Recently, there have been many "cryptocurrency robberies". The robbers targeted investors with digital currency and forcibly transferred cryptocurrency after seizing their mobile phones The anonymous crime report provided by the London police to the guardian shows that criminals are combining physical strength and digital technology to hijack and obtain the encrypted currency of others.
One victim said they tried to call an Uber near Liverpool Street Station in London, and the gangsters forced them to hand over their mobile phones. Although the gangsters eventually returned the phone, the victims later realized that they had lost £ 5000 worth of Ethereum digital currency in their account at coinbase, a cryptocurrency investment platform.
In another case, a group of men approached a man, offered to sell him cocaine and agreed to trade in the alley with them. These people offered to enter a number on his mobile phone, but entered his cryptocurrency account, pressed him against the wall and forced him to unlock a smartphone application with facial authentication. They transferred £ 6000 worth of rupiah (another digital currency) from his account.
When the attacker vomited, he forced the third victim to change the security of his phone, including 28700 pounds, and then stole the next one.
In another case, a victim told police that his bank card and mobile phone were stolen after going to a bar at night and later stolen from their investment platform crypto Stole 10000 pounds from Com's account. The report said the victim used his mobile phone in the bar and believed that the thief saw him enter his account password.
Unlike bank transfers, cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible, making this type of crime more attractive to thieves. In attack on the 50 foot blockchain, author David Gerard said: "this is a cryptocurrency robbery. If I am robbed, they force me to make a bank transfer, the bank can track the whereabouts of the money, and there are various ways to fight back. You can reverse the transaction. And cryptocurrency, if I transfer it to my cryptocurrency wallet, I have your coin, and you can't get it back.".
He said that the way some people deal with their investments on smartphones increases the risk, rather than being as cautious as dealing with cash. People put stupid money in cryptocurrency accounts. They don't think it's money to some extent.
Gurvais Grigg, who has worked for the FBI for 23 years, is now the public sector chief technology officer of chainalysis, which helps government agencies and financial institutions track the flow of digital money. He said that the nature of cryptocurrency is to record transactions on the blockchain, which means that the police should be able to track the stolen cryptocurrency in theory.
"In order to [transfer stolen assets ], they have to provide a wallet address, which is likely to be used again in the future. If you want to turn it into legal currency, you also need to take it to the exchange," he said. Although this method can track millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency hackers, they are unlikely to have the resources to track down smaller, one-time crimes.
"A single small amount of theft may not attract the attention of the police or large law enforcement agencies. If they can put together larger conspiracy activities, people do it more than once or twice, the police department may pay attention," he continued.
These cryptocurrency robberies occurred in the second half of 2021, in a relatively small part of the Financial District of London patrolled by the city of London police. These incidents are not the first time someone has been forced to hand over cryptocurrency under the threat of violence. A student in Kent claimed last year that eight people rushed into his university dormitory and forced him to transfer £ 68000 bitcoin with a knife.