Known Physical Bitcoin Attacks

A list of known attacks against Bitcoin / crypto asset owning entities that occurred in meatspace. NOTE: this list is not comprehensive; many attacks are not publicly reported.

Readers may be interested in this relevant presentation: "The Hodlguard- a primer on physical security in Bitcoin" and slides.

Date	Victim	Location	Description
December 29, 2014	Hal Finney	Santa Barbara , California	Bitcoin developer SWATted after months of harrassment & extortion
January 3, 2015	Amanda McCollum	Atlanta, Georgia	BTM thieves strike smoke shop, fire gun
January 22, 2015	Martin Wismeijer	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Thieves steal 2 bitcoin ATMs
February, 2015	Dean Katz	New York, New York	Bitcoin trader robbed of $12,000 at gunpoint
May 27, 2015	Dwayne Richards	New York, New York	Firefighter kidnapped, robbed of $1,100, & stabbed by crypto thieves
November 16, 2015	Robert Nederhoed	Delft, Netherlands	Thieves steal bitcoin ATM containing 2,000 EUR
July 11, 2016	Tadas Kasputis	Kaunas, Lithuania	Cryptocurrency executive kidnapped at car wash
July 25, 2016	Steve Manos	West Palm Beach, Florida	Bitcoin trader robbed of $28,000 at gunpoint
August 14, 2016	Multiple	Toronto, Ontario	Police arrest teens in string of bitcoin-related robberies
November 6, 2016	Tivoli Brasserie	Oudenbosch, Netherlands	Dutch Bitcoin ATM Owner Laughs at Thieves Who Took His Machine
February 16, 2017	Josoj	London, England	Description of robbery during Localbitcoins trade with Bitcoin Uncensored interview and the robber's side of the story.
February 26, 2017	Rocelo Lopes' wife	Florianopolis, Brazil	Wife of crypto exchange owner kidnapped and ransomed
March 14, 2017	3 Indian Bitcoin traders	Dubai, UAE	3 Emiratis pose as cops, kidnap victims and rob them of 25 BTC
June 17, 2017	Miyuki Noda	Gifu, Japan	Woman strangled, attacker takes 100,000 yen worth of BTC
September 4, 2017	Alexey Sherstne	Kyiv, Ukraine	Man tortured for $50k in Bitcoins
October 16, 2017	Jameson Lopp	Durham, North Carolina	Bitcoin developer SWATted & extorted
October, 2017	Multiple	Toulouse, France	4 bitcoin traders robbed at gunpoint
October, 2017	Multiple	Los Angeles, California	"Discount Bitcoin Bandits" committed 5 robberies at gunpoint
November 4, 2017	Unidentified	New York, New York	Man robbed of $1.8M of ETH
November 15, 2017	Unidentified	Istanbul, Turkey	Gang stole $2.83M in BTC from businessman
December, 2017	Unidentified	Reykjavik, Iceland	600 Bitcoin ASICs stolen and Follow-up Story
December 26, 2017	Pavel Lerner	Kyiv, Ukraine	Bitcoin exchange owner kidnapped & ransomed
?, 2018	"T.W."	Los Angeles, CA	Home invasion by FBI impersonator who demanded laptop passwords to access cryptocurrency.
