It's unlikely that someone would hold you at gunpoint to steal your real estate, but if what you own is a string of instantly transferable, globally cashable cryptocurrency, then to criminals, it's practically a perfect walking ATM.

According to a partial count of public cases by BlockBeats, in 2022, there were about 7 "physical layer" crypto kidnapping, home invasion, or violent threat incidents; by 2023, this number had at least doubled, to about 15–18 cases; in 2024, it continued to grow, with at least around 20 cases occurring, and the average amount per case was higher, with several cases involving ransom or losses amounting to millions of dollars; in the first half of 2025 (up to June), there have been at least 34 cases, far exceeding last year, setting a new historical high. The vast majority of cases are typical "wrench attacks," where victims, even if they have the most secure cold wallets and cryptographic defenses, ultimately cannot resist a knife, a wrench, or a stun gun.

The term "wrench attack" comes from a famous XKCD comic: when robust cryptographic protection meets physical violence, all it takes is a wrench to make you obediently hand over your private key.

Typical methods of these wrench attacks include: direct forced entry into the residence, armed threats or torture, coercion for mnemonic phrases or transfers; impersonation of police, agents, insurance agents, Uber drivers, etc., to deceive people into confined spaces before taking action; ambushes using acquaintances or seduction, arranging meetings at hotels, apartments, or in vehicles; organized crime groups committing crimes across borders, such as South Asian groups in Southeast Asia, Russian groups in Thailand, Ugandans impersonating military or police, and more.

Bali Tragedy: A Deadly Incident in Paradise

When it comes to cryptocurrency-related kidnapping cases, most people's first impression is the Bali couple tragedy, a case that caused quite a stir in both the crypto and travel communities.

The time was May 1, 2023, the place was a five-star hotel in Bali, Indonesia, where a 22-year-old Chinese couple on vacation was found dead in a horrifying manner.

According to Indonesian police at the time, based on testimony from 31 witnesses and forensic examinations, the official conclusion was relatively straightforward: the man first strangled his girlfriend, then stabbed himself into a bloody mess with a beer bottle before ending his own life. The police stated that the two had quarreled earlier over some personal disagreements, with the man injuring his left hand, so from the police's perspective, this was a typical case of a "murder-suicide."

But there is a detail here that caused a sensation in the crypto community — rumors say that the deceased was a member of the crypto circle, and the man may have held approximately 200 million Chinese Yuan worth of cryptocurrency.

Discussion in the crypto community at the time

A WeChat user named 'nnn' who is a crypto trader spoke out about the incident, claiming that the male deceased was his friend, and the two had exchanged messages just half a month prior.

Before the official determination of the case as a "murder-style suicide," most people in the crypto circle speculated that someone had their eyes on this money, wanted to force him to reveal the wallet key, so the suspect resorted to extreme measures to extract the password from both individuals. The result was the loss of the individual and the disappearance of the money.

However, because many details of the case were exposed online, such as why the two individuals checked in at different times, why the hotel room was registered under the female's name, and why the male immediately checked the neighboring rooms and hallway upon arrival at the hotel room — was he afraid of someone entering from a secret passage or the window? No fingerprints were found on the beer bottle, as if a professional hitman had cleaned up after the job. Additionally, the photo leaked of the male, with a small braid, gave off a somewhat "gangster" vibe. People in the circle say that this kind of demeanor and appearance is common among some gang members in Southeast Asia or regions like Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Many details have led to a widely circulated version of the case: in Southeast Asia, this "gambling" base and fraud center often use USDT or various cryptocurrencies for money laundering. The young man with a large sum of money used the guise of "money laundering" to take the money from the "boss." A few local Indonesian OTC traders, helping him convert USDT to USD, sold his whereabouts. The "boss" who discovered the loss of money offered a huge bounty as a warning, and a professional hitman tracked him down to the hotel, using methods that align perfectly with gang revenge operations. Because the "boss" is not a small-time player, there may be some local warlords or corrupt officials in Southeast Asia backing him. Moreover, afraid that amplifying this case would scare off a large number of foreign tourists, the local government chose to suppress it.

Of course, this is just a widely speculated version and may not necessarily reflect the truth of the case. However, due to the mysterious nature and brutality of the incident itself, it has remained very famous in the crypto community. RIP...

