[{"id":1,"date":"December 29, 2014","date_sort":"2014-12-29","date_precision":"day","year":2014,"victim":"Hal Finney","location":"Santa Barbara , California","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin developer SWATted after months of harrassment & extortion","summary":"Hal Finney, a cryptography expert and one of the first bitcoin users, was swatted at his home in Santa Barbara, California, in 2014, while in the final stages of a five-year illness with Lou Gehrig's disease. For a year an unidentified caller had been demanding 1,000 bitcoin, worth more than $400,000 at the time. The caller then phoned 911 from a spoofed number, said he had murdered two people and was going to kill himself. Police surrounded the house with a helicopter overhead and ordered his wife Fran out onto the lawn, where Finney waited for half an hour with only his ventilator. Nobody was held or hurt and nothing is reported paid. The caller rang the home nine more times in the following two months, threatening to assault family members and expose their personal information. Finney died in August. His wife said FBI agents believed he was one of several people extorted by the same caller, who had not been caught.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Remote, no contact"],"attack":["Extortion without detention","Swatting"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":400000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.wired.com/2014/12/finney-swat/"]},{"id":2,"date":"November 3, 2015","date_sort":"2015-11-03","date_precision":"day","year":2015,"victim":"Village Smoke Shop, Juniper Street, Midtown Atlanta","location":"Atlanta, Georgia","country":"USA","description":"BTM thieves strike smoke shop, fire gun","summary":"On 3 November 2015, at about 10:45 pm, robbers stole the Lamassu bitcoin ATM from the Village Smoke Shop on Juniper Street in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The suspects walked in, went straight to the machine, which was bolted to a table, and struggled to remove it. When employees confronted them, one robber drew a handgun and fired a round into the floor. They left through the back of the building, where a red Chevrolet Cavalier was waiting in the alley; the police report notes two more suspects in the car. Nobody was injured. A shop employee said two people had come in the week before, asked questions about the machine and later stolen a wallet from the office. Police said the machine held about US$2,000 because it had recently been emptied, and that a Lamassu unit is valued at US$7,000. Police said they had no leads.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"shop employees who confronted the robbers"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":2000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/stupidity-or-greed-why-steal-bitcoin-atm"]},{"id":3,"date":"January 22, 2015","date_sort":"2015-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2015,"victim":"Martin Wismeijer","location":"Amsterdam, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Thieves steal 2 bitcoin ATMs","summary":"Two of the six bitcoin ATMs then in Amsterdam were stolen in break-ins over four weeks, reported in January 2015. At the Thai restaurant Warie's Thai Food on Rozengracht, thieves forced the door and removed a BitAccess machine valued at approximately 8,700 euros. At the café 't Hofje van Wijs on Zeedijk, burglars forced their way in at 6:55 am and went for the safe, the cash register and a General Bytes machine valued at around 2,600 euros, owned by Mr. Bitcoin, the ATM collective of Martin Wismeijer. Nobody is described as present at either venue. The cash inside the machines went with them; no figure is given. Wismeijer said the machines had been disabled remotely and held no bitcoin, and that the cash was probably what the thieves wanted. The restaurant owners went to the police and the thefts were kept quiet during the investigation. No trace of the thieves was found.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bitcoinist.com/two-bitcoin-atms-stolen-amsterdam/"]},{"id":4,"date":"February, 2015","date_sort":"2015-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2015,"victim":"Dean Katz","location":"Queens, New York","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin trader robbed of $12,000 at gunpoint","summary":"Dean Katz, who bought and sold bitcoin in person around New York, was robbed at gunpoint in Queens in February 2015. A man who had heard of his service online or through a referral phoned him and asked to meet at a secure location in Queens, saying he wanted to gamble during the Super Bowl. When the man arrived he held Katz up at gunpoint and forced him to transfer $8,500 worth of bitcoin. He then took $3,500 in cash and left, a total of $12,000. No injury to Katz is described. Katz reported the robbery to the police and no arrest is reported. He said other people who trade bitcoin in person had told him of similar incidents, some of them physical robberies and others involving counterfeit money.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":12000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["http://observer.com/2015/02/bitcoin-crime-wave-breaks-out-in-nyc/"]},{"id":5,"date":"May 27, 2015","date_sort":"2015-05-27","date_precision":"day","year":2015,"victim":"28-year-old man, unnamed","location":"Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York","country":"USA","description":"A 28-year-old man who had advertised bitcoins for sale on Craigslist was robbed at gunpoint at a car in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and made to transfer $1,100 worth of bitcoin. The robbers also took his cellphone and drove off.","summary":"A 28-year-old man who had advertised bitcoins for sale on Craigslist was robbed at gunpoint in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, at around 11:30 am on 27 May 2015. According to police, he went to a street corner to meet the man who had answered his advert. The supposed buyer led him to a car to complete the sale, where another man in the back seat pulled a gun and ordered him to transfer the bitcoins. He sent $1,100 worth of bitcoin. The robbers then took his mobile phone and drove off, and he called 911. He was held under the gun until the transfer was made, and no physical violence or injury is reported. A police spokeswoman said on 5 June 2015 that the case was still under investigation and that no surveillance footage was available. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1100,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1100},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/05/new-york-city-man-robbed-at-gunpoint-for-bitcoin.html"]},{"id":6,"date":"November 16, 2015","date_sort":"2015-11-16","date_precision":"day","year":2015,"victim":"Robert Nederhoed","location":"Delft, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Thieves steal bitcoin ATM containing 2,000 EUR","summary":"Thieves stole a bitcoin exchange machine from the café De Waag on the Markt in Delft, Netherlands, during the night of Monday 16 November 2015. The machine belonged to Robert Nederhoed, a Delft entrepreneur and director of the supplier Bitmymoney. It weighed 50 kilos and was anchored to the floor and the wall. Nothing else was taken from the café, and Nederhoed said the burglars came only for the machine. Nobody is described as present and no weapon is reported. The machine held about 2,000 euros in banknotes, and Nederhoed put the cost of a replacement at about 4,000 euros. No cryptocurrency was lost. He offered a reward of 10 bitcoins for a tip leading to the machine and said he did not expect to install a new one. No arrest or recovery is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/dieven-stelen-2000-euro-uit-bitcoinautomaat-in-delft~a315113e/"]},{"id":7,"date":"July 11, 2016","date_sort":"2016-07-11","date_precision":"day","year":2016,"victim":"Tadas Kasputis","location":"Near a car wash on Kaunakiemio Street, Kaunas, Lithuania","country":"Lithuania","description":"Cryptocurrency executive kidnapped at car wash","summary":"A cryptocurrency trader reportedly identified as Tadas Kasputis, 29, was abducted near a car wash on Kaunakiemio Street in Kaunas, Lithuania, on 11 July 2016. Four local men are suspected of pushing him into a Ford Transit, restraining his hands and moving him to a second vehicle, where they covered his eyes with a cap and drove him around the Kaunas area until early morning. They allegedly threatened to gouge out his eyes, harm his children and burn his car. The men are suspected of pressing him to transfer 52 bitcoins (104,000 euros) and, when they failed to get his login details, of demanding 300,000 euros. They took a rucksack with his phone, computer and cash, a wristwatch worth 10,000 euros and a gold bracelet of similar value. How his detention ended is not reported.\n\nFour men were detained, and a court ordered one month's detention for three of them and 15 days for the fourth, on charges including unlawful deprivation of liberty, extortion and theft.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":52,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":27000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://kauno.diena.lt/naujienos/kaunas/nusikaltimai-ir-nelaimes/ne-bernvakario-pokstas-kaune-buvo-pagrobtas-bitkoinu-prekeivis-827044"]},{"id":8,"date":"July 25, 2016","date_sort":"2016-07-25","date_precision":"day","year":2016,"victim":"Steve Manos","location":"West Palm Beach, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin trader robbed of $28,000 at gunpoint","summary":"Steve Manos, 32, of Lake Worth, Florida, was robbed of $28,000 in cash at a bitcoin trade in West Palm Beach around midnight on 25 July 2016. According to a sheriff's arrest report, he met two men he had traded with several times before in the car park of a Boston Market on Military Trail. One got into the front passenger seat of his car and the other sat behind him. Manos handed over 28 bundles of $1,000 in a gift bag. The front passenger took out a laptop to finish the exchange, then pulled a knife and pressed it to Manos's chest. A struggle followed when the man in the back tried to grab Manos's gun from the driver's door pocket. The two ran with the money and drove off in an Acura; Manos chased them on foot. No injury is described. Deputies arrested Andre Allen, 34, the next day after linking a phone number to him and a photo lineup. He faces armed robbery, burglary and battery charges. The second man is not identified.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":28000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":28000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2016/07/27/boynton-beach-man-accused-of-robbing-28k-in-bitcoins-deal-deputies-say/"]},{"id":9,"date":"August 14, 2016","date_sort":"2016-08-14","date_precision":"day","year":2016,"victim":"Multiple","location":"North Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario","country":"Canada","description":"Police arrest teens in string of bitcoin-related robberies","summary":"Toronto police arrested three teenagers in August 2016 over a series of robberies of people who had posted adverts on Kijiji offering to pay cash for bitcoin. Police allege the suspects contacted the advertisers in north Scarborough, arranged by email and text to sell bitcoins they did not have, and robbed them of cash and other property at the meetings. Three robberies are tied to the three arrested. In the first, in February, the person robbed was also stabbed twice and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Nobody is described as being held. No cryptocurrency changed hands and no amount is reported for the cash taken. The three arrested, males aged 16 and 17 from Scarborough, were detained near Neilson Road and Finch Avenue. Police said they were looking for two or three more teenage suspects.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":true,"detail":"advertisers robbed at three separate meetings"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.toronto.com/news-story/6810325-toronto-police-arrest-teens-in-string-of-bitcoin-related-robberies/"]},{"id":10,"date":"November 6, 2016","date_sort":"2016-11-06","date_precision":"day","year":2016,"victim":"Tivoli Brasserie","location":"Oudenbosch, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Dutch Bitcoin ATM Owner Laughs at Thieves Who Took His Machine","summary":"Thieves stole the Lamassu bitcoin ATM from the Tivoli Brasserie in Oudenbosch, Netherlands, in November 2016 by lifting it and carrying it away. The machine had operated there since 2014 and was run by Byecoin, whose owner is Herman Vissia. It weighs around 120 kg, and Vissia said he was certain three or more people took part. They took nothing else. Nobody is described as present and no weapon is reported. Vissia said the thieves would have had to break the machine apart to get at its contents, and that bitcoins do not come out of it. Customers fed banknotes into the machine, so cash may have been the aim; no figure is reported for the cash or the machine. No arrest or recovery is reported. Vissia said the replacement would carry a sign saying there are no bitcoins inside.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://web.archive.org/web/20190510113124/https://bitsonline.com/bitcoin-atm-stolen-netherlands/"]},{"id":11,"date":"February 16, 2017","date_sort":"2017-02-16","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Josoj","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Description of robbery during Localbitcoins trade with Bitcoin Uncensored interview and the robber's side of the story.","summary":"A person known as Josoj was reportedly robbed during a Localbitcoins trade in London, England, on 16 February 2017. No account is available of the meeting, the venue, the number of people involved, how the robbery was carried out or what was taken. Whether anyone was held, hurt or threatened with a weapon is unconfirmed, and nothing is known about police involvement, arrests or charges.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://go.ivoox.com/rf/17187103"]},{"id":12,"date":"April, 2017","date_sort":"2017-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"Rocelo Lopes' wife","location":"Florianopolis, Brazil","country":"Brazil","description":"After months of preparation, wife of crypto exchange owner was kidnapped for ransom. She was rescued 3 days later.","summary":"The 32-year-old wife of Rocelo Lopes, owner of the cryptocurrency trading company CoinBr, was kidnapped in Florianópolis, Brazil, in April 2017. At around 1:30 pm she was walking home after dropping her daughter at school when several people intercepted her and put her into a vehicle. She was taken to a house in Cangaíba, São Paulo. About two hours later the kidnappers phoned Lopes with a ransom demand and threatened to kill her. The first demand was around R$115 million in Zcash and Monero, later reduced to R$5 million; another account gives $40 million falling to $2 million. Nothing was paid. Lopes involved the police in secret. Police freed her uninjured on the Saturday morning, three days after she was taken. Police said the crime had been planned for at least nine months and suspected six men. One man was arrested at the house; another account says many were arrested and one was killed.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife of the exchange owner"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":115000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":40000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bitcoinworldtour.org/2017/05/11/victim-of-brazilian-bitcoin-ransom-kidnapping-plot-rescued/"]},{"id":13,"date":"March 14, 2017","date_sort":"2017-03-14","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"3 Indian Bitcoin traders","location":"Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"3 Emiratis pose as cops, kidnap victims, take them to a remote desert spot off Al Barsha and rob them of 25 BTC. Prosecution: the victims were conned into riding in the attackers' car after being told they were wanted by the authorities; a victim: a car intercepted them after 10pm and the suspects pulled them out of the car.","summary":"Three Indian bitcoin traders were abducted and robbed of 25 bitcoins in Dubai on 14 March 2017. According to prosecution records, three Emirati men aged 19, 27 and 20 told the traders they were wanted by the authorities and got them into their car. One trader told the prosecutor that a car intercepted them after 10pm, and the suspects pulled them out and took their money and mobile phones. The traders were taken to a remote desert spot off Al Barsha, where one of their laptops was used to move 25 bitcoins to an account in Japan belonging to the 27-year-old. No weapon or injury is reported. The 19-year-old had posed as a security official to recruit one trader's driver, who kept him informed of the trader's movements.\n\nThe three Emiratis were charged with kidnap, impersonation and online misappropriation of the virtual currency. Four Indian accomplices were accused of possessing Dh250,000 of suspected illicit money. No verdict is reported.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three traders"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":25,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/crime/3-fake-dubai-cops-kidnap-traders-to-rob-bitcoins"]},{"id":14,"date":"June 18, 2017","date_sort":"2017-06-18","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Miyuki Noda","location":"JR Ogaki Station, Gifu, Japan","country":"Japan","description":"Woman killed by pressure to the neck (autopsy), body buried around June 20. In early July Nishida is believed to have posed as her online to obtain her bitcoin, valued at more than 100,000 yen.","summary":"Miyuki Noda, 53, of Nagoya, Japan, disappeared on 18 June 2017 after leaving a seminar in Kasugai City, Aichi, saying she was going to meet an acquaintance. That night she was seen getting into a vehicle registered to Ichiya Nishida, 20, at JR Ogaki Station in Gifu. Police said Nishida had met her at a seminar about virtual currencies, and they believe she was killed shortly after entering the vehicle. An autopsy found she died of respiratory failure caused by pressure on the neck. Around 20 June, Nishida and an 18-year-old boy are believed to have buried her body in a forest in Taga, Shiga. In early July Nishida is believed to have posed as Noda online to obtain her bitcoin, valued at more than 100,000 yen.\n\nPolice found her smartphone and bag in searches of his vehicle and home on 30 July and unearthed the body the next day. Both were arrested and prosecuted over the burial, which they admitted, and police later added charges of murder and robbery.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon","Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"JPY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan/nagoya/aichi-cops-accuse-pair-of-dumping-nagoya-womans-corpse-in-shiga/"]},{"id":15,"date":"September 4, 2017","date_sort":"2017-09-04","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Alexey Sherstne","location":"Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Man held and tortured for $50k in Bitcoins. He managed to send an SOS alert and take a picture of one of the attackers. They fled when they realized.","summary":"Alexey Sherstnev, a cryptocurrency trader and consultant in Kyiv, Ukraine, said he was held and beaten for about three hours on the evening of 4 September 2017. By his account, a man had contacted him asking for a cryptocurrency consultation and saying he knew an investor ready to put money into Bitcoin. A first meeting took place on 25 August. At the second meeting, in the Santa Muerte club on Yaroslaviv Val Street, three men threatened him and demanded his phone and the password to his Bitcoin wallet. When he tried to leave the room they grabbed him, beat him and took his phone. He said they threatened to kill him. They demanded a transfer of 10 to 12 bitcoins, valued at about $44,000 or nearly $50,000. Nothing is reported transferred. Sherstnev said he tricked the men into sending an SOS signal from his phone and photographed one of them. They left when they realised the alarm had been raised. He reported the attack to the police and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.obozrevatel.com/kiyany/crime/v-kieve-iz-parnya-vyibivali-bitcoin-na-summu-pochti-50-tyis-doll.htm"]},{"id":16,"date":"October 16, 2017","date_sort":"2017-10-16","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Jameson Lopp","location":"Durham, North Carolina","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin developer SWATted & extorted","summary":"Jameson Lopp, an engineer at BitGo and a participant in public Bitcoin debates, was swatted at his home in Durham, North Carolina, at around 9 am on 16 October 2017. An anonymous caller rang 911 with Lopp's address, claimed to have shot someone 15 times with an assault rifle, to be holding hostages and to have explosives by the front door, and demanded $60,000 or he would blow up the block. Police, a SWAT team, a mobile command post, a fire engine and paramedics attended and closed most of the neighbourhood. When officers approached, Lopp came out and told them the call was false. Nobody was hurt and nothing was paid. Lopp said the caller made no reference to his public debates and may have wanted to extort him, as had happened to other prominent Bitcoin figures. Durham police had not been able to trace the caller.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Remote, no contact"],"attack":["Swatting"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":60000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":60000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbs17.com/news/durham-man-says-enemies-called-911-to-report-false-hostage-situation/","https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/17/bitcoin-engineer-jameson-lopp-swatted-by-angry-crypto-fans/","https://cointelegraph.com/news/fork-wars-swat-team-targets-bitgos-lopp-in-suspected-bitcoin-troll","https://bitcoinist.com/bitgo-engineer-jameson-lopp-swatted-for-bitcoin-views/"]},{"id":18,"date":"October, 2017","date_sort":"2017-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"Multiple victims","location":"Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"\"Discount Bitcoin Bandits\" committed 5 robberies at gunpoint","summary":"Between October 2017 and February 2018, two East Hollywood residents robbed people in Los Angeles who had answered online notices offering bitcoin at a discount. According to court testimony, Precious Lanay Fitzgerald, 29, advertised the sales, met the buyers in person and took by force the cash they had brought. Lawillie Joshua Hall, 23, helped in two of the robberies and, according to prosecutors, used a handgun. Court testimony described five people robbed, and the charging documents said the pair stole $87,125 from six people. An infant was allegedly present during some of the robberies. Nobody is described as being held, and no cryptocurrency changed hands.\n\nBoth pleaded no contest to second-degree robbery. Fitzgerald admitted that a handgun was used and was expected to receive 10 years in state prison, with a restitution order of $85,715. Hall admitted possessing a handgun and was expected to receive four years, with restitution of $29,900.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":5,"at_least":true,"detail":"buyers who brought cash to meetings"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery","Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":87125,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":87125},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/press/042618_Discount_Bitcoin_Bandits_Charged_with_Robbing_Would-Be_Buyers.pdf"]},{"id":19,"date":"November 4, 2017","date_sort":"2017-11-04","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"New York, New York","country":"USA","description":"Lured by a friend into a fake Uber and held at gunpoint in a van for two hours while accomplices took his wallet from his apartment. $1.8M in ETH moved, most recovered.","summary":"A man who held Ether was kidnapped in New York on 4 November 2017. Prosecutors said his friend Louis Meza, 35, arranged a meeting and then pretended to order an Uber, luring him into a minivan in which one accomplice posed as the driver and another hid in the rear seats. When the man got in, the hidden accomplice produced what appeared to be a gun, which he allegedly said later was a BB gun, and demanded his keys and the memory stick tied to his Ether account. The man was held in the van for two hours with a hood over his head and driven around until he gave up the location of his 24-word passphrase. Meanwhile Meza and another accomplice broke into his apartment and took his digital wallet. Prosecutors said $1.8 million in Ether was moved to an account the men controlled, and most was recovered. The man escaped from the van and called 911.\n\nMeza pleaded guilty on 5 September 2018 to grand larceny and kidnapping and was expected to receive 10 years in prison. The other three pleaded not guilty in June 2018.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation","Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Burglary"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1800000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1800000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://nypost.com/2018/06/12/trio-of-crooks-busted-in-1-8m-cryptocurrency-heist/"]},{"id":20,"date":"November 15, 2017","date_sort":"2017-11-15","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Istanbul, Turkey","country":"Turkey","description":"Gang stole $2.83M in BTC from businessman","summary":"A businessman in the Merter district of Istanbul, Turkey, was robbed of 450 bitcoins worth $2.83 million, in a case reported in November 2017. According to reports, a gang of five people posing as police stopped his car and forced him at gunpoint to give up the passwords to his online banking accounts. How the bitcoins were moved is not reported, and no assault or injury is described. The businessman went to the police and filed a criminal complaint. Police located the gang members by examining security cameras in the area, and Turkey's cybercrimes police detained them. The investigation found that the same suspects had also stolen bitcoin mining devices from three people in the Esenler district. One suspect had reportedly been jailed for extortion and had fled. No charge or court outcome is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":450,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":2830000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2017/11/15/turkish-police-detain-gang-who-stole-bitcoins-worth-283m"]},{"id":21,"date":"December, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Reykjavik, Iceland","country":"Iceland","description":"600 Bitcoin ASICs stolen and Follow-up Story","summary":"A gang stole more than 600 bitcoin mining computers, valued at $2 million, from a mining facility in Reykjavik, Iceland; the theft is dated to December 2017 or January 2018. It was the last of three heists by the same gang. The gang befriended and recruited a security guard at the facility, who knew the codes, the camera positions and the ways in and out. They arrived in jackets from the security company, used the codes to get in and loaded the computers into a truck by hand over a few hours. Nobody is described as present, held or threatened. Police never found the machines. Sindri Thor Stefansson, named as the mastermind, worked with six accomplices. He was arrested a few months later, walked out of a low-security open prison and flew to Stockholm, and was arrested again in Amsterdam in late April 2018. He was serving his sentence in September 2019, and those sentenced were ordered to pay damages to the companies robbed.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Let in by an insider","Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":2000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-heist-iceland-115114815.html"]},{"id":22,"date":"December 26, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-26","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Pavel Lerner","location":"Obolon district, Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Analyst at the EXMO exchange kidnapped outside his Kyiv office and released after a ransom of more than $1 million in bitcoin","summary":"Pavel Lerner, 40, an analyst and blockchain expert at the cryptocurrency exchange EXMO, was abducted on 26 December 2017 as he left his office in the Obolon district of Kyiv, Ukraine. EXMO said he was taken by unknown masked people. One report said six armed men in dark clothing and balaclavas pushed him into a minibus with stolen number plates; another said he was dragged into a black Mercedes-Benz. Where he was held is not reported. An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister said the kidnappers released him after receiving more than $1 million in bitcoins as ransom. It was unclear who paid. His release was reported on the Friday after the abduction. EXMO said he was safe and had not been physically harmed but was under major stress, and that his work did not involve access to users' funds. Kyiv police opened a criminal investigation and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"exchange analyst"}],"approach":["Taken from the workplace"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42505261"]},{"id":23,"date":"September 2, 2018","date_sort":"2018-09-02","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"T.W. (Troy Woody Jr.), Eric Taylor and the girlfriend (Michelle or Tomi Masters)","location":"Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"Home invasion by FBI impersonator who demanded laptop passwords to access cryptocurrency.","summary":"Troy Woody Jr., his friend Eric Taylor and his girlfriend, named as Michelle or Tomi Masters, were attacked at an apartment on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles at around 1:45 am on 2 September 2018. The account comes from a civil complaint Woody filed in December 2022 against Adam Iza and Enzo Zelocchi, with whom he and Taylor had dined the evening before. The complaint says Zelocchi called Taylor down to the lobby, where the two forced pills into his mouth, handcuffed and assaulted him and demanded to know where the electronic devices were. It says Iza then entered the apartment in a mask, showed a 9mm handgun, claimed to be an FBI agent, assaulted Woody and Masters, handcuffed Woody and, after Woody identified him, pulled the trigger; the gun did not fire. Woody claims the laptops and phones taken held approximately 7,100 bitcoin plus other cryptocurrency, about $284,500,000 at the filing date. He reported the attack to police on 4 September 2018. No arrest for the robbery is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"friend"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":7100,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":284500000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://krebsonsecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/woodyvzort.pdf"]},{"id":24,"date":"January 3, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-03","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"\"Dallas\"","location":"Milwaukee, Wisconsin","country":"USA","description":"Convicted felon accused of firing gun inside downtown Milwaukee condo during Bitcoin sale","summary":"A man known in a criminal complaint only as \"Dallas\" had a handgun pointed at him during an argument over a Bitcoin sale in a condo near Ogden and Jackson in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Police put the confrontation on Saturday 30 December, and the accused first appeared in court on 4 January 2018. According to the complaint, a group of people were discussing the sale when Jonathan Royce, 28, of Billings, Montana, the would-be buyer, did not want to complete it and Dallas urged him to. As the argument escalated, Royce allegedly pulled out a silver handgun and pointed it at Dallas. A witness who had come to sell Royce the Bitcoin ran and heard a shot as he left. A bullet strike was found on a stove vent. Nobody was hit or held, and nothing was taken. Royce was arrested beside a Subaru in which police found a .32 calibre handgun. He was charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety and pleaded not guilty on 10 January.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man arguing for the sale, gun pointed at him"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["No label fits"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/north-dakota-man-arrested-in-mke-after-allegedly-firing-gun-during-bitcoin-transaction-gone-wrong"]},{"id":25,"date":"January 14, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Pavel Nyashin","location":"Leningrad Oblast, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Masked men tied and beat him at home and took a safe holding 24 million rubles ($425,000 per Cointelegraph) in cash and documents. No crypto transfer reported.","summary":"Pavel Nyashin, 23, a Russian cryptocurrency investor and blogger from St. Petersburg, was attacked and robbed at his home in Leningrad Oblast on the night of 14 January 2018. He had spoken about his wealth online and at meetings of bloggers, and one account says he ran a YouTube channel on crypto trading with almost 15,000 subscribers. A group of masked men tied him up and beat him, then took a safe containing cash and documents. Local media put the loss at 24 million rubles ($425,000). Nyashin said the men knew there was cash in the house. They also took the laptop he used for trading, and one account says they destroyed all the electronic equipment in the house and left in what appeared to be a Mercedes. No cryptocurrency transfer is reported; Nyashin had yet to find out whether his accounts had been hacked. No weapon is described, although a criminal case was opened for armed assault. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":24000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":425000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/russia-blogger-who-boasted-about-crypto-wealth-beaten-and-robbed-for-425k"]},{"id":26,"date":"January 15, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-15","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Maxsim Latsoka, 23, and Anna Nikurina, 28","location":"Mueang (Muang) district, Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Russian gang steals 100,000 Euros in BTC from young Russian couple","summary":"A young Russian couple, Maxsim Latsoka, 23, and Anna Nikurina, 28, were robbed in their condominium in Phuket, Thailand, on 15 January 2018. Their names are also given as Maxim Lastovka and Anna Nikulina. As they came home at 10pm, two Russian men pushed them into the room and said they were Interpol officers from Russia investigating Bitcoin irregularities. A hood was put over the man's head and a towel around the woman's. A third man then demanded the passwords to their notebook computer and their Bitcoin account, threatening to have them injected with drugs and handed to the Thai police; one account adds a threat to kill the man. They were held for five or six hours. No weapon or beating is reported. The loss is given as 100,000 euros in Bitcoin, nearly 4 million baht, or over $100,000. The couple reported the robbery two days later. Thai police tracked a stolen iPhone towards Malaysia and said an international arrest warrant had been issued.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend"}],"approach":["Forced entry","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":100000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://aseannow.com/topic/1020825-russian-gang-steal-bitcoin-worth-millions-from-young-russian-couple-in-phuket-condo-extortion/"]},{"id":27,"date":"January 18, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"____ Lee","location":"King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Bitcoin trader lured to bogus meeting and robbed of HK$1.4M","summary":"A 34-year-old Hong Kong bitcoin trader surnamed Lee was robbed of HK$1.4 million (US$180,000) in cash on King's Road, North Point, on 18 January 2018. He was contacted through WeChat that morning and, according to a police source, offered five bitcoin at a five per cent discount to the market price, to be paid in cash. He met two men at a Starbucks in Wan Chai at 4.30pm, but the trade was not completed. They said they wanted to trade more and set a second meeting at a McDonald's in North Point at 9.30pm. Lee arrived with a bag holding the cash and could not find them. At about 10pm one phoned to say they were lost and told him to go to the State Theatre Building nearby. Soon after he left, three masked men attacked him from behind, pushed him to the ground, took the bag and a mobile phone and fled on foot. Police said no weapon was used. Lee had minor hand and leg injuries. Police searched for five men and made no arrests.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1400000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":180000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2129665/hong-kong-bitcoin-trader-lured-bogus-meeting-and-robbed"]},{"id":28,"date":"January 23, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-23","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Five employees of a Bitcoin business on Concourse Gate, Ottawa, name not revealed","location":"Ottawa, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Failed armed robbery attempt of Canadian bitcoin exchange","summary":"Three men armed with handguns tried to rob a Bitcoin financial business on Concourse Gate in Ottawa, Canada, just before 11 am on 23 January 2018. Police said the men entered, took control of four employees and bound them. One employee was struck on the head with a gun and taken to hospital. The robbers asked the employees to make an outbound transaction from the exchange; no amount or coin is named. A fifth employee, who stayed unseen in an office, called the police, and the men fled with nothing. Officers saw one suspect run into a ravine north of Colonnade Road and arrested him later after a search involving tactical and dog units. The 19-year-old from Ottawa, named in one report as Jimmy St-Hilaire, was charged with offences including five counts each of robbery with a firearm, pointing a firearm and forcible confinement. Police were still looking for the other two men and for a person of interest who was inside the business when they arrived.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four bound employees"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thehackernews.com/2018/01/cryptocurrency-exchange-robbery.html"]},{"id":29,"date":"January 22, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Danny Aston and Amy Jay, plus a third occupant","location":"Moulsford, Oxfordshire, England","country":"UK","description":"Armed home invasion of Bitcoin trading firm owner","summary":"Four men in balaclavas forced their way into a converted barn in Moulsford, Oxfordshire, England, on the morning of 22 January 2018. It was the rented home of Danny Aston, 30, who ran a digital currency trading firm, and Amy Jay, 31, a fellow director, and was the firm's registered address. Police were called at about 9.40am. The raiders are reported to have kicked down the door. Police said they threatened two men and a woman inside with what appeared to be a firearm and demanded that one of them transfer bitcoins to another account. A woman was reportedly tied up, and one report said a baby was kept outside in a pram. One man was struck on the head, attended the John Radcliffe Hospital and was discharged. Police said the attempted bitcoin transfer failed and nothing was stolen. Thames Valley Police said the raid may have been targeted, investigated it as an aggravated burglary and had made no arrests.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend and co-director"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"third occupant, a man"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-raid-moulsford-transfer-failed-thieves-got-nothing-2018-2"]},{"id":30,"date":"January 29, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-29","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Cumming, Georgia","country":"USA","description":"Five men arrested over a planned robbery of a Forsyth County homeowner said to hold nearly $1 million in Bitcoin","summary":"Five men were arrested over a plan to rob a homeowner in Forsyth County, Georgia, USA, who was said by the sheriff's office to hold nearly $1 million in Bitcoin. The homeowner was never reached and nothing was taken. On 29 January 2018 narcotics detectives went to a local hotel on what they first thought was a drugs matter and found four men with zip ties, latex gloves, duct tape and bandanas. The four were released for lack of evidence. Further investigation that night linked them to the planned robbery, and detectives obtained arrest warrants. Trivette Adams, 20, and Michael McDermott, 18, were found on 30 January near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport trying to leave by plane; Adams was caught after a brief foot chase. Robert South, 21, and Matthew Schwartz, 18, flew to Chicago and were extradited. Justin Ellison, 20, was arrested on 11 May 2018. All five were charged with residential strong arm robbery and held without bond.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/five-arrested-in-plot-to-break-into-forsyth-county-home-to-steal-bitcoin/85-551507487"]},{"id":32,"date":"February 9, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-09","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Shailesh Bhatt","location":"Amreli, India","country":"India","description":"Police Officers Beat, Extorted BTC from Businessman","summary":"Shailesh Bhatt, a builder and businessman from Surat, India, was abducted and extorted on 9 February 2018; two accounts exist. In his complaint, Bhatt said he was summoned to the CBI office in Gandhinagar, beaten there and made to pay Rs 5 crore through a hawala trader, then abducted by police near a fuel station and taken to a farm, where he was beaten, threatened with death and forced to transfer 200 bitcoins worth Rs 13 crore; investigators said their initial inquiry had not confirmed the bitcoin payment. Trial reports say men posing as Central Bureau of Investigation agents lured him to a petrol station and held him at a farmhouse, where police officers threatened him at gunpoint. Those reports say the kidnappers demanded 176 BTC plus Rs 32 crore in cash, and that Bhatt sold 34 BTC and transferred about $150,000; the cash delivery fell through.\n\nA court in Ahmedabad sentenced 14 men to life imprisonment, among them 11 serving and former police officers and former legislator Nalin Kotadiya.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.theblock.co/post/368846/14-sentenced-to-life-imprisonment-in-indian-bitcoin-extortion-case-including-11-police-officers"]},{"id":33,"date":"February 21, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-21","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"____ Tai","location":"Taichung, Taiwan","country":"Taiwan","description":"Four men assault bitcoin seller & transfer 18 BTC","summary":"A bitcoin trader surnamed Tai was robbed of 18 bitcoins, worth 5 million Taiwanese dollars, in Taichung, Taiwan, in February 2018. Police said three men in their early twenties lured him to the city by pretending to want to buy bitcoins. After Tai showed proof of his bitcoins on his phone, the men assaulted him and a friend who was with him, then used the phone to transfer 18 bitcoins out of his account. Police said the men forced Tai to drink Kaoliang, a strong Taiwanese liquor, to pass the robbery off as a drunken row. No weapon is described. Officers arrived after a call about a dispute, saw bloodstains and detained one man at the scene. The other two fled and were arrested later, one on the outlying island of Kinmen. A fourth man, surnamed Shih and believed to be the mastermind, was also detained. Police described it as the first bitcoin robbery case in Taiwan.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"friend"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":18,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.arabnews.com/node/1251816/world"]},{"id":34,"date":"February 23, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-23","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Yury Mayorov","location":"Moscow, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Crypto Developer Beaten, Robbed Of 300 BTC","summary":"Yury Mayorov, creator of the cryptocurrency PRIZM, said he was seized on Isakovskogo Street in Moscow at 10:00 pm on 23 February 2018. By his account, four unknown men put him into a Mercedes and beat him as they drove around the city. They took $20,000 in cash that he had just exchanged for a trip to India, three iPhones and his laptop, which gave access to a crypto wallet holding 300 BTC, valued at a little over $3 million at the time. One report said that before releasing him the men gave him a pill and forced him to swallow it with vodka. He went to hospital as a result before he could report the attack to the police. No arrest or recovery is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":3000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-crypto-developer-beaten-robbed-of-300-btc-on-moscow-streets"]},{"id":35,"date":"February 23, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-23","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Moscow, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Crypto investor has face mutilated, robbed of $1M in BTC","summary":"An unnamed cryptocurrency investor was attacked in the southern district of Moscow, Russia, in an incident reported on 23 February 2018. According to a local report, a group of muggers stopped him in the street and demanded that he transfer his holdings. When he refused, they cut his face with a knife, and he then gave up around 100 BTC, worth approximately $1,020,000 at the time. He is not described as being restrained or taken anywhere. The number of attackers is not given and none is identified. The man was receiving medical attention while police tried to establish the sequence of events. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Mugging","Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":1020000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/moscow-man-mutilated-and-mugged-for-1-million-in-bitcoin-local-sources-report"]},{"id":38,"date":"March 22, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-22","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Clerk and Bitcoin ATM at a Chevron gas station","location":"Irving, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Two men sprayed the clerk of an Irving Chevron with bear spray, pried open the store's Bitcoin ATM with a crowbar and left with its cash containers.","summary":"Two men robbed the Bitcoin ATM at a Chevron petrol station in the 7200 block of North MacArthur Boulevard in Irving, Texas, at around 10 pm on 22 March 2018. Surveillance footage shows a man in a hoodie walk in and spray the clerk with bear deterrent, a pepper spray stronger than the kind sold for self-defence against people. A second man followed and handed him a crowbar. The first man prised open the machine while the second stood guard near the register and the clerk wiped his eyes. The clerk is not described as being bound or held. The pair left with the machine's cash containers and drove off in a grey or silver SUV. Police did not say how much money was taken, and no cryptocurrency was involved. Police described the suspects as men in their late 20s to early 30s. They remained at large, and Crime Stoppers offered $5,000 for their names.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"petrol station clerk"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[504],"sources":["https://www.fox4news.com/news/bitcoin-bandits-target-dallas-county-cryptocurrency-atms"]},{"id":39,"date":"April 8, 2018","date_sort":"2018-04-08","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Pang Joon Hau, plus the Singaporean broker he brought (not named)","location":"Singapore","country":"Singapore","description":"Man robbed of $365,000 in cash brought to buy bitcoin, no crypto taken","summary":"Pang Joon Hau, a Malaysian man believed to be in his 20s, was robbed of $365,000 in cash in Singapore on 8 April 2018. He had come to Singapore to buy Bitcoin with cash and had contacted a Singaporean broker. At Hotel 81 in Middle Road, where Pang was staying, the two met a man who claimed to have bitcoins to sell and another who posed as a broker. Police said that once the two men had confirmed Pang had the agreed sum, they assaulted him and his broker and left with the cash at around 11.40pm. No weapon or restraint is described, and no cryptocurrency was taken. The currency of the $365,000 is not stated.\n\nTwo 36-year-old men, Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad and Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope, were arrested on 9 and 10 April and charged with robbery with hurt. Abdul Rahman's former wife was charged with receiving stolen property valued at $50,300, including a Rolex watch worth $45,800. He is reported to have spent around $80,000 on luxury goods, and $271,000 had not been accounted for.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"broker"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":365000,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/two-bogus-bitcoin-brokers-charged-with-365000-cash-robbery-in-singapore"]},{"id":40,"date":"April 11, 2018","date_sort":"2018-04-11","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Ryan Rice","location":"Miami, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin buyer shoots robber in self defense","summary":"Ryan Rice shot a man who tried to grab a backpack of cash during a Bitcoin purchase in downtown Miami, Florida, on 11 April 2018. According to police, Rice and a companion had brought $30,000 in cash to buy $35,000 worth of Bitcoin, and the deal was set for a public place, a Whole Foods supermarket. An arrest report says Rice handed over the $30,000 inside his vehicle in the parking garage, with the Bitcoin to be sent over the internet. The seller said he was afraid to walk to his vehicle with so much money, and Rice and his companion agreed to escort him. In a stairwell, Marcarrous Clark appeared and grabbed at the backpack holding the cash. Rice drew a gun and warned him; the report says Clark charged at him and Rice fired. Clark was taken to hospital and charged with strong-arm attempted robbery. Police treated the shooting as self-defence and Rice was not charged. The seller was not identified, and whether the Bitcoin was sent is not reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"companion"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article208997064.html"]},{"id":41,"date":"April 25, 2018","date_sort":"2018-04-25","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"2 unidentified Asian brothers","location":"Al Muraqabbat, Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"Gang of 10 robbed two brothers of AED 7m ($1.9m) in cash who were looking to buy Bitcoin","summary":"Two Asian brothers who wanted to buy Bitcoin were robbed of AED 7 million ($1.9 million) in cash in the Al Muraqabbat area of Dubai on 25 April 2018. Dubai Police said a gang of 10 lured them to an office by claiming to have Bitcoin to sell. The gang's leader, a Gulf national, had obtained the key by telling a shop owner who had advertised his office and trade licence for sale that he wanted to buy them and asking to look the place over. Six gang members met the brothers inside while the rest waited outside. They assaulted the brothers, tied their hands, locked them in the room and left with the money; one report says the robbery was carried out at gunpoint. No Bitcoin was sold. Police identified the leader four hours after the robbery and arrested all 10 members within 48 hours. The cash was recovered and returned to the brothers.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"brother"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":7000000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":1900000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/banking-finance/395302-dubai-gang-steals-aed7m-in-bitcoin-scam"]},{"id":42,"date":"June 6, 2018","date_sort":"2018-06-06","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Unidentified 22-year-old","location":"Milan, Italy","country":"Italy","description":"Robbers attempt bitcoin purchase with counterfeit money, beat victims and fire gun, take 50,000 euros","summary":"A 22-year-old man selling Bitcoin for cash was attacked in a rented office on Viale Abruzzi in Milan, Italy, on 6 June 2018. He told police a Russian friend had put him in touch with two buyers. Some days earlier, in a bar, he had sold them 7 Bitcoin for 50,000 euros in a trial transaction. At the second meeting the buyers, a 33-year-old Serbian man and a 35-year-old Cuban man accompanied by a woman, showed another 45,000 euros in cash, checked and counted the notes and put them in an envelope. The seller grew suspicious and asked to see all the notes. When they refused, he closed his computer and tried to leave. The three attacked him, leaving him with a broken nose and facial injuries, and a shot was fired from what proved to be a blank pistol. No Bitcoin was transferred, but the woman escaped with the 50,000 euros from the first transaction. Police found the 45,000 euros of counterfeit cash in the men's car. The two men were arrested and the woman was not traced.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Theft by deception","Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/06/07/news/milano_truffa_bitcoin_soldi_falsi_milano_arresti-198392710/"]},{"id":43,"date":"June 13, 2018","date_sort":"2018-06-13","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"\"Synth\", Skycoin CEO, and his wife","location":"China","country":"China","description":"Home invasion of Skycoin architect resulted in theft of 18.88 BTC and 6,466 SKY","summary":"The chief executive of Skycoin, known as Synth, and his wife were held hostage in his home in China on 13 June 2018, according to a company blog post of 18 June. The post said nine people, allegedly members of Skycoin's own China-based marketing team, broke into the home and tried to steal funds and technical information. They held the couple against their will for six hours and threatened, beat and robbed them. The group took 18.88 Bitcoin and 6,466 skycoins, and the company credited wallet security measures with limiting the loss. An attempt to steal the design framework for the skycoin system failed. Skycoin said it had asked exchanges to freeze assets and that, according to the exchanges, the accounts holding the stolen skycoins had been frozen. No police involvement, arrest or charge is reported.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":18.88,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bitcoinist.com/skycoin-freezes-funds-staff-take-ceo-hostage/"]},{"id":44,"date":"June 19, 2018","date_sort":"2018-06-19","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Wels, Austria","country":"Austria","description":"Approximately 210,000 euros in cryptocurrency, plus jewellery, gold coins, electronic devices and designer clothing, taken by robbers posing as postmen","summary":"A cryptocurrency trader was robbed in his apartment in Wels, Austria, on 19 June 2018. His partner and their baby were at home. The robbers posed as parcel delivery workers to get in. They taped the trader to a chair and took his partner and the baby to the bedroom, where she was also tied up. Over an hour and a half they threatened the victims with a knife to obtain access codes to online exchanges. One report adds that the woman was dragged by her hair and that the men threatened to kidnap the baby. One robber transferred cryptocurrency worth 210,000 euros, and the group also took jewellery, gold coins and electronic devices.\n\nFive men stood trial in Wels for extortionate kidnapping, aggravated robbery, coercion and extortion. The alleged mastermind was a 21-year-old said to have planned the raid with his father, who was to be tried separately. Most of the five largely confessed and said they had taken it for a debt collection. No verdict is reported.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner and baby"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":210000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://de.cointelegraph.com/news/gericht-in-osterreich-beginnt-verfahren-gegen-krypto-rauberbande"]},{"id":46,"date":"September 7, 2018","date_sort":"2018-09-07","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Nicholas Truglia","location":"New York, New York","country":"USA","description":"Friends accused of torturing pal to steal his cryptocurrency","summary":"Nicholas Truglia, 27, said he was attacked in his apartment on West 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York, on 7 September 2018. According to a complaint by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Stephen Orso, 25, and three friends, David Leica, 19, Steven Dorn, 29, and Chris David, 25, escorted a drunk Truglia home at about 2:50 a.m., ransacked the flat and forced him to give up the login information for his cryptocurrency accounts. Orso allegedly held his head underwater in the bathtub, punched him in the stomach and threw hot wax on him. Truglia told police that a laptop, two mobile phones and a thumb drive holding his account information were missing; the complaint does not say whether any funds were stolen. All four men were charged with second-degree burglary and released without bail. Their lawyer said the accusations were false and that she had given prosecutors audio in which Truglia admits as much.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://nypost.com/2018/11/06/friends-accused-of-torturing-pal-to-steal-his-cryptocurrency/"]},{"id":48,"date":"November 16, 2018","date_sort":"2018-11-16","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Andrew ______","location":"Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa","country":"South Africa","description":"Bitcoin trader drugged, beaten, and tortured before transferring BTC to attackers","summary":"A Bitcoin trader identified only as Andrew, of Lanseria, South Africa, was kidnapped in Soweto, Johannesburg, on 16 November 2018. A man he had met on Facebook and later in person invited him to give a presentation at a private residence. When he arrived, someone came up behind him and knocked him out with a chemical-soaked cloth held to his face. He woke in a different house, surrounded by five people, who stripped him, assaulted him and burned him with a hot iron while demanding his account details. They also threatened to kill him. He transferred Bitcoin worth approximately 900,000 rand ($65,984) to them, and they took two mobile phones, two laptops and 3,000 rand in cash. They then dumped him blindfolded at the side of a road. He was later treated in intensive care for burns. No police investigation, arrest or charge was reported.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900000,"currency":"ZAR","usd_stated":65984},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/south-africa-man-tortured-for-bitcoins-in-intensive-care/"]},{"id":49,"date":"May 20, 2018","date_sort":"2018-05-20","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"13y old boy","location":"Witbank, Mpumalanga","country":"South Africa","description":"A 13-year-old boy was forced into a car near his home in Witbank and held for a few days. The kidnappers demanded a ransom in Bitcoin equivalent to R1.5m.","summary":"A 13-year-old boy was kidnapped near his home in Witbank, Mpumalanga, South Africa, on 20 May 2018 as he walked back from a nearby spaza shop with a friend. A neighbour's CCTV camera caught part of the daylight kidnapping and showed the boy being forced into a silver Toyota Corolla, which sped off. His parents went to the police station to report it and returned to find a ransom note in their yard demanding Bitcoin equivalent to R1.5m. The boy was reunited with his family unharmed a few days later. How his captivity ended was not stated, and police did not disclose whether any ransom was paid.\n\nAfter months of investigation by a police task team, two men were arrested, one in November in Germiston, Gauteng, and the second in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, on 30 December. Their ages are given as 30 and 31 or as both 37. Both appeared in court in January 2019 and were granted R1,000 bail each.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"13-year-old son"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1500000,"currency":"ZAR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[505],"sources":["https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-01-17-mpumalanga-police-arrest-two-bitcoin-kidnapping-suspects/"]},{"id":50,"date":"February 10, 2019","date_sort":"2019-02-10","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Bitcoin trader, identity withheld by police","location":"Drenthe, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Three robbers disguised as police entered his home, attacked him with a drill in front of his four-year-old daughter and threatened him with firearms during an hour-long ordeal, then fled in an escape vehicle. It is not believed any cryptocurrency was stolen.","summary":"A bitcoin trader was attacked at his home in Drenthe, the Netherlands, on 10 February 2019. Three robbers disguised as police entered the house looking for cryptocurrency and attacked him with a drill in front of his four-year-old daughter. They also threatened him with firearms. The ordeal lasted about an hour, after which the robbers fled in an escape vehicle. It is not believed that any cryptocurrency was stolen. Police did not reveal the man's identity. A spokesperson for Northern Netherlands Police said the investigation was continuing, and no arrest or charge was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"four-year-old daughter present throughout"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.the-independent.com/tech/bitcoin-robbery-torture-cryptocurrency-netherlands-a8807986.html"]},{"id":51,"date":"March 12, 2019","date_sort":"2019-03-12","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Staff of the Costcutter shop on St Leonard's Road","location":"Far Cotton, Northampton, England","country":"UK","description":"Two men went in, one held staff off with a machete while the other broke the Bitcoin machine off the wall, and they left on foot with it.","summary":"Three men robbed the Costcutter shop on St Leonard's Road in Far Cotton, Northampton, England, at around 8.30pm on Tuesday 12 March 2019. All three wore face coverings and gloves. One waited outside while the other two went in. One of the two threatened staff with a curved machete while the other used a sledgehammer to smash a Bitcoin machine, a device that turns cash into digital currency, off the shop wall. The men then left with the machine and walked away along Haines Road and Euston Road. Nobody was reported injured, and no figure was given for the cash or cryptocurrency involved. Northamptonshire Police appealed for witnesses and issued descriptions of the three men's clothing. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"shop staff threatened with a machete"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/masked-men-with-weapons-rob-northampton-shop-for-bitcoin-machine-73035"]},{"id":52,"date":"May 14, 2019","date_sort":"2019-05-14","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Man in his 40s who has worked with cryptocurrency for nearly ten years, worth over 100 million kroner per his company's accounts","location":"Oslo, Norway","country":"Norway","description":"Bitcoin millionaire escapes armed home invader by jumping off balcony","summary":"A man in his 40s who has worked with cryptocurrency for nearly ten years was attacked at his apartment in Oslo, Norway, on the afternoon of 14 May 2019. The accounts of his company, where he is listed as CEO, show he is worth over 100 million Norwegian kroner, and he had previously appeared in public because of his success with cryptocurrency. According to charges filed by the Oslo Public Prosecutor's Office, the doorbell rang and when he opened the door a man stood outside holding a sawn-off shotgun. The man forced his way in and said, \"Get down, or I'll shoot.\" The resident ran onto the balcony and jumped from the second floor, landing on the street. It is not known whether he was injured. Nothing was taken, and no demand for cryptocurrency or for any sum was reported. One man was charged; his lawyer said he did not admit guilt. The case was due in court on 17 and 18 October.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/bitcoin-millionaer-oppsokt-av-mann-med-hagle-hoppet-fra-balkongen/10828524/"]},{"id":53,"date":"June 30, 2019","date_sort":"2019-06-30","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Luftan Shaikh (19), Mohammad Shazad (36), Malang Shah (44)","location":"Jaipur, Rajasthan, India","country":"India","description":"Criminal Gang Abducts & Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands 80 BTC Ransom","summary":"Luftan Shaikh, 19, and Mohammad Shazad, 36, described by police as bitcoin traders, were kidnapped in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, in June 2019. They had been lured to the area by gang members who claimed to be selling bitcoins at a low price. A third man, Malang Shah, 44, was kidnapped two days later. Police said the gang demanded 80 bitcoin, worth 8 crore rupees ($1.2 million), for Shaikh and Shazad, and 10 lakh rupees ($15,000) from Shah's family. The three were held for 15 days in a high-rise flat, where police said they were beaten or tortured and threatened with death if the demands were not met. Nothing was reported paid.\n\nThe case broke when police arrested a man seen carrying a pistol after a 20-minute chase in Bhakrota, Jaipur. He told officers about the kidnapping and gave up the location of the building. The captivity ended when seven people linked to the gang were arrested in a police operation. Police seized guns and SUVs.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"two traders and a third man taken two days later"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":80,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":1200000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.newsweek.com/cryptocurrency-traders-abducted-tortured-india-criminal-gang-arrested-bitcoin-ransom-1449274"]},{"id":54,"date":"July 15, 2019","date_sort":"2019-07-15","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Bitcoin Exchange","location":"Sparkhill, Birmingham, England","country":"UK","description":"Masked raiders hold up Bitcoin Exchange in front of dozens of witnesses","summary":"A gang of masked men raided a Bitcoin exchange in Sparkhill, Birmingham, England, on 15 July 2019. Footage posted online showed the men ransacking the building as sirens sounded, while witnesses watched from outside. The thieves reportedly tried to pull out a Bitcoin ATM using a rope attached to their car. Seconds later the gang sped away in a waiting car. No member of staff was described as being inside or confronted, and no weapon was reported. West Midlands Police confirmed that nothing of value was stolen from the business. The owner, Adam Gramowski, said he believed the men were after the cash inside the machine. He said the machine holds no Bitcoin because the coins are sent directly from the company's server. Police opened an investigation, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/gang-of-masked-men-raid-bitcoin-embassy-in-birmingham"]},{"id":55,"date":"July 26, 2019","date_sort":"2019-07-26","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"30-year-old man","location":"Wels, Austria","country":"Austria","description":"Two masked men rang his office door late in the evening, forced him inside when he opened it and demanded money and cryptocurrency; he handed over cash and had to transfer cryptocurrency from his computer. They bound him with cable and duct tape and left him in the office; he freed himself and called police.","summary":"A 30-year-old man was robbed in his office in Wels, Upper Austria, late in the evening of 26 July 2019. Masked men rang the office door and, when he opened it, forced him inside. Armed with a pistol and a rubber truncheon, they demanded money and cryptocurrencies. He handed over cash and then had to transfer cryptocurrencies from his computer. The amount was not yet known. Two men then bound him with cable and duct tape and left him in the office. He later managed to free himself with great effort and called the police. He suffered shock, and no blow or injury was reported. The State Criminal Investigation Office, which said the attack followed the pattern of a home invasion, opened an investigation. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://ooe.orf.at/stories/3006096/"]},{"id":56,"date":"August 26, 2019","date_sort":"2019-08-26","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Abdul Shakoor","location":"Dehradun, India","country":"India","description":"Kingpin of Kerala bitcoin scam murdered in Dehradun","summary":"Abdul Shakoor, described by police as the kingpin of a bitcoin scam worth Rs 485 crore with roots in Kerala, died after being tortured in Dehradun, India, in August 2019. Police said he had allegedly collected the money from residents of Kerala to invest in cryptocurrency. After he allegedly suffered losses, investors began chasing his associates for their money and he left for Dehradun. He allegedly told the associates that his bitcoin account had been hacked. Police said the associates did not believe him, thought he still had hundreds of crores in the account, and came to Dehradun to get the password. When he refused, police said, they tortured him until he fell unconscious. They took him to two hospitals, where doctors declared him dead, and fled, leaving his body at a private hospital. Nothing was reported obtained. Five associates were arrested the next day, and police were searching for five more.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kingpin-of-bitcoin-scam-worth-rs-485-crore-murdered-by-associates-in-dehradun-police-2093504"]},{"id":57,"date":"November 19, 2019","date_sort":"2019-11-19","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Simply Delicious Food Market","location":"Vernon, British Columbia","country":"Canada","description":"Thieves break into BTM","summary":"Two masked men broke into Simply Delicious Food Market in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, at about 4 a.m. on Tuesday 19 November 2019 and stole cash from the bitcoin ATM inside. The store was closed and nobody was described as present. The owner, Troy Roland, said the men took nothing else and headed straight for the ATM without hesitation, as if they knew what they were doing. Police arrived 15 minutes after the alarm was triggered and just missed the thieves. A security camera caught at least one of their cars, a grey Nissan Sentra, driving away, and Roland said police were able to get its licence plate. The amount of cash stolen was not given, and no cryptocurrency was reported taken. No arrest was reported. Roland said the store would no longer keep the bitcoin ATM.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.castanet.net/cgi-bin2/stats/clickcounter.cgi?id=274789&cid=414202&region=700"]},{"id":58,"date":"October 31, 2018","date_sort":"2018-10-31","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Anne-Elisabeth Hagen","location":"Oslo, Norway","country":"Norway","description":"Wife of businessman kidnapped for ransom in MNR. Suspicion that the kidnapping was to cover a murder.","summary":"Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik Hagen, 68, disappeared from her home in Lorenskog, near Oslo, Norway, on 31 October 2018. She is the wife of Tom Hagen, a real estate investor and energy magnate with an estimated fortune of 1.7bn kroner. Police said a ransom note was found at the couple's home and that serious threats had been issued. The presumed abductors reportedly demanded 9m euros (8m pounds) in the cryptocurrency Monero. Police refused to confirm the sum and advised the family not to pay, and nothing was reported paid.\n\nIn January 2019 police said their main theory was that she had been kidnapped at her home. Their online contacts with the purported kidnappers were limited and produced no proof that she was alive or being held. In June 2019 police said their main hypothesis had changed: she had been killed, and the kidnapping may have been staged to disguise a murder. No suspect or arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":9000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/26/police-say-abducted-norwegian-woman-anne-elisabeth-hagen-probably-murdered?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1561567155"]},{"id":59,"date":"January ?, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Iroro Wisdom Ovie, father of two, PDP member","location":"Lucas area, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria","country":"Nigeria","description":"Father of 2 shot & killed by home invaders seeking $10,000 in bitcoin. Victim only had $400 in his wallet.","summary":"Iroro Wisdom Ovie, a father of two and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, was shot dead at his home in the Lucas area of Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria, in January 2020. A police source said a close friend of Ovie had told one of the suspects about $10,000 in Ovie's Bitcoin wallet and then contacted the others to plan a robbery. According to the suspects' confessions, they meant to take the $10,000 and found only $400 left. Ovie was beaten, and the attackers shot him twice when he tried to identify them while they were trying to open his account on his phone. They left with the phone. Days later they tried to sell it to a buyer, who contacted security operatives. Four suspects, including the friend, were arrested on 25 February 2020 with the help of an anti-cult group. One report said eight members of the Vikings confraternity were implicated and that one of those arrested was its leader in the area.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/4-arrested-over-killing-of-delta-pdp-member/"]},{"id":60,"date":"January 16, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-16","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"17 y/o trader","location":"Preston, Lancashire, England","country":"UK","description":"Trader lured to apartment, kidnapped, driven around in car trunk.","summary":"A 17-year-old cryptocurrency trader from the Preston area of Lancashire, England, was kidnapped on 16 January 2020. A court heard that his trading success was common knowledge. Tasmina Rhaman, 21, contacted him through a fake Snapchat profile, offered to help him access more funds and arranged to meet at an apartment in Winckley Square. When he returned from an errand, her 16-year-old cousin, who carried a machete, and Takudzwa Murombedzi, 20, were lying in wait. They forced him into a bathroom, restrained his hands, took his phone, put a pillow over his head and stuffed bin bags in his mouth. He was told he would be killed if he did not hand over 20,000 pounds and that his mother and younger brother would be hurt. He was then ordered into the boot of a Peugeot, driven around and let out in Chorley. No money was reported handed over.\n\nAll four defendants pleaded guilty. Murombedzi and the 16-year-old were sentenced to six years each and the driver, Albert Kahiya, 19, to four years. Rhaman was to be sentenced later.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/kidnapped-teen-crypto-trader-hid-25569752"]},{"id":61,"date":"January, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Mark Cheng Jin Quan","location":"Seized at a petrol kiosk on the way from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok; held at four places in forested areas and a hut in a paddy field; reported at Ongkharak Police Station, about 60 km from Bangkok, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Blockchain advisor kidnapped, held at gunpoint, extorted for $60,000 in bitcoin","summary":"Mark Cheng Jin Quan, 32, a Singaporean businessman, was kidnapped in Thailand in January 2020. He said Kim Lee Yao Wei, 31, a Singaporean acquaintance he knew through Bitcoin dealings, had persuaded him to travel there to negotiate a business deal. On the way from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok their private taxi stopped at a petrol kiosk at Lee's suggestion, where a group of masked men allegedly bundled both into a car. Cheng said he was blindfolded, beaten and drugged, and over the next 12 hours was taken to four locations in forested areas, where he was stripped, splashed with ice water and given electric shocks. The men demanded US$1 million in Bitcoin. He said he could give only 1.4 million baht (S$62,400) in Bitcoin and paid it. He said one man then held a gun against the back of his head, and that he grabbed the pistol and fled. A passer-by took him to Ongkharak Police Station.\n\nThai police said Lee was the alleged mastermind. He was arrested and charged with robbery, illegal detention, physical assault and illegal possession of firearms.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"taken":{"amount":1400000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/man-out-bail-cheating-charges-allegedly-kidnapped-thailand"]},{"id":62,"date":"January 21, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-21","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Mayfair Quick Mart","location":"Philadelphia, Pennsylvania","country":"USA","description":"2 men break into BTM, steal cash box","summary":"Two men broke into a \"Bitbox\" Bitcoin machine inside Mayfair Quick Mart, a store on the 7200 block of Frankford Avenue in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shortly before 6 a.m. on Tuesday 21 January 2020. Surveillance footage showed them prying the machine open with crowbars and taking the cash box from inside in a matter of seconds. A store employee called 911 and the men left in a white car. Nobody was confronted, threatened or injured. The men did not touch the conventional ATM within arm's reach. The amount in the cash box was not reported. The manager, Hashid Alsaidi, said the machine was not popular and he did not believe the pair got away with much. He said they looked like they knew what they were doing. Philadelphia police released the surveillance video and asked the public to help identify the two men.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/philadelphia-police-searching-for-2-suspects-who-broke-into-bitcoin-machine-stole-cash-box/"]},{"id":63,"date":"February 10, 2020","date_sort":"2020-02-10","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Unidentified couple","location":"Carlisle, England","country":"UK","description":"Home invaders force victims to create crypto exchange accounts","summary":"Two men were held at gunpoint in a house in Moorhouse Road, Carlisle, England, on 10 February 2020. Jordan Barrett, 23, and Ted Richards, 24, went in masked and armed with a knife and a starter pistol. Carlisle Crown Court heard that Barrett targeted the house because he believed a third man living there had been the driver in a collision that seriously injured his girlfriend. The pair took the two men's phones and forced them to unlock them, log into their online bank accounts and move money between the accounts. They then tried to deposit 3,500 pounds from one account to a cryptocurrency exchange, photographing the men holding up ID while trying to open accounts in their names. Police were alerted before the accounts could be authenticated. A games console and an iPhone were stolen, and Barrett fired the imitation firearm outside as a warning before the pair left.\n\nBoth admitted robbery and false imprisonment. Barrett was jailed for six years nine months and Richards for six years.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two men in the house"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-62879543"]},{"id":64,"date":"March 18, 2020","date_sort":"2020-03-18","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Unidentified man (the homeowner) and a woman in the home","location":"Blantyre, Scotland","country":"UK","description":"Home invader beats woman with Toblerone, forces victim to transfer his BTC","summary":"Three men entered a home in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 18 March 2020 and forced the homeowner to transfer his Bitcoin. A court heard that the man woke to find someone standing over him with a machete. Another of the men repeatedly struck a woman in the house on the head with a personalised Toblerone bar, and she was thrown into a bedroom. The three fled in the homeowner's Audi. The Bitcoin went to the account of a fourth man from Cambuslang, named as John Ross Rennie, 29, or John Ross D'Alfonso, 28. Prosecutors said he gave technical expertise on the transfer and was not at the robbery.\n\nThe fourth man was cleared of robbery and assault and convicted of reset, which means knowingly having something stolen and intending to keep it. He was given 150 hours of unpaid work and a six-month supervision order. The Crown later seized 109,601 pounds, the agreed value of 23.5 Bitcoin, under proceeds of crime legislation. The three men who entered the house were not reported caught.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman in the house"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":23.5,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5w5zyg979o"]},{"id":66,"date":"May 19, 2020","date_sort":"2020-05-19","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Exxon Gas Station","location":"East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania","country":"USA","description":"2 subjects pry open BTM in broad daylight","summary":"Two people pried open a Bitcoin ATM at an Exxon petrol station in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, on 19 May 2020. The break-in took place in broad daylight, and the two were described as getting in and out in seconds. Their target was the cash held in the machine. The amount was not disclosed. Nobody was described as held, threatened or hurt. There is no account of how the two got in, whether staff or customers were present, or what tools they used, and nothing is known about a police investigation, arrests or charges.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=277210370075309"]},{"id":67,"date":"May 18 to 24, 2020","date_sort":"2020-05-18","date_precision":"range","year":2020,"victim":"Residents of a family home in Irvington-on-Hudson","location":"Irvington-on-Hudson, Westchester County, NY","country":"USA","description":"Two men indicted for planning a night-time home-invasion robbery for cash and the code to what they believed was tens of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. No entry or contact took place.","summary":"Two men were charged with planning a night-time home-invasion robbery of a family in Irvington-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York. According to the indictment, Dominic Pineda, 21, of Manassas, Virginia, and Shon Morgan, 21, of Centreville, Virginia, took part in the plan from 18 May 2020 to 24 May 2020. US Attorney Damian Williams said the defendants allegedly planned to break into the family's home in the middle of the night, rob the residents of cash and force them to provide the code to what the defendants believed was tens of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. No entry into the home, confrontation or weapon was described, and nothing was taken. Both men were arrested in Virginia on 23 June, and the indictment was unsealed on 24 June. Each was charged with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, which carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/rivertowns/news/duo-planned-westchester-home-invasion-robbery-for-tens-of-millions-in-bitcoin-feds-say/836137/"]},{"id":68,"date":"June ?, 2020","date_sort":"2020-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Robert Ross","location":"","country":"UK","description":"Robert Ross, a Bitcoin trader from the United Kingdom, was robbed of approximately $800,000 in Bitcoin","summary":"Robert Ross, described as a Bitcoin trader from the United Kingdom, was robbed of approximately $800,000 in Bitcoin in June 2020. He had arranged to meet a buyer to sell the Bitcoin. When he arrived at the agreed location he was held at gunpoint and forced to transfer the funds to the attacker's wallet. No assault or injury was described. The attacker was later arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison. The place and day of the robbery, the attacker's name and the court that passed the sentence are not known.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":800000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":800000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://crypto.ro/en/news/crypto-theft-investment-blogger-robbed-of-bitcoin-holdings-in-bali/"]},{"id":69,"date":"2020","date_sort":"2020-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2020,"victim":"Male Freshman","location":"Canterbury, Kent, England","country":"UK","description":"Student robbed of bitcoin at knifepoint during first week at university.","summary":"A male student in his first week at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent, England, was robbed at knifepoint in his accommodation in 2020. His mother said he had been discussing cryptocurrency on campus with the first friend he made at university, a student from London, five days after starting his course. She alleges the friend then invited eight school friends over from East London. The group stormed his accommodation and demanded the security passwords to his financial apps, in an ordeal that lasted 20 minutes. They took Bitcoin worth 6,000 pounds at the time, 3,000 pounds of his grant money and a mobile phone. He phoned the police afterwards, and Kent Police said the robbery was reported about 45 minutes after it happened, when the offenders had left. Police said the case did not meet the evidential test, three suspects were refused charge and the investigation was dropped after eight months.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":9000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.the-sun.com/news/3729816/student-forced-bitcoin-knifepoint-cops/"]},{"id":70,"date":"October 1, 2020","date_sort":"2020-10-01","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Three serving SBU Cyber Department officers seized a crypto-trading businessman near a pub on Mykhailivska Street, Kyiv, beat him and held him until his wife transferred 7 BTC.","summary":"A Kyiv businessman who traded cryptocurrency on exchanges was seized on 1 October 2020 by three serving officers of the Cyber Department of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), according to the State Bureau of Investigation and a Kyiv court ruling. Investigators said the officers knew he held large funds. Near a pub on Mykhailivska Street, they used force to push him into a Volkswagen T5. They took his apartment keys and iPhone and obtained the phone passwords by threats. Two officers then entered his apartment and took two laptops and a tablet. He was driven to a forest. For about an hour and a half he was beaten with blunt objects. One officer demanded $200,000, which he refused. At the Shevchenkivskyi police department, where he was held with no record of detention, the demand was lowered to $80,000. He agreed and called his wife, who transferred 7 BTC.\n\nThe three officers were later notified of suspicion of offences including kidnapping, robbery with violence and theft of cryptocurrency. They were placed under house arrest.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":200000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":200000},"taken":{"amount":7,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":80000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://forklog.com/en/three-sbu-officers-face-charges-over-kidnapping-of-a-businessman-and-extortion-of-7-btc/"]},{"id":71,"date":"October 7, 2020","date_sort":"2020-10-07","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Mike's Produce (host of the ATM); L&D Meats and Deli next door lost its front wall","location":"Kelowna, BC, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Botched Bitcoin theft destroys deli","summary":"Two people broke into Mike's Produce, a store at the Guisachan Village Centre on Gordon Drive in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, just after 3 a.m. on 7 October 2020 and allegedly tried to steal the Bitcoin ATM from its back wall. The store was closed and nobody was present. A store employee said that when the two could not get the machine out they fled, backing their white GMC Sierra pick-up truck into L&D Meats and Deli next door and smashing through its front wall. Another account says the truck was rammed repeatedly into the entrance to reach the machine from the deli side of the shared wall. The truck's tailgate was left at the scene. Kelowna RCMP said the damage would cost thousands of dollars to repair and that nothing appeared to have been taken, as the suspects failed to remove the ATM. Police were looking for the two suspects, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/bungled-bitcoin-atm-theft-in-meatspace-won-t-ruin-thanksgiving"]},{"id":72,"date":"October 22, 2020","date_sort":"2020-10-22","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Riga, Latvia","country":"Latvia","description":"Man arrested for planning kidnapping and killing owners of cryptocurrencies","summary":"Latvian police arrested a Riga resident, born in 1989, who was planning to kidnap and kill two people for their cryptocurrency. In September 2020 officers learned that the man intended to kidnap a man, force him to transfer his cryptocurrency and then kill him. Under surveillance, police established that he was tracking the man's routes and daily routine and had chosen a place for the abduction and a place to hold him. He had also prepared torture tools to use if the man refused to give the passwords to his cryptocurrency wallets. The anti-terrorist squad Omega detained him on 7 October in Riga as he lay in wait for the man. Police later learned that he planned a similar abduction and murder of a second person involved in cryptocurrency, and that he aimed to obtain about 500,000 euros through the two. Nobody was harmed and nothing was taken. He fully confessed, and a court ordered him held for the duration of the investigation into preparation of kidnapping.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://forklog.com/news/zhitel-latvii-planiroval-ubijstvo-vladeltsev-kriptovalyut-na-polmilliona-evro"]},{"id":73,"date":"December ?, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"4 Ukrainian men attack Bitcoin buyer with deodorant. Victims scream for help, attackers flee.","summary":"An investor who wanted to buy bitcoin and two of his friends were attacked in an office in the Al Barsha area of Dubai, UAE. The attack is dated December 2020, though one account places it in August 2019. A 33-year-old Egyptian man who had been asked to join the purchase said he carried Dh500,000 in cash in a bag. He said a man told them to wait for the bitcoin seller and that, when the investor said they would leave, the door opened and four men came in, attacked him and tried to steal the money. Accounts differ on a deodorant spray: one says the attackers sprayed it in the victims' faces, the other that one of the victims sprayed it at the attackers. The investor shouted \"thieves\" and the four fled without the money. Dubai Police arrested all four, described as Ukrainian men aged between 28 and 34, and they were charged with attempted robbery. One account says they admitted fighting with the victims and denied any intention of stealing their money.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two friends"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/attempt-to-rob-dh500000-foiled-in-dubai-gang-of-four-members-arrested-1.76204045"]},{"id":74,"date":"December, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Kyiv-based man in a cryptocurrency-related business, and his wife","location":"Ternopil, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Man kidnapped and tortured for $800k","summary":"A Kyiv-based man in a cryptocurrency-related business was kidnapped in Ternopil, Ukraine, in December 2020 while visiting a relative with his wife. Around 7 p.m., as he was leaving the city, a group of men blocked his way with three cars, pulled him from his car, handcuffed him and forced him into the boot of another car. His wife was taken away in a separate car and was later found held in a Ternopil hotel. The group also took his Toyota Camry. Police said the group held and tortured him through the night, and he said they threatened to kill him if he did not pay $800,000. No payment was reported. Early in the morning he reported the crime and his location himself, using a second phone the kidnappers had not found.\n\nPolice identified seven suspects. Two were placed in custody with bail set at 630,000 and 500,000 hryvnias, another was caught a day and a half after the crime, and the organiser surrendered. The whereabouts of three were unknown.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":800000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":800000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://lb.ua/news/2020/12/24/473829_ternopoli_zatrimali.html"]},{"id":76,"date":"January, 2021","date_sort":"2021-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"37 y/o man","location":"Tai Tam Road near Shan Tsui Court, Chai Wan, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Two buyers he had traded with before drove him from North Point and, after he transferred 15 bitcoins, four accomplices took back the HK$3 million in cash and two phones on a hillside near Shan Tsui Court, Tai Tam Road. He was put out of the car.","summary":"A 37-year-old man surnamed Lee, a full-time Bitcoin trader for seven years, was robbed in Hong Kong in January 2021 by a gang of six men. He had agreed by WeChat to trade with two buyers he had dealt with before, having sold them bitcoins for HK$1 million online the previous night. He told police the two picked him up in a white car in North Point at around 5pm and drove him to Chai Wan. During the drive he transferred 15 bitcoins to them on his mobile phones and they handed him HK$3 million in cash. As he was counting it, the car pulled over on a hillside near Shan Tsui Court on Tai Tam Road. A black car arrived, and four men jumped into the white car, snatched the banknotes and two mobile phones and fled in the black car. The two buyers then shouted that the money was gone, put him out and drove away. Lee was not injured and no weapon was reported. Police put the bitcoins at HK$235,000 each. The six men, described by police as South Asian and in their 30s, remained at large.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/article/162670/Gang-of-six-rob-more-than-HK3-million-in-bitcoin-from-trader-flee-after-kicking-him-out-of-the-car"]},{"id":77,"date":"January 18, 2021","date_sort":"2021-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Unidentified Woman","location":"Kwun Tong, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Gang snatches HK$3.5 million from trader at knifepoint","summary":"A female cryptocurrency trader was robbed of HK$3.5 million (US$448,700) in cash at an office in the Ricky Centre in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, at around 2.30pm on 18 January 2021. Police said a gang lured her there for a deal after she had recently sold the same buyer digital money in three transactions of HK$600,000 to HK$700,000 each. A police source said the earlier deals could have been meant to win her trust. She used her iPhone to complete an online transaction selling the man USDT tokens and was paid in cash. Soon afterwards three men carrying either a knife or a rod rushed out of a room and snatched the money and the iPhone at knifepoint. The four men locked her in the office and fled. Her uncle, who was waiting downstairs, saw them run out and drive off in a delivery van. She used a second phone to contact her husband, who called the emergency number, and officers found her safe and uninjured. No arrests were made.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3500000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":448700},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3118249/gang-snatches-hk35-million-hong-kong-cryptocurrency"]},{"id":78,"date":"January 22, 2021","date_sort":"2021-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Two FlyingAtom employees, a man and a woman, one in a medically induced coma","location":"Olsztyn, Poland","country":"Poland","description":"Two employees shot at physical Bitcoin exchange FlyingAtom","summary":"Two employees of FlyingAtom, an exchange office that deals in Bitcoin and gold, were shot during a robbery in Olsztyn, Poland, on Friday 22 January 2021. Just after 7 p.m. a masked attacker entered the office on the fourth floor of a skyscraper in the city centre, shot a man and a woman who worked there and left with ounces of gold worth 450,000 zloty, roughly $120,000. No cryptocurrency was reported taken. The owner, Dawid Muszyński, said one of the two, Paweł, was in a serious condition and in a medically induced coma. Police secured CCTV recordings and witness statements, used a tracking dog team and blocked many roads in Olsztyn late into the night. On 23 January FlyingAtom offered a 100,000 zloty reward, and that evening a police spokesman said a man who may be related to the attack had been detained in Bydgoszcz. On 25 January the company thanked the police for the capture of the suspect.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"exchange office staff, a man and a woman"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":450000,"currency":"PLN","usd_stated":120000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/polish-crypto-exchange-employee-in-induced-coma-after-armed-attack"]},{"id":79,"date":"February 4, 2021","date_sort":"2021-02-04","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Married Couple","location":"Northern part of Stockholm County, Sweden","country":"Sweden","description":"Three people (two men, one woman) tricked the couple into opening the door, went in with a pistol and a knife, stayed 20 to 30 minutes and forced them to transfer bitcoin \"worth millions\".","summary":"A married couple were robbed at their home in the northern part of Stockholm County, Sweden, on the evening of 4 February 2021. Police commissioner Per Åkermark said the suspects tricked the couple into opening the door and had a pistol and a knife when they went in. They were inside for 20 to 30 minutes. Two men and a woman reportedly forced the couple to transfer bitcoin worth millions, acting threateningly with the weapons, and then fled. No injury was described. One of the couple chased the attackers until police arrived, and a patrol car passing through the area saw two people running from some houses and caught up with them. Police would not comment on what was taken. Two men in their twenties were held in custody. The woman was released while the investigation continued. Åkermark said there could be more suspects who planned or organised the robbery.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"spouse"}],"approach":["Social engineering: pretext at the door"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/krim/a/Gajal6/bevapnad-bitcoin-liga-trangde-sig-in-hos-par--kom-over-miljonbelopp"]},{"id":80,"date":"February ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Swiss & German - Stephen and Maria","location":"Lahore, Pakistan","country":"Pakistan","description":"Two foreigners were taken hostage at gunpoint on a drive \"to show them the city\" and made to transfer Rs14.7 million of cryptocurrency, reported as bitcoin.","summary":"A Swiss citizen and a German citizen, named in the initial police report as Stephen and Maria, were kidnapped in Lahore, Pakistan, in February 2021 while visiting on business. A man named Rana Irfan is suspected of inviting them to Lahore by tricking them into making an investment. According to the police report, he collected them from a five-star hotel for a ride \"to show them the city\" and they were taken hostage at gunpoint. The suspects reportedly sprinkled heroin on the two and threatened to expose them as drug smugglers. The two then transferred Rs14.7 million of cryptocurrency, described as bitcoin, to the suspects' account. One account also gives the sum as over $10 million. No injury was described. Police arrested two men in Gujranwala, traced through their vehicle numbers. Irfan, named by police as the prime suspect, remained at large.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"two foreign business visitors"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting","Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://dailytimes.com.pk/725764/"]},{"id":81,"date":"March 10, 2021","date_sort":"2021-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Bank director","location":"Recife, Brazil","country":"Brazil","description":"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.","summary":"The owner and director of a digital bank in Recife, Brazil, a partner in a fintech that trades bitcoin, was kidnapped on 10 March 2021. Police said the gang knew details of his personal and professional life, paid reception staff 7,000 reais at the Excelsior business building, where his company has its office, and bribed two security guards. One of the staff had supplied information about his routine and his car. He was tied up while the gang negotiated with his business partners and family. They first demanded 100 bitcoins, then 50 and finally 6, under threats against his wife and daughter. When he phoned his business partner, the man presenting himself as the leader punched him in the mouth and broke two teeth. The partner transferred 4.78 bitcoins and the man was released.\n\nPolice broke the case on 27 May 2021. Ten people were charged. Four luxury cars were seized to be auctioned for the victim, and the court ordered the ten to pay 250,000 reais in moral damages.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4.78,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://oglobo.globo.com/politica/policia-de-pe-indicia-dez-pessoas-pelo-primeiro-sequestro-com-resgate-em-criptomoedas-cometido-no-pais-25045059"]},{"id":82,"date":"March 16, 2021","date_sort":"2021-03-16","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"29 y/o Berlin man","location":"Munich, Germany","country":"Germany","description":"Robbers tore away the phone holding a wallet that showed a high five-figure sum. No transfer described.","summary":"A 29-year-old man from Berlin was robbed in Munich, Germany, on Tuesday 16 March 2021 after travelling there for a bitcoin deal. Around 7 p.m. he met two men in a car park on Dülferstraße in the Feldmoching district. He unlocked his smartphone and showed them his wallet, which displayed a high five-figure amount. At that moment two other men attacked him, grabbed and restrained him and tore the phone from his hand. The four fled in two vehicles. No weapon or injury was described. The loss is given as virtual money worth nearly 100,000 euros, although no transfer out of the wallet was described. He called the police immediately, and during the search officers stopped one of the cars and arrested three suspects aged 21 to 29 from the Mühldorf district. A fourth suspect, a 30-year-old from the same district, was arrested later in Munich. Warrants were issued for three of the men.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.stadtmagazin-muenchen24.de/bitcoin-raub-in-muenchen-taeter-erbeuten-virtuelles-geld-im-wert-von-knapp-100-000-euro-87276"]},{"id":83,"date":"March 18, 2021","date_sort":"2021-03-18","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"26-year-old man","location":"Mendoza, Argentina","country":"Argentina","description":"Robbers steal iPhone and cash","summary":"A 26-year-old man was robbed in the Guaymallén district of Mendoza, Argentina, at around 7:30pm on Thursday 18 March 2021. He was on his way to a place where he had arranged to sell bitcoin to some people when criminals surprised him at the corner of 2 de Mayo and Severo del Castillo streets. They took an iPhone, 120,000 Argentine pesos and 2,500 US dollars from him. The number of robbers was not given, and no weapon, restraint or injury was described. No cryptocurrency changed hands. One figure puts his loss at $350,000, which does not match the cash amounts listed. Hours later police found the iPhone in the undergrowth of a vacant lot on Reconquista street. The case went to Prosecutor's Office No. 19 of Police Station 35, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mendovoz.com/actualidad/policiales/2021/3/19/le-robaron-350-mil-un-joven-en-guaymallen-98425.html"]},{"id":84,"date":"April 8, 2021","date_sort":"2021-04-08","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"30 or 31 year old miner","location":"Orikhiv, Polohy district, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Three men pepper-sprayed him in his yard and tried to take a Bitcoin Antminer S9 (about 40,000 hryvnias). He fired a traumatic pistol and they fled.","summary":"A man born in 1990 who owned cryptocurrency mining equipment was attacked in the yard of his house in Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, on 8 April 2021. Police said three men sprayed him with pepper spray and tried to steal a Bitcoin Antminer S9 mining machine worth about 40,000 hryvnias. The owner resisted, firing several shots into the air from his traumatic pistol and one near the attackers' feet, and the men fled. Nothing was taken and no injury was reported. Police were told at 8:40pm that gunshots had been heard and detained two of the men immediately. The third fled in a Zhiguli car, changed its plates, abandoned it in a wooded area and tried to leave by bus. Patrol officers found him near the Orikhiv bus station. The three, residents of Dnipropetrovsk region born in 1991, 1992 and 1993, were detained, and a criminal case was opened for attempted robbery.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://zbroya.info/uk/blog/20398_na-zaporizhzhi-mainer-dav-zbroinu-vidsich-grabizhnikam/"]},{"id":85,"date":"April 13, 2021","date_sort":"2021-04-13","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Calgary, Alberta, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Armed men force their way into Canyon Meadows home, steal cryptocurrency keys. The victim was forced to give up bank PINs, locked in a storage room, freed himself and called 911.","summary":"A man was robbed in his apartment on Elbow Drive S.W. in the Canyon Meadows community of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, around midnight on 13 April 2021. Calgary police said two men carrying handguns forced their way in and tied him up. They stole computers, jewellery and bank cards, along with cryptocurrency keys that give access to financial accounts, and forced him to disclose his bank PINs. They then put him in a storage room and fled. He freed himself and called 911. Police said his injuries were minor. A short time later a man he did not know used one of his bank cards to withdraw money from an ATM in Crescent Heights and was photographed by the machine. No amount, coin or wallet balance was given for the cryptocurrency. Police released the ATM photograph and asked the public to help identify the man. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/police-seek-suspects-in-canyon-meadows-home-invasion"]},{"id":86,"date":"May, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"14 y/o boy","location":"Bradford, Yorkshire, England","country":"UK","description":"Teen bitcoin trader kidnapped & ransomed after posting that he had made “a reasonable amount of money” from trading in bitcoin","summary":"A 14-year-old boy was kidnapped outside a takeaway in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, in May 2021. The judge at Bradford Crown Court said the gang targeted him after seeing social media posts suggesting he had made \"a reasonable amount of money\" from trading in bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. He was punched and forced into the back of a Toyota Auris. The car's owner, Muhammed Khubaib, 22, activated the central locking and punched him in the face with a glove containing sand. The boy was told to phone his mother and tell her to hand over 10,000 pounds or he would not be going home. It was agreed she would pay 900 pounds, and she handed over the cash when Khubaib drove the car to her house. Police said the boy and his mother were not injured. Khubaib was arrested a few days after the incident was reported, pleaded guilty to kidnap and blackmail and was sentenced to four years. Three other men involved were not identified or prosecuted.","targeting":["Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-58929107"]},{"id":88,"date":"June 11, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-11","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"40 y/o man","location":"Gyeonggi Province, South Korea","country":"South Korea","description":"Woman drugs man she met on chat app, steals $87K from his phone.","summary":"A man in his 40s was drugged and robbed of USD 87,000 worth of cryptocurrency in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, in the early hours of 11 June 2021. The Suwon District Court heard that a 20-year-old woman met him through a smartphone chat app, where he told her about the scale of his crypto holdings. The two went to a motel, where she laced his drink with sleeping pills. While he was unconscious she reportedly pressed his finger against the phone's fingerprint sensor to unlock it, and she transferred tokens from his wallet to her own. When he came round and confronted her, she threatened to tell his family about their encounter. He went to the police, and she told officers that he had raped her and had given her the crypto to silence her. The court found her guilty of robbery, threatening behaviour, injury, drug offences and perverting the course of justice and sentenced her to five years in prison.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":87000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":87000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/woman-20-gets-5-year-jail-term-after-stealing-usd-87k-worth-of-crypto-from-man-in-dating-app-scam/"]},{"id":89,"date":"June 15, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-15","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"22 y/o man","location":"Kwun Tong, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Trader temporarily blinded, HK$2 million stolen","summary":"A 22-year-old cryptocurrency trader was robbed of HK$2 million in cash in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, shortly before 4:30pm on Tuesday 15 June 2021. Police said he was on his way to buy bitcoin and was attacked after parking his car in the car park of Legend Tower on Shing Yip Street. While he was waiting for a lift, two men approached him, sprayed an unknown liquid into his eyes and snatched his green bag containing the cash. Police said the substance left him briefly unable to see, and he did not ask for hospital treatment. The two men fled in a white car driven by a third man. The three later abandoned the car at the junction of Hoi Yuen Road and Shing Yip Street and ran towards Wai Yip Street. No cryptocurrency was taken. Officers combed the area and a citywide search was under way, with no arrests made.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3137401/hong-kong-cryptocurrency-trader-targeted-hk2-million"]},{"id":90,"date":"June 24, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-24","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"39 y/o man","location":"Leeuwarden, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"3 men posing as service technicians beat password out of Bitcoin owner","summary":"Three men posing as service technicians attacked a 39-year-old man at his apartment on Coopmansstraat in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, at around 8:40pm on 24 June 2021. The robbers reportedly knew he owned cryptocurrency. He had discussed it with people around him, and police were investigating whether the information reached the robbers that way. The men, all in green jackets, rang his doorbell and asked whether he had a fault to report. He was grabbed by the throat, dragged into the living room and beaten until he gave up the access code to his cryptocurrency. The men were in the apartment for over an hour and took cryptocurrency of an unstated amount. Police said they had frozen part of the proceeds and made a public appeal for tips on the three men and on a Volkswagen Polo seen on the Pasteurweg a few minutes before the robbery. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://opsporingverzocht.avrotros.nl/zaken/item/overvallers-aan-de-haal-met-waardevolle-cryptomunten/"]},{"id":91,"date":"July, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Omsk, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"3 men kidnap and extort over $1M in crypto from victim","summary":"Three men from Moscow and the Moscow region seized a resident of Omsk, Russia, in July 2021 and forced him to hand over cash and cryptocurrency. The Oktyabrsky District Court of Omsk found that the three had learned the man held large amounts of cryptocurrency, travelled to the city and watched him for 10 days to work out his routes and daily routine. They then stopped him on the street, showed fake IDs and forced him into a car, where he was made to hand over 3 million rubles in cash and transfer cryptocurrency worth over 84 million rubles. No beating or injury is described. The three were later detained and did not admit guilt. Two were convicted of armed robbery and use of forged documents and the third of fraud. The court sentenced them to terms of 6 years 6 months to 9 years in a high-security penal colony and ordered them to compensate the man in full.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":87000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://epp.genproc.gov.ru/web/proc_55/mass-media/news?item=85667782"]},{"id":92,"date":"July 1, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Unknown","country":"USA","description":"Bitcoin holder drugged and robbed by Tinder date","summary":"In July 2021 a US man was drugged at his home and robbed of his phone by a woman he met on Tinder. Her profile said she worked as a crypto trader, and he had told her early on that he traded crypto too. They met at a coffee shop, bought alcohol and went to his residence. Casa, the bitcoin custody company whose client he was, suspects she laced his drink with scopolamine or a benzodiazepine while he was in the restroom. He recalled her picking up his phone and asking him to show her how to unlock it and find his passwords. He woke the next day to find the phone gone. The attacker took a small amount of bitcoin from one of his exchange accounts. He blocked other attempted purchases and withdrawals by alerting the custodians, and his Casa funds could not be spent because the attacker held only one of his five keys. Casa said it believed the woman did not act alone. No police report or arrest is mentioned.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com.au/news/tinder-date-goes-bad-in-attempted-crypto-grab-91283/"]},{"id":93,"date":"July 14, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-14","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Morakinyo Tobiloba Peter & Yusuf Samson Dayo","location":"Lagos, Nigeria","country":"Nigeria","description":"Law Enforcement Officers rob 2 men of N22 million in bitcoin at gunpoint","summary":"Morakinyo Tobiloba Peter and Yusuf Samson Dayo, two realtors who had converted their money into bitcoin, said plain-clothes police officers stopped their car on the Ikoyi/Ajah Expressway in Lagos, Nigeria, on 14 July 2021. By their account the officers made them open their phones, found nothing incriminating and ordered them to drive to the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex at Alagbon Close. The two men said they were beaten at the roadside, held in a cell for hours, beaten again and forced to sign statements alleging internet fraud. They said Deputy Superintendent Cordelia Nwawe set bail at N20 million and told the officers to kill them when they said they could not pay, and that Inspector Austin brought out his gun. They said they then gave in and Austin transferred the equivalent of N22 million in bitcoin out of their account. No arrest, charge or disciplinary step against either officer is reported.","targeting":["Opportunistic"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two realtors"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":22000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://saharareporters.com/2021/12/19/reavealed-identities-rogue-police-officers-who-extorted-n22million-worth-bitcoin-young"]},{"id":94,"date":"July 28, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-28","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"39 y/o South Korean trader","location":"Astoria Building, Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Trader robbed of HK$3 million at knifepoint","summary":"A 39-year-old cryptocurrency trader from South Korea was robbed of more than HK$3 million in cash in Hong Kong on 28 July 2021. He had come to meet a bitcoin seller and arrived at Astoria Building on Ashley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui at about 6.20pm for the exchange. Four men approached him and one attacked him with a knife. The men snatched the bag he was carrying, which held about HK$3.29 million he had brought to buy bitcoin, and fled at once. The trader suffered a cut to his hand and was sent to hospital for treatment. He asked a friend to call police. Officers searched the area and did not find the men. Detectives from the Yau Tsim district crime squad were investigating, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3290000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":128500},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3142919/bitcoin-trader-robbed-hk3-million-cash-when-sellers"]},{"id":96,"date":"August 8, 2021","date_sort":"2021-08-08","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Wesley Pessano Santarem & a passenger (injured and taken to hospital)","location":"Sao Pedro da Aldeia, Brazil","country":"Brazil","description":"Crypto Trader's Murder Blamed On Social Media Bragging","summary":"Wesley Pessano Santarem, a 19-year-old Brazilian cryptocurrency trader, was shot dead in Sao Pedro da Aldeia, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, on 8 August 2021. He was driving his Porsche Boxster through the city in daylight on his way to get a haircut when a group travelling in a silver Volkswagen ambushed him. Brazilian police said he was hit by at least four bullets, one of them to the head. A passenger in the Porsche was injured and taken to hospital. Pessano had about 134,000 Instagram followers and often posted pictures of himself with luxury cars and, in one case, a thick stack of cash. Some have argued that these posts may have drawn attention to his finances; this is not a police finding. No demand is reported before the shooting and nothing is reported taken. Police opened a murder investigation, and the killers have not been identified.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"passenger"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["No label fits"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/crypto-trader-s-murder-blamed-on-social-media-bragging-11376/"]},{"id":97,"date":"August 18, 2021","date_sort":"2021-08-18","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Simon Arthuis","location":"Plancher-les-Mines (lured to a home) and Plancher-Bas (body found in a pond), France","country":"France","description":"Computer engineering student drugged, tortured, and killed by five suspects, four men and one woman, for €200,000 in cryptocurrency","summary":"Simon Arthuis, a 19-year-old computer engineering student from Tours, was found dead on 18 August 2021 in a pond in Plancher-Bas, France, stabbed more than twenty times. According to a gendarmerie colonel, he had built trading software that generated around 200,000 euros in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. He had gone to lunch that day at a couple's home in Plancher-les-Mines, where three suspects said he was drugged. The prosecutor called it an ambush whose assumed motive was to extort money, and said the wounds could indicate \"a session of torture or a passionate act\". Arthuis was still dying when he was thrown into the pond. It is not reported that any of the money was obtained.\n\nThree men were charged with premeditated murder: his lover, aged 33, and two others aged 18 and 23. The prosecutor said all three admitted involvement and none admitted the fatal blows. On 20 October 2021 the lover's twin brother and his companion were arrested and charged with complicity in murder.","targeting":["Organised by a relative or partner"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.estrepublicain.fr/faits-divers-justice/2021/10/22/assassinat-a-plancher-bas-l-etudiant-tue-pour-200-000-de-cryptomonnaie"]},{"id":99,"date":"September 9, 2021","date_sort":"2021-09-09","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Mark Geor","location":"Westmere, New Zealand","country":"New Zealand","description":"Safe containing $4M of cryptocurrency ripped from house","summary":"Burglars took a safe from the home of Mark Geor, 33, in the Auckland suburb of Westmere, New Zealand, while the house stood empty during renovation. Geor found the break-in on 9 September 2021 when he came to collect the mail. The burglars entered through a side door where there were no security cameras, turned off the power and disarmed the alarm. The safe, bolted to the concrete floor and weighing about 160 kilos, was cut away and moved in a builder's wheelbarrow. Geor said it held a USB stick with cryptocurrency he valued at $4 million, plus $10,000 in cash, watches, jewellery and family heirlooms. Geor and Mike Campbell, a private investigator and family friend, both called it an inside job. There was no evidence that the safe had been opened or funds withdrawn. Police said the matter had been filed because there were no active lines of inquiry.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Devices or seed","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crypto-heist-raiders-steal-safe-containing-4m-in-cryptocurrency-from-westmere-home/PI3L5LMS6PCSVABJDYSW5O4YGA/"]},{"id":101,"date":"October 7, 2021","date_sort":"2021-10-07","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Liquor Store","location":"South Bay, California","country":"USA","description":"Thieves Break Into Liquor Store to Steal Bitcoin ATM","summary":"Thieves stole a Bitcoin ATM from a liquor store in the South Bay area of California at 4:50 a.m. on 7 October 2021, according to the store owner. One account places the store in Sunnyvale. Video appears to show the machine wrapped with a cord and tied to the back of a white van outside the store. The van then drove forward and pulled the machine out through the front of the store, knocking out a front door. The store was closed and nobody was present or confronted. The thieves were not identified or counted. No value is reported for the machine or its contents. A business professor at San Jose State University said the ATM at a local convenience store has $200 of actual cash in it. Police said they were reviewing the surveillance video and investigating.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/thieves-break-into-silicon-valley-liquor-store-to-steal-bitcoin-atm/2677196/"]},{"id":102,"date":"October 20, 2021","date_sort":"2021-10-20","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Astamur Ardzibna","location":"Aatsy, Abkhazia","country":"Abkhazia","description":"At least five people came to steal the mining machines; the miners opened fire to stop them and one miner (Pachial R.G., in custody) shot his own friend dead at close range, per the prosecutor's statement.","summary":"Astamur Ardzibna, one of a group of men running a cryptocurrency mining operation in the village of Aatsy, Abkhazia, was shot dead on 20 October 2021 during an attempted theft of the mining machines. The General Prosecutor's Office of Abkhazia said at least five people came to steal the equipment and the men running the operation opened fire to stop them. Amid the gunfire Ardzibna was shot at close range and killed. According to the prosecutor, the shot came from one of his own group, a miner named as Pachial R.G. Kalashnikov rifles and Makarov pistols were reported at the scene, and accounts differ on which side carried them. Nobody was held, no demand is reported, and it is not known whether any machines were taken. The people who came for the machines were not identified. Police said the man who fired was in custody and the investigation had just begun.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"miner killed during the attempted theft"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vice.com/en/article/man-shot-dead-in-hail-of-gunfire-over-crypto-mining-rigs-police-say/"]},{"id":103,"date":"November 2, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-02","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Zaryn Dentzel & a maintenance technician","location":"Madrid, Spain","country":"Spain","description":"Home invaders tortured the social media founder for access to a wallet holding 500 BTC and failed to open it (a joint action with his manager was needed).","summary":"Zaryn Dentzel, 38, the American founder of the Spanish social network Tuenti, was attacked in his penthouse flat in Madrid on 2 November 2021, along with a technician installing the heating. Three men and a woman had sent him messages that morning posing as a friend of a friend to arrange a visit. At about 15:30 the woman came to the door while the others hid, and they burst in with knives, pepper spray, two Tasers and handcuffs. Dentzel was hooded, handcuffed, beaten, given Taser shocks and cut from chest to navel. The technician was struck, hooded and tied to a chair. The group wanted 500 bitcoins, worth 25 million euros. They could not open his wallet without a second person, his manager. They took five Rolex watches valued at 68,400 euros and withdrew about 2,000 euros with two bank cards, leaving around 19:10 with both men tied up.\n\nThe four were arrested in October 2022. The Provincial Court of Madrid sentenced each to nine years after they admitted the facts in a deal with the prosecution.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"heating technician"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-11-03/criminal-gang-assaults-founder-of-social-media-network-tuenti-in-his-madrid-home-in-apparent-attempt-to-steal-his-bitcoin-fortune.html","https://www.madridactual.es/7959197-condenada-a-9-anos-de-carcel-la-banda-que-secuestro-al-fundador-de-tuenti-en-su-piso-de-madrid","https://gacetinmadrid.com/2024/06/05/audiencia-madrid-9-anos-carcel-a-los-secuestradores-fundador-tuenti/","https://www.vozpopuli.com/espana/madrid/juicio-acusados-robar-fundador-tuenti-madrid.html","https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2022-10-22/cuatro-detenidos-por-el-secuestro-del-fundador-de-tuenti-para-robarle-las-claves-de-su-cuenta-digital-con-25-millones-de-euros.html"]},{"id":104,"date":"November 6, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-06","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"39 y/o trader","location":"Kowloon Bay industrial unit (lure), then a container yard, then a village house in Tai Po, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Crypto trader kidnapped by Triad gang, beaten with hammers","summary":"A 39-year-old cryptocurrency trader was kidnapped in Hong Kong on 6 November 2021 and held for nearly a week by suspected members of a Sun Yee On triad faction. A source said he liked to show off a supercar and watches. He was lured to a Kowloon Bay industrial unit for a transaction involving HK$4 million in Tether tokens, assaulted by several men, driven to a container yard and moved the next day to a village house in Tai Po. According to one report, the kidnappers demanded HK$8 million from his family and raised this to HK$30 million after finding the Tether in his account, and beat him with hammers when he refused to call his family, leaving him with leg fractures. He was forced to reveal the passwords to his bank and cryptocurrency accounts, and police were investigating whether money was stolen. His family contacted police. As officers raided the house he climbed out of a mezzanine-floor window. Seven people were arrested and about eight others were sought.","targeting":["Visible wealth"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":30000000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":3850000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3156021/hong-kong-police-hunt-triad-gang-members-who-kidnapped"]},{"id":105,"date":"November 12, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-12","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"GBTC Crypto Exchange","location":"Barcelona, Spain","country":"Spain","description":"Thieves rip bitcoin ATM from crypto store","summary":"Thieves stole a bitcoin ATM from a closed cryptocurrency shop in Barcelona, Spain, at around 3 a.m., in a raid reported on 12 November 2021. Police sources placed the shop on Beethoven street in the Sarria area, at a branch of the GBTC cryptocurrency exchange. The Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police, confirmed only that an ATM had been stolen. An unverified video shows half a dozen or so hooded people arriving in an SUV, ramming it into the closed shutters and carrying the machine to a second car waiting in the street. Nobody was inside the shop. A fire extinguisher was sprayed at onlookers as the two cars sped off. No value is given for the machine, and it is not stated whether it held cash or cryptocurrency. Police were investigating and no arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"onlookers sprayed with a fire extinguisher"}],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.reuters.com/world/thieves-rip-bitcoin-atm-barcelona-crypto-store-2021-11-12/#:~:text=An%20unverified%20video%20purporting%20to,Allen;%20Editing%20by%20Toby%20Chopra"]},{"id":106,"date":"November 21, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-21","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"\"E.Z.\"","location":"Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"A van with several armed LASD deputies arrived and tried to force E.Z. to hand over his phone; he escaped unharmed and called 911 (November 2021, per the federal complaint as reported).","summary":"In November 2021 several armed Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies tried to force a man to hand over his phone in Los Angeles, according to a federal complaint. The complaint calls him \"E.Z.\"; court records and interviews identify him as Enzo Zelocchi. The complaint is against Adam Iza, a crypto entrepreneur also known as \"The Godfather\", who was in a dispute with E.Z. over a laptop believed to hold more than $100 million in cryptocurrency. From August 2021 Iza paid the private security company of sheriff's detective Eric Chase Saavedra $100,000 a month for bodyguards drawn from active deputies. According to the complaint, Iza asked to stop at a convenience store while the two were in a car together, and a van carrying the deputies arrived as they stood by the car. E.Z. escaped unharmed and called 911, and nothing is reported taken. In January 2025 Iza agreed to plead guilty to federal charges including wire fraud, and Saavedra to conspiracy and tax crimes.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[124],"sources":["https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-17/los-angeles-deputy-crypto-mogul-crimes"]},{"id":108,"date":"December 11, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-11","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Camilla Guadagnuolo & Principe Nerini","location":"Bali, Indonesia","country":"Indonesia","description":"Robbers take Rp 5.8 billion in cash & bitcoin at knifepoint","summary":"An Italian married couple, Camilla Guadagnuolo and Principe Nerini, were robbed on 11 December 2021 at the villa where they were staying on Jalan Nakula in Seminyak, Bali. Police said four foreign nationals dressed in black entered at about 3 a.m. They held the husband in the bedroom, threatened him with a knife, tied his hands and feet, taped his mouth and beat him repeatedly. One took his phones and demanded the password to the phone holding his bitcoin account, putting a knife to his wife's neck and threatening to kill her. He gave the password. He later found that digital assets had been moved from his Binance account in three transfers. Police put the total loss at Rp 5.8 billion in cash and bitcoin. Police arrested Nicola, an Italian who had worked for the husband, and Gregory, from England, both of whom he had recognised by their voices. Two others, one Polish and one Russian, were still wanted on 28 December 2021.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5800000000,"currency":"IDR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20211228141520-12-739596/bule-rampok-uang-dan-bitcoin-wn-italia-di-bali-senilai-total-rp58-m"]},{"id":109,"date":"December 15, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-15","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Vincent Everts","location":"Amsterdam, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Home invasion during live YouTube broadcast with pollster Maurice de Hond with 2,000+ viewers watching as 3 armed attackers (ages 17-19) got in by pretending to have a parcel, one in a DHL jacket per Everts's tweet.","summary":"Vincent Everts, a Dutch trendwatcher, was attacked at his home in the Nieuw-West district of Amsterdam at around 5:20 p.m. on 15 December 2021, during a live stream with pollster Maurice de Hond that about 2,000 people were watching. Three young men in face masks, one in a DHL jacket, were let in after pretending to have a parcel. On the stream Everts was seen standing up and telling one of them he had no Bitcoin, and the screen then went black. Back on air a few minutes later, he said the men had removed the cameras, held a gun to his head and said \"Bitcoin, Bitcoin\". He said his children were also threatened. Everts said he became so angry that he told them to shoot if they wanted to, and they ran away. Nothing is reported taken and no injury is reported. The family called 112, and police circulated descriptions of three men aged 17 to 19. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"children"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.at5.nl/nieuws/212513/trendwatcher-vincent-everts-tijdens-livestream-in-eigen-woning-overvallen","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEucOXglbLo&t=4948s"]},{"id":110,"date":"December 27, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-27","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"2 unidentified males","location":"Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"11 inmates force 2 inmates into cells, hold them for about 30 hours and allegedly force them to transfer cryptocurrency.","summary":"Two inmates at the Thunder Bay District Jail in Ontario, Canada, were held captive by 11 other inmates for about 30 hours from 27 December 2021, police said. The two men were forced into cells, not allowed to leave and repeatedly assaulted. Between the assaults, police said, they were allegedly forced to make phone calls to transfer cryptocurrency from accounts they had access to into the accounts of the accused. No amount is named and police did not say whether any transfer went through. Police were sent to the jail just before 8:30 a.m. on 29 December, and the two men were taken to hospital for evaluation of their injuries. Police laid 137 charges against the 11 inmates, aged 18 to 32, including assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, kidnapping and extortion. The accused remained in custody.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two jail inmates"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thunderbaypolice.ca/news/eleven-inmates-charges-following-serious-30-hour-assault-and-extortion-incident"]},{"id":111,"date":"March 19, 2019","date_sort":"2019-03-19","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Shahid Naseer","location":"Lahore, Pakistan","country":"Pakistan","description":"Police Involved in Plot to Extort 20 million rupees; 2.5 million rupees paid in bitcoin (about 9 BTC per CCN)","summary":"Shahid Naseer, an IT professor, was kidnapped in Lahore, Pakistan, on 19 March 2019 and held for a ransom of 20 million rupees. The kidnappers reportedly put a green licence plate, a type used by officials, on a rental car to carry out the kidnapping. His family paid 2.5 million rupees worth of Bitcoin in an effort to bring him home. Police said the payment was how they caught the kidnappers. Faisal Yousuf, a student of Naseer's, was named as the primary suspect. Three police officials were arrested over the ransom: Mazhar Abbas, who managed telephones for the city's Deputy Commissioner, and Mohsin Abbas and Mohammad Arif, both guards of a high court judge. Two other men, Mohammad Tahir and Abdul Rauf, were accused of helping the kidnappers find an outlet for the bitcoin. No violence is described, and it is not reported whether Naseer was freed.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"PKR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"PKR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ccn.com/pakistan-police-schemed-with-criminal-gang-in-bitcoin-ransom-kidnapping"]},{"id":112,"date":"January 16, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-16","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Gas Station","location":"Memphis, Tennessee","country":"USA","description":"Suspects smash gas station with truck, steal Bitcoin ATM","summary":"Three people stole a bitcoin ATM from a Mobil gas station convenience store on Macon Road near Sycamore View in Memphis, Tennessee, on 16 January 2022. Officers sent to an alarm call at the business found the front doors smashed and the machine gone. Surveillance video released by Memphis police shows two people watching as a grey 2004 to 2008 Ford F-150 backs into the store's front doors. One person goes inside while another lowers the truck's tailgate, a third gets out of the truck, and all three carry the machine out and put it in the truck bed. Nobody is described as present in the store. No figure is reported for the machine or any cash in it. Police asked the public for help identifying the three, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/thieves-use-truck-to-smash-into-business-steal-atm-police-say/article_b386fe79-227f-51e2-b347-fa32345d7f76.html"]},{"id":113,"date":"January 14, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"34 y/o teacher and his 61 y/o mother (visiting)","location":"Hoboken, Belgium","country":"Belgium","description":"Four men invaded a teacher's home in Hoboken and tried to force a transfer of 3 million euros in bitcoin; at their sentencing in 2023 they were reported to have taken about 1 million euros in crypto.","summary":"A 34-year-old teacher and his 61-year-old mother, who was visiting, were attacked in his home on the Hertog van Brabantlei in Hoboken, Antwerp, Belgium, on the morning of 14 January 2022. Intruders forced their way in looking for cash and, finding none, tried to transfer 3 million euros in bitcoin from a digital safe to their own account. Reports at the time said nothing was taken; at the sentencing in October 2023, VRT reported that the attackers allegedly got away with about 1 million euros in cryptocurrency. Both victims were severely assaulted and taken to hospital, and the prosecution spoke of torture. Four men were arrested in the following days. In October 2023 the court sentenced them to up to 17 years and found it proven that the loot was meant to fund a terrorist group, the \"Krugergroep\".","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hln.be/antwerpen/drie-verdachten-van-homeinvasion-blijven-in-de-cel~a243e41b/","https://www.hln.be/antwerpen/leraar-34-en-moeder-thuis-overvallen-en-mishandeld-daders-willen-codes-van-kluis-met-3-miljoen-euro-aan-bitcoins~ab232aa8/","https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/10/24/celstraffen-tot-17-jaar-voor-terreurgroep-die-home-invasion-plee/"]},{"id":114,"date":"January 26, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-26","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Owen Simonin","location":"France","country":"France","description":"Fake insurance adjustor attempts armed home invasion, gets pushed and locked out by victim. Victim later recorded a video detailing the ordeal.","summary":"Owen Simonin, a Corsican entrepreneur and crypto investor known online as Hasheur, was attacked at his flat in France on 26 January 2022. A man rang the intercom and said he had come to sort out an insurance problem. Simonin buzzed him in and gave his floor and flat number. The man arrived, blocked the door and took a handgun out of his bag. Simonin said he pushed the man, shouted and landed one or two blows, then went inside when he saw the man was off balance, locked the door and called the police. Nothing was taken and Simonin reported no injury. He said the man had tried to extort cryptocurrency from him. Simonin filed a complaint the same day. He later said the attacker was one of his subscribers, who had obtained his home address and followed him for a few days before coming to his home with a weapon. The attacker turned himself in to police a few days after the attack.","targeting":["Public profile","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: other claimed role"],"attack":["Home invasion","Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-divers/reportage-temoignage-video-il-est-venu-a-mon-domicile-avec-une-arme-un-influenceur-specialise-en-cryptomonnaie-raconte-son-agression-2346584.html","https://freelanceinfos.fr/hasheur-agresse-domicile-cryptomonnaies/"]},{"id":116,"date":"January 14, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Vinay Naik","location":"Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, India","country":"India","description":"Pune: 8 including cop arrested for kidnapping man to extort Bitcoin worth Rs 300 crore","summary":"Vinay Naik, a share trader from Tathawade, was kidnapped from a hotel in Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, India, on 14 January 2022. Police said he held bitcoin worth Rs 300 crore and that the kidnappers meant to extort it from him. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Anand Bhoite, constable Dilip Tukaram Khandare, who was working with the Pune cybercrime cell, learnt of the holdings and planned the kidnapping with men who had criminal records. Police call Khandare the mastermind. A friend of Naik's registered a complaint, which started the investigation. Police said the accused, fearing arrest, released Naik and dropped him in a nearby area, and he then told police he had been kidnapped for bitcoin. No violence or injury is described, and it is not reported that any bitcoin was transferred. Eight people, including Khandare, were arrested and were in police custody as of 2 February 2022.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pune-bitcoin-fraud-pune-bitcoin-fraud-news-8-arrested-for-kidnapping-man-to-extort-crypto-worth-rs-300-crores-2743871"]},{"id":117,"date":"February 4, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-04","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Vinay Jain","location":"Surat, India","country":"India","description":"Auto parts businessman brings suitcase full of $260K worth of cash to do an in-person crypto trade, gets beaten and robbed by nine or more attackers (Jha plus around eight).","summary":"Vinay Jain, a 29-year-old auto parts businessman from Hyderabad, was beaten and robbed of Rs 2 crore in cash in Surat, India, on 4 February 2022. Jain told police that a man named Lakshminarayan, whom he had met about two months earlier, persuaded him to invest in cryptocurrency and introduced him to Pintoo Kumar Jha. The group drove to Surat on 3 February. The next day Jain, his brother Aakash, his driver Shinu and Lakshminarayan took Rs 2 crore to an angadia firm at Central Bazar in Varachha to open his crypto account. Jha took the cash and the money did not appear in Jain's account. When Jha prepared to leave and Jain asked him to wait, around eight other people joined in, beat Jain and his companions and left with the money. Police said the beating and theft were planned in advance. Jain filed a complaint the next day, and Varachha police registered an offence of dacoity against Jha and others. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"brother"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"driver"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/cryptocurrency-deal-turns-into-2cr-dacoity/articleshow/89392699.cms"]},{"id":118,"date":"February 3, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-03","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Ilya Basin","location":"Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York","country":"USA","description":"Crypto consultant hog-tied, beaten during home invasion.","summary":"Ilya Basin, a 37-year-old crypto consultant, was tied up and robbed in his high-rise apartment in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, around noon on 3 February 2022. Basin said two men rang the bell and left somebody else's package outside his door. He saw it on his camera and opened the door, and both rushed him. One, wearing a ski mask, took him down. His hands were zip-tied behind him and his mouth and ankles taped. One man kicked him in the face, and one said they would choke him if he screamed. An intruder walked around the apartment repeatedly asking \"Where's the money?\" and found two watches in the bedroom closet, a Rolex Presidential and an Audemars Piguet. Basin put their combined value at $350,000. No cryptocurrency was demanded by name or taken. By his account it lasted about half an hour, and the men untied him before leaving. Police were still searching for the two men on 9 February 2022.