SAN FRANCISCO — The crime began with an ordinary sound: a knock at the door. According to investigators, the victim believed a delivery had arrived. Instead, a man posing as a courier forced his way inside, brandished a handgun, and bound the resident before seizing a cellphone, laptop, and access to cryptocurrency accounts worth more than $11 million.
The assailant, who fled before police arrived, is believed to have specifically targeted the victim for their digital holdings — a detail authorities say is no longer uncommon. “This wasn’t a random break-in,” a law enforcement official familiar with the case said. “It was a planned extraction.”
While crypto-related crime has historically centered on online scams, phishing attacks and exchange hacks, police departments in multiple cities now warn of a rise in physical robberies in which victims are coerced into surrendering access to their digital wallets.
A National Pattern of Violent Crypto Coercion
The San Francisco case is not isolated. In Los Angeles, prosecutors have charged two men — one a former LAPD officer, the other described in court filings as an alleged Israeli gangster — with kidnapping a teenage boy and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.
The suspects, Eric Halem and Gabby Ben, allegedly abducted the teen, threatened to waterboard him, and told him he would be shot unless he transferred $350,000 in digital assets. The teenager ultimately complied after hours of pressure.
“This represents a different kind of crypto crime,” one federal investigator said. “No malware, no social engineering. Just fear.”
Authorities say the involvement of a former police officer has complicated the case, prompting questions about how suspects identified potential victims and what resources they used to track them.
A New York Case Illustrates Escalating Brutality
In Manhattan, investigators uncovered an even darker version of the same trend. A cryptocurrency investor was arrested earlier this year after allegedly abducting an Italian businessman and holding him captive for more than two weeks inside an apartment.
Prosecutors say the victim was tortured, beaten, and repeatedly coerced to disclose the password to a Bitcoin wallet. The prolonged captivity, authorities noted, bore little resemblance to opportunistic theft. Instead, it suggested a methodical operation centered on prolonged psychological and physical pressure.
“This was not about stealing a laptop or forcing a quick transfer,” a New York law enforcement official said. “This was about breaking someone until they handed over the keys to their digital fortune.”
The suspect, who prosecutors described as “deeply embedded in cryptocurrency trading circles,” allegedly sought to cover his tracks through encrypted messaging platforms and unregistered exchanges — further complicating the investigation.
Why Crypto Investors Are Becoming Targets
Law enforcement officials say several factors are driving the shift toward physical violence. Digital assets, once considered anonymous, have become increasingly traceable, making online theft more difficult to monetize. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency’s irreversible transactions — once authorized — cannot be clawed back, making victims attractive targets for coercion.
At the same time, personal information tied to crypto ownership, from social media posts to blockchain analytics, has made some investors more conspicuous than they realize.
“You don’t need to know someone’s address to find them,” said a cybersecurity expert who advises financial institutions. “You just need to know they move large amounts of crypto — and in these cases, the threat becomes physical.”
Despite the alarming trend, officials stress that such attacks remain rare relative to online crypto fraud. But the recent cases across San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York suggest a convergence that worries investigators: the merging of digital wealth and traditional violent crime, reshaping how criminals seek to exploit cryptocurrency holders.
