (original link) |
| September 2025 |
Unidentified Family |
Tobo, Sweden |
Family tied up, mock executed, $200,000 robbed. Saved by other family members who were contacted via video game chat. (original link) |
| September 5 2025 |
Unidentified Youth |
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada |
Victim forced into a van by 5 men, physically assaulted, threatened with a gun. Released after being forced to transfer cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| September 5 2025 |
Nguyen Van D |
Quang Hung commune, Hung Yen province, Vietnam |
On the morning of September 5 2025, a man who had come from Da Nang with VND 3,000,000,000 in cash (~USD 114,000) to buy USDT was lured into a fake cash-for-crypto meeting in Hung Yen province: four men staged the transaction, snatched the bag of cash and scattered across provinces. Within 48 hours the criminal police arrested all four in simultaneous operations; they confessed and were placed under formal investigation and pretrial detention on September 11 2025. |
| September 6 2025 |
USDT buyer anonymized as "A01" in the ruling |
Chiayi, Taiwan |
A Telegram-organized group lured a buyer offering 10,000 USDT for TWD 300,000 at a Chiayi 7-Eleven; once the victim handed over the cash, an accomplice shot him in the face with a handgun (described as an air pistol), fracturing his left facial bone, while the driver drove them away to Taichung. The Chiayi court sentenced the driver to 7 years and 4 months for aggravated robbery committed by a group of three or more with a weapon. |
| September 7 2025 |
Israeli man |
Herzliya, Israel |
Armed home-invasion: attackers bound and stabbed the resident, forced him to open an Exodus wallet and transferred ~4.94862 BTC and ~42,248.5 USDT (total ≈ $590k), stole a Trezor hardware wallet, laptop and a Rolex; suspects threatened victim and family. (original link) |
| September 15 2025 |
Tarun Agarwal |
Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India |
On September 15 2025, a gang led by a police head constable, with other officers and accomplices posing as senior officers, abducted three men in Noida and held them captive at several Ludhiana locations, forcing them to transfer 999 UST and 3,650 USDT and surrender gift cards worth INR 1 lakh, seizing their phones and valuables and demanding ransoms of several crore rupees. Several arrests followed (FIR no. 18, Cyber Crime police station, Khanna), with two released on bail on March 11 2026, the court noting a larger criminal syndicate. |
| September 19 2025 |
Family |
Grant, Minnesota, United States |
Two brothers from Texas held a MN family hostage at gunpoint for nine hours, forced the father to drive 3 hours to the family cabin to transfer $36,000 in crypto. Son called 911 and attackers were caught. (original link) |
| September 19 2025 |
Unidentified |
Arnhem, Netherlands |
On the morning of September 19 2025, a young man disguised as a DHL courier rang the door of an Arnhem house and rushed inside followed by three other men; the occupants were zip-tied in the bedroom while the attackers demanded crypto wallet access codes under threat, beating the resident (who had freed himself) severely enough to hospitalize him, and taking the safe keys and a legally owned automatic CZ 858 rifle before fleeing toward Amsterdam-Zuidoost. |
| September 23 2025 |
Family |
Irvine, California, United States |
Home invasion of victims suspected of owning USD 3,800,000 in cryptocurrency. Attackers duct taped and threatened victims but found no crypto; 7 suspects were later arrested. (original link) |
| September 26 2025 |
42 y/o man |
Rambouillet, Yvelines, France |
Three men and a woman climbed over the fence of a crypto entrepreneur’s property to kidnap him. (original link) |
| September 26 2025 |
A resident of Port Harcourt |
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria |
In Port Harcourt, five men in unmarked black tactical gear presenting themselves as Bayelsa State police stopped a resident's Bolt ride, pulled him out, beat and handcuffed him — including a blow to the neck with a gun butt — and drove him out of the city in an unmarked minibus, where he was forced to unlock his phone and liquidate more than USD 3,000 (over NGN 5,000,000) in crypto from his Trust Wallet, the funds converted to naira and withdrawn through several POS operators. The victim posted the transaction receipts on X; the police spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. |
| September 28 2025 |
Farmer Family |
Tierp, Sweden |
Four people arrested after robbing family of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| September 30 2025 |
35 y/o man |
Tehran, Iran |
At noon on September 30 2025, the owner of a currency exchange office in Saadatabad was shot twice while parking his car in western Tehran, with dollars and euros scattered near the body; the shooter, an already client, had ordered the equivalent of 6 billion tomans in dollars and euros paid in Tether and planned with accomplice Majid to kill him at the handover, in an area scouted as camera-free. Both men were arrested in Karaj less than a month later, and an indictment for premeditated murder and complicity was issued in late July 2026. |
| October 2025 |
Waleed |
Kahna, Pakistan |
Bitcoin trader kidnapped by 2 cops & 2 other attackers, released after family paid $45K ransom. (original link) |
| October 2025 |
Several foreign nationals |
Yerevan, Armenia |
AMD 14,000,000 (USD 35,000 to 37,000 according to sources) — Two men posing as police officers entered the apartment of foreign nationals in Yerevan, claiming to have found drugs there, then took them away under the pretext of driving them to the police station, actually heading onto the Yerevan-Sevan road. There, threatening to release compromising material, they forced one of them to transfer the equivalent of 14 million drams (about USD 35,000) in cryptocurrency. |
| October 1 2025 |
Family |
Val-de-Marne, France |
A woman and her two children were threatened by two masked individuals in order to blackmail her husband, who is a crypto investor. (original link) |
| October 2 2025 |
Roman & Anna Novak |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Russian crypto scammer kidnapped, ransomed, murdered, dismembered by Russian nationals after random demands were not met. (original link) |
| October 9 2025 |
Sneh Parmar |
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India |
Three men posing as Crime Branch officers broke into Sneh Parmar's Indore home, accused him of fraud, beat him and his father, and drove them away, forcing him under threat of imprisonment to transfer 5,773 USDT (~INR 5.12 lakh) from his trading account and demanding more money to 'hush up the case'. The three were arrested following technical analysis and account freezes; a fourth accomplice is on the run. |
| October 10 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Kharkiv, Ukraine |
A man was kidnapped by three men in military uniform, zip tied, beaten and threatened with weapons while held hostage in a basement. He was released after transferring 83,000 USDT; the attackers were quickly identified and detained. (original link) |
| October 14 2025 |
USDT buyer anonymized as "A02" in the ruling |
Taichung, Dali District, Taiwan |
Directed via Telegram, four men lured a buyer to a Dali (Taichung) temple for a TWD 1,100,000 cash-for-USDT exchange, fitting fake plates to their vehicle beforehand; once the victim sat in the back seat with the counted cash, an accomplice pepper-sprayed him, but he grabbed back the money and jumped from the moving vehicle, foiling the robbery. The four were sentenced on August 12 2026 to 3 years 10 months to 4 years 10 months for attempted armed gang robbery. |
| October 15 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Taichung, Taiwan |
A Telegram-directed cell lured a buyer with a fake cryptocurrency sale to a Taichung car park with TWD 2,440,000 in cash; an accomplice counted the money, two others pepper-sprayed the victim and his companion, and when the victim refused to let go of the bag he was stabbed in the leg before the attackers fled without the money. The same cell had attempted a similar robbery in Dali the day before. |
| October 18 2025 |
Ms. Ding |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Ms. Ding parked in Taipei with TWD 1,920,000 in cash to buy USDT from a 'broker' met online; a man named Tang got into the back seat, never transferred the tokens, forcibly grabbed the cash and fled on foot with the victim chasing and shouting 'thief'. Police intercepted him about 20 minutes later in his rental car and recovered the money; he turned out to be a mule for a fraud network and was referred for prosecution and detained. |