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":350000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":350000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://nypost.com/2022/02/09/brooklyn-crypto-consultant-hog-tied-beaten-during-home-invasion/"]},{"id":121,"date":"March 2, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-02","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Miami, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Businessman ambushed by armed robber, has $1M watch & crypto wallet taken.","summary":"A South Florida businessman was robbed at gunpoint outside his home in Miami's Edgewater neighbourhood at around 11 p.m. on 2 March 2022. He asked not to be identified. Surveillance video appears to show the robbers pulling up and parking moments before he arrived from a meeting. He said a man ran at him, put a gun to his face and ordered him to get on the ground and give up everything he had. The robber took a Patek Philippe rose gold watch, which the businessman valued at $400,000, and his phone, which carried a crypto wallet app. At least one accomplice waited in a car, and they drove off. The businessman put the total taken at about a million dollars. It is not reported how much cryptocurrency the wallet held or whether any was transferred out. He said he believed he had been picked out in advance by someone who knew where he lived. Police were investigating and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://wsvn.com/news/local/miami-dade/edgewater-man-says-hes-out-about-1m-after-armed-robber-steals-phone-with-crypto-wallet-app-pricey-watch/"]},{"id":122,"date":"December, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Electronics Dealer","location":"Pune, India","country":"India","description":"Woman cop suspended for bid to extort crypto from trader","summary":"In December 2021 a woman constable from the Pune cyber police in India allegedly tried to extort cryptocurrency from an electronic goods dealer based in Wakad, Pune, who also deals in digital currencies. Police said the dealer was in a financial dispute with another man from Pimpri Chinchwad, who was on friendly terms with the constable and asked her to settle it for him. She called the dealer to a meeting at Wakad, although she had no standing in the matter. Police said that at the meeting she threatened to implicate him in a cheating case and asked him to transfer cryptocurrency to her if he wanted to avoid the case and an arrest. The amount was not specified, and no transfer is reported. The dealer is not described as held or touched. The additional commissioner of police (crime) suspended the constable after an inquiry by the city police, and the Pimpri Chinchwad police were investigating.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/woman-cop-suspended-for-bid-to-extort-crypto-from-trader/articleshow/89980215.cms"]},{"id":123,"date":"March 18, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-18","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Pierrick Jamaux","location":"New York, New York","country":"USA","description":"Crypto expert shot 5 times by a gunman seeking Richard Mille watch; a female accomplice was driving a BMW.","summary":"Pierrick Jamaux, a 33-year-old French cryptocurrency entrepreneur who works in Hong Kong, was shot five times outside the Fifty Hotel and Suites in Midtown Manhattan, New York, on 18 March 2022. He was wearing a Richard Mille watch he valued at $450,000. Jamaux said the gunman was waiting between his Uber and the hotel door and started shooting before he understood the man wanted the watch. He pushed the gun down and the man kept shooting his legs. A 25-year-old female friend jumped on the robber's back and choked him. The robber could not get the watch off because of its bracelet security mechanism and fled with a female accomplice in a black BMW sedan, police said. Nothing was taken. The bullets shattered Jamaux's femur and severed his femoral artery, and he survived after six surgeries. He said he believed he had been tracked for hours or days. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Public profile","Visible wealth","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10663677/Crypto-expert-33-shot-robber-targeting-450k-watch-speaks-out.html"]},{"id":124,"date":"March, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"\"E.Z.\"","location":"Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"Attempted home invasion by 3 armed men; victim fired gun at attackers, who fled.","summary":"In March 2022 three men came to the Los Angeles home of a man named in an FBI complaint as \"E.Z.\" and tried to steal his laptop to reach his cryptocurrency holdings, the US government says. A police report cited in the complaint says the three were scared off when E.Z. fired several handgun rounds in their direction. Nothing was taken and no amount is named. E.Z. appears to be Enzo Zelocchi, a self-described actor. The government alleges the extortion and robbery were committed by Adam Iza, also known as \"The Godfather\", founder of the crypto investment platform Zort, who the FBI says had several active Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies on his payroll. The FBI alleges deputies had tried to kidnap and extort E.Z. at Iza's behest on several earlier occasions, including an attempt in November 2021 to force him to hand over his phone. The three men were not identified and no arrests are named for the March 2022 attempt.","targeting":["Other","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[106],"sources":["https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/crooked-cops-stolen-laptops-the-ghost-of-ugnazi/"]},{"id":126,"date":"April 21, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-21","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified couple","location":"Norrköping, Sweden","country":"Sweden","description":"Couple tied up and beaten; the man was forced to transfer cryptocurrency.","summary":"A couple were tied up and beaten in an armed robbery at their home west of Norrköping, Sweden, on 21 April 2022. Police were alerted to the address at 5 a.m. The robbers allegedly forced the man to transfer cryptocurrency, described as being of a significant value. No amount and no coin are named. Both the man and the woman were taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The number of robbers is not given and none has been identified. Police classified the case as aggravated robbery and cordoned off the house that morning for a forensic examination. Officers knocked on doors in the area and asked what people had seen during the morning. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"female partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/ost/par-bands-och-misshandlades-i-hemmet-ranades-pa-kryptovaluta"]},{"id":128,"date":"May 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"Six people hit victim, stole his money, watches and jewellery after crypto expert lost millions in trade.","summary":"In May 2022 a Dubai-based cryptocurrency consultant was assaulted and robbed at his home by six people who had lost millions of dirhams investing on his advice. The six had first asked his advice on the coin Fantom and made a profit. A second coin he recommended collapsed. A new coin he then suggested they launch, in which he also invested, rose for about 15 minutes before a hacker attacked it and it fell to zero. The consultant said the six came to his house, threatened to kill him and his family and punched him in the face. The Dubai Court of First Instance found they stole three watches and a diamond ring, valued in the judgment at Dh390,000 and $200,000 (Dh735,600). His money was also taken. Dubai Police arrested five and one remained at large. All six were sentenced to six months in jail followed by deportation, and the Dubai Court of Appeals upheld the verdict and added a fine of nearly Dh1 million.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/dubai-cryptocurrency-expert-assaulted-by-investors-for-losing-money-1.88182017"]},{"id":130,"date":"June, 2022","date_sort":"2022-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Osaka, Japan","country":"Japan","description":"Son of former Mitsubishi Electric CEO + 7 men kidnap, torture gym member for crypto assets.","summary":"A member of a gym in Osaka, Japan, was confined and assaulted for 20 days in June 2022 until he handed over the private keys to his cryptocurrency wallet, police said. The gym was managed by Sugiyama Leo, 30, who reportedly learned that the member held considerable cryptoassets. Police said Sugiyama and his associates held the man in a room in a guest house, where he was allegedly tied up with adhesive tape and repeatedly kicked in the head. The men threatened to kill his family if he ran away or lied to them. Police said the group then stole the crypto, some $0.75 million worth of tokens; another report puts the amount at 100 million yen. The man escaped and sought help from a passer-by near the guest house. Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested eight men and named Sugiyama as the ringleader. He was reported to be the son of Takeshi Sugiyama, chief executive of Mitsubishi Electric from 2018 to 2021.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":750000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/ex-mitsubishi-electric-ceos-son-charged-with-violent-crypto-theft/"]},{"id":133,"date":"August 7, 2022","date_sort":"2022-08-07","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"30 y/o broker","location":"Manerba, Italy","country":"Italy","description":"Two men waiting inside the home (entered from the back) beat a man, zip-tied him to a chair and tasered him.","summary":"A 30-year-old insurance broker was attacked at his home in Manerba sul Garda, Italy, on 7 August 2022. Two hooded men dressed in black, carrying a taser and cable ties, got in through the back of the flat and waited. When he came home from work they jumped him from behind and beat him about the face, ribs, back and head. He came to zip-tied to a chair and was given repeated taser shocks while the men demanded the access keys and passwords for his online trading and his bitcoin. He refused. The men left with an iPhone 13 and two gold tennis bracelets and got no bitcoin. One suspect, aged 25, was caught on foot about 300 metres from the house minutes later and was held on charges of robbery, injuries and illegal possession of a weapon. The second, also 25, was still sought. The broker recognised his voice as that of a former collaborator who had demanded unpaid commissions at the start of the year.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bits.media/neizvestnye-razgrabili-krupnuyu-mayning-fermu-na-skladakh-pod-moskvoy/","https://www.giornaledibrescia.it/garda/vogliono-i-suoi-bitcoin-lo-aspettano-a-casa-e-lo-torturano-con-il-taser-1.3766867","https://www.ilgiorno.it/brescia/cronaca/manerba-rapina-taser-bitcoin-718583ba","https://www.ilgiorno.it/brescia/cronaca/aggredito-casa-bitcoin-73d7bc68","https://www.bresciatoday.it/cronaca/manerba-rapina-villa.html"]},{"id":134,"date":"August 7, 2022","date_sort":"2022-08-07","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Arjun Bhargav","location":"Lucknow, India","country":"India","description":"3 men trick, abduct, torture realtor for 8 BTC.","summary":"Arjun Bhargav, a real-estate businessman from Lucknow, India, was abducted on 7 August 2022 by three men who pretended to be real-estate dealers. Police said the men knew he traded in cryptocurrency and took him away on the pretext of showing him a plot in Barabanki. A senior police officer said they tied his hands and legs on the way and took him to a house in Barabanki, where they tortured him for three hours. His wife said in her complaint that the men trained pistols on him to make him disclose his password and then had all his bitcoins, worth Rs 1.3 crore, transferred to their account. She said they also forced him to transfer money to their bank account and fired when he resisted, without hitting him. They then drove him to Lucknow and left him on the roadside. All three were arrested about a week later after an informer's tip, and police recovered a country-made pistol and Rs 30,000 in cash.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":13000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/uttar-pradesh-three-take-rs-1-3-crore-ransom-in-bitcoins-from-realtor-held/articleshow/93603640.cms"]},{"id":136,"date":"September 6, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-06","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"19 y/o hacker","location":"Lincolnshire, England","country":"UK","description":"3 men, 1 posing as a cop, arrested while attempting home invasion.","summary":"Three men were arrested near the home of a 19-year-old hacker in the Spalding Common area of Lincolnshire, England, shortly after 11 p.m. on 6 September 2022. The hacker, known online as \"Discoli\", was not at home. A resident phoned police to say three men were acting suspiciously and had jumped a nearby fence. Discoli said police believed the three were trying to force their way into his home and that one was wearing a police uniform. He said their aim was robbery or blackmail of crypto, and that he believed one of his enemies had hired them. Lincolnshire Police said the men made off in a VW Golf and were stopped nearby, and officers found an imitation firearm, a taser, a baseball bat and a police uniform in the boot. Nothing was taken. Thomas Green, 23, Rayhan Miah, 23, and Leonardo Sapiano, 24, were charged with possession of the weapons and with intent to make an unwarranted demand of cryptocurrency.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/09/botched-crypto-mugging-lands-three-u-k-men-in-jail/"]},{"id":137,"date":"September 12, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-12","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"19 y/o man","location":"Winnipeg, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Man held at gunpoint, assaulted and tied up during Bitcoin trade.","summary":"A 19-year-old man was held at gunpoint, assaulted and tied up in Winnipeg, Canada, on 12 September 2022 after arranging to exchange his money for Bitcoin. Police said he had agreed through social media to meet someone in the parking lot of a Winnipeg high school. When he got into the person's car he was immediately held at gunpoint, assaulted, tied up and driven around by a man who demanded his money. When the vehicle eventually stopped he escaped and ran for help. He was treated in hospital for his injuries and released the same day. It is not reported what, if anything, he handed over. Police arrested a 22-year-old Winnipeg man that evening on Broadway near the Manitoba legislature. He was charged with armed robbery using a firearm, pointing a firearm, two counts of assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, uttering threats to kill and firearm possession offences.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bitcoin-robbery-winnipeg-1.6582916"]},{"id":138,"date":"September 12, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-12","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Two victims","location":"Delray Beach, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Armed gang invades home, takes jewelry, electronics, cash. Tried but failed to drain Gemini account.","summary":"Two people were allegedly detained at gunpoint in their home in Delray Beach, Florida, on 12 September 2022. Records name two men, Avila and Quintana, and a third man who was not accused in the indictment. The records describe it as the first kidnapping in a series. The home invasions were part of a scheme devised in 2022 by a man named Seemungal and his co-conspirators, who recruited a man named St Felix and others to assist; St Felix later became the leader of the home invasion crew. In September 2022 St Felix and members of the crew committed violent home invasions in Delray Beach and in Homestead, Florida. No assault or injury is described for the Delray Beach incident, and nothing is reported taken there. It is not reported how the incident ended or whether anyone was arrested or charged over it.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"second occupant, relation not stated"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[430,145,156],"sources":["https://fox5sandiego.com/news/border-report/group-linked-to-9-kidnappings-in-three-states/","https://www.borderreport.com/regions/texas/group-linked-to-9-kidnappings-in-three-states/","https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/twelve-defendants-sentenced-violent-home-invasion-robberies-steal-cryptocurrency"]},{"id":139,"date":"September 15, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-15","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Evgenii Abdullin and Mrs. Ekaterina Abdullin","location":"Koh Samui, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Russian couple extorted by gang of foreign men at coffee shop.","summary":"Evgenii Abdullin, a 31-year-old Russian national, and his wife Ekaterina were threatened into transferring cryptocurrency at a cafe in Taling Ngam on Koh Samui, Thailand, on 15 September 2022. Six foreign men surrounded the couple while they were drinking coffee. One of them, Salman Almaty, a German national who claimed to have met Abdullin before in Russia, demanded $3 million in digital currency. The couple had only about $58,000 in cryptocurrency and, fearing physical harm, transferred $50,000, about 1.878 million baht. Almaty left a phone number and said the men would come back for more. No weapon or injury is described. On 18 September a Telegram call told Abdullin to transfer more through the Bybit platform, which he did not do. The couple went to police on 25 September. Immigration records show Almaty left Thailand on 18 September, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":3000000},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":50000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.matichon.co.th/region/news_3584663"]},{"id":141,"date":"December 5, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-05","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Aiden Pleterski","location":"Toronto, Ontario","country":"Canada","description":"\"Crypto king\" abducted, tortured, and beaten for days as his kidnappers sought millions in ransom","summary":"Aiden Pleterski, a 24-year-old from Toronto who called himself the \"Crypto King\", was kidnapped in downtown Toronto around 5 December 2022 and held for three days. Court documents say he raised about $41.5 million from investors, invested only 1.6 percent of it and filed for bankruptcy. Police said he was lured into a vehicle late at night, where two men pointed firearms at him. The kidnappers demanded a large amount of Canadian currency and threatened his life and family. He was taken to several places and assaulted. His father said he was beaten and tortured. Nothing is reported paid. He was let go and told to come up with money fast and to stay away from the police.\n\nIn early July 2023 Toronto police arrested four men, who were charged with kidnapping for ransom and other counts: Akil Heywood, 39, one of his investors, who had filed a claim for $740,000, Tyler Fast, 37, Deren Akyeam-Pong, 24, and Rakeem Henry, 24.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"CAD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/world/canada/crypto-king-aiden-pleterski-kidnapping-arrest.html"]},{"id":142,"date":"December 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Russian Businessman","location":"Moscow, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Man kidnapped from his Bentley by masked men, forced to give access to bitcoin wallet.","summary":"A Russian businessman described as a bitcoin millionaire told police he was kidnapped in Moscow on 1 December 2022 and forced to give up access to a wallet holding 250 bitcoins, worth around $17 million at the time. By his account, masked men jumped out of a van, seized him from his luxury car, put a bag on his head and drove him to an unknown location. They took his mobile phone, which had an app giving access to the wallet, and forced him to reveal the password. A law-enforcement source said he was intimidated into giving up the key, and no beating is described. Afterwards the men dropped him off in woods not far from Krasnogorsk, near the north-western boundary of Moscow. The number of attackers is not given, none has been identified and no arrest is reported. The account is the businessman's statement to police as relayed by the law-enforcement source.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":250,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":17000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://vuink.com/post/eg-d-dpbz/russia/567577-bitcoin-kidnapping-moscow-police"]},{"id":143,"date":"December 3, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-03","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Lelystad, Netherlands","country":"Netherlands","description":"Man responds to a Marktplaats ad to buy bitcoin, is attacked by several men & forced to transfer 30K EUR worth of BTC & ETH.","summary":"A man who answered a Marktplaats classified ad to buy Bitcoin was attacked by several men at an address in Lelystad, the Netherlands, on 3 December 2022. He had gone to the agreed address for the purchase. The men beat him, hit him in the head with a firearm and forced him to transfer around 30,000 euros worth of his cryptocurrency, in Bitcoin and Ethereum, to them. Police traced the coins to the digital wallet of Ario S., who was 19 at sentencing. The Midden-Nederland court convicted him of the robbery and sentenced him to three years, one of them suspended, and ordered him to pay the man more than 8,000 euros in damages, his share of the proceeds. The court did not believe his claim that he held the coins only to exchange them for the man. A co-suspect has also been convicted, and a converted gas pistol carrying the DNA of the man who was robbed was found under that co-suspect's pillow.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://nltimes.nl/2024/08/22/man-convicted-violent-bitcoin-robbery-classified-ad-deal-separate-shooting"]},{"id":144,"date":"December 11, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-11","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"2 Russians from Cryptus team","location":"Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"2 men who work on a cryptocurrency were kidnapped and robbed.","summary":"Two Russian men working with the virtual-currency team Cryptus were attacked in Soi Cherng Talay 16 in Phuket, Thailand, at about 1 a.m. on 11 December 2022. Both told police they did not know the attackers. A partner of the two, who introduces himself as co-creator of the currency, wrote that the kidnappers were Russian speakers, threatened the men with guns and knives and tied their hands. A hospital report issued the same day said one of the two, aged 27, had bruises and abrasions. The attackers took US$20,000 in cash and a crypto wallet reported to hold US$25,000 in cryptocurrency, amounts the police report confirmed. The men filed a complaint with Cherng Talay Police that day and asked for a full investigation. No arrest is reported. The partner said he had passed police information about the gunman and the alleged organiser, and that a gang on the island hunts down people with crypto.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two crypto team members"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":45000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":45000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-assaulted-in-armed-extortion-robbed-of-us-45k-in-cash-crypto-86552.php"]},{"id":145,"date":"December 22, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-22","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Little Elm, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Armed gang invades home, torture victims for 3 hours, take jewelry. They sought his buried hardware wallet; he escaped over the fence.","summary":"A man and members of his family were held at gunpoint in their home in Little Elm, Texas, on 22 December 2022. According to the indictment, four people were detained. The attackers belonged to a conspiracy that first stole cryptocurrency from exchange accounts through SIM swapping and in 2022 moved to home invasions. A crew led by Remy Ra St Felix, 25, made several trips to attempt the robbery before Jarod Gabriel Seemungal, 23, and a Houston-based crew carried it out. They restrained the family for over three hours and tortured the man and his mother. According to court testimony, the crew led the man outside to dig up his hardware wallet, and he ran and jumped the fence. The attackers took approximately $150,000 in cash, two Rolex watches and a necklace and pendant. No cryptocurrency is reported taken.\n\nTwelve defendants were sentenced for the series of home invasions. St Felix received 47 years and Seemungal 20 years, and the six Houston men named for this invasion received between five and 15 years each.","targeting":["Other","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother and two other family members"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":150000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":150000},"linked_cases":[430,138,156],"sources":["https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/twelve-defendants-sentenced-violent-home-invasion-robberies-steal-cryptocurrency","https://trmlabs.com/post/crypto-home-invasion-ringleader-st-felix-sentenced-to-47-years---longest-sentence-for-case-involving-cryptocurrencies","https://www.borderreport.com/regions/texas/group-linked-to-9-kidnappings-in-three-states/"]},{"id":147,"date":"January 14, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Crypto company (target), building concierge (assaulted)","location":"Barcelona, Spain","country":"Spain","description":"5 men armed with tasers and zip ties tried to storm a company's office and were foiled at the building entrance (offices not reached).","summary":"A cryptocurrency company with offices in the Eixample district of Barcelona was the target of a robbery attempt on 14 January 2023 at about 3:30 p.m. Five men planned for one of them to pose as a client with an appointment to get into the offices while the others entered the building with stun guns and zip ties. They gagged the woman working as the building's concierge and tied her hands and feet. She resisted, and the noise alerted company staff. The director came out, saw the men trying to restrain her and called police. Four men fled up the service stairs to the roof. The fifth, the man posing as a client, was trapped inside the offices and arrested after a search found latex gloves on him. Car keys and a parking ticket he carried led officers to a car park, where they detained the other four when they came back for the vehicle. Nothing is reported taken. All five were imprisoned.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"building concierge"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: other claimed role"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://elcaso.elnacional.cat/es/noticias/asalto-empresa-criptomonedas-eixample-pillados-propietario-amordazaban-conserje_956094102.html"]},{"id":150,"date":"February 25, 2023","date_sort":"2023-02-25","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Yuri Boytsov and Ekateryna Khmelenko","location":"Bali, Indonesia","country":"Indonesia","description":"4 men invade crypto blogger's home, beat him until he transfers $284,000 in BTC.","summary":"Yuri Boytsov, 27, a Russian bitcoin trader and investment blogger, and his girlfriend Ekateryna Khmelenko, 27, were robbed at their villa in Kerobokan, Bali, on 25 February 2023. Boytsov said four men broke in: three spoke Russian and one, who appeared to be local, wore a police uniform. By one account the men said Boytsov had \"ripped someone off\", beat him and forced him to transfer $284,000 in bitcoin to their accounts. Police, who valued the bitcoin at US$284,399, reported threats and did not mention a beating. The men also took the couple's passports and other documents. Bali police received the report on 26 February and that day arrested a Russian national identified by the initials SMA at Ngurah Rai International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Dubai. The other three suspects were believed to be at large. One account says a suspect held by police denied involvement and accused Boytsov of being a fraudster.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":284000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":284000},"taken":{"amount":284399,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":284399},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://coconuts.co/bali/news/russian-couple-forced-to-part-with-us284399-in-bitcoin-after-4-men-broke-into-their-kerobokan-villa/"]},{"id":151,"date":"February 27, 2023","date_sort":"2023-02-27","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"German man","location":"Medellin, Colombia","country":"Colombia","description":"20 year old Venezuelan woman drugs and robs man of 1 BTC.","summary":"A German man of about 36 living in Medellin, Colombia, was drugged and robbed in his apartment on the evening of 27 February 2023, according to a neighbour who posted the account on Twitter. The man had arrived at the apartment with a 20-year-old Venezuelan woman, described as a sex worker. Between about 9 and 10 p.m., while he drank a glass of wine with her, he was drugged with scopolamine and lost consciousness. He woke at 8 a.m., still intoxicated, and found the apartment stripped. Gone were five mobile phones, his passport, all his clothing, cutlery, food, appliances and a briefcase holding his hardware wallet, which gave access to about $20,000 in bitcoin. The recovery seed words were in the same briefcase. The neighbour thought the thief might not know the bitcoin was there, and no transfer is reported. The man suffered no physical harm beyond the intoxication. No police report or arrest is mentioned.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://es.beincrypto.com/colombia-bitcoiner-extranjero-sufre-robo-de-20000-en-btc/"]},{"id":152,"date":"March 9, 2023","date_sort":"2023-03-09","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Peter Vuong (associate of the intended target Tran Dinh)","location":"Sydney, Australia","country":"Australia","description":"Gang kidnaps boyfriend of crypto trader's relative, demands $5M ransom while torturing him for 6 days.","summary":"A 26-year-old man, named by some media as Peter Vuong, was kidnapped from a home on Brenan Street in Smithfield, western Sydney, at about 5.20am on 9 March 2023. Police sources believe the intended target was cryptocurrency trader Tran Dinh, an associate of Vuong. Police allege a state government employee, Sira Elkheir, 21, used her work computer on 20 February to look up address and licence details of Dinh, his wife and Vuong's father, which were given to the kidnappers. An armed group forced entry, dragged him from bed and drove him to a house on Canterbury Road, Belmore. He was held there for five to six days. Police said he was bound, his face was covered, firearms and sledgehammers were used and his teeth were forcibly removed. A $5 million ransom was demanded, with footage of him begging for help sent to Dinh. Nothing is reported paid.\n\nTactical officers stormed the house at about 5.15pm on 14 March and found him inside. Six men aged 19 to 21 were charged, and Elkheir was charged and granted bail.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"associate of the intended target"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"AUD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/nsw-police-storm-belmore-home-where-kidnap-victim-allegedly-had-teeth-pulled-out/news-story/c757e358afb9a96ff19e692e1b51e144"]},{"id":153,"date":"March 20 to 21, 2023","date_sort":"2023-03-20","date_precision":"range","year":2023,"victim":"Virendra Malik","location":"Noida, India","country":"India","description":"Couple stages robbery to steal bitcoin from their friend, but he doesn't comply.","summary":"Virendra Malik, a businessman, was drugged, beaten and robbed in a flat in Arania society, Sector 119, Noida, India, on the night of 20 to 21 March 2023. Police said he had told a couple he knew, Ajit alias Rahul Singh and his wife Mahi, about his large investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The couple invited him to their flat and recruited four more people to stage a robbery there. The assailants gave Malik narcotics that left him unconscious for more than 24 hours and asked for his cryptocurrency details and mobile passwords, which he refused to share despite being beaten. They took gold jewellery, a wristwatch, a neck chain, three mobile phones and Rs 5,800 in cash. No cryptocurrency was obtained. The case broke when an accomplice, Ankur Payal, was caught with the couple's car and told police the couple had entrusted him and three other men with staging the robbery. Police arrested the couple and Payal. Three other named men were still on the run.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5800,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/noida-couple-stage-robbery-in-home-to-get-friends-crypto-investment-details-596936.html"]},{"id":154,"date":"March 29, 2023","date_sort":"2023-03-29","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"48 y/o woman","location":"Seoul, South Korea","country":"South Korea","description":"Three kidnappers, paid by a couple, kidnap woman, steal crypto, murder her.","summary":"A 48-year-old woman was kidnapped in the Gangnam Ward of Seoul on 29 March 2023. Prosecutors claim she was murdered the following day and buried 140km south of the city. Three men, Lee Kyeong-woo, Hwang Dae-han and Yeon Ji-ho, were indicted for the kidnapping. Prosecutors allege they were paid 70 million won ($51,000) by a couple, Yoo Sang-won and Hwang Eun-hee, who had bought 100 million won ($74,000) of virtual currency and invested 3 billion won ($2.2 million) on the woman's recommendation in October 2020. The couple reportedly fell into a dispute with her when the coin's price plummeted and they began to incur losses. Lee then allegedly suggested stealing the woman's crypto and killing her. No amount taken is stated. Lee admitted robbery and denied conspiring to commit or committing murder. The couple also denied the charges. Prosecutors requested the death penalty for four of the accused and life imprisonment for Yeon.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://protos.com/four-suspects-face-death-penalty-in-south-korea-crypto-murder-case/"]},{"id":156,"date":"April 12, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-12","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"76 y/o couple","location":"Durham, North Carolina","country":"USA","description":"2 men posing as construction workers invade home, force transfer of more than $156,000 in crypto.","summary":"A couple, both aged 76, were robbed at gunpoint at their home on Wells Street in Durham, North Carolina, on the morning of 12 April 2023. According to the federal complaint, Remy Ra St Felix and Elmer Ruben Castro came to the door dressed as construction workers in reflective vests, saying they needed to inspect the pipes. Co-conspirators had hacked the couple's email account and watched the house for days beforehand. Once inside, the two drew guns, zip-tied the couple, and threatened to cut off the husband's toes and genitals, to shoot him and to rape his wife. They forced the husband to open his computer and exchange account, and an accomplice, Jarod Gabriel Seemungal, remotely took the cryptocurrency. The sum is given as more than $150,000, more than $156,000 or $250,000. The couple had minor injuries and were taken to hospital.\n\nSt Felix was convicted on 25 June 2024 after a six-day trial in Greensboro and sentenced to 47 years.","targeting":["Other","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[430,138,145],"sources":["https://www.wral.com/story/durham-couple-forced-to-wire-150k-of-cryptocurrency-at-gunpoint-during-home-invasion-police-investigating/20819450/","https://www.wral.com/story/man-convicted-in-durham-kidnapping-forcing-couple-to-surrender-156-000-in-cryptocurrency/21497997/","https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna97056","https://abc11.com/post/crypto-scheme-12-sentenced-included-violent-home-invasions-including-durham/15300966/"]},{"id":157,"date":"May 3, 2023","date_sort":"2023-05-03","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Málaga province, Spain","country":"Spain","description":"3 men kidnap crypto businessman, demand €1 million ransom. He was rescued by police.","summary":"A Syrian man living in Hungary, described as a cryptocurrency portfolio manager for a Dubai company, was held for ransom in a luxury villa in Benalmádena, in the Spanish province of Málaga, on 3 May 2023. According to one report he had asked a friend whether he knew anyone in the area and was put in touch with three men, who turned on him after several days of partying together. He was tied up and threatened with a gun. The kidnappers let him use his phone to access his cryptocurrency program and to contact the person who was to pay. They demanded one million euros and sent audio and images, one showing a gun pointed at his head. Nothing is reported paid. He photographed the view from a window and got the picture to a colleague, and the landmarks let investigators place him in the villa. Around fifty officers stormed it at about 6pm and arrested three men aged 35, 36 and 54. Reports differ on whether he had minor bruising or was unharmed. Police found two firearms in the house.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/496955"]},{"id":158,"date":"May 26, 2023","date_sort":"2023-05-26","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Smoke Shop","location":"Houston, Texas","country":"USA","description":"7 suspects arrested after ramming store with stolen truck in failed attempt to steal Bitcoin ATM.","summary":"Seven people used a stolen pickup truck to ram Smokie's Smoke Shop on Beechnut Street in southwest Houston, Texas, on 26 May 2023. Police said the truck crashed into the shop just before 5 a.m.; one report gives 6am. Surveillance video shows the truck reversing into the front of the store and shattering all the glass before several people jumped out and went inside. Houston police said the group appeared to be trying to take a Bitcoin ATM and did not succeed. The shop was closed and no injuries were reported. The owner, Fehmida Ali, received an alert from her security system, saw the raid on her cameras and rushed to the shop. She said several items were stolen and put the damage and losses at around $10,000. Police arrested seven suspects at the scene.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://abc13.com/post/smash-and-grab-robbery-smokies-smoke-shop-truck-crashes-into-beechnut-store-crash/13302865/"]},{"id":160,"date":"July 16, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-16","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Unknown Couple","location":"Queens, New York","country":"USA","description":"Fake FBI agents in Porsche tase and tie up couple, steal Mercedes, $40K in cash, crypto","summary":"A 25-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were robbed as they returned to their home near Main Street and Elder Avenue in Flushing, Queens, New York, at 7:30 a.m. on 16 July 2023. Police said two men pulled up in a black Porsche Cayenne, falsely identified themselves as FBI agents and displayed firearms in their waistbands. The men tased both people and tied them up, then took valuables from the home: $20,000 in cash, $20,000 in cryptocurrency, a Rolex watch, a Hermes bag, a Chanel bag, a wallet, a cellphone and a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GT50. How the cryptocurrency was moved is not stated. Police said the couple were not seriously injured. The two men fled in the Porsche and the stolen Mercedes. No arrest is reported. The NYPD released video of the two suspects walking down a hallway and asked anyone with information to come forward.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"female partner"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/fake-fbi-agents-in-porsche-tase-tie-couple-in-queens"]},{"id":161,"date":"September 3, 2023","date_sort":"2023-09-03","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Italian man","location":"Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Three Kazakh men rob man of watches in his villa and seek Ledger wallet. Russian MMA fighter & twin brother arrested as the organisers directing by phone.","summary":"An Italian man staying in a villa at a resort in Cherng Talay, Phuket, Thailand, was attacked at about 11pm on 3 September 2023. Three Kazakh nationals, whom he said he had never seen before, came in through a side door, grabbed him while he slept and bound, gagged and blindfolded him. They took instructions by telephone from a person directing the attack and asked for the location of a drive containing a ledger of cryptocurrency, which he denied having. The beating continued through the night and left contusions to his face, torso and legs. The men took three luxury watches, a MacBook, two iPhones, his passport and a debit card, and reportedly 40,000 euros in cash from the safe. A further 16,000 euros was taken in Dubai with the card. The belongings are put at more than B12 million. No cryptocurrency was obtained. He escaped at 4:48pm the next day, still bound and gagged. Russian twin brothers Khusein and Khasan Askhabov, both 28, acquaintances of the man, were arrested on 5 September.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12000000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thephuketnews.com/russian-mma-fighter-khusein-twin-brother-arrested-for-kidnap-torture-extortion-in-phuket-89533.php"]},{"id":162,"date":"October, 2023","date_sort":"2023-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Repeat Victim","location":"Cadishead, England","country":"UK","description":"Victim dragged into a flat, tied up, assaulted, locked in a cupboard all night until they received cryptocurrency.","summary":"A vulnerable man from the Salford and Irlam area of Greater Manchester, who was targeted by a cryptocurrency gang through 2023, was attacked in Cadishead in October 2023. Police said that when he arrived at an address there, Gary Edwards, 47, dragged him into the flat. He was tied up, kept restrained all night, locked in a cupboard and violently assaulted. Kane Godiff, 33, told him he would be killed if he did not pay. He was forced to send more money and was freed once it arrived. No amount is given for this incident. He told police he had paid them over £100,000 in earlier incidents. Edwards pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and was jailed for ten years and two months. Godiff pleaded guilty to the same charge and was jailed for seven years and five months. They were among seven men sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on 30 January 2025 to more than 76 years between them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[354,355,307,169],"sources":["https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/january/criminal-gang-who-kidnapped-vulnerable-man-for-cryptocurrency-jailed-for-76-years/"]},{"id":164,"date":"October 30, 2023","date_sort":"2023-10-30","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Crypto Exchange","location":"Tbilisi, Georgia","country":"Georgia","description":"Several men rob exchange office, take up to $900,000 on site plus several million in crypto via the seized servers. Seven charged (two arrested, five in absentia).","summary":"A cryptocurrency exchange office at 37 Chavchavadze Street in Tbilisi, Georgia, was robbed on 30 October 2023. Several men entered at 17:36 after introducing themselves to staff as colleagues and tricking them into opening the door, according to a lawyer for Tonvex. Employees and clients were in the room and their movement was restricted. Footage shows a young man trying to remove the company's servers. According to one report, one of the men was Dato Feikrishvili, seen giving his accomplices instructions and apparently carrying a weapon tucked into his waistband. His lawyer said the footage is not sufficient evidence that he committed the robbery or took part in it. The same report said the servers allowed several million dollars in cryptocurrency to be taken and that up to $900,000 was also taken, without saying whether that sum was cash or crypto. Two people were arrested. Feikrishvili and four others were charged in absentia.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"exchange office staff"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"clients in the office"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: other claimed role"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":900000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://rustavi2.ge/ka/news/268474"]},{"id":166,"date":"November 6, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-06","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Middle-aged couple","location":"Rönninge, Sweden","country":"Sweden","description":"Couple tied up, beaten, and threatened with their own kitchen knives.","summary":"A middle-aged couple were tied up and robbed at their home in Rönninge, south of Stockholm, Sweden, at about 2 pm on 6 November 2023. At least four masked men bound the couple for several hours, physically abused them and threatened them with their own kitchen knives. One of the two was flown to hospital by ambulance helicopter with injuries reported as not life-threatening. Eric Wall, a board member of the StarkNet Foundation, wrote that the purpose was to steal the couple's Bitcoin. He said criminals in Sweden find prominent Bitcoin figures through residential addresses and tax records obtainable under the country's Offentlighetsprincipen laws. No amount is given, and what was taken is not stated. Police investigated the attack as aggravated robbery and nobody had been arrested at the time. The robbery has been linked to one in Södertälje on 3 October 2023 that used the same method.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"spouse"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-robbery-gang-strikes-again-in-sweden-middle-aged-couple-targeted-report/","https://www.lt.se/2023-11-08/ranarna-ar-ute-efter-bitcoin","https://telgenytt.se/par-blev-bundna-och-ranade-en-fordes-till-sjukhus/","https://cointelegraph.com/news/swedish-bitcoiners-targeted-by-armed-criminals"]},{"id":167,"date":"November 10, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-10","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Executives of a Binance VIP client","location":"Montenegro","country":"Montenegro","description":"Executives lured into fake business trip, kidnapped, forced to empty wallets of 12.5M USD in USDT.","summary":"Executives of a VIP client of the crypto exchange Binance were tricked and kidnapped in Montenegro during an alleged business trip. The date given is 10 November 2023. The place within Montenegro, the number of people involved and how the deception was set up are not stated. The attackers forced the executives to empty their crypto wallets. According to Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao, $12.5 million was taken, all of it in tether (USDT), and transferred to a Tron wallet. Binance investigated the on-chain activity, asked partners to freeze the receiving wallet and blocked up to 94% of the sum. Of the total, $11.8 million in USDT was freed and returned. No violence, weapon or holding place is described, and how or when the executives were freed is not stated. No arrests, charges or police investigation are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"executives of a Binance VIP client"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12500000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":12500000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://mugglehead.com/binance-client-executives-robbed-of-12-5-million-while-on-vacation/"]},{"id":168,"date":"November 10, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-10","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"21 y/o man","location":"Portland, Oregon","country":"USA","description":"4 men fly from FL to OR, abduct target off the street near his residence, beat him and abandon him taped to a post in a field in Banks. His password was used later that day.","summary":"A 21-year-old man was kidnapped from downtown Portland, Oregon, on 10 November 2023. According to the indictment, four men flew to Portland from Florida on 8 November and spent two days watching his apartment. On 10 November some of the group abducted him and drove him away while others entered his apartment to try to access his cryptocurrency. They took him to a field in Banks, tied him to a post with duct tape, repeatedly assaulted him and abandoned him. Later that same day, the indictment says, the group used his seed phrase to transfer digital currency out of his wallet. Prosecutors have not disclosed how much was taken. A woman passing by found him taped to the post and called police at 8.33am on 11 November.\n\nRalph Moreno Jr., 24, Justice Uallah Del Carpi, 22, Jackson Reves, 19, and Billy Cordova, 24, were arrested in Florida in late September 2024. All four pleaded not guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and were held pending trial.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/10/kidnapped-for-crypto-4-men-flew-from-florida-to-portland-tied-a-man-to-a-post-before-stealing-his-cryptocurrency-feds-say.html"]},{"id":169,"date":"November 30, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-30","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Repeat Victim","location":"Salford, England","country":"UK","description":"Victim was kidnapped from a friend's house, had bag placed over head, rescued by police after anonymous tip sent.","summary":"A vulnerable man from the Salford and Irlam area of Greater Manchester, who was targeted by a cryptocurrency gang through 2023, was kidnapped on 30 November 2023 in the fifth and final incident of the series. He was at a friend's address when Gary Edwards, 47, threw him into a van and covered his head. He was taken to a flat on Egret Drive, Irlam, and held there. Police said he had a burn mark on his hand and bruises from being hit with a weapon, and he told officers he had been violently assaulted and tied up. On 2 December, after an anonymous tip-off, police went to the flat, saw a man running away and found him inside. Officers seized a viable firearm, knives, a machete and cable ties. No transfer is reported for this episode. Police said the gang forced him to hand over hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cryptocurrency during the campaign.\n\nSeven men were jailed at Manchester Crown Court on 30 January 2025 for more than 76 years between them. The longest sentences were 20 years each for Jonathan Newns and David Povey.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[354,355,307,162],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62e3v4ng7ko"]},{"id":170,"date":"December 25, 2023","date_sort":"2023-12-25","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"23 y/o miner","location":"Izhevsk, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Miner kidnapped from home, ransomed, rescued by police.","summary":"A 23-year-old cryptocurrency miner was kidnapped from the yard of his home in Izhevsk, Russia, on 25 December 2023. A gang of three men, said to have criminal backgrounds in robbery and extortion, forced him into a vehicle and drove him away. One of the three knew him personally. The vehicle was reportedly registered to a retiree from the city of Perm. The kidnappers sent a demand for 15 million rubles, about $166,000, to the man's brother over Telegram. They threatened severe repercussions if it was not met, and said they would plant drugs on the miner and deliver him to the police. Only threats are described; no weapon or assault is reported. Nothing is reported paid or taken. Russian authorities detained the alleged kidnappers, who face up to 12 years in prison if convicted. How and when the miner got free is not stated.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":15000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":166000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thodex.com/russian-cryptocurrency-miner-abducted-for-166k-ransom/"]},{"id":171,"date":"January 16, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-16","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"42 y/o man","location":"Cluj, Romania","country":"Romania","description":"Restaurant owner kidnapped and has finger cut off. On his own account he gave up the access code; no transfer reported.","summary":"A 42-year-old businessman, owner of a well-known restaurant in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, told police he had been kidnapped and tortured for the access code to his cryptocurrency wallet. His account emerged on 16 January 2024. At about 5.45am a police crew sent to a car stopped at the roadside after a minor accident found the driver injured, covered in blood and with a severed finger, and took him to hospital. He said three masked men had held him in a hall on the outskirts of the city and tortured him, leaving him without the finger, until he gave them the code so they would release him. He said the wallet held cryptocurrency worth more than 950,000 lei; the sum is also given as about $200,000. No transfer is reported. He was tested at 0.76 mg/l of alcohol in exhaled air. Police said nothing on surveillance cameras in the area confirmed his account and that they were continuing to investigate. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.romaniatv.net/afaceristul-din-cluj-care-sustine-ca-a-fost-torturat-pentru-parola-portofelului-cripto-era-de-fapt-beat-la-volan_8057741.html"]},{"id":172,"date":"January 29, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-29","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Belarusian couple (23 y/o man)","location":"Muang district, Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"5 \"Russians\" arrested in crypto abduction case (~USD 901,200)","summary":"Albert Viviankou, 23, a Belarusian, and his wife were kidnapped in Muang district, Phuket, Thailand, at around 10pm on 29 January 2024. They told police they were riding a motorcycle from a game shop to their accommodation when three men in a black Hyundai van cut in front of them and forced them into the van. The couple's heads were covered with plastic bags and the man was punched to make them transfer cryptocurrency. They transferred US$901,200, about 31 million baht. The gang then released them about a kilometre from where they had been taken, and they filed a complaint immediately. Police arrested five Russian men aged 29 to 37, two of them at Phuket airport as they were about to leave the country. Police charged them with robbery, coercion, illegal detention and related offences. All five denied involvement.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":901200,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":901200},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2735294/5-russians-arrested-in-crypto-abduction-case"]},{"id":173,"date":"March, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Uber Riders","location":"Scottsdale, Arizona","country":"USA","description":"Uber driver misused his position to steal more than $300,000 in crypto from customers' Coinbase accounts by taking their phones to \"navigate\".","summary":"A man posing as an Uber driver stole cryptocurrency from passengers in Scottsdale, Arizona, between March and December 2024, police said. Nuruhussein Hussein, 40, allegedly picked up customers who had ordered a real ride outside a Scottsdale hotel, then asked to use the passenger's phone on the pretence of needing to look up directions or connect to the Uber app. Police said that while handling the phone he transferred cryptocurrency from the passenger's digital wallet to his own. Police put the theft at more than $300,000. Nobody is described as held or restrained; a court heard that he told one passenger to \"chill or something bad would happen\". Hussein was arrested in Scottsdale and charged with two counts each of theft, fraudulent schemes and money laundering. A $200,000 bond was set with electronic monitoring and a ban on all internet use, after prosecutors said he regularly travels to Ethiopia and was a flight risk.","targeting":["Opportunistic"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"ride-hail passengers"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":300000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fake-uber-driver-made-300000-stealing-customers-cryptocurrency-rcna184096"]},{"id":174,"date":"March 10, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Young Couple","location":"Montreal, Quebec, Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Gang kidnaps couple and robs them of nearly $25,000 in crypto, credit cards and goods. Four arrested, others possibly involved.","summary":"A man and a woman in their 20s, a couple, were kidnapped in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville district of Montreal late in the evening of 10 March 2024. According to police, armed and hooded suspects appeared and ordered the two into separate vehicles. Police said the motive was to steal cryptocurrency, credit cards and other goods. The couple were found a few hours later in Dorval, one of them with facial injuries, and police later described both as doing well. The kidnappers allegedly took nearly $25,000 in cryptocurrency, credit cards and goods the couple had with them. Police arrested four suspects: three aged 18 and 19 in Montreal on 8 May 2024, and a 21-year-old at Calgary International Airport after he fled Quebec. The first three appeared in court on charges including kidnapping, forcible confinement, robbery and unauthorised possession of a firearm. Police said other people may have been involved.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":25000,"currency":"CAD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/suspects-arrested-montreal-calgary-crypto-kidnapping-1.7203455"]},{"id":175,"date":"March 15, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-15","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"___ Yevgini","location":"Samui Island, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Gang of 6 Russians robs Russian man and wife at coffee shop for 1.8 million baht in BTC.","summary":"A Russian man identified as Yevgini told police that six Russians threatened him at a coffee shop on Samui Island, Thailand, and demanded his Bitcoins. The date given is 15 March 2024, and he filed his complaint with Samui police on a Friday. He said he was having coffee with his wife at a shop in Taling Ngam sub-district when four men arrived in a black van, joined by two more on a motorcycle, and threatened to harm him if he did not transfer his Bitcoins to them. No restraint, assault or weapon is described. The amounts conflict: the Bitcoins he was told to transfer are put at about 112 million baht, while the charge against the one man arrested says he was robbed of 1.8 million baht in Bitcoins. What he transferred, if anything, is not stated. Thai police arrested one Russian national on Samui and said he is believed to belong to a Russian gang that has been preying on fellow citizens known to be engaged in Bitcoin investment businesses.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":112000000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1800000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://aseannow.com/topic/1322601-russian-arrested-on-samui-for-allegedly-robbing-compatriot-of-%E0%B8%BF18m-in-bitcoins/"]},{"id":176,"date":"April 18, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-18","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"11 Traders","location":"King Albert Park, Singapore","country":"Singapore","description":"4 men rob suspected Chinese crypto gambling ring of $3M USD.","summary":"Eleven people aged between 25 and 45 were robbed in a residential unit in the King Albert Park area of Singapore on 18 April 2024. Police received a report at 02:00 that at least four men had robbed the unit. The eleven, whom one report suspects of involvement in a Chinese cryptocurrency gambling ring, lost Singapore and foreign currency, cryptocurrency and luxury watches with a total value of about SGD 4.34 million (about USD 3.19 million). The share that was cryptocurrency is not stated. How the men got in is not described. Investigators identified the suspects and found they had fled to Malaysia shortly after the police report. With the cooperation of the Royal Malaysia Police, two suspects aged 28 and 32 were arrested in Malaysia on 27 and 28 April and extradited to Singapore on 30 April. Other suspects remain at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":11,"at_least":false,"detail":"eleven people in a residential unit"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4340000,"currency":"SGD","usd_stated":3190000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bitget.com/news/detail/12560603986077"]},{"id":177,"date":"June 17, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-17","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Ramesh Nair","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"3 men armed with machetes invade home, force owner to transfer his crypto.","summary":"Ramesh Nair, a London-based cryptocurrency investor known as Ram, said he was robbed at his home by three men armed with machetes on 17 June 2024. In a public post that day he wrote that the men knew he had crypto and knew where he lived, forced him to open his Ledger wallet and transferred all of his crypto out. He was made to comply at the risk of being stabbed and wrote that he was not stabbed. No injury is described. From the transaction records he shared, over $4.1 million worth of cryptocurrency was taken, primarily Ether, Uniswap and Chainlink. At the time of the report most of those assets were still held at the attacker's address. In a follow-up Nair called the incident one of the worst experiences of his life and said he was prioritising safety over asset recovery. He asked Binance, Coinbase and Kraken to halt the attackers if the funds reached their platforms. No arrest, charge or police involvement is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4100000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":4100000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointab.com/crypto-investor-ramesh-nair-lose-4m-to-robbers/"]},{"id":178,"date":"July 3, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-03","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"3 y/o boy","location":"Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"2 women abduct toddler from mall, demand $660,000 USDT ransom.","summary":"A three-year-old boy was taken from the TKO Plaza shopping mall in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong, on the afternoon of 3 July 2024. Two 38-year-old women, described in one report as from mainland China, allegedly grabbed him and held him in an apartment in a nearby housing estate while demanding a ransom in cryptocurrency. The demand is given as more than HK$5 million in cryptocurrency or as US$660,000 in USDT. Who the ransom was demanded from is not stated, and nothing indicates it was paid. Police broke into the apartment at 5.25 am the next morning, rescued the boy and arrested both women. The boy appeared unharmed and was sent to hospital for observation. The women told police they were unemployed. The case was handled by the police Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. Its chief superintendent, Kwan King-pan, said some criminals mistakenly think cryptocurrencies are harder to trace and that the force is capable of bringing them to justice and determined to do so.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"three-year-old boy"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":660000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/abduction-of-hong-kong-child-marks-crimes-on-crypto-owners/"]},{"id":179,"date":"July 10, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-10","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed Man","location":"Angers, France","country":"France","description":"2 men invade home, threaten victim with knife & crowbar, demand 10,000 EUR.","summary":"A young man was robbed in his apartment in Angers, France, on 10 July 2024. Around 5.30 pm a man armed with a crowbar smashed his door. He tried to take refuge in the bathroom, and a second man, whom he described as a friend, arrived. Both threatened him and demanded 10,000 euros. By his account they suggested cutting off one of his fingers with a butterfly knife found at the scene and sending it to his parents. In total 12,500 euros in cryptocurrency was stolen from him under duress. The man admitted his money came from scams involving fake ads on Leboncoin and said he had talked too much about his funds.\n\nThree men, Abdoulaye Fofana, Yassine Kerrou and Abakar Lande, were tried for extortion at the Angers Correctional Court on 6 September 2024. All admitted the facts and played down the violence. Fofana was sentenced to two years in prison, one suspended, Kerrou to three years, one suspended, and Lande to 30 months, one suspended. They must pay the man a little over 15,000 euros in compensation.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12500,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/justice/ils-menacent-un-homme-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie-trois-jeunes-condamnes-pour-extorsion-a-angers-9b3310c6-6c61-11ef-8186-bc3b55f9d8c3"]},{"id":180,"date":"July 11, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-11","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Chinese National","location":"KL-Putrajaya expressway exit, Malaysia","country":"Malaysia","description":"Gang of 18 kidnaps one victim and holds him for a 1,007,696 USDT ransom. Six charged.","summary":"A Chinese national was allegedly kidnapped at an exit of the expressway connecting Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Malaysia, on 11 July 2024. The accused then demanded a ransom of 1 million USDT for his release, reported as 4.44 million Malaysian ringgit (about $1 million). The charge sheet puts the figure at 1,007,696 USDT. Where he was held, for how long, whether the ransom was paid and whether he was freed are not stated. Six Malaysian nationals aged between 25 and 29, a married couple and four others, were charged with kidnapping. On 15 August they pleaded not guilty. If convicted under the Kidnapping Act they face 30 to 40 years in prison plus caning. Police were looking for four more suspects, all said to be members of an 18-person gang of experienced kidnappers. The Selangor police chief confirmed that four other members of the gang were shot and killed on 3 August in separate encounters.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":1000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/malaysians-kidnap-chinese-demand-1-million-usdt-ransom"]},{"id":181,"date":"July 12, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-12","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"British Crypto Trader","location":"Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"5 people tie up trader, assault, and rob him.","summary":"A British crypto trader was robbed at an apartment in Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok, at around 4.50am on 12 July 2024. Police said five foreign suspects lured him to a party there. He told police he was partying with three men and two women when he was threatened, beaten, shocked with a stun gun, tied with rope and tape, and robbed. They released him afterwards and he reported the attack to police. No cryptocurrency theft is reported. Items recovered from the suspects were two iPhones, an Audemars Piguet watch, a Rolex watch, a credit card and 24,000 baht in cash, together worth over 3 million baht. Police arrested all five. Four were named: Abdullahi Ahmed Saney Mohamed, a Danish national, and British nationals Shafiq Sumya, Ahmed Saeed Yasin and Hussein Mohamed Hassan Sheekh. Charges include armed robbery, false imprisonment and extortion with weapons. The suspects initially denied the charges.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/news/general/40039689"]},{"id":182,"date":"July 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"26 y/o Trading Coach","location":"Pune (Bavdhan, driven to Shikrapur), India","country":"India","description":"Gang of 5 kidnaps trader and robs him at knifepoint of Rs 16,02,510 in USDT","summary":"A 26-year-old share trading coach from Bavdhan, Pune, India, was abducted on 22 July 2024. According to police, five men approached him asking about his stock market course, then asked him to come with them, saying they wanted guidance on investing in shares. They took him by car from Balewadi to Shikrapur. Threatening to kill him with a knife, they allegedly snatched his mobile phone and used a mobile app to transfer his USDT, estimated at Rs 16,02,510, to a deposit address. Police said the men released him at around 6 pm, three hours after they abducted him. No injury is reported. He lodged a complaint at Chaturshringi police station. Police first arrested two of the men in Jalgaon and the other three later. The five, all residents of Jalgaon and aged 24 to 34, were held in magisterial custody. Police said cryptocurrency worth Rs 7.94 lakh was recovered, and the car and the knife were seized.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1602510,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/pune-man-robbed-loses-cryptocurrency-9517117/"]},{"id":183,"date":"July 28, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-28","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"29 y/o Moroccan man","location":"Solomianskyi district, Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"4 men kidnap foreigner, rob, & murder him for 3 BTC.","summary":"A 29-year-old Moroccan man, a Bitcoin and crypto trader living in Kyiv, Ukraine, was kidnapped and killed on 28 July 2024. Kyiv police said four men had learned that he held Bitcoins worth several million hryvnias, tracked down where he lived and waited for him. Residents of the Solomianskyi district called police around midnight after hearing screams and seeing several people attack a man and force him into a car. He was driven to an abandoned building in Kyiv region and coerced into transferring three BTC, worth about $170,000, to the attackers' wallets, which they then cashed out. He was then killed; one account says he was beaten at his door and strangled after the transfer. Police said the attackers changed the car's licence plates and appearance and buried the body in a forest. Kyiv police arrested four men aged 24 to 29. Prosecutors will reportedly seek life imprisonment.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":170000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-ukraine-170000-stolen-foreigner-murdered/"]},{"id":184,"date":"July 29, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-29","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Crypto billionaire","location":"Talinn, Estonia","country":"Estonia","description":"Crypto billionaire attacked in the stairwell of his own apartment building by men posing at painters, successfully fights them off and prevents kidnapping.","summary":"A cryptocurrency billionaire was ambushed in the stairwell of his apartment building in Tallinn, Estonia, on 29 July 2024. According to court documents, a group had allegedly stalked him for weeks, installed a GPS tracker on his vehicle, entered Estonia on forged Georgian passports and bought painter uniforms as a disguise. The alleged plan was to abduct him and take him to a rented sauna house, where he would be coerced into transferring his crypto holdings. Two men posing as painters attacked him. One tried to muffle him with a hand over his mouth. He bit through the man's index finger, lost a tooth in the struggle and got back into his apartment before the pair could drag him to a nearby van. He lost no crypto assets. Weeks later he received a Telegram message with photos of his home demanding 30 Bitcoin, about $3.3 million at the time.\n\nAllahverdi Allahverdiyev and Ilgar Mamedov, the alleged getaway driver, are on trial and deny involvement. The alleged mastermind and three others are still sought.","targeting":["Public profile","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":30,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":3300000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoweekly.co/news/tim-heath-bites-kidnappers/"]},{"id":185,"date":"August 7, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-07","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"11 Israelis","location":"Puntarenas, Costa Rica","country":"Costa Rica","description":"8 men, possibly police, rob 11 tourists of $700,000 in bitcoin.","summary":"Eleven Israeli nationals were robbed at a social gathering at Santa Teresa beach in Cóbano, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on 7 August 2024. At least eight men arrived in two high-value vehicles. They approached the group violently, gagged the eleven and forced them to hand over their belongings. Security-camera footage shows several of the attackers in what appear to be police uniforms and shirts, moving the eleven from place to place. At least $700,000 in bitcoin was taken along with the belongings, which led to suspicion that someone close to the group knew about their financial movements. No injuries are reported. The Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ), which is investigating, believes the attackers may have police training. It is unclear whether all eleven live in Costa Rica or were visiting. Nobody has been identified and no arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":11,"at_least":false,"detail":"eleven people at a beach gathering"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":700000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":700000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.teletica.com/sucesos/asaltantes-de-turistas-israelies-sustrajeron-unos-700-mil-en-bitcoin_364777"]},{"id":186,"date":"August 13, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-13","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Ke Jibao","location":"Pathum Thani, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Gang of 4 Chinese nationals sneak into gated estate, commit armed home invasion, rob $2M USD of cryptocurrency.","summary":"Ke Jibao, 34, a Chinese businessman, and five other residents of a luxury house on a golf course in Muang district, Pathum Thani province, Thailand, were held by armed intruders on the night of 13 August 2024. Ke told police that four armed men of Chinese nationality wearing ski masks barged into the house and captured the six residents, three men and three women. They forced Ke to transfer 70 million baht (US$2 million) of digital money to their account, and he said his relatives in China completed the transfer. Ke suffered a knife wound to his wrist and another resident was hit on the forehead with a gun. Both were treated in hospital. The men took the house's CCTV servers and drove away in Ke's black Toyota Alphard at around 2.45am. Police found the car abandoned near a power plant in Ban Mai subdistrict the following afternoon. Pathum Thani police launched a hunt for the gang and questioned each resident and the neighbours. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":5,"at_least":false,"detail":"five other residents, two men and three women"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":70000000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":2000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://asianews.network/hunt-for-chinese-gang-suspected-of-thb70-million-robbery-in-thailands/"]},{"id":187,"date":"August 15, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-15","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Verdun, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"3 men invade home of crypto entrepreneur, torture him for hours until he transfers $15K.","summary":"A man in his 30s who ran his own cryptocurrency business was attacked in an apartment in Verdun, Montreal, on 15 August 2024. Montreal police said three armed suspects burst into the apartment, tied him up, and beat and tortured him for several hours. The suspects fled after obtaining from him the details required to make a cryptocurrency transfer, and $15,000 in cryptocurrency was taken. A relative found him afterwards, and he was taken to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Lévi Steward-Barachin, 34, Daniel Mosiah Honoré-McFarlane, 30, and Omar Abdul Singateh, 23, were arrested on 11 March, two in Toronto and the third in Montreal's Southwest borough. They face charges including breaking and entering, forcible confinement, aggravated assault and extortion, and remained in custody. Montreal police announced the arrests on 10 April 2025. Police believe other people could be linked to the crime.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/3-men-facing-kidnapping-robbery-and-other-charges-in-crypto-theft-montreal-police/"]},{"id":188,"date":"August 25, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-25","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Radhika & Suchil Chetal, parents of Veer Chetal","location":"Danbury, Connecticut","country":"USA","description":"Parents of $243M heist thieves get carjacked & kidnapped in botched ransom plot.","summary":"A married couple in their 50s, Radhika and Suchil Chetal, were kidnapped in Danbury, Connecticut, late in the afternoon of 25 August 2024. They had pulled up to a gated community when a Honda Civic intentionally rear-ended them. A witness told police three men got out of a van following the Honda, assaulted the couple and forced them into the van. Police found the van crashed and abandoned a short distance away with the couple inside, their hands and feet bound in duct tape. The man had been assaulted with a baseball bat. Nothing was obtained from them. Prosecutors said the couple were targeted because the conspirators believed their son had access to large amounts of digital currency. Authorities said the attack was part of an intended ransom demand.\n\nSix men from Florida, aged 18 to 26, were arrested. Five have pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and kidnapping charges. The son, Veer Chetal, 19, was not charged in the kidnapping plot. He pleaded guilty to fraud and money-laundering conspiracy over the theft of more than 4,000 Bitcoin a week earlier.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"parents of the holder"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/lamborghini-carjackers-lured-by-243m-cyberheist/","https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/chetal-bitcoin-crypto-theft-danbury-kidnapping-20387392.php","https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/police-danbury-florida-kidnapping-19724606.php"]},{"id":189,"date":"August 29, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-29","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"19 y/o","location":"Hougang, Singapore","country":"Singapore","description":"Man seeks p2p trade of cash for USDT, confronted by two men and assaulted by one of them, successfully escapes.","summary":"A 19-year-old man who traded cryptocurrency face to face to avoid exchange fees of 1 to 2 per cent was attacked in Hougang, Singapore, on 29 August 2024. That day he received an offer on Telegram from Benedict Yee Hong Fai, 29, to meet and trade about S$32,000 in cash for USDT. Investigations found the deal was purportedly a sham, and Yee allegedly arranged for two other men to assault the teenager and take his money. While he waited along Hougang Street 51, two men confronted him and one assaulted him. He kept hold of the cash, ran towards Hougang Green Shopping Mall and then home. Nothing was taken. Police were alerted at about 7:55 p.m., identified three men aged 20 to 29 with the help of surveillance and police cameras, and arrested them between 30 August and 3 September 2024. Yee was charged with robbery with hurt on 5 September.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://mothership.sg/2024/09/police-arrest-cryptocurrency-hougang/"]},{"id":190,"date":"October 27, 2024","date_sort":"2024-10-27","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"3 Family Members and a Nanny","location":"Chicago, Illinois","country":"USA","description":"6 men accused of kidnapping family from Chicago townhouse and forcing a transfer of $15 million in cryptocurrency","summary":"Four people, a man, two of his family members and a nanny, were kidnapped from a Chicago townhouse on 27 October 2024 and held for five days. According to an FBI affidavit, a caller knocked on the door claiming to have accidentally damaged the garage door. When the door opened, several men with guns grabbed the four. Around 1 p.m. the kidnapped man reached his father on WeChat to say the kidnappers demanded a ransom in Bitcoin or Ethereum or the group would be killed. The kidnappers had him make cryptocurrency transactions and later made more themselves from his accounts. About $15 million in cryptocurrency was taken, of which about $9 million remains unaccounted for. He said he was hit on the head with a gun and that otherwise they were treated fine. They were released on the afternoon of 1 November.\n\nSix men were charged with kidnapping on 13 December. Zehuan Wei, 34, was arrested on 17 January at the Otay Mesa border crossing in California. Three others are believed to have flown from Tijuana to Beijing.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two family members"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"nanny"}],"approach":["Social engineering: pretext at the door"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":15000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/11/chicago-kidnapping-cryptocurrency/"]},{"id":193,"date":"November 6, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-06","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Dean Skurka","location":"Toronto, Ontario","country":"Canada","description":"WonderFi CEO kidnapped during rush hour, held until $1M ransom paid.","summary":"Dean Skurka, president and chief executive of the Toronto financial firm WonderFi, which owns the crypto-trading platforms Bitbuy and Coinsquare, was kidnapped in downtown Toronto on 6 November 2024. Police were called just before 6 p.m., during rush hour, to the area of University Avenue and Richmond Street West. A police spokesperson said the suspects forced him into a vehicle and made a demand for money. He was released after a ransom of $1 million was paid electronically, according to a source close to the investigation, and was later found uninjured in Centennial Park in Etobicoke. Skurka said the next day that he was safe and that client funds and data were not affected. WonderFi later disclosed a $3.6 million charge related to the incident, covering the ransom payment and security upgrades. Police released no details of the suspects and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/kidnapping-toronto-businessman-cryptocurrency-1.7376679"]},{"id":194,"date":"November 8, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-08","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Viacheslav Leibov","location":"Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Tourist robbed by armed gang in friend's hotel room, forced to transfer $250K USDT. Robbers were captured a few days later.","summary":"Viacheslav Leibov, a Ukrainian national in Phuket, Thailand, who regularly sold USDT, was robbed on the night of Friday 8 November 2024. Police said one of the suspects had bought USDT from him before and knew he held large sums of stablecoins. Leibov told police he went to visit a friend in the friend's hotel room, where Arman Grigoryan, a 21-year-old Armenian man, met him at the door and escorted him in. The group talked on the balcony until Leibov went to the bathroom, where two masked men ambushed him and bound his limbs with ropes and cable ties. The men, armed with a hammer and a knife, demanded 500,000 USDT. Leibov negotiated the figure down and transferred 250,000 USDT, equivalent to 8.56 million baht. The attackers then tied him to a bed, warned him against reporting the crime and left. He freed himself and rode his motorcycle to the Kamala police. Thai police arrested four suspects on 11 November.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":250000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://beincrypto.com/ukrainian-man-victim-of-crypto-theft-in-thailand/"]},{"id":195,"date":"November 20, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-20","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Gen Z Quant kid","location":"Unknown","country":"unknown","description":"13 year old's dog allegedly stolen after he rug pulled a token on pump.fun, according to screenshots posted on X.","summary":"A 13-year-old boy known online as the Gen Z Quant kid launched a token called QUANT on Pump.fun on 20 November 2024 and sold his entire holding of 51 million tokens within hours for 128 SOL, about $30,000. Other traders then pushed the price up in revenge, and angry investors posted online the personal details of the boy and his family, their social media profiles and the boy's school. They also created tokens named after his father, sister and mother using the family's photographs, and one carrying pictures of the family dog, Bari. Screenshots then appeared on X, shared by a user who said he had stolen the dog. They reportedly show an alleged kidnapper in conversation with the boy's brother, who pleads for the dog's safe return. The claim rests on those screenshots alone. No person was held or touched, nothing was taken from the family and no ransom figure was reported for the dog. No police involvement, arrest or recovery of the dog was reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Remote, no contact"],"attack":["No label fits"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://tribune.com.pk/story/2511031/genz-quant-kids-dog-kidnapped-following-doxing"]},{"id":196,"date":"November 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed Man","location":"Las Vegas, Nevada","country":"USA","description":"Sex worker accused of kidnapping, stealing $300K in crypto from man she met at nightclub.","summary":"A man visiting Las Vegas and staying in Summerlin met Zapri Outlaw, a Las Vegas sex worker, at a nightclub on the Strip on 22 November 2024. He told police that he was later talking with her and another woman, that he \"was possibly drugged\" and that he began having trouble focusing; video reviewed by investigators did not confirm whether any substance was involved. Around 2 a.m. the group got into an SUV that he believed was an Uber. It pulled into a parking lot a block from the club, where another passenger, armed with a gun, ordered him out. Standing in the parking lot he found his watch, phone and wallet gone. He later found unauthorised transactions on his credit card and funds missing from his cryptocurrency account, nearly $300,000 in all. Police arrested Outlaw on 6 February and she was charged with kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. A judge set bail at $10,000 and she posted bond. Police were still searching for the other suspects.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure","Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":300000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://blocknews.com/las-vegas-woman-arrested-for-alleged-300k-crypto-kidnapping/"]},{"id":197,"date":"December 1, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-01","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Wang Shu (pseudonym)","location":"Chengdu, China","country":"China","description":"Software engineer lured by X account promising sex, ambushed at hotel by a gang that robbed him of 6 BTC.","summary":"A 35-year-old software engineer from Chengdu, China, referred to by the pseudonym Wang Shu, was forced to hand over 6 bitcoin, given as worth $400,000, at a meeting dated 1 December 2024; one account places the affair in 2025. He had met an account calling itself \"Bitcoin Genius\" on Twitter the previous August. Its profile picture showed a young woman who claimed to be a cryptocurrency trader. The conversation moved to Telegram, where the account offered him a sexual encounter, and they arranged to meet at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chengdu. There a man introduced as \"Li Shaolin\", said to be a friend of Genius, appeared with a group of people who barged in. The frightened engineer was forced to transfer the 6 bitcoin by 8:45, after which the group vanished. No beating, weapon or drugging was described, and how long he was held is not known. Police were investigating and no arrests were reported.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":6,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":400000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/22010115265362"]},{"id":198,"date":"December 3, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-03","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Coinflip ATM","location":"Melbourne, Australia","country":"Australia","description":"Crypto ATM stolen from shopping center.","summary":"A Coinflip Bitcoin ATM was stolen in a ram raid on the Merrifield City shopping centre in Mickleham, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, just after 4 a.m. on 3 December 2024. Police allege that a stolen Toyota ute rammed the front doors of the closed centre and then reversed into two ATMs inside. CCTV shows two thieves, one of them dressed in bright orange, and one man using a sledgehammer to knock the Coinflip machine to the ground. The machine proved too heavy to lift onto the tray, so the pair abandoned the ute, dragged the machine out by hand and fled in a dark-coloured sedan. Nobody was present and no weapon was used against a person. Police allege the thieves dumped the machine in a Coolaroo car park and set it alight; it was found pried open. No amount of cash or cryptocurrency was reported taken. The offenders remained on the run and the sedan had not been found.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.9news.com.au/national/police-hunt-crypto-atm-thieves-in-melbourne-shopping-centre-ram-raid-mickleham/8e7b6106-ab8c-4374-82b5-76f147c42da8"]},{"id":199,"date":"December 15, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-15","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Igor Lermakov","location":"South Kuta, Bali","country":"Indonesia","description":"A nine-member group (Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine) ambushed a Ukrainian on the road in Bali. The victim was kidnapped and beaten until he handed over US$214,424 in cryptocurrency. One man was detained and released, nobody is in custody, and police doubt the complaint.","summary":"Igor Lermakov, a 48-year-old Ukrainian businessman, reported that he was kidnapped in the South Kuta area of Bali on Sunday 15 December 2024. By his account, at about 1:30 pm two vehicles blocked his car front and rear. Nine armed men in military gear, balaclavas and bullet-proof vests marked \"POLICE\" handcuffed him, beat him as they dragged him out, put a black sack over his head and drove him to a villa in Jimbaran and later to a second villa in Ubud. He was held for several days and beaten, and gave up access codes to his crypto accounts under duress. Police put the crypto he surrendered at US$214,424. He escaped from the Ubud villa, bloodied and still handcuffed, and sought help from neighbours.\n\nHe reported the kidnapping on 30 January 2025. Police believed the nine were citizens of Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. That evening they detained Khasan Askhabov, 30, a Russian MMA fighter described as the suspected leader, as he tried to board a flight to Dubai. They found nothing to substantiate the accusation and released him. Police were reported to doubt Lermakov's account.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"IDR","usd_stated":214424},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.balidiscovery.com/criminal-gang-kidnap-rob-ukrainian-in-bali/"]},{"id":200,"date":"December 19, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-19","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Dr Kwadwo Agyapong Berry","location":"Laboma Beach, Ghana","country":"Ghana","description":"Businessman lured to meeting, handcuffed, beaten, electrocuted for thirteen hours before being rescued by police.","summary":"Dr Kwadwo Agyapong Berry, a businessman living near Accra, was held and beaten at Laboma Beach, Ghana, on 19 December 2024 in a dispute over a cryptocurrency investment. Berry, Albert Tetteh Botchway and David Burke had taken another man, Benjamin Appiah Boateng, to Laboma Beach on 14 December to question him about the alleged misappropriation of over $1.6 million of their investment. On 18 December Burke called Berry to a meeting at around 07:00 the next day. Burke ushered him into Botchway's office and Botchway stepped out. According to the prosecution, three men said to be Botchway's employees, Promise Lamptey, Awudu Balm and Katanga, locked the door, handcuffed Berry, beat him severely and shocked him with an electric wire. They told him Boateng had confessed that $600,000 belonging to Botchway and Burke was with him. He was held from 07:30 to 20:30, when police acting on a tip rescued him. Nothing was reported taken.\n\nBotchway and Lamptey were arrested on 2 January 2025 and Burke on 10 January. The three were charged with kidnapping and assault; Balm and Katanga were on the run.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-cryptocurrency-fiasco-businessman-appeals-to-a-g-over-assault-kidnapping.html"]},{"id":201,"date":"December 20, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-20","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Stéphane Winkel's Wife","location":"Brussels, Belgium (crash in Bruges)","country":"Belgium","description":"Wife of crypto influencer who bragged about wealth was kidnapped by four suspects, one a minor, police chase led to car crash.","summary":"The wife of a well-known crypto influencer was abducted in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday 20 December 2024. A few weeks earlier her husband had posted that his crypto wallet was worth 1.6 million euros, saying he had bought bitcoins in 2011 when they cost less than 2 euros each. Four suspects took her away in a car. Police chased the car from Brussels until it crashed in Bruges, and she was injured in the crash. The suspects were arrested. No assault was described, nothing was taken and no ransom demand was reported, though it was thought she may have been kidnapped for ransom. The Brussels public prosecutor's office said one of the four was a minor; a youth magistrate has jurisdiction over the boy, who was placed in a closed juvenile institution. The three other suspects, aged 18 or more, were detained by the investigating judge.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife of the holder"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2024/12/24/failed-kidnap-attempt-victim-was-bitcoin-millionaires-wife/"]},{"id":202,"date":"December 25, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-25","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Mohammed Arsalan Malik","location":"Karachi, Pakistan","country":"Pakistan","description":"Crypto trader in Karachi, Pakistan abducted by 5 men in a police van and forced to transfer $340,000 at gunpoint.","summary":"Mohammed Arsalan Malik, a 23-year-old cryptocurrency trader in Karachi, Pakistan, with more than 160,000 followers on social media, was abducted in the early hours of 25 December 2024. According to the police report, five men in plain clothes took him at 1:40 a.m. in a police vehicle with no number plate, brought him near the FIA Saddar office, forced him to open his Binance account and transferred USDT worth $340,000 to several wallets. They reset his phone, handed it back and dropped him near the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum at 4 a.m. By his own account, the men came to his door, drove him away from Karachi for an hour and held a gun to his temple while ordering him to reset his phone passwords and hand the phone over; he found his wallet empty once home. Eight suspects were arrested, among them the prime suspect, Ali Raza, said to be a head constable in the Counter-Terrorism Department. Malik said he traced and recovered about $160,000 himself, and that police seized $60,000 in cash and a luxury car.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":340000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":340000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dawn.com/news/1891762","https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/28/cryptocurrency-hacks-kidnappings-crime"]},{"id":203,"date":"December 31, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-31","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Influencer's father","location":"Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France","country":"France","description":"Father (age 56) and mother of Dubai-based crypto influencer/entrepreneur, attacked in their home in Ain near Swiss border by two men who broke in on New Year's Eve. Father doused in petrol and driven 500 km (Cryptoast) or about 700 km (DL News) in car trunk to demand ransom from son.","summary":"The 56-year-old father of a Dubai-based crypto influencer and entrepreneur was abducted from the family home in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, in the Ain near the French-Swiss border, on 31 December 2024, hours before the family was due to celebrate the New Year. Intruders burst in, tied up his partner and their daughter and left with the father. The gang then contacted the son to demand a crypto ransom; no amount was reported. He alerted police at once, which led to his mother and sister being freed. On the night of 1 to 2 January officers noticed two hooded men in a car at a service station near Le Mans. The two fled when the officers approached, and the officers heard calls for help from the boot, where they found the father tied up, beaten and doused in petrol. He was disoriented but out of danger. The distance from his home is given as 500 or about 700 kilometres. Police did not say whether the son paid. Five people, the youngest 16 at the time and the oldest 42, were later arrested in Angers, the Île-de-France and Épinal.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"holder's father, mother and sister"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/pere-influenceur-crypto-sequestre-soir-nouvel-an/","https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/french-teen-helped-kidnap-crypto-influencers-father-police/"]},{"id":204,"date":"January 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-05","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Russian Man","location":"Phuket, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Man attacked and tied up in hotel, refuses to give up phone password, is knocked out and has cash stolen.","summary":"Mr Zelimkhan, a 31-year-old Russian national, was attacked in his room at the Wekata Luxury hotel in Karon, Phuket, Thailand, at about 11 p.m. on 5 January 2025. He told police that a foreign man forced his way in, assaulted him and tried to make him unlock the crypto wallet on his phone. When he refused to give the password he was repeatedly punched and kicked, dragged to the bathroom, tied to the door rail and kicked in the chest. He directed the attacker to his suitcase, saying there was money inside, and lost consciousness after a blow to the back of the head. The stolen cash is given as $20,000 and as about 60 to 70 $100 bills; no crypto was taken. He freed himself and reported the attack at Karon Police Station at 3:20 a.m. on 6 January. Police said Andrei, 37, a Russian who had previous cryptocurrency dealings with him in Russia, had demanded the return of $120,000 and threatened to have an associate kill him. Andrei was arrested on 7 January. Dmitri, 36, flew to Dubai early on 6 January, and Thai police requested an Interpol Red Notice for him.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":120000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":120000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/01/07/phuket-police-hunt-russian-suspects-in-hotel-room-attack-over-crypto-dispute/"]},{"id":205,"date":"January 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Miami Jeweler","location":"Miami, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Kidnap-for-crypto-ransom plot opened by a fake watches-for-crypto meeting. Four arrested in Broward County per a federal affidavit.","summary":"Four men were arrested in Broward County, Florida, on 13 January 2025 over a plot to kidnap a jeweller who worked in the Seybold Building in downtown Miami and hold him until a cryptocurrency ransom was paid. A screenshot of his digital wallet that the plotters passed round showed about $2 million in cryptocurrency. According to an affidavit filed in federal court, a man referred to as Jack had contacted the jeweller online, saying he wanted to exchange a large amount of cryptocurrency for cash, and assembled the group. One of them, Evan Puckett, 18, was to meet the jeweller on the pretence of exchanging watches for cryptocurrency, lure him to a car, rob him and hold him hostage. The men planned to bring firearms. A confidential source told authorities of the plan on 6 January, and an undercover agent supplied a car fitted with recorders. Authorities intercepted the group when they parked the car, before any contact with the jeweller. Zacary Briggs, 22, Aaron Hammond, 21, Tre'von Anthony Neal, 20, and Puckett face federal charges including kidnapping conspiracy and Hobbs Act robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/13585-4-men-arrested-after-allegedly-plotting-to-kidnap-jeweler"]},{"id":206,"date":"January 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Masis Erkol","location":"Pattaya, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"Man tied up in condo, forced to transfer cryptocurrency.","summary":"Masis Erkol, a 36-year-old Turkish man, was robbed in the fifth-floor condominium room where he was staying in Soi Wat Bun Kanchanaram, Pattaya, Thailand, early on Tuesday 14 January 2025. He told police that three men held him, tied him up and forced him to transfer a large amount of cryptocurrency to a wallet; no figure was given. His hands were fastened behind him with handcuffs and cable ties and his ankles were bound with wire. No beating or injury was described. The men also stole his computer. A security guard said Erkol hopped from his room, still bound, to seek help, and the robbery was reported to Pattaya police at about 3.36 a.m. Police said he probably knew his attackers, because the condominium had a good security system. The three men were not identified and no arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/2939397/turkish-man-tied-up-and-robbed-in-pattaya"]},{"id":207,"date":"January 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Taehwa Kim","location":"Makati, Philippines","country":"Philippines","description":"Korean bitcoin trader kidnapped, held hostage for 3 days. No crypto taken.","summary":"Taehwa Kim, a 40-year-old Korean national who traded bitcoin and lived in a condominium in Makati City, Philippines, was kidnapped on Wednesday 15 January 2025. He met a prospective buyer for his car, known by the alias JC, at his condominium; the car is described as a Lamborghini Urus or as a sports car. They took it for a test drive and parked at a spa in Makati to meet the buyer's lawyer. Three people then arrived and forced Kim into another vehicle. His hands were tied, he was blindfolded and his belongings were taken. He was held for three days, and no assault or injury was described. Kim told police the men took the car, his Rolex watch, an ATM card and the keys to his condominium. No cryptocurrency was reported taken and no ransom demand was reported. On Saturday 18 January he was dropped on Diokno Highway in Lemery, Batangas, where local officials found him walking with his hands still tied. No arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://mb.com.ph/19/1/2025/korean-kidnapped-in-makati-city-rescued-in-batangas"]},{"id":208,"date":"January 16, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-16","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Chinese National","location":"Jeju, South Korea","country":"South Korea","description":"Gang of 6 people meet OTC trader in luxury hotel, assault and rob him of $580K in crypto and take back an unquantified sum of cash.","summary":"A Chinese national described by police as an unofficial crypto and currency exchanger was assaulted and robbed in Jeju, South Korea, in the early hours of 16 January 2025. Police think a group of six agreed to buy cryptocurrency from him for over $690,000 in cash in an over-the-counter trade. They gave him cash on seven occasions, and he transferred coins to their wallets each time. Police said that during a further trade the group claimed they had not received the coins, assaulted him and ran away. Police believe they took about $580,000 worth of crypto, took back the cash they had given him and may have stolen more crypto from the wallet on his mobile phone. Police think the group planned the theft in advance. After he reported it, Jeju West Police Station arrested six people on \"special robbery\" charges, some in another hotel room and others at Jeju International Airport, apparently preparing to leave the country.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":580000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":580000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-police-arrest-gang-of-chinese-crypto-thieves-who-struck-high-end-hotel-guests/"]},{"id":209,"date":"January 21, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-21","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"David Balland & Wife","location":"Méreau, near Vierzon, France","country":"France","description":"Ledger co-founder & wife kidnapped and ransomed, his finger was severed, rescued by GIGN. Ransom was partially paid but most of the payment was frozen within hours (USDT blacklist, KuCoin, Binance, MEXC) and seized by the courts","summary":"David Balland, a co-founder of the French hardware-wallet company Ledger, and his wife were kidnapped early on Tuesday 21 January 2025, when several armed men entered their property at Méreau, near Vierzon in central France. The men separated the couple and drove them off in two vehicles. Balland was taken to a rented villa near Châteauroux, where a kidnapper cut off one of his fingers while another filmed. The video went to another Ledger co-founder, Eric Larchevêque, with a demand for a little over 10 million euros in Bitcoin. Accounts of what was paid differ: one says 400 ETH (1.2 million euros) and then further transfers, close to 3 million euros in total, another that investigators sent one bitcoin, about 100,000 euros, to buy time. Almost all of it was traced, frozen and seized by the courts; only 40 ETH (122,000 euros) was cashed out.\n\nThe GIGN freed Balland at the villa and arrested his two guards. His wife, who had been moved several times, was found tied up but in good health in a van in a car park at Étampes. Ten people, nine men and one woman aged 20 to 40, were taken into custody.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2025/01/24/kidnappers-of-french-crypto-figure-and-his-wife-arrested-after-massive-manhunt_6737379_13.html","https://www.zero-bullshit.fr/p/ledger-la-grande-famille-ebranlee","https://cointelegraph.com/news/ledger-co-founder-david-balland-freed-after-kidnapping-in-france","https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/01/24/ledger-co-founder-s-kidnapping-sheds-light-on-soaring-crypto-robberies","https://fortune.com/europe/2025/01/24/french-military-police-rescue-co-founder-13bn-crypto-startup-ledger-bungled-paris-kidnapping-goes-wrong/"]},{"id":210,"date":"January 24, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-24","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"30 y/o man","location":"Sainte-Savine, France","country":"France","description":"Crypto miner was lured to a meeting, taken hostage, 20K EUR ransom demanded. Police rescued him & arrested 4 suspects.","summary":"A 30-year-old man from the Aube, France, who earns his living validating cryptocurrency transactions and is described as a crypto miner, was taken captive on Friday 24 January 2025. He went to what had been presented as a professional meeting in Sainte-Savine, on the outskirts of Troyes, and fell into an ambush, according to a police source. Four people were at the meeting, among them a client with whom he had a commercial dispute. He was held in a house and his captors demanded 20,000 euros for his release. He managed to alert a friend, who called the police; how he made that call is not known. Officers reached the house at about 10 p.m., found him in good health and arrested four men. No violence against him was described and nothing was reported paid. An investigation was opened for attempted extortion, and the Troyes prosecutor's office confirmed the arrests without further detail.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/un-pro-des-cryptomonnaies-enleve-pres-de-troyes-quatre-personnes-interpellees-25-01-2025-DTP7ZSO3CJBARCCG2VWPQJBLAM.php"]},{"id":211,"date":"January 30, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-30","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Brazilian Family","location":"Campo Limpo Paulista, Brazil","country":"Brazil","description":"Two attackers invade home, hold family hostage, take the victims' phones and make transfers totalling $16,000, coached by an accomplice by telephone.","summary":"A family in Jardim Corcovado, Campo Limpo Paulista, in São Paulo state, Brazil, was held hostage in their home on Thursday 30 January 2025. According to the police report, the man who reported the case arrived home to find two masked men there and his wife tied up. The report says she was struck on the head with the butt of a gun. The two men told the family they belonged to a criminal organisation. They took the family's mobile phones and made cryptocurrency transfers totalling US$16,000, the equivalent of R$93,000, while another person instructed them by telephone on how to make the transfers. They then fled in the family's car, which the Municipal Guard found and returned on Friday 31 January. The suspects had not been found and the Civil Police were investigating.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"wife and family"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":16000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":16000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/sp/sorocaba-jundiai/noticia/2025/01/31/familia-e-rendida-dentro-de-casa-e-forcada-a-transferir-us-16-mil-em-criptomoedas-para-criminosos.ghtml"]},{"id":212,"date":"February ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Okota, Lagos","country":"Nigeria","description":"Woman conspires with brother & gang to rob her boyfriend of 3 iPhones and $10K USD of bitcoin.","summary":"A man in the Okota area of Lagos, Nigeria, was robbed of three iPhones and bitcoin valued at about 15 million naira in a robbery that police say his girlfriend organised. According to the police report, Emmanuella Ogochukwu, 25, conspired with her younger brother, Ogbuka Tochukwu, 22, and his friends to rob him. How the robbery was carried out was not described, and no detention, weapon or injury was mentioned. The case was handled by the Okota police division and transferred to a specialised unit on 17 February 2025. Both siblings were arrested and confessed. Police recovered the three phones and 6.5 million naira. The other members of the gang had not been identified and were wanted.","targeting":["Organised by a relative or partner"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thewhistler.ng/lagos-police-arrest-lady-brother-for-robbing-boyfriend-of-n15m-bitcoins-iphones/"]},{"id":213,"date":"February 1, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-01","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"34 y/o man","location":"Costa del Sol, Spain","country":"Spain","description":"Crypto trader randomly met men at a hotel and told them what he did for a living. They later invited him over, took him hostage, demanded 30K EUR ransom. Trader called friend who alerted police and rescued him.","summary":"A 34-year-old British cryptocurrency broker was taken hostage in an apartment in Estepona, on Spain's Costa del Sol; police said they were informed of the kidnap on 1 February 2025. Three British men had met him by chance at a Marbella hotel a fortnight earlier, and police suspect they planned the crime after he told them what he did for a living. On the day he accepted an invitation to drinks at the apartment. There he was tied up, assaulted and threatened with death unless he accessed his clients' crypto wallets, and 30,000 euros was demanded for his release. He pretended to phone a customer for half of a wallet code and called a friend in London, speaking Hindi; the friend told his mother, who called police. Officers located the apartment in an operation of about seven hours. Before they moved in he jumped more than 30 feet from a balcony, breaking his ankles. The three men were arrested as they tried to flee in an Audi and were remanded to prison. Police found almost 10,000 euros in cash, two guns, three knives and 25 grams of pink cocaine. Nothing was reported paid.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":30000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-dramatic-moment-spanish-cops-34643004"]},{"id":214,"date":"February 8, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-08","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"20 y/o man","location":"Paris, France","country":"France","description":"Crypto investor lured to meeting by woman, abducted by 3 men who demand 40K EUR.","summary":"A 20-year-old cryptocurrency investor from the 17th arrondissement of Paris was abducted on the weekend of 8 to 9 February 2025. A 19-year-old woman had contacted him on social media, and he went to meet her by the clock at Gare de Lyon. She was not alone, and two men immediately forced him into the boot of a car. Still holding his phone, he called a friend and said he had been kidnapped, and the friend called the emergency services. The attackers demanded 40,000 euros. Investigators located him the same day near Saint-Étienne station, where a patrol found him. No injury was described and nothing was reported paid. He told police a client had entrusted him with 10,000 euros to invest in crypto, the investment collapsed and the client used force to recover the stake. Five people in their twenties, four men and one woman, almost all living in the Loire, were arrested on 17 and 18 March 2025, two of them at Lyon airport as they were about to leave the country. Firearms were reported seized in the searches.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":40000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/paris-un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaie-enleve-et-sequestre-cinq-suspects-arretes-20-03-2025-K7SU6Q4C75ECXCIJWTNJIMCTGI.php?invitationToken=e3e4c977-af95-5dbd-a1a1-50a9f35d795b&at_medium=Advertisement&at_campaign=offrir"]},{"id":215,"date":"February 24, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-24","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"30 y/o Chinese Man","location":"Jeju City, South Korea","country":"South Korea","description":"4 Chinese suspects stab man who went to buy crypto in hotel room, steal 85 million won.","summary":"A 30-year-old Chinese man was stabbed to death in a suite at a luxury hotel in Jeju City, South Korea, on the afternoon of 24 February 2025. A friend told police he had gone to the hotel to buy cryptocurrency, and reported that he was not answering. He was found at 5:10 p.m.; he had been stabbed multiple times and was dead when police arrived. Police were considering whether the crime happened during a cryptocurrency exchange transaction. Four Chinese nationals, all in Jeju on tourist visas, fled with 85 million won (about $70,000) belonging to him: two women in their 30s, a man in his 30s and a man in his 60s. One woman surrendered at a police station five minutes after the report, and police believed she may have been the ringleader. Two were arrested at Jeju airport as they tried to leave, and the fourth was detained at the hotel casino. All four were under investigation for murder.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":85000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":70000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20250225097600056"]},{"id":216,"date":"February 28, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-28","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Chinese Man","location":"Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam","country":"Vietnam","description":"Chinese gang kidnaps victim, demands 600,000 USDT, are quickly apprehended by police.","summary":"A Chinese national was kidnapped in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the early hours of 28 February 2025. Police named three Chinese men, Ma Cai, 49, Fan GuoHui, 39, and Li Chuang, 47, as the masterminds. Because they did not know the local geography, they hired three Vietnamese accomplices to watch him and paid them tens of millions of dong. As he stepped out of a car, Fan GuoHui and the Vietnamese accomplices ambushed him and forced him into another vehicle, while Ma Cai and Li Chuang followed on motorcycles. He was taken to an isolated, wooded hideout in Pham Van Hai commune, Binh Chanh district, and held under threat. The ransom demand is given as 600,000 USDT (about 10 billion VND) or as $400,000. Nothing was reported paid. Police received the report at 6 a.m. the same day, located and raided the hideout, arrested all the suspects and freed the hostage unharmed. The arrests were confirmed on 6 March, on charges of illegal detention.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://vietnamnet.vn/en/ho-chi-minh-city-police-bust-chinese-led-kidnapping-gang-rescue-victim-safely-2378098.html"]},{"id":217,"date":"March ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"30 y/o man","location":"","country":"Sweden","description":"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.","summary":"A 30-year-old man in Sweden was kidnapped in March 2025 by four men who wanted information about his cryptocurrency holdings, according to an indictment. The four are alleged to have threatened him into a car and driven him out into the woods, where they kicked and punched him, poured petrol over him and threatened to set him alight. They are also alleged to have held pliers to his hand and threatened to cut off his fingers. Whether they obtained anything was not reported, and neither was the place or how the kidnapping ended. Four men were charged in August 2025: a man of almost 50, a former leader of the Stockholm gang Werewolf Legion with previous convictions for aggravated drug offences, robbery and assault, and three men in their 20s. All four deny the charges.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/krim/werewolf-legions-tidigare-ledare-atalad-for-kryptoran/"]},{"id":218,"date":"March 2, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-02","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Kaitlyn Siragusa","location":"Houston, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Streamer Amouranth revealed the value of her Bitcoin wallet in a social media post, then an armed gang pulled her from her bed, beat and pistol-whipped her and held a gun to her head to make her log in to her phone. By her account she shot one of them and they fled with only her MacBook.","summary":"Kaitlyn Siragusa, the streamer known as Amouranth, was attacked in a home invasion at her house in Houston, Texas, on 2 March 2025. She had earlier posted a screenshot of a Bitcoin wallet holding roughly $20 million. An armed gang pulled her from her bed, beat and pistol-whipped her, held a gun to her head, demanded cryptocurrency and told her to log in to her phone. She suffered a scalp laceration that needed stitches. She said she shot one of the intruders during the confrontation. The gang got no cryptocurrency and left with only her MacBook, which she later tracked using Find My. She was taken to hospital and said she was safe. About two weeks later authorities arrested and charged a group of teenagers aged 16 to 19, three of them with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Two of them remained in custody on bonds of $150,000 and $200,000.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/us-news/streamer-amouranth-hospitalised-after-home-34788345"]},{"id":219,"date":"March 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"41-year-old man surnamed Wong","location":"Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Man sold cryptocurrency to a buyer in Kowloon City and, on his way home with the cash, had the plastic bag holding approximately HK$318,000 snatched from behind by an unidentified man who fled.","summary":"A 41-year-old man surnamed Wong was robbed of about HK$318,000 in cash in the Cheung Sha Wan area of Hong Kong late on 13 March 2025. Earlier that evening he had met a buyer on Sung Wong Toi Road, in Kowloon City, to complete a sale of cryptocurrency and received the cash for it. He was on his way home, carrying the money in a plastic bag, when at around 11:39 p.m. on Lai Wan Road, near the Lai Chi Kok Government Offices, a man came up behind him, snatched the bag and fled toward King Lai Path. No assault was reported and Wong was not held. The robber was described as about 1.75 m tall and wearing a black long-sleeved top. Police searched the area without success, classified the case as robbery and continued to investigate. The robber remained at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade","Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Mugging"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":318000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/man-robbed-of-hk318000-in-cheung-sha-wan-after-cryptocurrency-transaction/"]},{"id":221,"date":"March 24, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-24","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Rodrigo Perez, Spanish businessman","location":"São Paulo, Brazil","country":"Brazil","description":"Man detained by men in fake police uniforms, taken in an official-looking truck to a makeshift prison, held five days tied to a bed and drugged with sleeping pills. By his account close to $50 million in cryptocurrency was taken from him, and he escaped on his own after drugging his guard.","summary":"Rodrigo Perez, a Spanish businessman, was kidnapped in São Paulo, Brazil, in late March 2025. Men in fake police uniforms used an official-looking truck to take him to a makeshift prison, where he was held for five days tied to a bed and kept drugged with sleeping pills. By his account the kidnappers took close to $50 million in cryptocurrency from him. He escaped by winning his captors' trust and drugging the guard with the same sleeping pills. When he reported the kidnapping, authorities found that Perez, who is linked to financial crimes in Paraguay and Ecuador, was himself wanted by Interpol. They continued to treat him as a victim while aware of his alleged crimes. Ronaldo Batista, a retired military policeman, was arrested when the site was raided and confessed. A second kidnapper remained at large, and authorities did not rule out gang involvement.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":50000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.bitcoin.com/a-thriller-gone-real-alleged-scammer-kidnapped-by-fake-police-loses-50-million/"]},{"id":222,"date":"March 27, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-27","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"27 y/o Turkish man","location":"Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong","country":"Hong Kong","description":"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.","summary":"A 27-year-old Turkish man who had just arrived in Hong Kong to trade cryptocurrency was attacked in Tsim Sha Tsui on 27 March 2025. At about 4:45 p.m. he was outside 68 Nathan Road, carrying a bag holding 5 million euros in cash, when two men attacked him from behind, one of them brandishing a knife. He was slashed, suffered a 10-centimetre wound to the forehead and fell to the ground, but he fought back and kept the bag. Nothing was taken. The attackers fled toward Jordan Road. He reported the attack himself and was taken to hospital; the wound did not damage his eyes. After reviewing CCTV, police arrested four South Asian men aged 17 to 31 in Jordan and Mong Kok: the two attackers and two accomplices who helped dispose of the weapon. Officers recovered clothing and four phones and were still searching for the knife.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/four-arrested-after-attempted-robbery-of-5-million-euro-cash-from-27-year-old-turkish-man-in-tsim-sha-tsui/"]},{"id":223,"date":"March 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Anson Que and his driver, Armanie Pabillo","location":"Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines","country":"Philippines","description":"Businessman lured by woman to house & taken hostage. Attackers demanded $20M in cryptocurrency & received over $3M in multiple tranches. They killed the victims anyway.","summary":"Anson Que, 51, a Filipino-Chinese businessman and chief executive of Elison Steel, and his driver, Armanie Pabillo, were kidnapped on 29 March 2025 and later found dead. Police said the suspects used a Chinese woman to lure Que to a meeting. The two men arrived in Barangay Langka, Meycauayan, Bulacan, at around 2 p.m. and were seized in a house there; another account has Que abducted while dining at a restaurant in Pasay City. Police said they were held for almost 11 days. The family received a demand for a US$20 million ransom. Police said the family paid around 200 million pesos in cryptocurrency in several tranches; another account gives 160 million pesos. The bodies were found on 9 April 2025 in Rodriguez, Rizal, in nylon bags, with their faces wrapped in duct tape, and police reported bruises and signs of strangulation.\n\nRichardo Austria David and Raymart Catequista were arrested in Palawan, and David Tan Liao surrendered and confessed. All three were charged with kidnapping with homicide. Gong Wenli, 27, was arrested later, and police said one suspect, Jonin Lin, remained at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"driver"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":2,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/4/19/3-suspects-in-anson-que-kidnap-slay-now-under-custody-pnp-2012","https://www.rappler.com/philippines/timeline-anson-que-killing-kidnapping-case/","https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3306048/chinese-filipino-tycoons-killing-sparks-fears-organised-crime-surge-philippines"]},{"id":224,"date":"April 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mohammed Ismail","location":"PIB Colony, Karachi, Pakistan","country":"Pakistan","description":"Gang posing as officials of the FIA, the Counter-Terrorism Department and intelligence agencies kidnapped him in PIB Colony, took him to a warehouse in Steel Town, questioned him about his Bitcoin business and accused him of illegal Hundi/Hawala dealing. They took his iPhone and said they would contact him about money later, then dropped him on Sharea Faisal.","summary":"Mohammed Ismail was abducted in PIB Colony, Karachi, Pakistan, on 13 April 2025 by a gang of six to seven men who posed as officials of the FIA, the Counter-Terrorism Department and intelligence agencies. They used a black Vigo, a four-wheel drive, with a fake government number plate, and had masks, arms, walkie-talkies and handcuffs. They took him to a warehouse in Steel Town, questioned him about his Bitcoin business, accused him of illegal Hundi/Hawala dealing and threatened him. They took his iPhone, told him they would contact him about money later and released him on Sharea Faisal. Acting on an intelligence tip, the Counter-Terrorism Department arrested four suspects near Parking Plaza in Saddar: Imtiaz alias Salman, Ubaid Rehman alias Abi, Shahid alias Moosa and Saleem. Officers recovered snatched phones, three pistols, walkie-talkies, handcuffs and the Vigo with its fake plate.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dawn.com/news/1907634"]},{"id":228,"date":"May 6, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-06","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"28-year-old Italian man, name not released","location":"SoHo, Manhattan, New York","country":"USA","description":"Two crypto investors allegedly lured an Italian man to a SoHo townhouse, bound him and tortured him for about 17 days, with beatings, electric shocks and cuts from a small chainsaw, to get his Bitcoin password, which he did not give up before he escaped.","summary":"A 28-year-old Italian man was held for about 17 days at a townhouse in SoHo, Manhattan, after arriving in New York from Italy on 6 May 2025. Prosecutors say John Woeltz, 37, a crypto entrepreneur, and William Duplessie, 33, lured him from Italy by threatening to have his family killed. At Woeltz's eight-bedroom townhouse his electronics and passport were taken and he was bound. According to prosecutors, to make him reveal his Bitcoin password he was beaten, given electric shocks, forced to smoke crack cocaine, pistol-whipped, cut with a small chainsaw, doused in tequila and set alight before the fire was put out, and hung over a stairwell ledge. He did not give up the password and nothing was taken. On 23 May he said he would fetch the password from his laptop, fled downstairs to a traffic officer and was taken to hospital in stable condition. Woeltz was arrested on 23 May and Duplessie surrendered on 27 May. Both were indicted on about a dozen counts, denied bail and pleaded not guilty, and the defence disputes the account.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://abcnews.go.com/US/nyc-crypto-kidnapping-torture-case/story?id=122280419","https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-men-plead-not-guilty-violent-new-york-crypto-kidnapping-case-2025-06-11/"]},{"id":229,"date":"May 9, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-09","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Jacob Irwin-Cline","location":"London","country":"UK","description":"American tourist says a fake Uber driver drugged him with a spiked cigarette, drove him off, took his phone and drained about $123,000 in XRP, BTC and smaller coins from his wallets.","summary":"Jacob Irwin-Cline, a 30-year-old American tourist and former software developer from Portland, Oregon, says he was drugged and robbed by a fake Uber driver in London in the early hours of 9 May 2025. After a night out at a bar in Soho during a short layover, he got into a dark sedan whose driver called him by his app alias; the car was not the Prius shown in his app. He says the driver, who called himself \"Mohammed\", offered him a cigarette that he believes was spiked with a drug, and that he became docile while the driver took his phone passcode and app passkeys. He was made to get out in a residential area near Golders Green, and the car struck his leg as it drove off, leaving him unable to walk. About $123,000 was drained from his accounts: his XRP wallet fell from roughly $73,000 to under $1,000 and his Bitcoin wallet from about $50,000 to under $10, and smaller coins were taken. His laptop was remotely wiped. He reported the theft to the Metropolitan Police, Action Fraud and the FBI. Police confirmed the report and said no arrests had been made.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Express kidnapping","Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":123000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":123000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/american-tourist-london-loses-123k-31673388"]},{"id":230,"date":"May 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Daughter of Pierre Noizat, CEO and co-founder of Paymium, 34, attacked with her partner and their 2-year-old son","location":"rue Pache, 11th arrondissement, Paris","country":"France","description":"Attempted abduction of a crypto exchange CEO's daughter in the street in daylight, filmed by an onlooker: three masked men tried to force her into a van and were driven off by her partner, who was beaten, and by passers-by. A suspected mastermind of the 2025 series was later arrested in Morocco, with his part in this attempt under investigation.","summary":"The 34-year-old daughter of Pierre Noizat, chief executive and co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform Paymium, was the target of an attempted abduction in rue Pache, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, at around 8:20 a.m. on 13 May 2025. She was with her partner and their 2-year-old son when three hooded men tried to force her into a van carrying Chronopost branding. Her partner intervened and was beaten by the attackers while she cried out, and passers-by helped drive the men off. An onlooker filmed the attack. One of the men apparently dropped a handgun; whether it was real or fake is not known. The three got back into the van and fled, and the vehicle was found nearby soon after. Nobody was taken and no demand was reported. The Paris prosecutor gave the investigation to the banditry repression brigade. A suspected mastermind of the 2025 series of such attacks was later arrested in Morocco, and his part in this attempt was under investigation.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"holder's daughter and her partner"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://blockchainmagazine.net/daughter-of-crypto-ceo-escapes-kidnapping-attempt-in-paris/","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oFNgvK8f0U"]},{"id":231,"date":"May 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mining Facility","location":"Coronel Bogado","country":"Paraguay","description":"3 Chinese citizens entered Paraguay illegally, tried to rob a mining facility, got in a shootout with police, were deported.","summary":"An attempted robbery of a cryptocurrency mining company in Coronel Bogado, Paraguay, on 14 May 2025 set off a chase and a shootout with the National Police. Police drove the assailants off before anything was stolen, and nobody was reported hurt. The investigation that followed led to a farm in nearby San Pedro del Paraná. In a raid there, investigators found four Chinese men in a closed room. They were described as programmers who had worked at the company for months, and three of them had entered Paraguay illegally through Bolivia and Brazil. The prosecutor, Irene Rolón, said the foreigners were not victims of trafficking. The three who lacked legal entry were expelled from Paraguay, and the company's owner was asked to produce the documentation for hiring them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.monumental.com.py/secciones/va-con-onda/expulsan-a-ciudadanos-chinos-tras-intento-de-asalto-a-criptomineria-en-coronel-bogado"]},{"id":232,"date":"May 17, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-17","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Festo Ivaibi","location":"Bunamwaya Road, Kampala","country":"Uganda","description":"Crypto founder abducted near his home by armed men in military uniforms who claimed to be UPDF security operatives, held at gunpoint and forced to transfer $500,000 in crypto, according to his own company, which claims at least 48 similar attacks have been identified in Uganda.","summary":"Festo Ivaibi, founder of the cryptocurrency education hub Mitroplus Labs, was abducted near his home on Bunamwaya Road in Kampala, Uganda, on 17 May 2025, according to his company. Armed men in military uniforms, who claimed to be UPDF \"security operatives\", seized him, held him at gunpoint and forced him to unlock his cryptocurrency wallets. He was made to transfer about $500,000 in cryptocurrency to a wallet the attackers controlled, and a portion of Afro Token, a meme coin, was sold under coercion. A statement from Mitroplus's Afro Token Project alleged that the plot involved informants posing as crypto traders, rogue officers and two Chinese nationals. Mitroplus Labs claims at least 48 similar attacks have taken place in Uganda, most of them unreported. No arrests were reported, and how the abduction ended was not described.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":500000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":500000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://decrypt.co/321273/crypto-founder-abducted-500k-gunpoint"]},{"id":233,"date":"May 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-18","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mother & Son","location":"Normandie","country":"France","description":"Cryptocurrencies: investigators foil a new kidnapping in Normandy","summary":"A 46-year-old mother and her 22-year-old son, a cryptocurrency trader who is autistic, were the targets of a kidnapping plot in Normandy, France, that police stopped before any attack. On 18 May 2025 the two told police that their home was being watched by a group planning to abduct them. Investigators found a GPS tracker under the family car and signs that the house had been scouted. On 11 June, as vehicles closed in on the home, officers of the BRI of Rouen and OFAST Le Havre intercepted them and recovered a knife and a roll of tape. The plan had been to cut a knuckle from the mother's finger to force her son to empty his crypto wallet. Nobody was held or hurt and nothing was taken. Five suspects aged 18 to 24 were arrested at the interception, indicted and imprisoned. The case was handled by the JIRS, a specialised organised-crime court, in Lille.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.europe1.fr/Police-Justice/info-europe-1-cryptomonnaies-les-enqueteurs-dejouent-un-nouveau-kidnapping-en-normandie-759929"]},{"id":234,"date":"May 21, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-21","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Ten Korean men invited to the meeting, two of them taken up to the room and tied, none named","location":"Hotel in Gangseo District, Seoul","country":"South Korea","description":"Three Russian nationals allegedly posed as parties to a peer-to-peer crypto deal, invited ten Korean men to a hotel, ambushed the two called up to the room with a replica handgun and a telescopic baton, tied their hands with cable ties and tried to take 1 billion won in cash. One of the victims escaped and raised the alarm and the suspects fled without the cash.","summary":"Three Russian nationals allegedly posed as parties to a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency deal and invited ten Korean men to a hotel in Seoul's Gangseo District on 21 May 2025. Two of the men were called up to the room while the rest waited in the lobby. The suspects, wearing protective vests, ambushed the two with a replica handgun and a telescopic baton and bound their hands with cable ties. They tried to take 1 billion won (about $730,000) in cash meant for the deal. One of the two escaped and raised the alarm, and the suspects fled without the cash. One of the Korean men was found bleeding in the lobby. Police seized a replica firearm, batons, vests and a money counter. A man in his 20s was arrested in Busan on 27 May and charged with assault and attempted robbery. The other two suspects left the country, and police asked Interpol to help trace them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two investors tied in the hotel room"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-arrested-south-korea-attempted-crypto-robbery"]},{"id":235,"date":"May 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Crypto Entrepreneur","location":"Nantes","country":"France","description":"Police arrest 10 men in balaclavas, foiling their attempted kidnapping of a crypto entrepreneur. Ringleader was later arrested.","summary":"Police stopped a planned kidnapping of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur near Nantes, in Loire-Atlantique, France, on a Monday morning in late May 2025. The man was targeted for the fortune he had made in crypto. The Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB) of the Paris judicial police had two parked vehicles under surveillance and identified the ten men waiting in them, hooded, gloved and dressed in black, as a team preparing to kidnap him. Officers arrested all ten at the scene before any attack began. Nobody was harmed, no demand was made and nothing was taken. The suspected mastermind, Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou, 24, the subject of an Interpol red notice, was later arrested in Tangier, Morocco. French authorities charged 25 people, six of them minors, over the wider series of crypto kidnappings and attempted kidnappings.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N41nuB0LPU"]},{"id":236,"date":"May 23, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-23","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Russian couple who run a cryptocurrency business, a woman of 30 and her partner of 27, not named","location":"Palermo, Buenos Aires (first-floor apartment at Ravignani 1596, at Gorriti)","country":"Argentina","description":"Two Chechens who had rented a first-floor apartment for the previous two nights invited the couple to dinner on the Friday night and tied them up; a ransom of 43,000 dollars in digital currency is reported to have been paid by a compatriot friend who lives in Partido de la Costa, after a conversation with the captors. The two suspects are reported to have flown from Ezeiza to the United Arab Emirates in the hours after.","summary":"A Russian couple who run a cryptocurrency business, a 30-year-old woman and her 27-year-old partner, were taken hostage in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the night of Friday 23 May 2025. Two Chechen men, who had rented a first-floor apartment on Ravignani, near Gorriti, for the previous two nights, invited the couple to dinner there, then tied them up and demanded a ransom. A compatriot friend of the couple, who lives in Partido de la Costa, spoke with the captors and paid $43,000 in digital currency. At around 11 p.m. the woman called for help in English from the balcony. Staff at the neighbouring restaurant heard her and called 911, and City Police found the couple bound. No assault was described. The two suspects flew from Ezeiza to the United Arab Emirates within hours. Police identified both as the main suspects and they were placed under an Interpol red notice. No arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":43000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":43000},"taken":{"amount":43000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":43000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://tn.com.ar/policiales/2025/05/28/misterioso-secuestro-de-una-pareja-de-rusos-en-palermo-buscan-a-dos-sospechosos-que-se-fueron-del-pais/"]},{"id":237,"date":"June 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"26-year-old crypto trader who makes TikTok content, 40,000 followers, not named","location":"Juvisy-sur-Orge, France","country":"France","description":"A crypto trader who makes TikTok content was reportedly seized by four men on the Friday night as he returned home to Juvisy-sur-Orge, forced into a stolen vehicle and beaten, with 50,000 euros in crypto demanded. He was released on the Saturday after he said he could not pay and showed the low balance in his account.","summary":"A 26-year-old cryptocurrency trader who makes TikTok content for about 40,000 followers was seized by four men on the night of Friday 13 June 2025 as he returned home in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France. They forced him into a stolen vehicle and demanded that he hand over 50,000 euros (about $57,000) in cryptocurrency. He was beaten and was later granted six days of work-incapacity benefit. He showed the men the low balance in his account, and no transfer or theft was reported. They released him the next day once they realised he could not pay. No arrests were reported, and France's Organised and Specialised Crime Division was investigating.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":57000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tiktok-crypto-trader-freed-after-kidnappers-realized-he-s-broke/ar-AA1GM5TS"]},{"id":238,"date":"June 17, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-17","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"23 y/o man","location":"Maisons-Alfort, France","country":"France","description":"A 23-year-old man was abducted on Tuesday 17 June 2025 in Maisons-Alfort while looking for a parking space; his partner, drawn home by a message about a work emergency, was told by video call to leave a Ledger key and 5,000 euros in cash in a bag in front of the building. An accomplice collected it and the man was released in Créteil several hours later, at about 5 p.m.","summary":"A 23-year-old man was abducted in Maisons-Alfort, France, on 17 June 2025. He and his partner had gone shopping by car; while he waited to park, a fake message about a work emergency drew her away and she went home alone. A video call then told her to leave a Ledger hardware wallet and 5,000 euros in cash in a bag outside the building. She left the bag and an accomplice collected it. It is not known whether the wallet held any funds. Investigators said the man was subjected to violence to make him reveal the wallet and ransom details. He was released in Créteil and reached his partner, unharmed, at about 5 p.m. The number of abductors was not specified and no arrests were reported. The Val-de-Marne judicial police opened an inquiry into kidnapping and detention by an organised gang.