January 3, 2018	"Dallas"	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Convicted felon accused of firing gun inside downtown Milwaukee condo during Bitcoin sale
January 14, 2018	Pavel Nyashin	Leningrad Oblast, Russia	Blogger Who Boasted About Crypto Wealth Beaten and Robbed For $425k
January 15, 2018	Maxsim Latsoka & Anna Nikurina	Phuket, Thailand	Russian gang steals 100,000 Euros in BTC from young Russian couple
January 18, 2018	____ Lee	North Point, Hong Kong	Bitcoin trader lured to bogus meeting and robbed of HK$1.4M
January 23, 2018	Canadian Bitcoins	Ottawa, Canada	Failed armed robbery attempt of Canadian bitcoin exchange
January 27, 2018	Danny Aston & Amy Jay	Moulsford, Oxfordshire, England	Armed home invasion of Bitcoin trading firm owner
January 29, 2018	Unidentified	Cumming, Georgia	Five men arrested for planning armed home invasion of bitcoin owner
January 2018	Unidentified	Odessa, Ukraine	Several men pose as bitcoin sellers, beat and rob buyer of 1.5 Million UAH ($57,000 USD
February 9, 2018	Sailesh Bhatt	Amreli, India	Police Officers Beat, Extorted 200 BTC from Businessman
February 21, 2018	____ Tai	Taichung, Taiwan	Four men assault bitcoin seller & transfer 18 BTC
February 23, 2018	Yury Mayorov	Moscow, Russia	Crypto Developer Beaten, Robbed Of 300 BTC
February 23, 2018	Unidentified	Moscow, Russia	Crypto investor has face mutilated, robbed of $1M in BTC
March 2018	Undisclosed woman	Killingly, Connecticut	2 women invaded home of another woman who had opened a "Bitcoin account" in the name of one of the attackers and used it to steal her money.
March 2018	Unidentified Miner	Kyiv, Ukraine	Miner kidnapped, extorted for $50,000. Kidnappers caught 8 months later.
March 22, 2018	Multiple gas stations	Irving & Mesquite, Texas	Robbers douse clerks with pepper spray, steal from Bitcoin ATMs in Irving and Mesquite
April 8, 2018	Pang Joon Hau	Singapore	Man seeking to buy BTC robbed of $365,000
April 11, 2018	Ryan Rice	Miami, Florida	Bitcoin buyer shoots robber in self defense
April 25, 2018	2 unidentified Asian brothers	Dubai, UAE	Gang of 10 robbed two brothers of AED 7m ($1.9m) in cash who were looking to buy Bitcoin
June 6, 2018	Unidentified 22-year-old	Milan, Italy	Robbers attempt bitcoin purchase with counterfeit money, beat victims and fire gun, take 50,000 euros
June 13, 2018	"Synth"	China	Home invasion of Skycoin architect resulted in theft of 18.88 BTC and 6,466 SKY
June 19, 2018	Unidentified	Wels, Austria	$250,000 in cryptocurrency taken by robbers posing as postmen
July 6, 2018	Austin Nedved	Northborough, Massachussetts	Armed home invasion of Localbitcoins trader
September 7, 2018	Nicholas Truglia	New York, New York	Friends accused of torturing pal to steal his cryptocurrency
November ?, 2018	Kieran Hamilton	Manchester, England	Crypto trader stabbed, robbed by home invaders
November 16, 2018	Andrew ______	Lanseria, South Africa	Bitcoin trader drugged, beaten, and tortured before transferring BTC to attackers
February 10, 2019	Tjeerd H.	Drouwenerveen, Netherlands	Bitcoin trader tortured with drill
March 12, 2019	Costcutters	Far Cotton, Northampton, England	Bitcoin machine stolen during robbery
May 14, 2019	Undisclosed	Oslo, Norway	Bitcoin millionaire escapes armed home invader by jumping off balcony
June 30, 2019	Luftan Shaikh, Mohammad Shazad, Malang Shah	Jaipur, Rajasthan, India	Criminal Gang Abducts & Tortures Cryptocurrency Traders, Demands 80 BTC Ransom
July 15, 2019	Bitcoin Exchange	Sparkhill, Birmingham, England	Masked raiders hold up Bitcoin Exchange in front of dozens of witnesses
July 26, 2019	Unidentified	Wels, Austria	Man raided in office (en)
August 26, 2019	Abdul Shakoor	Dehradun, India	Kingpin of Kerala bitcoin scam murdered in Dehradun
November 19, 2019	Simply Delicious Food Market	Vernon, British Columbia	Thieves break into BTM
January ?, 2020	Iroro Wisdom Ovie	Abraka, Nigeria	Man shot & killed by home invaders seeking $10,000 in bitcoin
January ?, 2020	17 y/o trader	Preston, Lancashire, England	Trader lured to apartment, kidnapped, driven around in car trunk.