According to locals, this incident didn't cause much of a stir in the area, the hotel is running smoothly, and business is still booming. To this day, it is still considered a luxury resort. The sea breeze of Bali has swept away too many kidnapping cases related to crypto, cold and detached, far from the sunshine of the resort.

For example, in early 2023, the crypto community was abuzz with news that a crypto influencer named Yuri Boytsov was targeted. At that time, he had rented a seaside villa in Bali, teaching people how to trade crypto on Telegram during the day and enjoying beer in the sea breeze at night. However, one night, four people suddenly broke into his house— one of them in police uniform and the other two with Caucasian faces wearing masks. Without a word, they pinned him to the ground, stole his phone and passport, then forced him to unlock his wallet, transferring $284,000 worth of Bitcoin by force. Later, the Indonesian police only caught one suspect, who in turn accused Yuri of being a scammer who deserved to be robbed. In the end, the money was not recovered, Yuri was left without any recourse, and he moved to another country in disgrace.

Another older case, which took place at the end of 2021, involved an Italian couple living in a villa in the Seminyak area. At three in the morning, several intruders broke into their home. The burglars were all dressed in black, wearing gloves and masks. They tied up the man, held a knife to his throat, sealed his mouth with tape, and demanded the password to their phones. Non-compliance resulted in various forms of physical assault and threats. Ultimately, the Bitcoin accounts on six phones were emptied, totaling approximately $374,000. Authorities later discovered that two of the foreign men involved in the crime had previously dined at the victims' home and attended parties. Currently, the police have only arrested two of them, while the Polish and Russian suspects are still wanted.

Filius Sit Pater (The Son Inherits the Debt of the Father): A Case Within a Kidnapping and Theft Case

On August 25, 2024, a sweltering Sunday afternoon, in a luxurious community in Danbury, Connecticut, the lawns were meticulously manicured, and freshly cleaned outdoor lounge chairs stood by the pool. Most residents living here were prosperous and peaceful, and incidents of kidnapping were not common, an event a police officer may only encounter once in a lifetime.

Sushil, a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, had a high salary, but it was not excessively extravagant. That day, Sushil and his wife were driving their newly purchased Lamborghini, looking at houses in the neighborhood. However, this middle-class couple had no idea what terrifying nightmare lay ahead in the next few minutes.

As they turned a corner, a white Honda suddenly rear-ended Sushil's Lamborghini. Sushil instinctively hit the brakes and was about to get out of the car to assess the situation when a white delivery truck emerged from the front, blocking the Lamborghini. Within seconds, six men dressed in black with masks rushed out of the front and back of the vehicles. With almost no time for a reaction, the car doors were yanked open, and the couple was pulled out. While Sushil shouted and resisted vigorously, a baseball bat was swung directly at his head, causing blood to splatter across his face.

The couple were dragged into the back of a large truck, tightly bound with duct tape, wrapped up like mummies, their mouths wrapped around with two rounds, unable to move their hands and feet, only able to breathe through the small gap in their nostrils. The truck made a sharp turn, floored the accelerator, and took off, just like in the movies. However, in the movie, it's all acting, but the couple's fear and suffocation were real, the violent shaking inside the metal cargo compartment, and the kidnappers would occasionally hit them with a baseball bat, each blow causing excruciating pain.

What the kidnappers didn't expect was that an off-duty FBI agent happened to witness everything nearby, and he immediately followed the truck and reported the license plate number to the local police. Within ten minutes, a patrol car caught up with the large truck. Sensing trouble, the driver started driving wildly, going against traffic, running red lights, and causing sparks to fly as he scraped against the road dividers. After about a mile of pursuit, the vehicle finally spun out of control and crashed into the roadside barrier. The four kidnappers jumped out of the car directly, fleeing towards the bridge and the woods, eventually being apprehended by the police.

The rescued couple, covered in injuries, with their legs still bound with duct tape, bloodstains on their faces. Strangely, law enforcement found that these suspects, aged between 18 and 26, had rented a car from Miami and driven all the way to Connecticut. The distance from Miami to Connecticut is approximately 1,300 miles, even with non-stop driving, it would take around 20 hours. What could this couple have that was worth a group of people flying from Florida to Connecticut to kidnap them? Sushil was just an investment bank executive, although well-paid, if someone wanted money, they could have just carjacked him, so why go through the elaborate kidnapping?