| October 23 2025 |
Sergei Domogatskii |
Sanur Beach, Bali, Indonesia |
Russian influencer kidnapped, beaten, tased, until he transferred $4,600 in cryptocurrency. Attackers later demanded $1M which he couldn't pay, after which he was released. (original link) |
| October 29 2025 |
Mr. Chen |
Taipei, Taiwan |
After being defrauded of TWD 280,000 in July 2025 by a 'broker' named Lin, Mr. Chen set up a sting with police for a staged TWD 3,000,000 purchase on October 29 2025; the mule Pu grabbed the bag, two minor accomplices attacked the waiting officers with a baseball bat and a bladed weapon injuring two, and another accomplice retrieved the bag while Lin sped off. Lin and Wang were arrested the next day (an air pistol seized), then 9 more members of the 風飛砂 gang in early December 2025 — 13 in total — recovering TWD 781,600. |
| October 31 2025 |
Family |
Revelles, Somme, France |
Three hooded men broke into a family home on Halloween night, tied up a couple and the grandmother with cable ties and beat them in front of 2 young children, attempting to extort €200,000 in cryptocurrency. The transfer never went through. (original link) Two of the attackers were sentenced to 9 and 5 years in prison (original link) in February 2026. |
| November 2025 |
Crypto holder |
Challes-les-Eaux, Savoie, France |
3 men aged 25-30 charged with kidnapping, sequestration in organized group, extortion and money laundering of a crypto holder; 2 of them are also charged in the December 2025 Dompierre-sur-Mer case. Anonymous forum post claims the haul was ~$3.8M. (original link) |
| November 2025 |
Several buyers/sellers of digital currencies |
Holon, Gush Dan region, Israel |
Two suspects used a Facebook page dedicated to virtual currency trading to arrange fake exchange meetings and rob the victims — pepper-spraying one who managed to flee, and snatching the money and fleeing in other cases. They were arrested by Holon police after about a month of undercover investigation; laptops, a bitcoin wallet and phones were seized, with total damage estimated at tens of thousands of shekels. |
| November 2025 |
16 y/o man |
Moscow, Russia |
A crypto blogger was lured to a meeting and taken to a Moscow parking lot, where he was threatened with a pistol and forced to hand over NFTs worth about RUB 60,000, the attackers also demanding a crypto transfer; the teenager deceived them by claiming to hold more than RUB 9,000,000 and, released to make the transfer, used the opportunity to alert the police. Three suspects were identified and arrested and are prosecuted for armed robbery and extortion. |
| November 2025 |
A man of foreign nationality |
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic |
On November 1 2025, a foreign national who had posted a Telegram ad offering USDT for sale was lured to an apartment in Santiago's Gurabo sector, where attackers tied him, tried to suffocate him with a towel and held a gun to his head until he surrendered his passcode; they emptied his crypto account (~USD 700,000) to Binance and ByBit addresses and abandoned him beaten on a vacant lot in Bonao. Joan Carlos Miranda Furcal, described as the network's leader and previously convicted, is at large under an arrest warrant (issued March 2026). |
| November 1 2025 |
Chinese Man |
Bangkok, Thailand |
3 men kidnap victim off street, force him to send $9,375 USDT. Attackers were later arrested. (original link) |
| November 4 2025 |
Multiple |
Oxford, England |
Car with 3 women & 2 men robbed by 4 men, who forced an occupant to transfer £1.1 million in cryptocurrency. Attackers were later arrested. (original link) |
| November 5 2025 |
Mario Ramón Chávez Rivas |
Ciudad del Este, Alto Parana, Paraguay |
Armed assault on mining facility results in death of owner and 1 attacker. (original link) |
| November 5 2025 |
Moscow cryptocurrency traders/sellers |
Moscow, Russia |
A gang of three Moscow residents posing as law enforcement identified crypto sellers online, surveilled them to learn their habits, arranged fake-customer meetings and, displaying fake badges, told victims they were being arrested for financing the Ukrainian armed forces, handcuffing them at the slightest resistance and offering a way out: from one trader they demanded RUB 17,000,000, of which more than RUB 1,000,000 was paid as a first installment. The three were arrested and placed under formal investigation for large-scale fraud and arms trafficking, with fake badges, an unregistered firearm, a knuckle-duster, handcuffs, radios and GPS trackers seized. |
| November 14 2025 |
Ms. Lai |
Yingge, New Taipei, Taiwan |
Ms. Lai, identified in a LINE crypto exchange group, was lured to a Yingge parking lot by three 北聯幇 gang members claiming to sell her nearly USD 30,000 of USDT; after a one-USDT test transfer gained her trust, the executor grabbed the TWD 900,000 she had brought for verification, fled and pepper-sprayed her during the chase, though she recovered TWD 500,000 in the struggle. The three were arrested between November 14 and 18, police recovering about TWD 200,000 and seizing the BMW used along with ketamine. |
| November 22 2025 |
Unidentified |
San Francisco, California, United States |
Armed robber posing as a delivery worker invaded home, tied up the homeowner, took $11 million worth of cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| November 22 2025 |
French man |
Chalon-sur-Saône, France |
Six men, including two minors, are suspected of having attempted to kidnap a man holding crypto for the fourth time. (original link) |
| November 24 2025 |
Crypto Exchange |
Saint Petersburg, Russia |
A 21-year-old man robbed a crypto exchange office using airsoft and smoke grenades, demanding employees transfer cryptocurrency to his wallet. He was arrested at the scene. (original link) |
| November 26 2025 |
Danylo K |
Vienna, Austria |
Son of Ukrainian mayor of Kharkiv betrayed by fellow student, tortured, burned to death after revealing cryptocurrency wallets. (original link) |
| November 29 2025 |
52 y/o man |
Trincity, Trinidad and Tobago |
Man meeting a long-time counterparty in a pharmacy car park to buy cryptocurrency was ambushed by 2 armed men in hoodies, who took the $85,800 in cash intended for the purchase along with both parties' phones. (original link) |
| November 29 2025 |
乘號 |
Xinzhuang, New Taipei, Taiwan |
Taiwanese YouTuber, who had moved from gaming to crypto investing, was approached months earlier by Chen, 34, posing as a struggling investor seeking advice; after a 'thank-you' dinner on November 29 2025, Chen led him to a Xinzhuang parking lot where two accomplices forced him into a rental car, and he was driven to Taipei, beaten and threatened he would 'never go home' until he transferred TWD 90,000 and 170,000 USDT (worth over TWD 5 million), before being dropped near Taoyuan Airport. Wu and Li were arrested within 24 hours and held incommunicado; Chen remained at large. |
| December 2025 |
Woman |
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan |
A woman described as an influencer in the investment sector was forcibly taken away by car, held captive and beaten, her attackers stealing about JPY 15,000,000 in crypto assets. Four men were arrested by Nagoya's Nishi police and the Aichi prefectural police, with the case made public on December 4 2025 (the date of the arrests, not the events). |
| December 2025 |
A resident of Arvillers |
Arvillers, Somme, France |
Between late December 2025 and mid-January 2026, a resident of Arvillers (Somme) was targeted by four attempted break-ins by masked, armed men convinced — based on holder files resold on underground markets — that she held a crypto fortune; her wallet held only about EUR 300-400, which the attackers never got, with the four men crossing the border several times trying to seize it. |
| December 1 2025 |
53 y/o man |
Val-d'Oise, France |
The father of a crypto entrepreneur based in Dubai was kidnapped by 4 people. (original link) |
| December 8 2025 |
Unidentified |
Miami, Florida, United States |
UK rapper "Buckfiddy" charged with armed robbery of $563K in cryptocurrency and $400K in jewelery. (original link) |
| December 12 2025 |
Teenager |
Toulon, Var, France |
A 17-year-old kidnapped by two men to blackmail his older brother, a trader in Dubai. (original link) |