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://entrevue.fr/societe/cryptomonnaie-contre-rancon-un-homme-enleve-a-maisons-alfort-pour-sa-cle-ledger/"]},{"id":240,"date":"June 25, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-25","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Sriharsha V., 33, businessman from Kengeri New Town, with two friends","location":"Shop at MS Palya Circle, Vidyaranyapura, Bengaluru","country":"India","description":"Sriharsha V. brought Rs 2 crore in cash to a shop at MS Palya Circle, Vidyaranyapura, to have it converted into USDT through a middleman, Benjamin Harsha. While the money was being counted, six to seven men (six in the headline) barged in at about 4.30 p.m., two pulled knives and threatened to kill, took the mobile phones and the cash and locked the group in the shop.","summary":"Sriharsha V., a 33-year-old businessman from Kengeri New Town, Bengaluru, was robbed on 25 June 2025 at a shop at MS Palya Circle in Vidyaranyapura. He had raised Rs 2 crore to buy machinery from Germany and wanted to convert the cash to USDT. A friend introduced him to a middleman, Benjamin Harsha, who told him to bring the cash to MS Palya Circle, and he came with two friends. While Benjamin's group counted the money, six to seven men barged in at about 4:30 p.m. and demanded it. When the group resisted, two of the men pulled out knives and threatened to kill them. The gang took the mobile phones, put the Rs 2 crore into a gunny bag, warned the group against reporting the robbery and locked them in the shop. They got out through the shutters. No cryptocurrency changed hands. Police registered a case and detained Benjamin and another man for questioning, and Sriharsha said he could identify the attackers.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two friends"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://yespunjab.com/bengaluru-gang-of-6-attacks-businessman-robs-rs-2-crore-cash/"]},{"id":241,"date":"June 30, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-30","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"3 people","location":"Bangkok, Thailand","country":"Thailand","description":"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.","summary":"Three people were robbed of 3.4 million baht in cash in Bangkok on the evening of Monday 30 June 2025 during a deal to buy cryptocurrency. A gang of seven had reached them through Facebook and had completed smaller deals with them without trouble, counted as either two or five. For the larger purchase both sides met at a coffee shop in the Central Ladprao mall in Chatuchak. The three were then brought to a car in the mall's parking building, where other gang members held them and threatened them with knives at 7:44 p.m. One of the three told police that some robbers claimed to have guns as well. No injuries were reported. The gang fled in a silver Honda Civic. Police arrested two suspects, aged 25 and 31, at a hotel in Pathum Thani at 1 a.m. the next day and recovered 1.9 million baht from their room. Five men aged 26 to 43 remained at large, and police believed they had the remaining cash.","targeting":["Online contact or advert","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three crypto buyers"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3400000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3061233/two-arrested-in-b3-4m-robbery-at-mall-car-park"]},{"id":242,"date":"July 7, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-07","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A woman who owns cryptocurrencies, attacked at home in front of her husband and children, not named","location":"Suresnes, France","country":"France","description":"A woman was attacked at her home and punched 10 times in front of her husband and children.","summary":"A woman who owns cryptocurrency was attacked at her home in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, near Paris, on the afternoon of Monday 7 July 2025. Two men got into the flat; how they entered is not stated. One punched her in the face about ten times in front of her husband and children while the other tried to reach the private rooms, looking for the credentials to her crypto wallet. Her husband intervened and police arrived, and nothing was taken. She was taken to hospital. One man was arrested nearby carrying two knives and a cleaver, and he said he had picked her out through social media because of the couple's cryptocurrency holdings. The second man remained wanted. The Hauts-de-Seine judicial police opened an investigation for attempted robbery with violence and were examining whether the two belonged to a larger group that goes after crypto holders.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/info-bfmtv-cryptomonnaies-une-femme-violemment-agressee-a-son-domicile-dans-les-hauts-de-seine_AN-202507070726.html"]},{"id":243,"date":"July 8, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-08","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"38 y/o man","location":"Flushing, Queens, New York (31st Rd. and Union St.)","country":"USA","description":"A 38-year-old man told the NYPD that six men set upon him at his car in Flushing on 8 July 2025, tased him, drove him to an unknown location, handcuffed him at some point and held him for 10 days until he gave them about 900,000 yen, more than $6,000, by bank wire and from a cryptocurrency account.","summary":"A 38-year-old man told New York police that six men kidnapped him in Flushing, Queens, on 8 July 2025. After dinner with a friend on Long Island he was dropped at his car at 31st Rd. and Union St. Once the friend left, the six men set upon him, tased him in the chest and drove him to an unknown location. He was handcuffed while they tried to get money from him. He handed over about 900,000 yen (more than $6,000), by wire from a bank account and from a cryptocurrency account. He was held for about ten days and then dropped back at his car. He drove to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital, called 911 just before 5 a.m. and told police what had happened, and decided he did not need medical treatment. No arrests were recorded and the motive was unclear.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900000,"currency":"JPY","usd_stated":6000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/07/18/man-kidnapped-queens-held-cash-crypto-tells-nypd/"]},{"id":244,"date":"July 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Dilip Gaud & Ramesh Sharma","location":"Jodhpur, Rajasthan","country":"India","description":"Four police constables of Mata Ka Than Police Station allegedly took over Dilip Gaud's car while he and Ramesh Sharma were parking on 14 July 2025, drove the two to the station, held them from about 4 p.m. to about 8.30 p.m. and, under threat of false criminal charges, extorted Rs 2 lakh in cash and had cryptocurrency transferred from Dilip's phone, about Rs 8.6 lakh in USDT per Subkuz. The four were suspended after a departmental inquiry and arrested on Thursday 17 July 2025.","summary":"Dilip Gaud and his friend Ramesh Sharma were held by police constables in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on 14 July 2025. At about 4 p.m., as the two parked at a mall near Manji Ka Hatha, a uniformed constable and three or four others in plain clothes allegedly intimidated them, forced Dilip from the driver's seat, took over the car and drove them to the Mata Ka Than Police Station. There the two were forced to sign documents and threatened with false criminal charges. The officers allegedly extorted about Rs 50,000 from each man, used Dilip's wife's ATM card to have Ramesh withdraw a further Rs 1 lakh, making Rs 2 lakh in cash, and used Dilip's phone to transfer about Rs 8.6 lakh in USDT to an associate. The two were released at about 8:30 p.m. Dilip complained to police and a case was registered at Mahamandir Police Station. Four constables were suspended and arrested, and a further officer posted elsewhere remained a suspect.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"friend"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":860000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://subkuz.com/news/english/details/jodhpur-police-officers-arrested-extortion-kidnapping/90498"]},{"id":245,"date":"July 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Prince Pandey","location":"Ahmedabad, India (seized near Bapunagar Toll Plaza, the other locations not named)","country":"India","description":"Three men, one of them an acquaintance with whom he had discussed a USDT cash exchange, called the trader to meet a customer near Bapunagar Toll Plaza at about 2 a.m. on 15 July 2025, forced him into a black car with tinted glass and no number plate, beat him and demanded a transfer of 50,000 USDT while moving him between locations through the night. The Ahmedabad City Crime Branch rescued him by afternoon after his father called the police control room.","summary":"Prince Pandey, a cryptocurrency trader in Ahmedabad, India, and the son of a retired Army Subedar Major, was kidnapped at about 2 a.m. on 15 July 2025. He had discussed a USDT cash exchange with an acquaintance, Karan Tarunbhai Nair, 19, and was called to meet a supposed customer near Bapunagar Toll Plaza. On arrival he was forced into a black car with tinted glass and no number plate and moved between locations through the night. The kidnappers demanded that he transfer 50,000 USDT (about Rs 42 lakh) and beat him repeatedly to force out his wallet credentials. His injuries needed hospital treatment. No transfer was reported. His father alerted police after failing to reach him, and the Ahmedabad City Crime Branch traced the route through CCTV and rescued him by the afternoon. Police arrested Nair and two car-rental operators aged 21 and 25, recovered a weapon from them and attributed the motive to a pending financial dispute related to cryptocurrency.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://english.gujaratsamachar.com/news/gujarat/army-veterans-son-kidnapped-for-cryptocurrency-ransom-3-arrested-in-overnight-operation"]},{"id":246,"date":"August 2, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-02","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"30 y/o man","location":"Parañaque City, Philippines","country":"Philippines","description":"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.","summary":"A 30-year-old Chinese national was kidnapped in Parañaque City, Philippines, and rescued on 2 August 2025. He had asked four Chinese nationals to help him send PHP 150,000 to China for his mother's medical treatment and had already handed over PHP 100,000. He agreed to meet them at a resort-casino to complete the transfer, and on the way he was handcuffed, blindfolded and threatened with a firearm. The four demanded US$50,000 (about PHP 2.8 million) for his release. He talked them into returning his phone and contacted another Chinese national, who called 911. Parañaque City police and the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group rescued him from the resort before any ransom was paid and arrested the four. A woman who had come to the same resort to exchange money was found held with them, and her cash had been taken.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman held at the same resort, cash taken"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":50000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://tribune.net.ph/2025/08/04/chinese-national-kidnapped-at-para%C3%B1aque-resort"]},{"id":247,"date":"August 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-05","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Paris (Peninsula Hotel, avenue Kléber, 16th arrondissement, taken towards the Arc de Triomphe, arrests in the 8th)","country":"France","description":"Five men are suspected of having threatened, taken away by force and beaten a guest of the Peninsula Hotel who is said to work in cryptocurrency, and of stealing 2 million euros in cryptocurrency from him. Anti-crime police arrested the five the same evening.","summary":"A man who works in cryptocurrency and was staying at the Peninsula Hotel on avenue Kléber, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, was taken away by force at about 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday 5 August 2025. Five men approached him, told him \"you give us 400,000 euros and that's it\" and forced him towards the Arc de Triomphe. He was beaten and threatened, and he said the same men had displayed a weapon during an incident the week before. They took a hard drive that he said held 2 million euros in bitcoin, and his iPhone 13 Pro Max. Anti-crime police located and arrested the five the same evening, and they were taken into custody on extortion charges. Investigators linked the five to a nearby nightclub where the man allegedly owed 40,000 euros, which left it unclear whether this was a kidnapping for cryptocurrency or forced debt collection.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":400000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/paris-un-professionnel-de-la-cryptomonnaie-agresse-dans-un-palace-des-beaux-quartiers-06-08-2025-D632HLSIFJHZNGKHHSPP6S3CPE.php"]},{"id":248,"date":"August 6, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-06","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Norwegian family","location":"Oslo, Norway","country":"Norway","description":"A family was tied up at home in Haugerud, Oslo, late in the evening of 5 August 2025, one adult was threatened with a firearm, and the attackers demanded a cryptocurrency transfer. Nine people are charged with complicity in aggravated robbery and deprivation of liberty.","summary":"A family was tied up at home in Haugerud, Oslo, late in the evening of 5 August 2025 by attackers who, according to one account, demanded that they transfer cryptocurrency. The accounts differ. One describes parents in their 40s and three children aged 4, 8 and 12, and four masked men aged 18 to 22 who posed as food delivery couriers, were let in, bound all five with tape and threatened to shoot the mother in front of the children. Police said three adults and two minors were in the home, that several people broke in, that the three adults were tied, one was threatened with a firearm and another was subjected to serious violence. Nothing is reported on whether anything was transferred or taken.\n\nNine people were charged with complicity in aggravated robbery and deprivation of liberty, two of them arrested abroad. Police said several have ties to Sweden and believe straw men were used to obtain an apartment used as a hideout. One man in his late 20s was remanded for four weeks and denies guilt.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"other parent and three children (police: three adults and two minors)"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/cryptomonnaie-une-femme-agressee-chez-elle-a-suresnes-sous-les-yeux-de-ses-enfants-08-07-2025-KHKBWPK4WZHGTAOKINZ3WJZDLU.php","https://www.document.no/2025/08/09/svensk-ransgjeng-slo-til-hos-familie-i-oslo-smabarn-teipet-fast-mor-truet-med-skudd-i-hodet/","https://www.alt.no/hjemme-ran-pa-haugerud-startet-storre-etterforskning/s/5-128-1114083","https://www.nrk.no/stor-oslo/ni-siktet-etter-hjemmeran-1.17548464","https://www.document.no/2025/09/04/ni-personer-siktet-etter-brutalt-hjemmeran-i-oslo-familien-ble-fastbundet/","https://www.ao.no/nabo-horte-rop-om-hjelp-og-fant-familien-fastbundet-na-er-ni-personer-siktet-etter-brutalt-hjemmeran/s/5-128-1133981"]},{"id":249,"date":"August 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Chinese businessman who operates a store on R.A. De Mel Mawatha, Colpetty","location":"Colpetty, Colombo","country":"Sri Lanka","description":"A group of Chinese nationals resident in Sri Lanka allegedly abducted a fellow Chinese businessman at about 9 p.m. on Friday 22 August 2025, took him away in a vehicle, held him in a building for about a day and transferred approximately USD 60,000 online during his confinement, then abandoned him on a roadside on the afternoon of Saturday 23 August.","summary":"A Chinese businessman who runs a store on R.A. De Mel Mawatha in Colpetty, Colombo, Sri Lanka, was abducted at about 9 p.m. on Friday 22 August 2025. The suspects are a group of Chinese nationals resident in Sri Lanka. They took him away in a vehicle and held him in a building for about a day. He was injured during the abduction and was later treated at a private hospital in Narahenpita. While he was held, the suspects transferred about US$60,000 out of his holdings online. They abandoned him at a roadside on the afternoon of Saturday 23 August. He filed a complaint with Colpetty Police. The investigation was under way and no arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":60000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":60000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.newswire.lk/2025/08/25/chinese-group-kidnap-rob-fellow-businessman-in-colombo/"]},{"id":252,"date":"August 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Young Swiss national, from the canton of Vaud per 20 minutes, age 23 pending source trace","location":"Valence, Drôme, France","country":"France","description":"A young Swiss national was kidnapped in Valence, held for several days and found tied up in a house near the Valence-TGV station; the kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency. The GIGN freed him on 31 August after a tip-off on 30 August and seven suspects were arrested. [The record's '4 days' and 'possible mistaken identity': pending source trace.]","summary":"A young Swiss national was kidnapped in Valence, in the Drôme department of France, in late August 2025 and held for several days. The kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency, with no amount reported, and there is no indication that it was paid. After a tip-off on 30 August, the GIGN, the gendarmerie's elite unit, raided a house near the Valence-TGV station on 31 August with the Grenoble research section and close to 150 gendarmerie personnel. They found him tied up and freed him. Seven suspects were arrested: a primary suspect, two others, and four more detained as investigators located him. They face charges of kidnapping and arbitrary detention for ransom, extortion by an organised gang with a weapon, and criminal conspiracy. The case is with the JIRS, a specialised organised-crime court, in Lyon.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.bitcoin.com/french-elite-police-free-kidnapped-swiss-man-held-for-cryptocurrency-ransom/"]},{"id":253,"date":"September 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-05","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A youth, age and gender not stated","location":"Cambridge, Ontario, Canada (area of Saginaw Parkway and Townline Road)","country":"Canada","description":"A youth was forced into a dark-coloured van by five unknown suspects, physically assaulted inside it, threatened with a firearm and forced to transfer money into a cryptocurrency wallet, then released, and was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.","summary":"A youth was forced into a dark-coloured van by five unknown suspects at about 9:48 p.m. on 5 September 2025 near Saginaw Parkway and Townline Road in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, and driven off. The five were described as men in their twenties wearing dark clothing and face coverings. Inside the van the youth was physically assaulted and threatened with a firearm, and was forced to transfer money into a cryptocurrency wallet. The amount was not disclosed. The suspects then released the youth and fled along Townline Road. The youth was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. No arrests were recorded. The General Investigations Unit of Waterloo Regional Police was investigating and appealed for witnesses and for dashcam or surveillance footage.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/police-beat/police-investigate-robbery-and-abduction-in-cambridge-11176114"]},{"id":254,"date":"September 7, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-07","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Herzliya resident","location":"Herzliya","country":"Israel","description":"Bitcoin heist turns brutal: Herzliya resident stabbed, robbed of $600,000 in digital assets","summary":"A Herzliya resident who owned Bitcoin was robbed in his apartment on 7 September 2025. According to the indictment, three robbers waited in the stairwell of his building at 8:10 a.m.; when he opened his door, two pushed him inside, tied his hands with a cable and beat him. Murad Mahajna, 46, of Tel Aviv, demanded 500 Bitcoin, worth about $55 million, and then that he open his digital wallet. One robber held a kitchen knife to his neck, and when he refused they stabbed him once in each leg. He gave up his wallet codes and they transferred $547,260 in Bitcoin and about $42,248 in USDT. They also took a Rolex valued at about $50,000, a laptop, a Trezor wallet, about 5,000 euros and other cash; another report puts the whole haul at roughly $650,000. They held him for about one hour and ten minutes and left him tied up.\n\nTwo days later Mahajna allegedly phoned to demand more and threatened his wife and children. Police arrested Mahajna on 10 September and he was charged with aggravated robbery, extortion by threats and other offences. He denies the allegations. Two accomplices remain at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":55000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/violent-btc-theft-in-israel-linked-to-organised-crime/"]},{"id":255,"date":"September 19, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-19","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Family","location":"Grant, Minnesota, United States","country":"USA","description":"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.","summary":"A husband, his wife and their adult son were held at gunpoint in their home in Grant, Minnesota, on 19 September 2025. Prosecutors allege that two brothers from Texas, Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, ran up to the husband at about 7:45 a.m., masked and armed with a shotgun and an AR-15-style rifle, zip-tied him, then woke and zip-tied the wife and son. Isiah Garcia made the husband log into his cryptocurrency accounts and transfer funds, then drove him about three hours to the family's cabin in Grand Rapids to transfer more from a hard-drive wallet. A third party on the phone appeared to be supplying information about the accounts. Charging documents put the transfers at at least $36,000 at the house and at least $36,000 at the cabin; the U.S. Attorney's Office said $8 million was stolen in total.\n\nAfter about nine hours the son called 911 and both brothers fled. They were traced to Texas and taken into custody, and face federal kidnapping charges and state charges including aggravated robbery and first-degree burglary.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and adult son"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-brothers-charged-allegedly-holding-minnesota-family-hostage-stea-rcna233867","https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/indictment-brothers-minnesota-family-millions-dollars-cryptocurrency/","https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/receipt-rented-vehicle-texas-brothers-charged-kidnapping-robbery/"]},{"id":256,"date":"September 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"42 y/o man","location":"Rambouillet, Yvelines, France","country":"France","description":"Three men and a woman climbed the fence of the property of a 42-year-old cryptocurrency professional in Rambouillet at about 9 a.m. on Friday 26 September 2025; he saw them and called police, and all four were arrested. Per the first findings they had planned to go after him because of his cryptocurrency activity; what they meant to do is not stated.","summary":"A 42-year-old cryptocurrency professional saw three men and a woman climbing the fence of his property in Rambouillet, Yvelines, France, at about 9 a.m. on Friday 26 September 2025 and called the police. A patrol surprised a man and a woman still inside the grounds, arrested a third suspect in a Renault Clio on the street and stopped the fourth nearby as he fled on foot. One of the four carried a switchblade and another a fake firearm. Nobody was harmed, no demand was made and nothing was taken. According to the first findings, the four had planned to go after the man because of his cryptocurrency activity; what they meant to do is not stated. All four were placed in custody. The Versailles Brigade for the Repression of Banditry was investigating and their phones were being analysed.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/yvelines-un-nouveau-professionnel-des-cryptomonnaies-cible-par-une-equipe-de-truands-26-09-2025-OTSKDQDH75G5HCBYH4LK5MRXOM.php"]},{"id":257,"date":"September, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Family in two neighbouring villas","location":"Tobo, Tierp","country":"Sweden","description":"Five masked people got into two neighbouring villas in Tobo, bound the family with cable ties and tape, subjected them to mock executions and forced a transfer of 2.5 million kronor in cryptocurrency.","summary":"A family living in two neighbouring villas in Tobo, in Tierp municipality, Sweden, was robbed by five masked people in September 2025. The intruders bound the family with cable ties and tape, subjected them to mock executions and forced them, under threat of weapons and violence, to transfer cryptocurrency worth 2.5 million Swedish kronor. How the five got in and how they chose the household is not reported. The robbery ended after about an hour and a half, when one of the family switched on his microphone in a game chat and reached other relatives. His father and brother came to the villas and shouted, and the masked men fled. One family member later told police that without their brother and father they would not be alive.\n\nFour men were sentenced to six years in prison each for aggravated robbery. The fifth robber is still at large and suspected of being abroad. Two more men and one woman were convicted of laundering part of the proceeds.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"other family members, number not stated"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"SEK","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/Rr77qd/aftonbladet-direkt?pinnedEntry=1411017&_sp_pass_consent=true","https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/uppsala/fangelsestraff-for-brutala-kryptoranet-i-tobo"]},{"id":258,"date":"October 10, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-10","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"32-year-old man who works in cryptocurrency and handles other people's money","location":"Kharkiv","country":"Ukraine","description":"Men got out of a black van, introduced themselves as territorial recruitment centre (TCC) staff, used pepper spray, bound him with plastic ties and drove him about two hours. They beat him, threatened him with weapons and held him in a basement until the transfer, then released him at Bezliudivka.","summary":"A 32-year-old man who works in cryptocurrency and handles other people's money as well as his own was abducted in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 10 October 2025. Police said he had been watched for several days. He had come to a currency exchange point to withdraw cash when three men in military uniform and balaclavas got out of a black van, introduced themselves as staff of a territorial recruitment centre, used pepper spray and forced him into a Mercedes-Benz Vito with no licence plates. They bound his hands with plastic ties, beat him, threatened him with weapons and drove him around the city and region for two hours before holding him in a basement. They took 14,600 euros in cash and made him transfer more than 83,000 dollars in USDT, then left him at the roadside in the village of Bezliudivka.\n\nPolice detained three men aged 30, 34 and 39, one of them a serviceman, and a court ordered them held in custody on suspicion of abduction and robbery. They face up to 15 years. Police said at least five people took part and were looking for the others.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":97000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":97000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://archive.is/El9EI","https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-regions/4048428-trimali-colovika-u-pidvali-j-vidibrali-97-tisac-u-harkovi-zatrimali-troh-vikradaciv.html","https://hromadske.radio/news/2025/10/17/v-tsentri-kharkova-troie-napadnykiv-vykraly-cholovika-y-vidibraly-u-noho-mayzhe-100-tysiach-dolariv","https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/344038-v-kharkove-pokhitili-muzhchinu-ego-derzhali-v-podvale-i-otobrali-97000-dollarov-nalichnymi-i-v-kriptovalyute","https://atn.ua/kharkiv/kharkiv-ianyna-trymaly-v-pidvali-ta-vybyvaly-hroshi-sered-napadnykiv-vijskovyj-490170"]},{"id":259,"date":"October, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Roman and Anna Novak","location":"Hatta, Dubai","country":"UAE","description":"Dismembered bodies of crypto millionaire and wife found buried in Dubai desert, after invited to a \"business deal\".","summary":"Roman Novak, a Russian cryptocurrency millionaire, and his wife Anna were killed after they disappeared in the United Arab Emirates in 2025. The couple were last seen before driving to meet \"unidentified investors\" by a lake in Hatta, Dubai's mountain resort. It was later reported that they had been kidnapped and that a \"large ransom\" was demanded and not paid. About a month after they vanished, their dismembered bodies were reported found buried in the desert. Nothing is reported on where they were held, for how long or how they died, and no ransom amount or theft is stated. Relatives in Russia raised the alarm with local authorities. Three suspects have been detained in St Petersburg and in the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions of Russia, and the investigation remains open.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":2,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/08/dismembered-bodies-crypto-millionaire-wife-found-buried-dubai-desert-24651945/"]},{"id":260,"date":"October 03, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-03","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Nate Geier from bitte.ai","location":"Singapore","country":"Singapore","description":"Nate Geier from bitte.ai mugged in SG at Token2049. Phone and passport stolen.","summary":"Nate Geier, a co-founder of a software development company, was in Singapore for the Token2049 conference when he woke up in hospital with heavy bruising down the right side of his face and a cut on his nose. On 3 October 2025 he posted on X that he \"must have gotten jumped walking home\" after the event, that he remembered only waking up in hospital, and that his passport and ring were gone. He said it happened at 11pm and that he had never lost his memory like this. No attacker is described, and no cryptocurrency is reported taken. He said he had filed a police report on 3 October and would visit police headquarters on 6 October. Some people who replied to his post doubted he had been robbed, pointing to Singapore's safety and CCTV cameras and asking for proof, and some speculated that he could have been drunk.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Mugging"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://x.com/nategeier/status/1973982311592177940","https://mothership.sg/2025/10/man-claims-jumped-singapore-users-skeptical/"]},{"id":263,"date":"October ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Waleed","location":"Kahna area, Lahore","country":"Pakistan","description":"A trader named Waleed was abducted from the Kahna area by CCD Inspector Javed Iqbal, Constable Tauseef and two unidentified accomplices, who raided his home in plain clothes and took his laptop, three mobile phones and the CCTV DVR. He was released after his family handed over a ransom negotiated down from Rs50 million to Rs4 million.","summary":"Waleed, a trader in the Kahna area near Lahore, Pakistan, was abducted from his home in October 2025 by men in plain clothes. He was picked out for his alleged involvement in Bitcoin trading. The suspects are a Crime Control Department inspector, Javed Iqbal, a constable named Tauseef and two unidentified accomplices. They raided the home, seized his laptop, three mobile phones and the CCTV recorder, and took him away in a rented vehicle. He was made to call his family, and on the second call he was threatened with death if the ransom was not paid. The kidnappers first demanded Rs50 million and reduced it to Rs4 million after negotiation. The family handed over the money near the Lahore Orange Line Station and Waleed was released soon after. His family complained to Kahna Police, who arrested the inspector and the constable and handed them over to another unit for interrogation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000000,"currency":"PKR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4000000,"currency":"PKR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://tribune.com.pk/story/2575027/ccd-cop-held-for-orchestrating-businessmans-kidnapping"]},{"id":266,"date":"Late October, 2017","date_sort":"2017-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"Four young Toulouse residents aged 18 to 24","location":"Busca neighbourhood, Toulouse, France","country":"France","description":"Four young Toulouse residents aged 18 to 24 received in the apartment of one of them two men they had met through an online sales site; the visitors took a weapon out of a suitcase and ordered them to transfer 20,000 dollars in virtual currency. The transfer failed, and the two took smartphones, identity papers, money and keys and locked the four in the apartment; the four climbed over a balcony to raise the alarm.","summary":"Four young cryptocurrency holders aged 18 to 24 were held at gunpoint in an apartment in the Busca neighbourhood of Toulouse, France, in late October 2017. They had met two men, aged 19 and 34, through an online sales site, and the group gathered in an apartment. The two visitors opened a suitcase, pulled out a weapon and ordered the four to transfer $20,000 in Bitcoin. The transfer failed. The two men then took the four's smartphones, identity papers, money and keys and locked them inside the apartment. The four climbed over a balcony to alert the police. Investigators traced the two men and arrested one in Blagnac and the other in Saint-Girons, in Ariège. Both were charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted extortion and placed in pre-trial detention.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four young holders aged 18 to 24"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.20minutes.fr/toulouse/2180483-20171203-toulouse-quatre-jeunes-sequestres-forces-transferer-bitcoins"]},{"id":270,"date":"January ?, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2018,"victim":"Odessa resident, not named","location":"General Petrova Street, Odessa, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"An Odessa man who came to buy cryptocurrency was beaten and robbed by a suspect and his accomplices at a flat rented for the meeting, damage nearly 1,500,000 UAH.","summary":"An Odessa resident who had come to buy cryptocurrency was beaten and robbed in January 2018. The attackers had rented a short-term apartment on General Petrova Street in Odessa, Ukraine, and arranged to meet him there as a prospective buyer. The main suspect and his accomplices beat him and stole his mobile phone, jewellery and money. The losses came to nearly 1,500,000 UAH (about $57,000). No cryptocurrency changed hands. The main suspect was taken into custody and remanded without bail, and the Odessa prosecutor's office sent an indictment to court on a charge of especially serious robbery, which carries 3 to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. Police were still working to identify the other accomplices.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1500000,"currency":"UAH","usd_stated":57000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bizlim.com/crypto/news/odessa-robbery-for-1-5-million-uah-on-the-sale-of-crypto-currency.html"]},{"id":271,"date":"March ?, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2018,"victim":"Occupants of a rented home on Ballouville Road, none named: the female renter, an occupant pistol-whipped on the head, an occupant attacked with an electric cattle prod, and a child implied by the charge 'risk of injury to a child'","location":"Ballouville Road, Killingly, Connecticut","country":"USA","description":"Two Rhode Island women were arrested over a March home invasion in Killingly in which occupants were pistol-whipped and attacked with an electric cattle prod. Police say it stemmed from a Bitcoin account the renter had opened in the name of one suspect, who 'wanted passwords and money she said was stolen from her'.","summary":"The occupants of a rented home on Ballouville Road in Killingly, Connecticut, including a child, were attacked in March 2018 by two women from Rhode Island who reportedly forced their way in. Police said the dispute arose from a bitcoin account that the woman renting the home had opened in the name of Monique Delannoy-Jodoin, 59, of Manville, who wanted the passwords and money she said had been stolen from her. The intruders pistol-whipped one occupant on the head and used an electric cattle prod on another. The renter, who recognised them, was chased into a bathroom, which one suspect tried to break into with a hammer before the renter escaped to a neighbour's home. One suspect was heard telling the other to shoot the occupants. They took money, cell phones and a television. Delannoy-Jodoin and Beatriz Viruet, 38, of Providence, were arrested and charged with home invasion, robbery and other offences, and held on bonds of $250,000 and $100,000.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"renter"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"other occupants, including a child implied by the charges"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://finance.yahoo.com/news/police-dispute-over-bitcoin-account-010918284.html"]},{"id":272,"date":"March ?, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2018,"victim":"Cryptocurrency miner, Kyiv resident, not named","location":"Podilsky district, Kyiv, Ukraine (driven outside the city and released in Brovary)","country":"Ukraine","description":"A Kyiv cryptocurrency miner was seized near his home in the Podilsky district, hooded with a sack, forced into a car and driven out of the city; he gave up his apartment keys and where he kept his money under death threats, lost $50,000 and was released in Brovary. Two brothers were detained, reported on 26 November 2018.","summary":"A cryptocurrency miner living in the Podilsky district of Kyiv, Ukraine, was abducted in March 2018. Two brothers, born in 1988 and 1984, waited near his home, put a sack over his head, forced him into a car and drove him out of the city. They threatened to kill him and by that threat obtained his apartment keys and details of where he kept his money. They took $50,000 from him, then drove him to Brovary and released him. About eight months later the Kyiv prosecutor's office and the national police detained the two brothers and charged them with robbery on an especially large scale by prior conspiracy. They face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property, and a petition was filed to hold them in custody.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":50000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://ain.ua/ru/2018/11/26/zaderzhali-gryppy-kotoraja-vykrala-majnera/"]},{"id":273,"date":"November ?, 2018","date_sort":"2018-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2018,"victim":"Kieran 'Kez' Hamilton, 21","location":"Manchester, England","country":"UK","description":"The Instagrammer and crypto trader stabbed and robbed after posting his lavish life online","summary":"Kieran Hamilton, known as Kez, a 21-year-old self-taught cryptocurrency trader in Manchester, England, was stabbed and robbed in his home in November 2018, by his own account. He had posted his newly lavish lifestyle on Instagram and Twitter, and he believes local rumours, amplified by those posts, painted him as a drug dealer with a lot of cash. One night he was woken by noises, went downstairs in his boxers and was confronted by two men with machetes. They screamed at him to hand over money, drugs and watches and ordered him to empty a safe and flip his mattress. He had none of what they expected. They stabbed him and left with his dog, worth about £1,000, his Apple MacBook, gold bracelets and a gold wedding ring. No cryptocurrency was taken. He said the scene afterwards looked \"like a massacre\". No arrest is recorded.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vice.com/en/article/instagram-influencer-robbed-cryptocurrency/"]},{"id":279,"date":"May 17, 2020","date_sort":"2020-05-17","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"'Le', an HCMC businessman and bitcoin investor, with his wife, children and brother-in-law (full name Le Duc Nguyen pending source trace)","location":"Intercepted at Dau Giay Town, Dong Nai province, on the road from Bao Loc; driven two hours and dropped by a road in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam","country":"Vietnam","description":"A group organised by businessman Ho Ngoc Tai, which included two serving HCMC police officers, intercepted his family's car, threatened them with a fake gun and a syringe of red ink said to be HIV-contaminated blood, beat him during a two-hour drive and took 168 bitcoins worth about $1.63 million.","summary":"A Ho Chi Minh City businessman and bitcoin investor, identified as Le, was seized with his wife, children and brother-in-law on 17 May 2020 at Dau Giay in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, as the family drove from Bao Loc. The group was led by a businessman, Ho Ngoc Tai, 32, and included two serving Ho Chi Minh City police officers and about 15 others. Tai's group blamed the investor's advice for their own cryptocurrency losses in 2018 and hired a private detective to map the family's routines. A staged motorbike accident on 12 May had failed when he drove off. During the two-hour drive back to the city he and his brother-in-law were threatened with a fake gun, his wife and children were menaced with a syringe said to hold HIV-infected blood, which was red ink, and he was beaten and forced to call his brother to move 1,000 bitcoins. Investigators found that 168 bitcoins, about US$1.63 million, and other property were taken. The family was dropped by a road in District 2. The suspects were arrested in June 2020 and face robbery charges carrying up to life imprisonment.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":4,"at_least":true,"detail":"wife, children (number not stated), brother-in-law"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":168,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":1630000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/hcmc-cops-charged-with-1-6-mln-bitcoin-robbery-4393892.html"]},{"id":285,"date":"June 16, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-16","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Dillon Attard","location":"Sliema, Malta","country":"Malta","description":"Victim describes his disbelief as $700,000 stolen in front of him","summary":"Dillon Attard, 27, lost about 424,671 Unizen tokens, worth roughly $700,000, during a lunch at a restaurant in Sliema, Malta, on 16 June 2021. No violence was involved. Luke Milton, a 25-year-old company director, had sought Attard's help with a small blockchain investment of 5,000 euros. When Attard handed his phone across the table so that Milton could scan his wallet barcode, Milton allegedly pressed \"maximise\", \"send\" and \"confirm\" within seconds while acting normally, sending the tokens to another wallet in a transfer that cannot be reversed. Attard snatched his phone back and alerted two friends who are police officers. When police arrived, Milton allegedly admitted sending the transaction and blamed Attard. The restaurant's CCTV recorded the episode. Milton was charged with misappropriation and fraud, cryptocurrency theft, money laundering and breaches of the Virtual Financial Assets Act, and pleaded not guilty.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":424671,"currency":"Unizen (token)","usd_stated":700000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofmalta.com/article/victim-describes-his-disbelief-as-700000-disappeared-under-his-nose.882790"]},{"id":288,"date":"May, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"The father, surname Ghershony, first name withheld at his request","location":"Bethesda, Maryland (his loft apartment in the Bethesda Row district)","country":"USA","description":"Son drugs his father's tea with a benzodiazepine and moves $400,000 in bitcoin out of the account they shared","summary":"A cryptocurrency investor in Bethesda, Maryland, surname Ghershony, was drugged by his son Liam Ghershony, 24, in May 2021 and lost $400,000 in bitcoin. Liam, who had a severe addiction to benzodiazepine, Adderall and cocaine, had been advising his father on cryptocurrency and was a partner on their joint account. After a day of moving furniture into the father's loft apartment and dinner out, Liam served him tea spiked with a large dose of benzodiazepine, presented as an energy boost. Once his father was unconscious, Liam used his phone to clear the two-step authorisation, moved the bitcoin to an account he controlled and converted two-thirds of it to Ethereum. The father lay unresponsive on his floor for two days and spent four days in hospital with severe dehydration and acute organ dysfunction. Liam's mother reported him. He was first charged with attempted murder, was found to have had no intent to kill, and pleaded guilty to first-degree assault. He served 125 days in jail and two months of residential treatment, with 20 years of suspended time.","targeting":["Organised by a relative or partner"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":400000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/02/03/son-spikes-dads-tea-crypto/"]},{"id":290,"date":"August ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"three women, not named, one the buyer and two friends she brought","location":"Al Nahda, Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"Four men robbed three women of the cash they had brought to a fake Bitcoin deal in Al Nahda, Dubai.","summary":"Three women were robbed in Al Nahda, Dubai, in August 2021 after one of them agreed to buy Bitcoin for Dhs300,000 from a man who had offered it to her. She brought two friends to the meeting. While the three waited in a car, four men surprised them, threatened them with weapons and ordered them to hand over the money. The conviction was for robbery at knifepoint, and the women described being threatened with blunt objects. No injuries were reported. The robbers took a bag holding Dhs300,000, a second bag holding Dhs63,000, other valuables and the women's passports, and fled by car. No Bitcoin changed hands. A driver waiting in one of the women's cars noted the number plate of the getaway car. Police arrested a suspect the women recognised, and he led them to two others; one of the four was a fugitive. The four were sentenced to one year in jail, fined Dhs342,000 and ordered deported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two friends"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2022/02/14/4-steal-dhs350000-through-fake-bitcoin-deal","https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/dubai-court-sentences-four-to-jail-for-robbing-woman-of-dh300000-in-bitcoin-scam-1.85729037"]},{"id":292,"date":"October ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Cryptocurrency miner, Tomsk resident, not named","location":"Tomsk, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"Two men attacked a cryptocurrency miner as he was leaving his home in Tomsk; one threatened him with an object resembling a gun and brought him back inside his apartment, the accomplice came in, and they forced him to transfer 86 BTC out of a wallet holding 90.","summary":"A cryptocurrency miner in Tomsk, Russia, was robbed of 86 BTC in October 2021. Two Tomsk residents attacked him as he was leaving home. One threatened him with an object resembling a gun and forced him back into his apartment, where the second man joined. They made him log into his cryptocurrency exchange account and transfer 86 BTC from a wallet holding 90 BTC, worth more than 360 million roubles, or over US$4.8 million, at the time. Why they left the remainder is unclear. One of the two was tracked down and detained in St. Petersburg, pleaded guilty and returned 35 million roubles (about $479,000). The second was arrested later. Both are in custody, charged with robbery by a group on an especially large scale, and face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million roubles. The case goes to the Kirovsky Court of Tomsk.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":86,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":4800000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.bitcoin.com/court-to-try-2-russians-for-stealing-86-bitcoins-from-crypto-miner/"]},{"id":293,"date":"December ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A family in Sukhumi, not identified","location":"Sukhumi, Abkhazia","country":"Abkhazia","description":"2 masked men break into home, hold family at gunpoint before escaping with three servers and $2,040 in cash.","summary":"Two masked men broke into the home of a family in Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, in December 2021 and held the family at gunpoint inside the house. No injuries were reported. The men left with three cryptocurrency mining servers and 150,000 roubles (about $2,040) in cash. No demand figure was given and no cryptocurrency was taken. The raid was one of a series of burglaries aimed at the region's illegal cryptocurrency mining operations, which followed Abkhazia's ban on mining in 2020. Police made one arrest in connection with the raid.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"family members, number not stated"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":150000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":2040},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/abkhazias-illegal-bitcoin-miners-face-new-threat-thieves-2022-01-06/"]},{"id":295,"date":"February, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"John Forsyth","location":"Missouri","country":"USA","description":"Founder of Onfocoin found shot dead in a lake in Arkansas. Circumstances are unclear. Personal belongings were found in this car.","summary":"Dr John Forsyth, 49, an emergency-room doctor at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, Missouri, and co-founder of the cryptocurrency project ONFO coin, was kidnapped and released in February 2022, according to his brother Richard. The brother said Forsyth was zip-tied, taken on a car ride to a bridge by a group of people and threatened. Forsyth never filed a police report because he believed he was still at risk, and the brother thought the incident was related to cryptocurrency. Nothing was reported taken and nobody was identified.\n\nForsyth was last seen leaving the hospital on 21 May 2023. His unlocked car was found near an aquatic park with his wallet, passport, laptop and phones inside. His body was found on 30 May in Beaver Lake, Arkansas, about 20 miles south, with an apparent gunshot wound. Police said foul play did not appear to be a factor, and the brother said there was no evidence linking the 2022 incident to the death.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-millionaire-onfo-coin-creator-dead","https://decrypt.co/143059/bitcoin-millionaire-found-dead-a-week-after-going-missing","https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukefitzpatrick/2020/04/27/bitcoin-halving-a-new-class-of-bitcoin-millionaires-may-emerge/#786e087961fc","https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12145317/Missouri-doctor-shot-dead-Ozarks-lake-previously-kidnapped-claims-brother.html","https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-doctor-found-dead-arkansas-lake-kidnapped-last-year-brother-reveals"]},{"id":297,"date":"March ?, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"bitcoin trader, plus his trading partner, who owned the safe and the cash","location":"Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"A group came to his residence saying his 'address was incorrect'; when he tried to close the door they pushed him and entered, put a knife to his neck after he fell, tied him with plastic rope, took the safe key from under a table and stole Dh1.7 million in cash from the safe.","summary":"A bitcoin trader was tied up and robbed at his residence in Dubai in March 2022. A group of men came to his door claiming that his address was incorrect. When he tried to close the door they pushed in and he fell. They held a knife to his neck, tied him with plastic rope, took the key to a safe from under a table and emptied the safe of Dh1.7 million in cash. The safe and the cash belonged to his trading partner. No cryptocurrency was taken and the trader was not otherwise injured. He freed himself and alerted his partner and the police. Investigators found that the four men, described as Asian, had entered the country illegally and fled after the robbery. They were caught in a coordinated operation, confessed and were jointly fined Dh1.7 million.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: pretext at the door","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1700000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaleejtimes.com/crime/dubai-four-men-fined-dh1-7-million-for-stealing-cash-from-bitcoin-trader"]},{"id":298,"date":"April ?, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Owner of a Bitcoin trading company, not named","location":"Al Nakhil area, Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"Nine robbers knocked on the door of his company's headquarters, entered, assaulted him and took Dh 4,120,000 in cash by force.","summary":"The owner of a Bitcoin trading company in the Al Nakhil area of Dubai was assaulted and robbed at his workplace in April 2022. Nine robbers knocked on the door of the company's headquarters, entered, attacked the owner and took Dh4,120,000 in cash by force. No cryptocurrency was taken. It is not reported whether anyone was restrained, and no demand figure was given. Police identified and arrested all nine. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced them to three years in prison, to be followed by deportation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"company owner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4120000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/crime/dubai-dh4-million-stolen-from-bitcoin-trader-9-people-jailed"]},{"id":299,"date":"May 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"4 victims","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Multiple incidents of crypto muggings around London.","summary":"Four cryptocurrency investors were mugged in separate street incidents in the City of London in the second half of 2021, according to anonymised City of London police reports released under a freedom-of-information request. The muggers took phones and forced their owners to unlock cryptocurrency apps by face or fingerprint, or used PINs they had watched being entered. One person was approached while ordering an Uber near Liverpool Street. Another was lured down an alley on the pretext of a drug deal and held against a wall. A third, who was ill under a bridge, was forced to unlock his phone by fingerprint. A fourth had his phone and cards pickpocketed after leaving a pub. The four losses were about £5,000 in ethereum from a Coinbase account, £6,000 in ripple, £28,700 including cryptocurrency, and £10,000 from a Crypto.com account. Police described such street crimes as a new challenge and were expanding officer training and public-awareness work.","targeting":["Opportunistic"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four separate street victims"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place","Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Mugging"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/08/crypto-muggings-thieves-in-london-target-digital-investors-by-taking-phones"]},{"id":301,"date":"May 20, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-20","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Owner of the aluminium factory and the security personnel on duty, who were tied up","location":"West Meru industrial area, near Klang, Malaysia","country":"Malaysia","description":"An aluminium factory was broken into early in the morning on 27 April and 20 May 2022, the security personnel on duty were tied up, and 180 bitcoin mining machines were stolen over the two incidents.","summary":"An aluminium factory in the West Meru industrial area near Klang, Malaysia, was broken into and robbed early in the morning on 27 April and again on 20 May 2022. The robbers tied up the security guards on duty and stole 180 bitcoin mining machines, a loss put at hundreds of thousands of ringgit. No bitcoin was taken and no injuries were reported. Police arrested twelve men, one of them Indonesian, in nine raids on 26 and 27 May and remanded them for five days. They seized cars, computers, phones and mining machines, and said the arrests solved three robberies of bitcoin machines in the area. All the local suspects had prior criminal and drug records. Three more suspects, aged 37, 41 and 33, were still being sought.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"security guards on duty"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/62020/12-held-over-bitcoin-mining-machine-theft"]},{"id":303,"date":"July, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Asian investor, plus the friend who suggested the investment and passed on the promoter's number, counted by the court as the second victim","location":"Mankhool area, Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"A broker came to the investor's home to check the cash he wanted to use to buy Bitcoin and left promising to return with the seller within 15 minutes. Minutes later the broker phoned to say the seller was hesitating, then two men knocked, assaulted and immobilised him, threatened to kill him and took the bag.","summary":"An investor was robbed at his home in the Mankhool area of Dubai in July 2022 after arranging to buy Bitcoin with cash. A friend had suggested the investment and passed on the number of a man presented as a broker. The broker came to the home, checked the cash and left, promising to return with a seller. He then phoned to say the seller was hesitating. Moments later two men knocked, forced their way in, assaulted and restrained the investor and threatened to kill him. They took a bag containing Dh183,000 in cash, three phones, documents and bank cheques. No cryptocurrency changed hands. The court treated the friend, who was also robbed, as a second victim. The Dubai Criminal Court convicted two people, sentenced them to three years in prison, fined them the stolen amount and ordered them deported after their sentences.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":183000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/crime/dubai-man-robbed-of-dh183000-lured-after-being-lured-by-fake-bitcoin-deal"]},{"id":304,"date":"September 13, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-13","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Middle Aged Couple","location":"North Richmond, B.C., Canada","country":"Canada","description":"Multiple suspects with weapons, some of them impersonating police officers according to Richmond RCMP, allegedly entered the home of a middle-aged couple, who were allegedly assaulted, bound and held for several hours. The suspects fled with $10 million in cryptocurrency and several luxury items.","summary":"A middle-aged couple were attacked in their home in north Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on 13 September 2022. According to Richmond RCMP, several armed suspects, some of them impersonating police officers, allegedly entered the home, assaulted the couple, tied them up and held them for several hours. Police said the couple suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were left badly shaken. The suspects fled with $10 million in cryptocurrency and several luxury items; it is not stated whether the figure is in US or Canadian dollars. A large portion of the cryptocurrency was later recovered. After a year-long investigation, Jin Da Xing, 34, of Richmond, was charged with 11 offences, including break and enter, robbery with a weapon, unlawful confinement, use of an imitation firearm, extortion, possession of stolen property and impersonating a police officer. He was remanded awaiting trial.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"spouse"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"CAD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/richmond-man-arrested-for-home-invasion-10m-crypto-theft-7873869"]},{"id":307,"date":"October ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Repeat Victim","location":"Salford, England","country":"UK","description":"Days later the gang turned up at the victim's house again, demanding more money. They took him to Egret Drive, where police later found him, and placed a bag over his head.","summary":"A vulnerable man in the Salford and Irlam area of Greater Manchester was repeatedly attacked in 2023 by a seven-man gang that had used him to acquire hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency. This was the fourth incident. Days after he had been held captive in October, gang members came to his house again demanding more money, placed a bag over his head and took him to an address on Egret Drive in Irlam. No figure is given for what was demanded or taken on this occasion; on an earlier occasion he had been released only after paying over £100,000. Across the months-long campaign he was also drugged, once with morphine, deliberately burnt, beaten with weapons, bound with cables and locked in a cupboard. Police found him at the Egret Drive flat on 2 December after an anonymous tip, and he begged officers, \"can you take me with you?\" In January 2025 the seven men, Jonathan Newns, David Povey, Luke Johnson, Gary Edwards, Kane Godiff, Karl Johnson and Scott Armstrong, were convicted and jailed for more than 76 years between them.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[354,355,162,169],"sources":["https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/covered-burns-bruises-begged-can-30900995","https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/january/criminal-gang-who-kidnapped-vulnerable-man-for-cryptocurrency-jailed-for-76-years/"]},{"id":308,"date":"February, 2023","date_sort":"2023-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"23-year-old member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, unnamed","location":"Moorabbin, Melbourne, Australia","country":"Australia","description":"Prosecutors allege Colivas met the man for drinks; when he offered to drive her home, three men jumped him and drove him off against his will. He was bound with zip ties and threatened with having his fingers cut off unless he paid a $20,000 ransom, transferred $40,000 to the kidnappers' accounts, and was then driven to his own home, where several luxury items were taken before he was released.","summary":"In February 2023 a 23-year-old member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, who reportedly traded digital assets, was kidnapped in the Melbourne area of Australia. Prosecutors alleged that Catherine Colivas, a 24-year-old Australian TikTok influencer, met him for drinks, and that when he offered to drive her home three men jumped him and drove him off against his will. He was bound with zip ties and threatened with having his fingers cut off unless he paid a $20,000 ransom. He transferred $40,000 in Bitcoin to the kidnappers' accounts; it is not stated whether the sums are in US or Australian dollars. He was then driven to his own home, where several luxury items were stolen before he was released. Colivas pleaded guilty to kidnapping, extortion, recklessly causing injury, theft and gun possession. On 16 December 2024 she received a community corrections order and avoided jail, having faced up to 25 years; her mental condition and upbringing were cited.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":40000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptorank.io/news/feed/682e3-woman-convicted-of-kidnapping-saudi-arabian-royalty-in-bitcoin-scheme-spared-jail"]},{"id":309,"date":"April ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Unidentified woman, a cryptocurrency investor","location":"Dubai Investments Park, Dubai, UAE","country":"UAE","description":"Driver & 3 friends lured an investor into a fake deal, robbed, electrocuted, stripped naked, and took blackmail videos. The gang held her for several hours and then left her on a street with her hands tied and a plastic bag on her face.","summary":"In April 2023 a woman who invested in cryptocurrency was robbed and held in Dubai, UAE, by a gang of four men described as Asian expats. One of them worked as her driver, knew she was a crypto investor and drew in the other three. Posing as a buyer of digital currency, the driver lured her to a spot in Dubai Investments Park, where the group approached her and demanded that she transfer her money to their account. She was assaulted, given electric shocks, stripped naked and filmed for blackmail. The gang held her for several hours, then left her on a street with her hands tied and a plastic bag over her face. They took Dh42,000 and converted it into bitcoin. She ran to the police, and detectives tracked the gang through CCTV and recovered her clothes, an electric-shock device and the nude clips from the men's homes. All four were convicted, sentenced to three years, fined Dh42,000 and ordered to be deported after their sentences.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":42000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1229254/4-UAE-expats-get-3-years-for-assaulting-woman,-robbing-her-of-BD4,300-and-converting-it-to-bitcoin"]},{"id":312,"date":"Late May or early June, 2023","date_sort":"2023-05-01","date_precision":"year","year":2023,"victim":"Crypto Entrepreneur","location":"Tel Aviv, Israel","country":"Israel","description":"An Israeli crypto entrepreneur told police that robbers broke into his Tel Aviv apartment, beat him and forced him at gunpoint to transfer all his crypto holdings to their wallets.","summary":"An Israeli cryptocurrency entrepreneur told police that robbers broke into his apartment in Tel Aviv in late May or early June 2023, about two weeks before mid-June. The number of robbers was not specified. They beat him severely, held him at gunpoint and forced him to transfer all of his cryptocurrency to wallets they controlled. The amount was not disclosed. The platform and wallet providers froze the transfers and conversions as suspicious, so neither the robbers nor the entrepreneur kept access to the funds. Afterwards a severed animal head and a hateful graffiti message were left near his door. He reported the robbery to police and then left Israel, nearly penniless. The Israel Police opened an investigation into the animal head and the graffiti. No arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/israeli-entrepreneur-was-allegedly-robbed-of-crypto-at-gunpoint/"]},{"id":315,"date":"October 3, 2023","date_sort":"2023-10-03","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Södertälje","country":"Sweden","description":"A Södertälje bitcoiner victim to torture to extract his bitcoin","summary":"On 3 October 2023 a Bitcoin holder in Södertälje, Sweden, was attacked at home by masked, armed men. The number of attackers was not specified. The holder was tied up and physically abused to force access to the Bitcoin. No amount was disclosed, and it is not stated what the attackers obtained or how the attack ended. Crypto proponent Eric Wall described the case as one of several attacks on well-known Swedish crypto figures at home. In that pattern, criminals identify Bitcoin holders through social media, often striking shortly after a person discusses crypto publicly, and through Sweden's public-access laws, which expose home addresses and tax records. The Swedish Police Authority had been asked for details of the case and of any arrests.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/swedish-bitcoiners-targeted-by-armed-criminals"]},{"id":317,"date":"October 13, 2024","date_sort":"2024-10-13","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"59-year-old Johor businessman, not named","location":"Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia","country":"Malaysia","description":"Abducted outside his home while preparing to take a ride-hailing car to Senai International Airport for a business trip. Released after a ransom of RM20 million was 'allegedly paid'.","summary":"A 59-year-old businessman from Johor, Malaysia, was abducted at 5 a.m. on 13 October 2024 outside his home in Iskandar Puteri as he prepared to take a ride-hailing car to Senai International Airport for a business trip. He was held until a ransom was paid. The kidnappers first sought RM30 million, which was lowered to RM20 million after negotiation, and that sum was reportedly paid. He was then released. Police described an organised operation split into groups for planning and execution, disposal of items and handling the ransom. They arrested 10 men and three women and were still seeking one suspect; the suspects named by police included three Vietnamese nationals. Police recovered RM7.2 million of the ransom: RM1.95 million in cash, S$1 million (RM3.3 million) in foreign currency and 400,000 USDT (about RM1.75 million). They also seized a Beretta pistol, 250 live rounds and a pair of handcuffs, and declined to comment on a possible family tie between a suspect and the businessman.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":30000000,"currency":"MYR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"MYR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/10/30/johor-police-recover-rm72m-in-ransom-from-johor-businessman-kidnapping-remand-extended-for-vietnamese-suspects/155314"]},{"id":318,"date":"November, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Crypto Forum Moderator","location":"Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"Two masked men approached the home of a crypto forum moderator, lingering suspiciously before fleeing when he closed the door on them. This incident is now understood as the initial surveillance/probe phase of a two-stage kidnapping operation.","summary":"In early November 2024 two masked men allegedly approached the home of a Quebec man who volunteered as moderator of a cryptocurrency forum on Facebook. They lingered suspiciously and fled when he closed the door on them. Nobody was held or hurt and nothing was taken. Days later, in a separate incident, he spotted hooded suspects in a car near his house and a man pointed a handgun at him; he used a spray in self-defence. Police investigations reportedly found that the attackers believed, from his social media activity, that he owned 2.5 million BTC. The man, a father of four, said his holdings were worth about $10,000. He said the crew had equipment to torture him, including a tarp with a hole in the middle, to cut off a limb and stop the bleeding.\n\nFour suspects were arrested, two adults and two juveniles, none with a criminal record. The adults were charged with conspiracy to kidnap and possession of prohibited firearms. All were released under house arrest pending a trial set for March. The man said police told him they could not keep his family safe and that they should relocate.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.theblock.co/post/333253/bitcoin-kidnapping-torture-attempt","https://coingape.com/crypto-forum-moderator-targeted-in-alleged-bitcoin-kidnapping-attempt/","https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/crypto/crypto-moderator-forced-into-hiding-after-kidnapping-and-torture-attempt-report/"]},{"id":321,"date":"March 21, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-21","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Retired teacher, mother of a man who works in cryptocurrency management and lives in Portugal","location":"Seized leaving the Fórum Desembargador Benildes de Souza Ribeiro, Imbiribeira, Recife; held in Olinda; released near the Ouro Preto neighbourhood, Olinda","country":"Brazil","description":"Crypto manager surveilled, mother kidnapped, ransomed for 5 BTC. 4 people were later arrested.","summary":"On 21 March 2025 a retired schoolteacher was kidnapped in Recife, Brazil. Her son works in cryptocurrency management and lives in Portugal. The gang had monitored the son's social media daily, judged the family wealthy and mapped the mother's home and routines. They followed her to the Fórum Desembargador Benildes de Souza Ribeiro, a courthouse in the Imbiribeira district, and seized her as she left, using a vehicle with a cloned licence plate. At least two men were in the car. She was taken to Olinda and held at gunpoint for more than 12 hours. Her son was forced to pay five bitcoins, worth about R$3.3 million at the time, and she was released near the Ouro Preto neighbourhood in Olinda. Four people were later arrested, two in Abreu e Lima and Olinda and two in Extremoz, among them two women alleged to have received part of the ransom in crypto. They were charged with extortion through kidnapping and money laundering.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother of the holder"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/pe/pernambuco/noticia/2025/08/13/professora-aposentada-e-sequestrada.ghtml"]},{"id":322,"date":"May 1, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-01","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Man in his fifties, father of a French cryptocurrency entrepreneur who heads a company based in Malta and France","location":"Paris, 14th arrondissement (seized); freed in Palaiseau, Essonne","country":"France","description":"Abducted about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday 1 May 2025 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and held for ransom. Found with a severed finger and freed on the night of Saturday 3 May in Palaiseau (Essonne) in an operation coordinated by the BRI of the Paris judicial police with the BRB and the brigade criminelle.","summary":"A French man in his fifties, the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who heads a company based in Malta and France, was abducted at about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday 1 May 2025 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. An organised gang held him for two days. The apartment where he was kept was reportedly being sealed off, probably so that staged hostage videos could be filmed. The kidnappers demanded a transfer of between 5 and 7 million euros for his release, and one of his fingers was severed. It is not stated whether anything was paid. Police freed him on the night of Saturday 3 May in Palaiseau, Essonne, in an operation coordinated by the BRI of the Paris judicial police with the BRB and the criminal brigade. Four suspects were arrested and taken into custody, and an investigation was opened into kidnapping and extortion by an organised gang.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father of the holder"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/un-entrepreneur-dans-les-cryptomonnaies-enleve-la-victime-retrouvee-avec-un-doigt-en-moins-03-05-2025-573S5T4AGNFEXPLDVX52EX3OYA.php?ts=1746335149028"]},{"id":323,"date":"November ?, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Crypto investor","location":"Las Vegas, Nevada","country":"USA","description":"Florida teens kidnap Las Vegas man, drive him to Arizona desert, steal $4M in cryptocurrency","summary":"In November 2024 a crypto investor was kidnapped in Las Vegas after hosting a cryptocurrency event at a business in Downtown Las Vegas earlier that night. When he returned to his apartment complex, three teenagers approached him and forced him at gunpoint into the back seat of their vehicle. They put a towel over his head and drove him more than 70 miles across the state border to White Hills, Arizona. A fourth person appeared to direct them by speakerphone. He was told he would live if he complied, and that they had his father and would kill him if he did not. They forced him to give up his passwords and account access and took about $4 million in cryptocurrency and NFTs. Released in the Arizona desert, he walked about five miles alone to a petrol station and called a friend.\n\nBelal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher, both 16 and from Pasco County, Florida, were certified as adults and charged with robbery, kidnapping and extortion. Ashraf was released on electronic monitoring and Fletcher's bail was set at $4 million. The third teenager had left the United States.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":4000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/florida-teens-kidnap-las-vegas-man-drive-him-to-arizona-desert-steal-4m-in-cryptocurrency-police/","https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-teens-kidnap-las-vegas-man-drive-him-to-arizona-desert-steal-4m-in-cryptocurrency-police/ar-AA1EvkGd","https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/florida-teens-kidnap-las-vegas-man-steal-4m-crypto-nfts-after-70-mile-drive-to-6d1e7357"]},{"id":334,"date":"June, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Businessman from São Paulo, not named","location":"Goiânia","country":"Brazil","description":"Lured to Goiânia for a business meeting by Josemar Alencar Linhares de Oliveira, held at gunpoint in a car by two armed men while the driver posed as a fellow victim, beaten and made to try transfers for about an hour and a half; the crypto theft failed and R$6,813.28 was taken via Pix. Thrown from the car at about 30 km/h during a police chase on the GO-020 (three ribs fractured, internal bleeding); two attackers died in the confrontation with police; the alleged mastermind was arrested on arrival in the USA.","summary":"A businessman from São Paulo was lured to Goiânia, Brazil, for a business meeting arranged by Josemar Alencar Linhares de Oliveira, who posed as an adviser to the president of the Goiás Legislative Assembly. He arrived on 24 June 2025. Soon after he left the hotel by car, a gunman sprang from the boot into the back seat, and a third armed man joined on the way; the driver, Gabriel Pires de Lima, pretended to be a fellow victim. The men punched him in the head, held a gun to his head and ribs, threatened to kill him and went through his bank accounts and digital wallets on his phone. They aimed for 2 to 4 million reais in cryptocurrency, but he could not access his wallet on the spot and they obtained R$6,813.28 through Pix. After about 90 minutes, during a police chase on the GO-020 highway, he was thrown from the car at about 30 km/h, fracturing three ribs. Two suspects, Pires de Lima and Tiago Oliveira Rocha, were killed in the confrontation with police and one escaped. Josemar fled to the USA on 30 June, was arrested on arrival, and was sentenced to 12 years and 9 months as the mastermind.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting","Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":2,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":6813.28,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/sequestro-com-pedido-de-criptomoedas-termina-em-fuga-e-morte-de-dois-suspeitos-em-goiania/"]},{"id":340,"date":"October 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-18","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Sergei Domogatskii","location":"Seized near Sanur Beach, Bali; held at a house in Jimbaran, South Kuta; released in a field near the Apurva Kempinski Hotel, South Kuta","country":"Indonesia","description":"Russian influencer says he was forced into an Alphard by two men in black ski masks near Sanur Beach, taken to a house in Jimbaran, allegedly beaten and tased, and made to hand over his phone and transfer about US$4,600 in cryptocurrency. Three more men arrived and demanded US$1 million, which he said he could not pay; released several hours later.","summary":"Sergei Domogatskii, a Russian influencer in Bali, Indonesia, told police he was abducted on 18 October 2025. By his account, at around 10:30 p.m. he was riding a motorcycle near Sanur Beach when an Alphard car stopped in front of him and two men in black ski masks forced him inside. They took him to a house in the Jimbaran area of South Kuta, where he said he was beaten and tased, suffering injuries to his right arm. He was made to hand over his phone and transfer about US$4,600 in cryptocurrency. Three more men then arrived and demanded a ransom of US$1 million, which he said he could not pay. He was released several hours later in a field near the Apurva Kempinski Hotel in South Kuta and gave a statement to Bali Police. He said he was targeted by compatriots, and one of the assailants was alleged to be another Russian.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"taken":{"amount":4600,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":4600},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/10/24/popular-russian-influencer-says-he-was-kidnapped-robbed-by-compatriots-in-bali.html"]},{"id":349,"date":"September ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Unidentified 31 y/o","location":"Abkhazia","country":"Abkhazia","description":"Thieves break into garage, steal 20 mining servers worth $10,000.","summary":"In September 2021 thieves broke into a garage in Abkhazia where a 31-year-old man, who used the pseudonym \"Valeri\", ran a small, illegal bitcoin-mining operation. They struck overnight while the garage was unoccupied. He arrived one autumn morning to find the door broken open and the place cleared out. The thieves took 20 mining servers worth about $10,000. Nobody was confronted or hurt. The theft was part of a wave of burglaries of mining equipment across Abkhazia after the territory banned power-intensive mining in 2020; elsewhere that wave included violent, armed raids. Because mining is illegal in Abkhazia, he could not turn to the police. He tried to track the thieves himself without success and lacked the money to rebuild the operation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/abkhazias-illegal-bitcoin-miners-face-new-threat-thieves-2022-01-06/"]},{"id":350,"date":"August 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Alexandre, 35, former crypto trader","location":"Between Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, place of holding not stated","country":"France","description":"A 35-year-old former cryptocurrency trader was kidnapped and held between Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The kidnappers sent a photo of him on his knees with his hands tied to an acquaintance in Algeria and demanded 10,000 euros from that contact, who alerted police; nothing was paid and he was found walking home at about 4 a.m. on the Wednesday.","summary":"Alexandre, a 35-year-old former cryptocurrency trader, was kidnapped on 26 August 2025 and held captive between Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. The place where he was held is not stated. The kidnappers sent a photo of him on his knees with his hands tied to an acquaintance of his in Algeria and demanded a ransom of 10,000 euros from that contact. The contact refused and alerted police, and nothing was paid. Police opened an investigation on the Tuesday night and geolocated his phone to the 10th arrondissement of Paris. He was strangled during his confinement and was found with facial swelling and injuries. He was released and found walking home at about 4 a.m. on the Wednesday by anti-crime squad officers, who recognised him and described him as \"shocked\". Forensic technicians later collected traces from his clothing and skin. No arrests had been made, and police said there were no strong leads.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/french-crypto-trader-kidnapped-near-paris-released-after-refusing-10k-ransom-report/"]},{"id":352,"date":"November 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-05","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mario Ramón Chávez Rivas, 35, and Sabino Peralta Vega, 24 (wounded)","location":"km 9, Monday side, Ciudad del Este, Alto Paraná (Las Palmeras)","country":"Paraguay","description":"Attempt to assault a cryptocurrency mining leaves two dead: the owner and a criminal","summary":"In the early hours of Wednesday 5 November 2025 four men arrived in a grey Toyota Premio at a cryptocurrency mining farm under construction at kilometre 9, Monday side, of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Three got out and went into the property. Police found 11 mining machines on the site, and it is presumed the men had come for some of them. Mario Ramón Chávez Rivas, 35, described both as the farm's owner and as its caretaker, noticed them and telephoned Sabino Peralta Vega, 24, a neighbour described as a brother-in-law, who came at once with a firearm. A police commissioner said Chávez Rivas threw himself at one of the men and Peralta Vega then opened fire. One of the men, Rodrigo David Ayala Cano, 32, was killed at the scene. Chávez Rivas was shot and died later in hospital, and Peralta Vega was wounded and in stable condition. It is not stated whose shot hit Chávez Rivas. The other three men fled without taking anything and had not been identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"owner's brother-in-law"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"caretaker (also described as owner)"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":2,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ultimahora.com/intento-de-asalto-a-una-mineria-de-criptomonedas-deja-saldo-de-dos-muertos-el-dueno-y-un-delincuente"]},{"id":353,"date":"July ?, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"A mining farm on the warehouse territory of the VkusVill retail chain, operator not named, and the warehouse guards","location":"Kuchino, a village near Domodedovo, Moscow region","country":"Russia","description":"Four masked men entered the warehouse, threatened the guards with weapons, handcuffed them and took four containers holding 100 video cards and the surveillance storage.","summary":"In July 2022 four masked men robbed a cryptocurrency mining farm that operated on the warehouse premises of the VkusVill retail chain in Kuchino, a village near Domodedovo in the Moscow region of Russia. The operator of the farm was not named. The men entered the warehouse, threatened the guards with weapons and handcuffed them. No injuries were reported. They then took four containers holding 100 graphics cards used for mining, and also took the storage unit holding the surveillance recordings to cover their tracks. No value was given for the equipment and no demand was stated. Police were searching for the four men, who face up to 12 years in prison.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"warehouse guards"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bits.media/neizvestnye-razgrabili-krupnuyu-mayning-fermu-na-skladakh-pod-moskvoy/"]},{"id":354,"date":"January ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Repeat Victim","location":"Salford, England","country":"UK","description":"Man knocks on door, threatens to assault victim, leaves after he sends some cryptocurrency.","summary":"In January 2023 a vulnerable man in the Salford and Irlam area of Greater Manchester answered a knock at his door. Scott Armstrong, 39, threatened him with violence if he did not transfer cryptocurrency to him. The man transferred the money, and Armstrong left once he had received it. No assault is described and no amount is given for this visit. It was the first of five incidents in a months-long campaign against the man by a cryptocurrency gang. He later told police he had paid the gang over £100,000 across the earlier incidents, before he was held captive in October. Armstrong later pleaded guilty to two counts of transferring criminal property and was jailed for two years and four months. On 30 January 2025 the seven-man gang was jailed for more than 76 years between them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[355,307,162,169],"sources":["https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/covered-burns-bruises-begged-can-30900995","https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/january/criminal-gang-who-kidnapped-vulnerable-man-for-cryptocurrency-jailed-for-76-years/"]},{"id":355,"date":"January ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Repeat Victim","location":"Salford, England","country":"UK","description":"Second visit, threatening with a knife, victim paid again","summary":"Later in January 2023, after a first visit by another gang member, David Povey, 38, of Whitefield, went with another man to the home of a vulnerable man in the Salford and Irlam area of Greater Manchester. Armed with a knife, they demanded more money. It was the second of five incidents in a campaign against the man by a cryptocurrency gang across 2023. No figure is given for the demand, and it is not established whether he paid on this visit; he told police that the incidents before he was held captive in October ended with him paying over £100,000 in total. No detention is described for this visit. Povey was later found guilty of robbery, kidnap, false imprisonment and attempted robbery and jailed for 20 years. On 30 January 2025 he and six other men were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to more than 76 years between them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[354,307,162,169],"sources":["https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/covered-burns-bruises-begged-can-30900995","https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/january/criminal-gang-who-kidnapped-vulnerable-man-for-cryptocurrency-jailed-for-76-years/"]},{"id":357,"date":"November 4, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-04","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Two men and three women","location":"Oxford","country":"UK","description":"Masked men took the victims in a car on the afternoon of 4 November, took a watch worth about £450,000 and had about £1.1 million in cryptocurrency transferred out of one victim's account, plus the phones. PA has the victims left in the Five Mile Drive area of Oxford; BBC has the robbers leaving the vehicle there.","summary":"On the afternoon of Tuesday 4 November 2025 masked robbers forced their way into a car carrying two men and three women in Oxford, England. Reports differ on whether the group were driving from Oxford to London or travelling within Oxford. The number of robbers is not given. They took a watch worth about £450,000 and the victims' phones, then forced one of the five to transfer about £1.1 million in cryptocurrency out of their account. The five were kept in the car for about 30 minutes and were then left in the Five Mile Drive area of Oxford; another account has the robbers leaving the vehicle there. No weapon, assault or injury is described. Thames Valley Police arrested four men, aged 21 and 37 from London, 23 from Kent and 19 from Birmingham, on suspicion of offences including robbery and kidnap. All four were bailed to dates in January and February.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four other car occupants"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1100000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uk.news.yahoo.com/masked-robbers-steal-450k-watch-164200419.html","https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm27j7z38gpo"]},{"id":358,"date":"November 1, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-01","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"35 year old Chinese man","location":"Maha Set Road, Bang Rak, Bangkok","country":"Thailand","description":"South Korean and Thai nationals arrested for Bangkok crypto assault","summary":"A 35-year-old Chinese man told police he was attacked at around 10.30am on 1 November 2025 while waiting for a taxi on Maha Set Road in the Bang Rak district of Bangkok, Thailand. He said three men, two Thai and one South Korean, pulled up beside him, assaulted him and forced him into their car. They drove him to an underground car park, where they beat him again and searched his belongings. They took 50,000 baht in cash from his bag and coerced him into sending 9,375 USDT to the South Korean man's account in two transfers. The combined loss was put at more than $10,000. He was released at around 12.20pm beside Maleenont Tower on Rama IV Road. No weapon is reported.\n\nHe filed a report on 8 November. Police arrested four men: a 46-year-old South Korean named as Lee In Han and three Thais, Nattapong, 35, Chanon, 24, and Thanapat, 29. All four were charged with robbery using a vehicle, unlawful detention and assault. The suspects said they were helping to recover an unpaid debt; Lee denies the charges and claims the man owed him money.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":9375,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thethaiger.com/news/national/south-korean-and-thai-nationals-arrested-for-bangkok-crypto-assault","https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/11/23/south-korean-3-thais-held-in-bangkok-kidnapping-case/","https://news.nate.com/view/20251124n13809"]},{"id":360,"date":"November 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Unit block of Dorland Street, Mission Dolores, San Francisco","country":"USA","description":"Armed robber posing as a delivery worker invaded home, tied up the homeowner, took $11 million worth of cryptocurrency","summary":"On Saturday 22 November 2025 a man was robbed at his home on Dorland Street in the Mission Dolores neighbourhood of San Francisco. Security video shows a caller in dark clothing, sunglasses, a hoodie and gloves, carrying a white box, who buzzed in during daylight early in the evening, asked for \"Joshua\" and claimed to have a package for him. When the resident opened the door, the caller asked him to sign for it and asked whether he had a pen. As the resident went to look for one, the caller walked into the home. Police say he then brandished a gun, tied the resident up with duct tape and fled with his belongings. According to a police report, he took the resident's phone, laptop and $11 million in cryptocurrency. Officers who responded at about 6:45 p.m. found the resident with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said the circumstances of the cryptocurrency theft were not immediately available. No arrests had been made by the following Monday evening.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":11000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":11000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/sf-cryptocurrency-robbery-21203804.php","https://www.kron4.com/news/technology-ai/tech-expert-reveals-how-to-protect-your-cryptocurrency-after-11-million-theft/"]},{"id":361,"date":"November 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Exchange office in an apart-hotel at 43/12 Khersonskaya Street and its staff","location":"St. Petersburg, Russia","country":"Russia","description":"A 21 y/o man attempts to rob a crypto exchange office with airsoft grenades & smoke grenades. He demanded employees transfer cryptocurrency to his wallet. He was arrested at the scene.","summary":"On the evening of 22 November 2025 a 21-year-old man walked into a cryptocurrency exchange office inside an apart-hotel at 43/12 Khersonskaya Street in St Petersburg, Russia. He set off two airsoft grenades and lit a smoke bomb, then demanded that the employees transfer the cryptocurrency funds held at the office to an electronic wallet he specified. No amount or coin is given, and nothing is reported to have been transferred. Patrol officers and Rosgvardia troops detained him at the scene. Nobody was held and no injury is reported. The area was cordoned off, and bomb technicians established that the devices were airsoft items that produce noise and smoke and cannot cause serious damage. Two more identical grenades were seized from him. A criminal case for robbery was opened under part 3 of article 162 of the Russian criminal code, and a decision on pre-trial restraint was still pending.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"exchange office staff"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rbc.ru/spb_sz/23/11/2025/69232f6c9a7947d86f1e90a2"]},{"id":362,"date":"September 30, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-30","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A mother and her two children, the husband being the target","location":"Val-de-Marne, France","country":"France","description":"A woman with her two children was threatened by two hooded men who handed her a mobile phone for her husband, an independent cryptocurrency investor, and threatened to harm the family if he did not answer the calls.","summary":"On a Tuesday afternoon around 30 September 2025 two masked men approached a mother and her two children in Val-de-Marne, France. Her husband, an independent cryptocurrency investor, was the intended target. The men handed her a mobile phone, a Samsung with a prepaid SIM, to pass to her husband, and threatened to harm the family if he did not answer the calls. No physical violence was reported, nobody was held and nothing was taken. The phone was intended to open an extortion demand against the husband. When he came home his wife gave him the phone, which rang four times. He did not answer, so no demand was made. He went to the police and handed the phone to investigators, and local police placed the home under surveillance.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and two children of the holder"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.europe1.fr/faits-divers/info-europe-1-chantage-a-la-cryptomonnaie-une-mere-et-ses-deux-enfants-menaces-par-des-malfaiteurs-cagoules-774753"]},{"id":363,"date":"December 28, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-28","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Daniel, 17, and his girlfriend","location":"Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"Eric Halem, a former LAPD officer still serving as a reserve officer, and a crew wearing police vests and claiming to execute a search warrant 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 (the Independent; Halem's attorney says the threats came from an unidentified sixth man). Gabby Ben is named by the Los Angeles Times and the Independent (Deputy DA Brownstone: \"ties to the Israeli mafia\"), not in the DA's charging release.","summary":"At about 2:30 a.m. on 28 December 2024 a group of armed men entered a high-rise apartment in Koreatown, Los Angeles, rented by Daniel, 17, who had amassed a small fortune in crypto and later admitted in court that he had obtained it through fraud. According to trial testimony, the men wore vests identifying them as police, claimed to be executing a search warrant, and used an access code obtained from a conspirator who had rented the unit to the teenager. They handcuffed his girlfriend, then handcuffed Daniel when he came home and demanded he open his crypto wallet. He first gave them access to an empty wallet. After threats to shoot him and, by one account, to waterboard him, he opened a safe holding a thumb drive with $350,000 in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors said cash and jewellery were also taken. The men left after about 25 minutes.\n\nEric Halem, 38, a former LAPD officer still serving as a reserve officer, was charged with three other men. A jury found Halem guilty of kidnapping and robbery; his co-defendants had pleaded not guilty and had yet to stand trial.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend"}],"approach":["Let in by an insider","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":350000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":350000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/former-lapd-officer-three-others-charged-kidnapping-ransom-armed-robbery","https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/lapd-israeli-gangster-stole-teen-cryptowallet-b2870557.html","https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-02/former-lapd-officer-guilty-crypto-home-invasion-robbery","https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/bitcoin/former-lapd-officer-convicted-in-violent-350k-bitcoin-heist/","https://decrypt.co/359818/ex-lapd-officer-found-guilty-350k-wrench-attack-bitcoin"]},{"id":364,"date":"December 24, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-24","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed Man","location":"Limassol","country":"Cyprus","description":"A man who came to a noon meeting in central Limassol to buy cryptocurrency was struck across the head and face as he waited in his car, and one of the two men he was to meet ran off with a backpack holding 100,000 euros in cash.","summary":"On 24 December 2024 a man came to a noon meeting in central Limassol, Cyprus, that he had arranged in order to buy cryptocurrency in person. He carried 100,000 euros in cash in a backpack. Two men had set up the meeting. As he waited in his car, one of them ran up, struck him across the head and face, grabbed the backpack and fled on foot while the other kept watch. No cryptocurrency changed hands and nobody was held. The buyer detained the lookout himself until police arrived, which led to the arrest of a 31-year-old. The man who ran off with the cash was still being sought, and Limassol CID was interviewing witnesses and looking for him and for possible accomplices.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://in-cyprus.philenews.com/local/christmas-eve-limassol-heist-as-man-gets-away-with-100-thousand-in-cash/"]},{"id":366,"date":"November 25, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-25","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Danylo K., 21, Ukrainian student, son of Kharkiv's deputy mayor","location":"Underground garage of the Sofitel SO/Vienna, Praterstraße; killed in the car on Marlen-Haushofer-Weg, Donaustadt, Vienna","country":"Austria","description":"21-year-old burned alive in Austria over Crypto assets","summary":"Danylo K., a 21-year-old Ukrainian student living in Vienna, Austria, and the son of Kharkiv's deputy mayor, was kidnapped and killed on the night of 25 November 2025. According to local reports, a 19-year-old fellow student ambushed him in the underground garage of the Sofitel SO/Vienna hotel on Praterstraße after a loud confrontation; the second suspect is a 45-year-old Ukrainian national. Investigators say he was beaten severely in the garage, forced into his father's black Mercedes and driven to the Donaustadt district. He was tortured over several hours for his crypto wallet passwords. After gaining access to two crypto accounts, the attackers doused him with petrol and set him alight in the back seat. Police confirmed the accounts were emptied; the sum was not specified. His body was found on 26 November in the burned-out car on Marlen-Haushofer-Weg.\n\nThe two suspects crossed into Ukraine the next morning and were arrested there on 29 November with large amounts of US dollar bills. Austria transferred the case to Ukraine because extradition is not possible.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/21-year-old-burned-alive-in-austria-over-crypto-assets/"]},{"id":367,"date":"October 7, 2024","date_sort":"2024-10-07","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"35 y/o man","location":"Lyulin district, Sofia","country":"Bulgaria","description":"Two men who introduced themselves as police stopped the victim near his home in Lyulin 3 at about 22:00, put him into a grey jeep driven by a third person and threatened him with a pistol to transfer 14 bitcoin within 24 hours. They drove him around for about an hour, took four debit cards, used an electroshock device on him and left him in Lyulin 1.","summary":"At about 22:00 on 7 October 2024 two men who introduced themselves as police officers stopped a 35-year-old man near his home in the Lyulin 3 area of Sofia, Bulgaria. They put him into a grey jeep driven by a third person and drove him around for about an hour. Holding a pistol to his head, they demanded that he transfer 14 bitcoin within 24 hours. They also used an electroshock device on him and took four of his debit cards. They obtained no bitcoin. The men left him in Lyulin 1. Two men were arrested about two months later.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":14,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://btvnovinite.bg/bulgaria/otvlichane-ot-mnimi-policai-za-14-bitkojna-razkaz-na-sluzhitel-na-sdvr-samo-pred-btv.html"]},{"id":368,"date":"September 13, 2024","date_sort":"2024-09-13","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Gabriel Di Noto","location":"Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina","country":"Argentina","description":"The victim met a woman on Tinder, criminals invaded his home in the middle of the night, his accounts were emptied, and he was murdered.","summary":"Gabriel Di Noto, 54, an accountant and former Central Bank inspector who latterly advised on crypto trading, was found dead after an attack at his home in Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina, on 13 September 2024. Investigators believe he had met a woman on Tinder. Security cameras recorded her opening the door in the early hours to a group who arrived by motorcycle, and later leaving with them. The intruders beat him, forced access to his finances, emptied his accounts and took out large loans in his name, moving the money to their own accounts. No single figure is given. They then robbed the house of his 85-year-old father, who lived in the same cabin complex, and fled in Di Noto's car. Di Noto was found tied and gagged inside one of his cabins. According to the family's lawyer, a preliminary hypothesis is that he was not killed by blows, a firearm or a blade, and toxicology tests were examining whether a heart attack or an ingested substance caused his death. The investigation was continuing.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"elderly father, whose house was robbed"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure","Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"no","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.eltrecetv.com.ar/telenoche/2024/09/17/un-financista-se-encontro-con-una-mujer-que-conocio-en-tinder-le-vaciaron-las-cuentas-y-fue-asesinado/"]},{"id":369,"date":"May 5, 2024","date_sort":"2024-05-05","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Quentin Cepeljac, 21, Belgian barber","location":"Shepherd's Bush, London","country":"UK","description":"Belgian barber told a woman he met on TikTok and Instagram that he was a successful crypto dealer, was invited to a luxury flat in London and led instead to an Airbnb bedsit in Shepherd's Bush. There a gang held him for nine hours and demanded £500,000 in crypto when he held £6.71.","summary":"Quentin Cepeljac, a 21-year-old Belgian barber, was held by a gang in Shepherd's Bush, London, on 5 May 2024. He had told a woman he met on TikTok and Instagram that he was a successful crypto dealer. She invited him to what he took to be her luxury flat in London and led him to an Airbnb bedsit that had been set up as a trap. There the gang held him for nine hours, tortured him and threatened him. The gang expected around £500,000 in crypto and demanded that sum from his crypto account, which held £6.71. The demand was lowered to £50,000, and the gang settled for about £2,000 taken from his bank account. He was then released. Because the gang had rented the Airbnb used for the trap, its members were quickly identified and caught, and they were later convicted.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/gang-kidnapped-barber-they-mistook-for-crypto-billionaire-n0hgdshvm"]},{"id":370,"date":"April 27, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-27","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Family","location":"Port Moody, British Columbia","country":"Canada","description":"Family held and tortured in their home by four men, two of whom posed as Canada Post staff delivering a parcel, and about US$1.6 million in cryptocurrency taken.","summary":"On 27 April 2024 four men took over the home of a family in Port Moody, British Columbia: a father who held Bitcoin and had discussed his holdings within the local Chinese community, his wife and their daughter. Two of the men posed as Canada Post workers delivering a parcel. When the father opened the door they forced their way in and locked it, and two more men joined them. The family were bound with zip ties and held for about 13 hours, into 28 April. Both parents were waterboarded and threatened with mutilation. The daughter was forced to undress, be filmed and repeat sexual phrases, and was sexually assaulted by one of the men. The gang first demanded 200 BTC, lowered the demand to 100 BTC, and transferred about US$1.6 million in cryptocurrency before fleeing. After the captives had been wrapped in blankets and a door closed, the daughter freed herself, escaped and called 911. Tsz Wing Boaz Chan pleaded guilty to break-and-enter, unlawful confinement and sexual assault and was sentenced to seven years. Details of the other suspects have not been released.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and daughter"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":200,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1600000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1600000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/b-c-family-tortured-for-13-hours-by-thieves-impersonating-mailmen-in-2m-crypto-heist/ar-AA1QU0ko","https://cryptonews.com/vn/news/canada-bitcoin-wrench-attack-sentence/"]},{"id":371,"date":"December 12, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-12","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Chinese businessman known as 'K', a nickel-mining contractor","location":"Philippines, city of the abduction not stated","country":"Philippines","description":"Chinese businessman kidnapped for six days in the Philippines on a tip from his own bodyguard and released after his wife paid a ransom in USDT.","summary":"A Chinese businessman referred to only as \"K\", who ran contract nickel-mining operations in the Philippines, was kidnapped on the morning of 12 December 2022. His bodyguard and driver had tipped off the kidnappers after judging him wealthy from a lavish company truck-launch event. The crew combined local Filipino kidnappers and a Chinese criminal syndicate. The bodyguard let them ambush the car just after it left the compound. Two men in construction-worker uniforms forced their way in, hooded and handcuffed him and switched vehicles. He was held blindfolded for six days. In the first two days he was tortured with stun guns, heated coils and a knife drawn across his chest. The captors demanded US$100 million and were negotiated down through US$50 million and US$20 million to an undisclosed figure. His wife withdrew cash under police escort, converted it to USDT in a Manila casino and transferred it. He was released in a remote field in Cavite. The bodyguard was arrested the following May, and the man known as \"Andy Lau\", who led the syndicate, and others were later detained.","targeting":["Insider","Visible wealth"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Let in by an insider","Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":100000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://wublock.substack.com/p/interview-with-a-chinese-businessman"]},{"id":372,"date":"November 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Female \"A.T.\"","location":"Seized outside 100 Steeles Ave. in Thornhill, held and tortured in the garage of a home in Barrie, Ontario","country":"Canada","description":"A woman was grabbed in Thornhill, driven to a home in Barrie, tied to a chair, stripped naked, hit on the legs with a hammer and burned while the men demanded $1 million in bitcoin.","summary":"On 1 November 2022 a woman identified only by the initials \"A.T.\" was seized outside 100 Steeles Ave. in Thornhill, Ontario, and driven to a home in Barrie. In the garage there, her captors tied her to a chair, stripped her naked, hit her on the legs with a hammer and burned her while demanding $1 million in bitcoin. It is not specified whether the figure is in Canadian or US dollars. No cryptocurrency was handed over. She was held for some hours and then escaped. The number of attackers is not given; all of them were caught and later convicted.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.yorkregion.com/news/crime/stripped-naked-kidnapper-sentenced-after-woman-tortured-in-search-of-1m-in-bitcoin/article_31b62635-2f9d-508e-8c97-04a1c2aa5b7a.html"]},{"id":373,"date":"December 1, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-01","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Father of a young entrepreneur","location":"Val-d'Oise","country":"France","description":"The father of a young entrepreneur living in Dubai was kidnapped in broad daylight in Val-d'Oise. He was released after being subjected to violence.","summary":"At 15:40 on Monday 1 December 2025 a 53-year-old man, a manager in the health sector, was seized outside his house in Eaubonne, Val-d'Oise, France, and taken away in a van. Reports describe four men dressed in black, hooded and gloved, or several individuals who had been waiting for him. He is the father of a 19-year-old cybersecurity entrepreneur who recently settled in Dubai and who, according to a source close to the investigation, holds cryptocurrency; other accounts treat the crypto link as a hypothesis. The kidnappers filmed the father and sent videos to his son, showing him bound, gagged, then naked and beaten. The ransom demanded of the son is given as 300,000 euros in a first video and the same again in a second, or as between 500,000 and 700,000 euros. Nothing is reported paid. He was released in the early evening, a few hours after the abduction, and found by police in woodland. He was injured; accounts of his condition range from conscious to critical. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father of the holder"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://entrevue.fr/en/societe/nouveau-drame-de-la-cryptomonnaie-enlevement-dune-extreme-violence-dans-le-val-doise-un-pere-de-famille-entre-la-vie-et-la-mort/","https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/info-rtl-nouveau-kidnapping-violent-possiblement-lie-aux-cryptomonnaies-le-pere-d-un-entrepreneur-enleve-dans-le-val-d-oise-7900573268","https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/val-d-oise/un-homme-enleve-dans-le-val-d-oise-ses-ravisseurs-demandent-une-rancon-avant-de-le-liberer-3260234.html","https://www.cnews.fr/faits-divers/2025-12-03/val-doise-le-pere-dun-entrepreneur-dans-les-cryptomonnaies-victime-dun"]},{"id":374,"date":"November 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"French man","location":"Chalon-sur-Saône, France","country":"France","description":"Six men, including two minors, are suspected of having attempted to kidnap a man holding crypto for the fourth time.","summary":"On 22 November 2025 police interrupted an attempt to kidnap a cryptocurrency investor from the Chalon-sur-Saône region of France. Six men, two of them minors, were arrested in the act and taken into custody at Chalon-sur-Saône. The reported aim was to seize the funds in the investor's crypto wallet and then demand a \"digital ransom\" for its release. No amount is given. The investor was not held, nothing was taken, and no contact, injury or weapon is described. Initial findings indicate that this was the gang's fourth attempt on the same man: the first two operations failed, and the third was interrupted by a police intervention that led to no arrests.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.todayscrypto.news/crypto-theft-in-chalon-sur-saone-six-men-arrested-after-four-attempts-on-the-same-victim/"]},{"id":375,"date":"November 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"52-year-old Arouca resident","location":"SuperPharm parking lot, Trincity Central Road","country":"Trinidad and Tobago","description":"Two armed men robbed a buyer of $85,800 in cash (currency not stated) and the occupants' mobile phones at a car park during an in-person crypto purchase. No crypto taken.","summary":"On the evening of 29 November 2025 a 52-year-old resident of Arouca, Trinidad, drove to the SuperPharm car park on Trincity Central Road to meet a man he had been trading cryptocurrency with for nearly two years. The trading partner, a 33-year-old from Belmont, got into the vehicle as he had in previous transactions, and the buyer handed him a black bag containing $85,800 in cash for a crypto purchase. The currency of the sum is not stated. Moments later two armed men in hoodies approached both sides of the vehicle and announced a robbery. They smashed their way in, grabbed the cash and the occupants' mobile phones and escaped in a waiting car. Nobody was held and no injury is reported. No cryptocurrency was taken. The buyer reported the robbery to the Arouca Police Station. Investigators have not disclosed whether the trading partner was involved or was also a target, and no arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"trading partner in the car"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":85800,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.com/news/trinidad-crypto-robbery-wrench-attacks-rise/"]},{"id":376,"date":"November 4, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-04","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"8 y/o girl","location":"Maiduguri, Borno","country":"Nigeria","description":"Police arrest uncle and 4 others in connection with the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl in Maiduguri","summary":"An eight-year-old girl from the Gomari area of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, was kidnapped on the afternoon of 4 November 2025 while returning home from school. Police said the kidnappers intercepted her on the way, moved her between several tricycles to hide their trail and took her to a tailor, who changed her into a plain dress before her school uniform was disposed of. Police also said she was drugged by the man they consider the mastermind, her uncle Mustapha Mohammed, 20. The abductors contacted her family and demanded a ransom of 3 million naira. It was paid, and police said Mohammed received it through a cryptocurrency account. No assault, injury or weapon is described. The girl was released on 7 November 2025. Police arrested five suspects between 29 November and 4 December 2025: Mohammed, Ismail Shuaibu, 25, Abdul Mohammed Bulama, 23, Amina Ibrahim, 19, and Lawan Yusuf Hassan, 25.","targeting":["Organised by a relative or partner"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"eight-year-old girl"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://punchng.com/police-arrest-uncle-others-for-abducting-eight-year-old-in-borno/"]},{"id":377,"date":"April, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Man of Dutch origin, 37, and his Colombian partner, 29","location":"Mijas, Málaga province","country":"Spain","description":"Five arrested in Spain for kidnapping, killing man in plot to steal his crypto assets","summary":"In April 2025 a couple were ambushed in Mijas, in Málaga province, Spain: a 37-year-old man of Dutch origin and his 29-year-old Colombian partner. Reports describe three or four masked men dressed in black and armed with handguns. Police said the man was shot in the leg as he tried to flee, and that both were forced into a vehicle and taken to a house, where they were held for several hours while the men tried to break into their cryptocurrency wallets. Another account says the couple were first assaulted in their home. No amount is given and it is not stated that the men gained access. The woman was released around midnight and reported the abduction at a Málaga police station. Her partner's body was later found in a wooded area in Mijas, with signs of violence in addition to the gunshot wound, and authorities confirmed a homicide. In mid-December 2025 Spanish police announced five arrests on charges related to kidnapping, murder and attempted theft, and Danish police charged four others.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.trtworld.com/article/92e9109bcf2f","https://www.tekedia.com/spanish-and-danish-police-dismantle-cross-border-gang-behind-crypto-motivated-kidnapping-and-murder/","https://blockonomi.com/five-arrested-in-spain-over-crypto-linked-murder-and-kidnapping/","https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-news/2025/12/14/spanish-authorities-bust-crypto-kidnapping-ring-after-deadly-attack"]},{"id":379,"date":"June 21, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-21","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Kevin Mirshahi, 25, plus three abducted friends (two women, one man)","location":"Montreal, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"Cryptocurrency influencer beaten to death in a \"torture room\"","summary":"Kevin Mirshahi, 25, a Montreal cryptocurrency influencer, was abducted early on 21 June 2024 with three friends in their twenties, two women and a man. Hooded, armed men took them, by two accounts from the parking garage of his Old Montreal condo building, and drove them blindfolded to the basement of a mobile home in Les Cèdres. Court documents say the kidnappers' single aim was to seize his cryptocurrency wallet, and they demanded the code to his phone. Mirshahi was taped to a chair and several people took turns beating him. He died of his injuries. It is not stated whether the kidnappers obtained anything. His three friends were found alive in western Montreal, hours later or the following day. His body was found on 30 October 2024 in L'Île-de-la-Visitation Nature Park.\n\nJoanie Lepage, 32, who admitted renting out her basement, pleaded guilty on 11 December 2025 to forcible confinement of the three friends. Darius Perry, 27, and Nackael Hickey, 25, were charged with kidnapping and being accessories after the alleged murder, and police were seeking Guillaume Nobert, 36.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three friends"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2025-12-11/une-femme-coupable-de-sequestration/un-influenceur-en-cryptomonnaie-battu-a-mort-dans-une-salle-de-torture.php","https://globalnews.ca/news/10883670/quebec-man-police-crypto-influencer-kidnapping-death-kevin-mirshahi/","https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/police-arrest-2-suspects-in-killing-of-montreal-cryptocurrency-influencer/","https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/kevin-mirshahi-arrests-1.7387589"]},{"id":380,"date":"November, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A woman crypto investor","location":"Indaiatuba, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Office renovation in São Paulo ends in the theft of R$ 300,000 after the victim mentions to a worker that she was investing in Bitcoin","summary":"In November 2024 a woman who invested in cryptocurrency was robbed in Indaiatuba, São Paulo state, Brazil. According to a police delegate, Mateus Rocha, she had had her office renovated three to four months earlier and mentioned to some of the workers that she invested in Bitcoin; the criminals then organised the robbery with other members of the group. Two armed men entered and held her hostage while a third waited outside in a vehicle and a fourth gave instructions by phone on how to transfer the cryptocurrency. The robbery lasted about an hour. She was forced to transfer about R$300,000 in cryptocurrency, and the group also took a pickup truck valued at R$200,000, mobile phones and laptops. No assault or injury is reported. About a year later police arrested eight suspects in Indaiatuba and Salto, six men and two women, with one more still at large. Five of the group allegedly set up shell companies to launder the stolen coins. Police traced the movements using data from cryptocurrency exchanges, and the suspects' accounts were frozen by court order.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/reforma-de-escritorio-em-sp-termina-em-roubo-de-r-300-000-apos-vitima-comentar-com-trabalhadores-que-investia-em-bitcoin/","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcYFqMA6riI","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEbn5yMLE-U"]},{"id":381,"date":"December 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-18","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Cryptocurrency holder and family","location":"Dompierre-sur-Mer, near La Rochelle","country":"France","description":"A cryptocurrency investor and his partner were held captive in their home in La Rochelle; transfers were made by their kidnappers.","summary":"At around 5 a.m. on Thursday 18 December 2025 three attackers entered the home of a cryptocurrency investor and his partner in the La Rochelle area of Charente-Maritime, France, according to a police source. The couple were tied up, and the attackers made several transfers of virtual currency. The police source said the amount taken was not known at that stage. No demand figure is stated, and no assault, injury or weapon is described. It is not stated how or when the couple were freed. The suspected attackers had not been arrested.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaie-et-sa-compagne-sequestres-a-leur-domicile-de-la-rochelle-des-virements-effectues-par-les-ravisseurs-18-12-2025-KN6YFKOQ2NCCPEGXLZP2ZTYX4A.php","https://x.com/gregory_raymond/status/2001691427986903359"]},{"id":382,"date":"December 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Yu (46, male proprietor) and Lee (37, female employee)","location":"Mong Kok, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Crypto exchange owner threatened by 4 or 5 men with knives. They resisted, and the attackers fled empty-handed.","summary":"Yu, 46, the owner of a cryptocurrency exchange in the W Plaza at 608 Nathan Road in Mong Kok, Kowloon, and Lee, 37, described as a female employee, were confronted on the night of Saturday 13 December 2025. A group of four to five men armed with knives allegedly threatened staff in a stairwell of the building, and a security guard alerted police at 8.43 p.m. According to initial accounts, Yu resisted and was injured in the hand during the struggle, and the men fled down the stairs towards Ferry Street. Police said there were no financial losses and no property was taken. Yu, who was conscious, was taken to Kwong Wah Hospital for treatment to a finger injury. Police classified the case as attempted robbery and had made no arrests while detectives examined CCTV footage.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"exchange owner"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"female employee"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/attempted-armed-robbery-at-mong-kok-crypto-exchange-owner-injured-but-no-losses/","https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/12-14-2025-attempted-robbery-at-hong-kong-cryptocurrency-exchange-investigated-33680910939473","https://www.mexc.co/es/news/269096","https://en.coinotag.com/breakingnews/hong-kong-mong-kok-cryptocurrency-exchange-robbery-attempt-leaves-owner-injured-police-seek-three-suspects"]},{"id":383,"date":"July 8, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-08","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"New Mexico","country":"USA","description":"Criminal enterprise that operated from about October 2023 through March 2025 broke into a victim’s home to steal a hardware wallet.","summary":"In July 2024 the home of an unnamed person in New Mexico was broken into and a hardware cryptocurrency wallet was stolen. According to a US indictment, the burglary was the work of a criminal enterprise that ran from about October 2023 to March 2025 and tracked people it had identified as holding large amounts of cryptocurrency. Marlon Ferro allegedly travelled to New Mexico, entered the house and took the device, while Malone Lam is accused of monitoring the victim's location in real time through the victim's iCloud account. Nobody is described as present or confronted during the break-in, and no value is given for the wallet. Both men are charged in a racketeering conspiracy case involving more than 263 million US dollars in stolen cryptocurrency. Several defendants were arrested in California and two remained at large, believed to be in Dubai.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/doj-uses-organized-crime-statute-in-263-million-cryptocurrency-theft-money-laundering-and-home-invasion-conspiracy","https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/24316542322970","https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1400531/dl"]},{"id":384,"date":"December 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-18","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Two employees of a Japanese company specialising in cryptocurrency and luxury goods, not named","location":"Outside the currency exchange shop on Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Robbery outside a currency exchange, during which four suitcases containing 1 billion yen (US$6.4 million) were snatched within 30 seconds as part of a “meticulously planned” plot.","summary":"Two employees of a Japanese company specialising in cryptocurrency and luxury goods were robbed at 9 a.m. on 18 December 2025 outside a currency exchange shop on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. They had come to exchange 1 billion yen, about HK$50 million or US$6.3 million, carried as banknotes in four suitcases. Three men jumped out of a private car, and police said one of them brandished a 20cm butcher knife and threatened the two employees. The men loaded the four suitcases into the car and drove off. Police said the suitcases were taken within 30 seconds and called the plot \"meticulously planned\". Nobody was held and no injury was reported. No cryptocurrency was taken. Hong Kong police arrested 15 suspects, 11 men and four women aged 20 to 69, all local residents and several known to have triad backgrounds, and said they were still trying to recover the cash.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two company employees"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000000,"currency":"JPY","usd_stated":6300000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3337263/hong-kong-police-arrest-15-over-meticulously-planned-1-billion-yen-robbery","https://archive.is/SOB70#selection-1145.40-1145.80"]},{"id":385,"date":"December 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Lyu Chenglong, 25","location":"14 Residence Hotel, Suksawat 66 Road, Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan; held on Pracharat Bampen Road, Huai Khwang, Bangkok","country":"Thailand","description":"Chinese man kidnapped from his hotel in Samut Prakan by fake police demanding 2 million baht crypto ransom","summary":"Lyu Chenglong, 25, a Chinese man, told police he was kidnapped on the night of Monday 29 December 2025 from the 14 Residence Hotel in Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan, Thailand, by two suspects and other Thai men. He said they claimed to be officers of the Central Investigation Bureau and accused him of being a scammer. He was held in a hotel room in Huai Khwang, Bangkok. He said the kidnappers demanded that a relative in China pay a ransom in cryptocurrency worth about 2 million baht. His elder brother in China paid about 400,000 baht in two transactions early on the Tuesday morning and then asked a Thai man to file a complaint with the police.\n\nPolice raided the hotel on the Tuesday evening, found Lyu and detained Watcharapol Pimpila, 24, and Japing sae Liu, 23. They seized an air gun, a stun gun and a pair of handcuffs in Watcharapol's room. The two were charged with kidnapping and impersonating police.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Chinese hotel guest accused of being a scammer"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3166759/police-imposters-arrested-for-abducting-chinese-man-for-ransom"]},{"id":387,"date":"January 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Young woman living in the house; the cryptocurrency was her partner's","location":"Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence","country":"France","description":"A young woman was held captive in Manosque by three hooded men who tied her up, threatened her with a handgun, slapped her and left with a USB key containing data.","summary":"A young woman was held at the home she shares with her partner on the Chemin Champs de Pruniers in Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, on Monday 5 January 2026. At about 7.30 p.m. three hooded men entered the house and tied her up. They were after her partner's cryptocurrencies, threatened her with a handgun and slapped her. They left with a USB key containing data, described in one report as her partner's crypto data. The financial loss had not been assessed and no amount was given. She was not injured, and after a few minutes she untied herself and contacted the police. An investigation was opened and given to the local criminal investigation department and the regional directorate of the national police. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner of the holder"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/victime-dun-vol-de-cryptomonnaie-une-jeune-femme-sequestree-par-plusieurs-individus-cagoules-a-manosque-06-01-2026-WS2ED2I3UFHB7JRDMUE2XXRVYI.php","https://decrypt.co/354078/masked-gunmen-tie-up-woman-france-steal-usb-crypto"]},{"id":388,"date":"January 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Father (director of cryptocurrency investment group), wife, and two children","location":"Verneuil-sur-Seine","country":"France","description":"Crypto investor and his family tied up and beaten up at their home. After the assault, the family managed to free themselves and find refuge with their neighbors.","summary":"A couple and their two children were attacked at their house in Verneuil-sur-Seine, Yvelines, on the evening of 10 January 2026; one report places it on the Friday evening. The father heads a group specialising in cryptocurrency investments, and investigators were pursuing the line that the family was chosen because of his work. At about 8 p.m. a man told police that three people carrying a handgun had burst into the house. The intruders struck the father and the mother several times, then tied the couple and both children with cable ties. The family later freed themselves, in circumstances still to be established, and took refuge with neighbours, who raised the alarm. No injuries were described, and no demand or theft was reported. The three intruders, seen fleeing towards the station according to one report, were being sought by the judicial police, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and two children"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/yvelines-78/un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaies-et-sa-famille-ligotes-et-tabasses-chez-eux-dans-les-yvelines-11-01-2026-ZMJMDGSKBRBAJC5DODWC2AHHJU.php","https://actu17.fr/faits-divers/yvelines-un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaies-et-sa-famille-ligotes-et-frappes-a-leur-domicile.html","https://www.mantes-actu.net/verneuil-sur-seine-un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaies-sequestre-a-son-domicile-avec-sa-famille/"]},{"id":389,"date":"January 9, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-09","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Man of 43, software architect engineer","location":"Saint-Léger-sous-Cholet, Maine-et-Loire","country":"France","description":"A man kidnapped at his home in Maine-et-Loire, with cryptocurrency the possible motive, was assaulted, then released in Loire-Atlantique","summary":"A 43-year-old software architect engineer was abducted from his home in Saint-Léger-sous-Cholet, near Cholet in Maine-et-Loire, on Friday 9 January 2026. At about 8.30 a.m. several hooded men reportedly came to the house, tied him up and took him away by force; a neighbour witnessed the scene and heard shouts. He was assaulted while held and was released the same morning at Basse-Goulaine, south of Nantes, about fifty kilometres from his home. He was found injured and taken to the CHU de Nantes, a hospital; his life was not in danger. According to the first findings, the kidnappers were interested in his cryptocurrencies; it is not known what sums were at stake or what was taken. The man and his family had reportedly been the target of several attempted burglaries over the Christmas holidays. The case passed to the JIRS, a specialised court, in Rennes, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.alouette.fr/homme-kidnappe-cholet-nantes-ligote-cryptomonnaie","https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/faits-divers/jai-entendu-des-cris-dans-la-rue-enleve-au-petit-matin-pour-ses-cryptomonnaies-pres-de-cholet-f97a7740-ed71-11f0-ae78-1a0629cc1f87","https://cryptoast.fr/entendu-cris-nouvel-enlevement-cryptomonnaies-cholet/"]},{"id":390,"date":"January 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"60 y/o female physician","location":"Zoersel","country":"Belgium","description":"Gangsters search for crypto coins and tie up a resident (60) in Zoersel, virtual coins are increasingly intended as loot","summary":"A 60-year-old woman was attacked at her house in the Korte Maalstraat in Zoersel, Antwerp province, at about 9 p.m. on Saturday 10 January 2026. Intruders forced their way in, tied her hands and feet, threatened her with a firearm and beat her, leaving her with injuries including to her face. Reports give the number of intruders as two or as several, and she said they spoke French. One report describes her as a doctor. According to reports, the intruders may have been after cryptocurrency or a hardware wallet they believed was in the house; she said she had none. They left with a limited haul of unspecified items. She was treated and was out of danger. The Antwerp prosecutor's office opened an investigation for attempted extortion, theft with violence and unlawful deprivation of liberty, and was examining several possible motives. The intruders were not identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gva.be/regio/antwerpen/regio-antwerpen/zoersel/gangsters-zoeken-naar-cryptomunten-en-binden-bewoonster-60-vast-in-zoersel-virtuele-munten-steeds-vaker-beoogde-buit/122929883.html","https://www.gva.be/regio/vrouw-60-slachtoffer-van-home-invasion-in-zoersel-antwerps-parket-start-gerechtelijk-onderzoek-naar-onbekende-daders/122895454.html","https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/01/11/inbraak-met-geweld-in-zoersel-vrouw-van-60-vastgebonden-en-gesl/","https://nnieuws.be/artikel/inbraak-met-geweld-zoersel-vrouw-van-60-vastgebonden-eigen-huis","https://www.indegazette.be/home-invasion-in-zoersel-onderwerp-van-gerechtelijk-onderzoek/","https://www.redactie24.be/misdaad/vrouw-slachtoffer-van-home-invasion-naar-dit-waren-de-overvallers-op-zoek-187544","https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/thieves-target-wrong-victim-in-cryptocurrency-home-invasion/"]},{"id":391,"date":"January 15, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-15","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Chinese national","location":"Barangay 13, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City","country":"Philippines","description":"Four kidnappers enter victim's condo home, restrain him, beat him, threaten to drug him and sell his organs if he doesn't comply with their demand of $1M in crypto. Victim managed to alert a friend who sent local police to the rescue.  $400,000 in crypto and $14,000 were handed over to the attackers.","summary":"A Chinese national was held in his rented condominium unit on Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Philippines. He said four people entered the unit around noon on Thursday 15 January 2026 and demanded 1 million US dollars, claiming he owed them money, which he denied. He said one of them already had access to the unit and let the others in. Police, who described the four as fellow Chinese nationals, said his hands were bound with tape. He transferred about 400,000 US dollars in cryptocurrency and a further 14,000 US dollars, after which the suspects allegedly demanded more. They allegedly hit his legs with a belt and threatened to sell his organs, and police said an injection of an unknown substance was used to intimidate him. A friend he had alerted went to the police. Officers forced entry on Friday 16 January 2026, rescued him and arrested two suspects; two others reportedly escaped.","targeting":["Insider","Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"taken":{"amount":414000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":414000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/1/16/police-rescue-chinese-national-from-kidnappers-2000"]},{"id":392,"date":"January 14 to 15, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-14","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Retired couple in their 70s","location":"Sallanches, Haute-Savoie","country":"France","description":"Retired couple kidnapped January 14-15, 2026 from a hamlet near Sallanches, Haute-Savoie, targeted for son's crypto wealth. Kidnappers demanded €8 million ransom in cryptocurrency.","summary":"A retired couple in their seventies were kidnapped from their home in a hamlet near Sallanches, Haute-Savoie, during the night of Wednesday 14 to Thursday 15 January 2026. They were taken for the money of their son, described as working in the cryptocurrency sector or as an owner of cryptocurrencies. After the abduction, videos carrying a ransom demand were sent to the son. The demand is given as 8 million euros in cryptocurrency or as several million euros, and nothing was reported paid. The couple were found on the evening of Friday 16 January in Montélimar, Drôme. They were seriously injured, according to a source close to the investigation, and were taken to hospital. The PNACO, the national prosecution office for organised crime, opened an investigation for extortion by an organised gang, money laundering by an organised gang and criminal conspiracy. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"parents of the holder, couple in their seventies"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":8000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/nouvel-enlevement-crypto-haute-savoie-ravisseurs-reclament-8-millions-euro-cryptomonnaies/","https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/bitcoin/cryptomonnaie-deux-septuagenaires-kidnappes-en-haute-savoie-pour-l-argent-de-leur-fils-le-parquet-anticriminalite-organisee-se-saisit-de-l-enquete_7751326.html","https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers-justice/2026/01/17/un-couple-de-retraites-kidnappe-a-sallanches-pour-8-millions-d-euros"]},{"id":393,"date":"January 8, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-08","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A couple and 3 children","location":"La Chapelle-Saint-Aubin, Sarthe","country":"France","description":"Five people entered the home of a couple with three children. They held the entire family hostage for 40 minutes.","summary":"A couple and their three children were held in their home in La Chapelle-Saint-Aubin, near Le Mans in Sarthe, on Thursday 8 January 2026. Five people entered the house and held the whole family for 40 minutes. According to one report, the intruders wanted a code giving access to cryptocurrency. It was not reported whether they obtained the code, whether anyone was injured or how the 40 minutes ended, and no amount was given. A week later, on Thursday 15 January 2026, the gendarmerie carried out door-to-door enquiries around the house, at first seeking information about a burglary with violence. The five were not identified and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner and three children"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://actu.fr/pays-de-la-loire/le-mans_72181/toute-une-famille-sequestree-dans-cette-commune-de-la-sarthe-sur-fond-de-vol-de-cryptomonnaie_63711209.html","https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/faits-divers/un-couple-sequestre-avec-ses-enfants-chez-lui-en-sarthe-la-piste-des-cryptomonnaies-privilegiee-96d1b968-f2d1-11f0-bfca-235f15251990"]},{"id":394,"date":"January 4, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-04","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"\"Maxence\" (a reported first name), an alleged crypto scammer","location":"Dijon, Burgundy","country":"France","description":"Three young men kidnapped a suspected scammer to recover their money","summary":"A man reported under the first name Maxence, an alleged cryptocurrency scammer, was seized in Dijon on 4 January 2026 by three men in their twenties. He allegedly defrauded two of the three through fake crypto investments. The three recognised him in the street and went after him. He tried to take refuge in a bar, but they allegedly forced him out, despite the staff present, and into a car. He was allegedly struck several times in the car and filmed, and was released a little later. No ransom demand was reported; the motive given was to recover the money the three said they had lost, and nothing was reported recovered or taken. The three, who had no criminal records, were held in pre-trial detention. At a hearing on 16 January 2026 the Dijon court refused their request to be freed before their trial, set for 27 February.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-enlevements-france-nouvelle-sequestration-dijon-arnaque-crypto/","https://actucrypto.info/actualite/cryptomonnaie-dijon-enlevement-arnaque-maxence-sequestration-2026/"]},{"id":395,"date":"December 12, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-12","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"17- year old","location":"Toulon","country":"France","description":"Two men kidnapped a teenager after school to blackmail his brother, a trader in Dubai.","summary":"A 17-year-old school student was held in his apartment building in Toulon on 12 December 2025 by two hooded men who were targeting his older brother, who lives in Dubai and works in cryptocurrency. At about 4 p.m., as the boy stepped out of the lift, a man with a knife grabbed him and forced him up about ten floors, where a second man armed with a revolver searched his bag and ordered him to hand over money and his phone. He had nothing on him and gave a false identity. The men conferred, then let him go, saying they would come back and kill him if he spoke to anyone. Shortly afterwards his brother received messages from a fake Snapchat account demanding 50,000 euros in crypto by midnight and threatening the boy, his mother and his sister. Nothing was reported paid.\n\nThe family left France for some weeks; while they were away the lock of their flat was forced and a video showed a man dousing their front door with petrol. Ten days after the attack the BRI, a police unit, arrested several minors, who remained free under judicial supervision awaiting trial.