Physical attack archive
Crypto wrench attacks on holders
Self-custody removes counterparty risk, but it shifts the attack surface from the exchange to you. This is a chronological record of documented $5-wrench attacks — home invasions, kidnappings, mutilations and coerced transfers — targeting crypto holders worldwide.
All incidents, latest first
Two French crypto millionaires
Two holders were held for 52 hours, beaten, set on fire and threatened with death unless they surrendered their crypto. They handed over about $30,000 of the $150,000 the gang demanded.
- Outcome
- A high-speed police chase ended the ordeal. Six people were prosecuted.
Couple in Le Chesnay (near Versailles)
Three men posing as police officers talked their way into a home west of Paris, then held a knife to the woman and threatened to stab her unless her partner transferred Bitcoin to the gang's wallet.
- Outcome
- Funds transferred. Treated by investigators as organised crypto-targeted home invasion.
CEO of Binance France
Assailants entered the wrong residence before reaching their intended target — reported by French media as the head of Binance France — indicating prior reconnaissance rather than opportunism. Two phones were stolen.
- Outcome
- Binance confirmed an employee was targeted and that the family is safe. Suspects arrested at Lyon Perrache station.
Family in Grant, Minnesota
Two brothers travelled from Texas to Minnesota, forced entry into a family home, restrained the family with zip ties at gunpoint and demanded access to the victim's crypto accounts.
- Outcome
- Isiah and Raymond Garcia pleaded guilty to robbery in federal court in Minneapolis on June 18, 2026.
Crypto trader
Trader was followed home from an OTC meeting, held at gunpoint and forced to drain a hot wallet and his MetaMask seed phrase backup.
- Outcome
- Houston PD opened an investigation; partial on-chain freeze via Tether and Circle.
Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan
Italian crypto investor held for 17 days in a Manhattan townhouse, tortured with electric shocks and dangled from a rooftop to force him to surrender his Bitcoin wallet keys.
- Outcome
- Victim escaped. John Woeltz and accomplices arrested and charged with kidnapping and assault.
Father of Pierre Noizat (Paymium CEO)
Masked men attempted to force a man and his daughter into a van in broad daylight in the 11th arrondissement. The family fought back and bystanders intervened.
- Outcome
- Abduction failed. Five suspects later arrested by French police.
Father of crypto influencer (Mougins)
Father of a French crypto entrepreneur was kidnapped and held in a van. Captors cut off part of one of his fingers to pressure the family for a multi-million-euro ransom in crypto.
- Outcome
- Rescued by French police within days; multiple arrests across France and Morocco.
Crypto influencer's parents
Parents of a Belgium-based crypto influencer were targeted in a violent abduction attempt at their home; attackers fled when neighbours intervened.
- Outcome
- Police-protected; multiple suspects under investigation linked to France network.
Father of crypto millionaire
Father of a French crypto entrepreneur was abducted from his home; captors demanded a multi-million-euro crypto ransom.
- Outcome
- Rescued by French police after a few days; suspects arrested.
David Balland (Ledger co-founder)
Balland and his partner were kidnapped from their home. Attackers cut off one of his fingers and sent the video to Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier to coerce a crypto ransom payment.
- Outcome
- GIGN rescued both victims within 48 hours. Ten suspects arrested; ransom not paid.
Crypto holder (Saint-Maur-des-Fossés)
Armed intruders broke into a family home, restrained the residents and forced them to log in to crypto exchanges and self-custody wallets.
- Outcome
- Part of a wider France-wide crackdown on crypto-targeted home invasions in early 2025.
Dean Skurka (WonderFi CEO)
Skurka was pulled into a vehicle in downtown Toronto and released after a ransom was wired electronically.
- Outcome
- Released same evening. Police investigation ongoing.
Crypto entrepreneur
Businessman was abducted by men posing as CBI officers and forced to transfer USDT from his wallets before being released.
- Outcome
- Telangana cyber-crime unit arrested multiple suspects.