| December 12 2025 |
Man presenting himself as very wealthy in cryptocurrency |
Miami Beach, Florida, United States |
From October 26 to December 12 2025, three men surveilled the Miami Beach home of a cryptocurrency holder — drone flyovers, repeated drive-bys, a magnetic GPS tracker planted under his vehicle on December 8, and jammers imported from China to disable Wi-Fi cameras — ahead of a planned kidnapping, extortion or physical theft targeting his crypto assets, to be followed by seed-phrase extraction via fake 'Google Support' calls. The FBI, which had already moved the victim to safety, arrested all three on December 12. |
| December 13 2025 |
Mr. Yu |
Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
Crypto exchange owner & employee threatened by 4 or 5 men with knives. They resisted and the attackers fled empty-handed. (original link) |
| December 13 2025 |
Unidentified couple |
Solihull, England |
Couple assaulted by 3 masked men when they returned home. Forced to transfer large sum of cryptocurrency and high value watches. (original link) |
| December 17 2025 |
Unidentified man |
San Jose, California, United States |
A man was attacked by two assailants with a gun while returning home from work. Attack was interrupted midway by a delivery truck driving by and attackers fled. (original link) |
| December 18 2025 |
Family |
La Rochelle, France |
Three attackers invaded a home, tied up family, and made several crypto transfers. Unconfirmed rumor is they took $10M. (original link) |
| December 18 2025 |
Unidentified businessmen |
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong |
At least three attackers stole multiple briefcases of cash from employees of an unidentified Japanese cryptocurrency company as they arrived at a Hong Kong currency exchange. (original link) |
| December 18 2025 |
A married couple leaving Lagos |
Ogudu, Lagos, Nigeria |
Before 6 a.m. on December 18 2025, Lagos police officers stopped a couple leaving the city, 'profiled' and threatened the husband, seized his phones and took both to the Ogudu station, where he was forced to write a compromising statement without a lawyer; the officers first demanded 5,000 USDT then extorted 2,000 USDT (~NGN 3,330,000) sent to a wallet they provided, erasing all trace of the transaction — a copy of the evidence survived only because the transfer was made from a friend's wallet. After the matter reached the Police Complaints Response Unit and FIJ published an investigation, the officers repaid the full amount. |
| December 22 2025 |
Unidentified man |
Sunnyvale, California, United States |
Two attackers posing as DoorDash drivers forced their way inside a man's home while brandishing a gun, they fled after the man fought back. The attackers used access to the victim's Doordash account to surveil his location and monitor when he was placing food orders they could impersonate. (original link) |
| December 29 2025 |
Lyu Chenglong |
Bangkok, Thailand |
Man kidnapped by attackers posing as police, who demanded victim's older brother pay a cryptocurrency ransom. Brother paid but also called real police who raided and arrested the attackers. (original link) |
| December 29 2025 |
Cem Turan |
Antalya, Mediterranean region, Turkey |
Around 5 a.m. on December 29 2025, a crew in police uniform with fake IDs and a purported search warrant talked their way into Cem Turan's Antalya villa and handcuffed his two employees; under death and torture threats against him and his family, after first demanding USD 200 million the victim transferred his entire cold wallet — about USD 4 million (~TRY 192 million) in crypto — to attacker-controlled accounts, and the crew also took the surveillance recorder. Thirteen suspects were arrested that day, including serving and retired police officers and foreigners intercepted at the airport; nine were remanded and the trial was ongoing in August 2026. |
| December 31 2025 |
Unidentified man and woman |
Los Angeles, California, United States |
An attacker pretending to deliver a package asked the victim for a glass of water and was let into his home; he then pointed a gun, was joined by an additional suspect with a third person providing phone support, and threatened to cut off the victim's fingers before being scared away after the woman escaped and called the police. One suspect was also involved in the December 22 Sunnyvale attack. (original link) |
| 2026 |
Unidentified man |
South Korea |
about KRW 34,000,000 ("3400여만 원") in cash — Four teenagers aged 17 and 18 who had bonded at a juvenile detention center lured a motorist in broad daylight by offering to sell him cryptocurrency at a bargain price, on the premise that "money from people who buy coins in person is dirty money, so they won't file a complaint." Near a residential complex, one got into the passenger seat, two others got into the vehicle, fought with the driver, and left with more than KRW 34 million in cash, one of them leaving his jacket behind in the struggle. The car had been rented using a third party's driver's license fraudulently presented; the four were arrested within a few days of each other and placed in pretrial detention for aggravated group robbery. |
| January 2026 |
24 y/o man |
Andijan, Uzbekistan |
After lengthy surveillance, members of an organized criminal group from Andijan lured a young cryptocurrency exchanger to a fake client meeting at a supermarket, forced him into a Damas van while posing as law enforcement officers, and, threatening him with weapons and bladed objects and with criminal prosecution, demanded USD 150,000 before obtaining a transfer of about USD 100,000 in cryptocurrency, handing him USD 160,000 in counterfeit bills in exchange. The joint MVD and SGB operation led to several arrests, with the two organizers nicknamed "Khoji" and "Mufti" having fled abroad and remaining wanted. |
| January 2026 |
Unidentified |
Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
In January 2026, a group linked to the 太陽聯盟 (Sun Alliance) triad offered a Pingtung resident 20,000 USDT (~NTD 560,000) for 3.28 taels of gold at a Kaohsiung convenience store meeting; after an on-the-spot gold-melting test allayed suspicion, Chen (20) snatched the gold once handed over and fled without delivering the USDT. Four men were arrested in Sanchong and referred in August 2026 to the Ciaotou prosecutor's office for snatch theft and money laundering. |
| January 2026 |
18 y/o |
Khabarovsk, Russia |
Two young men, one carrying a food-delivery backpack, rang the door of a student claiming a friend had ordered food, then burst in, threatened him with an air pistol, hit him and took his computer tower, keyboard, bracelet and two watches (~RUB 150,000). One attacker said the computer was the target: he believed the victim's crypto wallets held a large sum. |
| January 4 2026 |
Young man |
Dijon, Côte-d’Or, France |
Young man kidnapped and held captive over crypto scam. (original link) |
| January 6 2026 |
Woman |
Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France |
A woman was held captive by several hooded individuals. (original link) |
| January 8 2026 |
Family |
La Chapelle-Saint-Aubin, Sarthe, France |
A couple and 3 children held hostage for 40min over crypto. (original link) |
| January 8 2026 |
A cryptocurrency investor in Puteaux |
Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France |
Unknown (nothing taken) — Tipped off that a crew from the Yvelines was preparing a home invasion against a cryptocurrency investor in Puteaux, the Versailles BRI (police search and intervention unit) put the area under surveillance. On 7 January 2026, a Renault Megane parked near the target's building and figures went inside before leaving, then the car came back during the night; on 8 January, officers caught four members of the gang in the stairwell as they were about to strike, with fake weapons, stun guns, walkie-talkies and break-in tools. |
| January 9 2026 |
43 y/o man |
Saint-Léger-sous-Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, France |
43 years old man kidnapped for his crypto. (original link) |
| January 10 2026 |
Family |
Verneuil-sur-Seine, Yvelines, France |
A cryptocurrency investor and their family tied up and beaten. (original link) |
| January 10 2026 |
60 y/o woman |
Zoersel, Belgium |
Armed home invasion by 2 men who beat and tied up doctor, but she didn't have any crypto. (original link) |
| January 13 2026 |
RATIRL |
Sweden |