January 8, 2020	Mark Cheng Jin Quan	Bangkok, Thailand	Blockchain advisor kidnapped, held at gunpoint, extorted for $60,000 in bitcoin
January 21, 2020	Mayfair Quick Mart	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2 men break into BTM, steal cash box
February 10, 2020	Unidentified couple	Carlisle, England	Home invaders force victims to create crypto exchange accounts
March 18, 2020	Unidentified siblings	Blantyre, Scotland	Home invader beats woman with Toblerone, forces victim to transfer $200,000 of BTC
May 17, 2020	Le Duc Nguyen	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	HCMC cops charged with $1.6 mln bitcoin robbery. Follow-up article here.
May 19, 2020	Exxon Gas Station	East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania	2 subjects pry open BTM in broad daylight
May 23, 2020	Ellis Pinsky	Irvinton, NY	2 men commit home invasion of hacker, seeking tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin
September, 2020	Male Freshman	Kent, England	Student robbed of bitcoin at knifepoint during first week at university.
October 1, 2020	Unidentified	Kyiv, Ukraine	Police kidnap a businessman, torture him, and force his wife to send them 7 bitcoin.
October 7, 2020	Mike's Produce	Kelowna, BC, Canada	Botched Bitcoin theft destroys deli
October 22, 2020	Undisclosed	Riga, Latvia	Man arrested for planning kidnapping and killing owners of cryptocurrencies
December ?, 2020	Undisclosed	Dubai, UAE	4 Ukrainian men attack Bitcoin buyer with deoderant
December 24, 2020	Undisclosed	Ternopil, Ukraine	Man kidnapped and tortured for $800k
Unknown, 2021	Dillon Attard	Sliema, Malta	Victim describes his disbelief as $700,000 stolen in front of him
January 5, 2021	37 y/o man	Chai Wan, Hong Kong	Robbers take US$387,000 in cash, 15BTC from man after in-person trade
January 18, 2021	Unidentified Woman	Kwun Tong, Hong Kong	Gang snatches HK$3.5 million from trader at knifepoint
January 23, 2021	Physical Exchange Employees	Osztyn, Poland	Two employees shot at physical Bitcoin exchange FlyingAtom
February 4, 2021	Married Couple	Stockholm, Sweden	Armed robbers invade home and force owners to hand over 1M+ SEK in BTC
February ?, 2021	Swiss & German	Gujranwala, Pakistan	Armed robbers take $93k in BTC at gunpoint
March 10, 2021	Bank director	Recife, Brazil	Man kidnapped by a gang , tied up, and had two teeth knocked out. He was released after he instructed his partner to transfer 4.78 BTC to the attackers.
March 16, 2021	29 y/o Berlin man	Munich, Germany	Robbers steal bitcoin worth almost 100,000 Euros
March 18, 2021	"F.T."	Mendoza, Argentina	Armed robbers steal iPhone, $5k at gunpoint
April 8, 2021	30 year old miner	Zaporizhya, Ukraine	Mining farm owner shoots at looters
April 13, 2021	Undisclosed	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	Armed men force their way into Canyon Meadows home, steal cryptocurrency keys
May, 2021	14 y/o boy	Bradford, UK	Teen bitcoin trader kidnapped & ransomed
May, 2021	___ Ghershony	Bethesda, Maryland	Son drugs father, steals $400K in BTC
June 11, 2021	40 y/o man	Gyeonggi Province, South Korea	Woman drugs man she met on chat app, steals $87K from his phone.