Crypto investor
Home invasion crew tied up the victim and his family in their Florida home and forced him to transfer ~$4M in BTC and ETH to attacker-controlled wallets.
- Outcome
- FBI investigation; funds traced through mixers.
Crypto holder
Intruders broke into a luxury home on Sentosa Cove targeting the owner's crypto holdings; victim restrained while wallets were accessed.
- Outcome
- Singapore Police Force investigation; victim survived with non-life-threatening injuries.
Bitcoin OG (Toronto)
Three masked intruders broke into the home of an early Bitcoin investor, restraining family members and demanding access to hardware wallets.
- Outcome
- Family unharmed thanks to a passphrase-protected wallet. Toronto Police investigation ongoing.
Bo Shen (Amber Group / Fenbushi founder)
Shen disclosed that ~$42M in crypto was stolen from his personal wallets in a targeted attack; the funds were drained in highly coordinated transfers.
- Outcome
- On-chain tracing ongoing; no full recovery reported.
Crypto trader
Trader was lured to an in-person OTC deal, abducted in a van, beaten and forced to transfer USDT before being released in the desert.
- Outcome
- Dubai Police arrested multiple suspects; partial recovery via Tether freeze.
Bitcoin holder
Victim was lured to a Wan Chai apartment for an in-person OTC trade. He was beaten and forced to transfer Bitcoin to attackers.
- Outcome
- Hong Kong Police arrested several suspects; partial recovery.
Zaryn Dentzel (Tuenti founder)
Dentzel was tied up and beaten in his Madrid home by intruders who demanded access to his cryptocurrency holdings.
- Outcome
- Dentzel survived; Spanish police investigation ongoing, no full recovery.
Crypto investor
Investor Shailesh Bhatt alleged he was abducted by police officers who extorted Bitcoin and Ethereum from him over multiple days.
- Outcome
- CID Gujarat arrested several officers; landmark case in Indian crypto extortion law.
Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik Hagen
Wife of one of Norway's wealthiest investors disappeared from her home. A ransom note demanded payment in Monero. Case became Norway's most high-profile crypto-linked crime.
- Outcome
- Husband Tom Hagen was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of murder; case remains unresolved.
Crypto investor (Manhattan)
Investor was forced at gunpoint by an acquaintance into transferring ETH from his Authy-secured account during a meeting.
- Outcome
- Suspect arrested by NYPD shortly after; funds partially traced.
Bitcoin trader (Oxford, UK)
Four armed men in balaclavas broke into a trader's home, threatened his pregnant wife at gunpoint and forced him to transfer Bitcoin from his accounts.
- Outcome
- Family unharmed; investigation by Thames Valley Police, no public arrests.
Pavel Lerner (Exmo analyst)
Lerner was forced into a black Mercedes outside the Exmo office. Captors held him until a Bitcoin ransom was paid.
- Outcome
- Released after several days; Lerner declined to detail the incident publicly.
How to harden yourself against a wrench attack
- Use a passphrase (25th word). A hardware wallet with a passphrase gives you a plausibly-deniable decoy wallet that holds a small amount, while your real funds sit behind a passphrase only you know.
- Never flex on-chain or on social media. Almost every targeted attack on this list started with the attacker knowing the victim was wealthy in crypto — through Twitter, Telegram, or leaked exchange data.
- Split custody. Multi-sig (e.g. 2-of-3 across geographic locations) means no single coerced signature can drain your funds.
- Treat OTC trades as physical-security events. Many incidents — Hong Kong, Dubai, Houston — started with an in-person OTC meeting. Use regulated venues only.
- Keep KYC data minimal. The 2022 Ledger data leak and multiple exchange breaches have fed name + address lists straight to organised crime groups now operating across Europe.
Pick a wallet that supports passphrases & multi-sig
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See the full comparison →Incidents compiled from Jameson Lopp's physical-attack registry, court filings, Reuters, AFP, AP, Le Monde, The Block, CoinDesk and local police statements. This page tracks publicly disclosed cases and is not exhaustive.