Home invasion and torture of a League of Legends streamer. He didn't have cryptocurrency, so attackers only took his Pokémon cards; 2 suspects were arrested. (original link) |
| January 13 2026 |
Mr Zhuang |
Xindian, New Taipei, Taiwan |
A gang lured a cryptocurrency buyer via LINE to a Xindian meeting to buy crypto for TWD 3,000,000 in cash, the organizer supplying an electric stun baton; once in the rental car the victim handed over his backpack for 'counting' and was then grabbed by the throat, hit with the stun baton and punched in the face. In the struggle the car crashed into an arcade pillar and the two attackers fled without the money. |
| January 14 2026 |
Retired couple |
Sallanches, Haute-Savoie, France |
A couple kidnapped for their son's money, €8 million in cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| January 16 2026 |
Unidentified Chinese man |
Pasay City, Philippines |
Home invasion by 4 men who tied up and threatened a Chinese man, at least $400,000 in crypto stolen. (original link) |
| January 17 2026 |
A retired couple |
Rosières-près-Troyes, France |
Unknown — During the night of Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 January 2026, in a housing estate in Rosières-près-Troyes, a retired couple was surprised in their house by four individuals who tied them up and held them for several hours at home in order to extort cryptocurrency from them. |
| January 19 2026 |
Couple |
Paris, France |
Attempted kidnapping of a couple working in cryptocurrency, foiled by a building guard who raised the alarm; the commando fled and was intercepted by police. (original link) |
| January 23 2026 |
Alexander Adarich |
Milan, Italy |
On January 23 2026, a 54-year-old former Ukrainian banker was lured to Milan by his son under the pretext of a business meeting, then directed via Telegram to a bed and breakfast where men described as 'Russians, professionals' held him captive to force a transfer of EUR 250,000 in cryptocurrency; his wallet was emptied shortly before police arrived, and the autopsy established he had been strangled and was already dead when thrown from the window. His son was arrested in Spain on February 27 2026 on a European arrest warrant for aggravated unlawful confinement resulting in death; the accomplices remain at large. |
| January 24 2026 |
Yong Wang |
Arnavutköy, Istanbul, Turkey |
A 38-year-old Chinese businessman was killed and found buried in the ground with his hands and feet bound with packing tape. (original link) |
| January 24 2026 |
John Paul |
Lagos, Nigeria |
Around midnight on January 24 2026, a Benin City trader visiting Lagos was intercepted at his residence entrance by armed men wearing police insignia, driven around until morning, then forced at Ladipo to transfer NGN 5,000,000 in bitcoin and surrender his iPhone 17 and Mercedes-Benz ML350. Released around 9 a.m., he was then demanded a further NGN 2,000,000 for the car's return and threatened via WhatsApp; no arrests have been made, and an anti-kidnapping unit officer also extorted NGN 500,000 from him just to open the investigation. |
| January 25 2026 |
Retired man |
Voiron, Isère, France |
A 74-year-old man was kidnapped by individuals seeking to extort cryptocurrency from his son. They tried to cut off his little finger, eventually released him without ransom being paid. (original link) |
| January 28 2026 |
Family |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
A family was targeted in four home invasion attempts, including one where a shot was fired. (original link) |
| January 29 2026 |
42 y/o man |
Seoul, South Korea |
Near Guui Station in Seoul, five individuals including a soldier on leave posed as cryptocurrency sellers to lure a 42-year-old cash buyer; the group's 17-year-old beat him in an attempt to grab his money, but the group fled without any loot. Prosecuted after his discharge, the soldier was sentenced on August 22 2026 to 2 years in prison and a KRW 5 million fine for aggravated group theft attempt, illegal gambling and providing falsely registered phones. |
| January 31 2026 |
Family |
Scottsdale, Arizona, United States |
Home invasion by two teenagers posing as delivery drivers seeking an alleged $66M in crypto. (original link) |
| February 2026 |
52 y/o man |
Ponferrada, León, Spain |
In Ponferrada, five hooded individuals had the building gate opened for them and forced their way into a 52-year-old man's apartment, intimidating the occupants; rather than conventional valuables they took a laptop and a mobile phone, which investigators consider the means of access to crypto wallets. The Policía Nacional is treating this as the province's first documented 'wrench attack'; no arrests have been reported. |
| February 3 2026 |
Ms. Hsu |
Taipei, Taiwan |
On February 3 2026, Ms. Hsu, 57, a victim of a romance scam followed by a fake investment platform, brought TWD 7,000,000 in cash to a Taipei alley for a face-to-face crypto exchange; while she verified the transaction on the fake app a man grabbed the bag and fled toward Yanping North Road, where a Mercedes picked him up. Police arrested six accomplices within 48 hours and recovered the entire amount; an internal 'black eats black' dispute within the scam network is the favored theory. |
| February 4 2026 |
Mother & Daughter |
Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, Isère, France |
Mother & daughter kidnapped during home invasion. They were released after 30 hours with injuries. (original link) |
| February 5 2026 |
Eight Chinese nationals staying in the bungalow |
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia |
Twelve men wearing police reflective vests and displaying service cards burst into a Kajang bungalow housing eight Chinese nationals, searched phones and computers and accused the occupants of links to a Cambodia-based scam syndicate, finding no evidence; under threat of detention and immigration measures they demanded MYR 400,000, settling for 50,000 USDT (~MYR 200,000) transferred to a wallet they provided, and demanded the occupants vacate within two days. Twelve serving police officers aged 24 to 47 were arrested on February 7 and 9 2026, the case classified as gang robbery under Section 395 of the Penal Code. |
| February 6 2026 |
Family |
Juilly, Seine-et-Marne, France |
A couple and their 20-year-old daughter were violently held captive by a group of criminals searching for bitcoins. (original link) |
| February 7 2026 |
Abdul Fahad |
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India |
In Indore, crypto trader Abdul Fahad was lured under the pretext of a USDT purchase, forcibly taken from an ATM to an isolated location, stripped of INR 200,000 in cash and forced to transfer 4,000 USDT (~INR 400,000) from his phone — about INR 600,000 total. The ambush had been set up with information from two police constables, a childhood friend of the lurer who passed on the victim's identity and vehicle; both officers were suspended and remanded in custody along with a third suspect, with about INR 100,000 recovered. |
| February 10 2026 |
A woman about 50 years old from Sanchong |
Sanchong, New Taipei, Taiwan |
A woman in her fifties, caught by a fake crypto investment ad on Facebook, arranged to hand TWD 6,100,000 in cash to two collectors in Sanchong; growing suspicious when they could not say when the crypto would be credited, she tried to stop the transaction, and the collectors snatched the bag and fled on a scooter, though she grabbed back TWD 1,000,000 in the struggle. Arrested five hours later in Douliu thanks to video surveillance and communications analysis, they were referred for aggravated theft, snatch theft and fraud, with TWD 600,000 and two phones seized. |
| February 10 2026 |
Liu Jitao |
Pattaya, Thailand |
Liu Jitao, a 32-year-old Chinese national, was taken gambling in Bangkok by Chinese 'friends' and lost THB 300,000, then held captive in a locked Pattaya hotel room and forced to have his wife transfer 3,000 USDT (~THB 100,000) to pay the debt, after which he managed to send his location. Immigration and tourist police freed him on February 10 2026 and arrested one captor, with another on the run facing extortion with unlawful confinement charges. |
| February 12 2026 |
Binance France CEO |
Val-de-Marne, France |
3 men searched the home of the CEO of Binance France, before realizing he was not there and fleeing after stealing two phones. (original link) |
| February 12 2026 |
Woman |
Vaucresson, Hauts-de-Seine, France |
