A crypto buyer in Trinidad was robbed of roughly $85,800 in cash during an evening ambush at a pharmacy car park, marking the latest in a fast-rising wave of global “wrench attacks” targeting digital-asset holders.

According to a report by Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, the victim, a 52-year-old Arouca resident, drove to a SuperPharm parking lot along Trincity Central Road on November 29 to meet a man he had been trading cryptocurrency with for nearly two years.

$85K Trinidad Heist Joins Over 60 Cases Of Physical Crypto Crimes, Researcher Says

The man, a 33-year-old from Belmont, entered the vehicle as he had done in previous transactions. The buyer then handed him a black bag containing $85,800 in cash intended for a crypto purchase.

Moments later, two armed men wearing hoodies approached both sides of the vehicle and announced a robbery. They smashed their way in, grabbed the cash and the victims’ mobile phones, and escaped in a waiting car.

The victim later reported the incident to the Arouca Police Station. Investigators have not disclosed whether the longtime trading partner was involved or was also targeted.

The robbery occurred on the same weekend police responded to two unrelated vehicle thefts at nearby shopping centers, adding to concerns about rising property crime in the area.

A St. Joseph woman reported her Nissan B14 stolen from the One Woodbrook Place basement car park, while another woman discovered her Suzuki Vitara missing from the Trincity Mall parking lot. Police say investigations into all incidents are ongoing.

Although cash was stolen, security analysts categorize it within a growing class of physical attacks linked to digital-asset activity.

These incidents, informally referred to as “wrench attacks”, involve criminals using violence, coercion, or kidnapping to force victims to hand over wallet credentials, sign transactions, or surrender funds.

Jameson Lopp, co-founder of security firm Casa and one of the few researchers tracking physical crypto crimes, has documented more than 60 such attacks this year, already surpassing last year’s total by more than 30%.

Physical attacks targeting Bitcoin and crypto holders are rising at an alarming rate, according to CASA co-founder Jameson Lopp. #Crypto #Attackhttps://t.co/d7lhF9bvvO

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) September 21, 2025

Lopp describes a 169% rise in cases since February, with France currently leading global reports at 14 confirmed incidents.

Physical Crypto Crimes Escalate Worldwide, From Home Invasions to Kidnappings

Notably, the violence attached to these crimes has escalated. Last week, a British Columbia court detailed a 2024 home invasion where a family was tied, tortured, and waterboarded as attackers demanded access to cryptocurrency.

The gang sought 200 BTC before taking $1.6 million in digital assets. One suspect, Tsz Wing Boaz Chan, later pleaded guilty and received a seven-year sentence.

In the United States, authorities are also investigating a violent robbery in San Francisco on November 24, Police have released few details and no arrests have been made.

A fake delivery driver robs a San Francisco homeowner of $11M in crypto as wrench attacks surge globally#CryptoCrime #WrenchAttackshttps://t.co/fOslqzEJeS

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) November 24, 2025

Similar incidents have been recorded across major cities. An Italian tourist kidnapped in New York was held for more than two weeks while captors attempted to extract his Bitcoin credentials, leading to a case that has since drawn internal scrutiny within the NYPD.

Two NYPD officers are on modified duty after reports emerged the two detectives may have possible links to last week's crypto kidnapping.#NYPD #CryptoKidnappinghttps://t.co/bbUSkcge54

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) May 30, 2025

In Chicago, six men were charged earlier this year with kidnapping residents and coercing them to transfer $15 million in crypto, with similar attacks reported worldwide.

France has seen some of the most organized efforts. Prosecutors say criminal groups have used fake delivery uniforms, pre-attack intelligence gathering, and stolen service vans to identify potential targets.

In one high-profile case earlier this year, Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife were kidnapped for 48 hours; Balland later told investigators his finger was severed during the ordeal.

Analysts say the surge in physical crime coincides with continued strength in crypto markets, which has raised the value of private holdings and drawn criminals toward coercion rather than online hacking.

The post Armed Robbers Steal $85K in Trinidad Crypto Ambush — “Wrench Attacks” Now Strike Weekly appeared first on Cryptonews.

A former doctor will be imprisoned for 8 years for trying to hire a killer from the “dark web”.

It all started in February 2021, when a visitor to a website for ordering killer services under the nickname Scar215 addressed the administrator of the site in a personal letter with a desire to order an attack on his colleague. The customer sent full information about the victim (name, address and photo) and an amount of about USD 2,000 (approximately the same amount of money was used to buy the assassination of the colleague).

This was not the last order from the anonymous person. In early April 2021, Scar215 sent letters to three administrators of similar sites with a detailed description of his order. He wanted to order the kidnapping of his wife because she had started the process of divorce from him. The text of the task stated that she had to be kidnapped and held for one week, the victim had to be injected with heroin twice a day to induce addiction, and the task was accompanied by a list of goals for which the mercenary would receive a “nice bonus”. If we count all the “bonuses” and the initial amount specified in the text of the task, we will get the amount of USD 60,000, which is the amount for which the customer planned to organize the “re-education” of his wife. During the discussion of the details, the customer allowed the mercenary to use any methods to achieve the goal, and the goal was to return the wife to the customer and complete the divorce procedure. Scar215 paid for his two orders with bitcoin, probably to remain completely anonymous.

All the illegal actions could not go unnoticed. While analyzing the blockchain, the FBI noticed some strange transactions, and they contacted the exchange (Coinbase, because it was from an account registered on this exchange that strange transactions for a rather large amount were made) to obtain information on these transactions, which led them to a man named Ronald Craig Ilg, who lived in Spokane, Washington. Ronald was then detained. In the morning, on April 11, 2021, he was interrogated, during which Ronald confessed that he intended to hire killers to kill himself, but investigators did not believe him, so a search was conducted at the suspect’s home. The police were interested in a safe in the man’s bedroom. Access to it was provided by the owner of the house. Inside the safe, investigators found a lot of records and notes. On April 13, 2021, using the found records, law enforcement agencies gained access to the Scar215 user account on the dark web, as well as to correspondence with administrators of sites providing “specific” services.

Ronald Craig Ilg confessed to ordering the attacks on his colleague and ex-wife and was sentenced on August 10, 2022: 8 years in prison in a general regime colony. If you think that’s all, you’re wrong, on January 24, 2023, the court ordered the prisoner to pay the victims compensation in the amount of $125,000.