The truth slowly unraveled afterward. The police searched through the suspects' phones and their group chats and only then discovered that the real target of this group was not the couple but their son—Veer Chetal, an 18-year-old high school graduate, which even led to a 2.5 billion USD cryptocurrency theft case.

Veer Chetal, photo provided by the U.S. Bureau of Law Enforcement in March 2025

Chetal's identity is not simple; he attends Rutgers University in New Jersey during the day but is a coin circle thief at night.

Last August, Chetal and a few friends he met on the black market of the Minecraft game formed a "cyber black group" and, using an old but effective social engineering tactic, impersonated Google and the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange customer service. They transferred in batches a Washington-based early Bitcoin player's 4,100 Bitcoins, valued at 2.5 billion USD at the time based on the market price, which is worth 4.2 billion USD at the time of writing.

After receiving the money, Chetal and his gang lived a lavish lifestyle: spending millions of dollars on cars, jewelry, renting mansions, and attending night club parties. They would drive a Lamborghini to school, frequent nightclubs, switch luxury cars every other day, and attend party after party.

It was at a nightclub in Miami where the hot-headed Chetal had a dispute with one of the kidnappers, which escalated into a physical altercation. The kidnappers then found out that Chetal owned a significant amount of cryptocurrency. They flew from Florida to Connecticut, planning to first take his parents hostage and then force Chetal to hand over the rest of the money—on the afternoon when the Lamborghini was rear-ended.

Behind Chetal were at least dozens of similar small to medium-sized scams, ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to a couple of million dollars. The police searched his home and found $500,000 worth of luxury jewelry, cash, and 39 million dollars in cryptocurrency.

According to court documents released this week, Chetal has pleaded guilty and promised to testify in exchange for a reduced sentence, possibly facing around 20 years in prison. Born in India, Chetal came to the United States with his family at the age of four in 2010, obtaining a related dependent visa due to his father's foreign worker visa, but he may be deported due to this criminal case. Chetal's father also lost his job at Morgan Stanley because of this incident.

The once status-symbol Lamborghini now sits lonely in the police station parking lot in Connecticut.

The Final Ransom Call of Hal Finney

If there is anyone in the Bitcoin community who is universally recognized as the "unrequited love," Hal Finney would surely make the list, even though he denied being the founder of Bitcoin, many believe he is Satoshi Nakamoto.

He was the first person to receive a Bitcoin transfer from Satoshi Nakamoto, the earliest to grasp Bitcoin, and a very early contributor of Bitcoin hashrate and code. Yet, at the end of his life, he couldn't quietly leave this world.

Hal Finney and his wife Fran

It was in the winter of 2014, Hal Finney had been battling ALS for five years, having lost most of his bodily functions, and even swallowing had become a risky action. His wife Fran had to suction him, bathe him, and change his tubes every day. One morning, while she was bathing Hal with a nurse, the phone suddenly rang. The voice on the other end claimed to be from the 911 emergency dispatch center, very politely asking, "Ma'am, is there someone being attacked in your home right now?"

Fran was at a loss, and the dispatcher said calmly, "Please remain calm. Your house is about to be surrounded by the SWAT team, and we need your cooperation. Come out immediately." She walked to the door, where outside was a fully armed SWAT team, with a helicopter hovering overhead. Just a few days ago, a shooting incident involving a university student had occurred nearby, making the police extra nervous. Seeing her holding a phone, they yelled directly, "Drop the phone! Come out to the lawn!"

She could only obey, leaving behind Hal Finney, who was still in the bathroom waiting to have his phlegm suctioned and unable to move, along with the caregiver and her son. Then Hal Finney was carried by the SWAT team to the lawn, the wind making him shiver uncontrollably, his throat filled with saliva. Fran was afraid he would choke to death, and she was on the verge of a breakdown.

All of this was part of a "Swatting" incident (maliciously deceiving law enforcement into dispatching a SWAT team). A hacker used a spoofed phone number to call 911, falsely claiming, "I just killed someone, and now I want to commit suicide," with the aim of having a fully armed SWAT team storm Hal Finney's home and terrify this innocent family.