June 14, 2021	22 y/o man	Kwun Tong, Hong Kong	Trader temporarily blinded, HK$2 million stolen
June 24, 2021	39 y/o man	Leeuwarden, Netherlands	3 men posing as service technicians beat password out of Bitcoin owner
July, 2021	Unidentified man	Omsk, Russia	3 men kidnap and extort over $1M in crypto from victim
July 1, 2021	Unidentified man	Unknown	Bitcoin holder drugged and robbed by Tinder date
July 14, 2021	Morakinyo Peter & Yusuf Dayo	Lagos, Nigeria	Law Enforcement Officers rob 2 men of $50K USD in bitcoin at gunpoint
July 28, 2021	39 y/o man	Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong	Trader robbed of HK$3 million at knifepoint
August ?, 2021	3 women	Dubai, UAE	4 Africans rob three women of $100,000 in a fake Bitcoin deal
August 8, 2021	Wesley Pessano Santarem	Sao Pedro da Aldeia, Brazil	Crypto Trader's Murder Blamed On Social Media Bragging
August 18, 2021	Simon Arthuis	Plancher-Bas, France	Computer engineering student killed for €200,000 in cryptocurrency
September ?, 2021	Unidentified 31 y/o	Abkhazia	Thieves break into garage, steal 20 mining servers worth $10,000.
September 9, 2021	Mark Geor	Westmere, New Zealand	Safe containing $4M of cryptocurrency ripped from house
October, 2021	Miner	Tomsk, Russia	Armed Robbers attack Miner at his Home, Steal 86 BTC
October 7, 2021	Liquor Store	South Bay, California	Thieves Break Into Liquor Store to Steal Bitcoin ATM
October 20, 2021	Astamur Ardzibna	Abkhazia	Man Shot Dead in Hail of Gunfire Over Crypto Mining Rigs
November 2, 2021	Zaryn Dentzel	Madrid, Spain	Home invaders torture social media founder, take tens of millions of euros in bitcoin
November 6, 2021	39 y/o trader	Hong Kong	Crypto trader kidnapped by Triad gang, beaten with hammers
November 12, 2021	GBTC Crypto Exchange	Barcelona, Spain	Thieves rip bitcoin ATM from crypto store
November 21, 2021	"E.Z."	Los Angeles, CA	Attempted robbery & kidnapping at gunpoint by business associate
December ?, 2021	Unidentified Family	Sukhumi, Abkhazia	2 masked men break into home, hold family at gunpoint before escaping with three servers and $2,040 in cash.
December 11, 2021	Camilla Guadagnuolo & Principe Nerini	Bali, Indonesia	Robbers take $400K in cash & bitcoin at knifepoint
December 15, 2021	Vincent Everts	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Armed home invaders threaten TV personality during livestream
December 27, 2021	2 unidentified males	Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada	11 Inmates take 2 inmates hostage, force them to transfer cryptocurrency
January 16, 2022	Gas Station	Memphis, TN	Suspects smash gas station with truck, steal Bitcoin ATM
January 21, 2022	34 y/o teacher	Hoboken, Belgium	3 men invade home, fail to force owner to hand over 3M Euros of BTC
February, 2022	John Forsyth	Missouri	Crypto founder kidnapped, zip-tied, threatened to be thrown off bridge.
February 2, 2022	Vinay Naik	Pune, India	Pune: 8 including cop arrested for kidnapping man to extort Bitcoin worth Rs 300 crore ( $50 million USD )
February 3, 2022	Vinay Jain	Surat, India	Auto parts businessman brings suitcase full of $260K worth of cash to do an in-person crypto trade, gets beaten and robbed by 8 men.
February 3, 2022	Ilya Basin	Brooklyn, New York	Crypto consultant hog-tied, beaten during home invasion.
March, 2022	bitcoin trader	Dubai, UAE	4 men invade home, tie up man, steal $450K from safe.
March 2, 2022	Unidentified man	Miami, FL	Businessman ambushed by armed robber, has $1M watch & crypto wallet taken.
March 4, 2022	Electronics Dealer	Pune, India	Woman cop suspended for bid to extort crypto from trader
March 16, 2022	Pierrick Jamaux	New York, New York	Crypto expert shot 5 times by robber seeking Richard Mille watch.
March 30, 2022	"E.Z."	Los Angeles, CA	Attempted home invasion by 3 armed men; victim fired gun at attackers, who fled.
