In a recent incident in Trinidad, a man was ambushed by two armed individuals and robbed of $85,800 in cash during a face-to-face cryptocurrency transaction on November 29. The assailants made off with the money and both men's mobile phones, using a getaway vehicle to escape, according to a local news source. An expert informed Decrypt that "wrench attacks" and similar violent incidents are now happening about once a week globally.
The robbery took place in a parking lot on Trincity Central Road, where the targeted individual, a resident of Arouca, was waiting in his car. He was preparing to buy cryptocurrency with the cash he passed to his associate of two years from Belmont. Almost immediately after the handover, two masked individuals wielding firearms appeared at the car windows, demanding the cash and other valuables. After seizing the money and phones, they fled the scene. The local police are currently investigating the crime, and Decrypt has reached out to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for additional information.
Jameson Lopp, a co-founder and chief security officer at the self-custody platform Casa, has compiled data on such incidents, noting over 60 wrench attacks this year alone. In a recent San Francisco case, a person disguised as a delivery driver restrained a homeowner with duct tape at gunpoint, forcing him to relinquish access to a crypto wallet, his phone, and his laptop, resulting in an $11 million loss. Last month, an especially tragic incident occurred when Russian crypto entrepreneur Roman Novak and his wife were murdered in the UAE after being coerced by supposed investors to unlock their digital wallets.
Cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Baek emphasized that what often starts as digital threats is increasingly turning into physical violence. He stated that wrench attacks now happen globally at a rate of nearly one per week. Baek explained that perpetrators are using blockchain analytics and AI-driven methods to track victims' movements and cash-out patterns in real time. He warned that these are not random acts but are deliberate, data-driven assaults. Baek urged the community to take online threats seriously, as the line between digital and physical danger is becoming alarmingly thin.