Behind the scenes, the person making the call had been extorting Hal Finney's family for a month, demanding a payment of 1,000 bitcoins—equivalent to over $40 million at the time. Although this amount of money was not significant to Hal Finney, given his status as an early Bitcoin miner, it was evident that most of this money had been spent on expensive ALS medical expenses.

While this incident did not involve direct physical kidnapping, the hacker's repeated threatening calls and exposure threats tormented this legendary figure lying on a breathing machine. Hal Finney's condition deteriorated day by day, to the point where he could no longer speak normally. Yet, he had to muster his remaining emotions and strength to confront an extortionist hiding in the shadows. Fran, when interviewed later, was still distressed: "It took away his final peace."

It wasn't until August 28, 2014, that Hal Finney passed away.

Ledger Co-founder's Snowy Nightmares

If Hal Finney's ordeal is an unforgettable early Bitcoin horror story, then the kidnapping case of Ledger co-founder David Balland is the most well-known recent abduction in the crypto industry.

In the early morning of January 21, 2025, the winter night in the small town of Méreau in central France was unusually quiet. Just past two in the morning, a van quietly pulled up outside a white-walled villa with a garden. The residents inside were completely unaware that their nightmare had already entered, treading through the snow.

The target was not an ordinary resident but David Balland. In the crypto world, even if not a household name, he was at least a prominent figure. He was a co-founder of Ledger, a well-known cold wallet company in the crypto industry, considered a benchmark in the cold wallet sector.

David Balland, Co-Founder of Ledger

As a co-founder of the company, David Balland has been deeply involved since Ledger's founding in 2014 and served as the director of the Vierzon factory from 2019 to 2021. In 2019, Ledger established a dedicated factory in the central French town of Vierzon to produce hardware wallets. The company is currently headquartered in Paris with approximately 700 employees. In 2023, the company successfully raised 100 million euros (about 104 million USD), with a valuation as high as 1.3 billion euros.

David retired from Ledger in 2021 and went on to found two new startups: Le Centre and Ocel. Both companies are focused on bringing museums and art into the Web3 + VR space.

David Once Shared a Photo of His New Home on Twitter

That night, David was at home with his partner, the curtains half-drawn, the fireplace flickering, everything seemed normal. But a few minutes later, men in black broke in, armed with guns, dragged the two out of bed, and tied them up without a word. A chill swept into the room, mingling with the two thoughts in David's mind: whether they would make it out alive and what the intruders wanted.

He was roughly thrown into a car and taken to an abandoned warehouse miles away. It was as cold as an ice cellar there; the kidnappers taped him tightly, even used a knife to torment him, trying to force him to speak and transfer the ransom in cryptocurrency. He was coerced to message the other Ledger co-founder, the ransom demands laid out clearly: cryptocurrency only, no police involvement, no delays, or else face the consequences.

The Warehouse Where David Was Held

His partner was also not spared, being separately detained in a small town in the south of Paris, locked in the back seat of a van. The cold wind seeped in through the cracks of the car, she was bound all over, her limbs numb to the point of losing sensation, only able to hear the occasional sound of passing cars outside, hoping someone would notice.

These people knew what they were doing: they contacted the ransom through WhatsApp, the phone number was registered in Southeast Asia, they bypassed multiple VPNs, Ledger dared not delay, so they first transferred a portion of the ransom to buy some time, allowing the authorities to follow the trail.

For the kidnappers, it was just about money; for the French police, it was a battle of dignity. 230 gendarmes, 91 members of the French Gendarmerie Special Forces, along with cybersecurity and intelligence teams, traced every lead, starting with locking down license plates, then tracking mobile phones, and finally launching a nighttime raid. From the abduction to the release, the French police took less than 48 hours.

Statement from the French Police on the case

On the afternoon of January 23, on the outskirts of Paris, two suspicious vans were just parked on the side of the road when they were swarmed by the police. Inside the vehicles were not only three men but also the partner who had been bound in the back seat, pale from the cold. When the police carried her out, she was almost hypothermic, unable to even cry out. On the other side, David was being rescued from a warehouse, he was alive, but in the hostage video, the kidnappers, in their attempt to force Ledger to pay, actually wielded a knife, cutting off one of his fingers and sending the video to the company's top management, a scene so gruesome that it sent chills down everyone's spine.