A woman was struck on the head by several masked men who had gone to the wrong address while looking for a crypto entrepreneur. (original link) |
| February 12 2026 |
A.H |
Mahmutlar, Alanya, Turkey |
In Alanya's Mahmutlar district, four hooded armed individuals intercepted a 46-year-old Ukrainian woman in her residence hallway, forced her inside and tied her hands, then made her unlock her crypto account via facial recognition and transferred EUR 18,000, also taking EUR 5,000, USD 7,000, ~200 g of gold and a watch worth USD 10,000. The gendarmerie's JASAT arrested the four suspects, who had fled; the loot was found in their vehicle and returned, and all four were remanded to Alanya's L-type prison. |
| February 20 2026 |
Husband and wife |
Seattle, Washington, United States |
A man posing as a postal worker handed a letter to a homeowner and told the homeowner to open it. The letter demanded an amount of cryptocurrency, before the suspect forced his way inside and assaulted the victim and his wife. (original link) |
| February 22 2026 |
21 y/o man |
New Delhi, India |
A B.Tech student who answered an Instagram ad offering discounted USDT was robbed at gunpoint near the Paschim Vihar East metro station: an attacker forced his way into his car, pointed a pistol while six accomplices surrounded it, and he lost his INR 1.83 lakh investment. Seven network members aged 22 to 31 were arrested — including the ringleader, ruined by INR 62 lakh in export losses — with INR 96,000 and a pistol recovered, and the gang linked to three similar robberies. |
| March 2026 |
Unidentified foreigner |
Dominican Republic |
more than USD 700,000 in cryptocurrency — On March 4, 2026, the Central Investigation Directorate (Dicrim) of the Dominican National Police announced it was searching for a man wanted under an arrest warrant for 'unlawful confinement and aggravated theft': according to preliminary information, the victim, a foreign national, was illegally held and then forced to hand over access to his digital assets valued at more than 700,000 dollars. The police stated that the investigation is continuing to determine whether other people were involved and urged the suspect to turn himself in; neither the exact date nor the exact location of the events was disclosed. |
| March 2026 |
Mr. Zheng |
Hsinchu, Taiwan |
Zheng, defrauded in early 2026 by a network posing as a USDT seller, had TWD 200,000 snatched from him in the street during a meeting in Hsinchu in March 2026, the collector fleeing by car fearing a police setup. After more than a month of investigation, the Hsinchu First Precinct dismantled the gang — ringleader posing as dealer, fake broker, surveillance and fund retrieval roles, rental cars and unlicensed taxis; the four suspects confessed and were placed in pretrial detention. |
| March 2 2026 |
Man in his thirties |
Goyang, South Korea |
KRW 30,000,000 — Four teenagers approached a man in his thirties via Telegram offering to sell him cryptocurrency 'at a discounted price' in a face-to-face meeting, although they did not actually hold any. On March 2, 2026 around 5:50 p.m., near a residential building in Deogeun-dong (Deogyang-gu, Goyang), they beat him and then fled with 30 million won in cash; one suspect was remanded in custody for aggravated theft, two others were arrested and questioned, and a fourth was still on the run. |
| March 4 2026 |
Sillytuna |
London, England |
UK game developer and erstwhile crypto enthusiast Sillytuna has reported being forced to hand over almost $24 million worth of crypto in a violent robbery. (original link) |
| March 6 2026 |
25 y/o Chinese Businessman |
Hun Hom, Hong Kong |
Man seeking to trade detained and assaulted by 4 men at a hotel and forced to hand over crypto passwords, leading to the theft of about $680,000 in cryptocurrency and 42 kg of silver. (original link) |
| March 7 2026 |
47 y/o woman |
Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan |
A woman defrauded by a fake investment offer went to a Zhunan park with TWD 15,000,000 in cash for a face-to-face crypto purchase; the network's collector, lacking the promised tokens, snatched her backpack and was picked up by car. Both were arrested that evening in a nationwide sweep, then five upstream accomplices; all seven were referred for aggravated robbery and held incommunicado, but the money, already handed to the network's leadership, was not recovered. |
| March 8 2026 |
Family |
Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France |
Several individuals posing as police officers attempted to break into a home, hoping to get cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| March 8 2026 |
Unidentified |
Winnetka, Illinois, United States |
A man posing as a food delivery driver gained access to a home; armed intruders invaded, took the occupant hostage and demanded access to cryptocurrency. Six suspects were arrested and charged. (original link) |
| March 9 2026 |
Husband and wife |
Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, Yvelines, France |
3 men posing as police rob €900,000 in bitcoin from a couple during violent homejacking. (original link) |
| March 10 2026 |
Mother and children |
Vaires-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, France |
Two criminals tied up a mother and her two adult children to extort cryptocurrency. The family was targeted by mistake. (original link) |
| March 10 2026 |
Man |
Essonne, France |
Two criminals carrying small explosives attempted to enter an unidentified man's home seeking cryptocurrency (original link) |
| March 10 2026 |
Mr. Guo |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Mr. Guo, 31, responded to a Facebook crypto exchange ad and showed up in Taipei with TWD 4,000,000 in cash to buy USDT from a purported broker; the 19-year-old seller pepper-sprayed him to snatch the bag, but Guo held on and the attacker, fearing passersby, gave up and fled by taxi. Nothing was taken; Huang was arrested on March 12-13 for attempted aggravated robbery, two more suspects on March 23, and the suspected mastermind remains at large. |
| March 10 2026 |
Ms. Lin |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Ms. Lin, contacted via social media by a purported USDT broker, went with TWD 2,000,000 in cash to verify his identity in Taipei's Shilin District; a man posing as the broker's emissary snatched the bag and jumped into a rental car. Three accomplices were intercepted in Yilan that evening, three others on March 13-14, and the mastermind — a collector for a fraud network who knew via the network how much she would bring and decided to 'rob the robbers' — was arrested April 16 with three accomplices; 12 people in total were arrested, ~TWD 710,000 recovered, and an etomidate-packaging lab dismantled. |
| March 13 2026 |
A private individual who came to buy USDT |
Taipei, Taiwan |
Zheng (20) and a minor, posing as USDT sellers met online, arranged a convenience-store meeting in Taipei's Wenshan District; after the victim withdrew TWD 100,000 from the ATM they pepper-sprayed his face and eyes, snatched the cash and fled separately. Both unemployed men, with no criminal record and holding no cryptocurrency, were arrested in Sanchong six hours later with part of the loot recovered. |
| March 14 2026 |
Woman |
Taninges, Haute-Savoie, France |
Two masked men broke into a woman's home then attempted to abduct her in her own car to extort cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| March 16 2026 |
Crypto company CEO |
Loire-Atlantique, France |
Armed men broke into the home of a middle-aged crypto company CEO near Nantes, struck him in the head and were driven off by the alarm system. (original link) |
| March 16 2026 |
Canadian businessman |
Madrid, Spain |
Three Serbs kidnap a Canadian millionaire in cryptocurrencies on the fashionable street of Madrid. (original link) |
| March 19 2026 |
Rahul and Dinesh |
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India |
Two Jaipur IT company executives were lured near a temple under the pretext of a USDT investment and abducted by six to seven masked men; the kidnappers used the victims' phones to demand an INR 1 crore ransom from their families. Tracked all night via the rental vehicle's GPS and CCTV, they abandoned the victims in the Galta forest around 5:30 a.m. after about eleven hours of captivity; police said the kidnappers were known to the victims and linked the case to a financial dispute. |
| March 20 2026 |
A woman |
Luzhu, Taoyuan, Taiwan |
