An armed robber posing as a supply employee stole $11 million in Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) from a San Francisco residence linked to tech investor Lachy Groom, previously the accomplice of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
This dramatic heist is a part of a rising international pattern of violent assaults towards cryptocurrency holders. Safety specialists warn that so-called wrench assaults have escalated, with criminals more and more counting on bodily drive to steal digital belongings.
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The San Francisco Crypto Heist: A Calculated Assault
In line with the New York Publish, the suspect posed as a UPS affiliate to achieve entry on the $4.4 million Dorland Avenue tackle. After requesting a pen for a supply, he produced a gun and subdued the sufferer, recognized as Joshua.
Joshua can also be a tech investor who was residing with outstanding enterprise capitalist Groom. The suspect tied Joshua with duct tape, assaulted and poured liquid over him, forcing him to unlock his cryptocurrency wallets through the 90-minute ordeal.
The attacker left with $11 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin, together with the sufferer’s cellphone and laptop computer. Joshua suffered minor accidents. In line with sources aware of the matter, an organized crime group orchestrated the incident. The police have made no arrests to this point.
“This wasn’t a smash-and-grab. This was a focused, organized crime extraction – the sort hitting rich crypto holders worldwide. Crypto-security specialists are actually saying what everyone thinks: Self-custody is nice till somebody exhibits up at your door with a faux UPS label and a Glock. San Francisco’s tech elite are about to pivot exhausting into vault custody, non-public safety, and 0 public flexing – as a result of this heist wasn’t random. It was a warning shot,” Mario Nawfal stated.
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Digital Wealth Turns Lethal in International Surge of Crypto Wrench Assaults
The San Francisco theft mirrors incidents worldwide. An analyst famous that over 60 such assaults had been recorded in 2025. BeInCrypto reported that in France, there have been 10 cryptocurrency-related kidnappings this yr.
In June, a 23-year-old man in Maisons-Alfort was kidnapped whereas purchasing. Attackers demanded €5,000 and entry to his Ledger {hardware} pockets.
A month earlier, armed males tried to abduct the daughter and grandchild of a crypto entrepreneur in Paris. Ledger Co-founder David Balland additionally fell sufferer to a kidnapping in January, and the checklist goes on.
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Crypto billionaire Tim Heath of Yolo Group narrowly escaped a kidnapping in Tallinn. The Australian entrepreneur bit off a part of his attacker’s finger, permitting him to flee.
Extra not too long ago, in Israel, a Tel Aviv resident confronted excessive violence. On September 7, three attackers restrained him in his own residence and tortured him till he supplied his cryptocurrency passwords.
The sufferer was stabbed and misplaced roughly $600,000 in Bitcoin and USDT, plus a $50,000 Rolex watch, a Trezor pockets, a laptop computer, and money. Police arrested the lead suspect, Murad Mahajna, simply days after the incident.
“A Russian crypto dealer, Roman Novak, and his spouse, Anna, had been discovered useless and dismembered within the United Arab Emirates weeks after vanishing following a gathering close to Lake Hatta. The couple had been allegedly kidnapped by Russian nationals who wished entry to Novak’s crypto pockets,” Nafwal highlighted in early November.
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Consultants imagine that wrench assaults are on the rise as a consequence of a number of components. The anonymity and irreversible nature of blockchain transactions make attackers imagine funds are exhausting to hint and recuperate.
Public shows of wealth, particularly on social media, draw undesirable consideration. In the meantime, simply accessible private info on-line makes it less complicated for criminals to establish and monitor victims.
“A robust widespread thread in lots of wrench assaults is the profiling of victims previous to the offense. Criminals are more and more utilizing social media to construct detailed assessments of potential targets — notably specializing in indicators of wealth. That is very true for people concerned in peer-to-peer crypto trades or those that are overt about their holdings and life-style. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and different short-form video content material apps are continuously exploited for malicious functions as soon as a probable ‘mark’ has been recognized,” Phil Ariss, Director, UK Public Sector Relations at TRM Labs, defined.
Customers can scale back their threat by bettering their private and residential safety, being extra cautious about what non-public info they share, and defending their belongings with multi-signature wallets. It’s also important to make sure that members of the family perceive fundamental security practices, as they’ll additionally turn out to be targets.