10 kidnappers were caught on the spot: 9 men, 1 woman, ranging in age from their early 20s to over 40, a majority of whom had previous criminal records, with the mastermind being a 24-year-old of French-Moroccan descent. The arrest of these individuals was just the first step, awaiting them are charges such as "organized violent kidnapping," "armed extortion," "torture and abuse" - in France, these crimes can lead to life imprisonment.

After being rescued, David was taken to the hospital for treatment, his hand injury will take time to heal, but more important than the finger is that he returned alive.

The "E-Guard" that Dazed the Father

That cup of tea was handed to him by his son.

In May 2021, in Bethesda, Maryland, a typical upper-middle-class area, where the tree shadows splatter and the streets are clean, any minor incident can alarm the entire neighborhood. That evening, Liam handed a cup of steaming tea to his father, sprinkled with a hint of white powder in the tea, smiling as he persuaded his father: "It's good for your body, just a little pick-me-up."

Without much thought, the father drank it. Although his son had a drug addiction, after all, this was the child he had raised, the only son with whom he used to invest in cryptocurrency, eat together, argue, and make up. But this cup of tea did not result in a good night's sleep, but instead, it led to a full two days of unconsciousness and almost cost him his life.

This powder was not a tonic but a benzodiazepine tranquilizer — a component similar to prescription sleeping pills. A high enough dose enough to make a non-resistant person lose consciousness directly.

The tea Liam gave his father as evidence, image source: case file

That night, after incapacitating his father, Liam quietly took his father's phone, bypassed the two-step verification, and transferred $400,000 worth of Bitcoin from the account to his own, then converted most of it to Ethereum.

After doing all this, he left a note: "I am not a bad person; I just want to help you and myself. I will make sure you have the best retirement life."

This note Liam wrote to his father is one of the pieces of evidence in the case, image source: case file

He thought his father would wake up soon, but he overlooked the fact that non-addicts have almost zero tolerance for this type of drug. Two days later, a friend who noticed the father had been out of touch for several days and couldn't reach him panicked and called the police. When the police broke in, they found him lying on the bedroom floor, barely breathing, severely dehydrated, and with organ functions already starting to fail.

The doctor said that if they had arrived a few hours later, he wouldn’t have made it.

Liam was born into an affluent family in Maryland. After his parents' divorce, he became the only child in the family. He was good at playing tennis as a child, started a successful online clothing consignment company after high school, and later became obsessed with cryptocurrency, eventually becoming the "financial advisor" for his father.

"You are always too emotional and too attached to this token." Liam often gave such advice to his father.

His father gave him $100,000 as capital, and as the account value skyrocketed, the two cashed out some of the cryptocurrency holdings in 2018, earning approximately $350,000 in after-tax profits. However, Liam's drug addiction worsened drastically, leading to him being unconscious every day, moving from an apartment to a family member's home, and eventually going missing.

As his son's paranoia grew heavier, so did his obsession with the Bitcoin price plummet. However, at that time, the father, concerned about his son's judgment, decided to double-lock their investment accounts.

“Dad, you need to sell it,” the father recalled his son telling him. “No, you need to stop using drugs,” the father replied.

And then that cup of tea appeared. After moving the furniture, the two of them had a meal nearby, returned home, Liam brought the two cups of “special blend” tea, one for himself and one handed to his father.

After Liam's confession, he underwent drug treatment and rehabilitation, image source: The Washington Post

After the police intervened, initially filing it as “attempted murder,” considering the father was nearly killed. However, after further investigation, the prosecution found it more resembled a crime of an addict out of control with a “benevolent delusion”—he didn't really intend to kill, and the case was closed as a first-degree felony assault. Taking into account Liam's clean record, voluntary cooperation in treatment, and the family's choice to forgive, the court sentenced him to 125 days in prison with mandatory drug rehab, plus 20 years of probation. If there is another act of violence, he will go straight to state prison.

Upon leaving the prison, Liam moved into a rehabilitation group home in Rockville, working odd jobs during the day and attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings at night. His father would come to see him, and sometimes the two would work on his old Subaru together. “I have apologized to my dad, but I know mere words won't cut it,” Liam said, “I have to show him through actions that I am truly becoming that good son again.”

Perhaps this father and son will have tea together again, but this time, the father should probably sniff it first before drinking.

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