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"17-year-old brother of the holder"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nicematin.com/faits-divers/cryptomonnaie-un-lyceen-toulonnais-sequestre-sa-famille-menacee-10665698"]},{"id":396,"date":"January 25, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-25","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"74 year-old retired man, the father of an expatriate whose supposed crypto wallet was the target","location":"Voiron, Isère","country":"France","description":"Man, 74, kidnapped early Sunday morning from home in residential area of Voiron, Isère, to extort cryptocurrency from son living abroad. Ransom demanded.","summary":"A 74-year-old retired man was kidnapped from his home in a residential neighbourhood of Voiron, Isère, after 6 a.m. on Sunday 25 January 2026. The kidnappers were after the supposed cryptocurrency wallet of his son, who lives abroad. A ransom of 3 million euros in cryptocurrency was demanded and the son received threats. Police were alerted early that morning and traced the kidnappers quickly. A little before midnight the same day the Lyon BRI, a police intervention unit, freed him near Loriol in the Drôme. He was taken to hospital with a serious hand injury. It was not reported whether anything was paid. Three men were arrested during the operation and held in police custody in Lyon. The investigation was run under the Lyon JIRS, a specialised organised-crime court, with the organised crime divisions of Grenoble and the Rhône.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father of the holder"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers-justice/2026/01/26/cryptomonnaie-un-homme-age-de-70-ans-enleve-a-voiron-son-fils-ranconne"]},{"id":397,"date":"January 30, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-30","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Piyush Savaliya","location":"Surat, Gujarat","country":"India","description":"Shailesh Bhatt and accomplices abducted Piyush Savaliya, a BitConnect employee, by posing as Income Tax Department officers. They held him at a farmhouse in Surat at gunpoint for three days.","summary":"Piyush Savaliya, described as associated with BitConnect, was reportedly kidnapped in Gujarat, India, on 30 January 2018 and released two days later. The claim was made at a press conference by Shaktisinh Gohil, a spokesperson for the Congress party, who said the kidnapper was Shailesh Bhatt, a deceived BitConnect investor. Bhatt is also alleged to have extorted cryptocurrency and cash worth over Rs 155 crore (US$22 million) at gunpoint from Savaliya and another BitConnect man, Dhaval Mavani. How Savaliya was taken, where he was held and whether anything was obtained from him were not reported; a transfer of 2,256 bitcoins worth Rs 131 crore was attributed to Mavani. Gohil said the affair surfaced when Bhatt complained that Amreli district police had extorted 200 bitcoins (Rs 10 crore) from him. No arrest over Savaliya's kidnapping was reported.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2018/Jul/05/congress-says-bjp-leaders-behind-rs-5000-crore-bitcoin-scam-in-gujarat-1838742.html","https://coinjournal.net/news/crypto-scam-head-of-bitconnect-india-arrested-at-delhi-airport/"]},{"id":398,"date":"February 1, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-01","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Dhaval Mavani, \"also attached with the bankrupt firm\" BitConnect","location":"Surat, Gujarat","country":"India","description":"Gang kidnapped their primary target: Dhaval Mavani.","summary":"Dhaval Mavani, who was attached to the bankrupt firm BitConnect, was kidnapped at gunpoint on 1 February 2018, according to the Gujarat CID. Its chief, Ashish Bhatia, said the kidnappers were men working for Shailesh Bhatt, a Surat builder who had invested Rs 2 crore in BitConnect. Bhatia said they forced Mavani to transfer 2,256 bitcoins worth Rs 131 crore, that another 166 bitcoins worth Rs 9.64 crore were also transferred, and that Rs 14.50 crore in cash was extorted to set him free, Rs 155.21 crore in total. Another account gives the haul as 2,254 bitcoins, 11,000 Litecoins and Rs 14.5 crore in cash. Where and for how long Mavani was held was not reported, and no injury to him was described.\n\nThe CID booked Bhatt for extorting over Rs 155 crore from two people and arrested his nephew Nikunj Bhatt, who Bhatia said moved the bitcoins into Bhatt's wallet. The Enforcement Directorate later arrested Shailesh Bhatt and, in January 2026, Nikunj Bhatt, 33, and Sanjay Kotadia, 49.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ed-arrests-2-in-bitconnect-crypto-fraud-case-rs-2170-crore-assets-attached-2856462-2026-01-23","https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bitcoin-extortion-case-complainant-now-becomes-an-accused/article23956811.ece"]},{"id":399,"date":"October 31, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-31","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Young trader","location":"unknown","country":"Dominican Republic","description":"A young trader got lured into an apartment under the pretext of a cash trade with a \"novice bitcoiner,\" only to fall into an ambush. Lost all his crypto savings to a gang of 5 thugs. This case was reported to Gart Research by the victim himself.","summary":"A Slovak cryptocurrency trader was robbed in October 2025 in the municipality of Gurabo, Santiago province, Dominican Republic. He had arranged a sale of USDT through Telegram and, by his account to police, the deal was to be completed in an apartment. On arrival he was intercepted by several men, five by one account, who threatened him with a firearm, tied him up and made him unlock his phone. They transferred cryptocurrency from it to various digital platforms. Police put the loss at about 400,000 US dollars; another figure given is 750,000 US dollars. He was abandoned in Bonao, Monseñor Nouel province, with injuries that left him medically unfit for 15 days.\n\nPolice announced on 1 May 2026 that Iván Arturo Leguizamón Contreras, 32, and José Iguel Chicón Pérez, 22, had surrendered. Joan Carlos Miranda Furcal, described as the presumed ringleader, was later arrested in Santo Domingo. Police said they were still investigating whether others were involved.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.instagram.com/p/DWhihZeGNtC/","https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/sucesos/2026/05/01/extranjero-fue-despojado-de-us400-mil-en-criptomonedas-en-santiago/3520507","https://7dias.com.do/2026/05/01/policia-rastrea-robo-de-us400000-en-criptomonedas-dos-responsables-se-entregan-y-buscan-a-un-tercero/","https://n.com.do/2026/05/13/capturan-chapito-robo-criptomonedas-santiago/","https://deultimominuto.net/nacionales/captura-cabecillarobosantiago/"]},{"id":400,"date":"January 31, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-31","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Nancy Guthrie","location":"Tucson, Arizona","country":"USA","description":"Nancy Guthrie (84), mother of NBC \"Today\" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, abducted from her Catalina Foothills, Tucson home between 9:30 PM January 31 and ~2 AM February 1, 2026","summary":"Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona, where she lived alone. She was last seen on the night of Saturday 31 January 2026 and was reported missing on the Sunday after she did not appear at church. Investigators found signs of forced entry, and detectives reportedly believe she was taken against her will during the night. Blood was reported at the home; it was not clear whose. On the Tuesday a media organisation received an alleged ransom note demanding an amount of Bitcoin in the millions, to be sent to a specific address by a deadline, and a Tucson station said it had received what appeared to be a ransom note too. Law enforcement had not confirmed whether the note came from kidnappers or was a hoax, and nothing was reported paid. As of 3 February 2026 she had not been found and no suspect had been identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"84-year-old mother of a TV host"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/03/nancy-guthrie-alleged-ransom-note-bitcoin-millions/","https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/03/nancy-guthrie-pima-county-sheriff-latest-update/","https://decrypt.co/356867/alleged-bitcoin-ransom-note-tmz-guthrie-missing-mother","https://www.rawstory.com/savannah-guthrie-2675076822/","https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2026/02/signs-of-forced-entry-seen-at-guthrie-home-news-outlets-receive-alleged-ransom-notes.html"]},{"id":401,"date":"February 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"35-year-old magistrate at the Grenoble appeal court, partner of an executive of a Lyon crypto company, and her 66-year-old mother","location":"Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, Isère","country":"France","description":"The partner of an executive at a Lyon-based cryptocurrency company, and her mother kidnapped during home invasion. They were held tied and gagged and were freed with injuries on Friday 6 February by a passer-by who heard banging behind a garage door in Bourg-lès-Valence, 90 km away.","summary":"A 35-year-old magistrate at the Grenoble appeal court and her 66-year-old mother were abducted at about 3 a.m. on Thursday 5 February 2026 from a home in Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, Isère. The younger woman is described as the partner of an executive of a Lyon company specialising in cryptocurrencies. An unknown number of people broke in, forced the two women into a Mercedes-Benz and drove off. The abduction was reported as likely connected to a ransom demand; no amount was given and nothing was reported paid. The women were held tied up and gagged, according to a police source, behind a garage door in the centre of Bourg-lès-Valence, 90 kilometres away. On Friday 6 February 2026 a passer-by heard banging behind the door and freed them. Their captivity is put at 30 hours or at more than 24. They were found injured and in shock and were taken to hospital. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner of the holder and her mother"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers-justice/2026/02/06/cryptomonnaies-une-iseroise-et-sa-mere-enlevees-par-un-commando-avant-d-etre-liberees-30-heures-plus-tard-dans-la-drome","https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/02/06/french-judge-and-her-mother-freed-after-a-cryptocurrency-linked-abduction_6750220_7.html"]},{"id":402,"date":"January 31, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-31","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Two adults restrained, plus a third person who hid at the back of the home, called 911 and never met the intruders","location":"Scottsdale, Arizona","country":"USA","description":"Two California high school students, Jackson Sullivan (17, San Luis Obispo) and Skylar LaPaille (16, Morro Bay), drove 600+ miles to Scottsdale, arrived with a box and a dolly claiming to be delivery drivers to invade Sweetwater Ranch home, seeking $66 million in cryptocurrency.","summary":"Two adults were attacked at a home on Windrose Drive in the Sweetwater Ranch area of Scottsdale, Arizona, on the morning of Saturday 31 January 2026. According to court documents, two people arrived with a box and a dolly, claiming to be delivery drivers, forced their way in, threw a man to the ground and restrained him and a second person with duct tape. One demanded access to the man's bitcoin; when he said he had none, the suspect allegedly forced his head into the ground. A third person hid at the back of the house and called 911. Nothing was taken. Police arrived during the incident, and the two fled in a car with stolen plates and were arrested at around 11:35 a.m.\n\nThe suspects, Jackson Sullivan, 17, and Skylar LaPaille, 16, are high school students from California slated to be tried as adults. LaPaille told police the plan was to get $66 million in cryptocurrency and that two people known as \"Red\" and \"8\" had extorted them over Signal into making the trip. Each faces eight felony charges, including kidnapping and aggravated assault, and both were released on $50,000 bonds with ankle monitors.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"second adult in the home, relation not stated"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":66000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":66000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://businesssandesh.in/teen-crypto-crime-two-students-charged-in-arizona-home-invasion-targeting-66m/","https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/slo-county-teens-hoped-steal-021800170.html","https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/tech/california-teens-arrested-in-scottsdale-home-invasion-over-66m-cryptocurrency-holdings/","https://gizmodo.com/black-mirror-episode-comes-to-life-in-alleged-66-million-crypto-theft-attempt-2000719314"]},{"id":403,"date":"June 17, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-17","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Male cryptocurrency holder","location":"Hoxton, East London","country":"UK","description":"Three teenagers from Sheffield traveled to London June 17, 2024, posed as delivery drivers to invade Hoxton flat, threatened victim with large knives demanding cryptocurrency.","summary":"A man was robbed at knifepoint in his flat in Hoxton, east London, on 17 June 2024 by three teenagers who had travelled from Sheffield that day. Police video showed the three, aged 16 and 17 at the time, posing as delivery drivers to get into the flat. Inside they threatened him with knives and demanded his cryptocurrency. They took cryptocurrency worth $4.3 million and his car keys, and filmed themselves on Snapchat leaving in his BMW. No injury was reported. Less than three hours later the car triggered a number plate recognition camera on the M1 in Northamptonshire, and police stopped it on the M6 in Warwickshire after a brief pursuit. The Metropolitan Police said the cryptocurrency was recovered within 72 hours and returned to him two weeks later. All three pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a total of 16 years in youth detention, with individual sentences of 46 to 80 months.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4300000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":4300000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://decrypt.co/357058/uk-teens-jailed-after-4-3m-wrench-attack-robbery-caught-on-police-video","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhL8q_HJilI"]},{"id":404,"date":"February 6, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-06","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A couple and their 20-year-old daughter","location":"Juilly, Seine-et-Marne","country":"France","description":"They were violently held captive by a group of criminals searching to obtain a transfer from the father, a bitcoin holder","summary":"A couple and their 20-year-old daughter were held in their house in Juilly, Seine-et-Marne, in the early morning of Friday 6 February 2026. The father holds bitcoin, kept on a Ledger secure key. At least five men, hooded and gloved according to the family, forced their way in noisily and held the family to obtain a transfer from the father. They held the mother on the ground by the neck and took the daughter to another room; the prosecutor's office said the daughter was not subjected to violence. A person in their fifties was threatened with a key and a screwdriver to make them hand over the bitcoin codes. According to the Meaux prosecutor's office, the men obtained no transfer of crypto-assets. They left with computers and mobile phones, and it is not known why they gave up their plan. The investigation was given to the Villeparisis police station, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and 20-year-old daughter"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/info-rtl-cryptomonnaies-une-nouvelle-famille-sequestree-en-seine-et-marne-7900599500"]},{"id":405,"date":"February 12, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-12","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"David Princay (The Block) or Prinçay (Cryptobriefing), head of Binance France, absent, and an unnamed neighbour whose door the attackers forced to have the right apartment pointed out","location":"Val-de-Marne","country":"France","description":"He was targeted in a failed home invasion ~7:00 AM February 12, 2026 in Val-de-Marne; 3 hooded, reportedly armed men first broke into wrong apartment forcing resident to reveal CEO's location.","summary":"Three hooded men broke into an apartment building in Val-de-Marne on the morning of Thursday 12 February 2026, looking for the home of David Princay, the head of Binance France. Reports put the time at about six or seven o'clock and say the men came in with weapons in hand. They first forced the door of another resident and made him point out the right apartment. They searched Princay's home, found that he was absent and fled with two mobile phones. No cryptocurrency was taken. The stolen phones were later located at the address of a second attack the same morning in Vaucresson, and CCTV showed the men using the same car. Police followed the three onto a train to Lyon, where the BRI, a police intervention unit, arrested them at a station the same day. The three are reported to be 18, 20 and 21 years old, and one was carrying a handgun when arrested. All were placed in police custody.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"neighbour forced to point out the flat"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/info-rtl-cryptomonnaies-le-patron-de-binance-france-mastodonte-du-secteur-vise-par-une-tentative-de-home-jacking-7900601034","https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/tech/binance-france-ceo-targeted-in-chaotic-double-home-attack-report/","https://cryptobriefing.com/binance-france-incident-chaotic-attack/","https://www.theblock.co/post/389857/binance-france-head-targeted-in-botched-home-invasion-as-three-arrested-report","https://cryptoast.fr/3-hommes-interpelles-lyon-2-tentatives-enlevements-crypto-region-parisienne/"]},{"id":406,"date":"February 12, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-12","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Woman, resident of Vaucresson","location":"Vaucresson, Hauts-de-Seine","country":"France","description":"Woman struck on head/hit with gun butt by masked men ~9:15 AM. Wrong target. Attackers sought male crypto entrepreneur named \"Stéphane\" at different address.","summary":"A woman living in Vaucresson, Hauts-de-Seine, was struck on the head with pistol butts by several hooded men on the morning of Thursday 12 February 2026. She alerted police at 9.15 a.m. She was the wrong target: she reported hearing the men say the address was not the right one and that the person they wanted lived at another number, after which they fled. Nothing was demanded of her and nothing was taken. The men were identified as the three who had broken into a building in Val-de-Marne earlier that morning looking for the head of Binance France: two phones stolen there were located at her address, and CCTV showed the same car at both places. Police followed the three on public transport and onto a train to Lyon, where the Lyon BRI, a police intervention unit, arrested them at Lyon-Perrache station. They were placed in police custody, and no charge was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman at the wrong address"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/info-rtl-cryptomonnaies-le-patron-de-binance-france-mastodonte-du-secteur-vise-par-une-tentative-de-home-jacking-7900601034"]},{"id":407,"date":"September 24, 2018","date_sort":"2018-09-24","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"William Sean \"Tony\" Creighton, CEO of 5Dimes","location":"Granadilla de Curridabat","country":"Costa Rica","description":"Victim abducted after two traffic officers pulled him over about 10 p.m. in Granadilla de Curridabat, Costa Rica; four men in a rented grey pickup took him and the officers took the Porsche.","summary":"William Sean Creighton, 43, known as Tony, an American who founded and ran the online sportsbook 5Dimes in Costa Rica, was abducted on 24 September 2018 after leaving the company's office. Investigators said two traffic officers pulled him over at around 10 p.m. in Granadilla de Curridabat, and four men then arrived in a rented grey pickup and took him. The officers took his Porsche. The kidnappers demanded $5 million in Bitcoin; his family sent $1 million, a sum also given as about $950,800. He was never released. It was said at trial that he was killed when he recognised a former employee among the kidnappers. Remains identified by investigators as his were found almost a year later in Quepos.\n\nProsecutors showed the group had planned the kidnapping for more than a year. The leader, Jordan Morales Vega, a 25-year-old computer engineer, fled and was arrested in Spain on 11 January 2021 with his mother and his girlfriend. In May 2022 nine people, including members of his family and the two traffic officers, were sentenced to 515 years between them; Morales Vega received 65 years.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":5000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://ticotimes.net/2022/05/22/killers-of-5dimes-sports-book-convicted-in-costa-rica-court","https://www.casino.org/news/costa-rica-court-sentences-5dimes-founders-killers-including-two-cops-to-prison/","https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/27633251/american-bookmaker-found-dead-costa-rica","https://www.gambling911.com/9-Individuals-Convicted-Murder-5Dimes-Owner.html","https://www.technollama.co.uk/a-tragic-tale-of-kidnapping-murder-and-bitcoin"]},{"id":408,"date":"January 24, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-24","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Yong Wang, Chinese businessman","location":"Arnavutköy, Istanbul","country":"Turkey","description":"Yong Wang, 38, lured to dinner by woman (Shuyang Lion) who arrived from China five days earlier; kidnapped by four-man team outside restaurant in Fatih","summary":"Yong Wang, 38, a Chinese businessman in Istanbul, was reported missing by his lawyer on 24 January 2026 and was later found dead. He had reportedly collected a woman visiting from China from a hotel in Bakırköy and taken her to dinner in the Grand Bazaar area of Fatih. After the meal a vehicle with four people inside blocked his path outside the restaurant and he was forced into it. Police identified the woman, Shuyang Lion, as part of a planned trap. His body was found buried upright in a ploughed field, with his hands, feet and mouth bound with packing tape. A preliminary forensic report said he was hit on the head with a hard object and may have died by strangulation. Investigators said he was killed in a robbery; his cryptocurrency accounts were reported to show a large decrease, with no amount given. Ten suspects were placed on an Interpol notice and detained in China.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://en.haberler.com/pure-chinese-torture-what-they-did-to-the-19596022/","https://www.londonclup.com/economy/the-body-of-a-famous-chinese-businessman-was-found-in-the-istanbul-district-of-turkiye/","https://www.turkiyetoday.com/nation/missing-chinese-businessman-found-buried-in-istanbul-suspects-caught-in-china-3215008?s=1"]},{"id":409,"date":"March 4, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-04","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"NFT collector and crypto trader \"Sillytuna\"","location":"Hun Hom","country":"Hong Kong","description":"\"Sillytuna\" claimed violent attack with axes over hands/feet resulting in forced transfer of $24 million in aEthUSDC. Victim posted on X about bruises, weapons, kidnapping/sexual assault threats, stated police involved and \"definitely out of crypto,\" offered 10% bounty.","summary":"A cryptocurrency trader and NFT collector known as \"Sillytuna\" said in posts on X on Wednesday 4 March 2026 that he had been the target of an attack involving violence, weapons, kidnapping and threats of sexual assault. He wrote that he was bruised and had held the attackers off while he could, but could not do much \"with axes over your hands and feet\", and said separately that he had fought off four armed attackers for a time. About $24 million in aEthUSDC, also put at about $23.6 million, was drained from a wallet he confirmed was his personal address. Some reports describe the loss as an address poisoning attack that also involved violent threats. Where and when the attack took place and how the attackers reached him were not reported. He offered a 10% bounty on any funds recovered. He said law enforcement was involved; no authority had confirmed the attack, and no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.theblock.co/post/392363/sillytuna-x-account-claims-crypto-stolen","https://x.com/sillytuna/status/2029311564633809279","https://coinpedia.org/crypto-live-news/crypto-trader-loses-24m-in-violent-attack/","https://www.tradingview.com/news/coinpedia:e26a909d6094b:0-crypto-og-loses-24m-in-suspected-address-poisoning-attack-peckshield/","https://beincrypto.com/crypto-attack-sillytuna-violent-threats/"]},{"id":410,"date":"February 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"8 Chinese nationals (ages 25-45)","location":"Country Heights, Kajang, Selangor","country":"Malaysia","description":"Eight Chinese nationals (market surveyors, ages 25-45) extorted for USDT 50,000 (~$51,000) by 12 allegedly corrupt Malaysian police officers during fake anti-scam raid.","summary":"Eight Chinese nationals, five men and three women aged 25 to 45, alleged that police officers extorted cryptocurrency from them at a bungalow they were renting in Country Heights, Kajang, Malaysia. By their account, a police team raided the house at about 11.10 p.m. on 5 February 2026, saying it was an anti-fraud operation. The officers took their phones and laptops, and no evidence of criminal activity was found. The group alleged they were then threatened with arrest and immigration action unless they paid RM400,000, reduced after negotiation to RM200,000. One of them transferred 50,000 USDT, about US$51,000, to a wallet address given by a suspect, and the officers left at about 12.30 a.m.\n\nA 31-year-old member of the group filed a police report on 6 February. Twelve officers aged 24 to 47 were arrested by 8 February 2026, investigated for gang robbery and later released on bail.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"group member made to transfer"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":7,"at_least":false,"detail":"seven co-occupants of the bungalow"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":400000,"currency":"MYR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":51000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/02/1380692/12-cops-arrested-over-crypto-robbery-watch","https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3344085/12-malaysian-police-arrested-over-chinese-nationals-missing-crypto","https://theonlinecitizen.com/2026/02/19/12-malaysian-police-arrested-over-alleged-us-51k-cryptocurrency-robbery-involving-chinese-visitors","https://www.theblock.co/post/390619/malaysian-authorities-arrest-12-police-officers-over-alleged-crypto-extortion"]},{"id":411,"date":"February 15, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-15","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Igor Komarov","location":"Bali","country":"Indonesia","description":"Igor Komarov, 28-year-old Ukrainian with alleged ties to fraud call center networks, kidnapped while motorcycling in Bali and held for a $10 million ransom in cryptocurrency; the torture claim rests on the ransom video only. Body parts were found at the mouth of the Wos River, about 30 km from Tabanan, with a partial tattoo match; DNA testing is under way and police have not confirmed the body is Komarov's.","summary":"Igor Komarov, 28, a Ukrainian, was abducted on 15 February 2026 while riding a motorcycle in Bali, where he was reportedly on holiday with his girlfriend, the influencer Eva Mishalova, and a friend, Yermak Petrovsky. Komarov's location was reportedly revealed by a geolocated photograph Mishalova posted on Valentine's Day. A video later appeared on Telegram. In it Komarov, visibly bruised, says his legs and ribs are broken and some of his fingers have been cut off, and begs his parents to send $10 million to cryptocurrency wallets. Nothing was reported paid, and authorities did not confirm the video's claims.\n\nPolice traced a rental car to a villa in Tabanan, where they found his phone, his bag and blood traces. Body parts were later found at the mouth of the Wos River, about 30 km away, with tattoos partly matching his; police had not confirmed the identity and DNA tests were under way. Police arrested the man who rented the car and named six foreign nationals as suspects, all placed on an Interpol red notice.","targeting":["Social media","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"son of the targeted family"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"friend reported taken who escaped"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":true,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukrainian-mans-bali-vacation-kidnapping-case-1780721","https://www.boredpanda.com/horrifying-discovery-in-bali-after-igor-komarov-ransom-video/","https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/165992-bali-body-parts-ukrainian-igor-komarov-kidnapping/"]},{"id":412,"date":"March 7, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-07","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Mainland Chinese businessman, 25","location":"Hung Hom, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Lured to Hung Hom hotel on Tak Fung Street for fake business meeting, then assaulted and detained by 3 men and 1 woman who beat him to extract cryptocurrency wallet passwords","summary":"A 25-year-old mainland Chinese man, described as a businessman trading in silver, was attacked at a hotel in Hung Hom, Kowloon, where he had arranged to meet four people to discuss what he believed was a legitimate business deal. Reports date the attack to 7 March 2026 or to the night of 7 to 8 March. Police said the group, three men and a woman, assaulted and detained him and beat him to get the passwords to his cryptocurrency wallets, then transferred cryptocurrency from his account. The amount is given as HK$5.3 million, about US$680,000, or about HK$5 million. They then took him to a unit in an industrial building on nearby Man Lok Street and seized silver, reported as 42 kg of bars and valued at HK$800,000 or about HK$1 million. He was released and reported the attack to police at about 3.52 a.m. He had injuries to his hands, ear and mouth and was treated in hospital. The four fled and no arrests were made.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/hong-kong-hotel-crypto-kidnapping-680k-and-42kg-of-silver-reportedly-stolen/","https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3345794/man-robbed-hk6-million-crypto-and-silver-hong-kong-probe-under-way","https://thebitgazette.com/hong-kong-man-robbed-of-hk6m-cryptocurrency-in-hotel-assault/","https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/299288396127458","https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/299292754464081"]},{"id":413,"date":"February 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Male homeowner, 52, and his wife, 50","location":"300 block of North 74th Street, Phinney Ridge, Seattle, Washington","country":"USA","description":"Ian Blair, 31, of Auburn, posed as USPS mail carrier in full uniform to deliver extortion letter to Seattle homeowner, 52, demanding 10 Bitcoin in exchange for information related to victim's ongoing civil lawsuit.","summary":"A 52-year-old man and his 50-year-old wife were assaulted at their home in the Phinney Ridge neighbourhood of Seattle on 20 February 2026. Police said a man dressed in a US Postal Service uniform rang the doorbell, held out a piece of mail and told the resident to open it in front of him. The letter demanded an amount of cryptocurrency, reported as 10 bitcoins, in exchange for information about a civil suit the resident is involved in. The man then forced his way inside and assaulted the couple. Officers found the homeowner and the suspect struggling and handcuffed the suspect at the scene. Nothing was paid. The homeowner was taken to hospital with chest pain. In the suspect's postal bag officers found tape, large zip ties and tasers. Ian Blair, 31, of Auburn, was reportedly charged with first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree assault, extortion and criminal impersonation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2026/02/24/man-posing-as-mail-carrier-assaults-phinney-ridge-resident-and-demands-crypto/","https://mynorthwest.com/crime-blotter/postal-worker-assaulted-phinney-ridge-couple/4208039","https://komonews.com/news/local/man-posing-as-us-mail-carrier-postal-service-worker-attacks-phinney-ridge-homeowners-demands-cryptocurrency-zip-ties-stun-gun-face-mask","https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/seattle-police-arrest-man-who-posed-mail-carrier","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taa7EUCUdqI"]},{"id":414,"date":"March 9, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-09","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Couple in their sixties (Le Parisien) or fifties (AFP)","location":"Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, Yvelines","country":"France","description":"Couple in their sixties per Le Parisien or fifties per AFP (husband and wife) attacked at home in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt after 3 men posing as police officers gained entry at 8 AM. Wife thrown to the floor upon opening door (Le Parisien says she already had an injured shoulder; L'essentiel/AFP says lightly injured afterwards); attackers forced husband to transfer about €900,000 in Bitcoin from his wallet while threatening to attack wife with knife.","summary":"A couple were attacked at their home in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, Yvelines, on Monday 9 March 2026; reports give their ages as about sixty or in their fifties. A little after 8 a.m. three men rang the doorbell and said they were police officers. When the woman opened the door she was thrown to the floor and the men forced their way in. They went up to the first-floor study, where the husband was, to have his bitcoin wallet transferred to them. One produced a knife and threatened to strike the wife unless the transfer was made. The husband complied, and about 900,000 euros in bitcoin was transferred. The men also took the couple's two mobile phones. They tied the husband up with a cable before leaving. He freed himself and ran to neighbours to call the police. One report says the woman was lightly injured. The Versailles prosecutor said no arrest had been made at that stage.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/yvelines-78/le-chesnay-rocquencourt-900-000-euros-en-bitcoin-derobes-lors-dun-violent-home-jacking-09-03-2026-L2ZCB6SJSRB5VJJQEYSMI2ASTM.php","https://www.lessentiel.lu/fr/story/en-france-un-couple-sequestre-900-000-euros-en-bitcoins-derobes-103522980"]},{"id":415,"date":"March 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Mother and her 2 adult children (ages 19 and 23)","location":"Vaires-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne","country":"France","description":"Held hostage at home in Vaires-sur-Marne after 2 hooded men reportedly forced the front door about 6:30 AM and woke the mother, seeking cryptocurrency from wrong target family.","summary":"A mother and her two adult children, aged 19 and 23, were held at their house in Vaires-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, on Tuesday 10 March 2026. At around 6:30 a.m. two hooded men forced the front door and woke the mother. They demanded her cryptocurrency key and threatened her and her children with a knife taken from the kitchen. All three were gagged with tape, tied up and threatened with mutilation. The family held no cryptocurrency. The Meaux prosecutor's office said they appeared to have been targeted by mistake: according to a police source, the men, who were taking instructions by phone from a possible instigator, kept citing the name of the former owner of the house, who had left in August 2020. The two left by car with 3,000 euros in cash, some jewellery and two mobile phones. The family were not injured. No arrest had been made at the time of the reports.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother and two adult children"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-divers/vaires-sur-marne-elle-aurait-ete-prise-pour-cible-par-erreur-une-famille-sequestree-pour-des-cryptomonnaies-bitcoin-en-seine-et-marne-2429354.html","https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-crypto-famille-ciblee-par-erreur-seine-et-marne/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/sequestration-vaires-sur-marne-crypto/"]},{"id":416,"date":"March 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Undisclosed person","location":"Northeast Essonne","country":"France","description":"Single victim at home in northeast Essonne surprised 2 masked men equipped with small explosives attempting forced entry at ~6 AM on March 10, 2026, targeting victim for alleged cryptocurrency possession.","summary":"A person at home in the north-east of the Essonne came upon two masked men carrying small explosives as they tried to get into the house at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday 10 March 2026. The break-in failed and nothing was taken; no contact with the resident was described. The Evry prosecutor said the first findings were that the resident was targeted because of a supposed holding of cryptocurrency. At about 6:30 a.m. the same morning a family was held and jewellery stolen in the north-west of Seine-et-Marne, an attack the prosecutor linked to the Essonne case.\n\nSix hours later gendarmes intercepted the suspects' vehicle at Bourgoin-Jallieu in the Isère, 500 km from the Paris region, arrested a 35-year-old man and two adolescents aged 15 and 17, and found the stolen jewellery in the car. The three were charged with extortion and attempted extortion by an organised gang with a weapon, among other counts. The man and the 17-year-old were remanded in custody and the youngest was placed under judicial supervision.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/seine-et-marne/sequestration-d-une-famille-en-lien-avec-les-cryptomonnaies-trois-hommes-mis-en-examen-3315843.html","https://lessor.org/operationnel/cryptomonnaies-trois-arrestations-eclair-apres-deux-agressions/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-agressions-france-gang-interpelle-deux-attaques-violentes"]},{"id":417,"date":"March 16, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-16","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Crypto Company CEO","location":"Commune north of Nantes, Loire-Atlantique","country":"France","description":"Man in his 50s, owner of Bitcoin/cryptocurrency company, targeted at home in town north of Nantes around 3 AM. Two armed men (one with handgun) broke into home; victim awakened by noise, encountered intruders inside and was struck on the head.","summary":"The head of a company specialising in bitcoin, a man in his fifties, was attacked at his home in a commune on the northern edge of Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, during the night of Sunday 15 to Monday 16 March 2026. Armed men forced their way into the house at around 3 a.m. Woken by the noise, he came upon two intruders inside, one of them carrying a handgun, and was struck on the head. He made them leave thanks to the house's alarm system. Nothing was reported taken and no sum was named. Gendarmes favoured the theory of an attempted kidnapping connected to cryptocurrency, and an investigation for attempted kidnapping was given to the Nantes research section of the gendarmerie. The Nantes prosecutor then handed the case to the JIRS, the interregional court specialising in organised crime, in Rennes. No arrest was mentioned.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lefigaro.fr/nantes/pres-de-nantes-une-enquete-ouverte-pour-tentative-d-enlevement-visant-le-patron-d-une-societe-de-cryptomonnaies-20260317","https://www.ouest-france.fr/economie/cryptomonnaie/enlevements-dans-le-milieu-de-la-cryptomonnaie-un-patron-cible-par-des-hommes-armes-la-nuit-derniere-pres-de-nantes-8cab17f0-2142-11f1-a6e8-58f5162ee52a"]},{"id":418,"date":"March 16, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-16","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Canadian businessman, 33, working in cryptocurrency","location":"Madrid","country":"Spain","description":"Canadian businessman, 33, working in cryptocurrency, ambushed leaving Lobito de Mar restaurant (Claudio Coello and Jorge Juan, Salamanca district) at 11 PM after traveling from Barcelona to Madrid for crypto business deal; the gang had followed him from Barcelona. 3 Serbian men beat him, pepper-sprayed him, forced him into a Ford Transit with swapped plates, tied him with cable ties and gave him pills.","summary":"A 33-year-old Canadian businessman who works in cryptocurrency was abducted in Madrid on the night of Monday 16 March 2026. He had travelled from Barcelona for a cryptocurrency deal, and a gang had followed his movements from there. At about 11 p.m., as he left the restaurant Lobito de Mar in the Salamanca district, the men beat him, used pepper spray on him and put him into a Ford Transit van. He was tied with cable ties and apparently given pills. The van's GPS was set for Petrer, in Alicante; according to one report, the plan was to torture him there for the keys to his cryptocurrency. Nothing was obtained. Police followed the van to the area around Atocha station and arrested two men who abandoned it on foot; a third escaped. The businessman freed himself and was treated in hospital for serious injuries. The two arrested, both Serbians, are accused of unlawful detention, robbery with violence and document forgery.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://okdiario.com/sucesos/tres-serbios-intentan-secuestrar-millonario-canadiense-criptomonedas-calle-moda-madrid-16433101","https://www.eldebate.com/espana/madrid/20260318/secuestro-pelicula-plena-calle-claudio-coello-madrid-empresario-salva-gracias-testigos_397294.html","https://www.elespanol.com/madrid/sociedad/20260317/detenidos-secuestrar-empresario-pleno-centro-madrid-querian-robar-claves-criptomonedas/1003744173605_0.html","https://www.elespanol.com/madrid/sociedad/20260318/detenidos-intentar-secuestrar-empresario-canadiense-trataron-robarle-reloj-euros/1003744174640_0.html"]},{"id":419,"date":"March 8, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-08","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Family","location":"Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle","country":"France","description":"The woman came back from her walk with the dog and was intercepted by three hooded, armed men posing as police officers who forced her into her apartment building and brutally beat her and her husband inside their home.","summary":"A couple were beaten at their flat in the centre of Nancy on Sunday 8 March 2026 by hooded, armed men posing as police officers. The wife, 45, was returning from walking her dog at about 8.30 a.m. when the men approached her at the entrance to her building. Most accounts say they forced her under threat up to the flat, where the couple were beaten while the men demanded access to a cryptocurrency wallet; one account says the two were beaten after the husband came outside to investigate the noise. The number of men is given as three or four. The couple's daughters alerted the police and the men fled. Nothing was taken. The husband's holdings, about 20,000 euros, had reportedly been exposed by a January 2026 data breach at the French crypto tax platform Waltio. A 32-year-old man was charged with attempted extortion with a weapon, attempted kidnapping as an organised gang and criminal conspiracy, and held in pre-trial detention. Two others were still sought.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.estrepublicain.fr/economie/2026/03/16/agresses-par-de-faux-policiers-armes-et-cagoules-l-appat-de-cryptomonnaie","https://cryptoast.fr/tentative-enlevement-faux-policiers-agressions-crypto-poursuivent/","https://cryptoast.fr/couple-agresse-wallet-20-000-euros/","https://decrypt.co/371143/one-indicted-over-crypto-wrench-attack-in-france","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/faux-policiers-et-crypto-rapt-a-nancy-comment-une-fuite-de-donnees-transforme-votre-wallet-de-20-000e-en-cible-pour-des-agresseurs/"]},{"id":420,"date":"April 2, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-02","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, his wife Sarah and their two children","location":"Maidenhead, Berkshire","country":"UK","description":"Four men broke in at about 10 p.m., threatened him at knifepoint, restrained the family and demanded the keycode to his wallet.","summary":"Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, 47, the founder and former chief executive of the London crypto firm BCB Group, was attacked with his wife Sarah and their two children at the family home in Maidenhead, Berkshire, on 2 April 2026. Thames Valley Police said the intruders broke in at around 10 p.m. while the homeowners were in the kitchen. Landsberg-Sadie said four men threatened him at knifepoint. The men reportedly restrained the family and demanded the keycode to his electronic wallet; he said they were looking for crypto specifically and had no interest in the car on the driveway. No cryptocurrency was taken: he said he kept none. The men left with cash, silver and jewellery, with no sum given, and left the house wrecked. No injury was reported, and he said he and his family were all right. Police said some of the suspects wore gloves and a face covering. No arrests had been made.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and two children"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.linkedin.com/posts/oliversadie_i-was-robbed-at-home-at-knifepoint-last-night-activity-7445771909713145856-EOZX/","https://cryptobriefing.com/greater-things-ceo-robbed-knifepoint-attackers-sought-crypto/","https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15726453/Terror-Home-Counties-wealthy-crypto-boss-held-knifepoint-robbery.html"]},{"id":421,"date":"January 19, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-19","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Unnamed crypto entrepreneur couple with 3 children","location":"Boulevard Flandrin, Paris","country":"France","description":"They were targeted by 4 men ages 21-22 from Stains and Garges-lès-Gonesse who arrived about 5 AM (Cryptoast) or about 5:20 AM (Actu Crypto) in a stolen Peugeot 208 equipped with knives, hoods, zip ties, and duct tape.","summary":"A couple well known in the cryptocurrency world, living with their three young children in a building on Boulevard Flandrin in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, were the target of a planned attack that police stopped on 19 January 2026. In the early hours four men aged 21 and 22 parked on the boulevard in a stolen Peugeot 208 carrying hoods, gloves, knives, cable ties and tape. The building's concierge called the police, who arrived in under ten minutes and caught two suspects in the car and two in the courtyard. The men never reached the apartment and nothing was taken. Messages read in court described a plan, arranged on Snapchat, to break in, assault the man and demand a ransom. The defendants denied the charges and said they had been asked to retrieve an unspecified object for 200 euros.\n\nOn 1 April three adults were convicted of criminal conspiracy and attempted aggravated theft and sentenced to two years, 18 months and 10 months in prison. The fourth, reportedly a minor, was tried separately. The couple have since left France for the United States.","targeting":["Surveillance","Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/enlevement-crypto-10-mois-2-ans-prison-tentative-paris/","https://time.news/paris-attempted-crypto-ransom-young-men-face-jail-for-botched-kidnapping/","https://actucrypto.info/politique/crypto-tentative-enlevement-paris-police-sequestration-analyse-2026/"]},{"id":422,"date":"December 17, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-17","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Unnamed San Jose crypto holder","location":"San Jose, California","country":"USA","description":"He was returning home in his vehicle and noticed an armed suspect standing by driveway who produced black handgun, ordered him into garage, and hit him on back of head. He believed his crypto holdings had been leaked, and reported earlier odd contacts (two unordered pizza deliveries on 6 December, a free driveway-cleaning offer on 15 December).","summary":"A man in San Jose, California, was attacked outside his home on 17 December 2025. As he stepped out of his vehicle after returning home, he noticed someone standing next to his driveway. He told police the person produced a black handgun and ordered him to enter the garage and close the door, then hit him on the back of the head. He fell to the ground and pretended to be injured. An Amazon truck drove by, and the attacker and a second person fled on foot. No demand was recorded and nothing was taken. He told officers he believed he was targeted because information on his crypto holdings had recently been leaked. He also reported earlier incidents he suspected were connected: two pizza deliveries he had not ordered on 6 December and, on 15 December, an offer from people claiming to work for a power-washing company to clean his driveway for free. No arrest was attributed to the San Jose incident.","targeting":["Data leak","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/crypto-wrench-attack-home-invasion-22088091.php","https://ktla.com/news/california/violent-crypto-robberies-los-angeles-bay-area/"]},{"id":423,"date":"December 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Resident who answered the door","location":"Sunnyvale, California","country":"USA","description":"Victim answered door to man claiming to deliver DoorDash coffee order who pushed inside and aimed gun at victim. Victim pushed back, suspect fled in black Kia sedan.","summary":"On the morning of 22 December 2025, a resident of a house in Sunnyvale, California, answered the door to a man who said he was delivering a DoorDash coffee order. Police said doorbell footage showed two men trying to deliver Starbucks coffees to the house four times in two hours, and that on the last visit one of them pulled out a gun. He pushed his way inside and aimed the gun at the resident, who pushed back. The man ran off and fled in a black Kia sedan. No demand was reported, nothing was taken and no injury was reported. Eight days later someone in the house told police they held a large sum of cryptocurrency. Nino Chindavanh, 21, of Tennessee, was pulled over and arrested and faces charges of attempted robbery and burglary in Santa Clara County. Police believe the second man was Jayden Rucker, whose identification was found in the car.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/crypto-wrench-attack-home-invasion-22088091.php","https://ktla.com/news/california/violent-crypto-robberies-los-angeles-bay-area/"]},{"id":424,"date":"December 31, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-31","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Unnamed Brentwood resident","location":"Brentwood, California","country":"USA","description":"Victim received delivery, suspect asked for water, followed victim into kitchen at gunpoint and bound him with zip ties and duct tape. Second suspect arrived; a third person on speakerphone with voice modulator ordered them to cut off victim's fingers until he showed the \"real amount\" (Chronicle: after the password was given; KTLA: the finger threat prompted the password), and one suspect picked up a knife.","summary":"On 31 December 2025, a man delivering a package to a home in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles asked the resident for a glass of water, followed him into the kitchen, pointed a gun at him and bound him with zip ties and duct tape. A second man arrived and the two called a third person on speakerphone, whose voice appeared distorted by a modulator. They demanded the resident's cryptocurrency, and one report says he was beaten. The voice on the phone ordered the two to cut off his fingers until he showed the \"real amount\" he held, and one of them picked up a knife. He gave up his computer password, which let them see his holdings; accounts differ on whether that came before the finger threat or because of it. A woman who had hidden in the pantry slipped out and called 911, and the two fled when they heard a helicopter. Nothing was taken. After a brief chase police arrested Elijah Armstrong and Jayden Rucker, who were charged with robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm and attempted extortion.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/crypto-wrench-attack-home-invasion-22088091.php","https://ktla.com/news/california/violent-crypto-robberies-los-angeles-bay-area/"]},{"id":425,"date":"February, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"29-year-old cryptocurrency broker","location":"São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Victim went to Shopping Cidade Jardim in southern São Paulo for meeting with supposed business partner to finalize Bitcoin transaction, but was ambushed and forced into vehicle under serious threats.","summary":"In February 2025, a 29-year-old cryptocurrency broker went to a shopping centre in the southern zone of São Paulo to meet a supposed business partner and close a bitcoin transaction. He was ambushed there, subdued with a revolver and made to get into a car under threats. His wife, who could see his phone's location, grew suspicious of how it was moving and called the police. The Military Police intercepted the car in traffic in the town of Santa Isabel and arrested four gang members in the act, recovering the revolver. No injury was reported and nothing was reported taken from him. The São Paulo public security secretariat said the kidnapping was motivated by the group's failed attempt to launder R$70.8 million, said to be part of a R$146 million theft from the bank Itaú. On 7 April 2026 a police operation targeted five people with arrest warrants, and four were arrested.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/operacao-criptonita-mira-quadrilha-focada-em-sequestro-de-investidores-de-criptomoedas-em-sao-paulo/","https://cointelegraph.com.br/news/suspeitos-de-envolvimento-em-sequestro-de-corretor-de-criptomoedas-sao-alvo-de-operacao-em-sp","https://rapidonoar.com.br/operacao-criptonita-revela-esquema-milionario-com-criptomoedas-e-prende-suspeitos-em-sp-e-no-rn/"]},{"id":426,"date":"March 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Houseboat resident in his fifties","location":"Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine","country":"France","description":"Four men ages 21-24 from Brunoy (Essonne) and Paris 7th arrondissement attempted to attack 23-year-old maths enthusiast who invests in cryptocurrency (per a source close to the case) but went to wrong address - a houseboat - where cautious resident in his 50s, with no reported crypto link, didn't open door to fake delivery man in yellow vest at 11:45 PM on March 29.","summary":"At about 11.45 p.m. on 29 March 2026, a stranger in a yellow hi-vis vest rang at the door of a houseboat in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, and passed himself off as a delivery man. The resident, a man in his fifties, did not open because of the late hour and called the police at once. A patrol arrived quickly, spotted a Toyota Auris with four men aboard and handcuffed them. In the car officers found a knife, several plastic ties, gloves, a beanie and new yellow vests still in their packaging. One phone held a photograph of a target and an address near the place of arrest. According to a source close to the case, the intended target was a 23-year-old who invests in cryptocurrency and lives nearby, and the group had gone to the wrong address. Nobody was hurt and no demand was made. The four men, aged 21 to 24, were charged on 2 April at Nanterre with criminal conspiracy to prepare a crime.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/boulogne-les-agresseurs-ciblent-jeune-investisseur-en-crypto-se-trompent-dadresse-et-finissent-en-garde-a-vue-07-04-2026-WESX3VDQLNALFLW4UUQRVMVXHU.php","https://www.surfcoastnews.com.au/finance/76504/"]},{"id":427,"date":"April 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Family","location":"Anglet","country":"France","description":"Five masked and gloved men broke into villa in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) in early morning Friday April 10 searching for businessman who holds cryptocurrency but he was not present at the villa","summary":"At about 6 a.m. on Friday 10 April 2026, five hooded and gloved men burst into a seafront house in Anglet, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the second home of a family of six: a couple in their seventies, their son, his partner and two children aged 10 and 13. The Bordeaux prosecutor said the men were looking for the former owner of the house, whom they suspected of holding a large cryptocurrency portfolio. He was not there. All six were tied up. The two women and the two children were held in a separate room while the two men were beaten, and the attackers searched the villa for about an hour. They left with valuable jewellery and, depending on the report, phones, money or electronic equipment and several thousand euros in cash. No cryptocurrency was taken. Four suspects were arrested the same day in Paris and the Bordeaux region with part of the haul, charged and remanded in custody; others are still at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":6,"at_least":false,"detail":"couple in their seventies, son, his partner, two children"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/home-jacking-villa-anglet-5-hommes-cagoules-recherchaient-entrepreneur-crypto/","https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/pyrenees-atlantiques/bayonne/cinq-hommes-cagoules-sequestrent-les-occupants-d-une-villa-du-pays-basque-pour-retrouver-un-chef-d-entreprise-lie-aux-cryptomonnaies-3334103.html","https://actu17.fr/faits-divers/home-jacking-a-anglet-une-famille-dont-deux-enfants-sequestres-par-cinq-hommes-sur-fond-de-cryptomonnaies.html","https://actu17.fr/justice/anglet-quatre-hommes-ecroues-apres-la-sequestration-violente-dune-famille-pour-des-cryptomonnaies.html","https://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/violent-home-jacking-au-pays-basque-une-famille-sequestree-par-des-hommes-cagoules-a-la-recherche-de-cryptomonnaies-171381","https://www.ici.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/pyrenees-atlantiques-64/anglet/cryptomonnaie-quatre-hommes-arretes-et-mis-en-examen-apres-des-violences-contre-une-famille-a-anglet-7199018"]},{"id":428,"date":"April 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Mother and son (~10 years old), and the father","location":"Yonne (Burgundy); held at Boissy-Saint-Léger, Val-de-Marne","country":"France","description":"Mother and son kidnapped on Monday from the family home in the Yonne (Burgundy), where the father was tied to a chair, beaten and threatened with mutilation. They were held captive in a hotel room at Boissy-Saint-Léger (Val-de-Marne) for approximately 20 hours while kidnappers demanded a US$400,000 transfer in crypto from father (cryptocurrency entrepreneur).","summary":"At about 7 a.m. on Monday 13 April 2026, four hooded intruders entered the home of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur in the Yonne, in Burgundy. The Paris prosecutor's office said they tied him to a chair, beat him and threatened him with mutilation, and demanded a transfer of US$400,000 in cryptocurrency; another report gives the demand as several hundred thousand euros. On learning that the transfer would take seven days to go through, they abducted his partner and their son, aged about ten, taking 10,000 euros in cash, jewellery, small silver ingots and a shotgun. The father freed himself and alerted a friend, who called the police. The mother and son were held for some twenty hours in a hotel room at Boissy-Saint-Léger, Val-de-Marne, until GIGN gendarmes freed them at 6 a.m. on 14 April, both in good health. No ransom was paid. Three men were arrested at the hotel and four more afterwards.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner and son of about ten"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":400000},"taken":{"amount":10000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/bitcoin/info-franceinfo-cryptomonnaies-une-mere-et-son-fils-enleves-puis-liberes-par-le-gign_7936862.html","https://coinacademy.fr/actu/enlevement-enfant-mere-rancon-crypto-exigee-bourgogne/","https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-divers-justice/cryptomonnaies-une-mere-et-son-fils-enleves-en-bourgogne-et-retrouves-dans-le-val-de-marne-quatre-suspects-arretes-6085127?at_locale=19"]},{"id":429,"date":"April 11, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-11","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Family of four","location":"Saint-Jean-de-Védas","country":"France","description":"A man posing as a delivery driver arrived at a villa in Saint-Jean-de-Védas. Once inside, covered his face, brandished a handgun, and herded the family into a room. The father physically attacked him, and the two struggled. During the struggle a shot went off, showing the gun was loaded; nobody in the family was hurt and the attacker fled empty-handed (actu.fr).","summary":"At about 9 a.m. on Saturday 11 April 2026, a man claiming to be a delivery driver came to a house in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, on the western edge of Montpellier. The family of four, whose father is reported to specialise in digital currency transactions, was not expecting a delivery and let him in without checking. He then masked his face, produced a handgun and gathered the father, mother and children in one room. When the man's attention lapsed, the father jumped on him and the two fought. A shot went off during the struggle, which showed the gun was loaded. Nobody in the family was hurt, and the attacker ran off with nothing. No demand for a sum was reported. A man of about 25 from the Hérault was arrested on Tuesday 14 April, charged by an investigating judge in Montpellier and jailed. Investigators have not ruled out that he was acting for someone else.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and two children"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://actu.fr/occitanie/saint-jean-de-vedas_34270/tentative-de-sequestration-d-une-famille-pour-la-cryptomonnaie-pres-de-montpellier-l-auteur-ecroue_64164851.html","https://www.generation-nt.com/actualites/violence-braquages-crypto-france-2074318"]},{"id":430,"date":"September 15, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-15","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Unidentified man","location":"Homestead, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Armed gang invades home, takes jewelry, electronics. Kidnapped & tortured victim, failed to find his bitcoin","summary":"In September 2022, an armed home-invasion crew led by Remy St Felix of West Palm Beach held a man and his family at gunpoint in their home in Homestead, Florida, according to the US Department of Justice. The crew then abducted the man, held him hostage and beat him. One report says he was driven against his will to Stuart, Florida. Law enforcement found him 120 miles from his home. How the crew got in, what they demanded and how long he was held have not been made public, and nothing is reported taken from him. The Department of Justice said the conspirators studied their targets' routines and stole over $3.5 million across their crimes through SIM swapping and violent home invasions. St Felix was convicted by a federal jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, on 25 June 2024 and sentenced to 47 years in prison. Twelve men in all were sentenced.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"his family"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[138,145,156],"sources":["https://fox5sandiego.com/news/border-report/group-linked-to-9-kidnappings-in-three-states/","https://decrypt.co/249637/florida-man-47-years-prison-bitcoin-home-invasion-ring","https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/06/26/bitcoin-gunpoint-criminal-gang-home-invasions-federal-case","https://www.borderreport.com/regions/texas/group-linked-to-9-kidnappings-in-three-states/","https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdnc/pr/twelve-defendants-sentenced-violent-home-invasion-robberies-steal-cryptocurrency"]},{"id":431,"date":"April 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Family","location":"Ploudalmézeau, Finistère","country":"France","description":"Two hooded, armed men burst into a home, where a mother, her two young children, and both maternal grandparents were present. The crypto-active father was absent. The family was bound, gagged, and allegedly held the whole morning, several hours (Le Tribunal du Net citing Le Télégramme), while the two men got hold of a digital wallet; the loss is still being assessed per the deputy prosecutor, about €700,000 according to Le Télégramme.","summary":"At about 9 a.m. on Monday 20 April 2026, two armed men in balaclavas burst into a house on a housing estate in Ploudalmézeau, Finistère, north of Brest. Inside were a mother, her two small children and the children's grandparents. The father, who the deputy prosecutor said works in cryptocurrency, was away, and the attackers were after his digital wallet. The five were tied up, and by one account gagged, and were reportedly held for the whole morning. No injury was reported. The two men got hold of a digital wallet before fleeing. The deputy prosecutor said the loss was still being assessed; one report puts it at around 700,000 euros. Neighbours raised the alarm after finding the family tied up inside the house. No arrest had been made at the time of reporting. The case went to the JIRS, a specialised organised-crime court, in Rennes.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":5,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner, two small children, two grandparents"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":700000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.letelegramme.fr/finistere/ploudalmezeau-29830/a-ploudalmezeau-une-famille-sequestree-puis-delestee-de-700-000-eur-en-cryptomonnaies-exclusif-7030440.php","https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/bretagne/finistere/brest/5-membres-d-une-famille-de-ploudalmezeau-sequestres-pour-un-portefeuille-de-cryptomonnaie-3339032.html","https://www.letribunaldunet.fr/faits-divers/sequestration-famille-bretagne-700000-euros-cryptomonnaies.html","https://coinacademy.fr/actu/crypto-famille-sequestree-finistere-france-enlevements-2026/"]},{"id":432,"date":"April 17, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-17","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"40-year-old South Korean man","location":"Melaka","country":"Malaysia","description":"Victim tailed and intercepted while driving alone from Genting Highlands to Kuala Lumpur on April 17, pulled from his car, beaten, tied up and taken to a homestay in Melaka, where he was held until the police raid of April 21. Three fellow South Korean nationals demanded US$10 million in crypto, and the victim's friends transferred US$3 million before the rescue.","summary":"On 17 April 2026, a 40-year-old South Korean man was driving alone from Genting Highlands to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when three men tailed his car and intercepted it. Police said they pulled him out, beat him, tied him up and took him to a homestay in Melaka. The three, South Korean nationals aged 28 to 40 who were not known to him, demanded a ransom of US$10 million in cryptocurrency and threatened him with an object resembling a pistol, later found to be a replica. His friends transferred US$3 million to the suspects' cryptocurrency account. On 21 April a police task force raided the homestay, rescued him and arrested the three men. Police froze US$2.46 million in three accounts and said only that sum was recoverable. Police said the man was himself wanted in South Korea over illegal gambling and was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10000000},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":3000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/04/24/south-korean-rescued-from-kidnappers-in-melaka-a-wanted-man-back-home","https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2026/04/24/in-unlikely-twist-rescued-south-korean-kidnapping-victim-turns-out-to-be-interpol-wanted-fugitive/217498","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rS2mQgfd0s"]},{"id":433,"date":"November 8, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-08","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Crypto Forum Moderator","location":"Victoriaville, Québec","country":"Canada","description":"On November 4, two men in surgical masks approached him at his home and fled when he shut the door. On November 8, four hooded suspects in a black Kia without plates waited by his house; three fled on foot after the car swerved, the driver came up to him and he says he tried to spray him with bear spray, and a few moments later another suspect pointed a handgun at him while he stayed on the phone to police.","summary":"The man, a volunteer moderator of a cryptocurrency forum in Victoriaville, Quebec, said two men in surgical masks approached him at his home on 4 November 2024 and fled when he shut the door. On 8 November 2024, as he was putting his daughter in the car, he saw hooded men in a black Kia hidden behind bushes beside his house. He ended up behind the Kia on a main road while on the phone with police. The Kia swerved and three of its four occupants fled on foot. He said the driver walked up to him and he tried to use bear spray, and that moments later another suspect pointed a handgun at him. He was not hurt and nothing was taken. All four were arrested, two adults and two minors, and the adults were charged with conspiracy to kidnap and firearms offences. He said police concluded the men meant to abduct him for his wallet password, believing he held 2.5 million bitcoins; he puts his holding at about $10,000.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://coingape.com/crypto-forum-moderator-targeted-in-alleged-bitcoin-kidnapping-attempt/","https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2025-01-06/tentative-alleguee-d-enlevement/ils-avaient-de-l-equipement-pour-me-torturer.php","https://atlas21.com/attempted-bitcoin-kidnapping-in-canada-crypto-forum-moderator-forced-into-hiding/","https://cryptoast.fr/nouvelle-tentative-kidnapping-liee-crypto-que-sest-il-passe/"]},{"id":434,"date":"April 22, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-22","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Young Pakistani male","location":"Sharea Faisal, Karachi","country":"Pakistan","description":"He was intercepted on Sharea Faisal when a white double-cabin vehicle blocked the road; armed men pulled him from the cab under a false pretext and forced him into their vehicle at gunpoint.","summary":"On 22 April 2026, Mutaal Khan, a young man from Karachi described as being in the cryptocurrency business, was in an online cab to the airport when a white double-cabin pickup intercepted it on Sharea Faisal. His father said about four armed men were in the pickup and that two of them pointed weapons at his son and forced him out of the cab, claiming it had hit another car and that he had to come to a police station. They drove him around at gunpoint for more than an hour, or several hours by one report, and two reports say he was assaulted. During that time $8,600 was transferred from his digital account; the prosecution says more than Rs 2.4 million was also taken from his crypto and bank accounts. The men kept two mobile phones and a MacBook and left him in the Korangi Industrial Area. Police confirmed an investigation. No arrest has been reported.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8600,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":8600},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://propakistani.pk/2026/04/24/karachi-man-abducted-near-airport-forced-to-hand-over-8600-in-digital-currency/","https://theasianmirror.com/latest/79185/karachi-airport-abduction-digital-account-robbery-8600/","https://www.thenews.pk/print/1411828-social-media-influencer-linked-to-crypto-business-abducted-robbed-in-karachi","https://pakobserver.net/actor-muneeb-butt-secures-pre-arrest-bail-in-crypto-loot-kidnapping-case/"]},{"id":435,"date":"November ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Challes-les-Eaux (Savoie)","country":"France","description":"A kidnapping linked to crypto-assets committed in November 2025 at Challes-les-Eaux (Savoie). Three men aged 25 to 30, all previously convicted, were arrested the week before Friday April 24, 2026 by the Chambéry gendarmerie research section and the UNPJ, charged (not convicted) with arrest, abduction and unlawful confinement as an organised gang, extortion and organised-gang money laundering, and remanded.","summary":"A kidnapping linked to crypto-assets took place in November 2025 at Challes-les-Eaux, in the Chambéry area of Savoie. Nothing has been made public about who was taken, how, where the person was held or for how long, and no amount demanded or paid has been reported. Three men aged 25 to 30, all with previous convictions, were arrested in the week before 24 April 2026 by the Chambéry gendarmerie research section and the gendarmerie's national judicial police unit. They were charged with arrest, abduction and unlawful confinement as part of an organised gang, extortion and organised-gang money laundering, and remanded in custody; they are presumed innocent. Two of the three were also charged over a similar kidnapping in December 2025 at Dompierre-sur-Mer, Charente-Maritime.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"victim not described"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/savoie-73/challes-les-eaux/cryptomonnaie-trois-hommes-interpelles-par-la-section-de-recherche-de-chambery-a-la-suite-d-un-enlevement-a-challes-9380800","https://actu17.fr/justice/enlevements-lies-aux-crypto-actifs-six-nouvelles-interpellations-88-personnes-mises-en-examen-depuis-2023.html","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/bitcoin-vie-88-mises-examen-vague-enlevements-crypto-france/","https://www.europe1.fr/police-justice/crypto-enlevements-88-mises-en-examen-dont-plus-de-10-mineurs-dans-les-enquetes-en-cours-928106"]},{"id":436,"date":"March 23, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-23","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"57 y/o woman","location":"Péchabou, Haute-Garonne","country":"France","description":"A woman was attacked at her home by four armed, hooded men who posed as a delivery driver to gain entry, then forced her to transfer €68,000 in cryptocurrency and stole jewelry.","summary":"Early on 23 March 2026, a 57-year-old woman at her home in Péchabou, near Toulouse, opened her door to a man presenting himself as a delivery man. The Bordeaux prosecutor said three other men rushed in behind him; all were armed and all except the fake delivery man were hooded. One report puts the number of attackers at five. The prosecutor said they believed she held cryptocurrency. Threatened with weapons, including a long gun, she quickly gave up her access codes. The men transferred 1.12 bitcoin, about 68,000 euros, to wallets belonging to their network; one report gives the sum as the equivalent of 100,000 euros and says they also took the jewellery in the house. Authorities mentioned a data leak at the company Waltio. Five men aged 17 to 24 were charged and remanded: two arrested at the end of March and three on 4 May in the Marseille area.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/cryptomonnaies-trois-nouvelles-mises-en-examen-apres-un-rapt-dans-le-sud-ouest-20260507","https://www.ici.fr/occitanie/gard-30/nimes/cinq-personnes-interpellees-dans-une-affaire-de-crypto-rapt-dont-les-ramifications-remontent-jusqu-a-nimes-1621489?at_locale=25","https://www.gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr/gendinfo/criminalite-organisee-et-enquetes/2026/crypto-rapt-en-haute-garonne-trois-nouvelles-interpellations-par-les-enqueteurs-de-la-section-de-recherches-de-toulouse","https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/occitanie/gard/nimes/armes-de-guerre-suspects-tres-jeunes-faux-livreurs-une-femme-sequestree-pour-ses-cryptomonnaies-cinq-hommes-interpelles-3348520.html","https://www.ici.fr/occitanie/haute-garonne-31/toulouse/pres-de-toulouse-une-femme-sequestree-chez-elle-par-des-hommes-armes-pour-lui-voler-des-cryptomonnaies-et-des-bijoux-7012010","https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/bitcoin/cinq-hommes-places-en-detention-provisoire-suspectes-d-avoir-sequestre-une-quinquagenaire-pour-lui-derober-ses-cryptomonnaies_7995476.html"]},{"id":437,"date":"May 6, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-06","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Couple","location":"Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis","country":"France","description":"Three armed men forced open the front door of a house in southern Bondy at ~5:00 AM, beat and tied up the couple inside while searching for cryptocurrency. The victims had no connection to crypto.","summary":"Shortly after 5 a.m. on Wednesday 6 May 2026, three armed men broke the front door of a house in southern Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, and surprised a couple in their sleep. They beat the couple and tied them up while displaying a handgun, then searched the house for cryptocurrency, convinced the couple held some. The couple had none and, according to reports, no connection to digital assets; the attackers had the wrong target. Before leaving, the men punched one of the two in the face. They fled with computers and a smartphone. The couple undid their bonds and raised the alarm. The suspects were located a short time later in the 18th arrondissement of Paris and escaped the officers sent to arrest them, abandoning the stolen items during the pursuit. No arrest has been made.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"couple with no crypto"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/bondy-frappees-et-ligotees-au-petit-matin-les-victimes-du-home-jacking-navaient-pas-de-cryptomonnaie-09-05-2026-IOMODLNJEZGJHOUEN37Z3NS2VM.php","https://www.generation-nt.com/actualites/home-jacking-crypto-bondy-2075270","https://www.revolutionmagazine.com/bondy-agression-crypto-mauvaise-cible.html"]},{"id":438,"date":"January 28, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-28","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Crypto entrepreneur and his family","location":"Southwest Borough, Montréal, Québec","country":"Canada","description":"A crypto entrepreneur and his family were targeted in four separate incidents over six weeks: one successful armed home invasion (January 28) followed by three attempted break-ins over three consecutive days in early March.","summary":"At about 7:30 p.m. on 28 January 2026, a man claiming to deliver a parcel came to the home of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal, who was there with his partner, and their four children. When an occupant opened the door, the man allegedly went in with three accomplices; police said two of the four had firearms. Police said the entrepreneur came downstairs and was confronted by the men, and that one of them allegedly fired a shot that hit another suspect in the abdomen. The father suffered a light arm injury that police said was not caused by the gunshot. The men fled. No demand and no theft were reported. Police said the four, from the Toronto area, allegedly accepted a contract through social media that targeted the man over cryptocurrency. Christopher Ethan Prince, 20, and a 17-year-old were arrested in Ontario and charged. Two other suspects, one aged 16, were still being sought.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.noovo.info/nouvelles/patrouille/article/invasion-a-domicile-le-spvm-met-le-grapin-sur-un-mineur-et-un-complice-majeur-en-ontario/","https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/on-patrol/article/two-men-arrested-on-canada-wide-arrest-warrants-after-montreal-home-invasion/","https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2026/05/07/violations-de-domicile-une-famille-montrealaise-prise-pour-cible-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie"]},{"id":439,"date":"March ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"Crypto entrepreneur and his family","location":"Southwest Borough, Montréal, Québec","country":"Canada","description":"A crypto entrepreneur and his family were targeted in four separate incidents over six weeks: one successful armed home invasion (January 28) followed by three attempted break-ins over three consecutive days in early March (1st dodged attack).","summary":"In early March 2026, suspects tried on three consecutive days to break into the home of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal. This was the first of the three attempts; no dates or separate accounts of each have been made public. The same house had been the scene of an armed home invasion on 28 January 2026. A Montreal police commander said protective measures had been placed on the house, the suspects were spotted and they did not get inside. No contact with anyone in the house, no demand and no theft were reported. The number of suspects was not given, and police did not say whether they were the same people as in January. On 11 March the family decided to leave the house for safety reasons. No arrest has been reported for the March attempts.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2026/05/07/violations-de-domicile-une-famille-montrealaise-prise-pour-cible-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie","https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/on-patrol/article/two-men-arrested-on-canada-wide-arrest-warrants-after-montreal-home-invasion/","https://www.noovo.info/nouvelles/patrouille/article/invasion-a-domicile-le-spvm-met-le-grapin-sur-un-mineur-et-un-complice-majeur-en-ontario/"]},{"id":442,"date":"March 8, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-08","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Undisclosed individual","location":"Winnetka, Illinois","country":"USA","description":"Prosecutors say Brown posed as a food delivery driver and someone inside the Winnetka home opened the door; Brown, Franklin and Chambers forced their way in with loaded firearms, joined by two unidentified co-conspirators, held the victim about an hour and \"used firearms to physically restrain the victim\", demanding access to the safe, the computer and the online accounts. They then met Osama, Khiell Dukes, Ramsey and others, who searched them \"to make sure all of the robbery proceeds were collected\".","summary":"On 8 March 2026, federal prosecutors say, Dashun Brown posed as a food delivery driver at a home in Winnetka, Illinois, and someone inside opened the front door. Brown, David Franklin and Jalen Chambers then allegedly forced their way in with loaded firearms, joined by two unidentified co-conspirators. Prosecutors say the intruders held the victim captive for about an hour, used firearms to restrain the victim and demanded access to a safe, a computer and online cryptocurrency accounts. No injury was reported, and no amount or completed transfer has been made public. Six men were charged in a federal indictment, among them the Chicago rapper Lil Zay Osama, whom prosecutors say met the intruders afterwards with others to check that all the robbery proceeds had been collected. All six have pleaded not guilty and been ordered detained. Osama's lawyer said his client was not present and did not set up the robbery.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-gangs/2026/04/28/chicago-crime-lil-zay-osama-drill-rap-winnetka-robbery","https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/rapper-known-lil-zay-osama-sentenced-14-months-prison-possessing-illegal-machinegun"]},{"id":443,"date":"March ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Nai Ping Hou","location":"Rancho Cucamonga, California","country":"USA","description":"Nai Ping Hou, 74, was last seen on March 16, 2025 in Rancho Cucamonga, California; his disappearance, initially unreported until May 4, 2025, is believed to be a kidnapping targeting his son's high-profile cryptocurrency wealth.","summary":"Nai Ping Hou, 74, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, vanished in March 2025. He is the father of Wen Hou, a hedge fund and cryptocurrency investor. From April the family received short, robotic replies from his phone; he declined visits and calls, and a text told his wife, who was visiting family in China, to cancel her flight home. Detectives believe someone used his phone to impersonate him for more than a month. On 4 May 2025, family friends found his house stripped of furniture and his cars gone, and he was reported missing that day. More than $1 million had been withdrawn from his account to buy physical gold and cryptocurrency. No ransom demand has been reported. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is investigating a possible kidnapping, with the FBI. The family believes the case may be tied to Wen Hou's success in cryptocurrency. No suspect has been identified and Hou has not been found.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father of a crypto investor"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Victim missing","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":true,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15768759/Naiping-Hou-Wen-crypto-kidnapping.html","https://internewscast.com/news/crypto-fortune-connection-sparks-fears-of-kidnapping-for-elderly-grandfather/","https://www.foxnews.com/us/feds-enter-hunt-missing-california-grandpa-linked-crypto-fortune","https://abc7.com/post/nai-ping-hou-fbi-joins-search-rancho-cucamonga-man-missing-march-2025-deputies-investigate-possible-kidnapping/18959450/","https://www.aol.com/news/creepy-texts-offer-clues-disappearance-100000211.html"]},{"id":444,"date":"March 31, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-31","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"25-year-old wife of a crypto investor","location":"Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin","country":"France","description":"Two men kidnapped the 25-year-old wife of a crypto investor in Strasbourg on March 31, gagged her, and held her in a parked van in the Neudorf district while sending a threat video to her husband demanding money.","summary":"On 31 March 2026, a man presenting himself as a delivery man came to the home of a 25-year-old woman in Strasbourg, who was expecting a parcel. When she opened the door, he and a second man grabbed her, put her in the back of a van and tied and gagged her. Reports differ on whom they meant to extort: her husband, who has invested in cryptocurrency, or a wealthy friend living in Dubai who made a fortune in it. One report says they demanded 600,000 euros from the friend, and another that they had sent a threat video to the husband. Police sources said the men intended to cut off one of her fingers. A witness noted the van's registration number and alerted police, who found her tied up in the van, unharmed. Nothing was paid. The two suspects, aged 19 and 22, were arrested, charged with abduction, unlawful detention, death threats and attempted extortion as an organised gang, and placed in pretrial detention.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife or friend of the crypto holder"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":600000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/grand-est/bas-rhin/strasbourg-0/cryptomonnaie-deux-hommes-interpelles-pour-enlevement-et-sequestration-d-une-jeune-femme-a-strasbourg-3349945.html","https://www.dna.fr/faits-divers-justice/2026/05/12/la-dz-mafia-impliquee-dans-un-enlevement-a-strasbourg","https://cryptoast.fr/agression-crypto-femme-enlevee-strasbourg/"]},{"id":445,"date":"May 10 to 11, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-10","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"Ottrott, Bas-Rhin","country":"France","description":"An Ottrott resident who had recently conducted cryptocurrency transactions in the Alsace region was targeted at his home by a group of individuals from the Paris area on two consecutive days.","summary":"On Sunday 10 May 2026, several people came to the home of a man in Ottrott, a village in the Bas-Rhin, intending to abduct and hold him in order to steal his cryptocurrency, according to the gendarmerie. It was the first of two attempts on consecutive days; a second followed on Monday 11 May. Reports attribute the group's knowledge of his cryptocurrency transactions to a theft or leak of data. No separate account of what happened on the Sunday has been made public. Nothing indicates the man was seized or held, and nothing was reported taken. The gendarmerie was alerted on 11 May and arrested five people from the Paris region. The Saverne prosecutor's office said they face charges including attempted extortion as an organised gang, attempted abduction, unlawful detention and aggravated violence.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/grand-est/bas-rhin/strasbourg-0/un-homme-vise-par-deux-tentatives-d-enlevement-apres-des-transactions-en-cryptomonnaies-3349861.html","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-rapts-france-cinq-interpellations-bas-rhin-tentative-enlevement-extorsion/","https://cryptoast.fr/tentative-enlevement-crypto-bas-rhin-5-suspects-interpelles/","https://coinacademy.fr/actu/crypto-rapts-5-interpellations-bas-rhin-tentative-enlevement-extorsion/","https://www.revolutionmagazine.com/bas-rhin-cinq-interpellations-tentative-enlevement-crypto.html"]},{"id":447,"date":"May 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Wife of Sébastien Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox","location":"Villenoy, Seine-et-Marne","country":"France","description":"A man posing as a delivery driver carrying a cardboard box in a branded vest approached the Borget family home in Villenoy; when Sébastien Borget's wife opened the gate, five hooded accomplices rushed the courtyard and attempted to drag her into a waiting vehicle. Neighbours heard her screams and intervened, forcing all six attackers to flee.","summary":"At about 8.30 p.m. on 20 May 2026, a man in a branded vest carrying a cardboard box approached the home of Sébastien Borget, 40, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox, in Villenoy, Seine-et-Marne. When Borget's wife opened the gate, five masked accomplices rushed into the courtyard, dragged her by force and tried to push her into a Citroën C3 parked nearby. Neighbours who heard her screaming confronted the group, which gave up and scattered. Four drove off in the car. Two fled on foot, hid nearby and called a ride-hail car, which anti-crime officers from Meaux intercepted a short time later. She was reportedly uninjured, and nothing was demanded or taken. The two arrested are teenagers from Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis, born in 2009 and 2010; they were allegedly carrying a fake handgun, zip ties and balaclavas. Four suspects remain at large.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://decrypt.co/368631/the-sandbox-co-founders-wife-targeted-in-crypto-kidnapping-attempt-report","https://www.theblock.co/post/402146/wife-of-sandbox-co-founder-sebastien-borget-targeted-in-kidnapping-attempt-at-home-in-france-report","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/sandbox-co-founder-wife-kidnap-attempt/","https://cointelegraph.com/news/uber-getaway-wrench-attack-sandbox-cofounder-wife-france","https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/05/21/another-crypto-linked-attack-in-paris-kidnapper-targets-sebastien-borget-family/"]},{"id":448,"date":"August 24, 2023","date_sort":"2023-08-24","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Father of influencer Killian Desnos (alias \"TeufeurS\")","location":"Cures, Sarthe","country":"France","description":"Victim kidnapped from his home in Cures, forced into a stolen van, and held captive while his son received a video showing the victim bound, mouth taped, and with an automatic weapon aimed at his head.  €1.7 million in cryptocurrency transferred as ransom payment.","summary":"On 24 August 2023, a man posing as an Amazon delivery driver rang at a house in Cures, in the Sarthe, about 20 kilometres north-west of Le Mans. The resident is the father of Killian Desnos, an influencer known as TeufeurS who is based in Malta. When the father opened the door, several people forced him into a vehicle, reported to be a stolen van. The kidnappers sent his son a video showing the father tied up with his mouth taped and an automatic weapon pointed at his head, and demanded a ransom. Against the advice of investigators, the son paid the equivalent of 1.7 million euros to cryptocurrency wallets. The father was released the next day and picked up by motorists; the prosecutor said he had suffered no violence. The Le Mans prosecutor has asked for six people to stand trial before an assize court. The alleged instigator, Badiss B., was arrested in Tangier on 3 June 2025 and has not been extradited.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father of an influencer"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1700000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/pays-de-la-loire/sarthe/le-mans/un-proces-aux-assises-requis-apres-l-enlevement-dans-la-sarthe-du-pere-de-l-influenceur-teufeurs-3286131.html","https://www.ici.fr/pays-de-la-loire/sarthe-72/cures/enlevement-du-pere-d-un-influenceur-a-cures-le-parquet-du-mans-requiert-un-proces-aux-assises-contre-le-commando-3869815"]},{"id":449,"date":"February ?, 2024","date_sort":"2024-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Unidentified","location":"Winnsboro, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Marlon Ferro (\"GothFerrari\"), 20, of Santa Ana, California, traveled to Winnsboro, Texas and broke into a victim's home to steal a hardware wallet containing approximately 100 Bitcoin (~$5M at the time), acting as the \"burglar of last resort\" for a sprawling social engineering conspiracy that stole over $250 million in cryptocurrency.","summary":"In February 2024, Marlon Ferro, 20, of Santa Ana, California, travelled to Winnsboro, Texas, broke into a home and stole a hardware wallet containing about 100 bitcoin, then valued at more than $5 million, according to court documents. He laundered the stolen funds through cryptocurrency exchanges. It has not been made public how he got in or whether anyone was in the house. Prosecutors say Ferro, known online as \"GothFerrari\", was the burglar for a social-engineering group that defrauded victims of more than $250 million in cryptocurrency: when his co-conspirators could not trick victims or hack their accounts, they turned to Ferro to break into homes and steal hardware wallets. He was arrested on 13 May 2025, pleaded guilty on 17 October 2025 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2.5 million in restitution.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":5000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/gothferrari-sentenced-78-months-prison-role-massive-cryptocurrency-heist","https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crypto-gang-member-gets-65-years-for-role-in-230-million-heist/","https://beincrypto.com/gothferrari-crypto-theft-78-month-sentence/","https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/may/7/gothferrari-gets-65-years-role-250m-crypto-theft-conspiracy/"]},{"id":450,"date":"July ?, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"New Mexico","country":"USA","description":"Multi-day surveillance of a target's residence using a cell phone planted outside the home to monitor movements, and when co-conspirators confirmed via iCloud tracking that the victim had left, they broke into the home by smashing a window with a brick and searched for the target hardware wallet.","summary":"In July 2024, Marlon Ferro, 20, of Santa Ana, California, flew to New Mexico to burgle the home of a resident whom his group believed held a large amount of cryptocurrency in a hardware wallet, prosecutors said. He watched the house for several days and placed a mobile phone outside it to monitor the resident's movements. Co-conspirators tracked the resident through his iCloud account and confirmed when he had left. Ferro then smashed a window with a brick, entered and searched for the hardware wallet. Nobody was at home, and the home's surveillance camera recorded him. It has not been made public whether he found the wallet or what it held. Ferro was arrested on 13 May 2025, pleaded guilty on 17 October 2025 to racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 78 months in prison and $2.5 million in restitution.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/may/7/gothferrari-gets-65-years-role-250m-crypto-theft-conspiracy/","https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crypto-gang-member-gets-65-years-for-role-in-230-million-heist/","https://beincrypto.com/gothferrari-crypto-theft-78-month-sentence/"]},{"id":451,"date":"July 20, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-20","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"56-year-old woman","location":"Élancourt, Yvelines","country":"France","description":"Two men posing as delivery drivers forced their way into the home of a 56-year-old woman in Élancourt, tied her to a chair, beat her, and filmed the assault to send to her son, a well-known French YouTuber/influencer, demanding €10 million in cryptocurrency or they would kill her. €30,000 in Bitcoin and Ethereum was extorted, paid by her son after the ransom demand.","summary":"On 20 July 2023, two men posing as delivery drivers came to the home of a 56-year-old woman in Élancourt, Yvelines, the mother of a well-known influencer and YouTuber. She opened the door without suspicion and the men pushed her inside, tied her to a chair and beat her while filming. They sent the video to her son with a demand for 10 million euros in cryptocurrency and a threat to kill her if he did not pay. The son paid the equivalent of 30,000 euros in Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the men left. One report says she suffered serious injuries, including a knee injury, and that doctors certified 90 days of total incapacity for work. Two suspects were arrested on 7 and 13 September 2023; both denied involvement and were placed under investigation for unlawful detention and extortion. Reports say the group behind a kidnapping at Cures in August 2023 is also at the centre of this investigation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother of an influencer"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/pays-de-la-loire/sarthe/le-mans/un-proces-aux-assises-requis-apres-l-enlevement-dans-la-sarthe-du-pere-de-l-influenceur-teufeurs-3286131.html","https://www.ici.fr/pays-de-la-loire/sarthe-72/cures/enlevement-du-pere-d-un-influenceur-a-cures-le-parquet-du-mans-requiert-un-proces-aux-assises-contre-le-commando-3869815","https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/bitcoin/cryptomonnaies-proces-aux-assises-requis-contre-un-commando-soupconne-d-avoir-mene-plusieurs-enlevements_7757873.html","https://laminute.info/2023/09/22/la-mere-dun-influenceur-ligotee-a-une-chaise-tabassee-et-filmee-pour-une-demande-de-rancon/"]},{"id":452,"date":"May 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Yang Weixin","location":"Phnom Penh, Dangkao district","country":"Cambodia","description":"Victim was forced into a vehicle by three men outside his apartment building on the night of May 29; at approximately 3:00 AM on May 30 the kidnappers used his phone to demand $2 million in cryptocurrency from his wife, who told police she could not raise the funds.","summary":"At about 8 p.m. on 29 May 2026, three men forced Yang Weixin, 53, a Chinese real estate developer living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from the parking area of his apartment building into a vehicle. The building's security cameras recorded the abduction. At about 3 a.m. on 30 May, the kidnappers used his phone to demand $2 million in cryptocurrency from his wife, who told police she could not raise the money. A last message arrived shortly before 9 a.m., and no payment was reported. Roughly 14 hours after the abduction, a truck driver found Yang's bloodstained car in Dangkao district, and police told the family he had been found dead. Investigators found blood, knives, tape and plastic ties in and around the car. Cambodian police said he was tortured by three captors before being murdered. The three men remain at large and no suspect has been publicly identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":2000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.net/news/security/32947951/","https://beincrypto.com/cambodia-crypto-ransom-chinese-businessman-killed/","https://coinedition.com/chinese-real-estate-developer-murdered-in-cambodia-after-2m-crypto-ransom-demand/","https://crypto-economy.com/chinese-executive-killed-in-cambodia/","https://cryptoadventure.com/chinese-real-estate-executive-killed-after-2m-crypto-ransom-demand-in-phnom-penh/"]},{"id":453,"date":"August, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Álvaro Romillo (\"CryptoSpain\")","location":"San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid","country":"Spain","description":"At ~3:00 AM, five hooded Tren de Aragua members armed with short firearms and a signal jammer broke into the home of crypto influencer Álvaro Romillo (\"CryptoSpain\"), bound him and his partner with zip ties and duct tape for nearly five hours, and forced the transfer of €1.3 million in cryptocurrency using his phone while also stealing €1.5 million in watches and jewelry and €200,000 cash.","summary":"At about 3 a.m. on a Monday in August 2025, five armed men in balaclavas broke into the home of Álvaro Romillo, known as \"CryptoSpain\", in a gated development in San Sebastián de los Reyes, on the outskirts of Madrid. According to Romillo's complaint, they tied up him and his partner, and the leader demanded to know where \"the 40 million in cryptocurrency\" was. Romillo denied holding that much and admitted to 1,300,000 euros, which the men transferred using his phone, advised by a sixth person on a call. Spain's Interior Ministry said the couple were assaulted and had loaded pistols pointed at their heads. The men also took watches and jewellery that the ministry valued at 1,500,000 euros, and 200,000 euros in cash. After almost five hours the couple freed themselves and went to hospital. In May 2026 police arrested six people they describe as a Tren de Aragua cell; three were remanded in custody.","targeting":["Public profile","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":40000000,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1300000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.interior.gob.es/opencms/en/detail-pages/article/La-Policia-Nacional-desarticula-un-entramado-criminal-de-El-tren-de-Aragua-dedicado-a-la-comision-de-robos-con-violencia/","https://www.democrata.es/tribunales/intrusos-residencia-alvaro-romillo-buscaban-apropiarse-40-millones-criptomonedas-amenazaron-asesinato/","https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2026/05/28/detenidos-seis-miembros-del-tren-de-aragua-por-robos-con-violencia-en-domicilios-de-madrid/","https://es.beincrypto.com/detienen-tren-aragua-espana-criptomonedas-botin/","https://www.criptonoticias.com/sucesos/espana-tren-aragua-robo-criptomonedas/"]},{"id":454,"date":"May 22, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-22","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"25-year-old crypto investor","location":"Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin","country":"France","description":"He was abducted in broad daylight in central Mulhouse just before 11:00 AM by two men who approached him using a phone translation app, forced him into a car at knifepoint, threatening to kill him if he made noise, blindfolded and bound his wrists, and drove him for approximately 20 minutes to a place where he was shut in a room with five men and held captive for several hours.","summary":"Shortly before 11 a.m. on Friday 22 May 2026, two men approached a 25-year-old cryptocurrency investor in the centre of Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, and used a translation app on a phone to order him into a car. The prosecutor said they threatened to kill him if he made noise, showed a bladed weapon and a handgun, tied his wrists behind his back and blindfolded him. After a drive of about twenty minutes he was shut in a room with five men. He said he was tied to a chair, struck and threatened with having a finger cut off with bolt cutters unless he gave the codes to his phone, computer and cryptocurrency accounts. He was made to ask his partner and a friend for money and then made three transfers totalling 14,000 euros in cryptocurrency. He was released at about 9.30 p.m. and went straight to the police. Four men aged 29 to 44 were arrested in the Haut-Rhin, charged and remanded in pretrial detention.","targeting":["Insider","Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":14000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/4-hommes-mis-examen-sequestration-entrepreneur-crypto-mulhouse/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/enlevement-sequestration-4-individus-detention-provisoire-incident-mulhouse/","https://actu.orange.fr/societe/fait-divers/mulhouse-quatre-interpellations-apres-l-enlevement-et-la-sequestration-d-un-investisseur-en-cryptomonnaie-magic-CNT000002pM7BM.html","https://www.ici.fr/grand-est/alsace-cea/mulhouse/enlevement-en-plein-jour-a-mulhouse-quatre-personnes-en-detention-provisoire-pour-sequestration-et-extorsion-de-fonds-8554063"]},{"id":455,"date":"October 15, 2019","date_sort":"2019-10-15","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Arcilio Nogueira de Souza","location":"Porto Velho, Rondônia","country":"Brazil","description":"Victim called his friend asking for a favor. When he arrived at the friend's home, armed accomplices arrived in a red vehicle, handcuffed and gagged him, and transported him to a remote rural area where he was tied to a tree and beaten for hours while attackers demanded his Bitcoin private keys; he escaped from the boot at the Cemetron hospital car park and ran to the guards (third piece), or was abandoned in the street after hours of driving (second piece).","summary":"On 15 October 2019, Arcilio Nogueira de Souza, a Bitcoin trader in Porto Velho, Rondônia, went to the house of Elcione José Sales, a municipal traffic officer and friend of more than twenty years, whom he had asked for help clearing traffic fines. A red vehicle drove in and three hooded men with firearms got out, then handcuffed, gagged and hooded him. They drove him to scrubland outside the city, tied him to a tree and beat him for several hours while demanding the access keys to his Bitcoin. He told them the password was only on a notebook computer at home. The men took R$3,500 in cash, a gold chain, his phone and documents, and no Bitcoin. By one account he opened the car boot from inside at a hospital car park and ran to security guards; another says he was abandoned in the street. In 2021 a court sentenced Sales, found to be the organiser, to 20 years and Helton Santos Moura to 16 years.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3500,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/policia-civil-em-florianopolis-captura-foragido-por-sequestro-de-investidor-de-bitcoin-de-rondonia-apos-sete-anos/","https://livecoins.com.br/sequestro-trader-bitcoin-rondonia-amigo-cumplice/","https://livecoins.com.br/sequestradores-de-investidor-de-bitcoin-sao-condenados-em-rondonia/"]},{"id":456,"date":"June 11, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-11","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Male crypto and forex influencer","location":"Jardim Camburi, Vitória, Espírito Santo","country":"Brazil","description":"Victim intercepted after leaving a futevôlei class; two of about eight armed men (the victim's account) took him out of his Porsche and forced him into a silver Chevrolet Celta, and he was driven to Serra where he was pressured to transfer cryptocurrency.","summary":"At about 10.55 a.m. on Thursday 11 June 2026, a 30-year-old cryptocurrency investor and digital influencer was driving his Porsche in Jardim Camburi, Vitória, Espírito Santo, when he stopped behind a white HB20 and a silver Celta closed in from behind. Armed men got out of the Celta; two pulled him from his car and, after he tried to resist, forced him into the Celta, while another drove the Porsche away. He told police there were about eight men, all with pistols. They demanded cryptocurrency transfers and drove him to Serra. Police said he reported transferring R$15,000 in cryptocurrency; another report gives 3,700 USDT, about R$20,000. In a wooded area of Jardim Carapina he escaped down a steep bank and was found by a Military Police team, with grazes from the fall. A 25-year-old man was arrested during the searches and two pistols were seized; the rest of the group are still sought.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYNUJE3kM0","https://www.acessa.com/noticias/2026/06/329919-homem-dentro-de-porsche-e-rendido-e-sequestrado-em-plena-luz-do-dia-no-es.html","https://serranoticiario.com.br/motorista-de-porsche-e-sequestrado-e-obrigado-a-transferir-r-20-mil-para-criminosos-na-serra/","https://simnoticias.com.br/seguranca/investidor-sequestrado-transfere-r-15-mil-em-criptomoedas/","https://tribunaonline.com.br/policia/o-que-se-sabe-sobre-sequestro-de-investidor-de-criptomoedas-em-jardim-camburi-313656?home=espirito_santo","https://tribunaonline.com.br/policia/dono-de-porsche-sequestrado-em-jardim-camburi-e-resgatado-e-carro-recuperado-313597","https://www.agazeta.com.br/agora/homem-e-detido-durante-buscas-por-suspeitos-de-sequestro-em-vitoria-0626","https://simnoticias.com.br/sem-categoria/suspeito-de-participar-de-sequestro-de-investidor-e-preso-na-serra/"]},{"id":457,"date":"June 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"The parents; the target was an absent son","location":"Marseille, Quartier des Olives","country":"France","description":"At about 3 a.m., intruders, number not stated, attempted to force entry into a family's home in the Quartier des Olives and banged violently on the door. The family barricaded themselves in and alerted police; the intruders fled before police arrived, leaving only their registration.","summary":"At about 3 a.m. on Saturday 13 June 2026, a family asleep in a detached house in the Quartier des Olives, in Marseille's 13th arrondissement, was woken by violent banging on the door. The parents understood the visit was hostile, barricaded themselves inside and waited for the police. The intruders, whose number was not reported, fled before officers arrived and never got in. Nobody was hurt, nothing was taken and no demand was reported. The only clue left was the registration of their vehicle. The parents said one of their children, who was not there that night, had made money in cryptocurrency a year or more earlier and no longer holds any; investigators are reported to believe the attackers acted on out-of-date information. Four men were arrested that weekend after a series of attacks the same night between Marseille, Gardanne and Gignac-la-Nerthe, and are suspected of organising all of them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-4-hommes-marseille-serie-sequestrations-extorquer-cryptomonnaies/","https://www.laprovence.com/article/faits-divers-justice/2193885092828214/quatre-hommes-arretes-en-plein-braquage-sur-fond-de-cryptomonnaies-pres-de-marseille","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/es/france-arrests-crypto-robbers-marseille/"]},{"id":458,"date":"June 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Two women","location":"Gignac-la-Nerthe, Bouches-du-Rhône","country":"France","description":"Four suspects broke into a home in Gignac-la-Nerthe and held two women hostage, including one in her sixties, targeting them because a family member had accumulated significant cryptocurrency gains.","summary":"On 13 June 2026, a few hours after a failed attempt at a family's house in Marseille at about 3 a.m., several men entered a villa in Gignac-la-Nerthe, Bouches-du-Rhône, and held two women there, one of them in her sixties. Reports say the women were chosen because a member of their family had made large gains in cryptocurrency. The men tried to force them to transfer funds or reveal the relative's access keys. Police caught the men while a cryptocurrency transaction was under way, freed both women and arrested four men. No assault, weapon or injury was reported, and the women were unharmed. No amount has been given, and it is not known whether any funds moved. The four are suspected of organising the whole series of attacks that night between Marseille, Gardanne and Gignac-la-Nerthe.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two women, one in her sixties"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-4-hommes-marseille-serie-sequestrations-extorquer-cryptomonnaies/","https://www.laprovence.com/article/faits-divers-justice/2193885092828214/quatre-hommes-arretes-en-plein-braquage-sur-fond-de-cryptomonnaies-pres-de-marseille","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/es/france-arrests-crypto-robbers-marseille/"]},{"id":459,"date":"June 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Two foreign women, from the Netherlands and Venezuela (Geo News, Abb Takk) or the Netherlands and Spain (Daily Pakistan, ProPakistani)","location":"Y-Block, Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Lahore","country":"Pakistan","description":"Two women were held at a house in Y-Block, Defence, subjected to physical violence, sexual assault, and threatened with death while a $1.5 million ransom was demanded; per the FIR they were invited by Muhammad Raza Dar under the pretext of a crypto investment meeting, with visas arranged, and taken there at gunpoint on arrival in Lahore on June 29. Per DIG Faisal Kamran, they travelled voluntarily after meeting the main suspect in Singapore and went with him to Islamabad and Murree, then were abducted to a house rented for the purpose to recover money he claimed he was owed, in a staged kidnapping with the main suspect posing as a victim.","summary":"In late June 2026, two foreign women were held at gunpoint at a house in the Defence area of Lahore. One is from the Netherlands; the other is reported as Venezuelan or Spanish. They had a business partnership with the main suspect, described by police as an agreement to invest in cryptocurrency and share the profits. According to the police complaint, the suspect, Muhammad Raza Dar, invited them to Pakistan and had them taken to the house by force when they arrived in Lahore on 29 June. A senior police officer said instead that the women came voluntarily and travelled with the suspect before one suspect had them abducted over money he claimed he was owed. The complaint alleges the women were beaten and threatened with death and that one was raped several times. A ransom of $1.5 million was demanded and nothing was reported paid. One woman reached her father in the Netherlands, who called the police helpline, and a raid freed them. Four or five suspects were arrested, by differing reports.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two foreign business partners"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1500000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1500000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.geo.tv/latest/671366-five-held-over-alleged-kidnap-sexual-assault-of-foreign-women-in-lahore","https://abbtakk.tv/fir-lodged-over-alleged-abduction-assault-of-two-foreign-women-in-lahore/","https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/03-Jul-2026/police-find-crypto-dispute-behind-alleged-kidnapping-and-assault-of-two-foreign-women","https://propakistani.pk/2026/07/03/2-foreign-tourists-allegedly-raped-in-lahore-over-cryptocurrency-profit-dispute/"]},{"id":460,"date":"July 2, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-02","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"41 y/o Russian \"Artem I.\"","location":"Pecatu, South Kuta, Badung, Bali","country":"Indonesia","description":"Victim intercepted on his motorcycle by two masked men, handcuffed with plastic restraints, hooded, and driven to a two-story building where he was punched and kicked for approximately 30 hours.","summary":"At about 9.35 p.m. on Thursday 2 July 2026, a 41-year-old Russian man was riding his motorcycle away from the restaurant where he worked in Pecatu, South Kuta, Bali, when a black Nissan Serena blocked his path. By his account to investigators, two masked men handcuffed him with plastic restraints, covered his head and took him to a two-storey building, where he was held for about 30 hours. He said he was repeatedly punched and kicked while the men demanded the password to his cryptocurrency account, which he gave up. They took his phone and the keys to his rented villa, then used the keys to take a second phone believed to hold his account credentials. At about 4 a.m. on Saturday 4 July he was left in front of a hospital in Jimbaran, where he sought treatment. Police have not said how much was lost; a figure of US$5 million comes only from an Instagram interview. No suspect has been identified and no arrest announced.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thebalitimes.com/the-island/russian-man-reports-alleged-kidnapping-in-bali/","https://beincrypto.com/bali-crypto-kidnapping-russian-30-hours/","https://coindesk.cc/bali-crypto-nightmare-russian-man-kidnapped-and-tortured-for-30-hours-82309.html","https://balidiscovery.com/russian-in-bali-kidnapped-for-30-hours-forced-to-hand-over-crypto-account/","https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/bali-crypto-nightmare-russian-man-060139670.html?guccounter=1"]},{"id":461,"date":"June 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Male (49) and female (46)","location":"Forest Hills, Queens, New York City","country":"USA","description":"Three armed individuals approached a man (49) and a woman (46) near the corner of 70 Road and 110 Street in Forest Hills and demanded a \"cryptocurrency ledger\"","summary":"At about 8.15 p.m. on Monday 29 June 2026, three people approached a 49-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman in the street near 70 Road and 110 Street in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City. Police described the three as armed. They demanded a device they called a \"cryptocurrency ledger\". They then fled on foot without taking any property, and no assault or injury was reported. On 9 July 2026 the NYPD's Crime Stoppers programme published still images of the three people and appealed for information and video footage from that night. A reward of up to $3,500 is offered for information leading to an arrest and indictment. No arrests have been announced, and detectives say the investigation remains active.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man, 49"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman, 46, relation not stated"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://x.com/NYPDTips/status/2075022065812336954","https://hoodline.com/2026/07/forest-hills-crypto-heist-flops-as-armed-trio-botches-ledger-grab-cops-say/"]},{"id":462,"date":"July 3, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-03","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"18 y/o digital influencer","location":"Hotel in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo; driven to Cravinhos where the transfer was forced","country":"Brazil","description":"Two men posing as Polícia Civil officers arrived at a hotel in Ribeirão Preto where an 18-year-old influencer was spending a romantic weekend, presented a fake arrest warrant, handcuffed the victim and put him in the back seat of an unmarked car (Livecoins) or in the boot (ACidade ON), and released him after extracting R$750,000 in cryptocurrency.","summary":"On 3 July 2026, two men dressed as Polícia Civil officers arrived at a hotel in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo state, where an 18-year-old digital influencer who invests in cryptocurrency was staying with his girlfriend. They showed a paper they presented as an arrest warrant, had a hotel employee film the scene, handcuffed him and took him to an unmarked car; reports differ on whether he was put in the back seat or the boot. One report says he was driven to Cravinhos and forced to make a transfer there. The sum taken is given as R$750,000 or about R$800,000 in cryptocurrency, and he was released afterwards. Police said the two had followed his routine through his social media. The hotel footage showed their faces and the car's number plate, and Military Police stopped the car on a highway. The driver fled, exchanged fire with police and remains at large. The second man ran off on foot and was arrested the same day.","targeting":["Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/falsos-policiais-sequestram-influenciador-e-roubam-us-750-mil-em-criptomoedas-em-ribeirao-preto/","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ZYeJG3gb4","https://www.acidadeon.com/ribeiraopreto/cotidiano/influenciador-e-sequestrado-apos-falsa-abordagem-e-perde-r-800-mil-em-criptomoedas"]},{"id":463,"date":"July, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Two French crypto millionaires in their 20s; a third man escaped during the initial attack","location":"Canning Town, East London","country":"UK","description":"The pair drove from Kensington to east London intending to buy cannabis and were ambushed after parking in Shadwell by three masked men with a firearm and a knife, forced into their rented Mercedes and driven to a flat at Rathbone East in Canning Town where they were held 52 hours.","summary":"In July 2025, two French men in their 20s, described in court as cryptocurrency millionaires, drove from Kensington to east London intending to buy cannabis. After they parked their rented Mercedes in Shadwell, three masked men with a firearm and a knife forced them back into the car and drove them to a flat in Canning Town. A third man travelling with them escaped. The two were held for 52 hours. The prosecutor told the court they were stripped, tied up, gagged, repeatedly beaten, burned with cigarettes and had boiling water poured over them. The captors demanded about $150,000 and the two transferred about $30,000 in digital assets. One of the two was released; the second told investigators he believed he had been sold on to another criminal group. Six men, or five by some reports, were convicted at Inner London Crown Court of false imprisonment, two of them also of conspiracy to blackmail. Jurors cleared them of kidnap.","targeting":["Public profile","Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two French men in their twenties"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"travelling companion who escaped"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":150000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":150000},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":30000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/london-jury-convicts-six-crypto-kidnapping-1812152","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/london-jury-convict-crypto-torture-blackmail/","https://en.coin-turk.com/five-guilty-of-kidnapping-and-torturing-french-crypto-millionaires-in-london-for-150000-ransom/","https://crypto-economy.com/five-convicted-in-shocking-52-hour-crypto-kidnapping/"]},{"id":464,"date":"July 15, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-15","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Dion Adam Timberlake, 24","location":"Tudor Court Condo, Pattaya, Chonburi","country":"Thailand","description":"Victim was invited by an acquaintance nicknamed \"Maz\" to watch the England-Argentina World Cup match at a 6th-floor condo room in Pattaya; once inside, one of the two asked to use his phone, supposedly to exchange Telegram details. Police say Maz (Nolan Emmanuel) threatened him with the knife, taped his wrists and forced the transfer of 9,782 GBP in Ethereum while Nisar Armaan stayed in the room; his passport and car keys were seized.","summary":"At about 10:30 p.m. on 15 July 2026, Dion Adam Timberlake, 24, a British tourist, arrived at a sixth-floor flat in Tudor Court Condo, Pattaya, Thailand. He said an acquaintance he knew as \"Maz\" had invited him to watch a World Cup match, and that another British man was already there. One of the two asked to use his phone, supposedly to exchange Telegram details. Timberlake said Maz then produced a knife, took his passport and car keys, taped his hands and forced him to send Ethereum worth 9,782 GBP from his wallet. The two allegedly then returned his belongings and let him leave uninjured. Police said he had earlier shown the men his cryptocurrency portfolio. Officers arrested Nisar Armaan, 22, at the flat and Nolan Emmanuel, 22, whom they identify as Maz, at a hotel. Both are accused of armed robbery and unlawful detention, and both denied the allegations.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":9782,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://crimeasia.com/british-tourist-held-hostage-and-has-crypto-stolen-by-acquaintances-while-watching-world-cup-game-in-thailand","https://www.thailandnews.co/2026/07/two-britons-arrested-in-pattaya-over-alleged-cryptocurrency-robbery/","https://aseannow.com/thailand-news/brits-arrested-after-pattaya-crypto-robbery-claim-r2887"]},{"id":465,"date":"April 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Ashley James O'Brien","location":"Koh Samui, Surat Thani","country":"Thailand","description":"Two masked men entered an unlocked villa on Koh Samui in the pre-dawn hours of April 29, where British businessman Ashley James O'Brien was sleeping on a sofa; armed with a firearm, they forced him face-down and ransacked the property, forcing a transfer of 70,000 GBP (around 94,000 USD) in cryptocurrency and stealing a luxury watch.","summary":"On 29 April 2026, before dawn, intruders entered an unlocked villa on Koh Samui, Thailand, rented by Ashley James O'Brien, 34, described as a British businessman, who was asleep on a sofa. According to one account, two men in balaclavas threatened him with a firearm and made him lie face down while they ransacked the villa, and cryptocurrency was transferred during the raid. That account puts the loss at more than 250,000 GBP in valuables, including a luxury watch and 70,000 GBP in cryptocurrency; another says a Rolex and Bitcoin together worth 250,000 GBP were taken. No beating or injury was reported. On 30 April the Koh Samui Provincial Court issued arrest warrants for three Britons: Marco George Cameron Diamantis, 33, Myles Rees Lapierre, 35, and Samantha Dorothy Tilley, 38, who allegedly acted as the getaway driver. A later report says all three remain on the run.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.facebook.com/crimeasianews/posts/three-british-nationals-wanted-for-armed-robbery-of-businessman-on-koh-samui-the/122110417971072195/","https://crimeasia.com/british-tourist-held-hostage-and-has-crypto-stolen-by-acquaintances-while-watching-world-cup-game-in-thailand"]},{"id":466,"date":"June 20, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-20","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Xia Kefu, 39, and Jimmy Sing Sun (Philstar) or Jimmy Jing Sun (BenarNews), 45, a US citizen of Chinese origin","location":"Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila; bodies found in Camarines Sur","country":"Philippines","description":"Victims were lured to the Philippines by an invitation from a distributor calling herself \"Li Na\", with a Medev invitation letter, kidnapped the evening of June 20 after their last contact at 6 PM, and murdered by June 24.","summary":"Xia Kefu, 39, a marketing director at a Chinese medical technology company, and a 45-year-old US citizen of Chinese origin, named in reports as Jimmy Sing Sun or Jimmy Jing Sun, flew from Beijing to Manila on 20 June 2024 for a business trip. The second man's wife said the trip followed an invitation from a Philippine distributor calling herself \"Li Na\", who supplied an invitation letter from a company called Medev. Police said unidentified men picked the two up at the airport. One sent a safe-arrival message at about 6 p.m. and then went silent. Police said the families received a demand for 5 million yuan the next day and negotiated it down to 3 million yuan, which Xia's family paid; the wife said a colleague was asked for 15 million yuan, to be converted into USDT. The two men's bodies were found on 24 June in Camarines Sur, wrapped in a blanket beside a cliff.\n\nOn 2 July 2024 Philippine police said no suspect had been caught. In July 2026 China's Ministry of Public Security said a major culprit surnamed Liu, arrested in the United States in October 2024, had been repatriated to Beijing on 20 July 2026.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two business travellers"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":2,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":412639},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27946467","https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/07/04/2367619/persons-interest-eyed-2-chinese-execs-murder","https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-20/Suspect-linked-to-overseas-kidnapping-murder-repatriated-from-US-1OWkyr6iNGw/share_amp.html","https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/two-abducted-chinese-businessmen-found-dead-in-philippines-07032024145755.html"]},{"id":467,"date":"January 18, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Li Jia and Zhao Dong (both pseudonyms per Caixin)","location":"Philippines","country":"Philippines","description":"Victims were lured to the Philippines for a fake business inspection trip in January 2024 and kidnapped shortly after landing following a transit through Hong Kong. Messages came from Li's phone until about 5 a.m. on 26 January and calls from \"big brother\" until 6 February 2024, with no contact from either man since.","summary":"Two men given the pseudonyms Li Jia and Zhao Dong were kidnapped after landing in the Philippines on 18 January 2024. Li, a Chinese citizen, and Zhao, his Austrian-Chinese friend, had been invited on a business trip. According to Li's sister, a businessman Li called \"big brother\" had introduced him to a woman associated with investment projects in the Philippines. Li messaged his sister at about 4 p.m. to say they had arrived and then stopped responding. The next day he called asking her to raise 1.5 million USDT while kidnappers threatened him. Li's family paid 190,000 USDT across several accounts and further demands followed; Zhao's family paid nothing. The last message from Li's phone came at about 5 a.m. on 26 January, and \"big brother\" kept reassuring the family until a final call on 6 February 2024. Neither man has been heard from since. As of 10 July 2024 authorities in China, the Philippines, Austria and Germany were investigating and nobody had been identified.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two business travellers"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Victim missing","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":true,"demanded":{"amount":1500000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":190000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/1-million-usdt-ransom-chinese-dead/","https://www.caixinglobal.com/2024-07-10/another-case-of-kidnapped-chinese-in-philippines-emerges-102214799.html","https://www.wublock123.com/articles/article-29130","https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/10604478731617"]},{"id":468,"date":"August 7, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-07","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Harry Chun Tak Yeh","location":"Trinidad district, Asunción","country":"Paraguay","description":"Founder of Quantum Fintech Group and prominent crypto investor with over $2.4 billion in assets under management since 2013, was found dead at 4:30 AM on August 7 outside Jade Park luxury tower in Asunción, having fallen from the 30th floor.","summary":"Harry Chun Tak Yeh, founder and managing partner of Quantum Fintech Group, was found dead at about 04:30 on 7 August 2026 outside the Jade Park tower in the Trinidad district of Asunción, Paraguay. Officers answering an emergency call found his body at the base of the building, naked and covered with a black plastic bag. Police said he had fallen from the 30th floor. A prosecutor who went up to the 30th-floor flat where he was believed to have lived found all the doors open, the flat turned over and nobody inside. His partner, who lived in a flat on the 27th floor, told officers she did not know what had happened. Nobody has been accused of involvement, no theft is confirmed and nothing is reported missing. Prosecutors were pursuing homicide, accident and suicide as parallel lines, and police said they could not yet determine how he fell. As of 10 August 2026 the autopsy was pending and no cause of death had been established.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.odaily.news/en/post/5212397","https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/chinese-crypto-investor-harry-chun-tak-yeh-found-dead-after-falling-from-thirty-storey-building-in-paraguay/","https://crypto.news/harry-yeh-dies-after-30th-floor-paraguay-fall/","https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cryptocurrency-investor-harry-yeh-found-dead-paraguay-1813159","https://www.extra.com.py/actualidad/chino-cayo-del-piso-30-de-un-edificio-de-asuncion-y-murio"]},{"id":469,"date":"August 3 to 4, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-03","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Unidentified female","location":"Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Yvelines","country":"France","description":"Three men got into the flat of a shopkeeper reported to hold crypto, intending to leave with her crypto assets. Police, acting on intelligence about a planned séquestration, arrived while they were still searching the flat.","summary":"During the night of 3 to 4 August 2026, three men got into the flat of a shopkeeper in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Yvelines, France, who was reported to hold cryptocurrency. They intended to leave with her crypto assets. Police held precise intelligence about a plan to hold her captive and reached the flat while the men were still searching it, before they could leave with anything. Nothing was taken. It is not known whether the woman was at home, and no contact between her and the men is described. One man in his twenties was arrested at the scene; his two accomplices fled and were still being sought. An investigation was opened for attempted organised-gang theft, which carries up to 15 years in prison. The woman has not been named and the amount targeted has not been made public.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/france-home-jacking-detentrice-cryptomonnaies-dejoue-yvelines/","https://cryptoast.fr/nouvelles-agressions-detenteurs-cryptomonnaies-plus-personne-abri/","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/home-jacking-et-cryptomonnaies-la-methode-violente-qui-explose-en-france-pour-semparer-de-vos-actifs/","https://www.infosyvelines.fr/articles/montigny-le-bretonneux-home-jacking-cryptomonnaies-dejoue-2026"]},{"id":470,"date":"June 24, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-24","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Young couple","location":"Village near Montdidier, Somme (Grivesnes per the ICI article path)","country":"France","description":"A first team came to the couple's home on June 24, 2026 and was turned back by the household's dogs (ICI) or dog (Cryptoast); whether they crossed the threshold is not stated. The property was targeted based on darkweb data listing its previous crypto-holding owners.","summary":"On 24 June 2026 a team of attackers came to the home of a couple in a village near Montdidier, in the Somme, France. The couple, a farmer and a bank executive near thirty, had no connection to cryptocurrency. They had bought the house two years earlier from a wealthy retired couple whose tax record and personal data, including the address, had been stolen and put up for sale on the darkweb as a high-potential crypto target, according to the couple's lawyer. The household's dog, or dogs by another account, turned the team back; whether the men crossed the threshold is not stated. Nothing was taken and no contact with the couple is described. Nobody from this team has been identified or arrested. The lawyer said three different groups used the same outdated file: a second team got inside two days later and assaulted the couple, and an alarm drove off a third on 17 July 2026. The couple want to sell the house.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/hauts-de-france/somme-80/grivesnes/somme-un-couple-sequestre-chez-lui-et-cible-de-plusieurs-intrusions-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie-qu-il-ne-possede-pas-9784554","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/crypto-ils-achetent-une-maison-et-sont-sequestres-a-la-place-de-lancien-proprietaire-a-cause-dune-liste-du-darkweb/","https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-crypto-font-agresser-place-anciens-proprietaires-maison/"]},{"id":471,"date":"June 26, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-26","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Young couple","location":"Village near Montdidier, Somme (Grivesnes per the ICI article path)","country":"France","description":"Two days after the first failed attempt, a second separate criminal team gained entry to the same couple's home on June 26, bound one victim and beat the other (ICI; Cryptoast has one victim tied and beaten) while streaming the assault live on Snapchat.","summary":"On 26 June 2026, two days after a first team was turned back, a second team got inside the home of a couple in a village near Montdidier, in the Somme, France. The couple, a farmer and a bank executive near thirty, owned no cryptocurrency. Their lawyer said the attackers were working from an outdated address file bought on the darkweb. By one account the team tied up one of the two and beat the other; by another, the same person was tied up and beaten. The assault was filmed live on Snapchat. The attackers then realised that the couple did not match the profile they were looking for and left. Nothing was reported taken and no injuries are described. Nobody from this team has been identified or arrested. The couple then installed an alarm, which drove off a third team on 17 July 2026; two members of that third team were tried at Amiens on 11 August 2026. The couple want to sell the house.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"couple near thirty"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/hauts-de-france/somme-80/grivesnes/somme-un-couple-sequestre-chez-lui-et-cible-de-plusieurs-intrusions-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie-qu-il-ne-possede-pas-9784554","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/crypto-ils-achetent-une-maison-et-sont-sequestres-a-la-place-de-lancien-proprietaire-a-cause-dune-liste-du-darkweb/","https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-crypto-font-agresser-place-anciens-proprietaires-maison/"]},{"id":472,"date":"July 17, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-17","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"The same couple as 470 and 471, near thirty, a farmer and a bank executive, with no crypto of their own","location":"Small village near Montdidier, Somme (Grivesnes per the ICI article path)","country":"France","description":"A third separate criminal commando arrived at the same couple's home on July 17, 2026, weeks after the second attack; the alarm system installed by the couple after Incident 2 triggered and scared the attackers off before entry was gained.","summary":"On 17 July 2026 a four-man team came to the home of a couple in a small village near Montdidier, in the Somme, France, the third intrusion attempt at the address in under a month. The couple, a farmer and a bank executive almost thirty, had bought the house from a wealthy retired couple whose tax record and old address had leaked on the darkweb, their lawyer told the court. The men carried a crowbar, balaclavas and cable ties in a bag. An alarm the couple had installed after an attack on 26 June put them to flight before they got inside. Nothing was taken.\n\nTwo of the four, aged 20 and 21 and from Île-de-France, were arrested and placed in pre-trial detention on 7 August after gendarmes used video surveillance, telephone data and DNA from a motorway toll ticket. One had accepted the job over Telegram from a man never identified, for a sum given as 15,000 to 30,000 euros or 15,000 to 20,000 euros; the other was to drive the team for 300 euros. On 11 August 2026 the Amiens court sentenced the younger man to three years with 18 months to serve and the other to 18 months with nine to serve.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/hauts-de-france/somme-80/grivesnes/somme-un-couple-sequestre-chez-lui-et-cible-de-plusieurs-intrusions-pour-de-la-cryptomonnaie-qu-il-ne-possede-pas-9784554","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/crypto-ils-achetent-une-maison-et-sont-sequestres-a-la-place-de-lancien-proprietaire-a-cause-dune-liste-du-darkweb/","https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-crypto-font-agresser-place-anciens-proprietaires-maison/"]},{"id":473,"date":"January 24, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-24","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Male crypto portfolio manager.","location":"Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne","country":"France","description":"Four hooded individuals carrying crowbars arrived at approximately 1:00 AM at the home and attempted forced entry; the victim spotted them through his door camera without opening, while a neighbor simultaneously noticed the group and alerted police.","summary":"On 24 January 2026 four hooded men armed with crowbars tried to burgle the home of a man in Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France, whose work is connected to the management of cryptocurrency portfolios. One account describes the household as the man and his family. The four fled without managing to get inside the dwelling. They had no reported contact with the occupants, nothing was demanded and nothing was taken. The man has not been named, and no arrest, suspect, investigation or prosecution has been reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/liste-enlevements-agressions-lies-cryptomonnaies-france/","https://fibo-crypto.fr/en/blog/crypto-kidnapping-france-protection/"]},{"id":474,"date":"October 31, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-31","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Family of five: couple, two children (four years and seven months) and the maternal grandmother","location":"Revelles, Somme","country":"France","description":"Three hooded men armed with handguns rang the bell, held the family member who opened at gunpoint, tied the couple and the grandmother with cable ties, threatened them and struck them repeatedly, and demanded the father's phone and an immediate crypto transfer. He refused and freed himself, and they fled.","summary":"On the evening of 31 October 2025, three hooded men armed with handguns rang the bell at a family home in Revelles, in the Somme, France. Inside were a couple, their two children aged four years and seven months, and the maternal grandmother. The father was targeted as a cryptocurrency holder. The men held the person who opened the door at gunpoint, tied the couple and the grandmother with cable ties, threatened them and struck them repeatedly, beating the father in front of his children. They ordered him to hand over his smartphone and transfer his cryptocurrency, and he refused. Accounts put the duration at several tens of minutes or several hours. The father got out of his bonds and the men fled, taking a family phone; no transfer was made.\n\nTwo men in their twenties, traced through the stolen phone, were arrested on 15 December 2025 and on 23 February 2026 were sentenced to nine and five years in prison, with 7,000 euros in damages to each of the three adults. The third man was still being sought and the person who ordered the attack has not been identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife, two children (4 years and 7 months), maternal grandmother"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/hauts-de-france/somme-80/revelles/a-revelles-dans-la-somme-ils-sequestrent-une-famille-le-soir-d-halloween-pour-lui-extorquer-des-cryptomonnaies-2682059","https://cryptonaute.fr/kidnappings-crypto-france-justice-precedent-historique/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/justice-condamnations-sequestration-crypto-amiens/","https://fibo-crypto.fr/blog/enlevements-crypto-condamnations-amiens-justice/"]},{"id":475,"date":"July 3, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-03","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Unidentified 36 y/o male","location":"Met in Shoreditch, east London; held at his home in Hertfordshire (town not stated)","country":"UK","description":"Victim was befriended by four men during a night out in Shoreditch on July 3, 2025, forced back to his home, held there against his will, assaulted and made to access his financial accounts including Coinbase. He woke with facial injuries and no memory of the incident.","summary":"A 36-year-old man from Hertfordshire was out with friends in Shoreditch, east London, on 3 July 2025 when four men befriended him. They later forced him back to his home, held him against his will, assaulted him and made him open his financial accounts, including his Coinbase account. More than 10,000 pounds was taken from his bank and cryptocurrency accounts, along with cash and watches. He woke with facial injuries and no memory of the incident. Coinbase said it contacted police while the crime was in progress, after its systems detected signs that the customer was acting under duress.