A woman lured by a high-yield crypto investment showed up with TWD 930,000 in cash in Luzhu District (Taoyuan) for a face-to-face exchange with a purported broker; a young collector snatched the money and fled on an unplated scooter. Spotted via the CCTV network, he was arrested the next day and jailed for fraud and snatch theft, but the funds were not recovered. |
| March 23 2026 |
57 y/o woman |
Péchabou, Haute-Garonne, France |
Violent kidnapping resulting in the transfer of €68,000. (original link) |
| March 27 2026 |
A resident of Saint-Paul |
Saint-Paul, near Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France |
At dawn on March 27 2026 in Saint-Paul (Haute-Vienne), two masked armed individuals attacked a resident outside his home, forced him inside and beat him; realizing he was about to be tied up he escaped through a window, and the attackers fled on foot after striking a witness, taking nothing. The gendarmerie said the three suspects had 'carefully planned their action' and 'were looking for cryptocurrency'; the 22-year-old was sentenced on May 29 2026 to 10 years without parole, a 17-year-old to 27 months, with the third still to be tried. |
| March 29 2026 |
23 y/o man |
Boulogne-Billancourt, France |
Four young individuals, aged 21 to 24, are suspected of attempting to attack a young man. (original link) |
| March 31 2026 |
25 y/o woman |
Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France |
A 25-year-old woman was kidnapped and held hostage by two men for cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| April 2026 |
A family living in an isolated house |
Saint-Germain-l'Herm, France |
Around mid-April 2026, a family was violently attacked at their isolated home in Saint-Germain-l'Herm (Puy-de-Dôme), suffering rib and finger fractures; investigators are exploring a cryptocurrency-linked motive, but this remains a working hypothesis with neither the prosecutor's office nor the prefecture commenting. The number of assailants, the method and the loot were not disclosed, and no arrests have been confirmed. |
| April 1 2026 |
A resident of Ussuriysk |
Ussuriysk, Vygonnaya Street, Russia |
In spring 2026, five teenagers from Ussuriysk — convinced a local man held about RUB 37,000,000 in cryptocurrency — burst into his flat on the evening of April 1 2026, beat him repeatedly on the head and body and took some of his belongings. The information was false: he had no cryptocurrency. |
| April 2 2026 |
Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie |
Maidenhead, Berkshire, England |
Four men invade home, tie up family, demand crypto, fail to get any. (original link) |
| April 10 2026 |
Unidentified |
Anglet, France |
Four masked people invade home, held occupants, couldn't find crypto businessman target, left with jewelry. (original link) |
| April 11 2026 |
Family |
Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Hérault, France |
An individual held a family at gunpoint, and he got into a fight with the father. (original link) |
| April 13 2026 |
Mother and son |
Val-de-Marne, France |
Mother and her 10 years old child kidnapped (original link) |
| April 14 2026 |
Two delivery couriers |
Mytishchi, Moscow oblast, Russia |
In the Moscow region, four men aged 23 to 35 ordered a delivery of printer cartridges through an app, then posed as police officers at handover with fake IDs and a traumatic pistol; they beat the two couriers and forced them to transfer more than RUB 300,000 on the spot, then demanded another RUB 10,000,000 within a week to a crypto wallet they dictated. The four were arrested; fake badges, the pistol, phones and bank cards were seized, and pretrial detention was ordered. |
| April 17 2026 |
South Korean Man |
Malacca, Malaysia |
3 South Korean men abduct fellow South Korean, demand $10M USDT from his family, receive $3M. He was rescued by police and most of the ransom recovered (original link) |
| April 20 2026 |
Family |
Ploudalmézeau, Finistère, France |
Two men held three adults and two children hostage at their home, and managed to extort €700,000 in cryptocurrency from them. (original link) |
| April 22 2026 |
Unidentified |
Karachi, Pakistan |
A Karachi resident was abducted near Jinnah International Airport and allegedly forced at gunpoint to transfer $8,600 from his digital account. (original link) |
| April 24 2026 |
Ravi Meena |
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India |
Ravi Meena was put in contact with sellers offering USTC at a reduced price; two met him alone, noticed he had cash, and called in accomplices who seized INR 837,000 without ever delivering the cryptocurrency. Jaipur police arrested six men aged 22 to 25 on April 27 2026 after reviewing CCTV footage and seized the vehicle used; the suspects admitted tricking several people via social media under the guise of crypto deals. |
| April 29 2026 |
Ashley James O'Brien |
Koh Samui, Thailand |
Armed home invasion of tourist while he was sleeping, 70,000 GBP of cryptocurrency taken. (original link) |
| May 2026 |
A resident of Barequeçaba |
São Sebastião, Barequeçaba neighborhood, Brazil |
In the Barequeçaba neighborhood of São Sebastião, a resident was surprised by armed criminals at his home entrance, overpowered, held in private confinement and subjected to physical and psychological torture while the gang demanded transfers of his money and digital assets. On May 8 2026 the Civil Police executed four search and three arrest warrants in Topolândia: two men were arrested and BRL 1,585 with two phones seized, with a third suspect at large. |
| May 2026 |
At least 7 victims |
Germany |
Between October 2025 and May 2026, a shifting gang of ten people aged 17 to 26 lured at least seven victims aged 34 to 56 into rented apartments under the pretext of business meetings or an online purchase; victims were attacked by several assailants at once, tied up, threatened with a knife and sometimes injured, with loot including cash, jewelry, phones and cryptocurrencies. On September 10 2026 Hanover police searched ten locations and arrested four suspects, with the others still sought. |
| May 2026 |
Amit Kumar |
Chandigarh, India |
Amit Kumar, a computer parts dealer, was contacted on WhatsApp by a purported USDT trader and summoned to a Sector 42 parking lot over a deal worth ~INR 40 lakh; there, four to five men chased him when he sensed a trap, beat him and his associate, threatened him with a weapon and grabbed two bags containing INR 1,750,000 in cash and his identity papers, the car's plate having been disguised with tape. Tracing the plate and CCTV footage led to one suspect's arrest and recovery of INR 500,000; the investigation continues. |
| May 1 2026 |
An unidentified man |
Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands |
On May 1 2026 in Nieuw-Vennep, after a dispute over cryptocurrency investments, a man was forced at gunpoint into a car and held captive by two MMA-fighter brothers and a third accomplice; forced to undress and filmed while being degraded, he was threatened with mutilation and made transfers totaling about EUR 60,000, with EUR 25,000 more demanded under threat of releasing the video. The defense disputes the weapon and shears, contending the defendant, a victim of a 'kind of pyramid scheme', was trying to recover his own money. |
| May 6 2026 |
Couple |
Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, France |
Three armed men burst into a couple's home, tied them up, and beat them before searching the house for crypto. (original link) |
| May 11 2026 |
Unidentified |
Ottrott , Bas-Rhin, France |
A man was targeted in two kidnapping attempts after conducting cryptocurrency transactions in the region. (original link) |
| May 20 2026 |
Sébastien Borget's wife |
Seine-et-Marne, France |
5 hooded accomplices attempted to kidnap victim from her home, but were stopped by neighbors who heard her screams. 2 attackers were quickly arrested. (original link) |
| May 22 2026 |
25 y/o man |
Mulhouse, France |
Forced into a car, a 25-year-old man found himself blindfolded, his hands tied behind his back, and facing death threats. (original link) |
| June 5 2026 |
A grandmother living in Ételfay |
Ételfay, Somme, France |
On June 5 2026 in Ételfay (Somme), a resident returning from walking her grandson to the bus stop was surprised in her yard by three masked armed men who came to extort her cryptocurrencies, her granddaughter inside the house; the group fled without obtaining anything after being addressed in Ukrainian by the victim's mother-in-law, which made them suspicious. The victim had been identified through the data leak of the French crypto tax assistant Waltio (~50,000 users, January 2026) circulated on the darknet. |