April, 2022	Unidentified trader	Dubai, UAE	9 robbers invaded the office of a bitcoin trader and took over $1,000,000 in cash.
April 21, 2022	Unidentified couple	Norrköping, Sweden	Couple tied up and beaten, forced to transfer cryptocurrency.
May, 2022	4 victims	London, England	Multiple incidents of crypto muggings around London.
May, 2022	Unidentified man	Dubai, UAE	Crypto expert assaulted & robbed by investors for losing money.
May 20, 2022	Factory Owner	Klang, Malaysia	12 men rob aluminum factory, steal 180 Bitcoin ASICs.
June, 2022	Undisclosed	Osaka, Japan	Son of Mitsubishi Electric CEO + 7 men kidnap, torture gym member for crypto assets.
July, 2022	Asian Investor	Dubai, UAE	Man suffers home invasion, loses ~$50,000 after attempting a face-to-face cash trade to buy bitcoin.
July, 2022	Vkusvill Supermarket	Kuchino, Russia	4 armed mask men rob warehouse, steal 100 GPUs.
August 6, 2022	30 y/o broker	Manerba, Italy	3 men follow a man home, hold him at knifepoint for BTC.
August 7, 2022	Arjun Bhargav	Vrindavan Yojana, India	3 men trick, abduct, torture realtor for 8 BTC.
September, 2022	Middle Aged Couple	Richmond, B.C., Canada	Multiple suspects posing as police invade home, tie up residents, steal $10M in crypto.
September 6, 2022	19 y/o hacker	Lincolnshire, U.K.	3 men, 1 posing as a cop, arrested while attempting home invasion.
September 12, 2022	19 y/o man	Winnipeg, Canada	Man held at gunpoint, assaulted and tied up during Bitcoin trade.
September 12, 2022	Unidentified couple	Delray Beach, Florida	Armed gang invades home, takes jewelry, electronics, cash. Tried but failed to drain Gemini account.
September 15, 2022	Russian Couple	Koh Samui, Thailand	Russian couple extorted by gang of foreign men at coffee shop.
September 15, 2022	Unidentified young man	Homestead, Florida	Armed gang invades home, takes jewelery, electronics. Kidnapped & tortured victim, failed to find his bitcoin.
December, 2022	Aiden Pleterski	Toronto, Ontario	"Crypto king" abducted, tortured, and beaten for days as his kidnappers sought millions in ransom
December 1, 2022	Russian Businessman	Moscow, Russia	Man kidnapped from his Bentley by 4 men, forced to give access to bitcoin wallet.
December 3, 2022	Unidentified man	Lelystad, Netherlands	Man responds to ad to sell his bitcoin, is attacked by several men & forced to transfer 30K EUR worth of BTC & ETH.
December 11, 2022	2 Russians	Phuket, Thailand	2 men who work on a cryptocurrency were kidnapped and robbed.
December 22, 2022	Unidentified man	Little Elm, Texas	Armed gang invades home, torture victims for 3 hours, take jewelery, fail to find hardware wallet with $1.4m.
January 14, 2023	Crypto Company	Barcelona, Spain	5 men stormed into a company's office armed with tasers and zip ties.
February 25, 2023	Yuri Boytsov	Bali, Indonesia	4 men invade crypto blogger's home, beat him until he transfers $284,000 in BTC.
February 27, 2023	German man	Medellin, Colombia	20 year old Venezuelan woman drugs and robs man of 1 BTC.
March 9, 2023	Peter Vuong	Sydney, Australia	Gang kidnaps boyfriend of crypto trader's relative, demands $5M ransom while torturing him for 6 days.
March 20, 2023	Virendra Malik	Noida, India	Couple stages robbery to steal bitcoin from their friend, but he doesn't comply.
March 29, 2023	48 y/o woman	Seoul, South Korea	4 men kidnap woman, steal crypto, murder her.
April, 2023	Unidentified Woman	Dubai, UAE	Driver & 3 friends lured an investor into a fake deal, robbed, electrocuted, stripped naked, and took blackmail videos.