\n\nFour men aged 20 to 39 were found guilty of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and false imprisonment and were jailed on 18 May at St Albans Crown Court for terms of three and a half to six and a half years. A fifth man, convicted of money-laundering offences, received a two-year community order.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.herts.police.uk/news/hertfordshire/news/2026/may-2026/five-sentenced-for-wrench-attack-on-herts-man/","https://cryptoadventure.com/coinbase-says-blockchain-forensics-helped-uk-police-secure-five-convictions/","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/crypto-thieves-prison-sentences/","https://beincrypto.com/coinbase-uk-crypto-kidnapping-convictions/","https://www.royston-crow.co.uk/news/26117010.herts-man-recovering-crypto-theft-kidnapping-london/"]},{"id":476,"date":"August 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Aleksandr, 28 y/o Russian national","location":"Chalong, Phuket","country":"Thailand","description":"Victim lured via phone by Dmitrii Glushko to a house in Soi Klum Yang, Chalong for a supposed business investment meeting; on arrival he found not Glushko but four other Russian men who assaulted and detained him, forcing him to transfer 35,000 USDT via the TRONSCAN app before releasing him.","summary":"Aleksandr, a 28-year-old Russian national, was robbed in Chalong, Phuket, Thailand, on 26 August 2025. Dmitrii Glushko, 26, also Russian, telephoned him and invited him to a house in Soi Klum Yang to discuss business. Glushko was not there when Aleksandr arrived. Four Russian men he had never met (three by one account) attacked him at once, detained him inside the property and forced him to transfer 35,000 USDT, worth about 1.2 or 1.3 million baht, through the Tronscan application. They then released him. Police found that the men at the house had already left Thailand separately. Acting on a tip-off that Glushko planned to hide on Koh Samui, officers stopped a car coming off the ferry there at about 12.50 p.m. on 28 August and found him hiding in the back seat. Investigators suspect he acted as the decoy. He was charged with robbery by more than three people acting together, which carries 10 to 15 years in prison.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":35000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thethaiger.com/news/samui/russian-man-arrested-on-koh-samui-over-phuket-cryptocurrency-robbery","https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3096244/russian-wanted-over-phuket-crypto-heist-arrested-hiding-in-car-on-koh-samui","https://www.chiangraitimes.com/hot-news/crime/russian-arrested-phuket/","https://www.cryptopolitan.com/thai-authorities-apprehend-crypto-criminal/","https://www.mitrade.com/au/insights/news/live-news/article-3-1082952-20250831","https://aseannow.com/topic/1371440-russian-man-arrested-in-koh-samui-over-phuket-crypto-heist/","https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/08/29/russian-suspect-fleeing-phuket-caught-in-car-at-samui-ferry/"]},{"id":477,"date":"August 10 to 11, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-10","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Couple","location":"Rion-des-Landes, Landes","country":"France","description":"Several individuals broke into a couple's home in Rion-des-Landes at approximately 4:00 AM on the night of August 10-11 and sought access to what the report called a large amount of Bitcoin and other digital assets, before kidnapping both and transporting them to separate locations. The report gives no amount and no confirmation anything was obtained.","summary":"During the night of 10 to 11 August 2026, at around 4 a.m., several people entered the home of a couple in Rion-des-Landes, Landes, France. They allegedly threatened the couple while seeking access to what was described as a large amount of Bitcoin and other digital assets. The attackers then removed both from the house and took them to separate locations. The man was later found in Solferino, about 20 kilometres away, naked and with several cuts. The woman was found several kilometres further on, inside a vehicle in another French department. It was not reported how long they were held or whether any cryptocurrency was transferred. Two men were arrested soon afterwards; their identities were not released and no charges had been announced. The Specialised Interregional Jurisdiction in Bordeaux, a court for organised crime, took the case.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://crypto.news/french-couple-kidnapped-alleged-bitcoin-extortion-plot/","https://www.diariobitcoin.com/europa/pareja-francesa-fue-secuestrada-en-un-presunto-intento-de-extorsion-con-bitcoin/"]},{"id":478,"date":"August 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Couple","location":"Alès, Gard","country":"France","description":"At approximately 5:00 AM, two masked men wearing hoods and gloves forced entry into an apartment in Alès while the couple slept. One carried a handgun, the other a knife. They tied up the couple and threatened them for more than two hours (CryptoCompass, COINTURK; \"plusieurs heures\" per Objectif Sud) while demanding cryptocurrency transfers. A young child was in the home.","summary":"On Saturday 29 August 2026, at around five o'clock in the morning, two hooded and gloved men forced the door of an apartment in Alès, Gard, France, while a couple slept inside. One carried a handgun and the other a knife. They tied the couple up and held them under threat for more than two hours, demanding cryptocurrency transfers. The couple's young child was in the home throughout. No blows or injuries are reported, no transfer is reported as completed and nothing is reported taken. The couple's cries alerted neighbours, who called the police, and the two men left as officers arrived. Neither has been arrested. Investigators have not confirmed that the couple held any digital assets, and the couple have since said they will no longer hold any. The case was handed to the organised and specialised crime division in Nîmes.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/ales-couple-sequestre-ligote-piste-crypto","https://www.objectifsud.fr/faits-divers/ales-un-couple-sequestre-et-ligote-chez-eux-un-enfant-etait-dans-le-logement-168502.php","https://www.cryptocompass.com/articles/armed-intruders-tie-up-al-s-couple-and-demand-crypto-suspects-still-at-large","https://en.coin-turk.com/armed-assailants-target-french-couple-in-ales-for-crypto-escape-after-police-intervention/"]},{"id":479,"date":"December 3, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-03","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Family","location":"North Richland Hills, Tarrant County, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Three men posing as DoorDash delivery drivers gained entry to a family home in North Richland Hills, Texas. They physically assaulted the male homeowner and demanded his cryptocurrency wallet. His wife hid with their children and called 911. Arriving police sirens disrupted the robbery, and the three fled.","summary":"On 3 December 2024, three people pretending to deliver food for DoorDash got into a home on Tiffin Drive in North Richland Hills, Tarrant County, Texas. The three ambushed the homeowner, pistol-whipped him and threatened to kill his family while demanding money from his cryptocurrency wallet. His wife hid with their children and called the emergency services. The approaching sirens broke up the robbery and the three ran from the house without getting anything. The homeowner was treated for his injuries; his wife and children were not hurt. Police caught all three. Abdias Espinoza, 19, of Dallas, pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation with intent to commit aggravated robbery and to aggravated robbery, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Rodney Hill, 18, of Dallas, was awaiting trial on the same charges, which a 17-year-old also faces.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://hoodline.com/2025/12/tarrant-county-burglar-sentenced-to-45-years-after-guilty-plea-in-violent-cryptocurrency-robbery/","https://www.fox4news.com/news/man-sentenced-45-years-cryptocurrency-home-invasion","https://www.facebook.com/tarrantcountyda/posts/pfbid0FFXzHZyF6E6kGDmYsumaxKfD8SyBMnUZhfZQ9ZJA698tFx2avaGtN9wcMCsHokpcl"]},{"id":480,"date":"August 22, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-22","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"The tenants, described only as a family, not the property owner the attackers were after","location":"Vern-sur-Seiche, Ille-et-Vilaine","country":"France","description":"Several individuals entered an isolated house in the centre of Vern-sur-Seiche, a commune of around 8,000 people south of Rennes. They held and assaulted the occupants before realising they had the wrong family. Their intended target was the property's OWNER, who was absent, and whom they intended to rob of cryptocurrency. The occupants were the tenants. The attackers left without finding the man they were looking for.","summary":"On 22 August 2026 a group of people entered an isolated house in the centre of Vern-sur-Seiche, a commune south of Rennes in Ille-et-Vilaine, France, and turned on the family renting it. Their real target was reported to be the owner of the property, who was known to hold digital assets and was away at the time. The attackers held and assaulted the tenants, then worked out that they had the wrong family and left without finding the man they wanted. Nothing is reported taken. The family were taken into the care of the emergency services. The Rennes public prosecutor confirmed the facts and the mistaken target but released no further detail, so the number of attackers and any demands they made are not public. The investigation was given to the Section de recherches in Rennes. No arrest had been reported as of 5 September.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"family renting the house"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/cryptomonnaies-famille-sequestre-violentee-erreur-rennes","https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/faits-divers/info-ouest-france-une-famille-sequestree-par-erreur-pour-des-cryptomonnaies-pres-de-rennes-une-enquete-ouverte-0b30fa26-a7a9-11f1-8a27-1e0c4eb5e395","https://www.letribunaldunet.fr/faits-divers/famille-sequestree-erreur-cryptomonnaies-rennes.html","https://renseignementeconomique.fr/sequestration-pres-de-rennes-des-locataires-pris-pour-cible-pour-des-cryptomonnaies-une-enquete-ouverte"]},{"id":481,"date":"September 1, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-01","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Jonathan Meléndez and family; surviving son six (Infobae) or about five (Diario de Mexico)","location":"Grand Viure, Zona Esmeralda, Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico","country":"Mexico","description":"Investigators' principal hypothesis is that the attackers believed Meléndez kept a hardware \"cold wallet\" holding millions in Bitcoin at the property and killed the household while trying to obtain it.","summary":"Jonathan Samuel Meléndez Ochoa, 38, keyboardist and a founder of the Mexican band Camilo Septimo, was shot dead on 1 September 2026 in his family's apartment in the Grand Viure development in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico. Also killed were his wife Ana Paula Barragan, 35, who was four months pregnant, their three-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old woman who worked for the family. A young son, aged about five or six, survived unhurt in another room. Prosecutors said the attackers were looking for a cold wallet said to hold millions of dollars in bitcoin. The victims were restrained with cable ties and industrial tape before being shot, and prosecutors said the gun had a silencer. First reports found no sign of forced entry, and no cryptocurrency transfer is reported.\n\nTwo men were detained: Diego Sebastian N., described by prosecutors as a business associate of Meléndez who used that relationship to get into the apartment, and Gerardo N., whom investigators say was promised 2 million pesos for his help. Both were remanded in custody and are under investigation for the aggravated homicide of four people.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"pregnant wife and three-year-old daughter"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"21-year-old household worker"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":5,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptonews.net/news/security/33405048/","https://www.diariodemexico.com/mi-ciudad/dan-prision-preventiva-implicados-en-multihomicidio-jonathan-melendez-familia","https://cryptodigicurrency.com/mexican-rock-star-and-family-murdered-over-1-5m-bitcoin-wallet/","https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2026/09/03/criptomonedas-y-disputa-economica-la-principal-hipotesis-por-el-multihomicidio-del-tecladista-de-camilo-septimo/","https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/espectaculos/2026/09/04/ya-todos-te-vieron-asesinos-de-jonathan-melendez-iban-por-millones-de-dolares-en-bitcoins/"]},{"id":482,"date":"August 24, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-24","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"47 y/o male","location":"Jouy-en-Josas, Yvelines","country":"France","description":"They tied him up, gagged him and beat him for approximately two hours while demanding the access codes to his cryptocurrency accounts. The attackers were convinced he held close to EUR 6 million in crypto; they found approximately EUR 3,000. The victim escaped and raised the alarm.","summary":"In the early hours of 24 August 2026 (one account says the night of 24 to 25 August), three hooded and gloved men forced their way into the detached house of a 47-year-old man in Jouy-en-Josas, Yvelines, France. They overpowered him and demanded the access codes to his cryptocurrency accounts and wallets, expecting to reach about 6 million euros. He was tied at the wrists and ankles, gagged and held for close to two hours. He is reported to have been struck repeatedly in the face and cut on the hand, the arm and the knees to force out the passwords. His accounts held only about 3,000 euros. By one account nothing was stolen; by another the attackers left with about 3,000 euros. After about two hours the man got free and raised the alarm. The attackers had fled before police arrived and no arrest had been made.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cnews.fr/faits-divers/2026-08-25/yvelines-victime-dun-home-jacking-pour-lui-voler-ses-cryptomonnaies-il","https://www.europe1.fr/faits-divers/info-europe-1-yvelines-sequestre-pour-ses-cryptomonnaies-il-parvient-a-sechapper-1033703","https://tv78.com/jouy-en-josas-un-homme-sequestre-a-son-domicile-pour-ses-cryptomonnaies/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/jouy-en-josas-sequestre-frappe-crypto"]},{"id":483,"date":"March ?, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Multiple detainees","location":"Ufa, Bashkortostan","country":"Russia","description":"A traffic police officer in Ufa seized detainees' mobile phones during detention procedures, gained access to the encrypted crypto wallets held on those phones, and moved the funds to accounts under his control via a messaging app.","summary":"In 2022 a traffic police officer in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, stole Bitcoin from people held in police custody. The officer, who has not been named, took part in police actions and seized detainees' mobile phones during them. Investigators said he then gained access to the crypto wallets on the phones, moved the money out through a messaging app and sent it on to accounts he controlled. Court documents found that the detainees did not approve the transfers, and the court stated that he used physical violence against detainees during the process, without saying what that involved. Law enforcement estimated the Bitcoin at around 20 million rubles, equated to $700,000, at the rate on the day of the report. Officials said he acted alone. A Russian court sentenced him to seven years in prison, stripped him of his police rank and ordered financial compensation for the detainees.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"people in police custody"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":700000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.analyticsinsight.net/news/russian-officer-jailed-for-bitcoin-theft-as-market-prices-slide","https://x.com/wublockchain12/status/2004759180411031646","https://tass.ru/proisshestviya/26017807"]},{"id":484,"date":"January 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"\"RATIRL\", League of Legends streamer, and his father; legal name not stated","location":"Sweden","country":"Sweden","description":"Attackers invaded the home and attacked both him and his father, beating them and pouring gasoline over him while demanding access to cryptocurrency. The attackers appear to have assumed that a well-known streamer would be holding a significant amount of crypto. He did not hold cryptocurrency in any form they could take.","summary":"RATIRL, a Swedish League of Legends streamer, and his father were assaulted in the family home in Sweden on 13 January 2026. RATIRL later told viewers that armed intruders broke in, went straight for his father and beat him, assaulted him too and demanded access to cryptocurrency they believed he was holding. He said they poured gasoline on him while pressing for access. One account puts the number of intruders at three, and secondhand accounts say he was held for about four hours. He suffered fractured fingers, bruising and a blow to the head; his father was beaten and reportedly survived. RATIRL was holding no cryptocurrency the intruders could take. They left with Pokémon cards, car keys and identification documents. One report says two suspects have been arrested; another says there has been no public confirmation of arrests or charges.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://spilled.gg/ratirl-home-invasion-subathon-months/","https://x.com/lopp/status/2058917155530293600","https://trendsmask.com/what-happened-to-ratirl-782964.html","https://bo3.gg/lol/news/armed-intruders-attack-ratirl-and-demand-crypto","https://tradersunion.com/news/market-voices/show/2128066-swedish-streamer-robbery-crypto/"]},{"id":485,"date":"March 10, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Sylwester Suszek","location":"Czeladz, near Katowice, Silesia","country":"Poland","description":"Sylwester Suszek, founder of the Polish cryptocurrency exchange BitBay, disappeared on March 10, 2022. His last confirmed location was a fuel depot in Czeladz, where he had driven to a business meeting with an associate, Marian W. (Marian Wszolek). His white Porsche Taycan was later found abandoned. His sister subsequently received voice and text messages in which Suszek begged for Bitcoin to secure his release, saying his captors were threatening to cut off his fingers over a debt.","summary":"Sylwester Suszek, 34, founder of the Polish crypto exchange BitBay, later renamed Zonda, disappeared on 10 March 2022. That morning he drove from his home in Katowice, took his son to kindergarten and went to a business meeting at a fuel station in Czeladź run by Marian W., known as \"Maniek\". His phone last logged on there at 15.08 and the station's cameras were not working that day. Marian W. says Suszek left in a car with an unknown woman; investigators do not believe this. The family later received messages saying he was being threatened with having his fingers cut off, and a voice message asking for 34 bitcoins, which police judged to be a fake. No payment is reported. A year after he vanished, four crypto wallets were reportedly emptied.\n\nMarian W. has been charged over the disappearance, with reports differing on the charge and its date, and his lawyer says there was no abduction. Prosecutors have also charged a woman named as his former wife with belonging to a group that aimed to take over Suszek's assets, with a gain of at least 11.21 million euros. No body has been found and the case remains unresolved.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Victim missing","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":true,"demanded":{"amount":34,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.kucoin.com/es/news/flash/bitbay-founder-sylwester-suszek-disappeared-in-2022-exchange-rebranded-twice-as-probe-continues","https://crypto.news/zondacrypto-collapse-leaves-founder-missing/","https://cryptobriefing.com/bitbay-suszek-disappearance-zondacrypto/","https://u.today/two-crypto-bosses-vanish-from-same-exchange","https://www.rp.pl/przestepczosc/art44347451-cala-prawda-o-sylwestrze-suszku-krol-bitcoinow-mogl-zniknac-by-chronic-najblizszych","https://www.rp.pl/przestepczosc/art45088561-przelom-w-sprawie-zaginiecia-sylwestra-suszka-polskiego-krola-bitcoinow-w-tle-miliony-wyprowadzone-z-gieldy","https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/zaginiecie-polskiego-krola-bitcoinow-postawiono-zarzut-7121535830027040a","https://www.weex.com/news/detail/four-years-ago-a-cryptocurrency-mogul-disappeared-now-his-successor-has-vanished-gda02ujefhqlvzzdfcclwsu2"]},{"id":486,"date":"December 8, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-08","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Undisclosed","location":"5801 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, Florida","country":"USA","description":"The suspect had met the victim at the Kiki on the River nightclub in October, roughly two months earlier. He brandished a small black handgun, forcibly removed the victim's watch from his wrist, and repeatedly threatened to kill him if he did not comply.","summary":"Police said a man visiting Miami, Florida, from out of state was robbed at gunpoint on 8 December 2025 by a man he had met at a nightclub in October. According to investigators, the visitor got into the suspect's car on Biscayne Blvd at 2:45 a.m. The suspect, named by police as Dontae Lamar Johnson, 28, of Royal Palm Beach, brandished a small black handgun and demanded everything he had. Police said Johnson forcefully took the watch off the man's wrist and the man handed over his chain and bracelet, jewellery totalling approximately $413,500. Johnson then demanded that he open his cryptocurrency wallet, telling him repeatedly that he would kill him if he did not comply. The man transferred $562,155 worth of crypto, police said, then escaped and called an Uber. He reported the robbery two days later. Police arrested Johnson on an armed robbery charge and found a small black pistol in his car. A judge ordered him held pending a pre-trial detention hearing.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Valuables","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":975655,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":975655},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://vemediaonline.co.uk/rapper-buckfiddy-arrested-for-1m-crypto-jewellery-robbery/"]},{"id":487,"date":"September 6, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-06","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Mother and son","location":"Nice, Alpes-Maritimes","country":"France","description":"Two hooded men broke into a home in Nice and tied up a mother and her son. They stole several personal items including a phone that held the access codes to a cryptocurrency account worth approximately USD 25,000.","summary":"Shortly before 11 p.m. on Sunday 6 September 2026, two men in balaclavas burst into the home of a mother and her son in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. They overpowered the two, tied them up and held them inside. The men then fled with a wallet, a passport and two mobile phones. One of the phones held the access codes to a cryptocurrency account worth about 25,000 dollars. Nothing was demanded of the mother and son directly, and what became of the digital assets has not been disclosed. No injuries are described and it is not reported how the two got free. The Nice prosecutor's office opened an investigation for extortion with a weapon and unlawful confinement and assigned it to the interdepartmental judicial police service of Nice. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"mother or son, holder not stated"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the other of mother and son"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/bitcoin/a-nice-deux-personnes-sequestrees-chez-elles-et-un-compte-de-cryptomonnaies-d-une-valeur-de-25-000-dollars-derobe_8180891.html","https://www.varactu.fr/25-000-dollars-en-cryptomonnaies-vises-apres-la-sequestration-dune-mere-et-de-son-fils-a-nice/","https://actu17.fr/faits-divers/nice-une-mere-et-son-fils-ligotes-chez-eux-leur-compte-de-cryptomonnaies-derobe.html"]},{"id":488,"date":"March 14, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-14","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Woman","location":"Taninges, Haute-Savoie","country":"France","description":"Two masked men, one armed with a knife, broke into a woman's home in Taninges around midnight, beat and bound her, then tried to force her into her own vehicle to extort goods and cryptoassets. She escaped to a neighbour, who alerted police.","summary":"At around midnight on 14 March 2026, two masked men, one armed with a knife, forced the door of a woman's home in Taninges, Haute-Savoie, France. According to the gendarmerie, they beat her and tied her up, then tried to take her away in her own vehicle. She escaped and took refuge with a neighbour, who alerted the gendarmerie. The authorities treat the case as an attempt to steal goods and cryptoassets from her; nothing is reported as taken and the amount sought has not been released. Six months later the gendarmerie said she was still suffering from serious injuries.\n\nOn 7 and 8 September 2026 an operation involving about sixty gendarmes in the Paris region, Isere and Brittany produced five arrests. Four people were charged over the attempted extortion and three of them were placed in pre-trial detention. Their identities and roles have not been released.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://journalducoin.com/actualites/crypto-quatre-mises-examen-sequestration","https://www.lagazettefrance.fr/article/haute-savoie-quatre-mises-en-examen-pour-une-tentative-d-extorsion-de-cryptoactifs","https://www.europe1.fr/police-justice/haute-savoie-quatre-mises-en-examen-pour-une-tentative-dextorsion-de-cryptoactifs-1076936"]},{"id":489,"date":"September 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A couple (father 40, partner 41) and their children aged 8 and 12","location":"Vendin-le-Vieil, Pas-de-Calais","country":"France","description":"Four hooded men broke into a family's home in Vendin-le-Vieil around 4 AM, tied up the parents and their two children, and beat the father, who works in the crypto sector, until he transferred about €40,000 in cryptocurrency.","summary":"During the night of 19 to 20 September 2026, at around 4 a.m., four hooded men dressed in black forced the front door of a family home in Vendin-le-Vieil, Pas-de-Calais, France. Inside were a 40-year-old man who works in cryptocurrency, his 41-year-old partner and their children aged 8 and 12. The men, reported to be carrying at least a knife and an iron bar, bound all four with black tape. They searched the house, separated the father from the others and punched and threatened him until he gave up his account codes. About 40,000 euros in cryptocurrency was transferred. The 12-year-old daughter was struck in the face or head with car keys. Accounts put the duration at two to more than three hours. They fled once the transfer was made and were still being sought. An investigation was opened for organised-gang unlawful detention and extortion.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"partner and two children (8 and 12)"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":40000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":40000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/famille-sequestree-vendin-le-vieil-40000-euros-cryptomonnaies-voles/","https://www.bfmtv.com/grand-littoral/une-famille-dont-le-pere-travaille-dans-la-cryptomonnaie-sequestree-et-ligotee-a-son-domicile-de-vendin-le-vieil-quatre-suspects-en-fuite_AN-202609200176.html","https://news.bitcoin.com/crypto-news/four-armed-men-tie-up-family-in-french-crypto-home-invasion/"]},{"id":490,"date":"July 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A couple and their 10-year-old child","location":"Taverny, Val-d'Oise","country":"France","description":"Three hooded, gloved men broke into a family's home in Taverny in daylight, tied up the mother and her 10-year-old child, and repeatedly shocked the father with a stun gun to force cryptocurrency transfers from his account.","summary":"On 13 July 2026, in broad daylight, three hooded and gloved men entered the home of a couple and their 10-year-old child in Taverny, Val-d'Oise, France. Their information came from a file stolen in a data leak at Waltio, a crypto tax service, which exposed client balances as of 31 December 2024. The men tied up the mother and the child and gave the father electric shocks with a stun gun until he gave up his access codes. The wallet held only about 100 euros, the Pontoise prosecutor said, because the holdings had shrunk since 2024. The men then turned to the mother for two transfers of 450 euros and took computers, mobile phones and jewellery.\n\nPolice identified and arrested six men. The suspected organiser is a man already in prison in Auxerre. On 11 September 2026 six suspects were charged with organised-gang armed theft and extortion, organised-gang unlawful detention and criminal conspiracy, and three were placed in pre-trial detention.","targeting":["Data leak"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"wife and 10-year-old child"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-crypto-6-suspects-mis-examen-affaire-impliquant-centaine-euros-val-doise/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/home-jacking-crypto-a-taverny-une-famille-sequestree-pour-100-euros-de-cryptomonnaies/","https://panews.io/articles/01a0d12d-1afb-70b1-a592-2810f4cbfc47"]},{"id":491,"date":"September 16, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-16","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"48-year-old businessman","location":"Seized in Jundiaí; held at Chácaras Campo Limpo, Campo Limpo Paulista, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Three men armed with revolvers forced a 48-year-old businessman into a car and held him for about three hours in a shack in woodland near Campo Limpo Paulista, beating him and forcing Pix transfers; after his bank blocked the account they tried to make \"Cripto-Pix\" transfers.","summary":"On the afternoon of 16 September 2026, a 48-year-old businessman was seized in Jundiaí, Brazil, while on the phone at his place of work. Two men armed with revolvers got out of a GM Astra and forced him into the car, where a third man was at the wheel. He was taken to a shack in woodland in Campo Limpo Paulista, where he was held for about three hours under threat of firearms and struck on the head. The men took his phone and demanded bank transfers by Pix to several accounts. When the bank blocked the account they tried \"Cripto-Pix\" operations; no completed cryptocurrency transfer is reported. They also took jewellery, a watch, cash and his car key. The men fled after a lookout phoned to warn of police in the area, and the businessman escaped and found a police team. On 24 September police detained one man with the car identified as the one used in the kidnapping, and the businessman identified him as one of the group.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Taken from the workplace"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tvsmais.com.br/homem-e-sequestrado-e-mantido-em-cativeiro-em-campo-limpo-paulista/","https://jr.jor.br/2026/09/16/empresario-e-sequestrado-por-grupo-armado-e-mantido-refem-por-tres-horas/","https://spdiario.com.br/noticias/noticias-de-sp/empresario-e-sequestrado-e-obrigado-a-fazer-transferencias-via-pix-em-campo-limpo-paulista.html","https://www.avozjundiai.com/2026/09/acusado-de-participar-de-sequestro-e.html"]},{"id":492,"date":"May 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Businessman","location":"Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"Four men seized a businessman near Volodymyrskyi Market in Kyiv, forced him into a car and held him in a basement, where the leader aimed a loaded pistol at him until about $170,000 was transferred from his two crypto wallets.","summary":"A man was seized in Kyiv, Ukraine, at about 14:00 on 15 May 2025 while in a rented black BMW beside a market on Antonovycha street. According to the criminal case file, four men arrived in a black Audi, forced him into the car and drove him to a basement on Doroshenka street. The group targeted people who trade cryptocurrency. In the basement the alleged organiser, army officer Oleksii Steshak, chambered a round in a pistol and aimed it at him, the file says. He was made to open his crypto wallets and 170,000 dollars went from two wallets to the organiser's wallet. The group then demanded a further 130,000 dollars and half the monthly profit of his business, and collected the 130,000 dollars from his flat, relatives and friends before leaving. The group was broken up on 12 October 2025. The charges are banditry, kidnapping by an organised group, robbery and extortion, and a court refused Steshak house arrest or bail.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":130000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":130000},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":300000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://368.media/2026/09/22/ofitser-shturmovogo-bataljonu-stvoryv-bandu-dlya-katuvannya-lyudej-zarady-vykupu-u-kryptovalyuti/"]},{"id":493,"date":"September 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Couple","location":"Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Hérault","country":"France","description":"Three hooded, armed men climbed the fence of a couple's property in Saint-Jean-de-Védas at about 5 AM and fled when the perimeter alarm went off; the same couple had been targeted for their cryptocurrency in April.","summary":"At about 5 a.m. on 29 September 2026, three hooded and armed men climbed the fence of a property in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, on the outskirts of Montpellier, France, where a couple of entrepreneurs were asleep in the house. The garden's perimeter detection system went off at once and the men fled before they could get inside. They had no contact with the couple, and nothing was demanded or taken. Gendarmes stopped the three suspects, aged 19, 30 and 38, shortly afterwards. They had been travelling in a car reported stolen in Marseille. The same family had been attacked on 11 April 2026, when a man disguised as a delivery driver got inside, drew a handgun and demanded access to the household's crypto wallet; he fled after the father threw himself at him and was later arrested in Marseille. No link between the two attempts has been officially established.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/nouvelle-tentative-cryptorapt-herault-couple-vise-seconde-fois/","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/home-jacking-crypto-meme-couple-2-fois-6-mois"]},{"id":494,"date":"March ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Victim, identity not stated","location":"Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Vaud","country":"Switzerland","description":"The victim is said to have been lured into a trap in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, beaten and tied up, then forced to give access to cryptocurrency accounts, which were emptied of about $200,000.","summary":"In March 2025 a person was attacked at Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. According to the investigation, the person was lured into a trap, struck, tied up and then forced to give access to their accounts. The accounts were emptied of about 200,000 dollars, and the funds are said to have passed afterwards through accounts linked to a suspect. The person's name, age and sex have not been reported, nor where they were held, for how long or how the attack ended. The number of attackers is not known. A French national suspected of taking part was arrested in Spain, extradited and placed in pre-trial detention at Orbe. Through his lawyer he denies committing aggravated robbery. The Vaud judiciary considers the suspicions sufficient to keep him in detention. No trial or other arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":200000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/vaud-un-francais-poursuivi-pour-agression-liee-a-un-vol-de-cryptos-103545470","https://www.24heures.ch/cryptomonnaies-un-francais-accuse-dagression-pour-200000-dollars-970300381214"]},{"id":495,"date":"September 23, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-23","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Family","location":"Irvine, California","country":"USA","description":"Intruders broke into a family home in Irvine at about 3:30 AM, held two men at gunpoint and duct-taped their hands and mouths in a failed attempt to steal millions of dollars in cryptocurrency they believed the residents held.","summary":"At about 3:30 a.m. on 23 September 2025, three intruders broke into a family home on Royale Avenue in Irvine, California. The intruders held two men, the homeowner and his brother-in-law, at gunpoint downstairs, taped their hands behind their backs and taped their mouths, and brought two women downstairs. Another woman locked herself and her children in a bedroom and called the emergency services. When she opened the door, an intruder took her phone and all three ran from the house. Police said no cryptocurrency was stolen, and the phone was found nearby. Prosecutors said the intruders believed the family had high-value cryptocurrency; one suspect allegedly told investigators the figure was $3.8 million. Officials announced on 9 December 2025 that seven people had been arrested, on charges including kidnapping to commit robbery, robbery and burglary.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"brother-in-law, two women brought downstairs, woman whose phone was taken"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/irvine-armed-robbery-family-tied-up-seventh-suspect-arrested-las-vegas/","https://ocdistrictattorney.gov/press/final-fugitive-arrested-in-las-vegas-and-charged-in-irvine-home-invasion-robbery-that-left-residents-held-at-gunpoint-and-duct-taped/","https://www.ocregister.com/2025/12/09/7-suspects-arrested-in-irvine-home-invasion-robbery-targeting-cryptocurrency/"]},{"id":496,"date":"December 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-13","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Couple","location":"Smith's Wood, Solihull, West Midlands","country":"UK","description":"Three masked men pushed into a young couple's home in Smith's Wood, Solihull, as they returned at about 5:20 PM, assaulted the husband, threatened his pregnant wife with a knife and forced them to transfer cryptocurrency.","summary":"At about 17:20 on Saturday 13 December 2025, a young couple returned to their home in Smith's Wood, Solihull, in the West Midlands. As they opened the front door, three men got out of a car parked nearby and pushed into the house behind them. A fourth person gave the men instructions over a video call. The husband was assaulted and, police said, suffered \"significant injuries\". His wife, who was pregnant, was threatened with a knife. The couple were coerced into transferring a large sum of cryptocurrency to a wallet belonging to the attackers; the amount has not been given. The men also took a number of high-value watches and left in a car believed to be a black BMW X3. Detectives believe the attack was planned and targeted. No arrest has been reported. On 24 September 2026 the charity Crimestoppers announced a reward of up to £10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"pregnant wife"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6eq84eygz0qo","https://decrypt.co/379186/10k-reward-offered-after-uk-couple-attacked-in-crypto-home-invasion","https://www.desiblitz.com/content/crypto-attack-on-couple-prompts-10k-reward","https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60qxvngnjj8o"]},{"id":497,"date":"September 30, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-30","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Crypto exchange shop","location":"Bulevar Artigas and Maldonado, Cordón, Montevideo","country":"Uruguay","description":"Two armed men on a motorcycle, one dressed in a school uniform, got into a cryptocurrency exchange shop in Cordón, Montevideo, through a neighbouring unit at about 5 PM, threatened the people inside at gunpoint and, finding no cash, took their belongings.","summary":"At about 5 p.m. on Wednesday 30 September 2026, two men robbed the people inside a cryptocurrency buying and selling shop on Bulevar Artigas in the Cordón district of Montevideo, Uruguay. The men arrived on a high-powered motorcycle with their faces covered, wearing helmets and gloves. One wore a school uniform and the other a black jacket. The shop's gates were closed, so they entered through a neighbouring unit that had none and demanded money at gunpoint. They asked for cash, and no cryptocurrency was demanded. There was no cash on site, so they took wallets and other valuables from the staff and customers. No injuries were reported. The two escaped on the motorcycle. Police were reviewing security cameras in the area to identify them.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"shop staff"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"customers"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.teledoce.com/telemundo/policiales/rapinaron-un-local-de-criptomonedas-en-bulevar-artigas-y-maldonado-uno-de-los-delincuentes-llevaba-tunica-y-mona","https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Noticias/Ladrones-de-tunica-y-mona-asaltaron-local-de-compra-y-venta-de-criptomonedas-en-Cordon-uc977074","https://www.telenoche.com.uy/sociedad/de-tunica-y-mona-asaltaron-un-local-criptomonedas-cordon-no-encontraron-efectivo-y-se-llevaron-pertenencias-n5405374"]},{"id":498,"date":"October 6, 2026","date_sort":"2026-10-06","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Turkish man, 34","location":"Cascade village, Nong Prue, Bang Lamung, Chonburi","country":"Thailand","description":"At least three armed men climbed into a foreign resident's home in a gated estate in Nong Prue, Pattaya, at about 3:30 AM, kicked in the bedroom door, handcuffed him and a domestic employee, and forced him at gunpoint to open a safe and transfer about $820,000 in USDT.","summary":"At about 3:30 a.m. on 6 October 2026, at least three armed men with covered faces used a ladder to climb into the home of a 34-year-old Turkish man in a gated estate in Nong Prue, Bang Lamung district, Chonburi, Thailand. They kicked down the bedroom door and handcuffed him and a domestic employee; one report says both were assaulted. The men forced him to open a safe and transfer cryptocurrency through an app to a wallet they specified. The loss was reported as about $820,000 in USDT, around 27 to 27.5 million baht, plus about 150,000 baht in cash, three Rolex watches, three phones and his passport. Total losses are estimated at almost 30 million or about 37 million baht. He escaped and reported the robbery to police at 5:35 a.m. Police said initial information suggested the men could be Chinese nationals. No arrests had been reported as of 7 October 2026.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"domestic employee"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":820000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":820000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thepattayanews.com/2026/10/07/foreign-expat-in-pattaya-says-three-armed-men-possibly-chinese-broke-into-his-home-held-him-at-gunpoint-and-stole-over-35-million-baht-in-crypto-watches-and-valuables/","https://aseannow.com/thailand-news/turkish-man-reports-armed-usdt-robbery-attempt-near-pattaya-r4117","https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/gunmen-raid-foreigner-chon-buri-home-steal-30m-baht","https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/27157","https://chromecrumpet.com/armed-gang-storms-luxury-pattaya-home-steals-rolex-watches-and-forces-820000-crypto-transfer/"]},{"id":499,"date":"December 17, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-17","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Michael Monteverde and his business partner","location":"Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Laurentides, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"A French crypto influencer and his business partner were lured to a luxury chalet in the Laurentides by a Quebec acquaintance; during the night three masked, armed men broke in, beat and tied up the influencer, simulated drowning him to unlock his phone, and stole about $30,000 in Ethereum plus watches and jewellery.","summary":"Michael Monteverde, a French crypto influencer, and his business partner Antoine Luce were attacked on the night of 17 December 2021 in a chalet in Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Quebec. They were in Quebec to work on a crypto and NFT project with Michael-Elie Moussalem, then 28, who is accused of organising the ambush. Moussalem took them to the chalet he had rented, skied and dined with them, then left at about 11 p.m. During the night three masked, armed men entered. Monteverde was held at gunpoint, fought back, was hit with a speaker and had bottles broken on his head, then was tied up and had his face plunged into water to make him open his phone. He needed surgery for skull, facial and leg injuries. His partner was also tied up. The attackers took 7.70 ETH, valued at about US$30,000 by the prosecution and $25,000 by Monteverde, plus luxury watches and jewellery. Moussalem fled to the US in October 2022, was charged in November 2022 and is believed to be in Lebanon. His trial opened in his absence on 5 October 2026.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Public profile","Acquaintance","Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"business partner"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":7.7,"currency":"ETH","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2026-10-05/proces-d-un-quebecois-en-cavale/un-vol-de-cryptomonnaie-digne-d-hollywood-dans-un-chalet-des-laurentides.php","https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2024-02-28/vol-de-cryptomonnaie/pris-au-piege-dans-un-chalet-des-laurentides.php","https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2024-07-10/accuse-d-avoir-vole-et-sequestre-un-influenceur-de-cryptomonnaie/il-pretexte-des-accidents-de-lamborghini-pour-rester-aux-etats-unis.php","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/influenceur-crypto-francais-ligote-quebec-proces-25000-dollars/","https://cryptoast.fr/sequestration-influenceur-crypto-montreal-proces-retrace-faits-datant-2021/"]},{"id":500,"date":"November ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Crypto businessman","location":"Kyiv, Ukraine","country":"Ukraine","description":"A gang of serving police officers led by two colonels abducted a crypto businessman in Kyiv at gunpoint, forced him to hand over money and sign a note for a fictitious $5 million debt, then held him and moved him between locations.","summary":"A crypto businessman was abducted at gunpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine, by a gang made up largely of serving police officers. The date of the abduction is not given; the gang's activity stopped in November 2025. The group was organised by two police colonels and included officers of the National Police in Crimea and Sevastopol, one Kyiv police officer and a previously convicted civilian. The gang used official police vehicles and posed as police acting in an official capacity. The businessman was threatened with firearms, held against his will and moved between several locations. He was forced to hand over an undisclosed amount of money and to sign a promissory note for a fictitious $5 million debt. The gang targeted at least four people in the crypto business and took about $2.2 million from them combined. A Kyiv court ordered detention with bail for six suspects, all of whom paid it, and on 28 May 2026 prosecutors sent the case to court on charges including armed banditry, kidnapping, robbery and extortion.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":5000000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2026/05/28/8036783/","https://gp.gov.ua/ua/posts/polkovniki-policiyi-stvorili-ozbrojenu-bandu-ta-vibili-z-kriptovalyutcikiv-blizko-22-mln-dolariv-sprava-v-sudi","https://lb.ua/society/2026/05/28/741392_ekspolitseyskih_suditimut_spravi.html","https://decrypt.co/369443/ukrainian-police-officers-allegedly-kidnapped-crypto-entrepreneurs-to-extort-millions","https://kyiv24.news/news/banda-polkovnykiv-policziyi-vykradala-kryptobiznesmeniv-na-kyyivshhyni-zavershyly-rozsliduvannya-guchnoyi-spravy"]},{"id":501,"date":"September 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Crypto holder","location":"South San Jose, California","country":"USA","description":"Two men posing as delivery drivers came to the door of a south San Jose home at about 9:30 PM, one carrying a package while the other, in a ski mask, brandished a firearm; a police spokesperson said the resident was not home, and the pair fled before police arrived. Police say the pair targeted people known for their crypto wealth.","summary":"At about 9:30 p.m. on 5 September 2026, two men came to the front door of a home in south San José, California, whose resident police described as known for cryptocurrency wealth. One was dressed as a delivery driver and carried a package; the other, in a ski mask, stood a few feet away. A firearm, a rifle by one account, was brandished. A police spokesperson said the resident was not home. Nothing was demanded or taken, and the two fled before police arrived. Damian Vielma, 20, and Jeremiah Clybourn, 19, both of Dallas, Texas, were arrested in Dallas on 24 September 2026, and firearms including the one used in San José were seized. Police say the two targeted people with large crypto wealth in several jurisdictions while posing as delivery personnel. They were awaiting extradition to Santa Clara County.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sjpd.org/Home/Components/News/News/2965/262","https://www.ktvu.com/news/attempted-home-invaders-posed-delivery-drivers-targeted-victims-crypto-sjpd","https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/2026/09/30/suspects-posing-as-delivery-persons-in-california-home-invasion-robbery-targeting-crypto-wealth-arrested-in-texas/","https://dallasexpress.com/crime/two-dallas-suspects-accused-of-posing-as-delivery-workers-in-san-jose-case/","https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/10/01/two-men-arrested-in-san-jose-crypto-targeted-home-invasion-attempt/"]},{"id":502,"date":"September 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"British man","location":"Chalong, Phuket","country":"Thailand","description":"A British man who went to a childhood friend's fourth-floor condo room in Chalong at about 11pm alleges two Polish men strangled him with a cable tie, threatened him with pruning shears and forced him to transfer cryptocurrency; he escaped by jumping from the balcony.","summary":"A British man says he was attacked at a condominium in Chalong, Phuket, at about 11pm on 29 September 2026. By his account he had driven from Kamala to visit a friend he had known since childhood. In the friend's fourth-floor room he found two Polish men who were already drinking. He had one glass of whisky and refused more. He alleges the two men then attacked him, strangled him with a cable tie and tried to restrain him. He asked his friend for help; the friend refused and told him to do as the men said. When he tried to leave he was pulled back inside, threatened with pruning shears and forced to transfer cryptocurrency. The amount was reportedly small, which angered the men. He escaped by jumping from the fourth-floor balcony, was injured in the fall and says he has been unable to walk since. A security guard found him. The account was published by the Phuket Times Facebook page on 6 October. The reports do not say whether he went to the police, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/british-man-alleges-assault-and-crypto-theft-in-phuket","https://aseannow.com/thailand-news/british-man-alleges-phuket-assault-forced-crypto-transfer-r4124","https://huahin.localplus.city/2026/10/07/british-man-alleges-assault-crypto-theft-by-poles-in-phuket/"]},{"id":503,"date":"September ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"Lucas, 22, and his girlfriend","location":"Saint-Juéry, Tarn","country":"France","description":"Two armed, hooded and gloved men entered a 22-year-old's home in Saint-Juéry at about 3 AM, struck him with a gun butt and demanded his crypto wallet; he fought back with tear gas and they fled empty-handed.","summary":"At about 3am one night in early September 2026, two armed men in hoods and gloves entered the home of Lucas, a 22-year-old video game developer, in Saint-Juéry near Albi in the Tarn department of France. They came in through the garage, whose gate had been left ajar, and ran straight upstairs as if they knew the house. In the bedroom they held Lucas and his girlfriend at gunpoint, struck him on the head with the butt of the gun and pushed him onto the bed, demanding his crypto wallet. He handed over his phone, which they unlocked with facial recognition, and told them his crypto was not kept at home. Lucas then threw himself at one of the men, grabbed a tear gas canister from a chest of drawers and set it off, and the two fled with nothing. He filed a complaint the same day and the Albi prosecutor's office opened an investigation for attempted aggravated extortion. Lucas believes his address came from leaked personal data; investigators have not confirmed this. More than a month later the attackers had not been found. He says he has since sold all his crypto.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":""},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"girlfriend"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/tentative-extorsion-crypto-albi-victime-met-agresseurs-fuite/","https://www.ladepeche.fr/2026/10/11/temoignage-je-nai-plus-de-crypto-laissez-moi-tranquille-des-individus-armes-debarquent-chez-lui-en-pleine-nuit-un-jeune-tarnais-victime-dune-tentative-13590947.php","https://journalducoin.com/actualites/agression-crypto-tarn-braque-22-ans/","https://bourseinside.fr/crypto/je-nai-plus-de-crypto-jai-tout-revendu-son-temoignage-glacant-apres-avoir-ete-braque-chez-lui-a-22-ans/"]},{"id":504,"date":"March 28, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-28","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Clerk and Bitcoin ATM at an Exxon gas station","location":"Mesquite, Texas","country":"USA","description":"Two robbers sprayed the female clerk of a Mesquite Exxon with bear spray and broke into the store's Bitcoin ATM, six days after a similar robbery in Irving.","summary":"At around 11:30 a.m. on 28 March 2018, two people robbed a Bitcoin ATM inside an Exxon petrol station on Oates Drive in Mesquite, Texas. Video shows a man in a grey hoodie and a red Nike cap buying a drink at the counter. He then returned and sprayed the female clerk with bear spray while his partner broke into the machine. The pair fled in a vehicle, police said. No cryptocurrency was taken: a police lieutenant said such machines contain some cash, and what was taken and how much are not stated. The clerk is not described as tied up or held. One report treats the two as the pair behind a robbery in Irving on 22 March. Mesquite police were looking for the robbers and Crime Stoppers offered $5,000 for their names. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"petrol station clerk"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[38],"sources":["https://www.fox4news.com/news/bitcoin-bandits-target-dallas-county-cryptocurrency-atms"]},{"id":505,"date":"August 21, 2018","date_sort":"2018-08-21","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"13y old girl","location":"Aerorand, Middelburg, Mpumalanga","country":"South Africa","description":"Two men dragged a 13-year-old girl into their car in Aerorand, Middelburg. People working nearby heard her shout and helped her get away; police suspect the men planned a Bitcoin ransom demand.","summary":"On 21 August 2018, two men dragged a 13-year-old girl into their vehicle, a VW Polo, in Aerorand, Middelburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa. She shouted for help, and a group of people working nearby heard her, came to her aid and helped her escape. The men fled and left the car behind with their belongings inside. Nothing was demanded or taken and no injury is reported. Police hold the same two men responsible for the kidnapping of a 13-year-old boy in Witbank on 20 May 2018, in which the ransom was demanded in Bitcoin, and suspect they planned the same had the abduction succeeded. One suspect was arrested in November in Germiston, Gauteng, and the second in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, on 30 December. Their ages are given as 30 and 31 or as both 37. Both appeared in court in January 2019 and were granted bail of R1,000 each.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"13-year-old girl"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[49],"sources":["https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-01-17-mpumalanga-police-arrest-two-bitcoin-kidnapping-suspects/"]},{"id":506,"date":"September, 2020","date_sort":"2020-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"A German businessman and his Brazilian wife","location":"Anápolis, Goiás","country":"Brazil","description":"A German businessman and his Brazilian wife were seized in the garage of their home in Anápolis, driven to scrubland and held for four hours while he was forced under death threats to transfer bitcoin, about R$ 50 million in all. Police identified 15 suspects, but none had been arrested or charged by December 2022.","summary":"In September 2020 a German businessman and his Brazilian wife were kidnapped at their home in Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil. By his lawyer's account, he had met traders through friends and at business meetings in São Paulo, where he turned down a USD 3 million app investment; the group learned he held a large bitcoin wallet and planned the kidnapping. When the couple arrived home, attackers put them in a vehicle while still in the garage and took their computer to make the transfer. They covered the couple's heads and drove them to scrubland near the Air Force base, where they demanded cryptocurrency from the businessman and threatened to kill him if he typed the wrong codes. After four hours, with about R$ 50 million in bitcoin transferred, they left the couple there. Police identified 15 suspects and searched their homes in December 2022; none had been arrested or charged.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"German businessman who held the bitcoin"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his Brazilian wife"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/go/goias/noticia/2022/12/27/alemao-que-teve-r-50-milhoes-em-bitcoins-roubados-durante-sequestro-em-anapolis-voltou-para-europa-por-trauma-diz-advogado.ghtml"]},{"id":507,"date":"December 31, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-31","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Hu Zonghe","location":"Nangang District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Hu Zonghe, who collected cash from USDT buyers for his boss, was lured into a car at Nangang station in Taipei on a fake crypto purchase, locked in, threatened and driven into the hills, where the men took bags holding TWD 12.6 million and his phones before putting him out on a mountain road.","summary":"On December 31, 2020, Hu Zonghe, who collected payments for his boss's USDT sales, picked up about TWD 11 million from three customers in Taipei. A man calling himself \"Ko Wei-chih\", one of Hu's own crypto customers, set up a meeting at Nangang station, claiming a buyer wanted crypto. At about 9:16 p.m. Hu got into a car whose plate Ko had given him, with a suitcase and a backpack holding TWD 12.6 million. The driver locked the doors and drove into the hills of Xizhi, and Yang Kai-hsiang, beside Hu in the back, told him to cooperate if he wanted to live. They took the bags, two phones and his wallet, which went to a second car. He was later put out on a mountain road in Nangang and reported it at about 11:30 p.m. Ko had hired Yang for TWD 1 million to scare Hu. Yang and the driver were convicted; on October 29, 2024 the Taiwan High Court upheld Yang's two-year sentence.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT cash courier driven into the hills"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12600000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPHM%2C113%2C%E4%B8%8A%E6%9B%B4%E4%B8%80%2C70%2C20241029%2C1"]},{"id":508,"date":"2021","date_sort":"2021-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2021,"victim":"Several crypto buyers","location":"Northern Israel","country":"Israel","description":"Over several months in 2021 a gang from Acre and the Haifa area offered cryptocurrency for cash below market price on Telegram, then robbed the buyers who came north for the deal, threatening them with replica pistols and injuring some; investigators believe it took about 680,000 shekels. Seven men were indicted after an undercover police sting.","summary":"Over several months in 2021, a gang from Acre, Jdeideh and Haifa contacted people through Telegram and offered to sell them cryptocurrency for cash below the market price and for a very low fee. When the buyers came to northern Israel to complete the deal, the gang robbed them, threatening them with replica pistols and taking their cash without handing over anything; prosecutors said they used violence and injured several victims. The Lahav 433 cyber unit posted in Telegram groups that they wanted to buy crypto; the gang answered from fake profiles and arrived masked with air pistols to rob the officers of 145,000 shekels, and were arrested. Investigators believe the gang robbed about 680,000 shekels in all. The State Attorney's cyber department then indicted seven men at the Haifa District Court for aggravated robbery and conspiracy.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"buyers carrying cash for the crypto deal; number not given"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":680000,"currency":"ILS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ice.co.il/law/news/article/836425"]},{"id":509,"date":"May 20, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-20","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Three crypto investors","location":"Beitun District, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"Three crypto investors from Hsinchu, invited to a Taichung restaurant to teach investing, were tied up and blindfolded by five masked men with a machete, bats and a gun-like object, driven to the Sanyi hills in Miaoli, beaten and made to give up their wallet passwords; the gang took 37,800 USDT, two Rolex watches and TWD 85,000.","summary":"A man using the LINE name \"Lei Luo\" visited three crypto investors in Zhubei, Hsinchu, on May 18, 2021 and invited them to Taichung to teach investing. On the evening of May 20 he took them to a room at a restaurant in Beitun District, Taichung. At his signal five masked men with a machete, bats and a gun-like object came in, tied the three up, covered their eyes, took a Rolex and their phones and demanded their wallet passwords. When the transfers failed, the men drove them to the hills of Sanyi, Miaoli, said they would not leave until they handed over crypto, hit one with a bat and kicked another. The gang transferred 37,800 USDT, took a second Rolex and TWD 85,000 in cash and released them at about 10 p.m. The organisers and the five masked men were convicted of robbery combined with kidnapping for ransom; on July 27, 2022 their recruiter got 11 years and 9 months.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three crypto investors invited to teach investing"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":37800,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C110%2C%E9%87%8D%E8%A8%B4%2C1772%2C20220727%2C6"]},{"id":510,"date":"May 28, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-28","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Babatunde Williams","location":"Lekki, Lagos","country":"Nigeria","description":"Businessman Babatunde Williams says four Lagos State Police Command officers stopped him in traffic in Lekki, handcuffed and beat him, drove him around in their van until he unlocked his phone, and transferred $5,500 in bitcoin from his wallet to an accomplice's wallet.","summary":"On May 28, 2021, at about 3:15 p.m., businessman Babatunde Williams was driving out of an estate in Lekki, Lagos, when four men he describes as Lagos State Police Command officers in a Toyota Sienna stopped him in traffic near VGC. One in plain clothes asked for his vehicle papers and called over an armed officer in uniform, and two of them got into his car and had him park at a filling station. They handcuffed and beat him in his car, then moved him into the Sienna and drove him around, beating him until he unlocked his phone. They found his Bitcoin wallet and, through someone who supplied a receiving wallet, transferred about $5,500 (N2.2 million) in bitcoin. They had his car brought to a spot on Victoria Island, left his keys on the bonnet and drove off. By his own account he reported a robbery to the police. The police spokesman said he was not aware of the case.","targeting":["Opportunistic"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman stopped in traffic"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5500,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":5500},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://punchng.com/bizman-accuses-policemen-of-assault-extortion-of-5500-bitcoin/"]},{"id":511,"date":"September 24, 2021","date_sort":"2021-09-24","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A businessman and crypto investor from Campinas","location":"Monte Mor, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Police arrested six men at a rented farmhouse in Monte Mor as they turned a stolen car into an unmarked Civil Police car to kidnap a crypto investor from Campinas. Four of those arrested were military police officers.","summary":"On September 24, 2021, an operation by the public prosecutor's office with the Military Police special actions battalion (Baep) arrested six people at a rented farmhouse in rural Monte Mor and stopped a gang that planned to kidnap a businessman living in the Sousas district of Campinas, described as a cryptocurrency investor. Police said the gang hoped to obtain up to R$ 3 million. The suspects had rented the property and meant to stay in the region for 15 days. Officers caught them while they were converting a stolen vehicle into an unmarked Civil Police car to carry out the kidnapping. Two more stolen vehicles, a 12-gauge shotgun, a loaded 9mm pistol, a computer, cash, handcuffs and police badges were seized. Four of those arrested were military police officers and one an Army reserve officer, all from Rio de Janeiro; one officer was still on active duty. Two suspects were at large.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"businessman and crypto investor from Sousas, Campinas, the intended target"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/sp/campinas-regiao/noticia/2021/09/24/operacao-em-monte-mor-frustra-acao-de-quadrilha-que-planejava-sequestrar-investidor-de-criptomoedas.ghtml"]},{"id":512,"date":"October 1, 2021","date_sort":"2021-10-01","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A man","location":"Hoorn, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man was held at gunpoint in his own car in Hoorn and driven around for an hour while three men took his phones and the login codes to his crypto wallet app; crypto worth almost 190,000 euros was taken. The main suspect, a work colleague who knew of his crypto holdings, was sentenced to four years.","summary":"On October 1, 2021, a man was approached by another man in a car park in Hoorn, who then pointed a gun at his head. Two more men appeared, took his car key and made him sit in the back seat, and the three drove off with him in his own car. In the car they tied his wrists with cable ties and, under threat of the gun, made him hand over his phones and the login codes for his phone and crypto wallet app. About an hour later they left him alone in his car in Middelie, without his phones. Crypto worth almost 190,000 euros was later found to have been taken, and the accomplices received crypto in their wallets from the main suspect, a colleague of the victim who knew of his crypto holdings. The Noord-Holland district court sentenced the main suspect to four years and the two others to 42 months each, and ordered them to pay almost 200,000 euros in damages.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man holding crypto, a colleague of the main suspect"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":190000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie-en-contact/Organisatie/Rechtbanken/Rechtbank-Noord-Holland/Nieuws/Paginas/Celstraffen-voor-verdachten-overval-en-roof-cryptovaluta-in-Hoorn.aspx"]},{"id":513,"date":"February 28, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-28","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Liliana Segovia Navarro","location":"Barranquilla, Atlántico","country":"Colombia","description":"Jairo Medina Vega lured Liliana Segovia Navarro, 36, to a meeting on a business pretext, beat and asphyxiated her inside a vehicle, hid her body and dumped it near Tubará, and took her cryptocurrency by transfer. He accepted the charges and was sentenced to 223 months.","summary":"On February 28, 2022, Liliana Segovia Navarro, 36, was last seen at a school where she had dropped off her nephew. Jairo Medina Vega, who knew she had a vehicle and more than USD 10,000 in cryptocurrency, had contacted her through social media and arranged to meet her on the pretext of proposing a business deal. When she came to the meeting he beat and asphyxiated her inside a vehicle. He took her body to his apartment, kept it in a plastic tank and later dumped it in an uninhabited area near Tubará, Atlántico. He then robbed her by means of a virtual transfer. The crime was registered in the Betania district of Barranquilla. In March 2022 he accepted charges of aggravated homicide, aggravated theft and non-consensual transfer of assets. A judge sentenced him to 223 months, about 18.5 years, and ordered him to pay 105 monthly minimum wages in reparation to the victims.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"36-year-old woman holding crypto"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://periodicopalabrasmayores.com/condenado-a-mas-de-18-anos-de-prision-por-quitarle-la-vida-a-una-mujer-y-robarle-10-mil-dolares-en-criptomonedas/"]},{"id":514,"date":"August 12 to 20, 2022","date_sort":"2022-08-12","date_precision":"range","year":2022,"victim":"Juan José Benavides Velásquez","location":"José C. Paz, Buenos Aires","country":"Argentina","description":"Colombian investors who lost money in the Daily crypto scheme abducted its alleged founder, Juan José Benavides Velásquez, his former partner, their baby, her mother and his bodyguard near Buenos Aires, demanded USD 10 million and robbed his home. Police freed him on the ninth day; eight Colombians were sentenced to 11 years in 2025.","summary":"Juan José Benavides Velásquez, named as the founder of the Daily cryptocurrency that collapsed in February 2022, fled to Argentina, and Colombian investors who had lost money came after him. On August 12, 2022, after a failed attempt by fake police in July, four to six men seized his former partner in José C. Paz when she stepped out to meet a deliveryman, subdued her mother and took over the house. That night Benavides, then his bodyguard, arrived and were tied, blindfolded and locked in the basement. The gang then robbed his home of USD 20,000, phones, computers, notebooks of wallet passwords and jewellery. The gang demanded USD 10 million from an uncle, and the captives suffered physical and psychological abuse. On August 19 migration staff stopped the women and baby being flown out, and on August 20 police freed Benavides and arrested the gang. In 2025 eight Colombians got 11 years.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the alleged founder of the Daily crypto scheme"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"his former partner, their baby and her mother"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his bodyguard"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10000000},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.infobae.com/judiciales/2025/04/26/criptomoneda-estafa-y-secuestro-extorsivo-la-historia-de-los-colombianos-que-fueron-condenados-en-argentina/"]},{"id":515,"date":"2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2023,"victim":"Two couriers of a cryptocurrency company","location":"Anapa, Krasnodar Krai","country":"Russia","description":"Posing as law enforcement officers, a Moscow man and two accomplices abducted a crypto courier in Anapa and a second in Moscow, beat and threatened them and demanded 5 million rubles per courier and 25 million rubles from the company's head. The organiser's 10-year sentence was upheld on cassation.","summary":"In May and June 2023, a Moscow resident and two accomplices planned to enrich themselves at the expense of businesspeople dealing in cryptocurrency. Posing as law enforcement officers, they staged an illegal arrest of a courier and falsely accused him of fraud and 'financing terrorism'. In Anapa the gang seized a crypto courier and held him by force; in Moscow they abducted a second courier and took his car. They demanded 5 million rubles for each courier from the victims and their relatives, and 25 million rubles from the head of the company for 'not bringing criminal charges'. The couriers were beaten, intimidated and threatened with death. The Anapa City Court convicted the Moscow man of kidnapping, extortion, robbery and vehicle theft and sentenced him to 10 years in a strict-regime colony and a 140,000-ruble fine. The Fourth Cassation Court upheld the sentence.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two couriers of a crypto company"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":35000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.kuban.kp.ru/online/news/7116890/"]},{"id":516,"date":"2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2023,"victim":"A businessman from Sverdlovsk region","location":"Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"A gang tipped off by a police major abducted a businessman in summer 2023, took him to a forest near Yekaterinburg, beat him and threatened him with weapons until he gave up his crypto wallet login, and took five million. Four men were sentenced to 7 to 14 years.","summary":"In spring 2023, according to investigators, a resident of Altaisk learned that a businessman from Sverdlovsk region had savings of more than 500 million rubles and set up a gang to take the money. Major Dmitry Storozhenko, former head of economic security at the Novoaltaisk police, collected information on the businessman and was paid 300,000 rubles for it. In the summer the group abducted the businessman, brought him to Yekaterinburg and took him into a forest, where they demanded the login data of his crypto wallet, intimidated him with weapons and beat him. With the login and password they took five million. The victim went to the police, who made arrests. The Sverdlovsk Regional Court sentenced Storozhenko to 10 years, Dmitry Atamanov to 7, Alexander Gerasimov to 11 and Vyacheslav Siluyanov to 14 years in strict-regime colonies.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["http://rapsinews.ru/judicial_news/20251121/311363444.html"]},{"id":517,"date":"January 18, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman","location":"Fairfield, New South Wales","country":"Australia","description":"Two men in balaclavas grabbed a man and a woman near a car park in Fairfield, Sydney, and took them to a property at Swan Bay near Newcastle, where they were tied to chairs, ransom was demanded for cryptocurrency and the man's finger was nearly cut off with garden shears. The pair escaped two days later; police say the attackers wrongly believed they held large sums of crypto.","summary":"On January 18, 2023, two men in balaclavas grabbed a 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman as they walked to a car park in Fairfield, Sydney, forced them into a vehicle and took them to a property at Swan Bay, near Newcastle. Police say the attackers wrongly believed the pair held large sums of cryptocurrency. During about 36 hours the two were tied to chairs while the attackers demanded large sums in cryptocurrency as ransom and tried to cut off the man's middle finger with garden shears. The finger needed surgery and a metal plate to reattach it. Two days after the abduction the pair escaped and called a family member, who contacted police. The report does not say whether anything was paid or taken. On April 4, 2023, police charged two men, aged 24 and 25, with offences including detaining in company with intent to ransom and occasioning actual bodily harm.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man aged 26 and a woman aged 24, both believed to hold crypto"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/sydney-crime-gang-related-kidnappings-on-rise-after-two-charged-with-abduction-of-couple-20230417-p5yqy9.html"]},{"id":518,"date":"April 15, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-15","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Arimar crypto mining farm and its caretaker","location":"Presidente Franco, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"Eight to ten men armed with revolvers burst into the Arimar crypto mining farm in Presidente Franco at about 2 a.m., overpowered the 18-year-old caretaker and took 492 mining machines, a truck, laptops, phones, cash and the DVR.","summary":"At about 2 a.m. on Saturday, April 15, 2023, between eight and ten men armed with revolvers burst into the Arimar farm at Km 11 Monday in Presidente Franco, a property housing crypto mining machines. After overpowering the caretaker, Ronaldo Esteban Peralta Bogado, 18, they began dismantling 492 crypto mining machines and spent two hours loading them onto a white Hino truck, which they also took from the property. They also took three laptops, two mobile phones, 100,000 Argentine pesos, various documents and the property's DVR recorder. The robbery was reported to the 56th police substation in Presidente Franco and a police investigation opened. The value of the loss was not disclosed, but was expected to run into millions given the cost of the mining equipment. No arrest had been reported at the time of the article.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the farm's 18-year-old caretaker"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"ARS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/este/2023/04/15/roban-casi-500-aparatos-de-mineradoras-de-criptomonedas-en-pdte-franco/"]},{"id":519,"date":"June, 2023","date_sort":"2023-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A couple in L'Île-Bizard","location":"L'Île-Bizard, Montreal, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"Three masked, armed men attacked a man outside his home in L'Île-Bizard at 5 a.m. and ordered him to transfer his bitcoins, while his wife was tied up inside at gunpoint. Both escaped; the robbers took cash and jewellery but no crypto, and one of them was sentenced to 10 years.","summary":"In June 2023, Joe-Marshall Altidort and unidentified accomplices attacked a couple at their home in L'Île-Bizard, Montreal, carrying out a contract for a sponsor who apparently knew of the man's cryptocurrency. When the man left his house at about 5 a.m., three masked, armed men came out of the bushes, aimed an imitation gun at him, put a knife to his throat and ordered him to transfer his bitcoins on a crypto exchange. Inside, his wife was woken with a gun to her head, made to come downstairs naked and tied up. The man called 911 on his smartwatch and was beaten. His wife freed her legs and fled to a neighbour, and he escaped from the basement where he had been locked. The robbers fled without crypto but took cash and jewellery. Altidort, 22, pleaded guilty and on February 10, 2026 was sentenced to 10 years in penitentiary.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who held the bitcoins"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"his wife and their baby"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2026-02-10/couple-ligote-lors-d-un-vol-de-bitcoins/un-cauchemar-tout-droit-sorti-d-un-film-dit-la-juge.php"]},{"id":520,"date":"June 5, 2023","date_sort":"2023-06-05","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A USDT seller","location":"Kaohsiung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man posing as a buyer of 20,000 USDT lured the seller to a rented flat in Kaohsiung, where he beat him with a baseball bat while an accomplice pepper-sprayed him and fetched a knife; the seller was made to hand over his phone and wallet password and 20,000 USDT were transferred out. Four men were sentenced in March 2026.","summary":"On June 5, 2023, in Kaohsiung, a USDT seller came to a flat rented by the organiser's girlfriend for a trade the organiser had arranged, pretending to want to buy 20,000 USDT. The organiser had planned the attack over Instagram with two friends; a third was also present. When the seller went in to trade, the organiser beat him with a baseball bat and a second man pepper-sprayed his face and fetched a fruit knife from the kitchen. Bruised on his right shoulder, elbow and forearm, the seller was made to hand over his phone and wallet password, and 20,000 USDT were transferred out. He then left. Three of the men converted 18,000 USDT into cash and split it. On March 31, 2026 the Kaohsiung District Court sentenced three of the men to 7 years 2 months to 8 years for armed robbery by a group of three or more, and the fourth, an accessory, to 2 years, suspended.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=KSDM%2C113%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C49%2C20260331%2C1"]},{"id":521,"date":"July 7, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-07","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A USDT seller","location":"Sanchong, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A USDT seller who came to a fake purchase of 95,000 USDT in New Taipei was locked in the robbers' car, choked and pinned down while they took the phone holding the wallet; the seller refused the passcode and escaped. Three men were sentenced to 7 years 1 month to 7 years 4 months.","summary":"On July 7, 2023, a Telegram user called \"C\" contacted a USDT seller in New Taipei, offering TWD 3,035,250 for 95,000 USDT, and set the trade for 22:50 near a Carrefour in Sanchong. A second organiser, \"Doctor Strange\", had one man recruit two others. When the seller got into the back of the car to trade, the driver locked the doors and asked to see the phone holding the USDT. As it came out, the man in the back seat choked the seller and the driver dropped his seat back to pin the seller down, took the phone and demanded the passcode. The seller refused, unlocked the door and jumped out after 3 to 5 minutes, with grazes to the wrist and knee. The robbers fled, and one of them sold the phone the next day; they got no USDT. On February 27, 2025, the New Taipei District Court sentenced the three to 7 years 1 month to 7 years 4 months for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller who got into the robbers' car"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2C113%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C362%2C20250227%2C1"]},{"id":522,"date":"December 7, 2023","date_sort":"2023-12-07","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Zhang Hao and Lu Hsin-chen","location":"Luzhou, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two buyers who brought TWD 1.7 million in cash to a cafe in New Taipei to buy cryptocurrency from a man they took for a seller were sprayed in the face with pepper spray and robbed of the cash. They chased him, he threw the money away by the road and hid in a bedding shop, where police arrested him; he was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months.","summary":"On December 7, 2023, Lin Tien-chen met two men known only by their Telegram names, who planned with him to rob two people coming to buy cryptocurrency for cash. That afternoon at about 3:10 he went to a Louisa coffee shop in New Taipei carrying pepper spray supplied by one of them and a folding knife. Zhang Hao and Lu Hsin-chen, who took him for a crypto seller, arrived with TWD 1.7 million in cash. While they talked he sprayed both of them in the face, took the cash from Zhang Hao's hands and ran, spraying them again as they chased him. He threw the cash by the roadside, of which TWD 107,000 was never found, and hid in a bedding shop, where police arrested him. Both victims were injured. The New Taipei District Court convicted him on May 30, 2024 of robbery while carrying a weapon and sentenced him to 3 years and 10 months; the two organisers were not identified.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two buyers who brought cash to buy crypto"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1700000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c113%2c%e9%87%91%e8%a8%b4%2c323%2c20240530%2c1"]},{"id":523,"date":"2024","date_sort":"2024-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2024,"victim":"Two brothers","location":"Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia Oblast","country":"Ukraine","description":"A gang that had watched a man who deals in cryptocurrency withdraw cash at a bank beat him as he left the bank with his brother, took the brothers to a private house outside Zaporizhzhia and demanded 600,000 hryvnias. Getting no money, they robbed his home of cash, equipment and jewellery worth over 100,000 hryvnias and released the brothers; KORD special forces detained six suspects on September 25, 2024.","summary":"In the summer of 2024 a gang in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, began watching a man who deals in cryptocurrency and regularly withdrew cash at a bank branch. When he came out of the bank with his brother, the attackers beat him and took the brothers by force to a private house in the suburbs of Zaporizhzhia, where they demanded 600,000 hryvnias. When they got no money, they robbed the victim's home of cash, equipment and jewellery worth more than 100,000 hryvnias in total, then drove the brothers to the centre of Zaporizhzhia and let them go. The brothers went to the police, who say the kidnappers belong to the gang of a crime boss already in custody. On September 25, 2024 KORD special forces detained six men aged 22 to 29. They are suspected of unlawful deprivation of liberty, extortion and robbery.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man who deals in cryptocurrency"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his brother, seized with him"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":600000,"currency":"UAH","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"UAH","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.061.ua/ru/news/3837117/v-zaporoze-zaderzali-clenov-gruppirovki-pohitivsih-i-trebovavsih-600-tysac-griven-u-kriptovalutcika"]},{"id":524,"date":"January, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Tega Abikure","location":"Abuja, Federal Capital Territory","country":"Nigeria","description":"Tega Abikure, founder of the crypto company Kumo Africa, was kidnapped in central Abuja in January 2024 and says his captors beat and tortured him. He did not say how he was released; from what he overheard he links the kidnapping to a failed Bitcoin OTC deal in the United States.","summary":"Tega Abikure, an Abuja-based cryptocurrency expert, venture capitalist and founder of Kumo Africa, went missing in the heart of Abuja, Nigeria, in January 2024, taken by people suspected to be kidnappers seeking ransom. The newspaper reports that his kidnappers were likely rivals and competitors who were after his large cryptocurrency portfolio. Speaking to reporters by telephone afterwards, he said his captors beat, tortured, humiliated and dehumanised him, but declined to say more, in particular about how he was released or the motive, because investigations are ongoing. From snippets of conversation he overheard in captivity, he believes the kidnapping is connected to a failed Bitcoin OTC transaction he had in the United States about eight months before he spoke, though investigators have not concluded on the link. No amount, payment or arrest is reported.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"founder of a crypto company"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://leadership.ng/i-was-tortured-by-kidnappers-crypto-boss/"]},{"id":525,"date":"March 7, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-07","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Mr. Kwong","location":"Hung Hom, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Mr. Kwong, 40, a mainland man who brought HK$1 million in cash to an industrial building unit in Hung Hom to buy Tether at a discount, was threatened with knives by five masked men who took all the cash.","summary":"At about 5 p.m. on March 7, 2024, a 40-year-old mainland Chinese man surnamed Kwong, in Hong Kong on a two-way permit, went to a unit on the 9th floor of the Hang Fung Industrial Building at 2G Hok Yuen Street, Hung Hom, to buy the cryptocurrency Tether at a discount. He said his boss, who runs a frozen meat business on the mainland, had asked him to collect HK$1 million in cash from a money changer in Prince Edward for the deal. A man let him into the unit. As he took out the cash to trade, four more men burst in, two of them showing beef knives, and told him not to move. The first man counted and took all the cash, and the men left. Police classified the case as robbery and the Kowloon City district crime squad took it over. No one had been arrested at the time of the report; police were looking for five Chinese men aged about 30 to 40, all wearing masks.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who brought the cash to buy Tether"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hk01.com/article/998146"]},{"id":526,"date":"May, 2024","date_sort":"2024-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A man described as a possible drug trafficker","location":"Pibrac, Haute-Garonne","country":"France","description":"A man was lured into a trap near Pibrac, outside Toulouse, kidnapped and held for two days under violence and threats until his captors obtained the equivalent of 200,000 euros in cash, cryptocurrency and personal effects. Five men stood trial in May 2026.","summary":"In May 2024, near Pibrac on the outskirts of Toulouse, a man was lured into a trap and then abducted, according to the investigation. He was held for two days, during which he suffered violence and threats meant to extract money from him. The kidnappers obtained the equivalent of 200,000 euros in cash, cryptocurrency and personal effects and then released him. Five men went on trial near Toulouse in May 2026 for the kidnapping and confinement. At the hearing all five broadly admitted the confinement but each played down his own part and none would appear as the leader. A defence lawyer said the case concerned a money debt; whether that debt was linked to drug trafficking was disputed. The victim, described as a possible drug trafficker, did not join the case as a civil party and did not attend the trial. The verdict was expected the following day.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man described as a possible drug trafficker"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/occitanie/haute-garonne/toulouse/kidnapping-pres-de-toulouse-cinq-personnes-jugees-pour-l-enlevement-d-un-homme-et-l-extorsion-de-200-000-euros-3349948.html"]},{"id":527,"date":"June 6, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-06","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A 46-year-old doctor from Campinas","location":"Parada de Taipas, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"A doctor from Campinas who went to meet a woman from a dating app in the north of São Paulo was ambushed, forced into another car and robbed of about US$100,000 in cryptocurrency through his phone. He jumped from the car and found a Military Police team, who arrested three suspects.","summary":"On the night of June 6, 2024, a 46-year-old doctor who had chatted for a week with a supposed suitor on a dating app left Campinas and went to meet her in Parada de Taipas, in north São Paulo. At the agreed spot, on Rua Fragata Constituição, he found it was an ambush. He was overpowered and moved into another vehicle, while one of the kidnappers drove his car. He had to hand over his phone so the criminals could make Pix transfers; they had no time to get into his accounts but took about US$100,000 in crypto, about R$600,000. During the drive he jumped from the car and ran to a Military Police team. Officers found the kidnappers' car and arrested the driver, then tracked the doctor's phone and caught two more suspects. Police found a backpack with drugs, cash and the phone. The three were booked for extortion through kidnapping; other gang members took his car, which had not been found.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 46-year-old doctor from Campinas"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":100000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sbtnews.sbt.com.br/noticia/policia/sp-medico-sai-de-campinas-e-e-sequestrado-apos-cair-no-golpe-do-amor"]},{"id":528,"date":"June 23, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-23","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Isidro Bogado Ozuna, manager of a crypto-mining site","location":"Minga Guazú, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"Six or seven armed men burst into a crypto-mining shed in Minga Guazú, held the 21-year-old site manager at gunpoint and drove off with 150 mining machines. The manager would not name the owners or file a complaint; police suspect the site drew power illegally.","summary":"On June 23, 2024, six or seven men burst into a shed used for crypto mining at kilometre 22, Monday side, in the San Miguel neighbourhood of Minga Guazú, Paraguay. They arrived in a truck and a grey Toyota Premio. Isidro Bogado Ozuna, 21, who ran the mining operation, was in a room inside the shed. The men pointed firearms at him and told him they would not harm him, as they only wanted the machines. They took 150 mining machines and left. Frightened, the young man ran into nearby woods and called the local police station about an hour later. When officers arrived he refused to give the identity of the machines' owners and did not file a formal complaint. Police noted that the shed stood about 8 km from the urban area, in a pasture beside a forest, and suspect that it was operating illegally on power taken from the national electricity company ANDE. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 21-year-old site manager"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/este/2024/06/24/asaltan-granja-de-criptomineria-y-roban-150-maquinas/"]},{"id":529,"date":"February ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Mr. Qiu","location":"Miaoli County","country":"Taiwan","description":"Five men posing as sellers of 20,000 USDT met Mr. Qiu behind a restaurant in Miaoli County; one counted his NT$600,000 cash, pepper-sprayed him and fled on a scooter wrapped in tape to hide its plates. Three were arrested and indicted for snatch theft; two remain wanted.","summary":"In February 2025, in Miaoli County, Taiwan, five men, three of them aged 20 to 22, contacted Mr. Qiu through Messenger and Telegram, offering to sell him 20,000 USDT worth NT$600,000. The meeting was first set at a PX Mart supermarket and then moved behind a nearby restaurant, so that no passers-by could spoil the plan. There one of the men, surnamed Cai, counted Qiu's cash, then sprayed him with pepper spray and escaped on a scooter ridden by another, surnamed Zheng. On the orders of one of two men surnamed Li, the scooter had been wrapped entirely in tape to hide its plates and body. The group regrouped at a temple and went into hiding. After Qiu reported the robbery, police identified and arrested three of the men, surnamed Gu, Cai and Zheng, and charged them with snatch theft. The two men surnamed Li are wanted.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer, Mr. Qiu"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":600000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5202623"]},{"id":530,"date":"March 11, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-11","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A man buying cryptocurrency","location":"Kiryat Bialik, Haifa District","country":"Israel","description":"A man who had posted in a WhatsApp crypto-trading group that he wanted to buy digital currency was met in a park in Kiryat Bialik by the supposed seller and an accomplice, who took his 5,000 dollars in cash, pepper-sprayed him and fled. A 19-year-old was indicted for aggravated robbery.","summary":"A man posted in a WhatsApp group for trading digital currencies that he wanted to buy some. A 19-year-old from Kabul in the Galilee answered him on WhatsApp, offered to sell him digital coins for 5,000 dollars and arranged to meet him in the park near the Kiryon in Kiryat Bialik, Israel. On March 11, 2025 the buyer arrived and found the seller with a second man whose identity is still unknown. The seller asked him to hand over the money, supposedly to check the banknotes. Once he had the 50 bills of 100 dollars, the second man sprayed pepper spray in the buyer's face and the seller pushed him, and both fled with the money. The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment for aggravated robbery against the 19-year-old in the Haifa District Court and asked that he be held in custody until the end of the proceedings.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":5000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.c14.co.il/article/1164807","https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.c14.co.il/article/1164807"]},{"id":531,"date":"April 4 to 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-04","date_precision":"range","year":2025,"victim":"A crypto mining farm","location":"Irkutsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Four masked men climbed the concrete fence of an industrial site in Irkutsk Oblast, broke into a hangar and carried off 28 crypto mining devices. Police detained them and recovered the equipment from a truck; the court gave them suspended sentences for theft on an especially large scale.","summary":"On the night of April 4 to 5, 2025, four men wearing masks against the surveillance cameras got over the concrete fence of an industrial site in Russia, broke open the doors of a hangar and carried off 28 cryptocurrency mining devices. The thieves moved the equipment between several storage places in a converted truck, which they later left in a forest near the village of Klyuchi. Police detained the four men, all residents of Irkutsk Oblast, and later found the mining farm's equipment in the truck. One of them cooperated with the investigation, showed where the equipment was stored and handed it over voluntarily. The court found the four guilty of theft by a group acting in concert on an especially large scale and gave them suspended sentences of 1 year 8 months to 2 years.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bits.media/v-sibiri-s-mayningovoy-fermy-ukrali-oborudovanie-na-5-3-mln-rubley/"]},{"id":532,"date":"April 12 to 13, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-12","date_precision":"range","year":2025,"victim":"A man dining at a Taipei restaurant","location":"Songshan District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man was approached outside a Taipei restaurant on a pretext of settling a debt claimed by a scam boss in Cambodia, taken to a guesthouse, stripped, handcuffed and beaten until he gave up his passwords; 6,859.9 USDT and NT$9,334 were taken and NT$6 million ransom demanded from his mother. Police rescued him that afternoon; the leader got 10 years 2 months.","summary":"At 11:36 p.m. on April 12, 2025, three men came across a man dining with friends outside a restaurant in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. A scam boss in Cambodia believed he had stolen NT$20 million of scam proceeds, and two of the men used this pretext of settling the debt to get him into their car. At a guesthouse in Taipei, where a fourth man waited, he was stripped, his feet were handcuffed and he was beaten with baseball bats, belts and slippers. At 1:03 a.m. they forced his passwords and moved 6,859.9 USDT from his wallet. Two of them entered his home with his keys but left on finding people there. They made him call his mother, demanded NT$10 million, cut to NT$6 million, and took NT$9,334 from his bank account. His mother called the police, who arrested three men in an ambush that afternoon and rescued him. In December 2025 the leader was sentenced to 10 years 2 months.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man taken from outside the restaurant"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":6000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":6859.896926,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=SLDM%2c114%2c%e9%87%8d%e8%a8%b4%2c2%2c20251216%2c2"]},{"id":533,"date":"April 27, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-27","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Richford S.A. crypto mining data center and its security staff","location":"Poraru, Altos","country":"Paraguay","description":"Armed men in balaclavas and military-style clothing raided the Richford S.A. crypto mining data center in Altos around midnight, tied up the security staff and took about 500 mining machines, phones, computers, a revolver and the CCTV equipment.","summary":"Around midnight, in the early hours of Sunday, April 27, 2025, a group of armed men raided the Richford S.A. crypto mining data center in the Poraru area of Altos, Paraguay, beside Mariscal Francisco Solano López avenue on the road to Loma Grande. The attackers wore face masks, balaclavas and military-style clothing and carried long guns and handguns. They tied up the security staff and took about 500 mining machines belonging to the owner, along with two tablets, a laptop, four mobile phones, a .38 revolver belonging to the security company, and the CCTV and WiFi equipment. The site manager reported the robbery to the Altos police. Early accounts said the attackers worked quickly and were presumed to have had prior information about the company's activity. No arrests had been reported when the robbery was first reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"security staff of the mining data center"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/2025/04/27/altos-delincuentes-armados-se-llevan-costoso-equipo-de-mineria/"]},{"id":534,"date":"May 2, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-02","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Global Hass crypto mining company and its security guard","location":"Barrio Constitución, Caaguazú","country":"Paraguay","description":"An armed group burst onto the grounds of the Global Hass crypto mining company in Caaguazú in the first minutes of May 2, 2025, overpowered the security guard and loaded about 130 mining machines and the site's solar panels onto a large truck.","summary":"In the first minutes of May 2, 2025, an armed group burst onto the grounds of the Global Hass crypto mining company in the Constitución district of Caaguazú, Paraguay, beside the southern service road of route PY02. They surprised and overpowered the private security guard, who was reportedly resting in one of the rooms. Once they had control of the site, they brought in a large truck and loaded about 130 mining machines they had disconnected, along with the solar panels that powered the operation. Wearing gloves and hoods, they also took the memory of the CCTV cameras. Police from the local station and the Caaguazú investigations department opened an inquiry. Police said there had been a series of robberies of crypto mining sites in Alto Paraná and Caaguazú in recent weeks, and that the attackers seemed to exploit the fact that much of this new industry operates clandestinely.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"private security guard of the mining site"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/policiales/2025/05/02/banda-armada-toma-por-asalto-una-criptomineria-y-roban-unas-130-maquinas/"]},{"id":535,"date":"June 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"David, a 28-year-old Russian journalist","location":"Jomtien, Pattaya","country":"Thailand","description":"Four Russian men burst into a Russian journalist's hotel room in Jomtien, Pattaya, at gunpoint, handcuffed and beat him and sent his wife a video with a ransom demand; she handed over a Rolex Daytona and over 1.9 million baht in Bitcoin was transferred before he was dumped in Pattaya. Police detained some suspects.","summary":"At about 5 a.m. on June 26, 2025, David, 28, a special correspondent for a Russian news agency, was ambushed in his hotel room in Jomtien, Pattaya, by four Russian men. Using a decoy to gain access, they burst in with guns drawn, put police-style handcuffs on him, pulled a black bag over his head and hit him with a gun. They made him contact his wife in Bangkok and sent her a video of him being beaten with a ransom demand, warning that he would not survive if she went to police. She left a Rolex Daytona worth about 600,000 baht at a meeting point in Bangkok and photographed a man collecting it. The gang then demanded Bitcoin, and over 1.9 million baht was transferred to their wallet. They assaulted him again and dumped him in Pattaya; at 9 p.m. he reached Pattaya City Police, injured. Police detained some suspects and were tracing the Bitcoin transaction.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Russian journalist held in his hotel room"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described","Forced entry"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"THB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/pattaya-kidnap-russian-journalist-extorted-for-over-2-5-million-baht"]},{"id":536,"date":"July, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A man from Izhevsk","location":"Izhevsk, Udmurtia","country":"Russia","description":"Four men from Ufa lured an Izhevsk man outside with a call about damage to his car, took him back into his flat, tied him up and made him enter the passwords to his phone and a crypto exchange app, then transferred crypto worth almost 4.6 million rubles. They were detained in Bashkortostan and the case went to court.","summary":"In July 2025, four men from Ufa travelled to Izhevsk, Udmurtia, in a rented car. One of them phoned a local man, told him his car had been damaged and asked him to come outside. In the street four men in camouflage clothing and balaclavas approached him, led him back into his flat, tied him up and made him enter the passwords to his mobile phone and to a cryptocurrency exchange app. They transferred cryptocurrency worth almost 4.6 million rubles from his account and left. Police identified the four from surveillance camera footage and detained them in Bashkortostan. The regional interior ministry later said the investigation was complete and the case had been sent to court; the four face up to 12 years in prison.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Izhevsk man tied up in his flat"}],"approach":["Social engineering: pretext at the door","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4600000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8478735"]},{"id":537,"date":"September 6, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-06","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A USDT buyer (A01 in the ruling)","location":"Chiayi City","country":"Taiwan","description":"A group that contacted a buyer in a virtual currency trading group lured him to a 7-Eleven in Chiayi City with 300,000 Taiwan dollars for 10,000 USDT, shot him in the face with an unidentified gun when he handed over the cash, and fled with the money. The getaway driver was sentenced to seven years and four months in June 2026.","summary":"A contact using the Telegram name 'Li Chunqing' reached a buyer, identified in court as A01, in a virtual currency trading group and agreed to sell him 10,000 USDT for 300,000 Taiwan dollars at a 7-Eleven in Chiayi City, Taiwan, at 11:30 p.m. on September 5, 2025. The plan was to lure a buyer with cash and shoot him. A01 arrived with a friend in the early hours of September 6, 2025. When he handed the cash over, one of the two men who had come by car shot him in the face with an unidentified gun, fracturing his left facial bone. The two took the money and the driver drove them away. Police traced them through camera footage and the car's registration. On June 9, 2026, the Chiayi District Court sentenced the driver to seven years and four months for aggravated robbery by three or more people carrying a weapon.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=CYDM%2C115%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C127%2C20260609%2C1"]},{"id":538,"date":"September 30, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-30","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A 35-year-old currency exchanger","location":"Western Tehran, Tehran","country":"Iran","description":"A 35-year-old currency exchanger from Saadatabad was shot dead while parking his car in western Tehran by a former client who had ordered 6 billion tomans' worth of dollars and euros, to be paid for in Tether, and who took the currency. Two suspects were arrested in Karaj less than a month later.","summary":"On September 30, 2025, at about noon, a 35-year-old man who ran a currency exchange office in Saadatabad, Tehran, Iran, was shot twice while parking his car in western Tehran, where he had gone on business. He got out wounded and collapsed a few steps away; witnesses saw two people running from the scene, and a large amount of dollars and euros lay beside him. Detectives arrested two suspects in Karaj less than a month later. One, a 30-year-old who had bought dollars from the exchanger before, confessed that he had ordered dollars and euros worth 6 billion tomans, to be paid for in Tether, and planned the robbery and killing with his friend Majid. He said they had checked that the meeting place had no cameras; he got into the victim's SUV with a gun, shot him twice and took the currency, spilling part of it, while Majid kept watch. Questioning was continuing.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 35-year-old exchange office owner"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news/987001/"]},{"id":539,"date":"October 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A USDT buyer (A02 in the ruling)","location":"Dali District, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A USDT buyer lured via Telegram to a cash trade outside the Qijiangjun temple in Dali, Taichung, was pepper-sprayed in the back seat of the attackers' car as it headed toward two accomplices, then grabbed back the TWD 1.1 million and jumped from the car. Four defendants were sentenced in August 2026 for attempted aggravated robbery.","summary":"On October 14, 2025, in Dali District, Taichung, Taiwan, two Telegram users posing as sellers offered to sell USDT to a buyer and set a cash handover of TWD 1.1 million at about 3 pm outside the Dali Qijiangjun temple. Directed by organisers on Telegram, four attackers drove there in a car fitted with forged plates; two waited near a convenience store about 53 metres away. At about 3.55 pm the buyer got into the back seat with the cash. After it was counted, one attacker sprayed the buyer with pepper spray and seized the money while the driver headed for the two waiting accomplices, who were to help hold the buyer down. Before the car got there, the buyer pulled back the money and jumped out. The buyer was injured. Police arrested the driver early on October 15. On August 12, 2026, a Taichung court sentenced the four to 3 years 10 months to 4 years 10 months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C115%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C116%2C20260812%2C1"]},{"id":540,"date":"October 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer (A05 in the ruling)","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A cryptocurrency buyer lured online to a Taichung car park with TWD 2.44 million in cash was pepper-sprayed with a companion in the car and stabbed in the legs for refusing to let go of the money, then pushed the attacker out, and the robbers fled empty-handed. Five members of the group were sentenced in May 2026.","summary":"On October 15, 2025, at about 9 pm, a cryptocurrency buyer who had been found online by a Telegram user posing as a seller brought TWD 2.44 million in cash to a car park in Taichung, Taiwan, for a USDT trade. A crew directed through Telegram arrived by car. One of them got into the back of the buyer's car and counted the cash as if trading; once the amount was confirmed, two others opened the doors and pepper-sprayed the buyer and a second person in the car in the face. The attacker in the back pulled at the bag of cash and, when the buyer held on, stabbed the buyer in both thighs and a calf. The buyer threw the bag toward the driver's seat and pushed the attacker out of the car, and the three fled in their getaway car without the money. On May 14, 2026, the Taichung District Court sentenced five members of the group to 3 years 10 months to 5 years; a sixth man was tried separately.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer carrying the cash, stabbed in the legs"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a second person in his car, pepper-sprayed"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C115%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C126%2C20260514%2C2"]},{"id":541,"date":"October 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-18","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Ms. Ding","location":"Nangang District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Ms. Ding brought TWD 1.92 million in cash to a roadside in Nangang, Taipei, to buy USDT from a dealer met online; the courier sat in her car, never sent the coins, grabbed the cash and ran. Police arrested him about 20 minutes later and recovered the money.","summary":"On the afternoon of October 18, 2025, a 48-year-old woman surnamed Ding, who works at a technology company and invests in Tether, brought TWD 1.92 million in cash to a roadside on Nangang Road Section 1, Nangang District, Taipei, Taiwan, to buy USDT from a coin dealer she had met online through a friend's introduction. A 31-year-old man surnamed Tang came to her car, confirmed her identity and sat in the back seat to trade. When the USDT did not arrive and she grew suspicious, he grabbed the cash, got out and ran; she chased him shouting 'robbery' and called the police. Police found him about 20 minutes later in a rental car on Kangning Road Section 3, Neihu, arrested him and recovered her money. Police said he was a courier sent by a fraud ring. He was referred to prosecutors for fraud and snatching and detained, and police are looking for accomplices.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 48-year-old woman buying USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1920000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5217822"]},{"id":542,"date":"November 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Ms. Lai","location":"Yingge, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman buying USDT from a seller met in a LINE trading group was robbed in her car at a Yingge car park; the fake seller ran off with her cash and pepper-sprayed her when she gave chase, getting away with TWD 400,000. All three members of the crew were arrested.","summary":"On November 14, 2025, a woman surnamed Lai arranged to buy USDT from a seller in a LINE cryptocurrency trading group, where a three-man robbery crew had singled her out. The seller offered nearly US$30,000 worth of USDT, and the trade was set for a car park on Jianguo Road in Yingge, New Taipei. In her car, the man who came to trade sent one USDT to her account to win her trust, and she handed him TWD 900,000 in cash to check. He got out with the money and ran. She chased him on foot, he attacked her with pepper spray, and in the struggle she took back TWD 500,000 while he escaped with TWD 400,000. Police arrested the driver that night and the planner and the runner on November 18, recovered about TWD 200,000 and seized a BMW and ketamine. All three, said to have backgrounds in the Bei Lian gang, admitted the robbery and were referred for prosecution.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman buying USDT with cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5251077"]},{"id":543,"date":"February 3, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-03","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Ms. H, 57","location":"Datong District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A 57-year-old woman drawn into a romance and crypto investment scam brought TWD 7 million in cash to a face-to-face meeting in a Datong District alley, where a man grabbed the bag of money and escaped in a waiting Mercedes.","summary":"On the afternoon of February 3, 2026, a 57-year-old woman surnamed H brought TWD 7 million in cash to an alley near the Jiancheng Circle in Datong District, Taipei, for a face-to-face crypto investment. Months earlier she had met a man online who chatted with her every day, then invited her to invest in cryptocurrency and introduced her to a self-styled financial adviser. A 31-year-old man surnamed Zhang came to collect the money, but as the cash was handed over another man rushed out, grabbed the bag of money and ran toward Yanping North Road, where a Mercedes picked him up and drove off toward New Taipei. Police said they had identified those involved and were tracing them; the article reports no arrests yet.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the woman bringing the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":7000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ettoday.net/news/20260204/3113077.htm"]},{"id":544,"date":"March 2, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-02","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man in his 30s","location":"Deogyang-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi","country":"South Korea","description":"Teenagers who offered a man cheap cryptocurrency on Telegram lured him to a face-to-face trade in a street in Goyang, beat him and fled with 30 million won in cash. Three suspects were caught and a fourth was still being sought.","summary":"On March 2, 2026, at about 5:50 p.m., a man in his 30s was attacked in a street in Deogyang-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Police said a group of teenagers had approached him on Telegram, offering to sell him cryptocurrency below the market price, and drew him into a face-to-face trade. They held no cryptocurrency. At the meeting they beat him and fled with 30 million won in cash. Goyang police detained one suspect, identified as A, on a charge of special robbery and caught two accomplices for questioning. One more accomplice had fled and was being tracked. Police said they were still investigating exactly what happened.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man in his 30s who came to buy cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mt.co.kr/society/2026/03/06/2026030615533335282"]},{"id":545,"date":"March 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Mr. Guo","location":"Datong District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A 31-year-old man who came to a Taipei lane with 4 million Taiwan dollars to buy USDT was pepper-sprayed by the 19-year-old who turned up as the seller, but held on to the cash until the attacker gave up and fled. The attacker was arrested two days later.","summary":"On the afternoon of March 10, 2026, Mr. Guo, 31, went to a lane off Minquan West Road in Datong District, Taipei, carrying 4 million Taiwan dollars in cash. He had seen a currency exchange advert on an online social network and, after several contacts, agreed to buy 1,200 Tether (USDT) for that sum at 3 p.m. The person who turned up was a 19-year-old man surnamed Huang, who tried to seize the money and sprayed pepper spray at him. Guo held on to the cash with all his strength. Huang, unable to get it and afraid passers-by would notice, gave up and fled by taxi. Police traced him through street cameras to a friend's home in Taichung and arrested him on March 12 for attempted snatch theft. Police were checking whether someone was behind him.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 31-year-old man who came to buy USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5368449"]},{"id":546,"date":"March 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer","location":"Shilin District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A buyer who had arranged through social media to buy cryptocurrency from a coin dealer brought 2 million Taiwan dollars in cash to a street in Shilin, Taipei, where a man claiming to be the dealer's envoy snatched the cash bag and fled in a rental car. Six suspects were arrested within three days.","summary":"On the evening of March 10, 2026, a person who had agreed through a social networking site to buy cryptocurrency from a coin dealer went to Yusheng Street, near the Yangming branch of Taipei City United Hospital in Shilin District, with 2 million Taiwan dollars in cash. A man there claimed the dealer had sent him to make the exchange. When the buyer tried to confirm who he was, he grabbed the cash bag and jumped into a rental car. Police stopped the car in Yilan that night and arrested the men inside. The 24-year-old ringleader, surnamed Li, had fled with two others to a guesthouse on Liuqiu island, Pingtung, where all three were arrested on March 13. Police said the gang targeted people wanting to buy cryptocurrency. Only about 620,000 dollars was recovered.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a person who came to buy cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5369826"]},{"id":547,"date":"March 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A USDT buyer","location":"Wenshan District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two young men posing online as USDT sellers met a buyer at a convenience store in Wenshan, Taipei, pepper-sprayed the buyer's face and eyes and fled with 100,000 Taiwan dollars in cash. Both were arrested within six hours.","summary":"On March 13, 2026, a 20-year-old man surnamed Zheng and a teenage boy, posing online as sellers of Tether (USDT), arranged to meet a buyer at a convenience store in Wenshan District, Taipei. Police said they planned it and picked buyers at random. The buyer withdrew 100,000 Taiwan dollars from the store's cash machine. Without transferring any coins, the two pulled out hidden pepper spray, sprayed the victim's face and eyes, grabbed the cash and fled separately. The victim, unable to open their eyes, asked a store clerk for help. Police caught both in Sanchong within six hours and recovered part of the money. Neither held any cryptocurrency. They were referred for snatch theft, injury and fraud, and police asked prosecutors to seek their detention.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a person who came to buy USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5370404"]},{"id":548,"date":"March 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A woman","location":"Luzhu District, Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman lured by a fraud ring's crypto investment pitch brought 930,000 Taiwan dollars in cash to a convenience store in Luzhu, Taoyuan, for a face-to-face exchange, and the ring's young collector snatched it and fled on an unplated scooter. He was arrested the next day; the money was not recovered.","summary":"At about 9 p.m. on March 20, 2026, a woman who had believed a fraud ring's promise of high returns from investing in cryptocurrency met one of its collectors outside a convenience store on Shangxing Road in Luzhu District, Taoyuan, carrying 930,000 Taiwan dollars in cash for a face-to-face exchange. The young collector snatched the cash and ran off, then rode away on an unplated scooter parked nearby. Police followed him through the city's camera network and arrested him the next day, but the money was not recovered. He was referred to Taoyuan prosecutors for fraud and snatch theft, and a court approved his detention. Police said fake coin dealers luring victims to cash meetings and then robbing them had become a frequent new fraud pattern.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a woman who came to exchange cash for cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":930000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5378720"]},{"id":549,"date":"April 1, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-01","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man from Ussuriysk","location":"Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai","country":"Russia","description":"Five teenagers burst into a man's flat in Ussuriysk and beat him badly, believing he held 37 million rubles in cryptocurrency; he held none and they took his belongings. The five minors are charged with robbery with unlawful entry and the case has gone to court.","summary":"On the evening of April 1, 2026, five teenagers from Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai, burst into the flat of a local man and beat him badly. According to investigators, a young man and a young woman had decided to rob him because they believed he held 37 million rubles in cryptocurrency; they recruited three more teenagers and drew up a plan. Inside the flat they found no cryptocurrency, as the information that he held any proved wrong, and they took his belongings instead. The Investigative Committee for Primorsky Krai said in July 2026 that the investigation was complete: the five minors are charged, according to their roles, with robbery by a group acting in prior conspiracy with unlawful entry into a home, and the case has been sent to court.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man attacked in his flat"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://ria.ru/20260710/sk-2103974321.html"]},{"id":550,"date":"June 7, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-07","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A Colombian crypto broker","location":"Rome, Lazio","country":"Italy","description":"A Colombian broker who converted cash into Bitcoin and USDT was lured to the lobby of his B&B in Casal Bertone, Rome, beaten, forced into a car and held and tortured for seven hours by a drug-trafficking gang; he blocked the crypto transfers with a secret emergency code, but they took cash, gold chains, a Rolex and a laptop.","summary":"At about 2:30 a.m. on June 7, 2026, a Colombian financial operator who converted cash into Bitcoin and USDT for a Venezuelan company was lured into a trap by a fellow Colombian woman at a B&B in Casal Bertone, Rome. In the lobby he met a gang led by a man known as 'il Presidente', head of a drug-trafficking group; the motive was a delay in converting into crypto 7,000 euros in cash that il Presidente had entrusted to him. He tried to flee through the glass door but was beaten and forced into a car. Held in Borghesiana and then Centocelle, he was tied hand and foot, threatened with a pistol and cut with a knife for seven hours. Forced to make transfers on his computer, he secretly typed an emergency code that blocked them. The gang searched his room and took 8,900 euros, gold chains, a Rolex and a laptop. He was let go the next morning. A judge ordered nine people into custody.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Colombian broker"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8900,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.fanpage.it/roma/broker-sequestrato-e-torturato-a-roma-il-trucco-del-codice-demergenza-e-il-tatuaggio-sul-collo-a-forma-di-bacio/"]},{"id":551,"date":"June 9, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-09","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"An entrepreneur from Devinagar","location":"Sanjaynagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka","country":"India","description":"An entrepreneur who had met a USDT trader through a WhatsApp group brought 17.64 lakh rupees to Kalpana Chawla Road in Sanjaynagar to convert into crypto; the gang assaulted him, his brother and a friend and fled with the cash. Police arrested 12 people and recovered 13.90 lakh rupees.","summary":"An entrepreneur from Devinagar in Kodigehalli, planning to open a café on Sira Highway, wanted to import kitchen equipment cheaply and was told payments could be made in cryptocurrency, so he joined a WhatsApp group. Through it he met a man who successfully exchanged 2.5 lakh rupees into USDT for him on June 8, 2026, gaining his trust. The next day he sought to convert 17.64 lakh rupees, and the accused asked him to bring the cash to Kalpana Chawla Road in Sanjaynagar. He came with his brother and a friend. Instead of carrying out the trade, the gang assaulted the three and fled with the cash. Sanjaynagar police registered a robbery case, detained four suspects on June 11, and between June 11 and June 22 arrested 12 people, recovering 13.90 lakh rupees, 13 phones, six two-wheelers and a car. One accused was still absconding.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the entrepreneur who brought the cash"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his brother, assaulted with him"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a friend who came with him, assaulted"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1764000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/12-arrested-for-robbing-businessman-on-pretext-of-converting-cash-into-cryptocurrency/article71145597.ece"]},{"id":552,"date":"June 16 to 17, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-16","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Jan Sher Khan","location":"Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi","country":"Pakistan","description":"A crypto trader riding his motorcycle home in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi, was intercepted, chased, assaulted and forced into a car by armed men, who held him at an undisclosed location, took his passwords and fingerprints, transferred funds and data from his online accounts and took his iPhone before leaving him blindfolded in Bin Qasim.","summary":"In the early hours after the night of June 16, 2026, crypto trader Jan Sher Khan was riding his motorcycle home in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi, followed by suspects in a black vehicle. CCTV showed them intercepting the motorcycle; he abandoned it and ran, and three men in plain clothes chased him, overpowered and assaulted him and forced him into the car. By his account four armed men took him to an undisclosed location, obtained his passwords and fingerprints, and transferred funds and data from his online accounts. Before dawn they drove him around again and left him blindfolded in the Bin Qasim area. He said they also demanded dollars from his friends in his name and took his iPhone. Police registered a case and were seeking more CCTV footage to identify the suspects.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto trader seized from his motorcycle"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thenews.pk/print/1421361-crypto-trader-alleges-short-term-kidnapping-data-theft"]},{"id":553,"date":"July 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A 40-year-old woman surnamed Tsai","location":"Da'an District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man posing as a crypto dealer at a cash-for-USDT meeting arranged on Instagram took NT$2.5 million from a 40-year-old woman in Da'an District, Taipei, and ran; a passer-by and police caught him and recovered all the money.","summary":"On the evening of July 13, 2026, a 40-year-old woman surnamed Tsai met a 20-year-old man surnamed Chang in Da'an District, Taipei, for a cash-for-crypto exchange arranged through Instagram: NT$2.5 million in cash for more than 70,000 USDT. At about 9 p.m. she handed him the NT$2.5 million to check, but he kept failing to deliver the USDT. When she grew suspicious, he grabbed the bag of cash and ran. She cried for help, and a passer-by chased him; with officers from the Da'an precinct who rushed to the scene, the passer-by cornered him by the roadside, and police handcuffed him and recovered all the money. He was referred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office on suspicion of snatch theft and fraud, and police were tracing the fraud ring behind him.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the woman who brought the cash to the trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5505656"]},{"id":554,"date":"September 3, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-03","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A 24-year-old Indian medical student","location":"Las Piñas City","country":"Philippines","description":"A 24-year-old Indian medical student was kidnapped from his Las Piñas apartment by five schoolmates who wanted to use his crypto e-wallet account; a P250,000 ransom was demanded from his brother, and police rescued him two days later and arrested the five.","summary":"On the night of Thursday, September 3, 2026, a 24-year-old Indian medical student was kidnapped from his apartment in Las Piñas City, Philippines. Police said the five suspects, his schoolmates aged 24 to 26, wanted to use his crypto e-wallet account; when he refused, suspecting criminal use, they held him captive. He was slapped repeatedly and his ear was left bleeding. On Friday his brother reported him missing after a message demanding a P250,000 ransom. The family transferred 80,000 Indian rupees (about P52,500) to the suspects' bank accounts and deposited P150,000 at an ATM as instructed. Police caught the suspects trying to retrieve the deposit and rescued the student on Saturday along Alabang-Zapote Road. The five went through inquest proceedings for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Indian medical student, 24"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":250000,"currency":"PHP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":80000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://globalnation.inquirer.net/337522/pnp-indian-korean-men-rescued-from-kidnap-for-ransom-schemes"]},{"id":555,"date":"September 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A person","location":"Downtown Los Angeles, California","country":"USA","description":"Two robbers armed with a handgun took jewelry and cryptocurrency from a person near 888 S. Olive St. in downtown Los Angeles early on September 5, 2026, leaving the victim with a head injury, and fled.","summary":"At about 1:27 a.m. on Saturday, September 5, 2026, a person was robbed near 888 S. Olive St. in downtown Los Angeles, California. According to a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, the two suspects were armed with a handgun and took jewelry and cryptocurrency from the victim, who suffered a head injury. One suspect was described as a man wearing a black mask and a gray hoodie; police had no description of the second. Both fled the scene. An ambulance was requested for the victim, but police did not know whether the person was taken to hospital. Video from the scene showed officers investigating and interviewing witnesses. The police account gives no amount for what was taken and does not say how the robbers came to the victim or whether anyone has been arrested.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"one person, no details given"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/09/05/one-person-injured-in-downtown-robbery/"]},{"id":556,"date":"May, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Crypto buyers who met a fake seller","location":"Leganés, Madrid; Valladolid","country":"Spain","description":"A man posing as a crypto seller on a social media forum met buyers in business parking lots and, once they were in his stolen car, threatened them with an imitation pistol and took the cash meant for the purchase, 28,000 euros in all in Leganés and Valladolid. He was arrested in Madrid and sent to prison.","summary":"A 50-year-old Spanish man of Russian origin, with a record for violent robbery, posed as a cryptocurrency seller on a social media forum. Once he had won a buyer's trust, he arranged to meet in the parking lot of a business, using a stolen car with forged number plates. The buyer got into his car, and when they were about to make the trade he threatened the buyer with an imitation pistol until he was handed the cash meant for the purchase. With these robberies in Leganés and Valladolid he obtained 28,000 euros. The Policía Nacional identified and arrested him in Madrid on suspicion of robbery with violence and intimidation using a firearm, vehicle theft, document forgery and membership of a criminal group, and seized an imitation pistol and more than 1,500 euros in cash. He was brought before a judge and sent to prison. The arrest was reported on May 9, 2025.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"crypto buyers carrying cash, robbed in Leganés and Valladolid"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":28000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.telemadrid.es/noticias/madrid/Detenido-por-atracar-a-punta-de-pistola-a-compradores-de-criptomoneda-en-Madrid-0-2777722218--20250509011206.html"]},{"id":557,"date":"August, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A middle-aged man","location":"Kerman, Kerman province","country":"Iran","description":"A middle-aged man was abducted in Kerman by a group seeking to settle a debt from digital currency transactions, and was later left injured by his captors near the Mahan road. Police arrested four suspects and were searching for the others.","summary":"A middle-aged man was abducted in the city of Kerman, Iran, by a group whose motive, police said, was to settle a debt arising from digital currency transactions. The report does not give the date of the abduction or say how he was seized. Detectives of the Kerman provincial criminal investigation police opened an inquiry immediately after the abduction, identified the victim and found leads to the perpetrators, and after several days arrested one of the main suspects. The man, who had been injured, was eventually left by his captors in the area of the Mahan road. Colonel Hamidreza Mirhabibi, head of the provincial criminal investigation police, announced the arrest of four suspects in the case, and the search for the others continued.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the middle-aged man abducted over the debt"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mehrnews.com/news/6560225/%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%87%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B2-%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AC%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%84"]},{"id":558,"date":"2026","date_sort":"2026-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2026,"victim":"A motorist buying cryptocurrency","location":"","country":"South Korea","description":"Four teenagers who had met in a juvenile detention centre lured a motorist with an offer of cheap cryptocurrency, climbed into his car beside an apartment complex, fought with him and fled with more than KRW 34 million. Prosecutors indicted all four in custody for aggravated robbery.","summary":"Four teenagers aged 17 and 18 who had grown close in a juvenile detention centre planned, after their release, to rob people buying cryptocurrency face to face, reasoning that such buyers hold dirty money and cannot report a robbery. On a date the report does not give, they lured a motorist with an offer of cheap coins; he drove a black car up beside an apartment complex in South Korea. A man waiting nearby climbed into the passenger seat and two others rushed into the car. They fought with the driver and ran off with more than KRW 34 million; the one still trading punches with him slipped out of the jacket the driver had grabbed. They had rented a car for the crime by presenting someone else's driving licence. Police caught them a few days apart, and prosecutors, who arrested a further plotter, indicted four in custody for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the driver who came to buy coins"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":34000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/449/0000341045"]},{"id":559,"date":"February 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-10","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A woman of about 50","location":"Sanchong District, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman of about 50, drawn in by a fake crypto investment advert on Facebook, called off a TWD 6.1 million cash handover in Sanchong when the two collectors could not say when the crypto would arrive; they snatched the bag and fled with about TWD 5.1 million and were arrested in Douliu within five hours.","summary":"A woman of about 50 in Sanchong, New Taipei, who had fallen for a fake crypto investment advertised on Facebook, arranged to hand TWD 6.1 million in cash to the scam group at the corner of Jieshou Road and Wanquan Road at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday the 10th. When she asked the two collectors when the cryptocurrency would reach her account, they could not answer, and she decided to call off the exchange. The two men then grabbed the bag with the money. She wrestled TWD 1 million back, but they rode off together on a scooter with about TWD 5.1 million. Police traced the scooter on CCTV and within five hours arrested both men in Douliu, Yunlin, recovering TWD 600,000 and two phones. They admitted only to collecting cash on instructions and were referred for robbery, snatch theft and fraud.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the woman bringing the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5100000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.setn.com/news/1794279"]},{"id":560,"date":"March, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"A foreign national","location":"","country":"Dominican Republic","description":"Dominican police are searching for a man accused of taking part in the illegal holding of a foreign national who was forced to hand over access to digital assets worth more than USD 700,000.","summary":"The Central Investigation Directorate (Dicrim) of the Dominican National Police said it was searching for a man accused of taking part in a kidnapping and aggravated robbery in which the victim, a foreign national, was stripped of more than USD 700,000 in cryptocurrency. According to preliminary information, the man was involved in illegally holding the victim, who was then forced to hand over access to digital assets of that value. An arrest warrant has been issued and investigators are trying to locate him. Police said the investigation continues to establish the full facts and whether other people took part, and urged the suspect to surrender. The report gives neither the date nor the place of the attack.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the foreign victim"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":700000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":700000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://acento.com.do/actualidad/buscan-a-hombre-acusado-de-secuestrar-extranjero-y-despojarlo-de-mas-de-us700-mil-en-criptomonedas-9634447.html"]},{"id":561,"date":"April, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"Ravi Meena","location":"Jaipur, Rajasthan","country":"India","description":"Ravi Meena was drawn to a cheap USTC crypto deal through an acquaintance; the sellers, finding he had brought cash, called in accomplices who snatched 8.37 lakh rupees without delivering any crypto. Jaipur police arrested six men aged 22 to 25.","summary":"In Jaipur, Rajasthan, Ravi Meena was put in touch through an acquaintance with people offering a deal in the cryptocurrency USTC at a low price. Two men first met him for the supposed deal and, on learning that he had brought cash, called in their accomplices as planned. The group snatched 8.37 lakh rupees and fled without handing over any cryptocurrency. Meena reported the robbery at Chitrakoot police station on April 24, 2026. Using CCTV footage and a route chart, Chitrakoot police tracked the gang and arrested six men aged 22 to 25, and recovered the Bolero vehicle used in the robbery. Police announced the arrests on April 27, 2026. The accused admitted to luring people with crypto deals through social media platforms and robbing them.