| June 7 2026 |
Colombian Man |
Rome, Italy |
At about 2:30 a.m., a Colombian financial operator who converted cash into Bitcoin and USDT was lured by a fellow Colombian woman into a Rome B&B lobby where a gang led by a trafficker nicknamed 'il Presidente' beat him and forced him into a car; held seven hours tied hand and foot, threatened with a pistol and cut with a knife, he was forced to attempt transfers but secretly typed an emergency code that blocked all transactions, so no cryptocurrency was obtained. The attackers made off with EUR 8,900 in cash, gold chains (EUR 11,000), a Rolex (EUR 20,000) and a laptop; motive: a delay in converting EUR 7,000 entrusted to him by 'il Presidente'. |
| June 8 2026 |
Unidentified man living in an apartment in Coconut Creek |
Coconut Creek, Florida, United States |
On June 8 2026 in a Coconut Creek apartment, Sheendalie Joseph allegedly let Tevin Dean (31) in while the occupant was upstairs; Dean held the victim at gunpoint, stripped and bound him, held a kitchen knife to his head and threatened to kill him unless he unlocked his phone, then took his Coinbase passwords. The attackers sold his cryptocurrency, sent about USD 1,200 via Zelle to an account belonging to Joseph's son, took cards and phones (factory-reset and pawned) and deleted seven Ring camera clips, for a haul of more than USD 27,000 in total. |
| June 9 2026 |
Unidentified man |
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
A Bengaluru resident preparing to open a café needed to pay in crypto for imported equipment; put at ease by a first successful INR 2.5 lakh exchange with a WhatsApp USDT trading group member on June 8 2026, he was summoned the next evening to Sanjaynagar to convert INR 17.64 lakh, which was snatched without any USDT transferred, and he and his two companions were physically assaulted. Twelve suspects aged 20 to 40 were arrested and INR 13.9 lakh, 13 phones, a car and six two-wheelers recovered. |
| June 11 2026 |
Crypto Influencer |
Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil |
A crypto influencer was kidnapped out of his Porsche while on the street. He handed over USD 3,000 before escaping; one suspect was arrested. (original link) |
| June 13 2026 |
Family |
Marseille, France |
Four individuals attempted a home jacking in the 13th district of Marseille. (original link) |
| June 13 2026 |
Two Women |
Gignac-la-Nerthe, France |
Four individuals held two women hostage, including one in her sixties. They were rescued by the police while the attackers were in the middle of a transaction. (original link) |
| June 17 2026 |
Jan Sher Khan |
Karachi, Pakistan |
A vehicle struck Karachi crypto trader Jan Sher Khan off his motorcycle, after which men in plain clothes chased, beat and forced him into the car; four armed men took him to an unknown location, subjected him to violence and extorted passwords, fingerprints and account access to transfer funds and data, demanded dollars from his friends while posing as him, and took his iPhone before leaving him blindfolded near Bin Qasim before dawn. An FIR was registered on June 18; police are using CCTV footage to identify the suspects and vehicle. |
| June 24 2026 |
Couple |
Grivesnes, France |
Home invasion attempt against a couple wrongly believed to hold cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| June 26 2026 |
Couple |
Grivesnes, France |
The same group from June 24 broke into the couple's home, bound one victim and beat the other, filming it on Snapchat, still seeking cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| June 29 2026 |
Couple |
Queens, New York, United States |
Three armed men approached a couple in Forest Hills, demanding their crypto hardware wallet, but fled on foot empty-handed. (original link) |
| June 29 2026 |
Two foreign women |
Lahore, Pakistan |
Muhammad Raza Dar, grandson of Pakistan's deputy prime minister, had met two foreign women through a joint crypto investment (~USD 500,000) and brought them to Lahore on business visas; hours after landing on June 29 2026 they were held captive, gang-raped and threatened with death to hand over access to a computer containing crypto assets. The kidnappers demanded USD 1,500,000 in crypto via one victim's phone and received about USD 100,000 before a road accident near the airport allowed the women to escape; four suspects including Dar were arrested, a fifth remains at large, and the victims left Pakistan on July 3 2026. |
| July 2026 |
18 y/o man |
Moscow, Russia |
Four men aged 23 and 24 abducted an 18-year-old student from RUDN University and held him for four hours in a car after slipping him drugs, demanding 2 million rubles to "hush up the matter." The student was released after transferring 80,000 rubles to them in cryptocurrency, under threat of death if he spoke out. The four suspects — Zaour Kerimkhanov, Nikolai Bortsvadze, Dzhambulat Okuev and Alexander Ilinov (an associate of the rapper MACAN) — were arrested in July 2026 and are suspected of kidnapping and extortion. |
| July 2026 |
Unidentified man |
Tel Aviv, Israel |
A victim who had come to exchange about 100,000 shekels in cash for digital currencies went to Yohanan Hyrcanus Street in northern Tel Aviv and got into a waiting vehicle: he was pepper-sprayed inside it, forcibly pulled out of the vehicle, beaten and stripped of his money. Passers-by who witnessed the struggle alerted police and noted the license plate; a 42-year-old resident of Bnei Brak was arrested at the wheel of the vehicle and his detention was extended by three days by the Tel Aviv magistrate's court, while the second suspect remains at large. |
| July 2 2026 |
Artem Ivanov |
Pecatu, Bali, Indonesia |
Victim abducted after leaving work, held captive for 30 hours, and forced to hand over $5 million USD in cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| July 3 2026 |
18 y/o influencer |
Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil |
Two men posing as police kidnapped an 18-year-old influencer in São Paulo after learning he invested in cryptocurrencies. (original link) |
| July 7 2026 |
17 y/o man |
Moscow, Russia |
Vitcim came with friends to buy cryptocurrency with RUB 1,500,000 from a car sale, but the exchange office refused; strangers questioned him about the money's origin, and after the group got into a taxi the attackers pulled them out, pushed them into an underpass and snatched the bag of cash. Three suspects were arrested with part of the loot; prosecution carries up to 12 years under Article 161 §3. |
| July 13 2026 |
Family |
Taverny, Val-d’Oise, France |
A family held hostage and assaulted over €100 in cryptocurrency. (original link) |
| July 13 2026 |
A woman named Cai/Tsai |
Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan |
A 40-year-old woman who arranged via Instagram to exchange TWD 2,500,000 in cash for 70,000+ USDT met a self-presented crypto dealer on Taipei's Zhongxiao East Road; after taking the cash 'for verification' without delivering tokens, he grabbed the money and fled, but passers-by chased and restrained him as she held onto her backpack calling for help. The full amount was recovered and he was referred to the Taipei prosecutor's office for snatch theft and fraud. |
| July 15 2026 |
Dion Adam Timberlake |
Pattaya, Thailand |
British tourist robbed by acquaintances while watching World Cup game. (original link) |
| July 17 2026 |
Couple |
Grivesnes, France |
Same group from June 24 and June 26 attempted to break into the couple's home but was scared off by the alarm. (original link) |
| July 25 2026 |
Unidentified man |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
7 men, 3 of them Canadian military, abducted a cryptocurrency holder but released him after failing to gain access to his funds. (original link) |
| July 21 2026 |
Dilip Gokaldas Majethiya |
Gandhidham, Gujarat, India |
On July 21 2026, transporter Dilip Majethiya was lured from his Gandhidham office by an acquaintance under the pretext of collecting a debt, taken to a house, tied up, beaten and threatened with a knife while the kidnappers demanded INR 20 lakh; in a video call to his brother in Dubai they showed the abuse, threatened to kill the victim and sent a QR code, and the brother transferred about 584,000 USDT (~INR 5.55 crore). Dilip was released unaware of the larger ransom; seven accused including the alleged mastermind were arrested, while three remain at large. |
