Crimes Targeting Cryptocurrency Wealth on the Rise: "Ransom Demanded in Coins"

At Least 67 Cases in the Past Decade...
Crimes Expected to Rise if the Cryptocurrency Bull Market Continues

Recently, as cryptocurrency prices have surged, crimes such as kidnappings targeting these assets have been on the rise, according to a report by NBC News on July 27 (local time).

NBC reported, after reviewing news reports and legal documents, that since 2016 there have been 67 cryptocurrency-related kidnapping cases across 44 countries worldwide. Last year alone, there were 17 such kidnapping incidents, marking the highest number in the past decade.

In May of this year, a cryptocurrency investor in his 30s in New York, United States, kidnapped an Italian national, held him in a luxury apartment for over two weeks, and tortured him, demanding the password to his Bitcoin wallet. Pesto Ibayi, a businessman from Uganda who was interviewed by NBC as a kidnapping victim, said that while he was driving in the capital city of Kampala, three vehicles surrounded him and soon five armed assailants approached his car. The assailants kidnapped him, blindfolded him, and took him to a torture room.

There, the assailants told him, "We know you have invested in cryptocurrency and that you have a lot of money. Transfer $500,000." They confiscated two of Ibayi's iPhones and gained access to $120,000 worth of stablecoins and $18,000 worth of meme coins. The kidnappers released Ibayi after five hours, and at that time, he was left without his car, mobile phones, or any money, he said.

Such kidnapping crimes are part of so-called "wrench attacks," which involve home invasions, extortion, threats, armed robbery, false crime reports, assault, and even murder, all targeting cryptocurrency assets. These types of crimes have existed for the past ten years. However, in recent years, the sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices and the use of technologies such as facial recognition, which allows criminals easier access to victims' mobile phones, have contributed to the increase in such incidents.

According to related research, there is a direct correlation between Bitcoin price fluctuations and the number of wrench attacks. Therefore, as Bitcoin has recently rebounded to around $120,000 and continues its upward trend, experts predict that more crimes are likely to occur. Global blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis warned in a report that, due to the expected rise in Bitcoin prices this year, "the number of physical attacks could double compared to last year."