April 12, 2023	76 y/o couple	Durham, NC	2 men posing as construction workers invade home, force transfer of $250K in crypto.
May 3, 2023	Unidentified man	Benalmádena, Spain	3 men kidnap crypto businessman, demand €1 million ransom. He was rescued by police.
May 26, 2023	Smoke Shop	Houston, TX	7 men arrested after ramming store with stolen truck in failed attempt to steal Bitcoin ATM.
June 2023	Crypto Entrepreneur	Tel Aviv, Israel	Crypto entrepreneur robbed at gunpoint in his home in Tel Aviv (Hebrew)
July 16, 2023	Unknown Couple	Queens, NY	Fake FBI agents in Porsche tase and tie up couple, steal Mercedes, $40K in cash, crypto
September 3, 2023	Italian man	Phuket, Thailand	Russian MMA fighter & twin brother rob man of watches, seek Ledger wallet.
October 30, 2023	Crypto Exchange	Tbilisi, Georgia	6 men rob exchange office, take $900K USD in crypto.
November 6, 2023	Middle-aged couple	Rönninge, Sweden	Couple tied up, beaten, and threatened with their own kitchen knives.
November 10, 2023	Binance Client	Montenegro	Executives lured into fake business trip, kidnapped, forced to empty wallets of $12M USDT.
December 25, 2023	23 y/o miner	Izhevsk, Russia	Miner kidnapped from home, ransomed, rescued by police.
January 16, 2024	42 y/o man	Cluj, Romania	Restaurant owner kidnapped, doused in diesel, force fed alcohol, has finger cut off, until he transferred $200K USD in crypto.
January 31, 2024	Belarusian couple (23 y/o man)	Phuket, Thailand	5 "Russians" arrested in crypto abduction case (~USD 801,200)
March 10, 2024	Young Couple	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Gang of 4 kidnaps couple and robs them of $25,000 in cryptocurrency.
March 15, 2024	___ Yevgini	Samui Island, Thailand	Gang of 6 Russians robs Russian man and wife at coffee shop for 1.8 million baht in BTC.
April 18, 2024	11 Traders	Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore	4 men rob suspected Chinese crypto gambling ring of $3M USD.
June 17, 2024	Ramesh Nair	London, England	3 men armed with machetes invade home, force owner to transfer 1,000+ ETH.
July 3, 2024	3 y/o boy	Tseung Kwan, Hong Kong	2 women abduct toddler from mall, demand $660,000 USDT ransom.
July 11, 2024	Chinese National	Cyberjaya, Malaysia	18 people kidnap 2 victims, hold them for $1.2M ransom, get in shootout with police.
July 12, 2024	British Crypto Trader	Bangkok, Thailand	5 people tie up trader, assault, and rob him.
July 28, 2024	29 y/o Moroccan man	Kyiv, Ukraine	4 men kidnap foreigner, rob, & murder him for 3 BTC.
August 7, 2024	11 Israelis	Puntarenas, Costa Rica	8 men, possibly police, overpower security guard, rob 11 tourists of 10+ BTC.
August 4, 2024	Ke Jibao	Bangkok, Thailand	Gang of 4 Chinese nationals sneak into gated estate, commit armed home invasion, rob $2M USD of cryptocurrency.
August ?, 2024	Nick Drakon	Undisclosed	Crypto executive surveilled, armed home invasion, forced to transfer personal & company assets.
August 25, 2024	Radhika & Suchil Chetal	Danbury, CT	Parents of $243M heist thieves get carjacked & kidnapped in botched ransom plot.
August 29, 2024	19 y/o	Hougang, Singapore	Man seeks p2p trade of cash for USDT, punched by attackers, successfully escapes.
November 6, 2024	Dean Skurka	Toronto, Ontario	WonderFi CEO kidnapped during rush hour, held until $1M ransom paid.
November 8, 2024	Viacheslav Leibov	Phuket, Thailand	Tourist robbed by armed gang in friend's hotel room, forced to transfer $250K USDT. Robbers were captured a few days later.