| July 25 2026 |
Vladimir Yankov |
Bankya, Bulgaria |
A coffee and vending machine importer was attacked at his Bankya home by two hooded men who had waited and filmed around the house before his return from dinner; investigators say he was beaten and tortured for about three hours, then strangled, with the house cleaned with bleach and set on fire and his body found burned. Theft of as much as EUR 9,000,000 in BTC is the main line of investigation, as the perpetrators left behind over EUR 50,000 in cash and gold bars in an open safe plus his watch collection. |
| July 28 2026 |
Mir Raza Ali |
Karachi, Pakistan |
Mir Raza Ali, 25, owner of a dessert shop and a Binance futures trader for four years, disappeared on July 28 2026 from Karachi's PECHS neighborhood; his body was found the next day in bushes near a wedding hall, killed by gunshot, with a second autopsy concluding he had been tortured before being shot and ruling out the initial suicide theory. The cyber crime agency obtained six months of Binance data and the victim's trading activity is central to the investigation, but no crypto motive has been established and no charges filed. |
| August 3 2026 |
Woman |
Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Yvelines, France |
Three individuals attempt to break into the home of a business owner who held crypto. (original link) |
| August 7 2026 |
Abhay Tiwari |
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India |
Six men gained Abhay Tiwari's trust through WhatsApp calls promising 6,000-7,000 USDT — even making him a small real transfer — then summoned him with INR 700,000 in cash near Saket Square in Indore; under the pretext of counting the money, accomplices posing as Crime Branch officers beat him and took the cash. Six suspects, including a lawyer, were arrested within 36 hours and part of the money recovered; a seventh remains wanted. |
| August 11 2026 |
Couple |
Rion-des-Landes, France |
A couple was sequestered at home around and kidnapped for their bitcoin. (original link) |
| August 22 2026 |
Family |
Vern-sur-Seiche, Ille-et-Vilaine, France |
A family held hostage by mistake in a crypto-related case. (original link) |
| August 24 2026 |
47 y/o man |
Jouy-en-Josas, France |
Three criminals held a man hostage in his house to demand €6 million in cryptocurrency. He escaped after 2 hours. (original link) |
| August 29 2026 |
Family |
Alès, Gard, France |
Two armed individuals held a couple and their toddler hostage in their home, attempting to extort cryptocurrency. The police, alerted by neighbors, forced them to flee. (original link) |
| September 2026 |
A Dutch national |
Cartagena, Colombia |
According to a single unconfirmed account, a Dutch national met a woman presenting herself as 'Maria Jose' on Bumble in Cartagena; during a second date at an apartment he lost consciousness after drinks and a massage, waking to find she had disappeared with his phone (holding his authenticator and password manager) and bank card, and 0.38 BTC (~USD 25,000) had been transferred. No toxicology report, police confirmation or charges are public; the case is known only from the sole testimony of the victim as relayed by a crypto blog. |
| September 2026 |
Couple |
Saint-Juery, Tarn, France |
In early September 2026 at around 3 a.m., two armed, masked and gloved men entered through the garage of a 22-year-old game developer's house in Saint-Juery, threatened him with a firearm, struck him on the head with its butt and demanded 'your wallet', unlocking his phone with facial recognition. The victim jumped on one of them and set off a tear gas canister, driving them away with nothing obtained; he believes his personal data leaked in the France Connect hack. |
| September 1 2026 |
Family and domestic worker |
Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico |
A family and their domestic worker were killed at home by two men seeking a hardware wallet holding around $118,000 USD in bitcoin. (original link) |
| September 3 2026 |
24 y/o medical student |
Las Pinas City, Philippines |
On the night of September 3 2026, a 24-year-old Indian medical student was abducted from his Las Piñas apartment by five Indian classmates who wanted to use his crypto wallet account for criminal activity and held him captive after he refused; a PHP 250,000 ransom was demanded from his brother, who reported the disappearance, and the family wired INR 80,000 (~PHP 52,500) then deposited PHP 150,000 at an ATM. The victim was released on September 5 and the five suspects were arrested as they tried to retrieve the money. |
| September 4 2026 |
Akhtaruzzaman Shakil |
Chattogram, Bangladesh |
USD 10,864 transferred from Binance (12,500 "Binance dollars" according to Prothom Alo) + about BDT 4.8 lakh (ATM withdrawal and mobile payment); BDT 18 lakh in total according to the complaints — On the morning of 4 September 2026, a team of plainclothes officers of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police, led by Assistant Commissioner Shariful Alam (LIC interception cell), picked up trader Akhtaruzzaman Shakil and his friend Mansur Ali at a residence in Halishahar and took them to the LIC offices at CMP headquarters. The officers, who knew Shakil's phone held substantial cryptocurrency on Binance, threatened to implicate him in a gambling case and to publish his private photos; after demanding BDT 10 million, they forced him to transfer about USD 10,864 from his Binance account in three transactions, then to withdraw money at an ATM and through a mobile payment app. |
| September 5 2026 |
Unidentified |
Los Angeles, United States |
Near 888 S. Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles, two masked armed men robbed a person of jewelry and cryptocurrency, wounding them in the head before fleeing; an ambulance was called and no arrest has been announced. The exact circumstances (a P2P exchange meeting or an ambush near a residence) are not established by police. |
| September 5 2026 |
Unidentified |
San Jose, California, United States |
Two men posing as delivery workers came to the door of a south San Jose house around 9:30 p.m. on September 5 2026; one, wearing a ski mask, brandished a firearm, which the resident saw on his security camera, and as the door was not opened they drove off before police arrived. Police say the pair targeted people known to hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and is linked to other similar incidents, including in Atherton. |
| September 6 2026 |
Mother and son |
Nice, France |
A mother and her son held captive and a cryptocurrency account worth $25,000 stolen. (original link) |
| September 16 2026 |
30 y/o man |
Incheon, South Korea |
Two men in their forties lured a man in his thirties to an Incheon office building with a face-to-face crypto deal presented as a fee saver, gave him a drink that probably contained a drug and, once he lost consciousness, fled with the KRW 35,000,000 in cash he had prepared (KRW 5,500,000 later recovered). The victim woke about five hours later in his car and reported the robbery. |
| September 19 2026 |
Family |
Vendin-le-Vieil, France |
A couple and their 2 children, aged 8 and 12, were kidnapped and assaulted. Father works in crypto industry, was forced to transfer 40,000 EUR. (original link) |
| September 29 2026 |
Couple |
Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Hérault, France |
A couple was targeted by 3 individuals for the second time in 6 months. (original link) |
| September 30 2026 |
Staff and customers of a cryptocurrency exchange shop |
Montevideo, Uruguay |
Unknown (no cash found; personal belongings of two people taken, not itemised) — On Wednesday 30 September 2026 at around 5 pm, two men who arrived on a motorcycle, faces covered and wearing helmets and gloves, one of them dressed as a state-school pupil (white smock and blue bow), entered a cryptocurrency buying and selling shop on Bulevar Artigas near Maldonado (Cordon neighbourhood) through a neighbouring business, as the shop's grilles were closed. At gunpoint they demanded money from staff and customers; since the company keeps no cash, they took the personal belongings of two people present and left on the motorcycle. |
| October 6 2026 |
Unidentified |
Nong Prue, Pattaya, Thailand |
Three armed robbers stormed a luxury home, taking cash and Rolex watches before forcing a foreign victim to transfer cryptocurrency worth US$820,000. (original link) |