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":837000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bhaskar.com/g/local/rajasthan/jaipur/news/jaipur-crypto-scam-8-37-lakh-robbery-6-held-137799544.html"]},{"id":562,"date":"May, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"Amit Kumar","location":"Sector 42, Chandigarh","country":"India","description":"Men posing as a USDT trader on WhatsApp drew businessman Amit Kumar to the Sector-42 lake parking in Chandigarh with cash for a crypto deal, then chased and assaulted him and his associate and snatched 17.5 lakh rupees. One suspect was arrested and 5 lakh rupees recovered.","summary":"In Chandigarh, men posing as a trader in the cryptocurrency USDT contacted Amit Kumar, a Sector-45 resident who runs a computer spare parts business near Panjab University, on WhatsApp. After days of conversation they set a meeting for a deal worth around 40 lakh rupees and told him to bring cash. Kumar went to the Sector-42 lake parking with his associate Vinay Jain, carrying 17.5 lakh rupees in two bags with identity documents. Four youths sat in a black Kia car, and one asked Kumar to sit in the vehicle. Sensing something amiss, he stepped out; the men chased him, assaulted him and his associate, snatched both bags and fled. The car, borrowed from a visually impaired man, had its plate masked with black tape, but the victims noted the number and CCTV led police to the owner. One suspect was arrested and 5 lakh rupees recovered; the others are sought.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman who brought the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his business associate, also assaulted"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1750000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/crypto-deal-turns-robbery-17-5l-looted-at-sector-42-lake-parking/articleshow/131415380.cms"]},{"id":563,"date":"January, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Madho Singh","location":"Charkhi village, Charkhi Dadri, Haryana","country":"India","description":"Madho Singh was abducted at gunpoint near Charkhi village by men in a Scorpio who wanted his bitcoin, beaten, robbed of Rs 4,500 and left near Satnali. Four suspects were arrested about six weeks later; three are at large.","summary":"Madho Singh, from Gudha village in Mahendragarh district, Haryana, India, was abducted at gunpoint near the Charkhi village bus stand in Charkhi Dadri district; a kidnapping and assault case was registered at the Charkhi Dadri Sadar police station on January 14. He told police he was driving a friend's car to Hisar when young men in a Scorpio kidnapped him, beat him, took Rs 4,500 from his pocket and later left him near Satnali. According to sources, the gang had watched him for several days and fitted a GPS chip to his car; police sources said the accused targeted bitcoin holders, and the abduction was meant to get his bitcoin. About six weeks later the Dadri CIA unit arrested four suspects in Mahendragarh and Dadri districts and took them on three days' remand; three accomplices are still at large.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man abducted at gunpoint while driving to Hisar"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4500,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.amarujala.com/haryana/charkhi-dadri/four-accused-of-kidnapping-young-man-arrested-for-grabbing-bitcoins-charkhidadri-news-rtk5451070156"]},{"id":564,"date":"January 14, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Mr. Zhang","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A buyer of Tether (USDT) who brought TWD 2.78 million in cash to a fake sale was stabbed to death in a car by two teenagers, who pushed him out on the Taichung to Changhua expressway and took the money. Both were sentenced to 15 years for robbery with murder; the organiser is wanted.","summary":"On January 14, 2020, a buyer surnamed Zhang was robbed and killed in Taichung, Taiwan, after being drawn to a fake sale of the stablecoin Tether (USDT). Zhuang Menglun and two teenagers surnamed Lin and Wu planned to pretend to sell 100,000 Tether and rob the buyer. Zhang brought TWD 2.78 million in cash and got into a car driven by Lin. When he saw the Tether had not been sent, he tried to get out with the money, but Lin pulled him back into the car and stabbed him with a fruit knife, and Wu stabbed him in the chest. They pushed him out on the shoulder of Provincial Highway 74. A driver behind them called police, and Zhang died in hospital. The two teenagers were arrested and sentenced to 15 years for robbery with murder, and a civil court ordered them and their parents to pay his father about TWD 5.62 million. Zhuang remains wanted.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Tether buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2780000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3665737"]},{"id":565,"date":"February 19, 2020","date_sort":"2020-02-19","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Liang Wen-yao","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Liang Wen-yao, who ran a crypto investment business, was taken from his Taipei home by men posing as police, beaten in the Linkou hills and forced to give up his phone and crypto app passwords; finding no crypto, they left him and kept his cash, phones and bag. Five men were sentenced to 11 to 12.5 years.","summary":"Liang Wen-yao ran a crypto investment business through a phone app in Taipei, Taiwan. His flatmate planned to rob him with a motorcycle shop owner and three men the owner recruited. At 00:58 on February 19, 2020, four rang Liang's doorbell while the flatmate waited in the car; a Coast Guard employee among them showed his service card and claimed they were police. When Liang went in to change, they followed, pinned him to the floor and took his phone and bag. They walked him past the guard, forced him into a car with his head covered, drove to the Linkou hills in New Taipei, tied his hands, beat him and made him give up his phone and crypto app passwords. Believing the crypto had already been moved out, they left him near a rubbish dump at about 3 a.m., keeping two phones and TWD 16,000 in cash. In October 2020 the Shilin District Court sentenced all five to 11 to 12.5 years.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto investment operator taken from his flat"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":16000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=SLDM%2C109%2C%E5%8E%9F%E8%A8%B4%2C3%2C20201015%2C3"]},{"id":566,"date":"April 29, 2020","date_sort":"2020-04-29","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"A founder of Indeal","location":"Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul","country":"Brazil","description":"One of the founders of Indeal, a bitcoin pyramid scheme under federal investigation, was kidnapped in Novo Hamburgo by people who had lost money to the scheme; they demanded 50 bitcoin from his family, which police say was not paid. A police officer and a trader are among the suspects.","summary":"On April 29, 2020, a man who was one of the founders of Indeal, a company targeted by the Federal Police's Operation Egypto as a bitcoin pyramid scheme, was kidnapped in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Police said the action ran from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day in Canoas, in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area. After the abduction the kidnappers demanded 50 bitcoin, then worth about R$ 2.8 million, from his family; according to police the ransom was not paid. Police said five people took part and that the kidnappers had themselves lost money to the pyramid scheme. They had enough evidence against three: a police officer, an investment market trader, and a man said to be the father of one of the two. On November 18, 2020, the Civil Police executed search warrants in four cities, and the search for the others continued. The source does not say how he was taken or freed.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a founder of the Indeal scheme"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://portaldobitcoin.uol.com.br/operacao-no-rs-investiga-trader-e-policial-por-sequestro-de-socio-de-piramide-financeira/"]},{"id":567,"date":"May 11, 2020","date_sort":"2020-05-11","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"You Ke-hsun","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A Tether (USDT) buyer who brought TWD 3,848,000 in cash to a fake sale in a private room at the RICH19 club in Taichung was held and choked while the organiser grabbed the cash and fled. The court sentenced two men for robbery and two for coercion.","summary":"On May 11, 2020, You Ke-hsun, who bought Tether (USDT), was robbed in a private room at the RICH19 club in Taichung, Taiwan. Chen Sheng-lin was introduced to him by an acquaintance and falsely offered over Telegram to sell him 130,000 USDT for TWD 3,848,000. Chen recruited a second man to pose as the seller's agent, who brought two more men told they were helping collect a debt. The cash was counted and put in a bag, which You held while waiting for the USDT, and Chen grabbed it. Two men held You's arms and a third choked him until he let go, and Chen ran off with the cash while the other three blocked You from chasing him. You suffered abrasions, sprains and a suspected fractured finger. In December 2020, the Taichung District Court sentenced Chen to 6 years 10 months and the second man to 6 years for robbery, and the other two to shorter terms for coercion.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3848000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C109%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C1662%2C20201229%2C1"]},{"id":568,"date":"August 12, 2020","date_sort":"2020-08-12","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Osman E.","location":"Fatih, Istanbul","country":"Turkey","description":"Osman E. was tricked with a story about buying bitcoin, brought to the attackers' office in Fatih, Istanbul, and robbed of 1.3 million Turkish lira. Six suspects were arrested in November 2020 and remanded in custody.","summary":"On August 12, 2020, in Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey, a man identified as Osman E. was deceived by a group with a story about buying bitcoin, brought to their office and robbed of 1.3 million Turkish lira. The robbery came to light through a later case: on November 9, 2020, in Fatih, a Moroccan man who had come to a business meeting was struck on the head with a gun butt by four masked men and robbed of a bag holding his phone and documents. Istanbul police's robbery squad identified the suspects from security cameras and arrested them on November 18. Police linked the same men to the Osman E. robbery and to a March 11 robbery in Beyoğlu, in which a man leaving a bank was followed, knocked out with an electroshock device and robbed of 150,000 lira. All six suspects were remanded in custody. The report gives no detail of how Osman E. was robbed or how it ended.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man lured with the bitcoin-buying story"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1300000,"currency":"TRY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/is-adamlarina-tuzak-sokak-ortasinda-elektrosok-cihazi-ile-bayiltmislar-41673905"]},{"id":569,"date":"September, 2020","date_sort":"2020-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"Five foreign residents of a rural property","location":"Castelo Branco or Idanha-a-Nova","country":"Portugal","description":"A criminal group held five foreign citizens living on a rural property in the Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova area and, under threat of firearms, forced one of them to transfer tens of bitcoins worth about EUR 3 million. Police arrested six men and a woman, all foreigners, in December 2023.","summary":"In September 2020 a criminal group attacked five foreign citizens living on a rural property in the area of Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal. Police say the group planned the robbery carefully and used paramilitary-style methods, aiming to take bitcoins held by foreign residents. The attackers held all five people captive and, under threat of firearms, forced one of them to transfer tens of bitcoins, then worth about EUR 3 million, to several wallets. Police say the same group, in a different make-up, held five people in a second robbery in November 2021 but failed to complete the transfer. On December 12, 2023, after an investigation with Europol, the Polícia Judiciária arrested six men and a woman, all foreigners aged 37 to 52, for aggravated robbery and unlawful confinement, and seized computer equipment suspected of being used to move the stolen bitcoins.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Other"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the resident forced to make the transfer"},{"role":"Other","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"the other four residents held, relationship not given"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/roubo-bitcoins-operacao-miragem1/"]},{"id":570,"date":"September 24, 2020","date_sort":"2020-09-24","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"A 46-year-old Romanian man from Verona","location":"Paullo, Milan","country":"Italy","description":"A man who had arranged online to buy bitcoin for cash was kicked and punched to the ground in Paullo by two 17-year-old fake sellers, who took his backpack with a laptop and EUR 2,000. The two were arrested in January 2021, and after further investigation so was a third 17-year-old believed to have planned the robbery.","summary":"On September 24, 2020, a 46-year-old Romanian man from Verona was beaten and robbed in Paullo, in the Milan area, at a meeting arranged to buy bitcoin. He had posted an online advert to buy and sell bitcoin and agreed over WhatsApp with two supposed sellers to meet in Paullo and hand over cash for the same amount in cryptocurrency. When the two 17-year-olds saw he had cash, they kicked him and punched him repeatedly in the face until he fell, took his backpack with a laptop and EUR 2,000 in cash, and fled. The victim reported the robbery at once; working in part from CCTV footage, the Carabinieri arrested the two on January 29, 2021. After further investigation they arrested a third 17-year-old, believed to have planned the robbery, who had been in contact with the victim over the trade and with the two robbers during the attack, and took him to the Beccaria juvenile prison in Milan.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leggo.it/italia/milano/milano_bitcoin_rapina_ultime_notizie-5927592.html"]},{"id":571,"date":"October 13, 2020","date_sort":"2020-10-13","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"A Quilmes shop owner","location":"Buenos Aires (city)","country":"Argentina","description":"The owner of a self-service shop in Quilmes was seized by a kidnapping gang as he left his home in the city of Buenos Aires and held for almost five days until a ransom was paid in bitcoin. A woman linked to one of the gang's leaders was arrested.","summary":"On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the owner of a self-service shop in Quilmes, Buenos Aires province, was seized by a kidnapping gang as he left his home in the city of Buenos Aires. Soon after, the kidnappers called his relatives from Colombian and Venezuelan phone lines to demand a ransom for his release. After almost five days in captivity he was released on Sunday in Quilmes, once the gang had collected a sum in bitcoin, a payment method investigators called novel. A raid in Los Hornos, La Plata, found the place where he had been held. A woman linked to one of the gang's leaders was arrested, and the arrest of an identified kidnapper was ordered but not yet carried out. Federal prosecutor Silvia Cavallo of Quilmes leads the case, with cybercrime and kidnapping units of the prosecution service and the federal police taking part.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"owner of a self-service shop in Quilmes"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/policiales/2020/10/20/quilmes-secuestraron-durante-cinco-dias-a-un-comerciante-y-lo-liberan-tras-el-cobro-de-un-rescate-en-bitcoins/"]},{"id":572,"date":"December 8, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-08","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"A man visiting a bar","location":"Moscow","country":"Russia","description":"Armed men attacked a man in the restroom of a bar on Krasnaya Presnya street in Moscow and got away with bitcoins worth 12 million rubles, leaving by the back door in a yellow taxi.","summary":"Armed men robbed a man visiting a bar on Krasnaya Presnya street in Moscow, Russia, according to a REN TV report published on December 8, 2020. They attacked him in the bar's restroom and got away with bitcoins worth 12 million rubles. The attackers then left the bar through the back door, got into a yellow taxi with Moscow plates and drove off. Information on whether anyone was hurt was still being checked at the time of the report, and police were searching for the attackers. The short report does not say how the bitcoins were taken from the man, why he was carrying or holding them, or how the attackers came to choose him, and no later coverage is on file.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the bar visitor"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://ren.tv/news/v-rossii/780520-vooruzhennye-bandity-pokhitili-12-mln-v-bare-v-tsentre-moskvy"]},{"id":573,"date":"December 17, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-17","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Anubhav, an 8-year-old boy","location":"Belthangady, Dakshina Kannada","country":"India","description":"An 8-year-old boy was taken by two men from in front of the gate of his family's house in the Belthangady police area, and his grandfather was asked for a ransom of 100 bitcoin (stated as Rs. 17 crore). Police rescued the boy and arrested seven accused on the spot.","summary":"Eight-year-old Anubhav, a third-standard pupil, was kidnapped while playing in front of the gate of his family's house in the Belthangady police station area of Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India; his grandfather filed a complaint with the police on December 17, 2020. At about 6.30 pm a white Indica car was parked near the gate, and two men took the boy and drove away. The grandfather then received a phone call demanding a ransom of 100 bitcoin, stated as Rs. 17 crore, for the child's release. Police later rescued the boy and arrested seven of the accused on the spot. The accused were charged with kidnapping for ransom under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code and a charge sheet was filed. In November 2021 the Karnataka High Court granted bail to two of the accused on grounds of parity, all the other accused having already been granted bail.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"8-year-old grandson of the complainant"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://indiankanoon.org/doc/25984677/"]},{"id":574,"date":"December 25, 2020","date_sort":"2020-12-25","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Tourists from the Dominican Republic","location":"Medellín","country":"Colombia","description":"Women who met tourists from the Dominican Republic through dating apps seduced them, reduced their will and took COP 1,800 million in cryptocurrency from them in Medellín.","summary":"On December 25, 2020, in Medellín, Colombia, women robbed tourists from the Dominican Republic whom they had met through dating apps. After seducing the men and reducing their will, the women took COP 1,800 million in cryptocurrency from them and used the funds for multiple purchases. The case is remembered as one of the largest thefts of cryptocurrency in the city. The only report on file mentions it in passing, in a February 2024 article on the Fiscalía's work to recover stolen cryptocurrency in Medellín, and it gives no number of victims, no detail of how the crypto was moved, and no arrests or recovery for this case.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"tourists from the Dominican Republic, number not given"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1800000000,"currency":"COP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.elcolombiano.com/medellin/fiscalia-creo-billetera-virtual-para-recuperar-bitcoins-robados-en-medellin-DK23833563"]},{"id":575,"date":"2021","date_sort":"2021-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2021,"victim":"Jarod Seemungal","location":"West Palm Beach, Florida","country":"USA","description":"Jarod Seemungal, who had taken a share of about $1.6 million from a March 2021 SIM-swap theft, testified that shortly afterwards he was home invaded and all his crypto was stolen at gunpoint.","summary":"Jarod Seemungal, from West Palm Beach, Florida, testified in June 2024 as a government witness at a federal trial in North Carolina. He said that in March 2021 he and two partners stole about $3.5 million in cryptocurrency from a woman by SIM swap; one partner took about $300,000 and he and the other split the rest, about $1.6 million each, though on cross-examination he agreed he had received over $1.4 million. Asked whether he still had the proceeds, he said that shortly afterwards he was home invaded and all his crypto was stolen, and he confirmed it was at gunpoint. He said his partner was robbed too, that they later received information that a man in Miami had been involved, and that being robbed led them in summer 2022 to start stealing crypto by home invasion themselves. The transcript gives no date, place, amount or attackers for the robbery, and mentions no arrest.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the SIM-swap thief robbed at his home"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncmd.96201/gov.uscourts.ncmd.96201.115.0.pdf"]},{"id":576,"date":"February 2, 2021","date_sort":"2021-02-02","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Mr. Luo","location":"Xiamen, Fujian","country":"China","description":"Mr. Luo, who came from Longyan to sell USDT to a buyer at a Xiamen tea house, had CNY 1.1 million in cash snatched when the buyer claimed a network delay and accomplices rushed in to obstruct him. Police arrested 15 suspects in seven cities.","summary":"On February 2, 2021, Mr. Luo travelled from Longyan to Xiamen, Fujian, to sell the stablecoin USDT to a buyer at a tea house. The buyer claimed that a network delay meant the USDT had not arrived and used that as the pretext to seize the CNY 1.1 million in cash for the trade. Other members of the group, waiting outside, rushed into the room and obstructed Mr. Luo while the rest took the cash and left. He reported it to the Haicang police the next day. Using CCTV from around the tea house, police identified the members, and at 6 a.m. on February 8 fifteen arrest teams in seven cities detained 15 suspects, including the main suspect surnamed Su, and seized cars and phones. Prosecutors approved the formal arrest of several suspects, and the case was still under investigation at the time of the report.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller at the tea house"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1100000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_12204862"]},{"id":577,"date":"March 25, 2021","date_sort":"2021-03-25","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Chi Yen-ming","location":"Banqiao District, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Chi Yen-ming, a former partner in a crypto-dealing business, was chased down outside his home in New Taipei at 2:12 a.m. by nine men gathered by his ex-partner, forced into a car, bound and blindfolded and held in a metal shed until police found him at 4:08 a.m.","summary":"Yang Tung-hsiang had a dispute with Chi Yen-ming over a crypto investment and suspected him of keeping the investment money. In the early hours of March 25, 2021, Yang used WeChat to gather eight men, who waited in three cars outside Chi's home in Banqiao, New Taipei. When Chi got out of a taxi at 2:12 a.m., the men chased him, dragged him as he struggled on the ground and pushed him into a car. In the car his hands were tied and his eyes and mouth covered. He was taken to a metal shed, where he was made to phone around to raise money for Yang's investment loss; Chi offered TWD 200,000 and Yang refused. The taxi driver reported what he saw. Police arrested four of the men near one car at 3:40 a.m. and found Chi tied up in the shed at 4:08, arresting the other five. In November 2022 the New Taipei District Court convicted seven of them, with sentences of six to seven months.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the former crypto-business partner seized outside his home"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c111%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c867%2c20221130%2c1"]},{"id":578,"date":"June, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Ş.Ö., a 28-year-old computer engineer","location":"Toroslar, Mersin","country":"Turkey","description":"Men posing as police officers held a gun to the head of a 28-year-old computer engineer outside a restaurant in Mersin, forced him into a vehicle and tried to take the money in his Bitcoin account with a hacker's help; they failed and let him out. Four suspects were caught and remanded in custody.","summary":"A 28-year-old computer engineer identified as Ş.Ö. was abducted in Mersin, Turkey, over the money in his Bitcoin account; the attack was reported on June 25, 2021. In front of a restaurant on Gözne Road in the Toroslar district, men who introduced themselves as police officers held a gun to his head and forced him into a vehicle. According to the report, they wanted to take the funds in his Bitcoin account with the help of a hacker and move them to their own accounts. When they could not complete the transfer, they let him out of the vehicle on Okan Merzeci Boulevard in the Yenişehir district and left the area. After his complaint, the Mersin police robbery unit reviewed footage from many security cameras in the area. Four suspects were caught and remanded in custody by the court.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the computer engineer with the Bitcoin account"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sabah.com.tr/yasam/bitcoin-icin-adam-kacirdilar-mersinde-akillara-durgunluk-veren-olay-5558486"]},{"id":579,"date":"June 30, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-30","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Wu Ming-han","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"At a partners' meeting in Taipei over a contract dispute, the developer of a cryptocurrency platform was beaten with bats and iron bars after one attacker fired an air gun, and held for about eleven hours until he had a friend send 200,000 USDT to the attackers and they took TWD 100,000 from his bank account. Four men were convicted of injury and deprivation of liberty.","summary":"On June 30, 2021, Wu Ming-han, developer of a cryptocurrency platform, went to a regular partners' meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. His investor Cheng Min-chung believed Wu had not delivered the work under their contract. Around 1 pm Chiang Ting-chou fired an air gun, and he and others beat Wu with bats, iron bars and sticks, demanded TWD 10 million in compensation and said he could not leave until he paid. Made to pose as a buyer of Tether, Wu got a friend to send 200,000 USDT to a wallet the attackers supplied, which they sold for TWD 5.5 million, and one of them used Wu's face to unlock his phone and transfer TWD 100,000 from his bank account. Near midnight the friend found his car by GPS, came and said the police had been called, and the attackers fled. In August 2024 the Shilin District Court convicted four men of injury and deprivation of liberty; a fifth is wanted.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the platform developer the money was demanded from"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=SLDM%2C111%2C%E9%87%91%E8%A8%B4%2C532%2C20240823%2C1"]},{"id":580,"date":"July, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A resident of Yekaterinburg","location":"Yuzhnouralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"A Yekaterinburg man who answered an Avito advert for a cryptocurrency mining farm travelled to Yuzhnouralsk to buy it and was attacked by three men at the meeting, who took about 300,000 rubles. The three were detained and a robbery case was opened.","summary":"A resident of Yekaterinburg was robbed in Yuzhnouralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, after answering an advert for a cryptocurrency mining farm. He found the listing on the classifieds site Avito, wanted to buy the equipment and arranged a meeting with the seller in Yuzhnouralsk. The sale never took place: at the agreed time three men attacked him and took about 300,000 rubles. The article does not date the attack. On Saturday, July 31, 2021 the regional interior ministry said the attackers had been detained and a criminal case opened for robbery on a large scale, which carries 7 to 12 years in a penal colony, and that the circumstances were still being established. The three, residents of Troitsk and Chelyabinsk, had previous convictions.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":300000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.e1.ru/text/criminal/2021/07/31/70054409/"]},{"id":581,"date":"July, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A businessman (Bitcoin investor)","location":"Al Barsha, Dubai","country":"UAE","description":"A businessman who answered a card offering cheap Bitcoin brought Dh3 million in cash to a villa in Al Barsha, Dubai, where men posing as police from his home country tied and blindfolded him, took the money and drove him to Fujairah; another took his watch before he was dropped back in Dubai. The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld three-year sentences against five defendants.","summary":"A businessman described as a Bitcoin investor found a card on his car offering Bitcoin below the market rate, called the number, agreed to buy and was told to bring the money to a villa in Al Barsha, Dubai, UAE. Inside, as his cash was being counted, three men wearing PPE and masks burst in posing as policemen from his home country. They tied his hands, covered his eyes, took Dh3 million in cash and put him in a car. He was taken to Fujairah and kept in the car for four hours before being moved to a second vehicle, where another defendant took his expensive watch and dropped him back in Dubai. He reported the case to Dubai Police. Two defendants were arrested and others remain at large. The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the verdict against the gang of five: three years in jail, deportation and a Dh3.7 million fine. The article, last updated in June 2022, does not date the attack.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman who came to buy Bitcoin with cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/gang-jailed-for-stealing-dh37-million-from-bitcoin-investor-in-dubai-1.88283245"]},{"id":582,"date":"July ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Bahador K., an Iranian businessman","location":"Bağcılar, Istanbul","country":"Turkey","description":"An Iranian businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency was cut off in his car by men posing as police in Bağcılar, Istanbul, taken by minibus to a car-park-like place, beaten for his crypto account passwords and made to sign a USD 200,000 promissory note; they took USD 30,000 from his crypto account and TL 5,000 in cash. A woman planted in his home had passed on his finances and his live location. Nine suspects were detained.","summary":"In July 2021 Bahador K., an Iranian businessman in the cryptocurrency trade, was kidnapped in Bağcılar, Istanbul, Turkey. Police found that a suspect, Asgar T., had introduced a woman to him and arranged for her to live in his home; over five days she passed on his finances and bank details. On the day she got him out of the house on a pretext and sent Asgar T. her live location. By his account, men in three cars cut him off, said they were police, moved him into a minibus and took him to a place like a car park. There they beat him for his crypto account passwords, transferred USD 30,000 to their own accounts, made him sign a USD 200,000 promissory note under death threats and took TL 5,000 in cash, then led him out blindfolded and left him in the street. He complained to police on July 15, 2021. Two months later police detained nine suspects; two were remanded in custody.","targeting":["Insider","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman in the crypto trade"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext","Vehicle intercepted on the road","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":200000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":200000},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":30000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dha.com.tr/gundem/iranli-is-adamini-kacirip-kripto-paralarini-gasbettiler-1848963"]},{"id":583,"date":"July 20, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-20","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A woman of Chinese origin who reportedly works with cryptocurrency","location":"Carapicuíba, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"A woman of Chinese origin said to work with cryptocurrency was approached inside a McDonald's in central Carapicuíba and dragged into an armoured car; military police found the two vehicles near the Osasco border and arrested six suspects carrying firearms. The duty police chief gave a business disagreement and the disappearance of USD 300,000 in virtual currency as the motive.","summary":"On the morning of July 20, 2021, a woman of Chinese origin who reportedly works with cryptocurrency was kidnapped in Carapicuíba, in Greater São Paulo, Brazil. According to the police report, two men approached her inside a McDonald's in the city centre and dragged her into a car, which police later found to be armoured, as was a second vehicle supporting the action. Military police units alerted to the kidnapping searched the area and stopped both vehicles near the border with Osasco. They arrested six people, three of them also of Chinese origin, and found several firearms, some of heavy calibre, holsters and a stun gun. The duty police chief gave the motive as a business disagreement and the disappearance of USD 300,000 in virtual currency. The six were to be charged with criminal association and kidnapping for extortion.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the woman said to work with cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://portaldobitcoin.uol.com.br/mulher-sequestrada-em-mcdonalds-na-grande-sp-relata-perda-de-us-300-mil-em-criptomoedas/"]},{"id":584,"date":"August, 2021","date_sort":"2021-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A cryptocurrency trader","location":"Amsterdam, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A crypto trader who met a man he had done business with before at an Amsterdam hotel to buy bitcoin for cash was taken to a room where two men came out of the bathroom; the three beat him, threatened him with weapons, bound him with handcuffs and tape and took EUR 40,000 and his phone. Police appealed for help identifying four suspects caught on hotel cameras.","summary":"A man who trades in cryptocurrency was robbed in a hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands; police appealed for witnesses on Opsporing Verzocht on August 31, 2021. He had arranged to meet a man at the hotel who offered him bitcoin for cash, someone he had done business with once before without problems. The man took him to a hotel room, where two men suddenly came out of the bathroom. The three beat him, threatened him with weapons and bound him with handcuffs and tape. They took the EUR 40,000 in cash he had with him and his phone, and photographed his passport, warning that they would know where to find him if he went to the police. A fourth suspect had booked the room two days earlier with a forged identity document. Hotel cameras filmed the four, who appear to have disguised themselves with caps, glasses and a wig, and police asked the public to help identify them.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto trader who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":40000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://opsporingverzocht.avrotros.nl/artikel/bitcoinhandelaar-mishandeld-en-van-40000-euro-beroofd-3978"]},{"id":585,"date":"August, 2021","date_sort":"2021-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A YouTuber holding bitcoin worth about KRW 8 billion","location":"Seoul","country":"South Korea","description":"A man in his twenties who saw a YouTuber show a bitcoin account worth about KRW 8 billion on a broadcast posed as a courier to get the door opened, fired a gas sprayer in his face, used a stun gun and demanded KRW 100 million in cash; the YouTuber overpowered him and threw him out. The attacker was sentenced to five years.","summary":"In August, in a year the article does not give, a man in his twenties surnamed Kim attacked a YouTuber in South Korea who had shown a bitcoin account worth about KRW 8 billion on a YouTube broadcast. Struggling to make ends meet, Kim decided on the crime after seeing the broadcast. He went to the YouTuber's home disguised as a parcel courier and lied that he needed to confirm the recipient's identity, asking him to open the door. When the YouTuber opened it, Kim fired a gas sprayer at his face, then used an electric stun gun on him and demanded KRW 100 million in cash. The YouTuber overpowered him and threw him out of the home. Nothing was taken. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Kim of robbery causing injury and of a weapons-safety offence for the gas sprayer and stun gun, and sentenced him to five years in prison, noting that the victim had asked for strong punishment.","targeting":["Social media"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the YouTuber who showed his bitcoin account"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/016/0001922257"]},{"id":586,"date":"September 27, 2021","date_sort":"2021-09-27","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A 29-year-old man","location":"Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Two men from Sovetsk who knew an acquaintance held a large sum in cryptocurrency seized him outside his Kaliningrad home, held him bound for about a day and a half, took crypto worth 39.8 million rubles, then drugged him, tried to strangle him in a forest and left him for dead. He came to and escaped.","summary":"In June 2021 two residents of Sovetsk, aged 29 and 39, learned that an acquaintance, a 29-year-old Kaliningrad man, held a large sum in cryptocurrency, and agreed to kidnap him for his wallet password. On September 27, 2021, after watching him for about two months, they seized him outside his home, bound him and held him in a flat in Sovetsk for about a day and a half. Under death threats he gave up his passwords, and the pair took crypto worth 39.8 million rubles and devices from his flat. They drugged him twice, drove him to a forest, injected him again there, tried to strangle him with a scarf and, thinking him dead, stripped him and covered him with branches. While they went to buy a shovel he came to, ran naked through the forest and reached a house. Both were detained and admitted guilt, and 33 million rubles were returned to him; in April 2023 the case was about to go to court.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"29-year-old Kaliningrad man holding crypto"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":39800000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://klops.ru/news/2023-04-13/268808-nakachali-narkotikom-dushili-i-razdeli-dogola-delo-o-pohischenii-kriptovalyutchika-iz-kaliningrada-peredayut-v-sud-video"]},{"id":587,"date":"October 12, 2021","date_sort":"2021-10-12","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Gonzalo Refi","location":"Gerli, Lanús, Buenos Aires Province","country":"Argentina","description":"Gonzalo Refi, 32, went to Gerli in his car to sell racks used for crypto mining to buyers who had arranged the deal; three robbers ambushed him, and when he accelerated away they shot him twice in the face. He crashed into parked vehicles and died; the robbers fled with nothing.","summary":"Gonzalo Refi, 32, a La Plata businessman who owned a security company and worked in his family's computer business, drove his Audi S3 to calle Honduras at the 1600 block in Gerli, Lanús, on the afternoon of October 12, 2021, to complete a sale of computer racks used to mine cryptocurrency. Three robbers who had arranged the meeting to 'buy' the equipment ambushed him as he drove, approaching him to steal the car. When he accelerated to escape, they fired two shots into his face at almost point-blank range. He drove on a few metres at full speed and crashed into a truck and two parked cars. Neighbours called 911; officers from the 7th precinct of Lanús found him dead, with the car's boot still loaded with the racks. The robbers fled without taking anything. No arrests are reported in the source on file.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"seller of crypto mining racks, in his car"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/policiales/2021/10/13/hombre-de-familia-leal-y-emprendedor-quien-era-gonzalo-refi-el-comerciante-asesinado-cuando-fue-a-vender-equipos-para-minar-criptomonedas/"]},{"id":588,"date":"November, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Zain Hankin","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Zain Hankin met Karim Hassan, who had contacted him on Snapchat, for an in-person crypto-for-cash swap in the back of Hassan's Audi A6, where Hassan held him at knifepoint and forced him to transfer crypto worth £20,000. Hassan pleaded guilty to three robberies and was jailed for five years.","summary":"Karim Hassan, 21, of Maida Vale, London, used Snapchat to contact people who wanted to exchange cryptocurrency for cash in person, and asked them to meet him in his black Audi A6. Zain Hankin video-called Hassan before the meeting and came with a trusted friend, who waited outside while Hankin sat alone with Hassan in the back seat. When Hankin refused to hand over his phone, Hassan threatened to 'stick it in your neck'. Held at knifepoint in the car, Hankin gave up crypto worth £20,000; when his friend knocked on the driver's window to ask for a cigarette, the knife next to him kept him from signalling for help. Police later stopped Hassan after another victim reported the car's number plate, and a victim identified him on November 11, 2021. He pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery and on Wednesday, May 11, Southwark Crown Court sentenced him to five years in prison.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"customer who came to swap crypto for cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crypto-robber-who-lured-victims-via-snapchat-and-stole-34-000-jailed/"]},{"id":589,"date":"November, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Abbas Mamuod","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Abbas Mamuod, who met Karim Hassan for an in-person crypto-for-cash swap arranged over Snapchat, was threatened with a pocketknife and forced to pay Hassan over £10,000. Hassan pleaded guilty to three robberies and was jailed for five years.","summary":"Karim Hassan, 21, of Maida Vale, London, used Snapchat to contact people who wanted to exchange cryptocurrency for cash in person, and asked them to meet him in his black Audi A6. Once they were in the back seat he demanded their phones and digital wallets, and met any hesitation with threats. Abbas Mamuod, one of these customers, was threatened with a pocketknife and forced to pay Hassan over £10,000, in the same way as another victim who was held at knifepoint in the car. The article says such forced transactions were made from the victims' smartphones and authorised by their fingerprints. Police later stopped Hassan after another victim reported the Audi's number plate, and a victim identified him on November 11, 2021. He pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery, and on Wednesday, May 11, Southwark Crown Court sentenced him to five years in prison.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"customer who came to swap crypto for cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crypto-robber-who-lured-victims-via-snapchat-and-stole-34-000-jailed/"]},{"id":590,"date":"November, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Abdullahi Goloid","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Abdullahi Goloid, one of the customers Karim Hassan lured with in-person crypto swaps arranged over Snapchat, was taken to an underground car park, punched repeatedly by Hassan and another man and threatened with rape, and handed over £2,500. He noted the Audi's number plate, which led to Hassan's arrest.","summary":"Karim Hassan, 21, of Maida Vale, London, used Snapchat to contact people who wanted to exchange cryptocurrency for cash in person, and met them in his black Audi A6. Abdullahi Goloid, one of his victims, says he was taken to an underground car park and punched several times by Hassan and an unknown man. They threatened to tie him up, strip him and rape him, and he handed over £2,500. Goloid noted the Audi's registration number and reported it to police. A few days later officers spotted Hassan driving the car and stopped him; they found a credit card and a jacket stolen from an earlier victim, who identified Hassan on November 11, 2021, two days after being robbed. Hassan pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery, and on Wednesday, May 11, Southwark Crown Court sentenced him to five years in prison.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"customer who came to a crypto swap"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crypto-robber-who-lured-victims-via-snapchat-and-stole-34-000-jailed/"]},{"id":591,"date":"November, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"Five people","location":"Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova area, Castelo Branco District","country":"Portugal","description":"In November 2021 a group of foreign nationals carried out a planned paramilitary-style raid in the Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova area to take bitcoin from foreign residents of Portugal, holding five people, but failed to make the planned transfer. It was the group's second such attack after one in September 2020.","summary":"In November 2021 a criminal group carried out a carefully planned, paramilitary-style attack in the Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova area of Portugal, aiming to take bitcoin held by foreign citizens living in the country. During the attack the group held five people, but did not manage to make the bitcoin transfer it had planned. It was the group's second attack in the area, after one in September 2020 in which five residents of a rural property were held and one was forced at gunpoint to transfer dozens of bitcoin. Portugal's Polícia Judiciária, working with Europol, later arrested six men and a woman, all foreigners aged 37 to 52, on warrants for aggravated robbery and unlawful confinement, among other crimes, and seized computer equipment suspected of use to move the stolen bitcoin.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":5,"at_least":false,"detail":"five people held; which of them held bitcoin is not stated"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/roubo-bitcoins-operacao-miragem1/"]},{"id":592,"date":"November, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A businessman","location":"Bur Dubai, Dubai","country":"UAE","description":"Five masked men seized a businessman as he parked outside his home in Bur Dubai, took him to a villa and forced needles into his fingernails until he transferred 2.5 million dirhams in cryptocurrency. The attack grew out of a financial dispute with one of them; the gang members were jailed for three years.","summary":"A businessman had a financial dispute with a countryman, who decided to kidnap him with four other countrymen. As he parked outside his house in Bur Dubai, the five masked men covered his face and forced him into a car, where one tied his hands and another held a knife to his throat. They took him to a villa at an unknown location and told him to transfer cryptocurrency, knowing he held several kinds. When he refused they forced needles into his fingernails and kicked him in the face. He had friends send cryptocurrency to his e-wallet and moved 2.5 million dirhams in crypto to two of the attackers' wallets. They dropped him home with a threat to kill him if he told police. Dubai Police traced the car's plate and arrested three men, who admitted the crime. The gang members were sentenced to three years in jail, deportation and a 2.5 million dirham fine, upheld on appeal.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"businessman holding several kinds of crypto"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gulfnews.com/uae/crime/dubai-appeals-court-upholds-sentence-against-gang-that-kidnapped-businessman-and-robbed-dh25-million-in-cryptocurrency-1.85245423"]},{"id":593,"date":"November 8 to 9, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-08","date_precision":"range","year":2021,"victim":"Mr. Su and Mr. Zhao","location":"Kaohsiung","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two men returning to Kaohsiung after selling USDT for TWD 2.6 million in cash were intercepted, beaten with baseball bats and stun batons while being filmed, and made to hand over the TWD 2.6 million. Both suffered fractures; police opened an investigation after the video leaked.","summary":"On the night of November 8, 2021, two men, Mr. Su, 38, and Mr. Zhao, 34, drove from Kaohsiung to Taichung and sold USDT to a married couple for TWD 2.6 million in cash. Back in Kaohsiung, Su dropped Zhao at home and was driving through Sanmin District to return the rental car when four or five men intercepted him and apparently took him to an empty lot in Renwu District. They beat him with baseball bats and stun batons and filmed it. In the early hours of November 9 they used Su's phone to lure Zhao to a meeting in Nanzih District, beat him with bats and forced him to have his girlfriend bring TWD 2.6 million. The attackers left with the money. Both men suffered fractures. Neither reported the attack, and when police found them after the video leaked they described it as a financial dispute. Police opened an investigation but had no suspect when the article appeared.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two men who had sold USDT for cash"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road","Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2600000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2600000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3741263"]},{"id":594,"date":"November 11, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-11","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Sun Chen-jung and Pei Wen-hsin","location":"Bade District, Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"A USDT seller who had built trust through a Facebook post and three genuine trades picked up two buyers in his car with TWD 9.99 million in cash, drove them to a wooded spot, and with his accomplice held them at gunpoint, took the cash and their phones and put them out of the car. Both men were convicted of aggravated robbery with a weapon.","summary":"Wang Sheng-hung posted on Facebook offering the stablecoin USDT for sale. Sun Chen-jung answered in October 2021, and the two completed three genuine trades in Taoyuan, two with Sun's friend Pei Wen-hsin present. They arranged a fourth trade of 360,000 USDT for TWD 9.99 million on November 11, 2021. Wang arrived with an accomplice, Lu Wei-chen, in a car fitted with a false plate. Sun and Pei got in with the cash, and the car drove off. In Bade District the two men pressed guns to the victims' heads and took the cash and their phones, then put Pei and later Sun out of the car. Sun ran to a passing police patrol, which stopped the car, but Lu sped away. Police traced the car to Changhua and found an air gun and a live bullet in it. In June 2022 the Taoyuan District Court sentenced Wang to 10 years and Lu to 8 years 2 months for robbery with a weapon.","targeting":["Online contact or advert","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two buyers carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":9990000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TYDM%2C111%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C273%2C20220630%2C3"]},{"id":595,"date":"December ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A man in his 40s","location":"Falköping, Västra Götaland","country":"Sweden","description":"Four men in their twenties wearing vests and hard hats knocked at a home in Falköping posing as electricity meter workers, knocked the man in his 40s down, tied him to his bed, threatened him with a knife and made him bring out his computer for his bitcoin. They got more than SEK 135,000 in cryptocurrency, SEK 12,000 in cash and a stack of Pokémon cards.","summary":"In December 2021 four men in their twenties wearing vests and construction helmets knocked on the door of a home in Falköping, Sweden, claiming to be working in the area measuring electricity. They robbed the man in his 40s who lived there: he was knocked down and forced to bring out his computer, because the robbers wanted his cryptocurrency, his bitcoin. He was tied to his bed and has said he was threatened with a knife. According to the judgment, the four got a little over SEK 135,000 in cryptocurrency, SEK 12,000 in cash and a stack of Pokémon cards. The prosecutor sought a conviction for aggravated robbery, but in June 2022 the Skaraborg District Court convicted the four men, from Västerås and Stockholm, of robbery and sentenced them to four and a half and three years in prison. The prosecutor said the focus on cryptocurrency was what stood out in the case.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man robbed in his home"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":135000,"currency":"SEK","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/killar-latsades-mata-el-ranade-man-i-falkoping-pa-kryptovaluta"]},{"id":596,"date":"December, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"O.P. and D.A., two foreign nationals","location":"Alanya, Antalya","country":"Turkey","description":"Two foreign nationals living in a villa in Tepe, Alanya, were robbed of 10 bitcoin worth about $500,000, $150,000 in cash, 600 lira and a luxury SUV by a 12-member gang of Chechen nationals. Police arrested six, who were remanded in custody; four had left Turkey.","summary":"Two foreign nationals identified by the initials O.P. and D.A., living in a villa in the Tepe neighbourhood of Alanya, Antalya, Turkey, were robbed; the report, dated December 16, 2021, does not say when. From O.P. the robbers took a luxury SUV, $50,000 and 600 lira; from D.A. they took 10 bitcoin, with a market value of about $500,000, and $100,000. The report gives no account of how the robbery was carried out. Police from the Alanya public order bureau found the stolen SUV parked and identified the robbers as a 12-member gang of nationals of the Chechen Republic. Four had left the country; the others were traced to Antalya, Istanbul and the Mahmutlar neighbourhood of Alanya. In simultaneous raids on five addresses police caught six suspects in Antalya and Alanya, and a criminal judgeship of peace remanded all six in custody. Police were still searching for the others.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two foreign residents of the villa"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":500000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/650-bin-dolarlik-vurgun-cecen-cetesi-cokertildi-41962097"]},{"id":597,"date":"December 1, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A gang that posed as sellers of 340,000 USDT through a broker ambushed the buyer outside the broker's Taichung office, sprayed him with pepper spray, chased him down and snatched a suitcase holding TWD 8.7 million in cash. Seven defendants were convicted of aggravated group robbery.","summary":"In late November 2021 Song Yu-yang, using the Telegram alias 'Di Renjie', and an accomplice told a crypto broker they had 340,000 USDT to sell at TWD 27.9 each. The broker found a buyer, and a trade was set for December 1, 2021 at the broker's office in Taichung. Two men directed the robbery while four others, armed with pepper spray and one with a switchblade, waited outside. At about 7:34 pm the buyer arrived with a suitcase of cash. The four rushed him and sprayed his face and body; he ran clutching the suitcase, but they chased him, kept spraying until he fell, and grabbed it. He climbed onto the getaway car's roof and was thrown off, suffering a red face and neck and grazes to his legs. The gang split TWD 8.7 million at the Xihu rest stop. On appeal in March 2023 the seven defendants received sentences from 7 years 2 months to 10 years for aggravated group robbery.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8700000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCHM%2C111%2C%E4%B8%8A%E8%A8%B4%2C2541%2C20230309%2C2"]},{"id":598,"date":"December 4, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-04","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Marek W.","location":"Nowa Huta, Krakow","country":"Poland","description":"Two brothers overpowered Marek W., a Krakow bar worker who had made about PLN 1 million trading cryptocurrency, at the door of his flat, taped him, emptied his safe and beat him to death after a forced crypto transfer failed. One brother was sentenced to 13 years; the other awaits extradition from the Netherlands.","summary":"Marek W., a 32-year-old bar worker in Krakow, made about PLN 1 million trading cryptocurrency during the pandemic. In autumn 2021 he posted an online advert seeking a sexual partner. Aleksander K. answered it and on a visit to Marek W.'s flat heard a safe being opened. He planned a robbery with his brother Krystian K., and they opened an exchange account to receive his crypto. On December 4, 2021, when Marek W. opened his door, they overpowered him, taped his hands, feet and mouth, forced him to open the safe and took USD 10,000, PLN 80,000 and 20 gold coins, worth PLN 260,000 in all. When they tried to force a crypto transfer he entered a wrong code and his account was locked, and they beat him to death. Aleksander K. was arrested four days later and sentenced in August 2026 to 13 years; Krystian K. was caught in the Netherlands in 2025 and awaits extradition.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"32-year-old Krakow bar worker who traded crypto"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":260000,"currency":"PLN","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.se.pl/krakow/zatlukli-milionera-kiedy-szukal-seksu-bokserzy-opracowali-morderczy-plan-aa-VSn3-avwh-4M7c.html"]},{"id":599,"date":"December 22, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-22","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Brother-in-law of a bitcoin miner","location":"Moscow","country":"Russia","description":"Three masked men armed with stun guns entered a Moscow house to rob a bitcoin miner, mistook his brother-in-law for him and tortured him with electric shocks for bitcoins he did not hold; he escaped by jumping out of a window. One attacker was arrested.","summary":"On December 22, 2021, three masked men armed with stun guns entered a house in Moscow where a family of three lived, one of whom held a large amount of bitcoin. The target was a programmer known for successful bitcoin mining investments, and the attackers were after more than BRL 7.23 million in bitcoin, a figure Livecoins gives in Brazilian reais. They mistook the miner's brother-in-law for him and, convinced they were dealing with a billionaire, tortured him physically and mentally, gave him electric shocks and threatened to kill him unless he handed over his bitcoins. He had nothing to do with the holdings and the torture got them nothing. He jumped out of a window to save his life and then contacted the authorities. Police caught one of the three; the other two remain at large. The trial is being held behind closed doors.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"brother-in-law of the bitcoin miner, mistaken for him"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":7230000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/bitcoin-cunhado-torturando-por-engano/"]},{"id":600,"date":"January, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"An illegal currency exchanger","location":"Dar Bouazza, near Casablanca","country":"Morocco","description":"A gang lured a man working in illegal currency exchange with a fictitious bitcoin transfer deal, posed as police officers to seize him near Casablanca, and was caught in the act carrying out a fake search of his home in Dar Bouazza. Seven people were taken into custody.","summary":"In January 2022 Moroccan police broke up a gang that had targeted a man working in illegal currency exchange near Casablanca. According to the national police (DGSN), five suspects tricked him with a fictitious agreement to transfer bitcoin, then posed as police officers and 'arrested' him to extort him. Police, once informed, caught them in the act during a fake search of his home in Dar Bouazza, where they hoped to steal the money he had made from allegedly illegal transfers. Police then searched the man's home and seized close to 15 million dirhams. Searches of the suspects' homes found mobile phones, a motorcycle and four cars, one of which held two knives. The five suspects, the brother of a police officer among those arrested and the brother's fiancée, and the victim himself were placed in custody while investigators examined possible money laundering.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man working in illegal currency exchange"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.bladi.net/casablanca-arrestation-extorsion,89868.html"]},{"id":601,"date":"2022","date_sort":"2022-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2022,"victim":"A Shymkent resident","location":"Shymkent, Karatau district","country":"Kazakhstan","description":"Three friends, one of whom had earlier repaired the electrics at the mining farm, climbed a fence at night onto a private property in Shymkent and stole 46 mining machines worth almost 44 million tenge. All three confessed, compensated the owner and were sentenced to five years' restriction of liberty for theft.","summary":"A resident of Shymkent kept a cryptocurrency mining farm on his private property. Three friends who knew where the equipment was entered the property secretly late at night by climbing over the fence, took 46 mining machines and left. One of them had earlier come to repair the electrics at the mining farm and planned the theft then. The owner reported the theft to the Karatau district police, and the loss came to almost 44 million tenge. Police studied CCTV footage, identified the thieves' car and detained the suspects in the city. All three admitted guilt in full and compensated the owner. They were convicted of theft under article 188 of the Kazakh criminal code and sentenced to five years' restriction of liberty; the verdict was reported on June 14, 2022. Investigators also passed material on the operation of the mining farm to the economic investigations department.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":44000000,"currency":"KZT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.zakon.kz/tekhno/6017034-mnogomillionnaia-krazha-iz-maining-fermy-zloumyshlennikov-osudili-v-shymkente.html","https://archive.is/VRGte"]},{"id":602,"date":"January 17, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-17","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A 30-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman","location":"Fabreville, Laval, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"Four men in clown masks forced their way into a Fabreville home, beat a 30-year-old man, fired a shot and drove off with a 26-year-old woman, whom police found about 40 minutes later in Boisbriand. The attack was linked to a $300,000 bitcoin transaction gone bad; two men were arrested.","summary":"On January 17, 2022, four men wearing clown masks forced their way into a home in Fabreville, Laval. A 30-year-old man in the home tried to resist and was assaulted, suffering significant injuries, and the attackers fired at least one gunshot. A 26-year-old woman in the home managed to call 911, but moments later the attackers took her by force to their vehicle and drove off. About 40 minutes later Laval police located her in Boisbriand, just across the Rivière des Mille Îles, seated in a Land Rover with some of the kidnappers. Two men found in the vehicle were arrested and charged with breaking and entering, discharging a firearm, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, assault causing injury and illegal possession of firearms and high-capacity magazines. The attack has been linked to a $300,000 transaction involving bitcoin that went bad.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"one of the couple living in the home (a 30-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman); the source does not say which was party to the bitcoin deal"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the other of the couple"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://lavalnews.ca/fabreville-home-invasion-and-kidnapping-linked-to-cryptocurrency-dispute/"]},{"id":603,"date":"January 22, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"An American man","location":"Bogota","country":"Colombia","description":"A woman using a fake Bumble profile and posing as a crypto expert lured an American to Colombia, drugged him in his Bogota hotel, and her accomplices took his phone and moved 298 ETH out of his Coinbase account. Four members of the Medellin network were charged in 2025 and the alleged leader was caught in Brazil.","summary":"A woman from Medellín, posing on Bumble as Daniela Cardona, contacted an American man and persuaded him to travel to Colombia to meet her, presenting herself as a cryptocurrency expert. On January 22, 2022, at 8 pm, they met at the Bogotá hotel where he was staying. Minutes later she gave him a substance that knocked him unconscious, and he slept for more than 18 hours. Her accomplices entered the hotel room, stole some of his belongings and took his phone, which they used to make 12 consecutive transfers from his Coinbase account, sending 298 ETH, valued at 3,213 million pesos, to four accounts. When he woke he found his belongings gone and transactions he had not authorised. Prosecutors later charged four members of the Medellín network, three of whom were remanded in custody, and the alleged leader was captured in Brazil with nine others; his extradition was requested.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"US citizen staying at a Bogota hotel"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":298,"currency":"ETH","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/asi-operaba-la-red-delictiva-de-medellin-que-le-robo-mas-de-3-000-millones-de-pesos-en-criptomonedas-a-extranjeros-3456647"]},{"id":604,"date":"January 29, 2022","date_sort":"2022-01-29","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A 63-year-old guard at a mining farm","location":"Shekshema, Kostroma Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Six armed men from Yaroslavl Oblast got onto the grounds of a disused sawmill in Shekshema where a railway wagon held a crypto mining farm, threatened the 63-year-old guard and carried off equipment worth more than RUB 4 million. All six were convicted of robbery.","summary":"On January 29, 2022, armed men from neighbouring Yaroslavl Oblast got onto the grounds of a disused sawmill in the settlement of Shekshema, Kostroma Oblast, where a railway wagon held expensive cryptocurrency mining equipment. Threatening the 63-year-old guard, they carried out equipment worth more than 4 million roubles. The Sharya District Court found all six defendants, described as members of a Yaroslavl organised crime group, guilty of robbery and theft of the mining farm and sentenced them to 5, 6 and 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony. The verdict had not yet entered into force when it was reported in August 2023.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"63-year-old guard at the sawmill site"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://novosti44.ru/2023/osuzhdeny-chleny-yaroslavskoj-opg-ograbivshie-fermu-dlya-majninga-kriptovalyuty-v-kostromskoj-oblasti"]},{"id":605,"date":"February, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Thiago Asmar","location":"Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Jovem Pan presenter Thiago Asmar was robbed in an Uber in Sao Paulo and forced to unlock his phone; the gang used it to withdraw R$ 200,000 from his bank and drain his Binance account.","summary":"In February 2022 Thiago Asmar, a Jovem Pan presenter also known as Pilhado, said he had been robbed in an Uber in the Bela district of São Paulo by what he described as a very large gang. The robbers were after his phone: he was forced to unlock it before handing it over, and they used it to reach his bank accounts and his account on the Binance exchange and withdraw funds from both. He lost R$ 200,000 held at his bank and an undisclosed amount of cryptocurrency. By his account, the gang opened an account in his name at a bank he did not know, Juno, in Paraná, to withdraw the money from Binance. His bank confirmed it would reimburse him; Binance had not, and he said he would go to court. Police delegate Roberto Monteiro told Jovem Pan that such groups work in hierarchies, each member handling one part of the job. No arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"TV presenter robbed in a ride-hailing car"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/apresentador-e-assaltado-perde-r-200-000-e-criptomoedas-e-uma-quadrilha/"]},{"id":606,"date":"February 5, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-05","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A businessman on a tourist stay","location":"Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás","country":"Brazil","description":"Three armed men who said they were police stopped a businessman as he left his guesthouse in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, forced him to transfer his cryptocurrency and gave him 24 hours to pay more or his relatives would die. Three civil police officers and a civil guard were charged with extortion by kidnapping.","summary":"Around lunchtime on February 5, 2022, a businessman staying as a tourist in Alto Paraíso de Goiás was leaving his guesthouse when three men in a car approached him. By his account they were armed with a pistol, a rifle and a submachine gun, said they were police officers and told him they knew he was a businessman in the casino trade abroad. He said he was forced to show the bank accounts registered in apps on his phone and to transfer the cryptocurrency he held, almost R$ 1 million in all. After the transfer the men gave him 24 hours to hand over more money, or his relatives would die. On February 25, 2022, a court accepted charges of extortion by kidnapping against three civil police officers and a civil guard from Cristalina said to have helped. The defence of two officers said the crypto transfer did not happen at the time of the events.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"businessman staying at a guesthouse as a tourist"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/go/goias/noticia/2022/02/25/policiais-civis-viram-reus-por-extorquir-quase-r-1-milhao-em-criptomoedas-em-alto-paraiso-de-goias.ghtml"]},{"id":607,"date":"March 16, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-16","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A 32-year-old woman","location":"Bernal Heights, San Francisco, California","country":"USA","description":"A masked intruder bound a woman in duct tape at knifepoint in a Bernal Heights home in San Francisco and forced her to give up about $3 million in cryptocurrency. Police say he was her former employee, Tianze Zhang, who fled to Taiwan, was arrested in Kaohsiung and extradited.","summary":"On March 16, 2022, a man in ski goggles and a hood carried out a home invasion in San Francisco's Bernal Heights. He held a 32-year-old woman at knifepoint, bound her in duct tape and forced her to hand over about $3 million in cryptocurrency. Because she knew him, he stayed covered and typed his commands to her on an iPad. Police say the intruder was Tianze Zhang, 30, a Los Angeles resident whom the victim had once employed. Two days later he entered Taiwan on a business visa. He hid in a car trunk to escape police but was arrested in Kaohsiung before he could flee to the Philippines, and was extradited to the United States with FBI help. He put the crypto on CoolWallet hardware wallets, which were recovered, and cashed out part of it in Taiwan. He denied any crime. In June 2022 he was jailed in San Francisco while the District Attorney decided on charges.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 32-year-old woman, the suspect's former employer"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":3000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sfstandard.com/2022/06/06/how-a-cryptocurrency-robbery-in-sf-led-to-an-international-manhunt-in-taiwan/"]},{"id":608,"date":"March 21, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-21","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Yu","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"In a dispute over cryptocurrency, a man surnamed Yu was lured to a motel room, where more than ten people beat, bound and doused him with hot water, pressed him for passwords to move his crypto, made him sign promissory notes and held him until early April. On appeal one participant's robbery conviction was changed to unlawful detention.","summary":"Prosecutors say a man surnamed Xu suspected a man surnamed Yu of embezzling cryptocurrency proceeds. On the evening of March 21, 2022, a woman surnamed Zhuo, using the identity of an ex-girlfriend, invited Yu to a motel room. More than ten people then entered, beat him with fists and sticks, blindfolded, tied and stripped him, pushed him into an ice-water bath and poured hot water on him. They pressed him for passwords to transfer out his cryptocurrency, took his cash and phone, and made him sign ten promissory notes of NT$500,000 each. While held he was forced to take a car loan and pawn his car, losing over NT$1 million, and he was freed in early April. Six people were charged. A man surnamed Huang got 9 years 2 months for robbery; on appeal the court called it a debt dispute and gave him 2 years 10 months for unlawful detention. Huang and Xu are wanted; the case is not final.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man surnamed Yu, accused of embezzling crypto"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://udn.com/news/story/7321/9565664"]},{"id":609,"date":"April, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Staff of a security and equipment maintenance company at a crypto mining site","location":"Udomlya urban district, Tver Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Three men carried out a robbery on staff of a company guarding and servicing equipment in a village of the Udomlya district, aiming at the firm's money and its crypto mining servers, and fled in cars with false number plates. Damage exceeded 5.7 million rubles; they were sentenced to 8.5 to 9.5 years.","summary":"In April 2022, in a village of the Udomlya urban district in Tver Oblast, three men carried out a robbery (razboi) on employees of an organisation that guarded and serviced equipment, with the aim of stealing the firm's money and its server equipment for crypto mining. The damage came to more than 5.7 million rubles. The men fled with the stolen property in cars fitted with false number plates. The Udomlya city court convicted all three of robbery and of using a knowingly false registration plate, and sentenced them to between 8 years 6 months and 9 years 6 months in strict and special regime penal colonies. The ruling was reported on March 3, 2025. The release gives no detail of how the staff were attacked or held.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"staff of the company guarding and servicing the mining equipment"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5700000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gorod-kimry.ru/news/11556/"]},{"id":610,"date":"April 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Ifeoluwa Lawal","location":"Ede, Osun State","country":"Nigeria","description":"Osun State police officers stopped Cyprus-based student Ifeoluwa Lawal's car in Ede, found a Binance screenshot on his phone, accused him of internet fraud, drove him and his family around and made him pay $504 in crypto from his Binance account. Police said they had opened an investigation.","summary":"On Friday, April 1, 2022, Ifeoluwa Lawal, a Nigerian based in Cyprus, was driving back to Abeokuta with his family after visiting his grandparents in Osun State when a policeman stopped his car near Sekona Grammar School in Ede. The officers asked for his papers, took his phone from the car and found a screenshot from his Binance app, called him a 'Yahoo boy' and threatened to hand him to the EFCC. They demanded N50,000, which he refused, then drove the family from place to place. One officer hit him on the knee with the car door as they made him enter the van, and they hit his brother. After asking how much he had on the app they demanded $2,000, then $500. He finally paid $504, less a $1 charge, by scanning a wallet address from his Binance app. His brother photographed the vehicle's plate. The Osun police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, said the command had begun an investigation.","targeting":["Opportunistic"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Cyprus-based student"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"his father and his brother, travelling with him"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":2000},"taken":{"amount":504,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":504},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://punchng.com/osun-policemen-accuse-cyprus-based-student-of-internet-fraud-extort-504-crypto-from-victim/"]},{"id":611,"date":"April 8, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-08","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A cryptocurrency ATM","location":"Timișoara, Timiș","country":"Romania","description":"A 19-year-old from Arad stole a cryptocurrency ATM from a shopping complex in Timișoara and dumped it in a field near Vinga; police put the damage at 286,000 lei, recovered 180,200 lei and detained him for 24 hours.","summary":"At about 21:00 on April 8, 2022, a cryptocurrency ATM was stolen from inside a shopping complex in Timișoara. On Saturday, Timiș county police criminal investigators found a 19-year-old man from Arad county, suspected of the theft, in Vinga. Police put the damage at 286,000 lei: 236,000 lei in cash inside the machine and 50,000 lei for the machine itself. They recovered 52,500 lei when they found him, 44,000 lei on him and 8,500 lei buried in the garden of his home. The ATM was found in a field near Vinga with another 127,700 lei still inside, bringing the total recovered to 180,200 lei; 55,800 lei was not recovered. He was detained for 24 hours in the Timiș police detention centre and was to be brought before magistrates on April 10 for a preventive measure.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":286000,"currency":"RON","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gandul.ro/actualitate/un-tanar-de-19-ani-a-furat-un-bancomat-de-criptomonede-din-timisoara-e-incredibil-unde-au-fost-gasiti-banii-19774599"]},{"id":612,"date":"May, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"A businesswoman and her husband","location":"Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"A gang seized a businesswoman in Ribeirão Preto and held her in a hideout while others invaded the couple's home and made her husband transfer the balance of their hardware wallet, 15 bitcoins. A friend who visited the couple is suspected of tipping off the gang; five suspects were arrested in November 2022.","summary":"In May 2022 in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, criminals seized a businesswoman at an unstated place and took her to a hideout. Other gang members went to the couple's apartment, overpowered her husband and told him his wife was being held, and he transferred the balance of the couple's hardware wallet to them. They left the apartment and freed the wife. From a base in Imperatriz, Maranhão, the gang split the funds across 120 addresses. Police said a person who often visited the couple's home had told the gang that the victim held a crypto wallet. On November 8, 2022, police served five of six temporary arrest warrants in Ribeirão Preto, Maranhão and Ceará under Operation Kirvem. Most of the 15 bitcoins taken were traced and blocked; an estimated 14 have been returned to the couple, and the one not recovered is worth about R$ 100,000. The case is investigated as extortion through kidnapping.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the husband, overpowered at home, made the transfer"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his wife, a businesswoman, held in a hideout"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/sp/ribeirao-preto-franca/noticia/2022/11/09/amiga-informou-quadrilha-sobre-r-25-milhoes-em-criptomoedas-de-vitimas-de-sequestro-e-extorsao-em-ribeirao-preto-diz-delegado.ghtml"]},{"id":613,"date":"May, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Chinese tourists staying at a villa","location":"Küçükçekmece, Istanbul","country":"Turkey","description":"Five men, two of them serving police officers, staged a fake police operation at a villa in Küçükçekmece, Istanbul, where wealthy Chinese tourists were staying, and left with a cold wallet holding USD 65,000 in crypto, its password and TRY 45,000 in cash. All five were remanded in custody.","summary":"Five men raided a villa in Küçükçekmece, Istanbul, where Chinese tourists were staying, in a fake police operation reported in May 2022. According to the report, Erkan Selimoğlu called Emin Yıldırgan, a police officer in Muğla province, said he knew a wealthy Chinese family and proposed raiding their house. Yıldırgan brought in a fellow officer, Beytullah Özgaznep, a tradesman, Ali Yılmaz, and Oktay Çam. The four left their phones in Muğla to avoid surveillance, drove to Istanbul to meet Selimoğlu, and the two officers dressed all five in police vests. They left the villa with a cold wallet holding USD 65,000 in cryptocurrency, with its password, and TRY 45,000 in cash. Police identified the suspects from camera footage and detained them at their homes in Menteşe. All five were remanded in custody in Istanbul; the wallet and cash were not found in their homes.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"Chinese tourists staying at the villa, number not given"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":65000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":65000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.dha.com.tr/gundem/cinli-turistlerin-kaldigi-villaya-sahte-operasyonda-5-tutuklama-2068751"]},{"id":614,"date":"May 6, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-06","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A cryptocurrency millionaire from Mamaia","location":"Mamaia, Constanța","country":"Romania","description":"A businessman from Mamaia who made his fortune trading cryptocurrency was seized in the car park of his apartment block, taped, hooded and pricked in the abdomen with a syringe, and held for hours in a former camp in Năvodari by attackers seeking his crypto account passwords over an alleged EUR 3 million debt. He was let go after promising EUR 200,000 to 300,000; the coordinator was sentenced to 7 years and 4 months.","summary":"A businessman from Mamaia, Constanța, who got rich trading crypto, was abducted in May 2022 over a EUR 3 million debt he allegedly owed a man in London. Prosecutors say the London man hired three Nigerians, coordinated in Romania by a Constanța drug trafficker. After a failed attempt on May 5, they returned the next day to the car park of his block, seized him as he was leaving by car, assaulted him and forced him into a car. They taped his hands and hooded him, and he felt a syringe prick his abdomen and then felt faint. They held him for hours at a former camp in Năvodari, seeking the passwords to his crypto accounts. Neighbours called 112; police caught a friend of the trafficker driving the victim's car. He was let go after promising EUR 200,000 to 300,000, then went to the police. The coordinator was sentenced to 7 years and 4 months; the three Nigerians are still wanted.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Mamaia businessman seized in his building's car park"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/un-milionar-in-criptomonede-din-mamaia-a-fost-rapit-de-trei-nigerieni-din-parcarea-blocului-scenariul-de-film-descris-de-procurori-2352587"]},{"id":615,"date":"May 28, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-28","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A female rapper","location":"Amsterdam, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A rapper was lured to a music studio in Amsterdam by a musician she knew, who let in two men carrying objects resembling firearms; they threatened to shoot her, hit her, took her phone and jewellery and tried to force the codes of her phone and wallet to reach her Bitcoin account. One of the men was sentenced to 30 months.","summary":"On May 28, 2022, a female rapper went to a music studio in Amsterdam after a musician she knew approached her on Instagram to make music together. About forty minutes after she arrived, the musician let in two men, one wearing a balaclava. In the studio room they drew two objects resembling firearms, threatened to shoot and kill her, took her phone and demanded its access code. The other man hit her on the head, fired a shot at the floor and made her hand over her jewellery, then left with the phone and jewellery about ten minutes after they came in. The musician then called her and threatened to blow up her house unless she gave the passwords of her phone and wallet; she refused. The Amsterdam District Court found the aim was to reach her Bitcoin account through her phone. In April 2023 it sentenced the balaclava man to 30 months for theft with threats and attempted extortion.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the rapper lured to the studio"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting","Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:2483"]},{"id":616,"date":"May 30, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-30","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Junior David Cabrera Gómez, a truck driver","location":"Ciudad del Este, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"Three armed men in a Toyota Caldina intercepted a small truck carrying 315 cryptocurrency mining machines in Ciudad del Este, forced the driver at gunpoint into their car and drove off with the truck and its load; the driver was released in the Santa Clara neighbourhood and the truck was found empty.","summary":"On May 30, 2022, three men in a silver Toyota Caldina intercepted a small white JMC truck in Ciudad del Este, Alto Paraná, Paraguay. The truck, driven by Junior David Cabrera Gómez, was carrying 315 cryptocurrency mining machines from a depot to a warehouse and was a few metres from arriving. Two men got out of the car while the third stayed at the wheel. At gunpoint, the driver was forced out of the truck and into the robbers' car while they took the truck and its load. He was later released in the Santa Clara neighbourhood, where he asked neighbours for help. The truck was found abandoned and empty. The complaint filed by the company Transportadora SA lists 306 A1 machines and 9 S9 machines, each said to be worth between USD 300 and 600. It was the second theft of mining machines in Alto Paraná in less than ten hours. The article reports no arrest.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the driver of the company truck"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/este/2022/05/30/nuevo-atraco-a-minas-de-criptomonedas-roban-315-maquinas/"]},{"id":617,"date":"June 11, 2022","date_sort":"2022-06-11","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Dipak Vaghasiya, a businessman","location":"Surat, Gujarat","country":"India","description":"Men posing as CBI officers kidnapped Surat businessman Dipak Vaghasiya to extort money from him in a dispute over a bitcoin deal; he promised to pay and was let go. The crime branch arrested four men and recovered fake CBI identity papers and a blazer with the agency's logo.","summary":"On June 11, men posing as officers of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) kidnapped Dipak Vaghasiya, a businessman in Surat, Gujarat, to extort money from him in a dispute over a bitcoin deal. They threatened him with legal action for running fraud schemes in blockchain, and he promised to pay them money. He was then allowed to go and went to the police. Police found that Vaghasiya had dealt in bitcoins with Vijay, the elder brother of the key accused, Bhadresh Sabhadiya, and the two had recently fallen out. Sabhadiya planned to pressure Vaghasiya with fake CBI officers and contacted Gunvant Ranpariya, who brought in two men who had been cheating people by posing as CBI officers. The crime branch arrested all four, the report naming Andheri East in Mumbai, and recovered a fake CBI identity card, visiting cards, rubber stamps and a blazer with the agency's logo.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Surat businessman"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/four-posing-as-cbi-officers-nabbed-for-bizmans-kidnapping/articleshow/92217448.cms"]},{"id":618,"date":"June 19, 2022","date_sort":"2022-06-19","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A Russian woman, wife of a Russian man","location":"El Campello, Alicante","country":"Spain","description":"A Russian woman was kidnapped by people seeking the access keys to cryptocurrencies her husband had refused to hand over; local police in El Campello found the car, freed her gagged from the boot unharmed and arrested two of the three occupants.","summary":"On June 19, 2022, police in the province of Alicante, Spain, were told that a Russian woman had been kidnapped and was being driven toward El Campello. Sources in the case said the alert came from the lawyer who represented her and her husband, also Russian. The El Campello local police found the car. They arrested two of its three occupants, a Spanish man and a Russian woman, while the third got away. The victim was the fourth person in the car: she was gagged and locked in the boot, and in good health. According to the investigation, the kidnappers wanted the access keys to cryptocurrencies, and the kidnapping followed the husband's refusal to hand over those keys. The arrested Russian woman had come along to act as interpreter. The article does not say how or where the victim was seized, or whether the kidnappers obtained anything.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Russian wife, held in the car boot"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.elespanol.com/alicante/20220620/liberan-mujer-campello-secuestrado-sacarle-claves-criptomonedas/681681946_0.html"]},{"id":619,"date":"June 29, 2022","date_sort":"2022-06-29","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A man with an office in Aurangabad","location":"Nashik, Maharashtra","country":"India","description":"A man was abducted from his Audi and forced into a Maruti Ertiga; his two phones were taken at knifepoint, Rs 5 crore was demanded, and 3.27 units of cryptocurrency worth Rs 1 crore were transferred out through the Binance app. The alleged mastermind was arrested in October 2022 and granted bail by the Bombay High Court in September 2023.","summary":"According to the prosecution, on June 29, 2022 a man who lives in Nashik, Maharashtra, and has an office in Aurangabad was abducted from his Audi car and forced into a Maruti Ertiga. Two of his mobile phones were taken at knifepoint, and Rs 5 crore was demanded as extortion money. Unknown persons transferred 3.27 units of cryptocurrency, equivalent to Rs 1 crore, to a wallet address using the Binance app. Satpur police in Nashik registered a case of kidnapping for ransom and extortion against eight accused the next day. The prosecution says the alleged mastermind, Deelip Bhalchandra Dongre, had visited the victim's office in Aurangabad and the abduction took place at his behest. Dongre was arrested on October 14, 2022. On September 27, 2023, the Bombay High Court granted him bail and barred him, outside court and police visits, from Nashik district and Aurangabad until the trial ends.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the informant taken from his Audi"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://web.archive.org/web/20261014214833/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/5500434/"]},{"id":620,"date":"July 5, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-05","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A USDT buyer","location":"Xitun District, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man who had arranged to buy 30,000 USDT for about TWD 861,000 was sprayed with pepper spray inside the sellers' rented car in Taichung as the driver accelerated; he grabbed back his cash and jumped from the moving car, breaking his kneecap and heel. Two men were convicted of attempted robbery with a weapon.","summary":"On July 5, 2022, a man in Taichung was contacted through a messaging app by someone nicknamed Xiao Dingdang, who falsely offered to sell him 30,000 USDT for about TWD 861,000. A man nicknamed Da Bai had planned the robbery with two young men, who bought pepper spray. Later that day the two arrived in a rented car outside a bank branch in Xitun District. The buyer got into the back seat with the cash; the passenger counted the money and the driver faked a call saying the USDT could be sent. The passenger then sprayed pepper spray in his eyes and the driver accelerated. The buyer grabbed back his cash and jumped from the moving car, fracturing his left kneecap and right heel. The robbers got nothing. On January 24, 2024 the Taichung District Court convicted both men of attempted robbery with a weapon: two years for the driver, a suspended term of one year and nine months for the passenger.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C112%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C873%2C20240124%2C1"]},{"id":621,"date":"July 25, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-25","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A man","location":"Horst, Limburg","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man lured to the Molengatweg in Horst by an arranged drug purchase had his car blocked, was pulled out at gunpoint by men in balaclavas, beaten and locked in a car boot, and was held in a hut in the woods, where he was made to reveal his drug stash and threatened with guns and pruning shears as the kidnappers tried to get his money and cryptocurrency. The Limburg court convicted the suspects.","summary":"On the evening of July 25, 2022, a man was lured to the Molengatweg in Horst, Limburg, after one of a group of suspects arranged to buy drugs from him. The group had planned weeks earlier to kidnap him and take his money and drugs, and two of them kept watch from a bench. When he arrived, his car was blocked, one man jumped on the bonnet and smashed the windscreen, and several men in balaclavas pulled him out under threat of a firearm and forced him into a car boot. He was beaten and injured on the head, then driven to a hut in the woods and forced to name the place of his drug stash, where some of the group collected drugs. They also tried to get money and cryptocurrency from him, threatening him with firearms and holding pruning shears against his toes. The Limburg District Court convicted the suspects, ordered three of them to repay EUR 2,300 each and awarded the victim damages.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man lured by the drug purchase"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rechtspraak.nl/organisatie-en-contact/organisatie/rechtbanken/rechtbank-limburg/nieuws/veroordelingen-wegens-ontvoering-en-afpersing"]},{"id":622,"date":"August, 2022","date_sort":"2022-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Elderly couple","location":"Rodovia Ayrton Senna, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"An elderly couple was held in an express kidnapping on the Rodovia Ayrton Senna in São Paulo state in August 2022, and about R$100,000 was paid to the kidnappers in cryptocurrency. A suspect who received the crypto was arrested in Goiás in March 2023.","summary":"In August 2022 an elderly couple was the victim of what the report calls an express kidnapping on the Rodovia Ayrton Senna in São Paulo state, Brazil. Goiás Civil Police described the crime as aggravated extortion with restriction of the couple's liberty, and said a suspect received about R$100,000 in cryptocurrency as payment. The report does not say how the couple were seized, how long they were held or how they were released, and it says it is not clear whether the couple held any cryptocurrency. On March 14, 2023, at the request of São Paulo Civil Police, which investigates the kidnapping, Goiás police arrested the suspect in Cidade de Goiás. He tried to flush 256 grams of cannabis and was booked for drug trafficking; he may also face charges of money laundering and express kidnapping. Neither the suspect nor the victims were named.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"one of the elderly couple"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the other member of the elderly couple"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/pcgo-prende-suspeito-de-sequestro-relampago-que-recebeu-r-100-mil-em-criptomoedas/"]},{"id":623,"date":"August ?, 2022","date_sort":"2022-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"A 19-year-old man","location":"São Paulo, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"A 19-year-old crypto promoter from Brasília was seized by five people in a vehicle outside a nightclub in São Paulo's east zone, held for 12 hours, beaten and made to transfer about R$59,000, then abandoned in Guaianases. Two suspects were arrested; the friend he was with remained missing.","summary":"In August 2022 a 19-year-old from Brasília who promoted cryptocurrency on his social media came to São Paulo, Brazil, to meet a young man he had only chatted with online. The two went to a nightclub in the city's east zone. As they left, five people in a vehicle approached them and the two were separated. The kidnappers held the 19-year-old for 12 hours, beat him several times and gave him nothing to eat. He was forced to send them R$1,000 by PIX and to make a further transfer of R$58,000, reported as cryptocurrency. They also took his phone, wallet, clothes and trainers. He was abandoned in a street in Guaianases, also in the east zone, where a municipal guard inspector gave him first aid. Police searching the area arrested two suspects. The friend's whereabouts were still unknown when the report was published.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"19-year-old crypto promoter from Brasília"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the friend he had met online, approached with him and missing since"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":59000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/jovem-de-19-anos-que-trabalhava-com-criptomoedas-e-sequestrado-em-sao-paulo-amigo-desaparecido/"]},{"id":624,"date":"October, 2022","date_sort":"2022-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"A 24-year-old man","location":"Buffer zone, Nicosia district","country":"Cyprus","description":"A 24-year-old Limassol resident told police that three men took him into the Cyprus buffer zone on the pretext of hunting and staged his arrest by fake police of the pseudo-state, who demanded EUR 150,000 to be drawn from his cryptocurrency; he cancelled the transfer and got away. Three men were arrested.","summary":"In 2022 a 24-year-old Limassol resident, known for an earlier US hacking case, complained to Cyprus police that three men, aged 42, 50 and 35, had tried to extort EUR 150,000 from him, money he would draw from cryptocurrency he holds. By his account the three took him into the buffer zone on the pretext of going hunting and staged his arrest by people posing as police of the pseudo-state, who linked him to weapons supposedly found there and offered to let him go for EUR 150,000. He said the 35-year-old then confined him in a house in Nicosia district until the transfer was done, but he cancelled the online transaction and got away. He said one of the men later found him with his mother in Nicosia and took EUR 1,000 from her. The three were arrested and remanded. Two of them and another man had earlier told police he threatened them with a knife. Police were seeking two more people.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"24-year-old Limassol resident holding crypto"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his mother, from whom EUR 1,000 was taken"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":150000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.philenews.com/kipros/koinonia/article/1167061/apagogi-me-fonto-kriptonomismata-150-000-evro/"]},{"id":625,"date":"October 3, 2022","date_sort":"2022-10-03","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A man from Canoas","location":"Florianópolis, Santa Catarina","country":"Brazil","description":"Four heavily armed men seized a man from Canoas outside a rented house in Jurerê Internacional, Florianópolis, over cryptocurrency of theirs he had lost; a police chase and shootout followed, a police officer was shot in the leg and the victim jumped from the car and got away. The driver was arrested with a grenade launcher.","summary":"On October 3, 2022, in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, four heavily armed men in a red Voyage approached a man from Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, as he arrived at a rented house in Jurerê Internacional. The kidnappers were looking for him because he had lost cryptocurrency of theirs. As they drove off with him, Military Police units gave chase, and Highway Military Police officers tried to stop the car, leading to an exchange of fire in which a female officer was shot in the leg; she was out of danger. Three of the four men fled on foot towards the Itacorubi mangrove, where there was another exchange of fire, and the driver fled alone towards the city centre. The victim used the moment to throw himself out of the car and free himself. The driver was caught by BOPE officers with a grenade launcher and arrested; the other three were not caught.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man from Canoas sought over lost crypto"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/criptomoedas-sequestrado-policial-baleada/"]},{"id":626,"date":"October 8, 2022","date_sort":"2022-10-08","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A 21-year-old trader and his girlfriend","location":"Necochea, Buenos Aires","country":"Argentina","description":"Two men armed with knives forced their way into the penthouse of a 21-year-old crypto trader in the Miralejos building in Necochea, held him and his girlfriend for four hours, beat them and forced crypto transfers, and took cash, devices and encrypted drives. A neighbour suspected of being the informant and two men from Mar del Plata were arrested in July 2023.","summary":"On October 8, 2022, in Necochea, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, two men armed with knives forced their way into the 17th-floor penthouse of the Miralejos building, occupied by a 21-year-old trader and his girlfriend. For about four hours they beat the couple and, at knifepoint and with threats, forced the trader to give up the keys to his crypto wallets and make transfers, one of them to a Binance account of one of the suspects. The haul was put at 70 million pesos, including crypto, encrypted pendrives, phones, a computer and cash. The gang had rented a first-floor flat in the building for a long weekend. Investigators traced a transfer to one suspect, who knew a businessman in the same building who had done business with the trader. In July 2023 police arrested the businessman, suspected of being the informant, and two men from Mar del Plata for doubly aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Insider","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"21-year-old crypto trader"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his girlfriend"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":70000000,"currency":"ARS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://diarionecochea.com/2023/07/05/asi-fue-el-asalto-y-millonario-robo-de-criptomonedas-en-el-edificio-miralejos/"]},{"id":627,"date":"October 17, 2022","date_sort":"2022-10-17","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Two brothers","location":"Valencia, Valencian Community","country":"Spain","description":"Four men held two brothers at gunpoint in Valencia to collect a EUR 25,000 debt that a money mule of a cryptocurrency scheme had allegedly kept, then released them after about EUR 500 was paid. Three defendants who admitted the facts got suspended prison terms in October 2025.","summary":"At about 8 p.m. on October 17, 2022, in Valencia, Spain, a young man met one of four men who were after EUR 25,000 that a money mule of a cryptocurrency scheme had allegedly kept. In a nearby park they made him sit on a bench, pointed a pistol at him and told him to call his brother or be shot. They took him to a flat, threw him onto the sofa and held him there at gunpoint, saying he could not leave until they were paid. His brother arrived at 9:30 p.m.; the gang aimed the pistol at both men's knees, then cut the demand to EUR 500 each. One brother was taken home by motorcycle to fetch his share and let go at about 11 p.m., but stayed until the other's girlfriend paid into a bank account, and both were freed at 1:30 a.m. On October 7, 2025 the Valencia Provincial Court gave three defendants who admitted the facts suspended terms of 2.5 to 4 years; a fourth was not found.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the young man who went to the meeting"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his brother, called to the flat"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":25000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":500,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lasprovincias.es/sucesos/secuestro-hermanos-valencia-criptomonedas-20251007131354-nt.html"]},{"id":628,"date":"November, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"A bar patron","location":"Manhattan, New York","country":"USA","description":"One of about 40 people drugged and robbed at Manhattan bars by gangs who offered them drugs and took their unlocked phones had USD 30,000 in cryptocurrency transferred from a phone app while he was passed out. Six people were arrested.","summary":"In the year before November 2022, WABC's 7 On Your Side Investigates counted at least 40 people drugged and robbed at bars in Manhattan, New York; seven of them died, some from suspected overdoses. Police said two groups were behind it and picked people with expensive watches and phones. According to NYPD Chief Kenneth Corey, the robbers struck up conversations with patrons and offered to take drugs with them, then stole their valuables; one victim's family said his drink must have been spiked. Criminal complaints list bags and laptops taken, and a victim who had USD 30,000 worth of cryptocurrency transferred from his phone app while he was passed out. The article does not say which group robbed the crypto victim, when, or at which bar. Six people had been arrested and police were looking for at least two more.","targeting":["Visible wealth"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a bar patron whose phone app was emptied of crypto"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":true,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":30000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://abc7ny.com/post/nyc-bars-drugs-robbery-7-on-your-side-investigation/12486545/"]},{"id":629,"date":"November 7, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-07","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Shawn E.","location":"Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires","country":"Argentina","description":"A 52-year-old American tourist who met a woman through a dating app was drugged in his rented flat in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, and robbed of a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, a phone, a laptop and a wallet with 80,000 pesos. Two 18-year-old women and their driver were arrested on December 2, 2022.","summary":"On the night of November 7, 2022, Shawn E., a 52-year-old American tourist, met a young woman calling herself 'Liz', whom he knew from a dating app, at the flat he had rented in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina. According to the report, she drugged him and robbed him. The last thing he remembered was drinking alcohol with her; he woke the next day aching and stripped of his belongings. Missing were the flat key, a high-end phone, a laptop, his US driver's licence, a Louis Vuitton wallet with 80,000 pesos and a Ledger Nano X crypto wallet. Working from his description and social media, the city police identified the woman and two accomplices, another young woman and the man who drove their car. On December 2, 2022, four raids in the Zavaleta neighbourhood of Barracas led to the arrest of two 18-year-old women and the 58-year-old driver, who were charged with robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"52-year-old American tourist"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":80000,"currency":"ARS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/policiales/2022/12/10/asi-cayo-la-viuda-negra-de-18-anos-que-drogo-y-le-robo-una-billetera-de-criptomonedas-a-un-turista-estadounidense-en-puerto-madero/"]},{"id":630,"date":"November 23, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-23","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A Bnei Brak resident","location":"Rishon LeZion, Central District","country":"Israel","description":"A Bnei Brak resident who had arranged a digital-currency exchange with two young men in Rishon LeZion was threatened with a weapon, sprayed with gas in the face and robbed of more than 100,000 shekels in cash. Police arrested two East Jerusalem residents in their twenties.","summary":"In November 2022 a resident of Bnei Brak arranged to meet two young men he had been in contact with shortly before, to carry out an exchange involving digital currency. The meeting was set in Rishon LeZion and he travelled there. When they met, police said, the two men threatened him with a weapon and sprayed gas in his face, then took the cash he had brought for the agreed deal, more than 100,000 shekels. Rishon LeZion police opened an investigation when the robbery was reported. Using technological and forensic means, they arrested two East Jerusalem residents in their twenties, and a search of their home found a large sum of cash. The court in Rishon LeZion extended their detention at the police's request until the following week.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Bnei Brak resident who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"ILS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ice.co.il/law/news/article/913267"]},{"id":631,"date":"November 24, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-24","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Amir, a 35-year-old man","location":"Tehran, Tehran Province","country":"Iran","description":"Amir, 35, met a 40-year-old business acquaintance in east Tehran on the pretext of a cryptocurrency purchase; on the road to Damavand the man forced him at gunpoint to give up his e-wallet password, transferred his crypto, and the two men shot him dead and buried him in the desert. The suspect confessed and a warrant was issued for his accomplice.","summary":"On November 24, 2022, Amir, a 35-year-old man in Tehran, left home to meet a friend and did not return; his father reported him missing the next day. Police found that his last calls were with Saeed, 40, a recent work partner with whom he had a financial dispute. Saeed was arrested and confessed three days later. By his own account, he had learned that Amir had bought 8 billion tomans of cryptocurrency and decided to rob him. He arranged a meeting in east Tehran on the pretext of buying cryptocurrency and talking over their dispute, and came with a friend in a car. Amir got in and agreed to go to their villa in Damavand. On the way, Saeed took his e-wallet password at gunpoint and moved the cryptocurrency to his own account. Fearing exposure and a kidnapping charge, the two men shot Amir dead and buried him in the desert. A judge ordered the second suspect's arrest.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"35-year-old man who held the crypto"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8000000000,"currency":"IRT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1702617/"]},{"id":632,"date":"December 1, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-01","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A man","location":"Zandvoort, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"In Zandvoort, two men attacked a man at a home where he was at the time, in a robbery a co-defendant had staged to take a large amount of cryptocurrency from him; they asked for 'crypto', hit him with a cosh and fists and held him in a chokehold, but he resisted and fled. A minor co-perpetrator was convicted of attempted extortion in April 2025.","summary":"On December 1, 2022, two men attacked a man at a home in Zandvoort, the Netherlands, where he was at the time. The court found that a co-defendant had staged the home invasion to take a large amount of cryptocurrency from him. The two attackers asked for 'crypto', then almost at once hit him in the face and on the head with a cosh and their fists, held him in a chokehold and told him to lie on his stomach with his hands behind his back so they could tie him with cable ties. He was injured, resisted and managed to flee. Nothing was taken. On April 29, 2025, the North Holland district court, sitting with juvenile judges, convicted one attacker, a minor, of attempted extortion in a group, acquitted him of robbery with violence, and gave him a suspended month of youth detention, 120 hours of community service and 1,898.78 euros in damages to the victim.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man present at the organiser's home"}],"approach":["Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://data.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraken/content?id=ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2025:5261"]},{"id":633,"date":"December 26, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-26","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Wang, a 20-year-old crypto manager","location":"Zhonghe, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A 20-year-old virtual currency manager who could not return a client's investment profits was threatened into a car by the client and held in a Zhonghe hotel until he raised the money. Police raided the hotel the next afternoon, freed him and arrested three suspects.","summary":"Mr. Wang, a 20-year-old virtual currency manager in New Taipei, met a 22-year-old client surnamed Lin on the evening of December 26, 2022, to discuss a dispute over the return of investment profits. Wang told Lin that an upstream coin dealer had made off with the invested money and he could not get the principal back. Lin, angry, threatened him into a car and took him to a hotel in Zhonghe, where he was held. By Wang's account the group did not hit him but demanded that he raise money to repay before they would let him go. His girlfriend reported him missing the next morning. At about 2 p.m. that day police raided the hotel, freed Wang and arrested Lin and two accomplices aged 19 and 18. They found a bag of ketamine at the scene and an aluminium bat, a Rambo knife and four machetes in the car. The three were referred to prosecutors for deprivation of liberty and drug offences.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"20-year-old virtual currency manager"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/4168564"]},{"id":634,"date":"2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. Wu and another USDT seller","location":"Fuqing, Fujian","country":"China","description":"In Fuqing, Zhou and several accomplices staged a USDT purchase: Zhou paid two sellers 400,000 yuan, confirmed the USDT had arrived, then claimed it had not and, when they refused to refund, the group took the 400,000 back by force and fled. The sellers stopped Zhou and police took him in; the others were later brought in.","summary":"In Fuqing, Fujian, a man surnamed Zhou and several accomplices planned a fake trade to obtain the stablecoin USDT, prosecutors said. Zhou paid 400,000 yuan to two sellers, Mr. Wu and another, and confirmed that the USDT had reached him. He then claimed it had not arrived and demanded the money back. When the two sellers refused, Zhou and his accomplices took the 400,000 yuan back by force and the accomplices fled. The two sellers stopped Zhou as he tried to leave, and police took him to the local station. The other accomplices were later brought in. At a public trial in the Fuqing People's Court, Zhou admitted the robbery and accepted punishment, and prosecutors gave a sentencing recommendation in court. The verdict was still pending when the court reported the case.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two USDT sellers"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":400000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1763697457108072867"]},{"id":635,"date":"January, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A businessman and his family and staff","location":"Praia Brava, Itajaí, Santa Catarina","country":"Brazil","description":"Three people armed with firearms invaded a businessman's home in Praia Brava, Itajaí, held him, his family and his employees for about three hours and, with violence and threats against his family, forced him to transfer cryptocurrency; jewellery, electronics and cash were also taken, about R$1.2 million in all. Operation Blockchain led to seven arrests in October 2023.","summary":"In January 2023, three armed people invaded the home of a businessman in Praia Brava, Itajaí, Brazil, and overpowered him, his relatives and his employees, holding them for about three hours. Using violence and serious threats against his family, they forced the businessman to make cryptocurrency transfers and also took jewellery, electronic devices and cash, a loss of about R$1.2 million. Tracing showed the funds had been split across crypto wallets and sent to Argentina and Peru, and a freeze of up to R$1.2 million in banks and exchanges was decreed. In October 2023, Itajaí police and Interpol served eight temporary arrest warrants in Operation Blockchain: two suspects were caught in Buenos Aires, one in Sergipe and one in Balneário Camboriú, three were already in prison for other crimes, and one was at large. They face charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated extortion.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"businessman"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"his relatives present"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"his employees present"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1200000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/interpol-e-policia-civil-prendem-suspeitos-de-mega-roubo-de-criptomoedas/"]},{"id":636,"date":"January 1, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A cryptocurrency investor","location":"","country":"China","description":"After dinner at an offline gathering of digital-currency investors, a man was controlled in a car by attackers who used his face to unlock his phone and wallet app, converted his crypto to 4.1 million USDT, about 28 million yuan, and moved it before leaving. News of the robbery spread in the industry on the morning of January 1, 2023.","summary":"At 9 a.m. on January 1, 2023, news spread in the crypto industry that an investor had been robbed in an offline virtual-currency deal; one widely shared message spoke of a car being stopped and 4.1 million dollars taken. According to the report, the victim had attended an offline gathering of digital-currency investors and, after the meal, was controlled inside a car. The attackers forcibly used his face to unlock his phone and his wallet app, exchanged the cryptocurrency in the wallet for 4.1 million USDT, worth about 28 million yuan, then quickly moved the funds and left. The victim was said to be seeking legal remedies. The report gives no place, no name and no police statement, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"crypto investor leaving a meetup dinner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4100000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":4100000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articles/kc64bicx"]},{"id":637,"date":"2023","date_sort":"2023-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2023,"victim":"A 24-year-old man","location":"Kyiv","country":"Ukraine","description":"Four acquaintances aged 21 to 24 who learned a 24-year-old Kyiv man held cryptocurrency attacked him when he opened his door to them, beat him and at knifepoint made him transfer almost USD 28,000 in crypto, took USD 1,400, documents and bank cards, and left him tied up in the flat. Police found three of them in Cherkasy in autumn 2023 and the indictment went to court in 2024.","summary":"Four men aged 21 to 24, friends of a 24-year-old man in Kyiv, Ukraine, learned that he held cryptocurrency and decided to take it. According to investigators, they came to visit him, and when he opened the door they attacked him and struck him many times on the body. Threatening him with a knife, they made him transfer cryptocurrency worth almost USD 28,000 to a crypto wallet belonging to one of them, and they also took all his documents, USD 1,400 in cash and his bank cards. Before leaving they tied his hands and feet, taped his mouth and locked him in the flat. In autumn 2023 police tracked down three of the attackers, residents of Cherkasy. The investigation into robbery and unlawful deprivation of liberty was completed and, as reported on May 1, 2024, the indictment was sent to court; the accused face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 24-year-old man attacked at his door"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":28000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":28000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://incident.obozrevatel.com/kiyany/crime/radi-kriptovalyutyi-razoblachili-i-izbili-tovarischa-v-kieve-budut-sudit-gruppu-vyimogatelej-foto-i-podrobnosti.htm"]},{"id":638,"date":"January 3, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-03","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A USDT seller","location":"Zhongli, Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"Four men posing as buyers of 166,000 USDT for TWD 5,146,000, paying with toy banknotes, pulled the seller into their car in Zhongli, Taoyuan, held a machete to his neck and demanded money while driving off. He struggled, his companion chased and rammed the car, and he jumped out; all four were convicted of attempted aggravated robbery.","summary":"On January 1, 2023, a man posing as a buyer on Telegram contacted a USDT seller in Taoyuan, Taiwan, but called off their first meeting when the seller came with friends in four cars. He set a second deal for January 3: 166,000 USDT for TWD 5,146,000. He came with three other men, toy banknotes and a hidden machete. At about 4:35 p.m., when the seller leaned into the car to check the cash, two men pulled and kicked him onto the back seat and the car sped off. The organiser held the machete to his neck and demanded money; the seller fought back and his left hand was cut. His friend, who had driven him, chased and rammed the car, and at about 4:44 p.m. in Zhongli the seller jumped out. Both cars later broke down and the four fled. On April 16, 2026 the Taoyuan District Court convicted all four of attempted aggravated robbery, with sentences of 3 years 10 months to 5 years 2 months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller pulled into the car"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TYDM%2C112%2C%E5%8E%9F%E8%A8%B4%2C165%2C20260416%2C1"]},{"id":639,"date":"January 25, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-25","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. Deng and his uncle","location":"Wuhan, Hubei","country":"China","description":"A man posing as a buyer of USDT for CNY 320,000 held a knife to the neck of the seller's uncle in his car in Wuhan and forced him to tell the seller by voice message that the cash had arrived, so the seller transferred 43,785 USDT. The robber was arrested the next evening and on appeal was sentenced to 11 years 6 months for robbery and a separate laundering offence.","summary":"In January 2023 a man surnamed Wang offered Mr. Deng, on Telegram, CNY 320,000 in cash for USDT, to meet in Wuhan on the evening of January 25. Mr. Deng sent his uncle to confirm receipt of the cash before he sent the coins remotely. At about 9 p.m. Wang got into the uncle's car, claimed he had to fetch the money and had him drive off. There he held a knife to the uncle's neck and made him tell Mr. Deng by voice message that the money had arrived. Two minutes later Mr. Deng sent 43,785 USDT to the account Wang named. The uncle tried to stop him and his left index finger was cut. Wang fled home, cashed 2,500 USDT through a friend and was arrested the next evening; the rest went to an untraced account. Convicted of extortion at first instance, he was convicted of robbery on the prosecutors' appeal in April 2024 and, with a separate laundering offence, sentenced to 11 years 6 months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Mr. Deng, who sent the coins from outside Wuhan after the forced voice message"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the seller's uncle, sent to the meeting in his place"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":43785,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["http://www.hbcaw.gov.cn/fzjs/62571.jhtml"]},{"id":640,"date":"February 1, 2023","date_sort":"2023-02-01","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Ankur Surana","location":"Guwahati, Assam","country":"India","description":"Ankur Surana, 30, was abducted in Guwahati on his way to a resort party organised by a kidnapper he knew and held in a room for two days, while his sister in Mumbai was sent a QR code demanding 104 BTC (about Rs 20 crore). He was released injured near Amching Tea Estate; five resort staff were arrested and three accused were at large.","summary":"On February 1, 2023, at about 10.30 p.m., Ankur Surana, 30, from the Bharalumukh area of Guwahati, Assam, India, was abducted on his way to a party at PRP Valley resort in Amching, organised by one of the kidnappers, whom he knew, and was held in a room. On February 2 his sister in Mumbai received an internet call saying he was with the callers and money was to be paid online; the next day the caller sent her a link and a QR code demanding 104 bitcoin, around Rs 20 crore. The report does not say whether anything was paid. He was released near Amching Tea Estate with injuries to his face and hands, two days later according to the report and in the early hours of Saturday according to the police commissioner, who credited police pressure. Police arrested five people, the manager, the cashier and three workers of PK Resort in Amsing Jorabat; three more accused were at large.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 30-year-old man held for ransom"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":104,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/five-held-for-kidnapping-guwahati-man-three-more-on-the-run/articleshow/97714524.cms"]},{"id":641,"date":"March 10, 2023","date_sort":"2023-03-10","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A 62-year-old Chinese man and his interpreter","location":"Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok","country":"Thailand","description":"Five men dressed as police, among them serving Thai immigration officers, seized a 62-year-old Chinese man and his Thai interpreter outside his home in Bangkok and drove them around for more than four hours, threatening him over an alleged fake Thai identity and demanding 60,000 USDT. His son negotiated a 30,000 USDT ransom and the pair were released; three officers were arrested and one was at large.","summary":"On March 10, 2023, a 62-year-old Chinese man and his Thai interpreter went to the government complex on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok to renew his visa. It failed, and a friend drove them home. As they got out of the car, five men dressed as police seized the man and the interpreter. For more than four hours they drove around Chaeng Watthana, told the man that his forged Thai identity broke the law and demanded 60,000 USDT for his freedom. His son negotiated a 30,000 USDT ransom, which the family in China transferred; the kidnappers then drove back, dropped the two off and fled. The interpreter later reported the case. Thailand's deputy national police chief said three or four serving officers, among them an immigration bureau major, two lieutenants and a senior sergeant, had acted with others. Three were arrested and one was at large; police said the officers would be dismissed.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 62-year-old Chinese man"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his hired Thai interpreter"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":60000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hk01.com/%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B/880329/"]},{"id":642,"date":"April, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A financial intermediation entrepreneur","location":"Turin, Piedmont","country":"Italy","description":"Two men aged 43 and 47 approached a financial intermediation entrepreneur from western Turin at his company and, with threats of death against him and his family, demanded the return of a USB drive they said held one million euros in bitcoin and belonged to them. After a fire broke out at his company he reported them, and the Rivoli carabinieri arrested both for attempted extortion.","summary":"In April 2023 two men, aged 43 and 47, approached an entrepreneur in the financial intermediation business from the western Turin area, Italy, at his company. He did not know them. With physical and verbal threats, including death threats and threats against his family, they demanded that he return a USB drive which they said held one million euros in bitcoin, claiming that the drive and its contents were theirs and had to be handed back at once. Frightened, and after a fire broke out at his company, the entrepreneur reported the threats to the carabinieri. The report does not say who started the fire. The carabinieri of the Rivoli company arrested the two men for attempted extortion; the report was published on June 22, 2023. Nothing was handed over.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the financial intermediation entrepreneur"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ansa.it/piemonte/notizie/2023/06/22/volevano-un-milione-di-euro-in-bitcoin-arrestati-per-estorsione_b4700e8d-ab45-4a2b-8be1-037878db1064.html"]},{"id":643,"date":"April, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Three young brothers","location":"Milan, Lombardy","country":"Italy","description":"Three men from Galtellì lured three young brothers into a trap in Milan, beat them and held them in a bed and breakfast in the Navigli area, demanding a ransom of 120,000 euros in cryptocurrency and the return of valuable watches over an alleged swindle. Carabinieri traced the ransom call, freed the brothers and arrested the kidnappers, who were finally sentenced to 9 years and 1 day.","summary":"In April 2023 three men from Galtellì, in the province of Nuoro, two aged 32 and a 34-year-old who is their brother, lured three young brothers into a trap in Milan. They beat them, held them and demanded a ransom of 120,000 euros in cryptocurrency plus the return of valuable watches. Investigators say the motive was an alleged swindle of the attackers by the victims. The victims' parents reported the kidnapping to the carabinieri in Nerviano. By geolocating the ransom call, the carabinieri found the place of captivity, a bed and breakfast on Via Magolfa in the Navigli area, freed the three brothers and arrested the kidnappers in the act. The Milan Court of Appeal gave the three men final sentences of 9 years and 1 day. They had moved to Sardinia; the Siniscola carabinieri later traced and arrested them in Alghero, and they are held in Sassari prison.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three young brothers accused by the attackers of a swindle"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":120000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.wikimilano.it/desk/news/arrestati-in-sardegna-tre-uomini-condannati-per-sequestro-a-milano-volevano-120mila-euro-di-riscatto/"]},{"id":644,"date":"April, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Three Dominican tourists","location":"Medellín, Antioquia","country":"Colombia","description":"Two women met three Dominican tourists through a dating app, drugged them with scopolamine at a nightclub in El Poblado, Medellín, and over 16 hours emptied their bank cards and crypto wallets. The two women were arrested and accepted the charges.","summary":"In April 2023, three tourists from the Dominican Republic on holiday in Medellín met two women aged 21 and 22 through a dating app. The women invited them to a nightclub in El Poblado and, while dancing, allegedly drugged them with scopolamine, which made them lose consciousness. They then took the men to a rented home and obtained the passwords to their phones, savings accounts and credit cards. Over 16 hours they made 21 purchases worth 11 million pesos, took clothes, watches and cash, and transferred Bitcoin and Ethereum worth 43 million pesos to other accounts. Prosecutors said the group profiled its victims in advance. Police arrested the two women in the Cabañas neighbourhood of Bello and seized the stolen crypto. The women accepted charges covering 21 computer offences and 3 non-consensual transfers of assets.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three Dominican tourists"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":43000000,"currency":"COP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/medellin-red-escopolamina-a-turistas-en-parque-lleras-para-robarles-las-cuentas-785151"]},{"id":645,"date":"April 17, 2023","date_sort":"2023-04-17","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. C, operator of a crypto investment 'leading room'","location":"Anyang, Gyeonggi","country":"South Korea","description":"Two men in their fifties who said they had lost billions of won on crypto investments tied up and confined the operator of a crypto 'leading room' in his Anyang home, demanded the invested money and the code of his safe, and made him take zolpidem. Both were remanded in custody on special robbery charges.","summary":"Two men in their fifties are suspected of going at about 11 a.m. one day to the home in Anyang of a man identified as C, who ran a crypto investment 'leading room' and had set up a coin company, recruiting investors with promised returns. They allegedly tied his hands and feet and confined him, threatened him to hand over the invested money, demanded the code of the safe in the home and made him take zolpidem, a psychotropic drug. The main suspect told police he had lost 5 billion won because C had urged him to invest. The crime came to light at about 4 a.m. the next day, when C asked a neighbour for help and the police were called. Three days after the attack, the Anyang branch court issued arrest warrants for both men on special robbery charges, citing flight risk. The source does not say whether anything was taken.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the leading-room operator"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/421/0006760786"]},{"id":646,"date":"June 12, 2023","date_sort":"2023-06-12","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Kayla Pawa","location":"Birkenhead, Auckland","country":"New Zealand","description":"Kayla Pawa was taken from her Birkenhead home by armed, masked intruders and tortured for 24 days at several places to make her give up her then-partner's cryptocurrency password. She escaped from a car boot in Whangārei; two of those involved were jailed.","summary":"At about 10.30 p.m. on June 12, 2023, a group of armed, masked intruders took Kayla Pawa from the bedroom of her home in Birkenhead, Auckland. Her captors wanted the password to her then-partner's cryptocurrency stash; she insisted she did not know it. Over 24 days she was held at the Glen Eden home of Bernadette Rawiri, then at the Glen Eden home of Rawiri's cousin Carlos Harris, a patched Nomads member, then at an abandoned house in Kohukohu and in a car boot in Whangārei. She was beaten, including with baseball bats, burned with a blowtorch, had her hands smashed with a hammer, was starved for five days, had a gun held to her face and was made to help dig what she was told was her grave. On July 6 she jumped out of the boot and flagged down a passing ambulance. Harris was jailed for eight years and Rawiri, who pleaded guilty, for six years and two months.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto holder's then-partner"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/auckland-kidnapping-bernadette-rawiri-jailed-womans-torture-over-cryptocurrency-password/VW6FHED2MJCTJLTFECEVQFVUWE/"]},{"id":647,"date":"July 5, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-05","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Two Turkish men","location":"Medellín, Antioquia","country":"Colombia","description":"Two Turkish men who had met two women through a dating platform were given a drink in a Medellín apartment that left them unconscious for two days, while cryptocurrency worth more than COP 165 million was transferred from their phones and belongings worth COP 19 million were taken. Three suspects were arrested in Dosquebradas.","summary":"On July 5, 2023, two Turkish men were in an apartment in the El Poblado district of Medellín with two women they had contacted through a dating platform. According to the investigation, the women gave them a drink that left them unconscious for two days. During that time the suspects allegedly took belongings worth COP 19 million, opened the apps on the men's phones and transferred cryptocurrency worth more than COP 165 million to virtual wallets, more than COP 180 million in all. National Police arrested the suspects in Dosquebradas, Risaralda, and seized eight phones and about COP 150 million in cash. A judge remanded two of them in custody on charges of aggravated theft, illegal access to a computer system and unauthorised transfer of assets. A third, charged with the same offences, was released but remains in the case.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two Turkish men drugged in the apartment"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":180000000,"currency":"COP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/no-dejaron-nada-asi-operaban-los-presuntos-ladrones-de-criptomonedas-de-extranjeros-en-el-poblado-medellin-3371734"]},{"id":648,"date":"July 5, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-05","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Yeh Chia-jung","location":"Rende District, Tainan","country":"Taiwan","description":"Yeh Chia-jung, who sold USDT with a partner, was lured to a fake trade of 60,000 USDT for TWD 1.9 million outside a Carrefour in Tainan, held at gunpoint with air guns in the robbers' car and struck in the face, and his phone was used to make his partner release the 60,000 USDT. Three men were sentenced to 7 years 2 months to 7 years 6 months.","summary":"On the afternoon of July 5, 2023, an organiser known on Telegram as \"James\" arranged through a middleman to buy 60,000 USDT for TWD 1.9 million from the partner with whom Yeh Chia-jung sold cryptocurrency, with Yeh to trade outside a Carrefour in Tainan that night. Two of the gang bought a car without clear title and three air guns. Yeh arrived at 22:37 and was asked into the car to trade. One man took his phone on the pretext of checking it; two pointed air guns at him, struck his left cheek with a gun butt and forced him to give the passcode. They used his phone to tell his partner the cash had been received, and the partner sent the 60,000 USDT to their wallet. They drove Yeh to an intersection in Rende District and let him out. On May 27, 2025, the Tainan District Court sentenced three men to 7 years 2 months to 7 years 6 months for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller who came to the trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":60000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TNDM%2C113%2C%E5%8E%9F%E8%A8%B4%2C15%2C20250527%2C2"]},{"id":649,"date":"August 6, 2023","date_sort":"2023-08-06","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Lin Ting-yu","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"During a cash count for a TWD 5.27 million USDT purchase outside Songshan Station in Taipei, two men held knives to the buyer's courier Lin Ting-yu and to the colluding seller and took the cash bag, which held TWD 370,000 in real notes and TWD 4.9 million in toy notes. Seven were convicted of aggravated robbery; the buyer and the courier were convicted of attempted fraud.","summary":"On August 6, 2023, Lin Ting-yu, a buyer's courier, met USDT dealer Hsieh Ming-lun outside north exit 2 of Songshan Station in Taipei to pay TWD 5.27 million for USDT. The buyer had filled the bag with TWD 4.9 million in toy notes and TWD 370,000 in real notes, planning to cheat the seller. On the seller's side, two associates had decided to abandon the trade and seize the money; through a Telegram group they briefed Hsieh and recruited robbers who lay in wait. At about 2:33 p.m., while Hsieh was counting the notes, two men held a knife to Lin's abdomen and another to Hsieh's neck, told them not to move and walked off with the bag and Hsieh's phone, so the buyer would think Hsieh was robbed too. The two knife men surrendered the next day. On April 29, 2024, the Taipei District Court convicted seven of aggravated robbery and the buyer and Lin of attempted fraud.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer's courier carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":370000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPDM%2c112%2c%e5%8e%9f%e8%a8%b4%2c91%2c20240429%2c3"]},{"id":650,"date":"August 18, 2023","date_sort":"2023-08-18","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A bitcoin ATM","location":"Rome, Lazio","country":"Italy","description":"Thieves smashed the window of the Dima shopping centre in the Bufalotta area of Rome with a car at about 10 p.m. and took away an ATM that bought bitcoin. Police were reviewing camera footage to identify them.","summary":"At about 10 p.m. on Friday, August 18, 2023, thieves used a car to smash the shop window of the Dima shopping centre in the Bufalotta area of Rome, Italy, and then carried off an automatic teller machine described as specialised in buying bitcoin. The report does not say whether the centre was closed or whether anyone was inside, and it describes nobody being confronted or hurt. Officers of the Fidene police station, who were investigating, took the footage from the cameras at the scene to try to identify the perpetrators, whom the agency calls robbers. The report, published by ANSA the next morning, mentions no arrest and puts no value on the machine or its contents.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ansa.it/lazio/notizie/2023/08/19/rubano-da-centro-commerciale-atm-per-bitcoin-indaga-polizia_f21fd51b-2cad-4c07-b109-99eb508e113b.html"]},{"id":651,"date":"September ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Muhammed Boduroğlu","location":"Kocaeli","country":"Turkey","description":"Muhammed Boduroğlu, 41, known as a hacker, was beaten to death with his neck broken after meeting several people in Kocaeli over the opening of a crypto wallet; police say he was tortured for the wallet's password. His half-buried body was found in Tuzla, Istanbul, on September 23, 2023, and five suspects were detained.","summary":"In September 2023 Muhammed Boduroğlu, 41, known as a hacker and with a police record, met several people in Kocaeli, Turkey, reportedly over opening a cryptocurrency wallet. According to the investigation he was tortured to make him reveal the wallet's password, and he was beaten and killed with his neck broken during an argument. On September 23, 2023, citizens in Tuzla, Istanbul, reported a half-buried body on vacant land; it was about a week old and was identified by fingerprints. His phone later gave a signal with another SIM card in it, and police traced his last contacts. Five suspects, aged 24 to 49, were detained in Istanbul, Kocaeli and Elazığ; they said they knew him but had not killed him, and blamed each other. Investigators believe the killing followed a fight over sharing cryptocurrency. A sixth suspect died of a heart attack on October 6.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man killed after the meeting in Kocaeli"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["No label fits"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/cinayetin-nedeni-kripto-cuzdani-5-supheli-gozaltinda-42349458"]},{"id":652,"date":"October 26, 2023","date_sort":"2023-10-26","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A 23-year-old influencer","location":"Paraná, Entre Ríos","country":"Argentina","description":"In the early hours of a Thursday, intruders surprised a 23-year-old influencer who sells cryptocurrency from a streaming studio in his home in Paraná, tied him up together with two friends and made him transfer cryptocurrency through Binance, reportedly about 15,000 dollars. They left without injuring him.","summary":"In the early hours of October 26, 2023, a 23-year-old man from Paraná, Entre Ríos, who works as an influencer and in digital marketing, was streaming in his home, where he runs a virtual studio for streaming, advertising and the sale of cryptocurrency. Unknown attackers surprised him there and tied him up together with two friends who were with him. They made him take his phone and transfer cryptocurrency through the Binance platform, by his account about 15,000 dollars, then left without hitting or injuring him. The police chief of the sixth precinct said there were no official figures on the amount and that the police had opened the case on their own initiative, because neither the victim nor his friends had yet filed a complaint. Prosecutor Cristian Giunta leads the case. The report names no suspects and no arrests.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"23-year-old influencer who sells crypto from his home studio"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two friends with him, tied up too"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":15000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.elonce.com/policiales/investigan-asalto-a-influencer-en-paran-lo-forzaron-a-transferir-criptomonedas.htm"]},{"id":653,"date":"November 8, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-08","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Márcio Rodrigues da Silva","location":"Zurich, Canton of Zurich","country":"Switzerland","description":"A Brazilian businessman who had invested in crypto through a trader and supposed Swiss business people was summoned to Switzerland to identify himself before withdrawing his profits, picked up in a van in Zurich and held for twelve days at gunpoint in a house in France. He threw himself on his last guard and escaped.","summary":"Márcio Rodrigues da Silva, a 44-year-old Brazilian businessman, had invested in crypto through a trader offering a deal with Swiss business people. Asking for a larger share of his profit, he was told to come to Switzerland to identify himself. In Barcelona, fake airport staff swapped his boarding pass, and when he landed in Zurich on November 8, 2023 his luggage was gone. Two men took his fingerprints and kept his passport. His contact told him to take a taxi, which left him at a shopping centre, where a man in a van offered him a ride to the airport. Three people were inside; they drove him to a house in France. He was held there for twelve days, always under guard; gang members aimed a revolver at him, and the gun lay on the table. Finally he knocked down his last guard, escaped and reached relatives in Barcelona. He says investigations run in four countries; all his money is gone.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Brazilian businessman who had invested in crypto"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting","Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Valuables","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.20min.ch/story/marcio-rodrigues-wurde-opfer-einer-krypto-mafia-399290070232"]},{"id":654,"date":"November 19, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-19","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A 33-year-old man","location":"Punggol Field, Punggol","country":"Singapore","description":"A man who answered a stranger's Telegram offer to trade crypto tokens for cash met a 16-year-old at Punggol Field to hand over S$81,060; the boy fled with the cash, pulled a kitchen knife when the victim caught him and dropped it. He was held with the help of passers-by, the cash was recovered and the boy and a 33-year-old man were charged.","summary":"On November 19, 2023, between 11am and 2pm, a 33-year-old man in Singapore met a 16-year-old boy at Block 199A, Punggol Field, after a stranger on Telegram offered to trade crypto tokens for cash. On the stranger's instructions he handed the boy S$81,060 in cash, and the boy allegedly fled with it while counting it. The victim gave chase and stopped him. The boy took out a kitchen knife but dropped it, police said, and two men and a woman helped hold him until police arrested him. The cash was fully recovered. Police then identified and arrested two more men believed to be linked to the case, Firdaus Muhammad Abdul Aziz, 33, and a 27-year-old man. On November 20 Firdaus was charged with abetting the boy to rob the victim and the boy with a similar charge; investigations into the 27-year-old continue.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"33-year-old man bringing cash to buy crypto tokens"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":81060,"currency":"SGD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/crypto-token-robbery-man-teenager-charged-81000-cash-punggol-3933226"]},{"id":655,"date":"December 22, 2023","date_sort":"2023-12-22","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A couple and their 2-year-old child","location":"Saint-Coulomb, Ille-et-Vilaine","country":"France","description":"Two armed, masked intruders entered a couple's home in Saint-Coulomb at about 10:30pm, demanded 400,000 euros or a cryptocurrency USB key, tied up and beat the father and cut his legs and arms with a knife. He freed himself, seized one attacker's pump shotgun and struck an attacker; they fled, came back to clear traces and took two small gold bars and a headset.","summary":"At about 10:30pm on December 22, 2023, two gloved, masked and armed intruders entered the home of a couple in Saint-Coulomb, between Saint-Malo and Cancale, while their 2-year-old child slept upstairs. They demanded 400,000 euros or a cryptocurrency USB key. When the father said he did not have the money, they tied his hands with a cable tie, hit him, searched the house, beat him and cut his legs and arms with a knife. They put a gun barrel in his mouth and threatened to rape his partner and throw the child out of the window, taking instructions by phone. He freed himself, seized one attacker's pump shotgun and struck an attacker; they fled, came back minutes later to remove traces and took two small gold bars and a headset. Three men were identified; one admitted coming to recover a debt over a bitcoin matter. The alleged organiser has been in pretrial detention since July 8, 2024.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"father, who worked for a trading company"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"his partner and their 2-year-old child, in the home"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":400000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://actu.fr/bretagne/saint-malo_35288/ille-et-vilaine-un-couple-sequestre-et-torture-a-son-domicile-en-presence-de-son-enfant_62904073.html"]},{"id":656,"date":"2024","date_sort":"2024-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2024,"victim":"A man visiting Tehran","location":"Tehran","country":"Iran","description":"Three young men with whom a man had wide financial disputes beat him and forced him into a car near Rasoul Akram hospital in Tehran, then demanded Tether worth 500 billion rials from his wife under threat of death; a mutual friend said he had failed to deposit 50 billion rials in Tether to them. They released him unharmed and unpaid when police closed in, and the three were still being sought.","summary":"A young woman told Tehran police that she had come to Tehran from her home city three days earlier, that her husband had left to visit his brother and not returned, and that an hour earlier an unknown caller had said he was kidnapped, threatened to kill him and demanded Tether worth 500 billion rials. CCTV near Rasoul Akram hospital showed three young men stop beside him in a Peugeot 405, beat him and force him into the car. He had wide financial disputes with the kidnappers: a mutual friend said he was supposed to deposit 50 billion rials in Tether to their account and had not, and the three planned the abduction when they lost hope of being paid. The car was traced on the Khash to Zahedan road. When the suspects realised police were close, they freed him unpaid and scattered. He returned unharmed by intercity bus, and the three were still being sought.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man said to owe the kidnappers Tether"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500000000000,"currency":"IRR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news/848163/%D8%A2%D8%AF%D9%85-%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%86-%DB%B5%DB%B0-%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D8%B1"]},{"id":657,"date":"January 8, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-08","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A high school student","location":"Gargas, Vaucluse","country":"France","description":"A high school student was abducted by mistake on his way to school in Gargas, Vaucluse, by people looking for another young man from the town whose cryptocurrency key they wanted to extort. The kidnappers released him when they realised their mistake.","summary":"On Monday, January 8, 2024, the first school day after the holidays, a high school student was abducted on his way to school in Gargas, a town of 3,000 people in the Vaucluse. He was the wrong person: gendarmes found that the attackers were looking for another young man from the town, from whom they wanted to extort a cryptocurrency security key holding several tens of thousands of euros. When they realised their mistake, the kidnappers released the student. A judicial investigation was opened under the Avignon prosecutor's office. Investigators identified the young man who held the key and seized the money, 127,000 euros, handing it over to the justice system. The investigation, now led by the Marseille research section and the Apt research brigade, continues to identify those involved.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wrong person or address","who_was_attacked":["Wrong person or address"],"people":[{"role":"Wrong person or address","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a high school student taken in place of another young man"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/vaucluse/un-lyceen-est-enleve-par-erreur-a-gargas-ses-ravisseurs-finissent-par-le-liberer-2907878.html"]},{"id":658,"date":"January 19, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-19","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"The Dubliner Irish Pub","location":"Sector 1, Bucharest","country":"Romania","description":"Two men stole a bitcoin ATM holding more than 85,000 lei from The Dubliner Irish Pub in Bucharest at about 3:30 a.m. on January 19, 2024. One was caught at a Bucharest airport on January 24 while trying to leave the country, the other at an airport on February 26 as he returned.","summary":"At about 3:30 a.m. on January 19, 2024, two men stole a bitcoin ATM from inside The Dubliner Irish Pub, a restaurant in Sector 1 of Bucharest. Police said the two had agreed the plan in advance, rented a car abroad (judicial sources said it was rented in Italy and driven to Romania to carry the machine), bought tools for breaking open and moving the ATM, and watched the location beforehand. During the theft they destroyed a surveillance camera so they would not be filmed. The machine held more than 85,000 lei, and police put the loss at 87,500 lei. On January 24 the 35-year-old suspect was caught at a Bucharest airport while trying to leave the country and was remanded in custody for 30 days. A warrant was issued for the second man, aged 26, who was caught at an airport on February 26 as he returned to Romania. Police continue to investigate the case as aggravated theft.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":87500,"currency":"RON","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gandul.ro/actualitate/barbatii-furat-bancomat-bitcoin-restaurant-capitala-prinsi-20157421"]},{"id":659,"date":"February 18 to 19, 2024","date_sort":"2024-02-18","date_precision":"range","year":2024,"victim":"A man","location":"Têche, Isère","country":"France","description":"Men posing as police stopped a driver on the road in Têche, Isère, handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and abducted him, releasing him four hours later after extorting 75,000 euros in cryptocurrency. Eight suspects were arrested in September 2025 and three were charged.","summary":"During the night of February 18 to 19, 2024, in Têche, Isère, a man who had just sold a quad bike for cash stopped on the road for what he thought was a check by real police officers, who wore jackets marked \"police\" and had flashing lights. The men handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and abducted him. They released him four hours later, at about 3 a.m., after extorting 75,000 euros in cryptocurrency from him. After a year of investigation, gendarmes of the Saint-Marcellin research brigade arrested eight suspects in Isère on Monday, September 15, 2025. After 96 hours in custody five were freed, and three men aged 24 to 30 were brought before an investigating judge in Grenoble and charged with unlawful confinement, extortion and criminal conspiracy. The investigation has yet to establish whether the victim was targeted because he held cryptocurrency.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the driver stopped at the fake police check"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":75000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.franceinfo.fr/faits-divers/enlevements/info-franceinfo-trois-hommes-accuses-d-avoir-sequestre-et-derobe-75-000-euros-en-cryptomonnaies-a-leur-victime-presentes-a-un-juge-en-isere-en-vue-de-leur-mise-en-examen_7501612.html"]},{"id":660,"date":"February 26, 2024","date_sort":"2024-02-26","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Abu Bakkar Siddique","location":"Baizid, Chattogram","country":"Bangladesh","description":"Detective Branch officers of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police detained freelancer Abu Bakkar Siddique and a friend, took them to the DB office, unlocked his phone with his fingerprint by force and moved about $272,000 out of his Binance account, plus Tk 10 lakh from his bank account. Six officers were suspended.","summary":"On the night of February 26, 2024, a Detective Branch team of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police, led by Inspector Ruhul Amin, detained freelancer Abu Bakkar Siddique and a friend in the Baizid area and seized their phones. The officers threatened to implicate him in a false cybercrime and money laundering case and took both men in a microbus to the DB office at Mansurabad Police Lines. In custody they forcibly unlocked his phone with his fingerprint, logged into his Binance account and transferred about $272,000 (about Tk 3 crore) to another account, and took Tk 10 lakh from his Bangladeshi bank account through online apps. He was brought before a court on February 27. After his release he found the theft and reported it. A police probe committee found the allegations against the officers true, and six DB members were suspended in March 2024.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the freelancer whose Binance account was emptied"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a friend detained with him"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":272000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":272000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/looting-tk-31cr-freelancer-db-custody-6-cops-suspended-3566611"]},{"id":661,"date":"March 21, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-21","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A Tether buyer","location":"Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul","country":"South Korea","description":"Ten men in their mid-twenties lured a buyer to a Tether trade in front of a convenience store in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, with an offer of coins below market price, took the 100 million won he brought, pretended to count it and ran off with it, some of them assaulting him. All ten were arrested and indicted for quasi-special robbery.","summary":"At about 0:42 a.m. one night, a group of young men met a buyer in front of a convenience store in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, for a Tether (USDT) trade. They had lured the victim with an offer to sell coins below the market price, although they held no coins, and had obtained the victim's details through Telegram. They took the 100 million won brought for the deal, pretended to count it and ran off with it; some of them assaulted the victim. The ten men, all in their mid-twenties and friends or acquaintances, had split the roles of luring, taking the cash, getaway, assault and blocking pursuit. Police arrested three near the scene and six more in Anseong and Busan the same day, and caught the ringleader in Cheonan four days later. The following month the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted all ten for quasi-special robbery, five of them in custody.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash for the Tether trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0014639794"]},{"id":662,"date":"March 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Li Kuo-hsiang","location":"Xitun District, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man who had learned in a Telegram group that Li Kuo-hsiang wanted to buy TWD 6.42 million in cryptocurrency arranged a fake sale at Li's studio in Taichung and, with an accomplice, tried to snatch the cash; Li was concussed in the fight and pepper-sprayed, and the victims pinned one attacker while the organiser fled. Three men were convicted of attempted aggravated snatch theft.","summary":"On March 22, 2024, Li Kuo-hsiang, manager of a studio in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan, was to buy TWD 6.42 million in cryptocurrency. A man who had learned of the planned purchase in a Telegram group arranged the trade at the studio, intending to snatch the cash, and brought two accomplices; one waited in a car below. He brought no crypto. At about 18:44, as Li and a second man bagged the counted cash, he gave a signal, his accomplice overturned the table and the two tried to seize the bags, which tore and spilled the cash. In the fight Li suffered a concussion and a wrist injury, and the organiser pepper-sprayed both victims. They pinned down the accomplice while the organiser fled in the waiting car. All three were arrested by the next day. The court found no cash was taken and in December 2024 sentenced the three to between 1 year and 1 year 6 months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Other"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the studio manager buying the crypto"},{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a second man in the studio who handled the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C113%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C755%2C20241211%2C5"]},{"id":663,"date":"April 1, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-01","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A USDT buyer","location":"Dali District, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man who had arranged over LINE to sell a buyer TWD 3 million in USDT picked him up in his car in Dali, Taichung, where a hired accomplice in the back seat choked him and pressed a rolled-up paper made to look like a weapon to his head until he gave up TWD 3,303,000 in cash; they put him out minutes later. Both were caught, the cash was returned, and each was sentenced to 3 years 6 months for robbery.","summary":"On April 1, 2024, in Dali District, Taichung, Taiwan, a man who had arranged over LINE to sell a buyer TWD 3 million in Tether (USDT) dropped an accomplice near the agreed convenience store and waited for the buyer in his car. He had contacted the accomplice through Telegram that day and promised him TWD 100,000. The buyer got into the front passenger seat with a bag holding TWD 3,303,000 in cash. The accomplice sat behind him, choked him with one arm, pressed a rolled-up sheet of kraft paper to his head as if it were a weapon and ordered him to hand over the cash. The buyer threw the bag into the back seat. The seller drove on and about 12 minutes later put him out of the car; the two men split up and fled. Police traced both through CCTV, arrested them and returned the full sum. In October 2024 the Taichung District Court sentenced each to 3 years 6 months for robbery.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash for the USDT trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3303000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C113%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C708%2C20241009%2C2"]},{"id":664,"date":"April, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Mr. Chen","location":"West District, Chiayi City","country":"Taiwan","description":"In a fake Tether sale in West District, Chiayi, a coin trader surnamed Chen handed TWD 2.36 million to the fake seller, was pepper-sprayed, and died after the getaway car threw him from its bonnet onto the road. The court sentenced the passenger who ordered it to 13 years and the driver to 11 years 2 months for quasi-robbery causing death; six others received 7 months to 3 years.","summary":"In April 2024, in West District, Chiayi City, Taiwan, five men short of money planned to rob a buyer in a fake Tether (USDT) sale, and one of them contacted Mr. Chen, a coin trader who had traded Tether before. At the meeting Chen handed TWD 2.36 million to the fake seller, a man surnamed Lou, and one of the men there sprayed pepper spray in his face. As they prepared to drive off, Chen lay across the car's bonnet to stop them. On Lou's spoken order, the driver, surnamed Qiu, sped up and swung right, throwing Chen onto the road; he died in hospital. Eight people were charged; one planner fled and was caught in December 2024. In February 2025 the Chiayi District Court sentenced Lou to 13 years and Qiu to 11 years 2 months for quasi-robbery causing death, and six others to 7 months to 3 years. Qiu had settled with the family, and a third party had returned the money.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the coin trader who handed over the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2360000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cna.com.tw/news/asoc/202502210268.aspx"]},{"id":665,"date":"April 2, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-02","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A 36-year-old man","location":"Yermasoyia, Limassol","country":"Cyprus","description":"A 36-year-old man who met a stranger in Yermasoyia, Limassol, after arranging an online appointment to buy cryptocurrency was grabbed by the neck in his car while two others took his wallet with more than 50,000 euros in cash. An arrest warrant was issued for a 35-year-old man.","summary":"At noon on April 2, 2024, a 36-year-old man met an unknown person in Yermasoyia, Limassol, Cyprus, after arranging the appointment online to buy cryptocurrency. According to police, the stranger got into the 36-year-old's car and at some point grabbed him by the neck, while two other people got into the car and took his wallet with the cash, more than 50,000 euros. The three fled. The man reported the robbery and theft to Limassol police the same day. Police secured testimony against a 35-year-old man, a judicial arrest warrant was issued for him and he was wanted, while police worked to verify the details of the two alleged accomplices.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who came with cash to buy crypto"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/04/03/man-robbed-of-50000-euros-is-cryptocurrency-deal-gone-wrong/"]},{"id":666,"date":"April 2, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-02","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Mr. Lau","location":"Hung Hom, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"A 19-year-old crypto trader surnamed Lau was confined and beaten with a softball bat in the Hung Hom hotel room he rented for crypto trading by six men and two women demanding HKD 180,000 in trading profits. He phoned relatives and friends, who called police; three men were arrested.","summary":"At about 6 a.m. on April 2, 2024, a 19-year-old man surnamed Lau was confined and beaten in a hotel room on Tak Fung Street, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. He and another 19-year-old, surnamed Kwok, had been renting the room for crypto trading and leisure, and the case reportedly involved a crypto trading dispute. Six men and two women had arranged to meet him in the room to recover HKD 180,000 in profit from crypto trading. He was threatened and confined there, and Kwok and a 17-year-old beat him with a softball bat. He found a chance to phone relatives and friends, who called the police. Officers chased the group as it scattered, subdued two men and arrested a 17-year-old still in the room. Lau was taken to hospital with abrasions and neck and back pain. Kwok and two 17-year-olds were arrested on suspicion of unlawful confinement and blackmail, two of them also for assault.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 19-year-old crypto trader held in the room"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":180000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hk01.com/article/1006320"]},{"id":667,"date":"April 27, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-27","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A 40-year-old man","location":"Manhattan, New York","country":"USA","description":"A 40-year-old man who went to the Sonder Battery Park Hotel in Manhattan for a cash-for-crypto exchange arranged by a friend was shoved into a room, punched and taped up by three men, who took $20,000 in cash from his bag and fled. The NYPD asked the public to help identify the suspects.","summary":"On April 27, a 40-year-old man went to the Sonder Battery Park Hotel in Manhattan, New York, for a meeting a friend had arranged with an unknown person to exchange cash for cryptocurrency. He met the stranger in the lobby and went with him to a room on the third floor, where the man shoved him inside and onto the floor. Two other men he did not know were waiting in the room. The three jumped him, punched him and tied him up with tape around his ankles, wrists and mouth, then took $20,000 in cash from his bag and fled on foot. Police described the three suspects as aged 18 to 22, slim and black-haired, gave the clothes each was last seen wearing and asked the public for help in identifying them. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who brought cash to exchange for crypto"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":20000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":20000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/nyc-police-search-suspects-cash-crypto-deal-bad"]},{"id":668,"date":"June 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-06-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Liu Po-cheng, a USDT seller","location":"Neihu District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A USDT seller who got into his buyers' car in Taipei was held at knifepoint, blindfolded and tied while the robbers used his phone to have a friend send about 21,000 USDT, then took his cash and put him out of the car in New Taipei. Two of the men were sentenced to more than seven years for aggravated robbery with a weapon.","summary":"On June 22, 2024, Liu Po-cheng, who sold USDT, agreed through an intermediary and a Telegram contact to meet buyers in Taipei at about 9 p.m. A man known as A-chen had looked online for crypto sellers and, through Chang Chih-chia, recruited two men to pose as buyers. Yang Chia-yu drove up with Lin Cheng-hsiang and Liu got into the car. Lin pressed a switchblade against him, blindfolded him and tied his hands, while Yang kept a hand on a knife by the handbrake; both threatened to stab him. Using Liu's phone, Yang told a friend of Liu's that the cash had arrived, and the friend sent 84 and 21,000 USDT, worth about TWD 700,000. During the drive they took TWD 10,000 from his pocket, and at about 10:35 p.m. they forced him out in New Taipei and fled. On October 29, 2024 the Shilin District Court sentenced Lin to seven years and six months and Chang to seven years and eight months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT seller"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":21084,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=SLDM%2C113%2C%E5%8E%9F%E8%A8%B4%2C32%2C20241029%2C2","https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20250521003418-260402","https://udn.com/news/story/7320/8053186","https://udn.com/news/story/7320/8053569","https://udn.com/news/story/7321/8755133"]},{"id":669,"date":"July 10, 2024","date_sort":"2024-07-10","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Two people","location":"Majadahonda, Madrid","country":"Spain","description":"Five men from Eastern Europe beat one victim in the car park of the Equinoccio shopping centre in Majadahonda and forced two people into a black van; Guardia Civil officers who had been watching them stopped the van, freed the two and arrested the five. The government delegate said the two may have held cryptocurrency and were taken to be extorted.","summary":"The investigation began on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, when Majadahonda local police told the Guardia Civil about Russian men changing a car's number plates at the Equinoccio shopping centre car park in Majadahonda and watching possible victims; one carried what looked like a firearm and wore a National Police T-shirt. On Wednesday, July 10, officers saw the men force two people into a black van with violence and speed off; in the car park they had beaten one of the victims badly in front of family members. The Guardia Civil freed the two and arrested five men: three Russians, a Bulgarian and a Romanian. Officers found a tracking device on the victims' vehicle. The government delegate in Madrid said the two may have held cryptocurrency and were seized to extort and rob them of it. The five were brought before a judge, suspected of illegal detention, violent robbery and serious injury.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two people forced into the van, suspected crypto holders"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.madridactual.es/municipios/majadahonda/cinco-detenidos-por-el-intento-de-secuestro-de-dos-personas-por-un-extorsion-relacionada-con-criptomonedas-20240716-7966941.html"]},{"id":670,"date":"August, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"An IT specialist","location":"Minsk","country":"Belarus","description":"Two men posing as electricity network workers talked their way into a Minsk IT specialist's flat, handcuffed him, threatened him with an air pistol and repeatedly used a stun gun on him, demanding a transfer of 5,750 bitcoins. When he refused they tied him up and gave him 24 hours; one attacker was sentenced to 13 years, the other left the country.","summary":"In August 2024, two men posing as workers of the company that runs the electricity network got into the flat of an IT specialist in Minsk, Belarus, who according to their information held a large amount of bitcoin. Threatening him with violence and with murder, they handcuffed him and demanded that he transfer 5,750 bitcoins to a wallet they named. They threatened him with an air pistol fitted with a mock silencer, built like a Makarov, and repeatedly used a stun gun on his body. When he refused and the transfer was not made at once, they tied him up and gave him 24 hours to meet their demands. One of the attackers then left the country. The other, a resident of Grodno, was found and arrested. A court convicted him of robbery and extortion and sentenced him to 13 years in a reinforced-regime colony and a fine of 500 base units (BYN 21,000), as prosecutors announced on May 13, 2025.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"an IT specialist in his flat"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5750,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://belta.by/regions/view/minchanin-vymogal-u-ajtishnika-kriptovaljutu-na-br1-mlrd-ego-prigovorili-k-13-godam-kolonii-714523-2025/"]},{"id":671,"date":"Late August, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A man surnamed Shi","location":"Shilin District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Five men posing as USDT sellers attacked a buyer and his friend with pepper spray and tape at an arranged cash meeting near a café in Shilin, Taipei; the two fought back with knives, wounded two attackers and left with the TWD 6.45 million. Police arrested all seven the same day.","summary":"In late August 2024, a 20-year-old man surnamed Guo, who said he had once been cheated in an online crypto trade and wanted to make up the loss, set out to rob another buyer the same way. Online he learned that a man surnamed Shi wanted to buy 200,000 USDT, worth TWD 6.45 million, and with four accomplices posed as coin sellers, arranging to meet Shi near a café in Shilin District, Taipei. Shi came with a friend surnamed Huang, and both carried knives in case of trouble. When they turned up with the TWD 6.45 million in cash, Guo's group attacked them with pepper spray and tape. Shi and Huang fought back with their knives, stabbing two of the attackers, kept the cash and left. Police arrested all seven the same day. Guo's group was referred for prosecution for robbery, group fighting and injury, and Shi and Huang for attempted murder and group fighting.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT buyer carrying the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer's friend who came with him"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/4807751"]},{"id":672,"date":"September, 2024","date_sort":"2024-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A 20-year-old founder of an online business","location":"Kyiv","country":"Ukraine","description":"Four men who came to a young crypto entrepreneur's home in Kyiv posing as law enforcement threatened him with invented treason charges and made him transfer nearly UAH 10 million (USD 250,000) in crypto to their wallet to 'settle' the matter. All four were served notices of suspicion of extortion under martial law.","summary":"A group of four men learned that a 20-year-old founder of an online business held a large sum in cryptocurrency. They came to his home and introduced themselves as law enforcement officers. They threatened him with criminal liability on invented charges of treason for cooperating with a Russian citizen, and promised to make it all go away for USD 250,000. Under these threats he transferred nearly UAH 10 million to their crypto wallet, and the same day they cashed it out through an exchange office in Kyiv, Ukraine. Police in Kyiv detained the group and seized bank cards, computers, phones, premium cars, fake press and volunteer-patrol IDs, equipment and money. All four were served notices of suspicion of group extortion under martial law, which carries up to 12 years in prison. A court remanded two of them in custody without bail, as reported on September 3, 2024.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 20-year-old founder of an online business"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Extortion without detention"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":250000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":250000},"taken":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"UAH","usd_stated":250000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-regions/3901471-u-kievi-zatrimali-fejkovih-pravoohoronciv-aki-vidibrali-u-kriptobiznesmena-250-tisac.html"]},{"id":673,"date":"November, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A crypto entrepreneur","location":"Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Two serving police officers in Volgograd put a crypto businessman into a Volkswagen Touareg and forced him to transfer about USD 283,000 in digital assets to seven wallets. Both officers were detained and deny kidnapping and extortion.","summary":"In November 2024 two police officers in Volgograd, a senior operative named as Vladimir D. and a duty officer named as Sergei R., put a businessman linked to the cryptocurrency business into a Volkswagen Touareg and tried by force to make him reveal the password to his crypto wallet. Investigators say the man was made to transfer digital assets worth about USD 283,000 to seven different wallets. Acquaintances of the officers later exchanged most of the funds for cash at a crypto exchange office in the Federation Tower of Moscow City and brought RUB 22 million to Volgograd, of which RUB 7 million went to the two officers, according to the charges. Both officers were detained and deny the kidnapping and extortion. How the man was released is not reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a businessman in the crypto business"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":283000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":283000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mk.ru/incident/2025/09/03/dvoe-policeyskikh-pokhitili-kriptopredprinimatelya-v-rossiyskom-gorode.html","https://web.archive.org/web/https://www.mk.ru/incident/2025/09/03/dvoe-policeyskikh-pokhitili-kriptopredprinimatelya-v-rossiyskom-gorode.html"]},{"id":674,"date":"November, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A young man from Pirmasens","location":"Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate","country":"Germany","description":"A man from Pirmasens travelling on the B270 with a friend was ambushed in a staged attack, forced onto a back seat at gunpoint and beaten; prosecutors said he transferred about EUR 20,000 and EUR 750,000 in crypto, but only EUR 10,300 was proven. He was freed in Luxembourg, and three men were sentenced in Zweibrücken to up to six and a half years.","summary":"One night in November 2024 a young man from Pirmasens was travelling in a car on the B270 towards Kaiserslautern with a friend whose family had taken him in as a teenager. A car with Bulgarian plates tailgated them, flashing its lights to make them stop. Two men ran up with a pistol and a revolver and threatened both occupants. The friend, who was in on the plan, was knocked down for show and put in the boot, and the victim was forced onto the back seat, threatened with the gun and with the killing of his family. He was beaten and kicked repeatedly and threatened with rape. Prosecutors said he transferred about EUR 20,000 and EUR 750,000 in cryptocurrency, but only EUR 10,300 was proven at trial. He was freed in Luxembourg. The Zweibrücken regional court sentenced the three men, who had confessed, to up to six and a half years; a fourth suspect fled to Bulgaria.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a young man from Pirmasens"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road","Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10300,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/kaiserslautern/zweibruecken-prozess-landgericht-menschenraub-entfuehrung-100.html"]},{"id":675,"date":"November 6, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-06","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Son of a priest","location":"Drăgășani, Vâlcea","country":"Romania","description":"A priest's son who had grown rich on crypto was lured to a flat in Drăgășani, forced into a car by three hooded men, taken to a room in Verguleasa, Olt, tied and threatened with death while they tried to move about EUR 90,000 from his Kraken account. The transfer failed and he was released; five suspects are under criminal prosecution.","summary":"On November 6, 2024 one of five suspects lured a young man, the son of a priest, to a flat in Drăgășani, Vâlcea county, on a false pretext. At about 11:30 pm, as he left the block, three men in balaclavas punched him and forced him into a car. They took his phone, covered his head and drove him about seven kilometres to a prearranged place in Verguleasa, Olt county, with another suspect following. In a room there they held him, tied his hands behind his back and threatened him with death while they unlocked his phone and tried to transfer about EUR 90,000 in crypto from his Kraken account. The transfer failed because the coins sat in a deposit that could be moved only eight days after it was closed. They drove him back to Drăgășani and released him; he needed three to four days of medical care. All five face criminal prosecution for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a young man, son of a priest"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":90000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://observatornews.ro/eveniment/fiul-de-preot-rapit-in-valcea-intrun-scandal-cu-criptomonede-ce-au-patit-tinerii-care-au-pus-la-cale-capcana-607496.html"]},{"id":676,"date":"November 17, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-17","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Dmitry Samsonov and his partner","location":"Bali","country":"Indonesia","description":"Two men blocked the motorcycle of Volgograd crypto investor Dmitry Samsonov and his partner near their Bali hotel, beat him unconscious, held the couple in the jungle and forced the partner to fetch their valuables from the hotel. They took over 63,000 USDT, RUB 38,000, two iPhones and a MacBook; three suspects are on a Russian federal wanted list.","summary":"On the evening of November 17, 2024, Dmitry Samsonov, a crypto investor and blogger from Volgograd, left the Le Grande Bali Hotel on Bali with his partner on a motorcycle. Two men blocked their way and struck him unconscious, and the couple were dragged into the jungle. By his account he was beaten, including with a heavy stick, and they threatened to cut off his hands with a machete and to kill them both. One attacker drove his partner to the hotel to collect their money and things. They unlocked his devices, withdrew exchange assets and transferred RUB 38,000 from her banking app, then let the couple go after demanding another USD 50,000 within two days. The criminal case lists over 63,000 USDT, two iPhones, a MacBook and the RUB 38,000, worth RUB 7,368,782 in all. Three men are on a Russian federal wanted list; none has been caught.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"crypto investor from Volgograd"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his partner, his future wife"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":50000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":50000},"taken":{"amount":7368782,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://v1.ru/text/criminal/2025/12/04/76095078/"]},{"id":677,"date":"2025","date_sort":"2025-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2025,"victim":"Six crypto ATMs and collector card stores","location":"Melbourne, Victoria","country":"Australia","description":"A network of offenders using stolen cars carried out a series of commercial burglaries across Melbourne from mid-January 2025, stealing six cryptocurrency ATMs and tens of thousands of dollars' worth of collector cards. Four men were arrested and two charged.","summary":"From mid-January 2025, a network of offenders using stolen cars carried out a series of commercial burglaries across Melbourne, Victoria, stealing six cryptocurrency ATMs and tens of thousands of dollars' worth of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering and other collector cards. Victoria Police announced on February 17 that the investigation had uncovered a stockpile of stolen items, including firearms, 100 car keys, a pill press machine and power tools. Four men were arrested. One was charged with 14 counts of burglary of commercial crypto ATMs and games stores, handling stolen goods and possessing a trafficable quantity of firearms as a prohibited person; another with five commercial burglaries and three car thefts. Two were released pending further inquiries. Police say Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates tasked the offenders.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cointelegraph.com/news/police-uncover-stolen-bitcoin-atms-collector-cards-melbourne"]},{"id":678,"date":"June 24, 2025","date_sort":"2025-06-24","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A victim identified as C","location":"Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi","country":"South Korea","description":"Two men lured a person they had met on social media to an underground car park in Yongin with an offer of a discounted over-the-counter coin trade, overpowered and beat the victim in a parked car and fled with 70 million won in cash. Both were arrested within six days.","summary":"At about 4:22 p.m. on June 24, 2025, a victim identified as C was robbed in the underground car park of a commercial building in Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Two men, A, in his 30s, and his acquaintance B, in his 20s, had met C on social media and lured C with an offer of an over-the-counter coin trade at a steep discount on exchange fees. When C got into a car parked in the garage, they overpowered the victim, seized a money bag and fled with 70 million won. C was beaten but not seriously hurt. Police arrested B near the scene and, after tracing A's movements, caught A in a building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on June 30. A was already being tracked by several police stations for other crimes, including a theft from a jewellery shop. Police said it appeared the two had split their roles in advance, and planned to seek detention warrants for both.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer lured to the coin trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":70000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20250701097100061"]},{"id":679,"date":"August ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"Abhay Tiwari","location":"Palasia, Indore, Madhya Pradesh","country":"India","description":"Abhay Tiwari, who traded USDT, was drawn with cash to Saket Square in Indore for a USDT deal, taken to an isolated place to count the money and assaulted and robbed of 7 lakh rupees by men posing as Crime Branch officers; six suspects were arrested within 36 hours.","summary":"In August 2026, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, Abhay Tiwari, who was involved in USDT trading, was contacted with an offer of USDT worth about 7 lakh rupees; the suspects had planned to win his trust over WhatsApp calls and, if needed, a small USDT transfer. He was asked to bring cash to Saket Square, where the suspects took him to an isolated place on the pretext of counting the money. Some of the group then introduced themselves as Crime Branch officials, assaulted him, took the 7 lakh rupees and fled. Police in Palasia formed six teams, used sketches, CCTV and technical evidence, and within 36 hours arrested six men, one of whom identified himself as an advocate, recovering part of the cash. A seventh suspect, Monu, was still sought; his brother Shashank, one of the six, told police that Monu had informed him about Tiwari.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT trader who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":700000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/indore-fake-crime-branch-robbery-six-held-for-allegedly-looting-7-lakh-in-usdt-trap"]},{"id":680,"date":"July 21, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-21","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Dilip Gokaldas Majethiya","location":"Gandhidham, Gujarat","country":"India","description":"A transporter from Anjar was lured by an acquaintance, tied up and assaulted in a house in Gandhidham while the kidnappers demanded 20 lakh rupees; they forced his brother in Dubai, by video call, to transfer 584,500 USDT. Seven accused are arrested and three, including the alleged mastermind, are at large.","summary":"On July 21, transporter Dilip Gokaldas Majethiya of Varsamedi village in Anjar, Gujarat, was lured by an acquaintance, Javed Abu Saycha, on the pretext of meeting another person. He was taken to a house in Gandhidham, tied up with plastic rope and assaulted while the kidnappers demanded 20 lakh rupees. They did not collect that sum and later released him near Gandhidham. His brother Naresh, who lives in Dubai, then told him the kidnappers had made a video call showing Dilip being assaulted and threatened to kill him unless a ransom was paid; police say they forced Naresh to transfer 584,500 USDT, worth about 5.55 crore rupees, to a wallet they shared. Police arrested seven accused; Javed Abu Saycha, named as the mastermind, and two others remain at large. The source does not give the year.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the transporter held in the house"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":584500,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://english.gujaratsamachar.com/news/gujarat/anjar-kidnapping-case-dubai-based-brother-extorted-indian-rupee555-cr-in-usdt-7-arrested-71077766334"]},{"id":681,"date":"December ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A man","location":"Neasden, London","country":"UK","description":"A man lured to Neasden Recreation Ground in northwest London on the pretence of a cryptocurrency sale was knocked down by three men, slashed with a 'Rambo' knife and thrown into a lake. Abdi Hassan was convicted of GBH, robbery and possession of an offensive weapon and jailed for 14 years.","summary":"In December 2021 Abdi Hassan lured a man to Neasden Recreation Ground in northwest London on the pretence of selling him cryptocurrency. With two accomplices, Hassan knocked the victim to the ground, pulled out a blade described as a 'Rambo' knife and repeatedly slashed him, causing multiple injuries, before throwing him into a nearby lake. Police described a sustained attack on a defenceless man who was left injured and traumatised after being thrown into freezing water in winter. Metropolitan Police officers identified Hassan, and he was tried at Harrow Crown Court in June 2023. He was found guilty of grievous bodily harm, robbery and possession of an offensive weapon, and on October 30, 2023 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Police said work continued to bring the two other people responsible to justice. The report does not say what was taken.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who came to buy cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.itv.com/news/london/2023-11-02/man-who-attacked-victim-with-rambo-knife-and-threw-him-into-lake-is-jailed","https://web.archive.org/web/20240229153135/https://www.itv.com/news/london/2023-11-02/man-who-attacked-victim-with-rambo-knife-and-threw-him-into-lake-is-jailed"]},{"id":682,"date":"January 18, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A businessman dealing in cryptocurrency","location":"Envigado, Antioquia","country":"Colombia","description":"A businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency was lured to a crypto deal at a shopping centre on the Medellín and Envigado border, kidnapped and held at a country house in Envigado, where he was threatened with death to make him transfer $184,000. The CTI and army Gaula units rescued him and arrested five people.","summary":"On January 18, 2024, a businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency travelled to Medellín to close a crypto deal. Investigators say the kidnappers deceived him to bring him to the exact spot where he was taken, a shopping centre in La Frontera, on the border between Medellín and Envigado, Antioquia. He was held against his will and moved to a country house in La Loma del Corcho, Envigado. According to the director of the CTI, the Attorney General's investigative unit, he was physically subdued and threatened with death to make him transfer a total of 184,000 US dollars; the report does not say whether the transfer went through. Acting on CTI intelligence, investigators and army Gaula units reached the house and rescued him unharmed. Five people were arrested and five firearms seized. They were charged with extortive kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms and ordered held in jail.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman lured to the crypto deal"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":184000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":184000},"taken":{"amount":184000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2024/01/20/cti-libero-a-comerciante-secuestrado-en-medellin-durante-una-negociacion-de-criptomonedas/"]},{"id":683,"date":"May 13, 2024","date_sort":"2024-05-13","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Shepherd and Sekayi Adelpha Sikhosana, a Zimbabwean couple","location":"Honeydew, Johannesburg, and Pretoria","country":"South Africa","description":"Men posing as Interpol officers abducted a Zimbabwean couple living in Pretoria, smuggled them across the border into Zimbabwe and held them in a Harare flat, in what prosecutors call an attempt to take crypto worth US$13.9 million recovered for them. Harare police rescued the couple and arrested Moses Nhachi Chademana.","summary":"Prosecutors told a Harare court that on May 13, 2024, men posing as Interpol officers confronted Shepherd Sikhosana at Falcon Gold, a crypto recovery company in Honeydew, Johannesburg, that he had hired to recover his wife's hacked coins. Three of them took his wife, Sekayi Adelpha Sikhosana, from their home in Pretoria. Saying Russian assassins wanted to kill them, the men drove the couple to Beitbridge and made them cross into Zimbabwe without immigration checks. Moses Nhachi Chademana and another man, posing as Interpol Harare detectives, confiscated their phones and held them in a flat in Eastlea, Harare. The aim, prosecutors say, was US$13.9 million in crypto that Liam Evans had recovered for them. On May 19 the accomplices, alerted to a police report, told him to switch on his phone; he sent a relative their location, and Harare police rescued the couple and arrested Chademana.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the wife, whose hacked crypto had been recovered"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"her husband, confronted at the recovery company"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://web.archive.org/web/20240522064652/https://www.zimlive.com/crypto-couple-kidnapped-in-sa-and-smuggled-into-zimbabwe/","https://www.zimlive.com/crypto-couple-kidnapped-in-sa-and-smuggled-into-zimbabwe/"]},{"id":684,"date":"December 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A São Paulo doctor","location":"Alto de Pinheiros, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"Four armed men waited for a doctor at his home in Alto de Pinheiros, São Paulo, held him hostage for five hours and used facial recognition on his Binance account to transfer about USD 86,000 in cryptocurrency. No suspect has been identified.","summary":"On December 22, 2024, a doctor in São Paulo noticed a motorcycle following him as he drove his armoured car home from a charity football match. At his home in Alto de Pinheiros four armed men were waiting. Three went into the house and one stayed outside watching the street. They asked for the phone that held his bitcoin, used facial recognition to open his Binance account and, following orders from two accomplices on the phone, made transfers over five hours while holding him hostage. They paid a fee to release USD 36,000 locked in staking. Of about USD 96,760 on the platform they took about USD 86,000 (about BRL 500,000), leaving USD 10,594 when they fled before finishing. The doctor believes someone close to him betrayed him, since the attackers came in with one of his gate remotes. Civil Police are investigating; no suspect has been identified.","targeting":["Surveillance","Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the doctor, held in his home"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":86000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":86000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.criptofacil.com/criminosos-roubam-r-500-mil-em-criptomoedas-de-medico-em-sp/"]},{"id":685,"date":"February 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A crypto educator and his wife","location":"Ximending, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man in cryptocurrency education and his wife, lured to Ximending in Taipei to shoot a video, were seized by nine men, handcuffed, beaten and threatened with knives and guns, held for about a day and a half and made to hand over cash, crypto, a watch and their Maserati. One captor was arrested days later; eight accomplices were indicted in March 2026.","summary":"In mid-February 2025 a man who works in cryptocurrency education and his wife went to Ximending, Taipei, to shoot a video whose script had been confirmed the night before. At the meeting point the other side changed the location, and nine men in black seized, handcuffed and beat the couple and held knives and guns on them to make them hand over their cash and crypto. His head hit a steel bar, needing two stitches. The couple were held for about a day and a half and forced to pose for intimate photos, and their Maserati was taken. The indictment dates it to the evening of February 15 and says a Bamboo Union member lured the man, one of his crypto uplines, with that pretext. One captor was arrested on February 18 after crashing the Maserati; eight accomplices were indicted in March 2026 and the leaders fled abroad.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man in crypto education"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his wife (companion in the indictment)"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.tvbs.com.tw/local/2931456","https://www.ettoday.net/news/20260316/3133131.htm"]},{"id":686,"date":"March, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A 22-year-old man and his mother","location":"Chelyabinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Four men who had entrusted their money to a 22-year-old Chelyabinsk crypto trader, who lost it, demanded 8 million rubles with interest, kidnapped him in March 2025 and held him for a week in a house where he was beaten, and in May came to his mother with the same demands. All four were arrested.","summary":"A 22-year-old man from Chelyabinsk, Russia, made his living trading cryptocurrency. Four men aged 26 to 33 had entrusted him with their money to grow it on the crypto market, and he lost it. When they realised this they demanded the money back, from February to September 2025 according to investigators, adding interest they calculated themselves to reach a total of 8 million rubles. In March 2025 they kidnapped him and held him for a week in a house, where he was beaten. In May the group came to his 48-year-old mother with the same demands. The report does not say whether anything was paid or how his week in captivity ended. All four were arrested and charged, and money and belongings were seized from them, including two premium cars.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 22-year-old crypto trader"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his 48-year-old mother, visited with the same demands in May"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":8000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://74.ru/text/criminal/2025/11/02/76104906/"]},{"id":687,"date":"Late April, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A businessman","location":"Lara State","country":"Venezuela","description":"A businessman driving in Lara State was intercepted by three armed men, forced into another car and held for 19 days in an abandoned house by a band including serving and former officers of the National Guard's anti-kidnapping command; a relative paid a ransom in USDT before his release in mid-May. Five were arrested and five are at large.","summary":"In late April 2025 a businessman was driving in Lara State, Venezuela, when three men dressed in black and carrying long guns intercepted him and forced him into another car. After a drive of about 30 minutes he was locked in an abandoned house. Police reports say at least ten people took part, eight of them serving or former officers of the National Guard's anti-extortion and kidnapping command (CONAS), plus two civilians; the band called itself \"Los Cripto Activos\". They demanded 1 million dollars. A relative paid in USDT, 800,000 dollars according to police reports and about 500,000 according to other accounts, and he was released in mid-May after 19 days. Five people were arrested, including a CONAS sergeant accused of planning the kidnapping and the alleged owner of the house; five others are on the run. Police seized a rifle, three pistols and a smoke grenade.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the kidnapped businessman"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":1000000},"taken":{"amount":800000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":800000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.criptonoticias.com/sucesos/funcionarios-criptomonedas-hombre-secuestrado-venezuela/","https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.criptonoticias.com/sucesos/funcionarios-criptomonedas-hombre-secuestrado-venezuela/"]},{"id":688,"date":"May 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-05-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A man leaving a bowling alley","location":"Utrecht","country":"Netherlands","description":"Three men who had waited outside a Utrecht bowling alley walked a man into an isolated alley, threatened to kill him while reading out his family's names and addresses, and made him transfer crypto worth about 30,000 dollars, then demanded 100,000 euros more. The leader was sentenced to 30 months.","summary":"On the night of May 29, 2025, a man leaving a bowling alley in Utrecht with two friends was approached at about 23:23 by three men who had driven from Eindhoven and waited for him for an hour and a half. The leader walked him into an isolated alley on the business park next door while a second man stayed close and blocked his way back; the third kept his friends at the car. The leader said he had to kill him \"in the name of your brother\", read out the names and addresses of his family and girlfriend, and made him transfer crypto worth about 30,000 dollars. He then demanded at least 100,000 euros more within an hour and warned him not to go to the police. The men left at about 23:56 and the victim called the police that night. One of his two friends was a co-suspect. On July 21, 2026, the Utrecht court sentenced the leader to 30 months in prison for extortion and attempted extortion.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man leaving the bowling alley"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his friend, kept at the car by a co-suspect"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":30000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://data.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraken/content?id=ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2026:4860"]},{"id":689,"date":"April, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"A family","location":"Saint-Germain-l'Herm, Puy-de-Dôme","country":"France","description":"A family was violently attacked at its isolated house in Saint-Germain-l'Herm, Puy-de-Dôme, and members suffered fractured ribs and fingers. Investigators are reported to be exploring a cryptocurrency motive; the authorities have released no details.","summary":"In April 2026, about ten days before the report, a family was violently attacked at their isolated house outside the village of Saint-Germain-l'Herm, a commune of 488 people in the Puy-de-Dôme. Members of the family suffered fractures to the ribs and fingers. According to La Montagne and Le Berry Républicain, investigators are exploring a possible link to cryptocurrency, but this remains a working hypothesis. The authorities have not given the number of attackers, how they got into the house, the time of the attack or who the victims are, and neither the Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor's office nor the Puy-de-Dôme prefecture has commented. No suspect has been named and no arrest confirmed. Nothing has been reported on what, if anything, was demanded or taken.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"a member of the family attacked at home"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"other members of the family"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://info.fr/agression-violente-saint-germain-lherm-famille-blessee-piste-crypto/"]},{"id":690,"date":"June 12, 2020","date_sort":"2020-06-12","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Mohammad","location":"Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan","country":"Iran","description":"Mohammad, 32, was seized by three masked, armed men as he left a pyramid company meeting in Mashhad, taken to a rented garden villa, tortured and forced to give up his bitcoin account password, then left bound by a river. A fellow member who planned it and the gang leader were arrested.","summary":"On June 12, 2020, Mohammad, 32, was kidnapped outside a villa in Mashhad, Iran, where a pyramid company had held a meeting. A fellow member, Saeed, knew he held bitcoin worth several billion tomans and offered to pay a friend's blood-money debt if the friend, Kamal, abducted him and got his password. Three men waited until Saeed texted that the meeting was ending. As Mohammad unlocked his car, masked men with a machete and a knife dragged him into their car; his friend, held at gunpoint, called police. Blindfolded and bound, he was taken to a villa Kamal had rented, tortured and, under threat of death, gave up his password. Police say Saeed's transfer failed because of a network fault. Mohammad was later found bound by a river. A threatening e-mail from Saeed led police to arrest him on June 15; Kamal was caught later, and police were still seeking the others.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 32-year-old bitcoin holder"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his friend, held at gunpoint at the car"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news/532076/"]},{"id":691,"date":"September 18, 2020","date_sort":"2020-09-18","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"A 44-year-old woman","location":"Ceará","country":"Brazil","description":"A 44-year-old woman was abducted outside a dental clinic in Ceará by men hired by a man who blamed her sons for his losses in a crypto investment, and a ransom of R$ 1 million in bitcoin was demanded. Police found the mastermind within 12 hours, he led them to the hideout and the woman was rescued; the three kidnappers fled.","summary":"On the afternoon of Friday, September 18, 2020, police in Ceará, Brazil, were called to the kidnapping of a 44-year-old woman in front of a dental clinic. Cameras showed two men approaching her as she tried to get into her car, while a rented Chevrolet Onix waited in a nearby street. Police traced the car with an AI system and found Calebe Barbosa do Carmo, 25, who confessed to ordering the kidnapping and led police to the place of captivity. He allegedly offered each kidnapper R$ 10,000 and asked for R$ 1 million in bitcoin, which was not paid. He told police he had lost money in crypto investments raised by the woman's sons and wanted to strike at them. When police reached the hideout, one kidnapper fled into the bush and two others had already gone; the woman was rescued within 12 hours. Calebe was arrested in the act, and the three kidnappers are wanted.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"44-year-old mother of the men blamed for the investment loss"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/sequestro-de-mulher-que-pedia-bitcoin-como-resgate-e-desarticulado-pela-policia/"]},{"id":692,"date":"July 22, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-22","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"A cryptocurrency businessman, not named","location":"Araruama, Rio de Janeiro","country":"Brazil","description":"Military police stopped two men from Rio de Janeiro in a car with cloned plates on the RJ-106 near Iguabinha; wearing fake Civil Police uniforms and carrying replica rifle and pistol, they confessed they were on their way to Araruama to kidnap a businessman who worked with Bitcoin. Both were arrested.","summary":"On Thursday, July 22, 2021, military police in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, stopped a plan to kidnap a cryptocurrency businessman in Araruama, in the Lakes Region. The intelligence section of the military police and its tactical group set up a roadblock on the Amaral Peixoto highway (RJ-106) near Iguabinha and stopped a white Hyundai HB20 that turned out to be cloned, with Minas Gerais plates. The two men inside wore fake Civil Police uniforms and carried a replica 556 rifle and a replica pistol. During the stop they confessed that they had come from Rio de Janeiro and were heading to Araruama, about 130 km from the capital, to kidnap the businessman, who worked with Bitcoin. The businessman, who was not named, was never approached. The two were taken to the 118th police station and placed at the disposal of the courts.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the targeted crypto businessman, never reached"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.criptofacil.com/empresario-de-criptomoedas-escapa-de-sequestro-no-rio-de-janeiro/"]},{"id":693,"date":"November 12, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-12","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Mr. Murillo, his father, Mr. Zhang and others","location":"La Fortuna, Bagaces, Guanacaste","country":"Costa Rica","description":"Bitcoin holders drawn to a ranch in La Fortuna de Bagaces for an arranged sale were held at gunpoint by armed men, bound, beaten and shot, and one was forced to transfer about 200 million colones; a third victim was burned to death in a car. The organiser, Varela, was sentenced to 50 years.","summary":"In late 2021 Varela, who planned with six others to steal cryptocurrency, asked a commission agent, Rodríguez, to find bitcoin owners willing to sell. He found Murillo, who with his father wanted to sell, and they brought in Zhang, who held even more crypto. On November 12, 2021 Varela led them to a ranch in La Fortuna, Bagaces, where five armed men came out of the kitchen and demanded the cryptocurrency. Rodríguez fled into the mountains under fire. The others were bound, gagged, apparently beaten and robbed. Murillo was shot and Zhang was forced to transfer about 200 million colones. Both were apparently doused with flammable liquid and forced into a car trunk; Zhang was shot too. The trunk opened on the way and they escaped. The attackers burned a third victim, Jiménez, to death in the car near a national park. Varela was sentenced to 50 years.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours","Other"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two sellers, Murillo and Zhang"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Murillo's father, also a seller"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the commission agent who found the sellers"},{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Jiménez, a third victim killed in the burning car, relation not given"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000000,"currency":"CRC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://crhoy.com/nacionales/secuestros-calcinamiento-y-asesinato-todo-lo-que-hizo-hombre-para-robar-mas-de-%E2%82%A1200-millones-en-criptomonedas/"]},{"id":694,"date":"2022","date_sort":"2022-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2022,"victim":"A female bitcoin trader","location":"Dubai","country":"UAE","description":"A bitcoin trader in Dubai was lured to a bitcoin sale by her former private driver, who posed as a police officer; his gang drove her for two hours, forced her phone password from her and took crypto worth Dh30,000 plus cash and her handbag. The four were jailed for three years and ordered deported.","summary":"A woman bitcoin trader in Dubai was robbed by a gang of four, one of them her former private driver. He told her he wanted to buy bitcoin and asked to meet her. When she arrived he got into the car beside her, showed a 'badge' from his country's police force and told her she was accused of corruption. When she tried to run away, the rest of the gang stormed in, forced her into the back and drove two hours to an unfamiliar area. There they forced her to give them her phone's password and took Dh30,000 in cryptocurrency, along with Dh8,000 in cash and her handbag worth Dh7,200. They photographed her and threatened to harm her if she went to the police. When they left she saw the number plate of their car. Dubai Police arrested the four within a short time, and the Dubai Criminal Court sentenced them to three years in prison, a fine of Dh45,200 and deportation.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"woman bitcoin trader"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":45000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/crime/dubai-gang-of-4-jailed-for-stealing-bitcoin-worth-dh30000"]},{"id":695,"date":"March 12, 2022","date_sort":"2022-03-12","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"An associate of E.Z.","location":"","country":"USA","description":"At the direction of Adam Iza, the brother of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy allegedly seized and robbed an associate of E.Z. outside a residence to steal a laptop that Iza claimed had been stolen from him. A private investigator hired by Iza watched and later drove the attacker to Iza's residence.","summary":"On or about March 12, 2022, the brother of a Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputy allegedly robbed an associate of a man identified as E.Z., at the direction of Adam Iza, to steal a laptop. Iza had hired a private investigator in November 2021 to locate and surveil E.Z., saying E.Z. had stolen a laptop from him. According to E.Z.'s lawyer, the associate had earlier received a text demanding that E.Z. turn over his laptop with cryptocurrency to Iza. The investigator attended a meeting where Iza, the deputy and his brother discussed the robbery. On the day he waited in his car outside the residence and saw the brother seize the associate as he came out of the building. He drove away, then circled back and took the brother to Iza's residence. The FBI affidavit supporting a complaint and arrest warrant against Iza does not say whether the laptop was taken.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"an associate of E.Z., robbed for the laptop"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.942083/gov.uscourts.cacd.942083.1.0.pdf"]},{"id":696,"date":"April 26, 2022","date_sort":"2022-04-26","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Ruan","location":"Ningde, Fujian","country":"China","description":"Two men recruited a team to seize 20 million Tether from a man surnamed Ruan in Ningde, planning to pose as epidemic-prevention workers and take him away; two recruits who had joined for a reporting reward warned the victim and helped police arrest one organiser, and police arrested the other the same day. Each was sentenced to 1 year 10 months for robbery at the preparation stage.","summary":"In late December 2021 a man surnamed Zhou recruited a man surnamed Li and others through a foreign chat app to rob a man surnamed Ruan in Ningde, Fujian, of 10 million Tether by violence or coercion. They prepared restraint straps, tape and gloves and scouted near Ruan's home, but Zhou called the plan off. In late April 2022 he contacted Li again to seize 20 million Tether. On April 26 Li and two recruits, surnamed Tang and Dai, came from Fuzhou to Ningde in a car Zhou arranged. They scouted Ruan's home and planned to pose as epidemic-prevention workers and take him elsewhere to demand the Tether. Tang and Dai had joined to claim a reward for reporting a crime. On April 27 they warned Ruan and helped police arrest Li; police arrested Zhou the same day. The Jiaocheng court convicted both of robbery at the preparation stage and sentenced each to 1 year 10 months and a 2,000 yuan fine.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man surnamed Ruan, the planned target"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":20000000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_23018419"]},{"id":697,"date":"May, 2022","date_sort":"2022-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2022,"victim":"Chen, a seller of virtual currency","location":"Zhangzhou, Fujian","country":"China","description":"During an arranged sale of more than 50,000 units of a virtual currency, the buyer and accomplices lured the seller, surnamed Chen, into a car, drove to a remote mountain area, took his phone by force, made him give his passwords and transferred 53,008 units out of his wallet. The Zhangzhou Intermediate Court upheld the robbery convictions on appeal.","summary":"In May 2022, in a case later tried in Zhangzhou, Fujian, a defendant surnamed Zhang agreed with a seller surnamed Chen to exchange more than RMB 300,000 for more than 50,000 units of a virtual currency. During the trade, Zhang and accomplices lured Chen into a car on the pretext of verifying the coins. When the car reached a remote wooded mountain area, they controlled him by force, took his phone and forced him to give his passwords, then transferred 53,008 units out of his wallet. Zhang spent most of them, 45,871 units, on online gambling. Police returned to Chen the 7,148 units still in Zhang's wallet. On appeal, the Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court valued the loot at the agreed trade price and ordered Zhang to repay Chen RMB 259,629.86 for the units that could not be recovered. Several of the robbers received prison terms. The report does not say when Chen was let go.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the seller lured into the car"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sohu.com/a/999059313_100106004"]},{"id":698,"date":"October 12, 2022","date_sort":"2022-10-12","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A USDT buyer","location":"Taichung HSR station, Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A gang directed over Telegram staged a sale of 60,000 USDT at Taichung high-speed rail station; after the buyer handed over NT$1,912,800 in cash to be counted and was shown a fake transfer screenshot, one man snatched the bag and ran while an accomplice shoved the buyer. The buyer caught the accomplice, and three defendants were convicted of group snatch-theft.","summary":"On October 12, 2022, at Taiwan High Speed Rail's Taichung station, a buyer met a seller who had offered him 60,000 USDT for NT$1,912,800 in cash in a Telegram trading group. The offer was a front: a ringleader known on Telegram as 'Huoshan Baofa' directed a team of five at the station. At about 6:45 p.m. one of them met the buyer beside a Mister Donut shop, counted the cash, showed him a fake screenshot of the transfer, then snatched the bag of cash from between the buyer's feet and ran. As the buyer chased him, an accomplice at the shop entrance pushed him and he lurched toward the counter without falling. The thief escaped by car with two lookouts; the buyer held the accomplice until police made the arrest. In November 2023 the Taiwan High Court's Taichung branch upheld or imposed group snatch-theft sentences on three defendants: 4 years 6 months and twice 4 years 2 months.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1912800,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCHM%2C112%2C%E5%8E%9F%E4%B8%8A%E8%A8%B4%2C47%2C20231121%2C1"]},{"id":699,"date":"November 26, 2022","date_sort":"2022-11-26","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A Herzliya resident","location":"Tel Mond, Central District","country":"Israel","description":"A Herzliya resident who had arranged to buy bitcoin from two people in Tel Mond was attacked during the deal and robbed of tens of thousands of shekels in cash he had brought. Police arrested two Kadima-Tzoran residents, a man and a woman aged 26 and 19, within hours.","summary":"On November 26, 2022, a resident of Herzliya went to Tel Mond to buy bitcoin from two people. During the deal, police said, he was attacked by a man and a woman, both from Kadima-Tzoran and aged 26 and 19, who robbed him of the tens of thousands of shekels in cash he had brought for the purchase. Police at the Sdot station opened an investigation that evening when the robbery was reported and identified and arrested the two suspects within a few hours. They were held overnight, and a hearing on a request to extend their detention was set for the next day.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Herzliya resident who brought cash to buy bitcoin"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"ILS","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ice.co.il/law/news/article/913267"]},{"id":700,"date":"January 2, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-02","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A 21-year-old man","location":"Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"A 21-year-old man handing over a USB drive holding USDT worth about HKD 150,000 to another man at a bus stop in Lai Chi Kok was punched and robbed of the drive. The robber fled in a private car and police are seeking the suspect.","summary":"On the evening of January 2, 2023, a 21-year-old man met another man at a bus stop outside Banyan Garden on Lai Chi Kok Road, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong, to hand over a USB drive holding tether (USDT) worth about HKD 150,000. During the handover the other man punched him and snatched the USB drive, then fled in a private car. The victim was taken to Caritas Medical Centre for treatment. He reported a loss of tether worth about HKD 150,000. Police received the report at about 9 p.m., classified the case as theft and assault occasioning actual bodily harm and passed it to the Sham Shui Po District crime squad. They were looking for a heavily built suspect aged in his 30s. The report does not say how the two men arranged the meeting or what the victim was to receive in exchange, and no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 21-year-old man handing over the USB drive"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":150000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hk01.com/article/853038"]},{"id":701,"date":"March, 2023","date_sort":"2023-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. Cao and three employees","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man presenting himself as a Bamboo Union Ming Ren Hui boss forced his way into a crypto analysis company, showed a gun and accused the 29-year-old head, Mr. Cao, over NT$12 million his subordinate had allegedly spent on the company's courses. Cao and three employees were held at a pawnshop and a hotel for four and a half days until they transferred 400,000 USDT and signed a NT$15 million promissory note; police arrested five gang members.","summary":"In 2023 a 32-year-old man surnamed Wu, who presented himself as a boss of the Bamboo Union gang's Ming Ren Hui faction, forced his way into a crypto technical analysis company run by a 29-year-old man surnamed Cao. Wu claimed that a subordinate had misused NT$12 million on the company's courses and came to collect it. He showed a gun at his waist and threatened to take Cao and the others to the mountains and bury them alive. Cao and three employees were held at a pawnshop and a hotel for four and a half days and were released after transferring 400,000 USDT, about NT$12 million, and signing a NT$15 million promissory note. They reported it at once. At the end of March Taipei police arrested Wu and four other gang members in New Taipei and seized machetes, batons, axes and aluminium bats. Cao says the course cost only NT$160,000; police are still looking into the real motive.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 29-year-old head of the crypto analysis company"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three employees of the company"}],"approach":["Forced entry","Taken from the workplace"],"attack":["Kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":12000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.mnews.tw/story/20230411nm008"]},{"id":703,"date":"July, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A family of five","location":"Long Island, New York","country":"USA","description":"Remy Ra St Felix, leader of a crew that robbed crypto holders in violent home invasions, travelled from Florida to Long Island, New York, in July 2023 to invade the home of a family of five and was arrested first, carrying two firearms and plastic cable ties. He was later sentenced to 47 years for the wider scheme.","summary":"In July 2023 Remy Ra St Felix, 25, of West Palm Beach, Florida, travelled to Long Island, New York, to carry out a home invasion against a family of five. He led the home invasion crew of a scheme devised by Jarod Gabriel Seemungal that stole over USD 3.5 million through SIM swapping and violent home invasions, in which victims were held at gunpoint, assaulted and bound with plastic cable ties. The conspirators planned over an encrypted messaging app, discussing how to get into homes and their targets' patterns of life. St Felix was arrested before he could carry out the Long Island attack, with two firearms and plastic cable ties in his possession. A federal jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, convicted him, and he was sentenced to 47 years in prison and ordered to pay USD 524,153.39 in restitution. Twelve men in all were sentenced in the scheme.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"the targeted household of five, never reached"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/twelve-defendants-sentenced-violent-home-invasion-robberies-steal-cryptocurrency","https://web.archive.org/web/20260524233442/https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/twelve-defendants-sentenced-violent-home-invasion-robberies-steal-cryptocurrency"]},{"id":704,"date":"December 25, 2023","date_sort":"2023-12-25","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Four men at a crypto mining warehouse","location":"Hernandarias, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"About twelve armed men arriving in a medium-sized truck overpowered four men at a cryptocurrency mining warehouse in the San Francisco area of Hernandarias on Christmas night and took about 430 mining computers and three shotguns belonging to the site's security staff.","summary":"On the night of Monday, December 25, 2023, a group of about twelve armed men arrived in a medium-sized truck at a warehouse used for cryptocurrency mining in the San Francisco area of Hernandarias, a border town next to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Four men aged 33 to 57 who were inside told police they were overpowered by the group. According to the police report, the robbers took about 430 computers used for mining, including machines that were no longer in use, and three shotguns belonging to the people in charge of the warehouse's security. Investigators suspect the robbers chose Christmas night expecting the building to be empty. The National Police requested footage from security cameras in the area and passed the case to the public prosecutor. The report gives no arrests.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four men aged 33 to 57 inside the warehouse"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.h2foz.com.br/fronteira/assalto-mineradora-criptomoedas-paraguai/"]},{"id":705,"date":"2024","date_sort":"2024-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2024,"victim":"Several victims","location":"Riyadh","country":"Saudi Arabia","description":"Riyadh police arrested a gang of seven Syrian residency violators who lured victims by posing as buyers of digital currencies and real estate, then held and assaulted them with firearms and moved about SAR 1.3 million of their money to backers abroad.","summary":"On December 31, 2024, the criminal investigation department of the Riyadh region police announced the arrest of a gang of seven Syrian nationals in breach of residency rules, accused of impersonation. According to the police, the gang led victims to believe they wanted to buy digital currencies and real estate from them. They then held the victims, assaulted them using firearms and rented vehicles fitted with stolen number plates, seized their money and transferred about SAR 1.3 million to their handlers, who live outside the Kingdom. Police said all seven were stopped and referred to the public prosecution. The announcement gives no dates for the attacks, no number of victims and no account of how they ended.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"victims who offered digital currencies or real estate for sale"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1300000,"currency":"SAR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://web.archive.org/web/https://www.akhbaar24.com/%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%AB/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%B6-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-78748","https://www.akhbaar24.com/%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%AB/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%B6-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-78748"]},{"id":706,"date":"January 3, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-03","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A 29-year-old computer programmer","location":"Anavyssos, Attica","country":"Greece","description":"Two men pretending to carry out a police check handcuffed a 29-year-old programmer outside a friend's house in Anavyssos, drove him to a wooded area, put him in a car boot and, with force and threats, took his phones, cards and PINs and made him unlock his crypto app, making two transfers worth 3,000 euros. They left him taped and handcuffed to the steering wheel; he freed himself, and police arrested a 25-year-old Moldovan at his home.","summary":"On the afternoon of January 3, 2024, a 29-year-old programmer was outside a friend's house in Anavyssos, Attica, when at least two men approached him on the pretext of a police check and handcuffed him. They drove him in his own car to a wooded area and moved him into the boot of a second car. After a short drive they stopped and, with violence and threats, took his phones, wallet, keys and bank cards with the PINs, made him unlock his crypto app with his fingerprint and made two transfers worth 3,000 euros. They taped him, handcuffed him to his steering wheel, sprayed bleach on his face, asked about his home and left. After quite some time he broke free, reached a house at about 9:40pm and then a petrol station, where an employee helped him alert police. Officers went to his home in Ampelokipoi and arrested a 25-year-old Moldovan; a driver hit an officer with his car and escaped.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"29-year-old computer programmer with a crypto wallet app"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/1452623/anavussos-pos-egine-i-arpagi-tou-programmatisti-ton-edesa-me-heiropedes-kai-ton-psekasan-me-hlorini/"]},{"id":707,"date":"January 28, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-28","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A man and his girlfriend","location":"Leipzig","country":"Germany","description":"Two men, one with a machete, attacked a man as he entered his flat to force him to hand over his laptop and password and reach his bitcoin, while his girlfriend was pinned to the wall. He fought back, suffered deep cuts to his hands, and the attackers fled without taking anything.","summary":"A German regional court found that G. planned the raid with B. and a third man, K., prosecuted separately: they would force a man in his flat to hand over his laptop and its password to reach his bitcoin. The three got into the residential complex unnoticed, and G., who knew the man personally, hid in the building. B., carrying a machete, and K. surprised the man as he entered his flat. K. pinned his girlfriend to the wall and kept her quiet with threats while B. hit the man, who fought back and shouted for help. B. held the machete to his throat, demanding the laptop and password; when he made stabbing motions, the man tried to wrest it away and suffered deep cuts to his hands. B. fled, then K., and nothing was taken. The regional court convicted B. and G. of attempted aggravated robbery-extortion and dangerous bodily harm; on appeal the verdicts were quashed and a retrial ordered.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man attacked as he entered his flat"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his girlfriend, pinned to the wall"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hrr-strafrecht.de/5/25/5-205-25.php"]},{"id":708,"date":"March 12, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-12","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Two women","location":"Rijswijk, South Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"Two masked men who had made an appointment through kinky.nl entered two women's rented home in Rijswijk at night, threatened them with firearms, taped them up and held them for hours, taking cash, phones and bank cards and moving 26,001 euros from one woman's accounts to a Bitvavo account. One man was sentenced to six years.","summary":"At about 2:30 a.m. on March 12, 2024, two women were robbed in a house they rented in Rijswijk. The robbers had made an appointment with one of them through the website kinky.nl under false pretences, and the women expected clients for sex work that night. Two men in balaclavas came in and threatened them with firearms, one pointing a gun at a woman's face and demanding to know where the money was. They taped the women's wrists, ankles and mouths, stayed for several hours and took about 7,500 euros in cash, phones and bank cards. One woman was made to open her banking apps, and 26,001 euros was moved from her accounts to a Bitvavo account. Hours later 10,000 euros was withdrawn with her card in Zoetermeer. The robbers left the women tied up, locking the door from outside. In July 2026 the Hague district court sentenced one man to six years in prison; his accomplice was never identified.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two women living in the house"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: other claimed role"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2026:18579"]},{"id":709,"date":"March 13, 2024","date_sort":"2024-03-13","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Sunoco gas station","location":"Birmingham, Alabama","country":"USA","description":"Three men robbed the Sunoco gas station on 1st Avenue North in Birmingham, Alabama at about 2:40 a.m. and stole a Bitcoin ATM; one of them fired shots at a man, who was not injured.","summary":"At about 2:40 a.m. on March 13, 2024, three men robbed the Sunoco gas station on 1st Avenue North in Birmingham, Alabama, and stole a Bitcoin ATM. Police said that during the robbery one of the men fired shots at a man, who was not injured. The report does not say who the man was or how the robbers got in. On April 2, 2024, Birmingham police asked for information to identify the suspects and directed tips to robbery detectives and Crime Stoppers. No arrests were reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine","Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man shot at during the robbery, role not stated"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.wbrc.com/2024/04/02/birmingham-police-searching-suspects-sunoco-gas-station-robbery/"]},{"id":710,"date":"April 11, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-11","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A Tether buyer","location":"Gangnam-gu, Seoul","country":"South Korea","description":"A buyer in Gangnam, Seoul, lured with an offer of Tether below market price was robbed of the cash brought for the deal on the 11th of the month, the latest of four such robberies in Yeoksam-dong and Samseong-dong within about a month. The article does not describe this case separately.","summary":"In Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, a robbery on the 11th of the month was the latest in a series of four in which attackers lured victims with an offer to sell Tether (USDT) below the market price and fled with the cash they brought. Police, speaking on the 21st, counted cases on the 13th and 21st of the previous month and on the 1st and 11th of the current one: three in streets or officetels of Yeoksam-dong and one in a street in Samseong-dong, with 100 million to over 500 million won taken per case. In one of the four the victim was beaten with a blunt weapon and the charge was attempted robbery-murder; the article does not say which. Police suspected some victims sought the trades to launder money; victims were reluctant to say why they traded. Three cases had been sent to prosecutors and the losses had not been returned. The case on the 11th is not described separately.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer lured with cheap USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/014/0005174139"]},{"id":711,"date":"April 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-04-22","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A cryptocurrency mining farm","location":"Minga Guazú, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"A gang of about fifteen men raided a cryptocurrency mining farm in Minga Guazú on the morning of April 22, 2024 and took 362 bitcoin mining machines. Police later arrested a woman said to be reselling the stolen machines and recovered 21 of them.","summary":"On the morning of April 22, 2024, a gang of about fifteen men raided and robbed a cryptocurrency mining farm in Minga Guazú, in Paraguay's Alto Paraná department, and took 362 bitcoin mining machines, according to the complaint filed with the authorities. The report does not say whether anyone at the farm was confronted or hurt. On the night of May 1, police arrested a 33-year-old woman in the street in Presidente Franco as she tried to sell six of the machines from a car, and seized her cash and phone. On May 2, a search of a house in the San Antonio district of Ciudad del Este recovered 15 more machines and a small amount of cocaine. In all, 21 machines were recovered. The prosecutor described the woman as a fence at the last link of the chain; the robbers themselves had not been arrested at the time of the report.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lanacion.com.py/pais/2024/05/03/detuvieron-a-una-mujer-y-recuperaron-21-maquinas-en-caso-de-robo-a-criptomineria/"]},{"id":712,"date":"August 21 to 22, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-21","date_precision":"range","year":2024,"victim":"A 23-year-old man from Lissone","location":"Concesio, Brescia","country":"Italy","description":"By his own account, a 23-year-old man from Lissone was held for hours, tied up and beaten in a flat in Concesio by eight people who wanted back a sum in bitcoin he had taken to invest and lost; he escaped by climbing down to the balcony below. Carabinieri are investigating his account.","summary":"Between the evening of Wednesday, August 21 and the morning of Thursday, August 22, 2024, a 23-year-old man from Lissone, in the province of Monza and Brianza, was by his own account held and beaten for several hours in a third-floor flat in Costorio di Concesio, Italy. He said eight people were there, three young women and five young men. They wanted him to return a sum in bitcoin that he had been given to invest and had then lost in a bad investment. He said he spent hours tied up in a room before he escaped by lowering himself from a window onto the balcony below, where the tenants called emergency services. At the hospital in Gardone Valtrompia doctors found marks from punches and from a rope tied tight around his neck, and gave him 15 days to recover. The carabinieri, investigating his account, identified the flat and its residents and summoned them for questioning.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 23-year-old who had taken the bitcoin to invest"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.quibrescia.it/violenza/2024/08/23/investe-in-bitcoin-e-perde-soldi-non-suoi-sequestrato-e-picchiato-a-concesio/713737/"]},{"id":713,"date":"October 23 to 24, 2024","date_sort":"2024-10-23","date_precision":"range","year":2024,"victim":"Four teenage crypto traders","location":"Moscow","country":"Russia","description":"Five men posing as police burst into a flat on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow where four crypto-trading teenagers were, made them lie on the floor, searched the flat and took RUB 1.36 million in cash. Three suspects were detained the next day.","summary":"In the night of October 23 to 24, 2024, five men burst into a flat on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in central Moscow where four young men aged 17 and 18 were staying. The intruders introduced themselves as police officers and made the teenagers lie on the floor, then searched the flat and left with RUB 1.36 million in cash. The victims told police that they trade cryptocurrency and suggested the attackers had acted on someone's tip. Police detained three suspects on October 24, who turned out to be about the same age as the victims. The report rests on the Telegram channel Baza.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four crypto-trading teenagers aged 17 to 18"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1360000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bits.media/v-moskve-podrostki-kriptotreydery-stali-zhertvami-razboynogo-napadeniya/"]},{"id":714,"date":"November 21, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-21","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Four men","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"Four men in Taichung were abducted after a dispute over a virtual-currency deal worth 6 million, held at a private club and motels, beaten and sexually abused on film, and made to phone for ransom. Police freed two, one escaped and one was released two days later; ten people were indicted in May 2025.","summary":"On November 21, 2024 four men in Taichung fell into a dispute with suspects surnamed Yang and Peng over a virtual-currency deal worth 6 million. The same day they were seized and taken to a private club, motels and other places, where they were held, beaten with belts, bottles and other objects and abused. Two were forced to eat excrement, masturbate and have sex with each other while the captors filmed them, and the victims were made to phone to raise ransom money. After a report to police, officers freed two victims, a third slipped away and the last was released two days later. Two of the victims are students. In March 2025 police arrested 15 people, including Yang and Peng. On May 7, 2025 Taichung prosecutors indicted ten people for directing and taking part in a criminal organisation, aggravated kidnapping for ransom and forced sexual intercourse.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four men in the disputed virtual-currency deal, two of them students"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.pts.org.tw/article/750079"]},{"id":715,"date":"December, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A man","location":"Miami, Florida","country":"USA","description":"A man who took a woman he met at Gekko in Brickell back to his apartment felt unwell after she made him a drink and woke to find $10,000 in cash and his phone gone and nearly $73,000 in crypto taken from his account. Cassandra Thompson, 35, was charged with grand theft and money laundering.","summary":"In December 2024 a man in Miami met a woman at the restaurant Gekko in Brickell and took her back to his apartment. According to the arrest warrant, he felt unwell after she made him a drink, and the next thing he remembered was waking up to find his cellphone and $10,000 in cash gone. He tracked the phone to New York, where police say she had flown hours after the crime. He reported more than $84,000 in losses, including the cash and nearly $73,000 in cryptocurrency taken from his account. Cassandra Thompson, 35, was charged with grand theft, money laundering, unlawful use of a communication device and an offence against computer users to defraud, and was booked into jail in Miami-Dade on a $25,000 bond.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man who met the suspect at a Brickell restaurant"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":84000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":84000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/brickell-miami-drugging-robbery-grand-theft/3839179/"]},{"id":716,"date":"December, 2024","date_sort":"2024-12-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"Entrepreneur from Dubăsari","location":"Dubăsari","country":"Moldova","description":"Three men abducted an entrepreneur from Dubăsari, took him to Poland and tried to get into his crypto wallet holding USD 400,000 in bitcoin. Police arrested them at the Leușeni checkpoint as they tried to move him on to Serbia.","summary":"On December 18, 2024 Moldova's General Police Inspectorate reported that three men had abducted an entrepreneur from Dubăsari and taken him to Poland. There, police say, they tried to get into his crypto wallet, in which he kept USD 400,000 in bitcoin. They wanted part of the money paid into the 'fund' of a criminal organisation known as 'Kitaets' ('the Chinese'), and demanded the rest as compensation for services the entrepreneur had provided and they were unhappy with. When they could not open the wallet in Poland, they tried to take him on to Serbia. He managed to alert law enforcement, and police with the Fulger special unit arrested the three at the Leușeni border checkpoint. The suspects, aged 39 to 43 and from Anenii Noi and Dubăsari, had served earlier sentences. They were detained for 30 days on suspicion of extortion, and police are looking for accomplices.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the entrepreneur from Dubăsari"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":400000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":400000},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://newsmaker.md/ru/video-v-moldove-zaderzhali-muzhchin-kotorye-pohitili-i-vyvezli-predprinimatelya-iz-dubossar-oni-pytalis-poluchit-dostup-k-ego-kriptokoshelku-s-400-tys"]},{"id":717,"date":"January 6, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-06","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Founder of a tax and wealth advisory firm","location":"Côte-d'Or","country":"France","description":"Police in Dijon arrested four men from the Lyon region near the Côte-d'Or home of a tax adviser after his partner found a GPS tracker outside the house; they carried cable ties, tear gas and petrol and planned to hold him in an isolated place to force access to his crypto wallet. The plot was allegedly planned from prison.","summary":"In late December 2024 the partner of the founder of a tax and wealth advisory firm found a GPS tracker outside their home in Côte-d'Or. The Dijon BRI began watching the area and spotted a suspicious Citroën Jumpy van parked near the house for several days. On January 6, 2025, police arrested four men from the Lyon region nearby. They carried latex gloves, Serflex cable ties, a tear gas canister, petrol cans and nails for puncturing tyres. Their plan was to intercept the adviser, hold him in an isolated place and force him under threat to give access to his crypto wallet. One suspect claimed they were after the couple's Bentley and Mercedes; investigators concluded the crypto was the target. Their phones led investigators to two people who ordered the attack, one of them jailed in Villefranche-sur-Saône for similar acts; the operation was allegedly planned from prison.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the tax adviser, the planned target, never reached"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://cryptoast.fr/enlevement-cryptos-comment-police-dejoue-tentative-kidnapping-lyon/"]},{"id":718,"date":"January 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A 19-year-old man","location":"Gornji Milanovac","country":"Serbia","description":"Men posing as police officers, with a ministry ID and a car with police lights, forced a 19-year-old into their vehicle from a school playground in Gornji Milanovac and, threatening to kill him, took two USB keys holding data for a crypto wallet worth EUR 400,000. Five men from Novi Sad were arrested and a 17-year-old faces a criminal complaint.","summary":"On January 14, 2025, a group of men from Novi Sad went after a 19-year-old on the playground of a school in Gornji Milanovac. They falsely introduced themselves as police officers, showed him an Interior Ministry ID and forced him into a vehicle fitted with police lights. Threatening to kill him, they took two USB keys holding data for his crypto wallet, worth EUR 400,000 in digital currency, then threw him out near a petrol station outside the town. They used two vehicles with false number plates believed stolen in Novi Sad. Criminal police from Čačak and Novi Sad arrested five men born between 1994 and 2003 on suspicion of kidnapping; a criminal complaint will be filed against a 17-year-old. Searches of their flats found the two USB keys, a laptop, the vehicles, police lights and the ministry ID.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 19-year-old taken from the school playground"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":"","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.rts.rs/lat/vesti/hronika/5640617/otmica-hapsenje-kriptovalute-gornji-milanovac.html"]},{"id":719,"date":"January 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A 38-year-old man","location":"Amora, Seixal","country":"Portugal","description":"Four men threatened a 38-year-old with a firearm in a street in Amora, Seixal, demanding money, his phone and its passwords, and the access codes to his bank and crypto-asset accounts, then used the codes to transfer money from his bank account. The Polícia Judiciária arrested two of them in May 2025.","summary":"At about 1 a.m. on January 26, 2025, four men approached a 38-year-old man in a street in Amora, in the municipality of Seixal, Portugal. Threatening him with a firearm, they demanded money, his mobile phone and its passwords, and the access codes to his bank account and his crypto-asset account, then fled. Using the codes, the suspects transferred money from his bank account to their own accounts. On May 19, 2025, the Polícia Judiciária's Setúbal criminal investigation department arrested two of the men, aged 27 and 36, one with a previous record for computer fraud, on strong evidence of aggravated robbery, possession of a prohibited weapon, assault and misuse of payment cards or payment data. They were to appear before a judge for the setting of coercive measures. The other two men had not been identified, and police were checking whether the two arrested took part in similar crimes.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 38-year-old man robbed in the street"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/detidos-por-roubo-agravado-e-outro-crimes-no-seixal/"]},{"id":720,"date":"February 8, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-08","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A crypto agent and a friend","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A Bamboo Union Hongren Society member angry that his crypto upline had switched exchanges lured him to a meeting, where a group held him and a friend at knife and gunpoint, tied them up and forced them to transfer more than 330,000 USDT. Eight accomplices were indicted in March 2026; four leaders fled abroad.","summary":"Li You-kuan, a Bamboo Union Hongren Society member who earned commissions as a crypto agent, lost that income in February 2025 when his upline switched from the Bitget exchange to Pionex. Pretending he wanted to switch too, he arranged a meeting. On February 8, 2025 the upline came with a friend, and a group pinned them with knives and guns to their heads and necks, shouting at them to get down. Both were bound with cable ties and forced to transfer more than 330,000 USDT, worth NT$10,933,339, to a designated account and to film a 'voluntary' transfer video. They were freed after more than two hours, and Li shared out part of the USDT to seven accomplices. In March 2026 Taipei prosecutors indicted eight accomplices for aggravated robbery and other offences; Li and three others fled abroad and are wanted.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Li's crypto upline"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the friend who came to the meeting with him"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":330000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ettoday.net/news/20260316/3133131.htm"]},{"id":721,"date":"February 19 to 20, 2025","date_sort":"2025-02-19","date_precision":"range","year":2025,"victim":"A 42-year-old financial intermediary","location":"Viseu","country":"Portugal","description":"Four foreign men and a Portuguese businesswoman seized a 42-year-old financial intermediary at his home, forced him to reveal codes they believed released millions in dividends, and made him fetch a device said to hold thousands of bitcoins from a bank safe in Viseu, where he raised the alarm. All five were arrested.","summary":"Portugal's Polícia Judiciária says four foreign men and a Portuguese businesswoman targeted a 42-year-old financial intermediary they believed held codes to claim investor dividends worth several million US dollars. On February 19, 2025, as he arrived home, they used force to make him reveal the codes, which were in fact false. Under coercion and violence he offered them a device in a bank safe in Viseu said to hold thousands of bitcoins. Under the group's control he went to the bank on February 20, retrieved it, claimed a technical problem and returned for a second device. There he asked staff to alert the PSP, and when police arrived the suspects fled and he was freed. Four men aged 27 to 46 were caught in Porto on February 21 holding his bank cards and remanded in custody; a Porto businesswoman was arrested on February 26.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 42-year-old financial intermediary"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/criminalidade-violenta-pj-detem-cinco-pessoas-por-crimes-de-rapto-e-de-roubo/"]},{"id":722,"date":"March, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Two teenagers linked to a young crypto investor","location":"Braine-l'Alleud, Walloon Brabant","country":"Belgium","description":"Belgian police, tipped by French investigators, arrested ten suspects, one a minor, as they reached a home in Braine-l'Alleud to kidnap two teenagers linked to a young man who had made his fortune in cryptocurrency; a plastic-wrapped torture room was found in a house in Gerpinnes. Seven defendants were sentenced to 12 or 14 years in March 2026.","summary":"French investigators from Versailles tracked down a gang planning a kidnapping in Belgium, and the Brussels Federal Judicial Police watched the suspects drive to a residential area of Braine-l'Alleud, Walloon Brabant. When they reached the victims' home, police intervened and arrested ten people, including a minor, who were carrying equipment to confine and torture people. The gang planned to kidnap two teenagers linked to a young man who had made his fortune investing in cryptocurrency. In a house in Gerpinnes, Hainaut, police found a room wrapped in plastic sheeting with cable ties, saws, pliers and hammers, where the victims were to be held. The plot became public in March 2025. In March 2026 two defendants were sentenced to 14 years and five to 12 years. The suspected mastermind, a 24-year-old Franco-Moroccan, was arrested in Tangier in June 2025.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two teenagers linked to the crypto investor, never reached"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2026/03/19/stiff-sentences-after-police-uncover-belgian-torture-chamber/"]},{"id":723,"date":"March, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A victim, not described","location":"Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands","country":"Spain","description":"In March 2025 people posing as police officers kidnapped a victim in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, put the victim in a van and stole cash and valuables from the victim's home. The Policía Nacional arrested seven people.","summary":"In March 2025 a group of people posing as police officers kidnapped a victim in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, Spain. They put the victim in a van and, at the same time, stole cash and various valuables from the victim's home. The victim is not named or described. Officers of the Policía Nacional investigated the case as a kidnapping, and in a report published on August 12, 2026 they were said to have solved it, closing the investigation with the arrest of seven people as the presumed perpetrators. The available text is a short excerpt and does not say how the kidnapping ended or how much was taken.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the kidnapped victim, not described"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.es/espana/canarias/hicieron-pasar-policias-encerraron-victima-furgon-robaron-20260812131858-nt.html"]},{"id":724,"date":"March 20, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-20","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Employees of an illegal stock-investment fraud call centre","location":"Gyeonggi Province","country":"South Korea","description":"Members of a violent criminal organisation broke into the office of a stock-investment fraud call centre, threatened the staff with weapons, assaulted them and took 43,700 USDT worth about 64.4 million won. Six were convicted; the Suwon High Court reduced the sentences on appeal.","summary":"At 9:30 a.m. on March 20, 2025, a gang of young members of a violent criminal organisation burst into the office of a call centre running an illegal stock-investment fraud in South Korea. They threatened the call-centre staff with weapons, assaulted them and took 43,700 Tether coins (USDT), worth about 64.4 million won. The two ringleaders, both in their 30s, had met in prison and planned the robbery against the fraud ring; one of them recruited junior members of the organisation and supplied the weapons, and the recruits were paid 2.5 to 3 million won each. Six were convicted of robbery causing injury, aggravated intrusion into a building and retaliatory threats. On appeal the Suwon High Court cut the ringleaders' sentences to 7 years 6 months and 6 years 6 months and gave the four others 4 to 6 years, noting that the defendants had settled with the victims.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"call-centre staff of the fraud operation"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Armed robbery","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":43700,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/421/0009088686"]},{"id":725,"date":"April ?, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A 22-year-old man from Isère","location":"Moirans, Isère","country":"France","description":"A 22-year-old man lured to a fake romantic date through social media was driven to Moirans, pulled from the car at the point of a sawn-off shotgun, beaten and held for several hours by masked attackers who believed from his posts that he held a large sum in crypto; they took his watch, jewellery and car keys. Five suspects aged 21 to 23 were arrested on November 5, 2025.","summary":"In mid-April 2025 a 22-year-old man from Isère, France, was lured to a fake romantic date arranged after several exchanges on social media. The meeting was in Nord-Isère. The young woman he expected arrived with a man introduced as her cousin, and the three drove to Moirans. Near the parc Martin several masked people were waiting. They pulled him out of the car at the point of a sawn-off shotgun, beat him, held him for several hours and threatened him, then left with his watch, some jewellery and his car keys. From his social media posts they believed he held a large sum in cryptocurrency, and the next day they tried to contact him to get it. He refused and went to the gendarmerie. On November 5, 2025, five suspects aged 21 to 23, including the woman and her companion, were arrested and charged with false imprisonment, attempted extortion and armed robbery by an organised gang.","targeting":["Social media","Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 22-year-old man lured to the date"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://tgplus.fr/article/piege-lors-dun-faux-rendez-vous-sequestre-pour-ses-cryptoactifs/"]},{"id":726,"date":"April 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A Russian man selling cryptocurrency","location":"Yeonsu-dong, Incheon","country":"South Korea","description":"An Uzbek woman handed 150 million won to a Russian man on an Incheon street as payment for cryptocurrency, and three Russian accomplices then beat him and fled with the cash. Four were arrested six days later in Ansan; a Kyrgyz accomplice fled abroad.","summary":"At about 2 p.m. on April 26, 2025, on a street in Yeonsu-dong, Incheon, South Korea, an Uzbek woman handed 150 million won to a Russian man as payment for cryptocurrency. Three Russian men in their 30s and 40s, who had planned the robbery with her in advance, then assaulted him, took the 150 million won and fled. To avoid police tracking, the group had prepared an illegally registered car in advance, and after the robbery they dumped it on a quiet road on Yeongjongdo. Police traced their movements from the abandoned car and arrested the four in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, six days after the robbery; they were detained and charged with special robbery. A Kyrgyz man who fled abroad right after the robbery is wanted on an arrest warrant, with Interpol's help. Police said they would also investigate how the cryptocurrency was withdrawn as cash in Korea.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Russian crypto seller"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":150000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/421/0008237258"]},{"id":727,"date":"April 30, 2025","date_sort":"2025-04-30","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Seven occupants of a family home","location":"Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire","country":"UK","description":"Six to seven men forced their way into a family home in Aylesbury, rounded up the seven occupants and demanded cryptocurrency; when the occupants could not comply they were beaten, one suffering a fractured spine. Glen Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 15 years.","summary":"In the early hours of April 30, 2025, a group of six to seven offenders forced their way through the front door and the rear patio doors of a family home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Once inside they rounded up the seven occupants, aged 21 to 75, and demanded cryptocurrency. When the occupants could not comply, the attackers used violence on them. All seven were injured, with bruising and swelling to their faces and bodies, swollen eyes and neck and head injuries, and one suffered a fractured spine. Thames Valley Police responded to a 999 call and detained Glen Johnson, 49, at the scene; he was charged the next day. The prosecution said tracking devices and signal jammers had been used. A jury at Aylesbury Crown Court found Johnson guilty of aggravated burglary on March 6, 2026, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"occupant of the family home, not identified as the holder"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":6,"at_least":true,"detail":"other occupants of the family home, aged 21 to 75"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/hits-radio/beds-bucks-herts/news/man-jailed-15-years-aylesbury-burglary"]},{"id":728,"date":"July 5, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-05","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Buenos Aires, founder of Fiji Solutions","location":"Gurjão, Paraíba","country":"Brazil","description":"Four men in a pickup prowling around the home of Buenos Aires, founder of the crypto pyramid scheme Fiji Solutions, opened fire on the police he had called and fled; the pickup overturned near Gurjão, killing one occupant. A suspect arrested the next day confessed to the attempted kidnapping.","summary":"In the early hours of Saturday, July 5, 2025, Buenos Aires, the Paraíba businessman who created the crypto pyramid scheme Fiji Solutions and was freed in 2025 after his 25-year sentence was more than halved, saw a pickup truck prowling around his home and called the police. When officers approached the vehicle, the men inside opened fire and fled, and a chase began in the municipality of Gurjão. The pickup overturned near Gurjão and one of its four occupants died at the scene; the other three, wearing camouflage clothing and balaclavas, escaped. On the morning of Sunday, July 6, one of them was arrested and confessed to the attempted kidnapping, saying he was to run the financial part: taking money from Aires's account and transferring it to another gang member. Two men remained wanted, and police were investigating any link to his pyramid scheme.","targeting":["Public profile"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Fiji Solutions founder whose home was watched"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/homem-morre-e-outro-e-preso-ao-tentar-sequestrar-dono-da-fiji-solutions-condenado-por-piramide-de-criptomoedas-na-paraiba/"]},{"id":729,"date":"July 11 to 12, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-11","date_precision":"range","year":2025,"victim":"Arthur, a 26-year-old man","location":"Brumadinho, Minas Gerais","country":"Brazil","description":"By his account, a 26-year-old crypto trader setting off on a trip with a friend and the friend's girlfriend was held at gunpoint in the car, tied up and made to transfer about R$600,000 in crypto; military police called to gunshots in Brumadinho found him in the stopped BMW and the couple surrendered. Both suspects deny his version.","summary":"On the night of Friday, July 11, 2025, Arthur, 26, set off from Belo Horizonte with Yuri, a friend since 2023 who also worked in programming, trading and cryptocurrency, and Yuri's girlfriend Julia, on a planned trip to Rio de Janeiro. By Arthur's account, the couple changed route, stopped the car at an unknown place and Julia pointed a gun at the back of his neck; he was tied up and forced under threat of death to make crypto transfers, and Yuri moved about R$600,000 from an online wallet. In the early hours of July 12, military police called to gunshots in Brumadinho found a BMW stopped on a railway line; Arthur opened the door shouting that he was being kidnapped. The couple fled, then surrendered, and a revolver was seized. Both deny his version: Yuri says Arthur lured him into an ambush, and Julia says Yuri tied Arthur up during a dispute over money Arthur owed.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 26-year-old crypto trader held in the car"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":600000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.itatiaia.com.br/brasil/sudeste/mg/casal-e-preso-suspeito-de-sequestrar-amigo-na-grande-bh-e-roubar-r-600-mil-em-criptomoedas/"]},{"id":730,"date":"July 17 to 18, 2025","date_sort":"2025-07-17","date_precision":"range","year":2025,"victim":"A bitcoin ATM in an office building","location":"Greinsfurth, Amstetten","country":"Austria","description":"Burglars broke open an entrance door of an office building in Greinsfurth, Amstetten, overnight and carried off the bitcoin ATM installed on the upper floor.","summary":"During the night of Thursday, July 17, to Friday, July 18, 2025, unknown burglars broke into an office building in Greinsfurth, in the Amstetten area of Austria, and stole a bitcoin ATM that had been set up there. The machine was mounted in the hall on the upper floor of the building, and the burglars had evidently targeted it specifically. They broke open an entrance door and carried the heavy machine away by a means of transport that had not yet been identified. The exact course of events and any tools used were the subject of ongoing investigations, and at the time of the report the burglars were still unknown.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.noen.at/amstetten/ungewoehnliche-beute-einbrecher-hatten-es-in-amstetten-auf-bitcoin-automaten-abgesehen-483041391"]},{"id":731,"date":"August, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A 29-year-old manager of a crypto exchange office","location":"Saint Petersburg","country":"Russia","description":"A man who had taken a job as a security guard at a cryptocurrency exchange office on Chapaeva Street in Saint Petersburg sprayed pepper spray in the face of its 29-year-old manager and took a briefcase holding 11 million rubles. Police arrested him at a car wash in Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow region.","summary":"A few days before August 21, 2025, a robbery took place at a cryptocurrency exchange office on the fourth floor of a business centre at 15 Chapaeva Street in Saint Petersburg. The attacker, a 25-year-old from the Tosno district of Leningrad region who had repeatedly faced criminal prosecution before, had taken a job as a security guard there with a plan to steal its money. He chose a moment when only one manager, aged 29, was in the office, walked in, offered his hand in greeting and then sprayed pepper spray in the manager's face. He grabbed a briefcase holding 11 million rubles and left. With the money he bought a Gelandewagen and drove to Moscow region to hide with acquaintances. Officers detained him at a car wash in Pavlovsky Posad. A criminal case for robbery under Article 162, part 4, was opened, and his remand in custody was being decided.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 29-year-old manager of the exchange office"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":11000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://mvdmedia.ru/news/operativnye-novosti/okhrannik-kriptoobmennika-v-peterburge-zaderzhan-politsiey-za-razboy-s-ushcherbom-11-millionov-ruble/"]},{"id":732,"date":"August 25, 2025","date_sort":"2025-08-25","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A Utrecht resident","location":"Zeeheldenbuurt, Utrecht","country":"Netherlands","description":"Four men with 'Justitie' on their backs held a resident of Utrecht's Zeeheldenbuurt for hours in his home, bound, gagged and at gunpoint, to get the passwords to his crypto account, and took crypto worth over 40,000 euros plus cash, a laptop, a phone and other items. Several suspects were arrested; a 23-year-old from Amsterdam admitted arranging the cars.","summary":"On August 25, 2025, a resident of the Zeeheldenbuurt in Utrecht saw four men at his door with the word 'Justitie' on their backs. They were not officials. They held him in his home for hours, bound his wrists and ankles, put a towel over his head and a T-shirt in his mouth, and pushed him under the shower with a firearm pointed at him throughout. They wanted his login details and passwords to empty his crypto account, and the violence left him injured and in hospital. They took cryptocurrency worth just over 40,000 euros, cash, USB sticks, car keys, a laptop, a phone and a wallet. An alarm call came in at 12:30, hours after they entered. Several suspects were arrested. One was later released, and a 23-year-old from Amsterdam, held in pretrial detention, told the court on February 16, 2026 that he had arranged the cars but disputed the leading role prosecutors give him.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the resident held in his home"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":40000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ad.nl/utrecht/overvallers-roofden-40-000-euro-aan-cryptovaluta-utrechts-slachtoffer-gekneveld-en-onder-de-douche-gezet~a0dcc844/","https://web.archive.org/web/20260217212623/https://www.ad.nl/utrecht/overvallers-roofden-40-000-euro-aan-cryptovaluta-utrechts-slachtoffer-gekneveld-en-onder-de-douche-gezet~a0dcc844/"]},{"id":733,"date":"September 26, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-26","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A resident of Port Harcourt","location":"Port Harcourt, Rivers State","country":"Nigeria","description":"A Port Harcourt resident says men he identified as police officers stopped his Bolt ride, beat and handcuffed him, drove him out of the city in an unmarked minibus and forced him to liquidate more than 5 million naira (3,120.071 USDT) in crypto from his Trust Wallet, withdrawn as cash at several POS outlets.","summary":"On Friday, September 26, 2025, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, a resident riding in a Bolt car on his way to get food was stopped by a five-man team he identified as police officers, dressed in plain black tactical gear without name tags. By his own account, posted on X, they dragged him out of the car, beat him, hit him on the neck with a gun, handcuffed him, forced him into a minibus with no plate number and drove him out of the city. They took his phone by force, opened his Trust Wallet and made him liquidate over $3,000 in cryptocurrency (3,120.071 USDT, more than 5 million naira), which was withdrawn as cash at several point-of-sale outlets. He said the team claimed to come from Bayelsa State. Calls to the Rivers State police spokesperson went unanswered, and no arrests are reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Port Harcourt resident taken from his Bolt ride"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Express kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3120.071,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":3000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://gazettengr.com/man-accuses-rivers-policemen-of-n5-million-extortion/"]},{"id":734,"date":"October, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"Victims aged 34 to 56 in seven attributed robberies","location":"Hannover, Lower Saxony","country":"Germany","description":"A changing group of ten people aged 17 to 26 lured victims under a pretext into short-term apartments, where several attackers tied them up, threatened them with knives and robbed them of cash, jewellery, phones and cryptocurrency; seven such robberies are attributed to them. Hannover police arrested four suspects on September 10, 2026.","summary":"Between October 2025 and May 2026, a group of nine men and one woman aged 17 to 26, acting in changing line-ups, lured people under a pretext into apartments arranged at short notice in order to rob them, according to Hannover police. Seven robberies are currently attributed to them. The victims, aged 34 to 56, came from Germany and from abroad. In each case several attackers overpowered the victim, tied them up and threatened them with knives, and some were injured. The aim was to extort assets and rob the victims; the loot included cash, jewellery, mobile phones and cryptocurrency. On September 10, 2026, police executed ten search warrants in Hannover, Laatzen, Ronnenberg and Herzberg in Brandenburg and arrested four suspects aged 20 to 26. The court had issued seven arrest warrants; the other suspects are wanted. Phones, tablets and knives were seized.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":7,"at_least":true,"detail":"at least seven victims aged 34 to 56, one or more in each of seven attributed robberies"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/66841/6350336"]},{"id":735,"date":"October 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-10-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mr. Chen","location":"Minquan East Road, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Mr. Chen, defrauded earlier by a crypto dealer, set up a TWD 3 million cash purchase with police waiting; the courier took his backpack of cash, accomplices beat officers with baseball bats and drove off with the money. Two suspects were arrested in Hsinchu the next day.","summary":"A 49-year-old man surnamed Chen had bought TWD 280,000 of cryptocurrency from a 40-year-old dealer surnamed Lin, met through an online platform, and the coins later vanished from his account. To catch Lin, he opened a new account, arranged a second meeting to buy TWD 3 million of cryptocurrency with real banknotes and told the police. At about 4 pm on October 29, 2025, near a convenience store on Minquan East Road, Taipei, Taiwan, a courier surnamed Pu told Chen the coins had arrived and took the backpack of cash. Waiting officers moved in; Pu threw the bag toward Lin's car, accomplices got out, beat officers with baseball bats and put the bag in the car, and Lin drove off with one of them. Police arrested Lin and another accomplice in Hukou, Hsinchu, the next morning and found an air gun in Lin's car. The cash was not recovered, and one accomplice was still at large.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Other"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer carrying the cash"},{"role":"Other","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"police officers in the ambush, beaten with baseball bats"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5230497"]},{"id":736,"date":"November 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-11-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"YouTuber known as Chenghao (乘號)","location":"Xinzhuang, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A crypto-investing YouTuber was lured by an online acquaintance to a thank-you dinner in Xinzhuang, forced into a rental car in the car park, driven to Taipei and threatened until he transferred TWD 90,000 and 170,000 USDT, then left in the car at Taoyuan Airport. Two of the three men were arrested.","summary":"Six months before the attack, a man surnamed Chen met Chenghao, a mobile-game YouTuber who had turned to cryptocurrency investing, through an investment group, saying he had lost money and asking for advice. After chatting for half a year, Chen invited him to dinner at a mall in Xinzhuang, New Taipei, to thank him. On November 29, 2025, after the meal, Chen said he had a gift and led him to a car park, where accomplices surnamed Wu and Li appeared and forced him into a rental car. They drove to Yanping North Road in Taipei and threatened that he would \"never get home\" unless he transferred TWD 90,000 and 170,000 USDT, worth over TWD 5 million. He complied. The men drove around, ended at Taoyuan Airport, ordered him to stay in the car and fled. He went home and reported it with his girlfriend. Police arrested Wu and Li; Chen was still sought.","targeting":["Public profile","Acquaintance","Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"YouTuber investing in crypto"}],"approach":["Social engineering: social invitation"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"unconfirmed","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":170000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":170000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5266678"]},{"id":737,"date":"December 29, 2025","date_sort":"2025-12-29","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Cem Turan","location":"Şirinyalı, Muratpaşa, Antalya","country":"Turkey","description":"A group in police uniform, including a serving and a retired officer, entered Cem Turan's Antalya villa with police ID and a fake court order, handcuffed his two employees and, under death and torture threats, made him transfer about 4 million dollars in crypto from his cold wallet. Thirteen suspects were detained and nine remanded.","summary":"Around 5 a.m. on December 29, 2025, in the Şirinyalı neighbourhood of Muratpaşa, Antalya, Turkey, a group in police clothing knocked on the door of Cem Turan's villa, showed police identity cards and said they had a search and seizure order. Once inside they handcuffed his two employees. The group included a serving Konyaaltı police officer and a retired officer. Turan said he was told bad things would happen if he did not cooperate and that they asked for 200 million dollars. Under threats of death and torture against him and his family, he sent all the crypto in his cold wallet, then worth about 4 million dollars, to their accounts. His wife said they attacked him and would not let her leave. The group also took the security camera recorder. Thirteen suspects were detained, some at Antalya Airport, and nine were remanded. Their trial was continuing in August 2026.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the homeowner"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his wife"},{"role":"Employee or guard","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two employees, handcuffed"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":200000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":200000000},"taken":{"amount":4000000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":4000000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/antalyada-sahte-polislere-4-milyon-dolarlik-kripto-para-kaptiran-magdur-olum-ve-iskenceyle-tehdit-edilince-gonderdim-43286723"]},{"id":738,"date":"January ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"A cryptocurrency investor in Puteaux","location":"Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine","country":"France","description":"A gang from Chanteloup-les-Vignes that had attacked a crypto investment executive at home in Verneuil-sur-Seine tried in vain to attack another crypto investor in Puteaux; the Versailles BRI, tipped off, had the target's building under surveillance.","summary":"In January 2026 the Versailles BRI, a police search and intervention unit, learned that a crew from the Yvelines appeared to be preparing a home invasion near Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine, against a cryptocurrency investor. Officers put the area under surveillance to identify the robbers and their target and catch them in the act. On January 7 a Renault Megane parked near the target's building; figures went into the building and came out again, and the car left to park in Saint-Denis, then came back during the night. The gang, young men from Chanteloup-les-Vignes, tried in vain to attack the Puteaux investor. Six men aged 18 to 37, arrested in Chanteloup-les-Vignes and Epinay-sur-Seine, were charged in Paris on March 27, 2026 over a home attack in Verneuil-sur-Seine on a crypto investment executive; they are also suspected over the Puteaux attempt.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Puteaux crypto investor, the planned target, never reached"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Foiled","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/la-bande-de-chanteloup-avait-ligote-et-tabasse-un-investisseur-en-crypto-et-sa-famille-six-suspects-interpelles-30-03-2026-73IGGP32JBA2LPYNAMYQA74TX4.php","https://web.archive.org/web/https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/la-bande-de-chanteloup-avait-ligote-et-tabasse-un-investisseur-en-crypto-et-sa-famille-six-suspects-interpelles-30-03-2026-73IGGP32JBA2LPYNAMYQA74TX4.php"]},{"id":739,"date":"January 13, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-13","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer","location":"Xindian, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A gang lured a cryptocurrency buyer through LINE to a TWD 3 million cash trade in Xindian, New Taipei; in the rental car one attacker choked the buyer and used a stun baton while the other punched the buyer's face, but the car crashed into a signal pole and the two fled without the money. Four men received suspended sentences.","summary":"Two LINE users lured a cryptocurrency buyer into agreeing to buy crypto for TWD 3 million in cash in Xindian, New Taipei, Taiwan, as part of a robbery a gang planned on January 12, 2026. On January 13 at about 2 pm, two of the men picked the buyer up in a rented car outside Qizhang MRT station. Saying he would count the money, the man in the back seat took the cash backpack, then grabbed the buyer by the neck and used a stun baton while the driver punched the buyer's head and face, breaking the nose. In the struggle the car lurched into a roadside signal pole, people nearby noticed and called police, and the two abandoned the car and fled without the money, which police returned. On August 11, 2026, the Taipei District Court gave four men suspended terms of 22 to 24 months for attempted aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought TWD 3 million in cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPDM%2C115%2C%E5%8E%9F%E8%A8%B4%2C45%2C20260811%2C1"]},{"id":740,"date":"January 24, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-24","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"John Paul","location":"Lekki, Lagos","country":"Nigeria","description":"Armed men in police insignia seized Benin-based businessman John Paul and his friends as he drove into his Lekki apartment building, held them in a vehicle overnight and at Ladipo took his iPhone 17, made him transfer N5 million worth of bitcoin and kept his Mercedes-Benz. They later demanded N2 million for the car.","summary":"At about midnight on January 24, 2026, John Paul, a Benin-based businessman in Lagos, Nigeria, to buy goods for his shop, drove his Mercedes-Benz ML350 into the Lekki apartment building where he was staying. A vehicle parked behind him and men in police insignia got out with guns, pulled him and his friends out of his car and put them into theirs, driving his car away too. He believed he was under arrest; they drove to Ajah and kept the group until morning. In the morning they drove to Ladipo, took his iPhone 17 and made him transfer N5 million worth of bitcoin to their wallet, then let the group go at about 9 am. They later demanded N2 million for the car and, after he posted CCTV footage on Facebook, threatened him on WhatsApp. An Anti-Kidnapping Unit officer took N500,000 from him to investigate; no arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Benin-based businessman"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":2,"at_least":true,"detail":"his friends in the car, number not given"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5000000,"currency":"NGN","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://fij.ng/article/video-lagos-policemen-kidnap-businessman-steal-car-n5m-demand-n2m-more/"]},{"id":741,"date":"February 7, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-07","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Abdul Fahad, crypto trader","location":"Indore, Madhya Pradesh","country":"India","description":"Crypto trader Abdul Fahad, lured with an offer to buy USDT, was confronted at an ATM in Indore, taken to an isolated spot, robbed of Rs 2 lakh in cash and forced to transfer 4,000 USDT; two police constables are accused of supplying his details.","summary":"On the evening of Saturday, February 7, 2026, crypto trader Abdul Fahad went with his brother Junaid to an ATM at Chandralok Square, Indore, to deposit Rs 2 lakh. Police say Naved Lodhi, who had traded crypto with him six months earlier, had set up the meeting with an offer to buy USDT after two police constables and an accomplice told him Fahad dealt in crypto. At the ATM, Sahil approached from behind and two men on a motorcycle threatened the brothers. The attackers accused Fahad of earning money illegally, took him to an isolated spot behind Singapore Business Park, robbed him of the cash and made him transfer 4,000 USDT (about Rs 4 lakh) from his phone to Naved's account. Naved and Sahil were arrested; constables Manoj Malviya and Avinash were detained pending formal arrest.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto trader"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his brother, with him at the ATM"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":600000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/indore-news-crypto-trader-abducted-robbed-of-6-lakhs-cops-accused-of-robbery"]},{"id":742,"date":"February 8 to 10, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-08","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"Liu Jitao, 32, Chinese national","location":"Pattaya, Chonburi","country":"Thailand","description":"A Chinese visitor who lost THB 300,000 gambling was held in a hotel room in Pattaya locked from outside and forced to have his wife transfer 3,000 USDT for the debt; immigration and tourist police broke in, freed him and arrested one suspect.","summary":"Liu Jitao, a 32-year-old Chinese national, landed at Suvarnabhumi airport on February 7, 2026, and was picked up by Chinese friends who put him up in Bangkok and took him gambling. On February 8 he told his wife over Telegram that he had lost THB 300,000 and was being forced to have her transfer 3,000 USDT (about THB 100,000) to pay the gambling debt. His wife, Li Jianli, reported it to the police. At about 00:10 on February 10 Liu sent his location, room 719 of the Thalia hotel on South Pattaya Road. Immigration and tourist police found the room locked from outside, broke the lock and found Liu inside with Liang Wei, 33, who was arrested for jointly demanding ransom by unlawful detention and denied the charge. A second suspect, Zhang Lang, 32, had fled; his passport was suspended.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Chinese visitor held in the hotel room"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":3000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.topnews.co.th/news/1484584"]},{"id":743,"date":"February 22, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-22","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A 21-year-old engineering student","location":"Paschim Vihar, Delhi","country":"India","description":"An engineering student who answered an Instagram advert for a discounted USDT deal was robbed of Rs 1.83 lakh at gunpoint in his car near Paschim Vihar East metro station; police arrested seven gang members linked to three similar robberies.","summary":"On Sunday, February 22, 2026, a 21-year-old engineering student went to meet an advertiser near Paschim Vihar East metro station in Delhi. He had seen an Instagram advertisement offering a lucrative USDT deal and wanted to invest part of a Rs 2 lakh scholarship. He arrived with two friends. During the meeting one of the gang forced his way into the student's car and brandished a pistol while six accomplices surrounded the car, and the student was threatened and robbed of the Rs 1.83 lakh he had brought. Police traced two suspects through digital surveillance and then five more, including the alleged kingpin Amit Jain, who had lost Rs 62 lakh in a rice export business. Seven men aged 22 to 31 were arrested, and police recovered a pistol, cash and phones and linked the gang to three similar robberies.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the student bringing cash to buy USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":183000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/gang-offering-crypto-deals-robbing-targets-at-gunpoint-held-in-delhi-101772130132987.html"]},{"id":744,"date":"March ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"A victim surnamed Zheng","location":"Hsinchu City","country":"Taiwan","description":"A victim surnamed Zheng, cheated of several sums by a scam group posing as USDT sellers, had 200,000 snatched from their hands at a face-to-face meeting in March 2026. Hsinchu City police arrested four gang members, who confessed and were detained.","summary":"Early in 2026 a victim surnamed Zheng was cheated of several sums by a scam group posing as sellers of the cryptocurrency USDT, through face-to-face handovers and other means. At one such meeting in March 2026, the group's cash collector, apparently afraid that police were lying in wait, snatched the 200,000 the victim was holding and fled by car. The First Precinct of the Hsinchu City police gathered evidence for more than a month and identified a gang led by a suspect surnamed Chou, who posed as the coin dealer, with a suspect surnamed Chiu posing as a broker and two others, surnamed Yu and Chang, acting as lookout and money collector. The gang used rental cars and unlicensed taxis and changed clothes to throw off investigators. After questioning by prosecutors, all four confessed and were detained by court order.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man bringing cash to buy USDT"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":200000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5437751"]},{"id":745,"date":"March 7, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-07","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A 47-year-old woman","location":"Zhunan, Miaoli County","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman deceived by a fake investment scheme brought 15 million Taiwan dollars in cash to a park in Zhunan to buy cryptocurrency face to face, and the fraud ring's collector snatched her backpack and fled by car. Seven suspects were arrested and detained; the cash was not recovered.","summary":"A 47-year-old woman taken in by a fraud ring's fake investment scheme brought 15 million Taiwan dollars in cash to Shishan Park in Zhunan, Miaoli County, at about 1 p.m. on March 7, 2026, to buy cryptocurrency face to face. Police said the ring lacked enough cryptocurrency and decided to rob her instead. When she arrived, a 32-year-old man surnamed Jiang snatched the backpack holding the money and a 30-year-old accomplice surnamed Yu drove him away. Police tracked the pair south and arrested them that evening in Douliu, Yunlin, and in Tainan. Seven suspects in all were referred for aggravated snatch theft and held in custody incommunicado. The cash had already been handed up the ring and was not recovered.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 47-year-old woman who came to buy cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5375296"]},{"id":746,"date":"March 27, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-27","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man","location":"Saint-Paul, Haute-Vienne","country":"France","description":"Two hooded men with a handgun attacked a man outside his home in Saint-Paul, south-east of Limoges, forced him inside and beat him, but he escaped through a window before he could be tied up. Gendarmes said the three suspects were looking for cryptocurrency; two have been sentenced.","summary":"At dawn on March 27, 2026, two hooded men carrying a handgun attacked a man outside his home in Saint-Paul, Haute-Vienne, and forced him inside. They beat him. Realising he was about to be tied up, he escaped through a window, and the two attackers fled on foot. A witness who tried to intervene was also struck, and the pair got away with the help of an accomplice waiting in a car parked nearby. Gendarmerie investigators in Limoges identified three suspects and said they had carefully planned the attack and were looking for cryptocurrency. Four days later the three, two 17-year-olds and a 22-year-old, were arrested. In late April one minor was sentenced by the children's court to 27 months in prison. On May 29, 2026 the 22-year-old received 10 years, the maximum sentence. The other minor is to be tried later.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man attacked outside his home"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a witness who tried to intervene"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ici.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/haute-vienne-87/saint-paul/haute-vienne-un-jeune-homme-de-22-ans-condamne-a-10-ans-de-prison-ferme-pour-une-agression-liee-a-de-la-cryptomonnaie-6905848"]},{"id":747,"date":"June 8, 2026","date_sort":"2026-06-08","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man in a Coconut Creek apartment","location":"Coconut Creek, Florida","country":"USA","description":"A woman allegedly let Tevin Dean into a Coconut Creek apartment while the victim was upstairs; Dean threatened him with a firearm and a kitchen knife, he was stripped and bound with duct tape, and the pair emptied his Coinbase account and took cash and property worth more than $27,000.","summary":"On June 8, 2026, in an apartment in Coconut Creek, Florida, Sheendalie Joseph allegedly set up a robbery by letting Tevin Dean, 31, inside while the victim was upstairs. Police say Dean brandished a firearm and later held a kitchen knife to the back of the victim's head, threatening to kill him, while Joseph held the phone to his face to unlock it. The victim was forced to strip naked and was bound with duct tape while the pair went through his belongings. They got into his Coinbase account, sold his cryptocurrency, sent about $1,200 by Zelle to an account of Joseph's son and took cash, cards and property, more than $27,000 in all. Left tied up, the victim struggled for nearly half an hour before breaking free. The pair deleted Ring camera clips and reset and pawned his iPhones. Dean was arrested in late July 2026, faces a dozen felony charges and was denied bond.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the apartment occupant"}],"approach":["Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":27000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":27000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.local10.com/news/local/2026/07/30/coconut-creek-man-arrested-in-armed-home-invasion-faces-12-felony-charges/"]},{"id":748,"date":"September 4, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-04","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Akhtaruzzaman Shakil and his friend Mansur Ali","location":"Halishahar, Chattogram","country":"Bangladesh","description":"Plainclothes Chattogram police allegedly picked up businessman Akhtaruzzaman Shakil and a friend, held them at the police Lawful Intercepted Cell office and, by threatening a gambling case and the release of his photos, forced him to transfer $10,864 from Binance and hand over cash.","summary":"On the morning of September 4, 2026, plainclothes police led by Assistant Commissioner Shariful Alam picked up businessman Akhtaruzzaman Shakil, 27, and his friend Mansur Ali at a residence in Halishahar, Chattogram, and took them to the police Lawful Intercepted Cell office. According to the victims, officers seized and searched their phones and threatened to make Shakil's personal photographs public and to implicate them in a gambling case. Shakil says he was forced to transfer $10,864 from his Binance account, that constables took him to a bank booth that night to withdraw Tk4 lakh, and that Tk80,000 went from a mobile payment account. The two were released around midnight. The next night police returned their car and demanded another Tk5 lakh. Two assistant sub-inspectors were closed and the assistant commissioner withdrawn pending an inquiry.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"businessman, 27, granule trader"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his friend, in auto parts business"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: serving police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"unconfirmed","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":500000,"currency":"BDT","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10864,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":10864},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/2-ctg-police-asis-closed-ac-withdrawn-over-allegations-extorting-cash-crypto-businessman"]},{"id":749,"date":"September 16, 2026","date_sort":"2026-09-16","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A person in their 30s","location":"Cheongna-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon","country":"South Korea","description":"Two men in their 40s met a victim at an officetel in Incheon for a cryptocurrency deal, gave the victim a drink believed to contain a drug and fled with 35 million won in cash; both were arrested.","summary":"At about 4:30 p.m. on September 16, 2026, two men in their 40s met a victim in their 30s at an officetel in Cheongna-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon, South Korea, for a cryptocurrency deal. Police say the pair gave the victim a drink believed to contain a drug, which knocked the victim unconscious, then took 35 million won in cash and fled. The victim came round and reported the crime at about 9:30 p.m. the same day, and police tracked the suspects' movements. One man was arrested at a motel in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on September 21 and was sent to prosecutors on special robbery charges; the second was arrested in a parking lot in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on September 29. Police sent the drink to the National Forensic Service for analysis and planned to seek an arrest warrant for the second man.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"person in their 30s"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"unconfirmed","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":35000000,"currency":"KRW","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.newstong.co.kr/view3.aspx?seq=14714773"]},{"id":750,"date":"2017","date_sort":"2017-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2017,"victim":"A young merchant","location":"Boyacá","country":"Colombia","description":"In 2017 a five-man gang known as \"Los Hackers\" in Boyacá, Colombia, tricked a young merchant, kidnapped and beat him, and forced him to transfer 12 million Colombian pesos in crypto-assets in exchange for his life. All five were arrested by 2019 and accepted charges of simple kidnapping.","summary":"In 2017 a young merchant was kidnapped in the department of Boyacá, Colombia, by a gang known as \"Los Hackers\". According to police, the gang was five men operating around Duitama, Paipa and Sogamoso, and it used a woman to draw in merchants, most of whom worked with cryptocurrency. The gang tricked the young merchant, kidnapped him and beat him, and demanded that he transfer 12 million Colombian pesos in crypto-assets in exchange for his life; he was forced to make the transfer. Police did not say which cryptocurrency was involved, but said all the money went into one personal wallet. The anti-kidnapping unit GAULA arrested three members in December 2018 and the other two, who had hidden in Cundinamarca and Peru, in July 2019. All five accepted charges of simple kidnapping. Where in Boyacá the merchant was held, and how the kidnapping ended, was not reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a young merchant"}],"approach":["Social engineering: lure not described"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":12000000,"currency":"COP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":12000000,"currency":"COP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.criptonoticias.com/sucesos/secuestradores-extorsionaban-negociantes-criptomonedas-boyaca-colombia/","https://www.criptofacil.com/policia-prende-quadrilha-especializada-no-sequestro-de-vendedores-de-bitcoin-na-colombia/"]},{"id":751,"date":"December 20, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-20","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"A web designer paid in cryptocurrency","location":"Borova, Kharkiv Oblast","country":"Ukraine","description":"Two men burst into the home of a web designer who was paid in cryptocurrency in Borova, Kharkiv Oblast, held a knife to his neck and demanded he transfer 15 bitcoins to their wallet. Whether any bitcoin reached them is disputed: they later phoned him saying none had arrived and threatened him.","summary":"On December 20, 2017, two men burst into the home of a web designer in the urban settlement of Borova, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The man was paid for his work in cryptocurrency. Holding a knife to his neck and threatening him with violence, the attackers demanded that he transfer 15 bitcoins to their electronic wallet. One report, citing police, says in its headline that they made him transfer the bitcoins; another, citing the open-data platform Opendatabot, says they tried to take them, and that the attackers later phoned him to claim the bitcoins had not arrived and threatened him with reprisals. An investigator obtained a Kharkiv court order for temporary access to the offenders' belongings and documents, and as of mid-January 2018 the investigation was continuing. No arrest is reported.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a web designer paid in cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":15,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://korrespondent.net/city/kharkov/3928736-v-kharkovskoi-oblasty-aityshnyka-ohrabyly-na-15-bytkoynov","https://unn.ua/amp/zlovmisniki-na-kharkivschini-zmusili-veb-dizaynera-perekazati-yim-8-tis-grn-u-bitkoyinakh"]},{"id":752,"date":"December 30, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-30","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"A man selling his brother's mining equipment","location":"Chelyabinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"A man who came to a rented flat in Chelyabinsk to sell his brother's two Antminer S9 mining machines to a buyer who had answered an online listing was attacked by three masked men with an object resembling a pistol, beaten and choked, and the machines, valued at 680,000 rubles, were taken. The organiser, who had earlier bought a miner from the victim, and four accomplices were convicted.","summary":"In late December 2017 a man advertised two Antminer S9 crypto mining machines online. The organiser, who knew of the machines and had earlier bought a miner from the owner's brother, recruited accomplices, who rented a flat in Chelyabinsk's Kurchatovsky district and called as buyers. The owner, out of town, sent his brother. On December 30, 2017, three masked men waited in the flat. At about 9 p.m. one pointed an object resembling a pistol at the brother and ordered him to lie down, another twisted his arms behind his back and tried to tie them, and when he ran for the door they punched, choked and kicked him. They took the machines, valued at 680,000 rubles, and locked the door. In September 2019 a court jailed the organiser for six and a half years and two attackers for seven years; a lookout got a suspended term and a third attacker was convicted separately.","targeting":["Online contact or advert","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the owner's brother, sent to make the sale"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":680000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/wcXNrsJ8D8bP/"]},{"id":753,"date":"January 19, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-19","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Mr. Huang, an ether seller","location":"Wanda Road, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two men who had arranged online to buy 3 ETH from a seller at a Taipei convenience store paid him TWD 105,000 in cash, then, once he had sent the ether, sprayed him with pepper spray and grabbed back the cash. The seller cancelled the ether transaction and both men were arrested.","summary":"Two 21-year-old men surnamed Liao and Huang found a 33-year-old man, Mr. Huang, online who wanted to sell ether, and agreed to buy 3 ETH from him at TWD 34,800 each, TWD 104,400 in all. On January 19, 2018, they met him at a convenience store on Wanda Road in Taipei and first handed him TWD 105,000 in cash to win his trust. Once the seller had sent the ether through a trading platform to the wallet Liao named, Liao claimed the verification had failed and asked to cancel, and Huang sprayed the seller with pepper spray he had brought and grabbed back the cash. The two left thinking they had both the cash and the ether, but the seller had cancelled the ether transaction and called police. Using surveillance footage and the car the pair had arrived in, police traced and arrested both and referred them to prosecutors for snatching.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the ether seller"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":105000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/2322328"]},{"id":754,"date":"February 15, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-15","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A man selling two bitcoin miners","location":"Sint-Oedenrode, North Brabant","country":"Netherlands","description":"Men who posed on Marktplaats as buyers of two Antminer S9 bitcoin miners were let into the seller's home in Sint-Oedenrode, held him at gunpoint, made him kneel and count to 60, and left with the miners, a laptop and a phone. One of them was convicted and placed under TBS with compulsory treatment.","summary":"A man in Sint-Oedenrode, North Brabant, offered two Antminer S9 bitcoin miners for sale on Marktplaats. Men posing as buyers arranged a viewing, and on the evening of February 15, 2018 he let two of them into his home; his partner and baby were upstairs and a third man waited in a car. As the sale was about to close, one of them pointed a revolver at him and said 'This is a robbery'. They made him kneel, turn around and count aloud to 60, threatened to shoot him if he looked back and told him to think of his wife and child upstairs. They left without paying, with the two miners, worth EUR 4,100, a laptop and a phone. Police later recovered the miners. In October 2019 the North Holland district court convicted one of the two men in the house of robbery with threats and of holding the revolver and ordered TBS with compulsory treatment, as did the appeal court in 2021.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the seller of the miners"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":4100,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2019:8774","https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2021:2633"]},{"id":755,"date":"March 30, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-30","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"An Italian man and his Brazilian partner","location":"Costa del Silencio, Arona, Tenerife","country":"Spain","description":"Two people who met a man to trade bitcoin went with him to his home in Costa del Silencio, Tenerife, where he threatened them with a blank-firing pistol, tied up the woman and sent her partner to make transfers of EUR 12,000 in bitcoin. The partner went to the Guardia Civil, and the man was arrested.","summary":"In the early hours of March 30, 2018, two people met a 30-year-old man in the street to buy or sell bitcoin and agreed to finish the deal at his home in Costa del Silencio, Arona, in the south of Tenerife. Inside, he threatened both with a blank-firing pistol, gagged and tied up one of them, a Brazilian woman, and sent her Italian partner out to make two transfers of EUR 6,000 each in bitcoin, threatening to kill the woman if he did not come back with proof of payment. He also took a luxury watch worth EUR 35,000 from one of them. The partner went to the Guardia Civil post at Playa de Las Americas instead. Working with the Arona local police prevention unit, officers arrested the man and found the woman. Neither victim was hurt. Police recovered the pistol, which he had thrown away nearby, and the watch, and he was brought before the duty court in Arona.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Italian man, sent out to make the transfers"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his Brazilian partner, tied up and held"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":12000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":35000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.laprovincia.es/sucesos/2018/04/01/secuestro-punta-pistola-sur-tenerife-9487706.html","https://www.lavanguardia.com/local/canarias/20180402/442141394730/secuestra-a-punta-de-pistola-a-una-persona-en-el-sur-de-tenerife-por-unos-bitcoins.html"]},{"id":756,"date":"September 18, 2018","date_sort":"2018-09-18","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer flown in from Russia","location":"Amsterdam, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man who flew from Russia to Amsterdam with EUR 127,600 in cash to buy cryptocurrency for a principal was picked up at Schiphol by the seller, driven to a quiet street and robbed at knifepoint of the cash in the car. One man was sentenced to 10 months in prison in 2023.","summary":"On the evening of September 18, 2018, a man flew from Russia to Amsterdam to buy cryptocurrency on behalf of a principal, carrying EUR 127,600 in cash that he declared to customs. A week earlier the principal had bought bitcoin for EUR 67,533 from a seller he met in an Amsterdam coffee shop. The seller picked the buyer up at Schiphol airport in a rented white BMW and drove him to a quiet street in Amsterdam. When the car stopped, a second man opened the passenger door, shouted 'money money' and held a knife to the buyer's throat while the driver took the backpack with the money. The buyer was dragged out of the car and left behind. The driver, arrested on December 4, 2018, was convicted by the Amsterdam district court on November 23, 2023 of robbery with violence committed jointly and sentenced to 10 months in prison. A second man charged with taking part was acquitted the same day.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"buyer flown in from Russia carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":127600,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:7527","https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:8579"]},{"id":757,"date":"March ?, 2019","date_sort":"2019-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2019,"victim":"A Shell gas station's bitcoin ATM","location":"DeKalb County, Georgia","country":"USA","description":"Three men broke into a Shell gas station in DeKalb County, Georgia, with crowbars at about 1:20 a.m. and drove off with its bitcoin ATM in a Chevrolet Malibu. Two were arrested within 24 hours and charged with second-degree burglary.","summary":"In March 2019, at about 1:20 a.m. overnight on a Thursday, three men used crowbars to break into a Shell gas station in DeKalb County, Georgia, and took its bitcoin ATM. The store's surveillance system recorded them loading the machine into the back of a Chevrolet Malibu; it was so big that one of the car's doors would not close. Two of the men wore masks, and the car's license plate was covered with silver tape, police said. Investigators still tracked the car, and Erron Watson, 32, and Kendrick Johnson, 33, were arrested less than 24 hours after the break-in. Both were charged with second-degree burglary and possession of tools for the commission of a crime and held at the DeKalb County Jail. The third man had not been arrested. The report does not say what the machine held.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Break-in, nobody present"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://blackamericaweb.com/2019/03/14/2-arrested-accused-of-stealing-bitcoin-atm-from-gas-station"]},{"id":758,"date":"October 31, 2020","date_sort":"2020-10-31","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Ms. Luo, the wife of a friend of the main attacker","location":"Shizhong District, Leshan, Sichuan","country":"China","description":"Three men lured the wife of a friend out of her Leshan housing estate with a fake fresh-food delivery call, dragged her into an SUV, drove her to open ground and forced her to log into her Huobi app, transferring 29 BTC and 1,258 ETH worth nearly CNY 6 million. All three were sentenced to 7.5 to 10 years for robbery.","summary":"In October 2020 a man surnamed Liang, in debt, planned to rob Ms. Luo, the wife of a friend, of her bitcoin, and recruited Yuan, who brought in Wang. On the evening of October 31, 2020, they drove an SUV with no license plates to the car park opposite her estate in Shizhong District, Leshan. Wang phoned her posing as a fresh-food delivery man and lured her out, and he and Yuan dragged her into the car. Liang drove to open ground in Jinba Village, Shuikou Town, where Wang and Yuan used violence and threats to force her to log into her Huobi app. Liang took her phone and moved 29.0004844 BTC and 1,258.04064 ETH, valued at nearly CNY 6 million, to his own account. Then they let her go. Liang and Yuan turned themselves in, were held on November 2 and returned nearly all the coins; Wang was arrested on December 2. For robbery the court gave Liang 10 years, Wang 8.5 and Yuan 7.5.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a woman, the wife of the main attacker's friend"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: service ruse (delivery, driver, worker)"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":6000000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.163.com/dy/article/GCVG3F88051492T3.html","https://www.sohu.com/a/473395631_250147"]},{"id":759,"date":"July 28, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-28","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A crypto investor","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A crypto investor was lured into a motel room in Taichung by an acquaintance, held for about six hours at gunpoint by four men who demanded his crypto and banking passwords, beaten when a wrong password locked his account, and robbed of TWD 900; his friend was held at gunpoint too. Four men were convicted of aggravated robbery.","summary":"Early on July 28, 2022, a crypto investor was robbed at a motel in Taichung. An acquaintance who had heard he made good money trading crypto arranged to meet him, saying he wanted to learn how to trade. He and three accomplices, carrying two realistic-looking guns, checked into another room at about 3:35 a.m.; he invited the victim in and shut the door. The men demanded his belongings, crypto and online banking passwords, took his phone, loaded magazines and threatened to sell his organs. When a wrong password locked his bank account they beat him, bruising his chest, and pressed him to borrow TWD 100,000. They got only TWD 900 from his pocket. Two of the men held his female friend at gunpoint in the pair's room and later at her home. The acquaintance left at about 9:36 a.m. after ordering him to pay for the room. Four men were convicted of aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a crypto investor staying at the motel"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his female friend, held at gunpoint"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":900,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCHM%2c113%2c%e4%b8%8a%e8%a8%b4%2c756%2c20250107%2c1","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2c112%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c383%2c20240924%2c9"]},{"id":760,"date":"December 2, 2022","date_sort":"2022-12-02","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Chiu and Mr. Yu, two USDT sellers","location":"Luzhu, Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two USDT sellers leaving by taxi with the cash from two sales were rammed at a red light in Luzhu, Taoyuan, by three men who had followed them; the men pointed an air gun and a gun-like object, pepper-sprayed them and took TWD 5.72 million. Two of the robbers were sentenced to 7 years 4 months.","summary":"On December 2, 2022, two USDT sellers, Mr. Chiu and Mr. Yu, collected cash from two sales, at Taoyuan high-speed rail station and at a convenience store in Luzhu, Taoyuan, and left in a taxi with the money in two bags. At about 5:23 p.m., as the taxi waited at a red light, a rented car with stolen plates that had followed it rammed it from behind. Of the three men inside, one pointed a gun-like object at Chiu, one pointed an air gun at Yu through the window and one sprayed pepper spray into the taxi. They took both bags and drove off. The court found TWD 5.72 million was taken; Chiu put it at 5.82 million and complained that police recorded the case as snatch theft. In July 2023 the Taoyuan District Court sentenced two of the men to 7 years 4 months for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two USDT sellers carrying the sale proceeds"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the taxi driver"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5720000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/4144814","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TYDM%2c112%2c%e5%8e%9f%e8%a8%b4%2c37%2c20230704%2c1"]},{"id":761,"date":"June ?, 2023","date_sort":"2023-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A 20-year-old man in the crypto business","location":"Chisinau","country":"Moldova","description":"Police said two men who may have learned that a 20-year-old did business in cryptocurrency followed him in Chisinau, forced him into a car, took him to a rented garage and, with blackmail and death threats, made him transfer USD 290,000 and 190,000 in cryptocurrency before leaving him on a street. One suspect was remanded and the other was being sought.","summary":"Police said two men aged 40 and 44 from Anenii Noi may have learned that a 20-year-old man did business in cryptocurrency and held a large sum of money. They followed him as he walked home in Chisinau, forced him into a car and took him to a garage one of them rented. They took his belongings, his phone and three laptops, then extorted money from him with blackmail and death threats. He transferred them USD 290,000 and 190,000 in cryptocurrency, coin not named, and was left on a street in the capital. The damage was estimated at 9,270,450 lei. The reports, published on June 5, 2023, do not date the attack. Both men, who had broken the law before, were identified; one was remanded in custody for 30 days and police were trying to find and detain the other. They face 13 to 15 years in prison.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 20-year-old man in the crypto business"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":9270450,"currency":"MDL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.jurnal.md/ro/news/77cd336bb8c2d878/video-tanar-batut-amenintat-cu-moartea-si-lasat-fara-9-milioane-de-lei-suspectii-doi-barbati-din-anenii-noi.html","https://locals.md/2023/kripta-privlekaet/"]},{"id":762,"date":"January 21, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-21","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"A man","location":"Palilula, Belgrade","country":"Serbia","description":"Three men who had arranged a EUR 202,000 cryptocurrency trade with a man near a car park in Palilula, Belgrade, took the agreed sum from him by physical force and fled. Police arrested three suspects for robbery in February 2024.","summary":"On January 21, 2024, three men came to Husinskih rudara Street in the Palilula district of Belgrade, Serbia, near a car park, to meet a man for a cryptocurrency trade worth EUR 202,000 that had been arranged in advance. According to the Interior Ministry, they used physical force to take the agreed sum of money from him and fled. On February 13, 2024, Belgrade police, working with the Pancevo police administration and the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, arrested three suspects, V. P., born 1988, Ž. V., born 2001, and B. V., born 1985, on suspicion of robbery. They were ordered held for up to 48 hours and were to be brought before the prosecutor with a criminal complaint. The ministry urged people to carry out cryptocurrency trades safely.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who came to the trade"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":202000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tanjug.rs/srbija/hronika/73831/uhapseni-osumnjiceni-za-kradu-200-hiljada-evra-tokom-primopredaje-kriptovaluta/vest","https://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/ukrali-kriptovalute-vredne-200000-evra-na-paliluli-trojica-uhapsena/zzky80q"]},{"id":763,"date":"May ?, 2024","date_sort":"2024-05-01","date_precision":"month","year":2024,"victim":"A 33-year-old businessman","location":"Sector 1, Bucharest","country":"Romania","description":"A 33-year-old businessman was forced into a van in the underground car park of his residential complex in Bucharest's Sector 1, handcuffed and beaten by three men who, according to sources, demanded his crypto wallet passwords, and left handcuffed by a roadside when he refused. Police opened an investigation for deprivation of liberty.","summary":"In early May 2024 a 33-year-old businessman was abducted in broad daylight from the underground car park of the luxury residential complex where he lives in Bucharest's Sector 1. Unknown men forced him into a van, and the complex's security guard called 112. According to sources quoted by Antena 3, he told investigators that the three kidnappers, who acted on a tip that he held cryptocurrency, demanded the passwords to his crypto wallet. He refused, was handcuffed and badly beaten as the van drove to the Pipera bridge, and offered them EUR 10,000, all the cash he had at home. They refused, beat him and left him handcuffed by the roadside, where a passer-by found him and called 112. Paramedics took him to Elias hospital, and the van was found abandoned on Soseaua Pipera. Police and Sector 1 prosecutors opened a case for illegal deprivation of liberty; the attackers were not identified.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 33-year-old businessman"}],"approach":["Seized at or outside the home"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.antena3.ro/actualitate/surse-motiv-rapit-om-afaceri-moldovean-parcare-nord-bucuresti-709077.html","https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/evenimente/barbat-rapit-in-bucuresti-din-fata-unui-complex-rezidential-politistii-l-au-gasit-la-cativa-kilometri-distanta-2781099"]},{"id":764,"date":"January 14, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-14","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A woman over 60, buying crypto","location":"Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman over 60 who had come to buy NT$350,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a 'crypto dealer' in Taoyuan on 14 January 2025 was robbed of her phone and her handbag with the cash by a teenager the dealer had sent; she held on and was dragged some distance. The dealer and his driver were convicted of robbery.","summary":"On 13 January 2025 scammers told a woman over 60 that she had to buy cryptocurrency to pay a tax and gave her the LINE contact of a 'crypto dealer'. Learning she would buy NT$350,000 worth, he decided to rob her, recruited a friend and a teenager, and set the trade for 3 pm on 14 January at a convenience store in Taoyuan. The friend drove the teenager there; the dealer waited at a shop nearby. At about 3:30 pm, as she waited on an empty lot by the store, the teenager grabbed her phone and her handbag with the cash. She held on and was dragged some distance until the bag was torn away. The three split the money in a toilet at Taipei high-speed rail station. The Taoyuan District Court found robbery, not snatch theft, and sentenced the dealer to 7 years 6 months and the driver to 5 years 10 months; the High Court dismissed the dealer's appeal in April 2026.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a woman over 60 who came to buy crypto"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":350000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TYDM%2c114%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c801%2c20251030%2c2","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPHM%2c115%2c%e4%b8%8a%e8%a8%b4%2c739%2c20260430%2c1"]},{"id":765,"date":"March, 2025","date_sort":"2025-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2025,"victim":"A USDT dealer","location":"Jin'an District, Fuzhou, Fujian","country":"China","description":"In March 2025 a gang in Fuzhou set up a fake in-person USDT deal with a crypto dealer; once he had transferred more than 40,000 USDT to their wallet, one sprayed pepper spray in his eyes and the others took back all the trade money by force. Five were sentenced in February 2026 to between 5 years 7 months and 10 years 4 months.","summary":"In March 2025 a gang including two people surnamed Zheng and Zou planned to rob a crypto dealer under cover of an in-person USDT trade, a 'black eats black' robbery, prosecutors said. The gang raised more than CNY 340,000 and invited the dealer to trade offline. During the trade, once the dealer had transferred more than 40,000 USDT into a wallet the gang controlled, Zheng sprayed pepper spray into the victim's eyes on the spot and, with the others, took all the trade money by force. Six people then shared the proceeds. Police arrested everyone involved the next day and recovered most of the money, which was returned to the victim. The Jin'an District procuratorate in Fuzhou charged five of them with robbery, and in February 2026 the court sentenced them to between 5 years 7 months and 10 years 4 months in prison.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT dealer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":40000,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["http://news.fznews.com.cn/fzyw/20261014/6acecfeb7c0e6.shtml","https://c.m.163.com/news/a/L7N4GLF70551N37X.html"]},{"id":766,"date":"September 15, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-15","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A USDC buyer","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man buying USDC over the counter handed TWD 2 million in cash to the fake seller in the buyer's car in Taichung; the seller pepper-sprayed him and tried to leave with the money, but the buyer stopped him and pinned him down, and police arrested the seller at the scene.","summary":"An unidentified woman on Telegram learned by an unknown route that a man in Taichung wanted to buy USDC over the counter, and told a man she had known since February 2025 to pose as the seller, spray the buyer, tie him up with tape and leave with the cash. An accomplice on LINE set the trade for 7:30 p.m. on September 15, 2025. The fake seller arrived with pepper spray, scissors and a knife, got into the buyer's car and received TWD 2 million in cash. After checking two bundles on a counting machine, he sprayed the buyer and tried to leave with the money. The buyer stopped him and pinned him down, and suffered burns to the face, neck, chest and arms. The driver who had brought the seller called police, who arrested him at the scene. In February 2026 the Taichung District Court gave him a suspended sentence of 1 year 10 months for attempted snatch theft with a weapon.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDC buyer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2c114%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c1466%2c20260210%2c1"]},{"id":767,"date":"April 20, 2026","date_sort":"2026-04-20","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man born in 2004","location":"Kaunas","country":"Lithuania","description":"A young man buying cryptocurrency in a car on 9th Fort Street in Kaunas had EUR 27,700 in cash grabbed by a stranger in a scuffle while the money was being counted. Two suspects were locked up.","summary":"On Monday, April 20, 2026, at about 3:30 p.m., a man born in 2004 was buying cryptocurrency in a car on 9th Fort Street in Kaunas. While the cash was being counted, a stranger ran up to the car and grabbed EUR 27,700 in a scuffle. Lithuania's Police Department reported the robbery the following day. Two men, born in 1999 and 2001, were locked up in a police jail as suspects, and a pre-trial investigation for theft was opened. Police did not say whether the money was recovered. The sources do not say who was selling the cryptocurrency, how the meeting was arranged, or whether the victim was hurt in the scuffle.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"young man buying crypto with cash in a car"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":27700,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tv3.lt/naujiena/lietuva/automobilyje-apiplestas-vyras-pagrobta-27-7-tukst-euru-n1513388","https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/kriminalai/2026/04/21/news/kaune-is-kriptovaliutos-prekeiviu-pagrobta-27-7-tukst-euru-itariamieji-atsidure-uz-grotu-42133016"]},{"id":768,"date":"July 25, 2026","date_sort":"2026-07-25","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A man in Toronto","location":"Toronto, Ontario","country":"Canada","description":"A man was abducted at gunpoint near Finch and Bayview avenues in Toronto, handcuffed and assaulted while the abductors tried to access his cryptocurrency assets, then released with a warning not to call police. Seven people, three of them Canadian Armed Forces members, face 82 charges.","summary":"On July 25, 2026, a man was abducted at gunpoint near Finch and Bayview avenues in Toronto. Police say he was targeted as he approached his vehicle. He was handcuffed and assaulted while the suspects tried to gain access to his cryptocurrency assets and to business-related security systems. They then let him go with a warning not to contact police. Within 24 hours police identified a suspect vehicle and arrested two suspects. Search warrants across the Greater Toronto Area led to further arrests in August and September; by September 24 seven people had been arrested and 82 charges laid, including kidnapping for ransom and forcible confinement. Three of the accused are members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Police seized firearms, drugs and about 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the military. The sources do not say whether any crypto was taken.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man abducted as he approached his vehicle"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/10/14/violent-abduction-targeting-mans-crypto-assets-leads-to-arrest-of-3-caf-members-toronto-police/","https://globalnews.ca/news/12101916/toronto-police-canadian-soldiers-charges/"]},{"id":769,"date":"October 5, 2026","date_sort":"2026-10-05","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A foreign national (A.D.)","location":"Sarıyer, Istanbul","country":"Turkey","description":"Men posing as police officers cut off a foreign national's car in Sarıyer, Istanbul, handcuffed him and took him to Başakşehir. Threatening him with a gun, they took USD 38,000 in crypto, a USD 150,000 watch and USD 10,000 in cash. Police rescued him and detained six suspects.","summary":"On October 5, 2026, at about 00:50, a foreign national identified as A.D. was driving in Sarıyer, Istanbul, when men posing as police officers cut off his car. They handcuffed him and took him to the Başakşehir district. Police say the suspects, threatening him with a gun, took cryptocurrency worth USD 38,000 and a luxury watch worth USD 150,000, and made him obtain USD 10,000 in cash from his friends, which they also took, for a total of USD 198,000. The police robbery bureau tracked the suspects, raided an address in Başakşehir, rescued A.D., who was being held there, and detained six suspects. Police found two unlicensed pistols, a police vest and fake identity cards at the address. The six were referred to the judicial authorities for aggravated robbery while posing as police and deprivation of liberty.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"foreign national stopped while driving"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Crypto","Valuables","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":198000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":198000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.trthaber.com/haber/turkiye/istanbulda-198-bin-dolarlik-varligi-gasbedilerek-kacirilan-yabanci-uyruklu-kurtarildi-959906.html","https://anlatilaninotesi.com.tr/20261012/polis-kiligina-girip-yolunu-kestiler-kelepceleyerek-198-bin-dolarlik-varligini-gasbettiler-1109474719.html"]},{"id":770,"date":"2020","date_sort":"2020-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2020,"victim":"A bitcoin holder","location":"Wenzhou, Zhejiang","country":"China","description":"Two defendants lured a bitcoin holder to an in-person meeting on the pretext of learning bitcoin trading, threatened the victim with a replica gun and a folding knife and demanded 1,000 bitcoin, and got nothing. A Wenzhou court convicted both of attempted robbery.","summary":"A first-instance judgment from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China, published on December 23, 2020, concerns an attempted robbery of a bitcoin holder. The two defendants arranged an in-person meeting with the victim on the pretext of learning bitcoin trading techniques. There they threatened the victim with a replica gun and demanded 1,000 bitcoin, and when that failed they made further threats with a folding knife. They obtained nothing, and the court treated the robbery as attempted. The Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court convicted both of robbery, sentencing the principal offender to four years and the accomplice to two years and six months, with fines. The Rui'an City prosecutors valued the 1,000 bitcoin at 52.69 million yuan; the court set no amount because the sum sought was unclear. The report gives no date or place for the meeting and does not say how it ended.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the bitcoin holder met under the trading-lesson pretext"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articles/kc64bicx"]},{"id":771,"date":"March ?, 2020","date_sort":"2020-03-01","date_precision":"month","year":2020,"victim":"A businessman","location":"Belém, São Paulo, São Paulo","country":"Brazil","description":"A group of men threatened a businessman with a firearm in the Belém district of São Paulo and ordered him to hand over his phone and transfer bitcoin, but the robbery was not completed. Four identified men face charges; the group had a fifth member known only as 'Gugu'.","summary":"In March 2020, in the Belém district of São Paulo, Brazil, a group of men threatened a businessman with a firearm and ordered him to hand over his mobile phone and transfer bitcoin he supposedly held. The judge's order says the robbery was not completed, without explaining how. Four men, all identified, face the charges; the group also included a fifth man known only by the nickname \"Gugu\". They are accused under article 158 of the Penal Code, which sets four to ten years in prison for threatening someone with violence to obtain an economic advantage. One of the accused is in custody and the whereabouts of the other three are unknown. In an order published in the Diário Oficial of São Paulo on October 6, 2021, Judge Tatiana Franklin Regueira of the 9th Criminal Court gave the defendants fifteen days to answer before hearing the witnesses, the victim and the police.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a businessman threatened with a firearm"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://portaldobitcoin.uol.com.br/grupo-responde-na-justica-por-tentativa-de-roubo-de-bitcoins-por-meio-de-grave-ameaca-em-sao-paulo/"]},{"id":772,"date":"May 29 to 31, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-29","date_precision":"range","year":2021,"victim":"A 22-year-old man","location":"Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina","country":"Brazil","description":"A 22-year-old hired by two businessmen to place sports bets, who had diverted part of the money into cryptocurrency, was held for three days in a penthouse in Balneário Camboriú while they demanded R$ 1 million for his release; his brother paid R$ 50,000 before police found him.","summary":"Two businessmen had hired a 22-year-old man from São Paulo to place sports bets totalling about R$ 2 million. Police say the businessmen had invested in crypto, and one of them made a loan of six bitcoins, about R$ 1.1 million. The young man diverted part of the money into cryptocurrency. To get it back, the businessmen held him from May 29, 2021 in a penthouse in Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, that one of them had rented for him, under a 37-year-old guard, and made his release conditional on R$ 1 million. He could use a phone only to call his family for money, and his brother transferred R$ 50,000. When the guard was inattentive he told his family where he was; on May 31 police found him and arrested the guard, and the businessmen were arrested on June 1. A gun said to have been used to threaten him was found at one businessman's home. He faces a fraud investigation.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the young man held in the penthouse"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":1000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":50000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://g1.globo.com/sc/santa-catarina/noticia/2021/06/10/cativeiro-de-luxo-e-r-2-milhoes-em-criptomoedas-policia-prende-3-pessoas-em-balneario-camboriu-por-sequestro-de-estelionatario.ghtml"]},{"id":773,"date":"July 16, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-16","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A man (FF)","location":"Birmingham, England","country":"UK","description":"A man on a night out on Broad Street, Birmingham, was forced into a van, plied with cannabis and laughing gas and held for at least twelve and a half hours while robbers used his phone's biometrics to take GBP 2,458 from his bank accounts and just short of GBP 18,000 in cryptocurrency. Five men were sentenced in January 2025 for a conspiracy of nine robberies.","summary":"On July 16, 2023, a man the court calls FF had gone to Broad Street in Birmingham for a night out. He was taken from the scene, forced into one robber's van, plied with cannabis and laughing gas and driven to his flat. He woke on his living room floor with the robbers present, who told him to sit in the van outside, where he stayed for many hours. Several times they held his phone to his face to open his banking apps. At about 2:30 to 3 a.m. he was let out and walked to a police station. The robbers took GBP 2,458 from his bank accounts and just short of GBP 18,000 in cryptocurrency, in a robbery that lasted at least twelve and a half hours. It was one of nine robberies in a conspiracy that used fake Grindr profiles to target gay and bisexual men. On January 13, 2025, five men were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to between 12 years and 17 years 3 months.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man taken from Broad Street"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Express kidnapping","Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":18000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/crim/2026/92","https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpq9vey1ndxo"]},{"id":774,"date":"January 22, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Herminio Andrés Paredes and his partner","location":"Leandro Cué, Hernandarias, Alto Paraná","country":"Paraguay","description":"Three hooded men entered a couple's bedroom in Hernandarias, held them at revolver point, tied them with a cable and questioned them about crypto mining machines they wrongly believed were in the house. Finding none, they took Gs 10 million, three phones and a motorcycle.","summary":"At about midnight on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, three hooded men entered a house in Leandro Cué, Hernandarias, in Paraguay's Alto Paraná department. Herminio Andrés Paredes, 35, told police that he and his partner were already resting when the men walked into their bedroom through a door that was not locked. The attackers held them at revolver point, tied them up with a piece of cable and questioned them again and again about crypto mining machines they believed were in the house. According to the complaint the robbers were wrong: there were no machines. After searching every room, they took Gs 10 million found in the wardrobe, three mobile phones and a Kenton GTR motorcycle. One escaped on the stolen motorcycle and the others in a Toyota Noah van. Paredes filed a complaint at the 29th police station, and National Police technical staff opened an investigation.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 35-year-old householder who filed the complaint"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his partner, tied up with him"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":10000000,"currency":"PYG","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.abc.com.py/este/2025/01/22/buscando-maquinas-de-criptomonedas-encapuchados-maniatan-a-pareja-y-roban-dinero-celulares-y-motocicleta/"]},{"id":775,"date":"January 23, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-23","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Alexander Adarich","location":"Milan","country":"Italy","description":"Alexander Adarich, a 54-year-old Ukrainian banker, was held in a bed and breakfast in central Milan to force a transfer of EUR 250,000 in cryptocurrency; his wallet was emptied and he fell from the fourth-floor window already dead. His son Igor was arrested in Spain for kidnapping aggravated by death.","summary":"On January 23, 2026, Alexander Adarich, a 54-year-old Ukrainian banker, went to a meeting at a bed and breakfast on the fourth floor of Via Nerino 8 in central Milan, Italy. Shortly before, a Telegram account under the name \"Kirill\" had sent him the address. He arrived with his son Igor, 34. Other men, described as \"Russians, professionals\", were in the flat. Investigators say the son took part in holding him to force a transfer of EUR 250,000 in cryptocurrency. His digital wallet was emptied shortly before police arrived. He fell from the window at about 6 pm; forensic examination found he was already dead, with beating marks on his face, deep grooves on his wrists and white rope in his hands. His son left Italy and was arrested in Spain on a European warrant for kidnapping aggravated by death; the other men's role is under investigation.","targeting":["Organised by a relative or partner"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 54-year-old Ukrainian banker"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":250000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":250000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2026/02/27/banchiere-ucciso-a-milano-arrestato-in-spagna-il-figlio-per-sequestrato-di-persona-aggravato-dalla-morte/8307155/"]},{"id":776,"date":"February ?, 2026","date_sort":"2026-02-01","date_precision":"month","year":2026,"victim":"A 52-year-old man","location":"Ponferrada, León","country":"Spain","description":"Five hooded men forced their way into a flat in central Ponferrada where a 52-year-old man lived with others, intimidated the occupants and took only a laptop and a mobile phone, which investigators believe gave access to crypto wallets.","summary":"In February 2026, five hooded men raided a flat on Calle Isaac Peral, a residential street in central Ponferrada, León, where a 52-year-old man lived with other people. They got into the building after someone opened the street door for them, then forced the door of the flat. Inside they intimidated the occupants and took only a laptop and a mobile phone, leaving the other valuables usually taken in home burglaries. Investigators believe the two devices gave access to cryptocurrency held in digital wallets, and that the gang acted on prior information with a precise target. The Policía Nacional in León is investigating the raid as one of the first home robberies in the province aimed at crypto wallets. The article reports no arrests.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 52-year-old man living in the flat"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"other occupants of the flat, relationship not stated"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.heraldodeleon.es/articulo/leon/policia-nacional-investiga-primeros-asaltos-viviendas-leon-robar-wallets-criptomonedas/20260219105511074450.html"]},{"id":777,"date":"November 30, 2019","date_sort":"2019-11-30","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Mother and former sister-in-law of Claudio Oliveira","location":"Anápolis, Goiás","country":"Brazil","description":"The mother and former sister-in-law of Claudio Oliveira, founder of the crypto brokerage Grupo Bitcoin Banco, were abducted in Anápolis and held overnight while the kidnappers demanded he transfer the equivalent of R$8 million in bitcoin. Police freed both women unharmed on a rural property in Minas Gerais; the suspects fled.","summary":"On Saturday, November 30, 2019, in Anápolis, Goiás, two relatives of Claudio Oliveira, founder of the Curitiba crypto brokerage Grupo Bitcoin Banco, known as the 'bitcoin king', were abducted. His former sister-in-law, 31, was seized near her workplace and forced to say where his mother, 68, was; the mother was then taken from a street market. Police named as main suspect a client of the group who could not withdraw his investment, and said the kidnappers demanded that Oliveira transfer the equivalent of R$8 million in bitcoin. The women were held first in Águas Lindas, Goiás, then in a room on a rural property in Minas Gerais, feet bound, guarded by armed men and threatened with death. On Sunday, December 1, police freed them unharmed; the kidnappers fled. The group said no ransom was paid. Three suspects were wanted.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Relative or partner","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the holder's mother and his former sister-in-law"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":8000000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://livecoins.com.br/mae-ex-cunhada-rei-do-bitcoin-sequestradas-amarradas-ameacadas/","https://web.archive.org/web/20191214194501/https://www.plural.jor.br/noticias/vizinhanca/rei-do-bitcoin-policia-ouve-vitimas-e-descarta-fraude-em-sequestro/"]},{"id":778,"date":"August 11, 2024","date_sort":"2024-08-11","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Ms. Deng, staff of a crypto exchange shop","location":"Mong Kok, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"A masked man with a 32 cm knife robbed a cryptocurrency exchange shop in Mong Kok of HK$400,000 in cash on the evening of 11 August 2024, pinning the staff member at the counter and injuring her. He pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 5 years and 4 months in June 2026.","summary":"At about 9:30 pm on 11 August 2024, a man in a face mask and cap entered a cryptocurrency exchange shop on the second floor of W Plaza, 608 Nathan Road, Mong Kok, while a staff member, Ms. Deng, was counting cash at the counter. He had found the shop through an online search and had visited the building earlier that evening. He pointed a 32 cm knife at her, pinned her to the counter by her arm and shoulder, put HK$400,000 in cash into his sling bag and fled. Ms. Deng was treated in hospital for a stitched cut to her right hand and scratches to her chest and forearms. HK$12,500 of the cash was found on the staircase outside the shop. Police identified him from CCTV and arrested him on 20 September 2024; he said he robbed the shop because he was in debt. So Peter pleaded guilty to robbery, and on 25 June 2026 the High Court sentenced him to 5 years and 4 months in prison.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the staff member counting cash at the shop counter"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hklii.hk/en/cases/hkcfi/2026/3842"]},{"id":779,"date":"January 30, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-30","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"Four young men in a Zagreb flat","location":"Centar, Zagreb","country":"Croatia","description":"Five men walked through the unlocked door of a flat in central Zagreb, attacked the four young men inside with a knife and a firearm, forced two of them to transfer cryptocurrency and took phones, jewellery and crypto wallets. One 50-year-old suspect was reported to the county state attorney.","summary":"On the night of January 30, 2026, a 50-year-old man and four unidentified men went to a flat in central Zagreb used by four young men: two aged 26, one aged 27 and a 25-year-old Kazakh national. The door was unlocked and they walked in. Police say they attacked the occupants at once, threatened them with a knife and a firearm and demanded that they transfer cryptocurrency to wallets the attackers supplied. One 26-year-old complied. The 27-year-old refused, was cut on the arm with a knife and threatened with death, then transferred his cryptocurrency too. The attackers also took phones, jewellery and crypto wallets and fled. The injured man was treated for light injuries. Police put the loss at about EUR 400,000. In March 2026 police held the 50-year-old and reported him to the county state attorney in Zagreb; the investigation continues.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"four young men in the flat, two made to transfer crypto"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":400000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://zagrebacka-policija.gov.hr/kriptovalute-bile-cilj-razbojnistva/106586","https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/razbojnici-u-zagrebu-upali-u-stan-pa-natjerali-stanare-da-im-prebace-kriptovalute-20260305"]},{"id":780,"date":"April 6, 2017","date_sort":"2017-04-06","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Rajesh Kumar Nishad","location":"Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh","country":"India","description":"A bitcoin trader visiting his home town of Auraiya was invited by a local criminal to explain bitcoin, then held at revolver point and made to transfer all his bitcoin and his mother's, worth about Rs 25 lakh. The attacker was later arrested and, police said, confessed.","summary":"On the evening of April 6, 2017, Rajesh Kumar Nishad, 27, a bitcoin trader from Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh, living in Agra, went to the home of Sandeep Chaturvedi, known as Bunty, a local criminal. A mutual acquaintance had introduced them in January, and Bunty had asked Nishad to explain bitcoin. While Nishad showed him trading on his smartphone, Bunty grabbed the phone, pointed a revolver at him and threatened to shoot him unless he transferred his bitcoin, and by Nishad's account showed him videos of himself beating people. Nishad transferred all his bitcoin to a Zebpay account Bunty had opened, then phoned his mother for her password so her bitcoin could be moved too. The loss was about Rs 25 lakh (Rs 20 lakh by the police chief's account). Police registered the case only on May 31; Bunty was arrested later on the district police chief's order and, the chief said, confessed.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a bitcoin trader"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2500000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://archive.factordaily.com/news/bitcoin-robbery-auraiya-up-bunty/","https://openthemagazine.com/features/business/bitcoins-the-new-money-trail"]},{"id":781,"date":"April 7, 2017","date_sort":"2017-04-07","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"A businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency","location":"East Delhi, Delhi","country":"India","description":"A businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency was lured through localbitcoins.com to a mall in east Delhi by a woman posing as a bitcoin seller, who asked him to bring cash; on arrival he was abducted and forced to hand over Rs 36 lakh. Police arrested the main accused and his girlfriend.","summary":"A businessman in Delhi who dealt in cryptocurrency registered on the website localbitcoins.com and entered his details there. A woman from a gang took his details from the site, called him under another name and posed as a bitcoin dealer, offering bitcoin at Rs 72,000 a unit and a better deal if he paid in cash. She asked him to meet her at a mall in east Delhi. When he arrived he was abducted and forced to hand over Rs 36 lakh in cash. Police traced the gang through technical surveillance of several mobile numbers and arrested the main accused, Aditya Rajput, an LLB graduate, and his girlfriend Karishma Rajput in Ghaziabad; four associates were also named as accused. Police said the gang had robbed two earlier victims of Rs 28 lakh and Rs 8.5 lakh the same way. The reporting gives no date for the robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a businessman who dealt in cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3600000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/bitcoin-thieves-abduct-bizman-rob-him-of-rs-36l/articleshow/60896690.cms"]},{"id":782,"date":"November ?, 2017","date_sort":"2017-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"A 27-year-old employee of a bitcoin company","location":"Minato, Tokyo","country":"Japan","description":"A 27-year-old employee of a bitcoin company, lured to the ANA InterContinental Tokyo by people posing as bitcoin buyers, was beaten in a hotel room and threatened with a knife while the attackers tried to take 109 bitcoins through his phone. He fled and alerted police, who arrested four youths in the room; a fifth youth and the alleged organiser were arrested later.","summary":"In November 2017 a 27-year-old employee of a company that deals in bitcoin was lured to the ANA InterContinental Tokyo hotel in Akasaka, Minato Ward, through an exchange on an internet site about buying bitcoin. The suspects sent him a photo of bundles of counterfeit 10,000-yen notes. In a room at the hotel, youths then aged 18 and 19 beat him, and one, wielding a knife, said: \"We will stab you if you do not cough up the coin as soon as possible.\" They tried to steal 109 bitcoins, then worth about 100 million yen, using his phone. The victim fled the hotel and alerted police, and officers entered the room and arrested four youths on suspicion of attempted robbery. A fifth youth, 19, was arrested in January. Police have since arrested Yuki Takimoto, 27, president of a cleaning company in Fukuoka Prefecture, who allegedly ordered the beating; he denies it.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"an employee of a bitcoin company, the seller in the arranged deal"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":109,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/breaking/tokyo-man-arrested-over-attempted-robbery-of-100-million-in-bitcoin-at-akasaka-hotel/"]},{"id":783,"date":"November, 2017","date_sort":"2017-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2017,"victim":"A Moscow resident selling bitcoin","location":"Moscow","country":"Russia","description":"A Moscow man who had transferred bitcoin to a buyer at a meeting in an office near Kitay-gorod lost the 15 million rubles in cash he was to receive when about eight men burst in, said the buyer was a fraudster, led him away under threat of violence and took the bag of money. The office had been rented under a false name.","summary":"A Moscow man went with his exchange agent to an office on Maly Cherkassky Lane, near Kitay-gorod in central Moscow, to sell bitcoin for cash to a man he barely knew. The buyer's representative brought 15 million rubles in a bag, and the seller transferred the bitcoin from his account to the buyer's. Once the transfer was confirmed, and as the seller was about to take the cash, one of those present phoned someone and about eight heavily built men burst into the office. They said the buyer was a fraudster they had been hunting for two weeks, led him out under threat of violence, took the bag of money and left in two groups, scattering in the street. Police found that the office had been rented for cash under a false name and that the seller's agent, who said he had known the buyer for over a year, had arranged the meeting. No arrest was reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a Moscow resident selling bitcoin for cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15000000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bits.media/v-moskve-ukrali-15-mln-rubley-pri-popytke-obmenyat-ikh-na-bitkoina/","https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/1952341"]},{"id":784,"date":"December 2, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-02","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Sandeep Kumar","location":"Hisar, Haryana","country":"India","description":"Sandeep Kumar, who worked at a digital currency office in Hisar, was forced into a car by six or seven men, driven to fields near Rewari, beaten and threatened with a gun to transfer 52 bitcoin; he entered wrong login details and was let go with an order to call when he had five bitcoin. Initial inquiries found the accused were all policemen.","summary":"On Saturday, December 2, 2017, Sandeep Kumar, who worked in a digital currency office in Hisar, Haryana, left the office on his motorbike towards Malik Chowk. Near the court a black car pulled up beside him, he stopped, and men got out and forced him into the car. By his account six or seven men drove him to fields near Rewari and demanded 52 bitcoin. When he refused they beat him and told him to make the transfer online; he entered a wrong username and password. They fired a shot to frighten him and held a gun to his temple. When he said he could give nothing, they told him to phone them once he had gathered five bitcoin and threatened to take him and his employer. They left him in Rewari, and he took a train back to Hisar and on Sunday morning went to the HAU police post. Initial inquiries found that all the accused were policemen.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a worker at a digital currency office"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":52,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://hindi.oneindia.com/news/india/hisar-indian-kidnappers-demand-bitcoin-434766.html"]},{"id":785,"date":"December 8, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-08","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"Yaşar Dağgüvan and Asker Kazımoğlu","location":"Muratpaşa, Antalya","country":"Turkey","description":"Two cousins from Istanbul who came to Antalya with USD 182,000 in cash to buy bitcoin were driven from the airport to a rented villa by the sellers, where one of them threatened them with a pistol and took the bag of money. One suspect surrendered, two were caught in January 2018 and one fled abroad.","summary":"On December 8, 2017, two cousins living in Istanbul, Yaşar Dağgüvan and Asker Kazımoğlu, were robbed in the Güzeloba neighbourhood of Muratpaşa, Antalya. Their relative Mustafa Kerimov, who lives in Ukraine, had agreed a bitcoin purchase with people in Antalya and sent them to carry it out with USD 182,000 in cash. Four men met them at Antalya airport in a rented car and took them to a villa they had rented, where the bargaining began. During the deal one of the men, an Uzbek national identified as A.A., threatened them with a pistol and took the bag of money, and the group drove off. The cousins called the police. One suspect, T.Ç., surrendered to the Antalya chief prosecutor's office, and after about two months of surveillance police caught K.K. and S.H., said to run a gambling house, at a bar in late January 2018 and sent them to court. A.A. fled abroad.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two cousins carrying the cash to buy bitcoin"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":182000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":182000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yerel-haberler/antalya/bitcoin-almaya-gelen-2-kisinin-182-bin-dolarini-40727505","https://www.karar.com/bitcoin-almaya-gitti-182-bin-dolari-gasp-edildi-antalya-haberleri-685319"]},{"id":786,"date":"December 23, 2017","date_sort":"2017-12-23","date_precision":"day","year":2017,"victim":"A man who wanted to exchange cash for bitcoin","location":"13th district, Budapest","country":"Hungary","description":"A man who had agreed with Kalmár George Edward to have his cash converted into bitcoin was called to a building on Balzac utca in Budapest's 13th district, where an accomplice threatened him with a knife in the stairwell and took his bag of money. Police arrested three men four days later.","summary":"In the early hours of Saturday, December 23, 2017, at about 1:40 a.m., a man met 43-year-old Kalmár George Edward on Balzac utca in Budapest's 13th district. Kalmár had agreed beforehand to convert the man's money into bitcoin and had called him to a building there. In the stairwell, Kalmár's accomplice R. Péter, 19, went at the man, threatened him with a knife and took his bag, then ran out of the building, where his father was waiting, and they escaped by car. The amount taken was not reported. Police issued a public appeal for Kalmár the same day; the press reported he is probably the George Kalmar who, as a senior banker, earlier took about 400,000 pounds from the accounts of Morgan Stanley clients. After the victim's complaint, detectives of the Angyalföld police arrested all three men in a flat in the 8th district on the evening of December 27, 2017.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man bringing cash to exchange for bitcoin"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://index.hu/belfold/2017/12/23/keses_bitcoinbunozot_keres_a_rendorseg/","https://nlc.hu/eletmod/20171228/bitcoin-valuta-valtas-angyalfold-rablas/"]},{"id":787,"date":"2018","date_sort":"2018-01-01","date_precision":"year","year":2018,"victim":"A cryptocurrency trader","location":"Saint Petersburg","country":"Russia","description":"A group posing as FSB officers put a friend of a Saint Petersburg cryptocurrency trader in a van and used physical violence on him until he gave the trader's address, then threatened the trader with torture until he gave them RUB 5 million and transferred 99 BTC and other digital assets. Two men were charged with extortion.","summary":"In spring 2018 Petr Piron tried to get crypto worth at least RUB 1 million from a Saint Petersburg crypto trader by telling a friend of his, as a supposed FSB officer, that the trader faced charges unless he transferred it to Piron's address. Neither believed him. Piron then recruited Evgeny Prigozhin and five others, who kept up the FSB pretence. They tracked down the friend, put him in a van and used physical violence to make him give the trader's address. They told the trader they would detain him, and Piron and Prigozhin threatened to take him to Shpalernaya Street to be tortured, beaten and have chemicals affecting the nervous system put into his body. The trader gave them RUB 5 million and transferred to Piron 99 BTC and other digital assets worth RUB 7 million. A December 17, 2019 report said the Petrogradsky District Court had registered the extortion case against the two.","targeting":["Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto trader"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a friend of the trader, put in a van and beaten"}],"approach":["Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash","Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":99,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://forklog.com/news/v-sankt-peterburge-psevdo-sotrudniki-fsb-pod-ugrozoj-pytok-pohitili-kriptovalyuty-na-55-mln-rublej"]},{"id":788,"date":"January 12, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-12","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Lucas Cohen, owner of a currency exchange office, and his family","location":"Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro","country":"Brazil","description":"Two armed men robbed a Copacabana currency exchange office, tied up the owner and his brothers, held a gun to their father's head and took gold jewellery, phones and cash, with the jewellery and cash put at about BRL 100,000. They then demanded the business's bitcoin, searched the owner's phone for a wallet and gave up when they found nothing.","summary":"Two armed men robbed a currency exchange office in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 12, 2018. The owner, Lucas Cohen, 23, his two brothers, his father and a customer were inside. The robbers held up the customer, asked for Lucas by name and got into the armoured cabin through a door left open as one brother arrived. They tied up Lucas and his brothers and questioned the father about the money, putting a gun to his head and in his mouth. They said they knew the family. They took gold jewellery worn by the victims, phones and the cash from the safe; the jewellery and cash came to about BRL 100,000. The office had recently put up a Bitcoin sign, and they then demanded bitcoin and searched Lucas's phone for a wallet. The wallet was kept elsewhere, so they gave up and fled on a motorcycle. Police investigated; no arrest was reported.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner","Bystanders or neighbours","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the owner of the exchange office"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"the owner's two brothers and father, present"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a customer in the office"}],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"BRL","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://web.archive.org/web/20180118000938/http://extra.globo.com/casos-de-policia/ladroes-assaltam-casa-de-cambio-em-copacabana-exigem-bitcoin-22297730.html","https://canaltech.com.br/criptomoedas/bandidos-exigem-bitcoins-em-assalto-a-casa-de-cambio-no-rio-de-janeiro-106814/"]},{"id":789,"date":"January 13, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-13","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A security guard at a site hosting a crypto mining farm","location":"Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Two masked men, one of them an employee of the site, broke into a guardhouse where eight Antminer S9 mining machines were installed, beat the guard, bound him with tape and took the machines, valued at RUB 2,720,000, and his phone. Both were convicted in July 2018 and given suspended prison terms.","summary":"Between 2 and 3 a.m. on January 13, 2018, two masked men climbed the fence of a company site in Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Oblast, where a private owner had installed eight Antminer S9 mining machines in late December 2017. One of them worked at the site and had seen the machines. He smashed the guardhouse window with a sledgehammer, climbed in, punched and kicked the guard, pulled him to the floor, bound his hands and feet with tape and put a pillow over his head. The two carried out the eight machines, valued at RUB 2,720,000, and the guard's phone, later found smashed. The guard cut himself free and raised the alarm. Police held the insider the same day; seven machines were returned and the eighth replaced. In July 2018 the Usolye town court convicted both men of robbery with violence and gave them suspended terms of six years and six months and of six years.","targeting":["Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the night guard of the site"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2720000,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/Oy5VGwcsAHLh/"]},{"id":790,"date":"January 14 to 15, 2018","date_sort":"2018-01-14","date_precision":"range","year":2018,"victim":"A man who came to buy tokens convertible into bitcoin","location":"Rotterdam, South Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man who went to another man's home in Rotterdam to buy tokens convertible into bitcoin with him was pulled into a basement storage unit by two masked men, taped to a chair, beaten, cut with a knife, tasered and threatened with firearms, and robbed of 1.159 BTC, EUR 2,000 and a Louis Vuitton bag. The man who had arranged the meeting was convicted on appeal in 2023 and sentenced to 18 months, six suspended.","summary":"On the evening of January 14, 2018, a man went to another man's home in Rotterdam, as arranged, to buy tokens convertible into bitcoin with him, bringing EUR 2,000. The court found he was lured there under false pretences. The host walked him to his basement storage unit, where two men in balaclavas pulled him inside. They taped him to a chair, beat and kicked him, put him in a neck hold, cut his ear and head with a knife, threatened him with firearms, fired a shot into the floor beside him and hit him with a stun gun. The host took the EUR 2,000 and, once the victim had unlocked his phone, used it to transfer 1.159 BTC, worth over EUR 10,000, from the victim's account. A Louis Vuitton bag was also taken. The host was taken into custody on January 17, 2018. In June 2023 the court of appeal convicted him of robbery with violence and gave him 18 months, six suspended.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who came to buy tokens"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1.15951069,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2023:1414"]},{"id":791,"date":"February 12, 2018","date_sort":"2018-02-12","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Jignesh Patel, a businessman","location":"Surat, Gujarat","country":"India","description":"Four men, among them a suspended police head constable, kidnapped a Surat businessman from a shopping complex car park, held him at a building site in Kim and, posing as police, demanded all his bitcoins under threat of police action. They freed him in Surat before police reached them; the head constable was later arrested.","summary":"At about 1 p.m. on February 12, 2018, Jignesh Patel, 33, a businessman from Adajan who sells coffee and tea mix for vending machines, was in the parking area of the Westfield Shopping Complex on Ghod Dod Road in Surat, Gujarat, when three men got out of a car and kidnapped him; a fourth drove. A former business associate had told them of his bitcoin investments. They held him in an under-construction building at Kim village outside the city. Saying they were police, they demanded all his bitcoins as ransom and threatened him with police action. Patel said he had left the bitcoin business and had no balance; they did not believe him. A shop owner had alerted police, but before officers reached them the kidnappers drove back and freed him at Jahangirpura. One of them, suspended head constable Anisuddin Anwarali Saiyed, was later arrested and remanded in police custody.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman seized at the shopping complex"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":"BTC","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/bizman-kidnapped-to-extort-ransom-in-bitcoins/articleshow/62891735.cms","https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/head-constable-arrested-in-bitcoin-extortion-case/articleshow/63260279.cms"]},{"id":792,"date":"March 12, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-12","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"Jonathan and David Dominguez, owners of a crypto mine","location":"Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec","country":"Canada","description":"Five men posing as investors came to a cryptocurrency mining warehouse near Quebec City, confined and tied up the two brothers who own it, doused them with bleach and took dozens of mining graphics cards, put at CAD 800,000. Two suspects were arrested within about 30 minutes; three fled.","summary":"At about 10 p.m. on Monday, March 12, 2018, five men posing as potential investors came to Crypto Technologies inc., a cryptocurrency mine in a former warehouse in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, near Quebec City. They confined the two brothers who own it, Jonathan and David Dominguez, tied them up, doused them with bleach and took dozens of mining graphics cards, put at CAD 800,000 in computer equipment. Two of the men left with the cards in a white cube truck; three fled, apparently in a vehicle stolen at the site. The brothers freed themselves once the attackers had gone and were treated at the scene by paramedics, declining hospital. Quebec City police arrested two suspects about 30 minutes later, some 20 km away. Next day Yan Pichette was charged with robbery, forcible confinement and possession of stolen property, and Dany Bouchard, 51, with theft and possession of stolen property.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"the two brothers who own the mining company"}],"approach":["Social engineering: business or investment meeting"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":800000,"currency":"CAD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/affaires-criminelles/201803/13/01-5157205-deux-mineurs-sequestres-ligotes-et-asperges-deau-de-javel.php"]},{"id":793,"date":"March 22, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-22","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A caretaker living in a house with crypto mining rigs","location":"Nikolskoye, Belgorod Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"Masked men tipped off by an acquaintance of the owner pried open a window of a house in Nikolskoye where crypto mining rigs were running, beat the caretaker, tied him with cable ties and took graphics cards, motherboards and power supplies worth RUB 1,450,100. A neighbour freed him; three men were convicted.","summary":"At about 4 a.m. on March 22, 2018, three masked men who had driven from Saint Petersburg reached a house in Nikolskoye, Belgorod Oblast, where the owner had installed crypto mining rigs in December 2017. An acquaintance of the owner who had seen the rigs on visits had passed on details of the house, and on March 21 its coordinates and floor plan. Two men pried open a window with a crowbar; the third kept watch, then joined them. They knocked down and beat the caretaker who lived there, tied him with cable ties and, by his account, pressed an object to his neck. They took 60 graphics cards, 10 motherboards and 8 power supplies worth RUB 1,450,100 and left after 6 a.m. with him still tied; a neighbour freed him. Two accomplices were convicted in December 2018, and on March 29, 2019 the Belgorod district court gave a third man three years in a strict-regime colony.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard","Business premises or machine"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the man who lived in the house and looked after it"}],"approach":["Forced entry"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1450100,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/ylU0HyKsYkQD/"]},{"id":794,"date":"March 29, 2018","date_sort":"2018-03-29","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A Chinese trader and three compatriots","location":"Al Rafaa, Dubai","country":"UAE","description":"Four Chinese businessmen who answered a Facebook advert and brought AED 800,000 in cash to buy 400 bitcoin at a Dubai office were tied up by three men posing as detectives, locked in and robbed of the cash and their phones. Three of eight men charged were jailed for a year and deported.","summary":"A gang posted a Facebook advert offering bitcoin, and a Chinese trader's business partner was offered 400 BTC for AED 800,000. At about 4 p.m. on March 29, 2018, the trader and three compatriots took the cash to an office in Al Rafaa, Dubai, whose manager had let the gang use it for three hours for AED 3,000. The manager checked the money and showed them photos of bitcoin. Three minutes later three men in Emirati dress came in saying they were detectives, tied the four with plastic handcuffs, locked the door and fled with the cash and their phones. By the trader's account, an employee came back and untied the manager, and the victims stopped the employee from escaping; by another report, a businessman freed himself and held a defendant until police arrived. Of eight men charged, the Dubai Criminal Court jailed three for a year, followed by deportation, and acquitted five.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the Chinese trader who brought the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"his compatriots, one of them his business partner"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Authority misuse: fake police or official"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":800000,"currency":"AED","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2019/05/04/five-cleared-in-dhs800000-bitcoin-scam","https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/businessman-robbed-of-dh800-000-after-bitcoin-scam-court-hears-1.806335"]},{"id":795,"date":"April 15, 2018","date_sort":"2018-04-15","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A bitcoin buyer","location":"Almere, Flevoland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man who had been offered bitcoin through an app met two men at a McDonald's in Almere to buy nine bitcoins for EUR 65,000. In his car in the car park one of them pointed a weapon at him while the other took the cash, his phone and his car key, and they drove off in a white BMW.","summary":"By his own account, a man who had been offered bitcoin through an app met two men at a McDonald's in Almere, Netherlands, on April 15, 2018, having agreed to buy nine bitcoins that day for EUR 65,000. After the meeting the three walked to his car in the car park and got in. He said one of the men pointed a weapon at him while the other took his car key, his mobile phone and the EUR 65,000 in cash, and the two got out and drove away in a white BMW. A man who had rented that BMW earlier that day, and who admitted being at the McDonald's shortly before the robbery, was charged with the robbery or with aiding it. The Amsterdam district court acquitted him on November 23, 2023: the victim's description of the two robbers did not match him and the victim did not recognise him from a photo. The victim's damages claim was declared inadmissible.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer carrying the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":65000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:7527"]},{"id":796,"date":"May 11, 2018","date_sort":"2018-05-11","date_precision":"day","year":2018,"victim":"A reseller of mining equipment and his friend","location":"Drozhzhino, Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast","country":"Russia","description":"A man who resold cryptocurrency mining machines and a friend driving him were lured by a fake buyer to a strip of woodland near Drozhzhino, Moscow Oblast, where a gang blocked their car, threatened them with a pistol-like object, beat the seller and took 38 boxes of mining equipment, cash and a phone. Six men were sentenced in 2019.","summary":"On the evening of May 11, 2018, a man who resold cryptocurrency mining equipment drove with a friend to Drozhzhino in the Leninsky District of Moscow Oblast to deliver miners ordered by a buyer calling himself 'Georgy'. A man waiting for them said he would take them to Georgy and guided them to a strip of woodland about 200 m from Yuzhnaya Street. At about 9 pm, as the seller opened a box to show a miner, five men arrived in two cars and blocked the victims' car. One pointed a pistol-like object at the driver's head and threatened to shoot him in the knee. Others twisted the seller's arm, slammed him against the car, held both men on the ground and hit them in the face. They took 22 miners, 16 power supplies, RUB 385,000 in cash and an iPhone, and left about 15 minutes later. In December 2019 the Vidnoye City Court sentenced six men to terms of 3 years 6 months to 5 years.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the reseller of mining equipment"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his friend, driving him that day"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Valuables","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2760600,"currency":"RUB","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/CV01Z4UYPOJG/"]},{"id":797,"date":"September, 2018","date_sort":"2018-09-01","date_precision":"month","year":2018,"victim":"Mohammad B., a 38-year-old bitcoin seller","location":"Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan","country":"Iran","description":"A man who advertised bitcoin for sale online was lured by a fake buyer to a house in Mashhad, forced at gunpoint into the basement, tied up and tortured with electricity. He stabbed one of the two attackers, a 24-year-old student who died, and escaped.","summary":"In September 2018, Mohammad B., 38, posted an online advert to sell bitcoin in Mashhad, Iran. A supposed buyer called and asked him to come to 93 Imam Khomeini Street for the deal. When he refused to go into the house, the young buyer pressed a Colt pistol to his temple and walked him into the basement, where a second young man, a student, was waiting. The two tied his hands and feet with plastic cuffs, threatened him with knives, struck him with a knife handle and tortured him with electricity through clips on his head to make him say where his currency and dollars were. While the gunman went to search his car, the victim threw himself on the 24-year-old student and stabbed him in the thigh and stomach, cut his ties and ran. The gunman fled; the student died. Police arrested the victim, who pleaded self-defence. The gunman surrendered hours later and the house owner was arrested.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the 38-year-old bitcoin seller"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Unknown"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/804676"]},{"id":798,"date":"April 23, 2019","date_sort":"2019-04-23","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"A bitcoin ATM in the Octagon Shopping Centre","location":"Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire","country":"UK","description":"Three men who drove from London in a hired vehicle forced open a BTC Crown bitcoin ATM in the Octagon Shopping Centre in Burton with a screwdriver or something similar, and ran off with the cash box when a member of staff shouted at them. Police stopped their vehicle on the M1 that evening; the box held the equivalent of GBP 5.","summary":"At about 5 pm on April 23, 2019, three men who had hired a vehicle and driven from London forced open the bitcoin ATM on the lower level of the Octagon Shopping Centre in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, using a screwdriver or something similar. They had put the cash box in a bag when a member of staff approached them and started shouting, and they ran off and drove away. It lasted under a minute and no one was injured. At about 8 pm Leicestershire Police stopped their vehicle on the M1 for dangerous driving, found the cash box and arrested the three men, all from South East London. The machine, owned by BTC Crown, held only the equivalent of GBP 5, and the damage came to about GBP 800. In August 2021 at Stafford Crown Court, Charles Aristide received a suspended nine-month sentence and Andrew Lund four weeks in prison; the third man had already been jailed for nine months.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Business premises or machine"],"people":[],"approach":["Walked in"],"attack":["Burglary"],"outcome":"Nobody held or hurt","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"no","drugs_alcohol":"no","weapons":"unconfirmed","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":5,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/local-news/london-crooks-swipe-cryptocurrency-burton-5825129","https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/bitcoin-machine-burton-arrest-theft-2792821"]},{"id":799,"date":"November 28, 2019","date_sort":"2019-11-28","date_precision":"day","year":2019,"victim":"Mr. Yeh, a USDT buyer from Pingtung","location":"Tainan","country":"Taiwan","description":"A buyer who brought TWD 15,025,000 in cash to Tainan high-speed rail station to buy 500,000 USDT from fake sellers was dragged and flung from their car when he tried to leave, and the men got away with all the cash. Nine people were convicted; the two robbers received 7 and 6 years.","summary":"On November 28, 2019, Mr. Yeh, a buyer from Pingtung, travelled with his wife to Tainan high-speed rail station to buy 500,000 USDT for TWD 15,025,000 in cash from sellers arranged over LINE and Telegram. One organiser had traded tether with the couple before and planned to cheat them with a fake transfer slip. At about 5:41 pm two men asked Yeh to bring the cash into the back of their car, which carried false plates, to count it. Yeh sensed a trap and opened the door to leave; one man held on to the cash bag, the driver sped off and turned sharply, and Yeh, half outside the car, was dragged more than 10 meters and flung onto the road, with abrasions to his right hand and leg. The men got away with all the cash. Police arrested four suspects within 48 hours. In July 2020 the Tainan District Court convicted nine people; the two robbers received 7 and 6 years.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":15025000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TNDM%2c109%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c106%2c20200729%2c5&ot=in","https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/2995220"]},{"id":800,"date":"January 20, 2020","date_sort":"2020-01-20","date_precision":"day","year":2020,"victim":"Mr. Wu, a crypto buyer, and a friend","location":"Taoyuan","country":"Taiwan","description":"Fake crypto sellers pepper-sprayed a buyer and his friend at the Starbucks in Taoyuan high-speed rail station and ran off with his TWD 2,673,000 in cash; the buyer chased them and took the bag back. Three men were sentenced to 1 year 4 months for aggravated snatch theft with a weapon.","summary":"On January 20, 2020, a man posing as a crypto seller contacted Mr. Wu over LINE and agreed to sell him cryptocurrency for TWD 2,673,000 in cash that evening at the Starbucks in Taoyuan high-speed rail station. Four men drove up from Taichung, buying pepper spray at a military-supply shop on the way. At about 10:20 pm two of them went in, met Wu and a friend, counted the cash and put it in a backpack. While Wu waited for the crypto transfer to be confirmed, the two, on instructions sent over Telegram, sprayed pepper spray in the faces of Wu and his friend and ran out with the bag. Wu chased them despite the pain and wrenched the bag back from one of them outside the café; the four fled by car. In January 2022 the Taoyuan District Court sentenced three of the men to 1 year 4 months each for aggravated snatch theft with a weapon; the High Court upheld this in December 2022.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a friend who came with him"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2673000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TYDM%2c109%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c1237%2c20220121%2c1","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPHM%2c111%2c%e4%b8%8a%e8%a8%b4%2c1551%2c20221213%2c1"]},{"id":801,"date":"May 12, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-12","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Two men carrying a crypto buyer's cash","location":"Zhongshan County, Hezhou, Guangxi","country":"China","description":"Posing as sellers of virtual currency, a gang lured two men carrying CNY 3 million in cash for a buyer out of their hotel in Zhongshan County, Guangxi, beat them with sticks and took the money. Police arrested all the suspects within 36 hours, and 12 defendants were sentenced to between six years and life.","summary":"In early May 2021 a gang that included a man surnamed Chen, posing as sellers of virtual currency, won the trust of a buyer surnamed Si and agreed to sell him CNY 3 million worth for cash in Zhongshan County, Guangxi. Chen, whose task was to find people for the robbery, hired a man surnamed Zhou and others for CNY 150,000. On May 12, Si sent two men, Yang and Wang, from Liaocheng, Shandong, to Zhongshan with the CNY 3 million in cash. That night three of the gang coaxed them out of their hotel with the cash. At about 11 pm, on the road by the hotel entrance, Zhou's group rushed them with sticks and beat them; injured, the two dropped the suitcase and bags, which the gang took and shared out before fleeing. Police arrested all the suspects within 36 hours and recovered CNY 2,463,600. The Hezhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced 12 defendants to between six years and life.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Other"],"people":[{"role":"Other","people":2,"at_least":false,"detail":"two men sent by the buyer to carry his cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"CNY","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.sohu.com/a/514710194_121123826","https://tv.cctv.com/2022/06/13/VIDE2ShG5EkYMX0wkKRDp0i1220613.shtml"]},{"id":802,"date":"May 28, 2021","date_sort":"2021-05-28","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Three USDT buyers, Mr. Li and two others","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A fake USDT seller and two accomplices pepper-sprayed three buyers in a rented meeting room in Taichung and took about TWD 1.88 million in cash, a phone and a backpack. The three were sentenced to 9, 8 and 7 years 10 months for aggravated robbery with a weapon.","summary":"On May 28, 2021, Chen Sheng-lin, posing on Telegram as a USDT seller, met three buyers, Mr. Li and two others, who had been introduced to him through friends who knew nothing of his plan. He had rented a meeting room on the 20th floor of a building on Wenxin Road, Taichung, with a counting machine on the table, and the buyers counted the cash they had brought for the deal. Chen left, saying he would fetch his boss's assistant, and came back with two accomplices carrying pepper spray. At 4:38 pm the three sprayed the buyers in the face and took TWD 1,773,700 from the table, plus one buyer's phone and a backpack holding about TWD 100,000; that buyer hugged his own TWD 1,465,400 to his chest. The three fled by Uber and were arrested by June 4. In April 2022 the Taichung District Court sentenced them to 9, 8 and 7 years 10 months for aggravated robbery.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":3,"at_least":false,"detail":"three buyers who brought cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":1873700,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2c110%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c1390%2c20220421%2c4","https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3621845"]},{"id":803,"date":"June ?, 2021","date_sort":"2021-06-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"26 people robbed in the street","location":"London, England","country":"UK","description":"Between June 2021 and January 2022 four teenagers robbed 26 people at knifepoint in 19 robberies across London, forcing them to hand over their phones and passcodes and draining more than GBP 115,000 in cryptocurrency. They were sentenced in July 2023 to more than 23 years in total.","summary":"Between June 2021 and January 2022, four teenagers carried out a series of robberies and attempted robberies in different parts of London: 19 robberies in which 26 people were robbed, according to the Metropolitan Police. They threatened victims with knives and forced them to hand over their phones and the passcodes to unlock them, then drained the victims' cryptocurrency into hot wallets and used stored bank details to buy top-up cards, taxi rides and takeaways. More than GBP 115,000 in cryptocurrency was stolen. Detectives traced the group through takeaway orders delivered to their homes, arrested all four in raids on May 3 and 4 and charged them with conspiracy to commit robbery. On July 6, 2023 they were sentenced to more than 23 years in total, the longest term, 12 years, going to Nathan Mohalland, 19, who was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":26,"at_least":false,"detail":"people robbed in the street across London"}],"approach":["Seized in the street or a public place"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Devices or seed","Cash"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":115000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":150000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/knifepoint-four-jailed-for-stealing-115-000-of-cryptocurrency-and-spending-on-taxis-and-takeaways","https://protos.com/london-teens-jailed-for-stealing-150k-crypto-in-mugging-spree/"]},{"id":804,"date":"July, 2021","date_sort":"2021-07-01","date_precision":"month","year":2021,"victim":"A bitcoin holder, client of Casa","location":"","country":"Colombia","description":"A Casa client who met a woman on Tinder posing as a cryptocurrency trader was drugged through his drink at his house; he believes she asked him about his phone and passwords. His Casa account was almost hacked, but his crypto on other platforms was drained.","summary":"A bitcoin holder who kept bitcoin with the self-custody provider Casa met a woman on the dating app Tinder who presented herself as a cryptocurrency trader. In person she looked different, but he did not give it much thought. When they reached his house, his drink was laced with a benzodiazepine, a drug that causes short-term amnesia. He believes she asked him about his phone and passwords and went after his assets. By Casa's account, his Casa account was almost broken into, but the crypto he held on other platforms was drained. The story comes from Casa's post-mortem of the attack, as retold in July 2021; the account available gives no place, date or amount and reports no arrest.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a bitcoin holder, client of a custody provider"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure"],"attack":["Theft by deception"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"","drugs_alcohol":"yes","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://dailycoin.com/unlucky-holder-gets-roofied-and-robbed-by-a-tinder-date/"]},{"id":805,"date":"November 11, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-11","date_precision":"day","year":2021,"victim":"Mr. Chen, a 33-year-old USDT buyer","location":"Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"Two men posing as USDT sellers grabbed a buyer's TWD 5.54 million in cash in a private room of a Taipei Japanese restaurant; the buyer pulled the bag back, it tore, he shouted that he was being robbed and they fled with nothing. Both were convicted of attempted snatch theft.","summary":"On November 11, 2021, a group posted a fake offer of 300,000 USDT in an OTC trading group on Telegram. Through two brokers who knew nothing of the plan, Mr. Chen, 33, agreed to buy 200,000 USDT for TWD 5.54 million in cash. That evening, at about 7 pm, Chen led two men sent by the group into a private room of a Japanese restaurant off Zhongshan North Road in Taipei, where one of them counted the cash on a counting machine. The second man then asked for the toilet, and as Chen opened the door for him, the first grabbed the paper bag holding the cash. Chen pulled the bag back, it tore and the money spilled on the floor, and he shouted that he was being robbed. The second man briefly held Chen from behind so his partner could break free, and both fled with nothing. Police arrested them within two days. In August 2025 the Taipei District Court convicted both of attempted snatch theft.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Fought off","obtained":["Nothing"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPDM%2c113%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c344%2c20250825%2c1","https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3735841"]},{"id":806,"date":"November 27 to 28, 2021","date_sort":"2021-11-27","date_precision":"range","year":2021,"victim":"A man","location":"Amsterdam, North Holland","country":"Netherlands","description":"A man lured to an Amsterdam hotel through a dating-app contact was bound, gagged and held at knifepoint overnight while the gang took money from his bank account, partly as bitcoins bought on a platform account opened in his name. One participant was sentenced to three years in January 2024.","summary":"Overnight on November 27 to 28, 2021, a man was held in a hotel room in Amsterdam. He had met a 15-year-old girl through a dating app; a gang ran her profiles, and while he showered she threw the room key card down to them. About seven young men came into the bathroom, one making stabbing motions with a knife. They taped and handcuffed him, gagged him, taped a towel over his head and kept him on the toilet all night, once holding the knife to his throat for his PIN codes. He was made to tell his bank by phone to unblock his account because he wanted to buy bitcoins. EUR 8,698 went to a crypto platform account opened in his name and EUR 1,000 was withdrawn with his cards. The men left at about 6 a.m. with his phone, cash and ID. In January 2024 an Amsterdam court jailed one participant for three years for this and two similar robberies.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man lured to the hotel by a decoy"}],"approach":["Social engineering: dating or sexual lure","Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8698,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2024:110","https://data.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraken/content?id=ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2024:110"]},{"id":807,"date":"February 15, 2022","date_sort":"2022-02-15","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Five men buying Tether","location":"Hung Hom, Kowloon","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Five men who brought HK$3 million in cash to a flat in Hung Hom to buy Tether were surrounded and attacked by South Asian men with knives and wooden sticks, who fled with the cash. Two buyers were hurt, and police arrested nine men in Kwai Chung three days later.","summary":"On the afternoon of February 15, 2022, five men aged 32 to 55 went to a flat in The Metropolis Tower, Hung Hom, with HK$3 million in cash to buy Tether from a South Asian woman they had arranged the deal with earlier that month. She was not there. Instead several South Asian men armed with knives and wooden sticks surrounded and attacked them. Two of the buyers resisted and were hurt, on the forehead and on the hand, and were taken to hospital. The robbers fled with the rucksack holding the cash, which belonged to the oldest buyer, Mr. Lam. Police classified the case as robbery. On the night of February 17 to 18, Kowloon West detectives raided a unit in an industrial building in Kwai Chung and arrested nine South Asian men aged 18 to 25.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the buyer who owned the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":4,"at_least":false,"detail":"the four other men in the buying party"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3000000,"currency":"HKD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.wenweipo.com/epaper/view/newsDetail/1494736868019933184.html","https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/police-arrest-9-south-asian-suspects-for-robbing-five-men-of-hk3m-during-transaction-of-tether-virtual-coins-one-of-them-tests-positive-for-covid-19/"]},{"id":808,"date":"July 13, 2022","date_sort":"2022-07-13","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"Mr. Chen, an employee of a crypto dealer","location":"Xinzhuang, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A 21-year-old sent by a crypto dealer to collect TWD 2.4 million in cash from a buyer in Xinzhuang was pepper-sprayed by the buyer's accomplices as he walked back to his car, and they took the cash. Four men were arrested two days later; two were sentenced for aggravated snatch theft.","summary":"On the evening of July 13, 2022, Mr. Chen, 21, was sent by his employer, a crypto dealer, to collect TWD 2.4 million in cash from a buyer in Xinzhuang, New Taipei. The buyer's side had planned to take the money back. Chen collected the cash inside their car in a car park, and as he walked back to his own car two accomplices hiding behind it rushed out. He ran; one sprayed pepper spray into his eyes, he dropped the bag, and they picked it up and drove off. Police traced four men on camera footage and arrested them on July 15 in Kaohsiung and at Taoyuan airport, as two were about to fly to Cambodia. In March 2024 a court sentenced two of them to 18 and 16 months for aggravated snatch theft. A co-defendant testified the cash had been withdrawn by money mules and Chen was its collector; the judgment does not mention crypto.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Employee or guard"],"people":[{"role":"Employee or guard","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a 21-year-old employee of a crypto dealer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2400000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/3996900","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c112%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c25%2c20240321%2c5"]},{"id":809,"date":"September 2, 2022","date_sort":"2022-09-02","date_precision":"day","year":2022,"victim":"A teenager","location":"Digbeth, Birmingham","country":"UK","description":"A teenager who arranged to buy nitrous oxide outside a Digbeth snooker centre was knocked out, pulled into a car, driven to Oldbury and threatened and beaten for two hours while his captors demanded ransom from his friends on Snapchat; they took £377, his phone and trainers and made him transfer more than £800 in cryptocurrency. Four men were jailed for nearly 40 years in total.","summary":"On the evening of September 2, 2022, a teenager at a snooker centre in Digbeth, Birmingham, contacted a man he knew as 'Zigs' to buy nitrous oxide. The man arrived at about 7 p.m. in a car with three others; one hit the teenager over the head, knocking him out, and he was pulled inside. They drove him to Oldbury, where, threatened with an imitation shotgun and a machete, he handed over his phone, trainers and £377 in cash. Over about two hours they hit him with a machete, knuckledusters, a metal canister and their fists, threatened to kill him and posted videos on his Snapchat demanding £5,000 from his friends. One of them had said to expect £30,000. He was forced to transfer more than £800 in cryptocurrency and was dropped at a railway station between 9 and 10 p.m. In August 2023 the four, who admitted kidnap and robbery, were jailed for nearly 40 years in total.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Wealth overestimated","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a teenager buying nitrous oxide"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed","Valuables"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":5000,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":800,"currency":"GBP","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/gang-kidnapped-teen-held-him-27547912"]},{"id":810,"date":"January 13, 2023","date_sort":"2023-01-13","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. Hung","location":"Central, Hong Kong Island","country":"Hong Kong","description":"Five men with beef knives burst into a Central party room where Mr. Hung was discussing a yacht sale with a friend, tied both up with tape, forced him to unlock his phone and moved about HK$900,000 from his bank account and about US$30,000 in Dogecoin from his exchange account, and took HK$3,000 in cash. The friend was arrested on suspicion and three other men were charged with robbery.","summary":"At about 4 p.m. on January 13, 2023, Mr. Hung, 37, went with a friend, Mr. Fung, 30, to a small party room at 35B Wellington Street in Central to discuss a friend of Fung's buying a yacht from him. A local man and four South Asian men burst in, threatened the two with beef knives and bound them with tape. They took Hung's phone, made him give its passcode, transferred about HK$900,000 from his bank account and Dogecoin worth about US$30,000 from his crypto exchange account, and fled with about HK$3,000 in cash. Nobody was hurt. The two freed themselves and raised the alarm. Police arrested Fung on suspicion of robbery, though he said he was also a victim. In March 2023 three other men appeared in court charged with robbery and conspiracy to rob; the case was adjourned to April 17.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a man selling a yacht"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his friend, bound with him and later arrested on suspicion"}],"approach":["Social engineering: sale / purchase lure"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash","Devices or seed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":30000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":30000},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20230113/bkn-20230113165420491-0113_00822_001.html","https://www.stheadline.com/society/3211497/3%E7%94%B7%E6%B6%89%E6%8C%81%E5%88%80%E5%8A%AB%E7%94%B7%E5%AD%90%E9%80%BE100%E8%90%AC%E5%8A%A0%E5%AF%86%E8%B2%A8%E5%B9%A3%E5%8F%8A%E7%8F%BE%E9%87%91%E6%8F%90%E5%A0%82-1%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%8A%E5%BA%AD%E9%82%84%E6%9F%99%E5%80%99%E8%A8%8A"]},{"id":811,"date":"July 1, 2023","date_sort":"2023-07-01","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"Mr. Wang, a USDT dealer","location":"Datong District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"At a cash-for-USDT trade in a car on Chongqing North Road, Taipei, a buyer who was a Taipei city government employee received 248,013 USDT, claimed it had not arrived, pressed a pistol to the dealer's waist and took back the TWD 7.8 million in cash. Four men were brought in, and the buyer was sent to the Shilin prosecutors for aggravated robbery.","summary":"On July 1, 2023, at about 3 p.m., a USDT dealer surnamed Wang met a buyer, Hsieh, 37, outside a sauna on Chongqing North Road in Datong District, Taipei, to sell him USDT for TWD 7.8 million in cash. Wary of a robbery, Wang had Hsieh get into his own car, counted the cash there and sent 248,013 USDT to Hsieh's wallet. Hsieh claimed nothing had arrived, drew a pistol, pressed it to Wang's waist and took back the bag of cash. He threw it out of the window to an accomplice, Lai, waiting outside, and a third man, Lee, drove them off. A fourth man, Tsao, watched the scene and later moved the USDT to other accounts. Hsieh turned out to work for the Taipei city government's parks and street lights office. Police brought in the four from July 12 and found guns at Hsieh's home. Hsieh was sent to the Shilin prosecutors for aggravated robbery, Tsao for aggravated fraud and extortion.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT dealer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":248013,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ettoday.net/news/20230806/2555231.htm","https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/4387701"]},{"id":812,"date":"August 3, 2023","date_sort":"2023-08-03","date_precision":"day","year":2023,"victim":"A woman and her boyfriend","location":"Taichung","country":"Taiwan","description":"A woman in Taichung was lured home by her former roommate, held for several hours by five people over a rent and expenses debt while her boyfriend was beaten with a helmet and a gas pistol, and freed after a friend sent 3,160 USDT to the wallet the attackers named. Three adults were convicted of unlawful confinement with a weapon.","summary":"A woman in Taichung, Taiwan, owed her roommate, Chang Hsiu-chun, for rent and living costs Chang had paid for her. On the evening of August 3, 2023, Chang, her boyfriend Huang Chin-kai, a friend, Wang Tzu-hua, and two teenagers gathered in the shared flat, Huang carrying a gas pistol. Chang asked the woman by WeChat to come home, saying she felt unwell. When she arrived the door was locked, and Huang took her phone and passcode and used it to call her boyfriend. He was beaten with fists, a helmet and the gas pistol, and Wang made the couple slap themselves and each other. Told to pay TWD 100,000, the woman borrowed it from a friend abroad, who sent 3,160 USDT to Huang's wallet, and the group left. In July 2025 the Taichung District Court convicted the three adults of unlawful confinement with a weapon, finding the debt real; the High Court upheld Chang's sentence in 2026.","targeting":["Acquaintance","Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the woman, the roommate who owed the money"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"her boyfriend, called to the flat and beaten"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext","Let in by an insider"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":100000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":3160,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCDM%2C113%2C%E8%A8%B4%2C173%2C20250725%2C1","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TCHM%2C115%2C%E4%B8%8A%E8%A8%B4%2C10%2C20260812%2C1"]},{"id":813,"date":"November, 2023","date_sort":"2023-11-01","date_precision":"month","year":2023,"victim":"A businessman","location":"Bengaluru, Karnataka","country":"India","description":"A businessman living in HSR Layout, Bengaluru, was abducted by six men in a car, taken to an unknown place and tortured into transferring more than Rs 1.7 crore, including 1.7 lakh USDT. A former home guard who claimed the victim owed him money is accused of organising it with a probationary sub-inspector and a constable, and the CCB arrested them.","summary":"A businessman living in HSR Layout, Bengaluru, whom News Trail calls Pavan (a changed name), was abducted in 2023 by six men in a car. They took him to an unknown place and tortured him until he transferred more than Rs 1.7 crore, including 1.7 lakh USDT and Rs 20 lakh, to accounts belonging to them. After he was set free he complained to Kadugondanahalli police, and the case went to the Economic Offences Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB). The CCB arrested one accused on November 10, 2023 and recovered 800 USDT and records of the transfers. Police said the prime accused, Raj Kishore, a former home guard, had befriended a probationary sub-inspector at Madiwala police station and asked him in July for help, claiming the victim refused to pay his dues. The sub-inspector and a constable allegedly forced the victim to pay. The CCB arrested both officers and Raj Kishore.","targeting":["Business counterparty"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the businessman"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":17000000,"currency":"INR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://newstrailindia.com/inner.php?id=18247","https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/probationary-psi-constable-among-four-arrested-for-extorting-rs-1-7-cr-from-man-2778710"]},{"id":814,"date":"January 18, 2024","date_sort":"2024-01-18","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Mr. Lai, courier for a crypto dealer","location":"Da'an District, Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man sent by a crypto dealer with TWD 8.5 million in cash to buy USDT at a watch shop in Da'an, Taipei, was shut in behind the shop's metal shutter and beaten by the fake seller's group when he refused to leave the money. Police broke in, freed him, recovered the cash and arrested five suspects.","summary":"On January 18, 2024, at about 2 p.m., a man surnamed Lai brought TWD 8.5 million in cash to a luxury watch shop on Zhongxiao East Road, Section 3, in Da'an District, Taipei, to buy more than 260,000 USDT for a crypto dealer surnamed Liu. The seller, 35, pretended to send the USDT to Liu's cold wallet, but nothing arrived. He then accused Lai of trying to cheat him and told him to leave the money. His group of five forced the shop to pull down its metal shutter and delete its camera footage, and held and beat Lai, who refused to hand over the cash; his injuries were minor. When Lai stopped answering, Liu called police, who broke in, freed him and recovered the cash. Two men were arrested at the shop and three at a nearby hotel, where police seized drugs, seven phones and two cold wallets. All five were sent to Taipei prosecutors for fraud, assault and deprivation of liberty.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Bystanders or neighbours"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the dealer's courier who carried the cash"},{"role":"Bystanders or neighbours","people":1,"at_least":true,"detail":"the watch shop's staff, made to close the shutter"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon","Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":8500000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.ettoday.net/news/20240122/2669033.htm","https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/4559261"]},{"id":815,"date":"September 5, 2024","date_sort":"2024-09-05","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Nick Drakon, CEO of Revelo Intel","location":"not reported (Cyprus unconfirmed)","country":"Cyprus","description":"Nick Drakon, CEO of the crypto research firm Revelo Intel, said in September 2024 that a group that had surveilled him held him at gunpoint, threatened his wife and infant son, and forced him to log into crypto accounts and transfer out personal, company and investor funds.","summary":"In a post on X on 5 September 2024, Nick Drakon, chief executive of the crypto research and education platform Revelo Intel, said he had recently been targeted, surveilled and robbed by a highly sophisticated group. By his account, the group was specifically interested in crypto assets and knew the deposit addresses of the crypto businesses he ran. He was forced at gunpoint to log into several crypto accounts and transfer funds out, and the group also threatened his wife and their eight-month-old son. The thieves took his personal funds, Revelo Intel's working capital and retained earnings, and funds of Revelo Ventures, the firm's investment syndicate, held for deals awaiting settlement. No amount was given. Drakon said there was some evidence that people in Revelo Ventures played a role. He resigned as CEO and said he was helping law enforcement find the culprits.","targeting":["Surveillance","Insider"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the CEO of a crypto research firm"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Crypto"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"threat only","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://protos.com/gunman-forces-revelo-fund-manager-to-drain-investors-crypto/","https://cointelegraph.com/news/revelo-intel-ceo-resigns-robbed-at-gunpoint"]},{"id":816,"date":"November 2, 2024","date_sort":"2024-11-02","date_precision":"day","year":2024,"victim":"Chadli M., a 45-year-old coach","location":"19th arrondissement, Paris","country":"France","description":"A 45-year-old coach linked to the OmegaPro crypto investment scheme was attacked at his Paris home on 2 November 2024 by an investor who had lost money and an accomplice, who beat him with an iron bar and stabbed him in the calf to get his phone codes and his cryptocurrency. He escaped; the two were convicted in January 2025.","summary":"On the evening of 2 November 2024 a 45-year-old coach and leadership speaker, Chadli M., was attacked at his flat near the Buttes-Chaumont in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. He was accused of a role in OmegaPro, a crypto investment platform that collapsed leaving many investors ruined. One of them, Béchir B., 25, had asked him for his money back several times. He watched the building for a night to find the floor, then came with an accomplice, Koiry S., and a young woman, who knocked on the door so the victim would open. By the victim's account he was hit with an iron bar, choked and stabbed in the calf, and the court heard the aim was his phone codes to take his cryptocurrency. He escaped by crawling out and throwing himself down the stairwell. On 30 January 2025 the Paris criminal court sentenced Béchir B. to five years, three suspended, and Koiry S. to three years, two suspended.","targeting":["Business counterparty","Surveillance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the coach attacked at his flat"}],"approach":["Social engineering: other pretext"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Escaped","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/paris_75056/coupe-lui-l-oreille-l-arnaque-massive-aux-cryptomonnaies-finit-en-home-jacking-a-paris_62191246.html","https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/paris_75056/paris-un-homme-violemment-agresse-a-son-domicile-sur-fonds-d-escroquerie-aux-cryptomonnaies_61819215.html"]},{"id":817,"date":"January 2, 2025","date_sort":"2025-01-02","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"Mr. Chen, a crypto seller","location":"Yonghe District, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A crypto seller who had just been paid NT$9,552,000 in cash for a crypto sale in a school's underground car park in Yonghe, New Taipei, was followed and blocked as he drove out on 2 January 2025; robbers smashed his car windows with baseball bats, beat him and took NT$8,552,000. Two of the robbers were sentenced to 7 years 4 months.","summary":"On the afternoon of 2 January 2025 a crypto seller, Mr. Chen, met a go-between in the underground car park of Xiulang Elementary School in Yonghe District, New Taipei, to be paid NT$9,552,000 in cash for a crypto purchase. A robbery crew directed by two people on Telegram had learned of the handover. They had a car left for them nearby, drove to the car park and waited in ambush. When Mr. Chen drove out with the money, they followed and blocked his car. One man held pepper spray while two others smashed the car windows with baseball bats and beat him, leaving him with a cut forehead, a bruised forearm and an eye injury. They took NT$8,552,000 from the car and fled. The New Taipei District Court found the facts on the confessions of two robbers and sentenced them to 7 years 4 months each on 30 April 2025; the man who parked the car was acquitted.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the crypto seller, robbed in his car"}],"approach":["P2P trade","Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":8552000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c114%2c%e5%8e%9f%e8%a8%b4%2c16%2c20250430%2c1","https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c114%2c%e5%8e%9f%e8%a8%b4%2c16%2c20251015%2c4"]},{"id":818,"date":"September 6, 2025","date_sort":"2025-09-06","date_precision":"day","year":2025,"victim":"A USDT buyer","location":"Banqiao, New Taipei","country":"Taiwan","description":"A man who came to buy USDT from a fake exchanger in Banqiao, New Taipei, handed TWD 2 million in cash to the collector in his car, then took the bag back when only one USDT arrived; the collector chased him and pepper-sprayed his face and head, but passers-by stepped in and he drove off empty-handed. He was sentenced in May 2026.","summary":"A man in Banqiao, New Taipei, was talked into investing in USDT by a fraud ring member he met in July 2025 through the Litmatch app, who referred him to a so-called exchanger. On September 6, 2025, at about 12:30 p.m., he got into the back of the collector's car on Zhongshan Road and handed over TWD 2 million in cash. One USDT reached his wallet and nothing more, so he called off the deal and reached for the bag. The collector pulled his arm and made to spray him, but he got out with the bag. On the ring's orders not to let the money go, the collector chased him, pepper-sprayed his back, face and head and pulled at the bag. The buyer fell, passers-by came to help and the collector drove off with nothing. Police arrested him that afternoon. In May 2026 the New Taipei District Court sentenced him to 1 year 2 months for fraud and 1 year 6 months for attempted robbery.","targeting":["Online contact or advert"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the USDT buyer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Rescued","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":2000000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=PCDM%2c114%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c1209%2c20260514%2c1"]},{"id":819,"date":"January 22, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-22","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A Belgrade woman","location":"Severni bulevar, Belgrade","country":"Serbia","description":"Two 19-year-old Russian nationals arranged a cryptocurrency trade with a woman in Belgrade, met her on Severni bulevar, used pepper spray once she had handed over the money for the purchase and took 22,600 euros from her. Both were arrested for robbery.","summary":"On January 22, 2026, two 19-year-old Russian nationals arranged a cryptocurrency trade with a woman in Belgrade and set a meeting on Severni bulevar. After she arrived and handed over the money for the crypto purchase, they used pepper spray and took 22,600 euros from her, the Serbian Interior Ministry said. Officers of the Belgrade criminal police, working with the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, arrested the two men on reasonable suspicion of robbery committed jointly. They were ordered held for up to 48 hours and were to be brought before the prosecutor with a criminal complaint. The ministry urged citizens to carry out any cryptocurrency transactions lawfully and safely. The reports do not say how the woman found the sellers, whether she was hurt, or whether any of the money was recovered.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a woman who came to buy cryptocurrency"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Unknown","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":22600,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://n1info.rs/vesti/uhapseni-ruski-drzavljani-19-napali-beogradjanku-i-ukrali-joj-novac-namenjen-za-kriptovalute/","https://nova.rs/vesti/hronika/ruski-tinejdzeri-pljackali-po-beogradu-zrtvu-namamili-prodajom-kriptovaluta-pa-joj-oteli-gotovinu/"]},{"id":820,"date":"January 27, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-27","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A young man and his girlfriend","location":"Bender, Transnistria","country":"Moldova","description":"Five men who knew a young man in Bender had a large sum of money blocked his car, took his girlfriend into their car as a hostage, beat him and made him transfer 11,942 USDT and hand over cash, then made him bring USD 13,500 more from his mother. Three are detained and the case is in court; two are wanted.","summary":"On the evening of January 27, 2026, five men who knew that a young man in Bender, Transnistria, had a large sum of money chased his car with two BMWs and blocked it on Ermakov Street. His girlfriend was moved into the attackers' car as a hostage. They made him drive to a building of the water utility and demanded USD 25,000; when he refused, they beat him and threatened reprisals against him and his girlfriend. He gave in, went with them to his flat, transferred 11,942 USDT to a wallet they supplied and handed over USD 800 and 4,000 Transnistrian roubles. Beaten again, he turned to his mother for money and handed over USD 13,500 more in her courtyard, and the men left. He was also forced to record a false video confession to running an online drug shop. Three men were detained and remanded; two left Transnistria and are wanted. The case went to court in June 2026.","targeting":["Other"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder","Relative or partner"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"a young man from Bender"},{"role":"Relative or partner","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"his girlfriend, held as a hostage"}],"approach":["Vehicle intercepted on the road"],"attack":["Kidnapping"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Crypto","Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":25000,"currency":"USD","usd_stated":25000},"taken":{"amount":11942,"currency":"USDT","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://novostipmr.com/ru/news/26-06-16/tryokh-soobshchnikov-zhdyot-sud-za-vymogatelstvo-25-tysyach","https://www.md.kp.media/online/news/6821608/"]},{"id":821,"date":"January 29, 2026","date_sort":"2026-01-29","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"A cryptocurrency buyer","location":"Miaoli, Miaoli County","country":"Taiwan","description":"A fake crypto dealer in a Telegram group set up a TWD 4.16 million cash trade at the Miaoli railway station scooter park, where one of three teenagers pepper-sprayed the buyer's eyes and the three grabbed the cash; the buyer caught the sprayer and took back TWD 4 million, while TWD 160,000 got away. The adult coordinator was sentenced to 7 years 2 months.","summary":"A Telegram group planned a fake crypto sale: a fake dealer arranged to sell a buyer crypto worth TWD 4.22 million, later TWD 4.16 million after a rate change, at Taichung and then Miaoli railway station. At about 7:41 p.m. on January 29, 2026, three teenagers arrived by taxi and met the buyer at the station's scooter park. While he handed them the cash in batches to count, one of them, on the instructions of an adult coordinator, sprayed pepper spray into his eyes and took TWD 4 million, and the other two took TWD 160,000; they ran off separately. The first one missed the waiting getaway car, and the buyer caught him, pinned him down, took back the TWD 4 million and called police. The three teenagers were referred to the juvenile court. In June 2026 the Miaoli District Court sentenced the coordinator to 7 years 2 months for aggravated armed robbery by three or more.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"the cryptocurrency buyer"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Armed robbery"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"no","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":0,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":160000,"currency":"TWD","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=MLDM%2c115%2c%e8%a8%b4%2c451%2c20260626%2c2"]},{"id":822,"date":"March 10 to 11, 2026","date_sort":"2026-03-10","date_precision":"range","year":2026,"victim":"A man (K.V.)","location":"Bogdanlia, Elin Pelin municipality","country":"Bulgaria","description":"A man was stabbed to death in his house in Bogdanlia near Elin Pelin on the night of 10 to 11 March 2026; prosecutors say the killing was for gain, and investigators seized EUR 1.7 million in cryptocurrency. A 48-year-old acquaintance is charged with murder.","summary":"On the night of March 10 to 11, 2026, a man identified by the initials K.V. was killed in his house in the village of Bogdanlia, Elin Pelin municipality. According to the interior ministry and the prosecutor's office, a 48-year-old acquaintance, K.Ya., killed him between 23:01 and 03:14, stabbing him many times in the chest, neck and head. Investigators say the killing was particularly cruel and committed for gain, to appropriate the victim's funds. His wife found him bloodied on the floor and a report reached the 112 line on March 11; emergency doctors pronounced him dead. Searches of addresses and cars led to the seizure of cryptocurrency worth EUR 1.7 million, which may be behind the killing, according to the police and prosecutors' statement. The suspect was held for 72 hours and charged with murder, and prosecutors said they would seek pre-trial detention.","targeting":["Acquaintance"],"targeting_accuracy":"Unknown","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"man killed in his house"}],"approach":["Unknown"],"attack":["Home invasion"],"outcome":"Killed","obtained":["Unconfirmed"],"detention":"","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"yes","life_taken":1,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://bntnews.bg/news/ubiystvo-v-elin-pelin-za-17-mln-evro-v-bitkoini-1384610news.html","https://offnews.bg/112/1-7-mln-evro-v-kriptovaluta-zad-zhestoko-ubijstvo-v-s-bogdanlia-863336.html"]},{"id":823,"date":"May 21, 2026","date_sort":"2026-05-21","date_precision":"day","year":2026,"victim":"M.M., a man from Kotor","location":"Kavač, Kotor","country":"Montenegro","description":"A Kotor man who brought EUR 100,000 to a hotel room for a supposed purchase of two bitcoins was robbed of the cash, locked in, and beaten when he caught up with the robbers' car. Four foreign nationals were arrested the same day in Ulcinj.","summary":"On May 21, 2026, at about 2 p.m., in Kavač in the municipality of Kotor, a man from Kotor identified as M.M. was invited, with a second person, to a hotel room for a supposed sale of two bitcoins for EUR 100,000. Prosecutors say that once one suspect saw the money had been brought, three more men entered, took it and left, locking the room. M.M. got out over a terrace and reached the suspects' car to stop them leaving. They got out, struck him repeatedly on the head and body, kept hitting him after knocking him to the ground and drove off towards Budva. Police intercepted the four, three US citizens and a British citizen, the same day in Ulcinj as they tried to leave the country, and found EUR 99,650 on them. Prosecutors opened an investigation for robbery-theft and sought detention.","targeting":["Unknown"],"targeting_accuracy":"Correct","who_was_attacked":["Holder"],"people":[{"role":"Holder","people":1,"at_least":false,"detail":"Kotor man who brought the cash"}],"approach":["P2P trade"],"attack":["Robbery without a weapon"],"outcome":"Released","obtained":["Cash"],"detention":"yes","violence_torture":"yes","drugs_alcohol":"","weapons":"no","life_taken":null,"life_taken_unconfirmed":false,"demanded":{"amount":null,"currency":null,"usd_stated":null},"taken":{"amount":100000,"currency":"EUR","usd_stated":null},"linked_cases":[],"sources":["https://www.vijesti.me/vijesti/crna-hronika/809782/trojica-drzavljana-sad-i-britanac-uhapseni-u-ulcinju-oteli-100000-eura-od-kotoranina-i-pretukli-ga","https://www.cdm.me/hronika/lazna-trgovina-bitkoinima-zavrsila-pljackom-i-prebijanjem-u-kotoru/"]}]