"According to an indictment, the men, along with another suspect, posed as UPS, pizza delivery and DoorDash drivers to gain access to victims' homes. Prosecutors allege they were armed with guns, duct tape and zip ties, and in at least one incident forced a victim to give up cryptocurrency account information while threatening to cut off the victim's finger."
"The indictment outlines four victims in total, located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Sunnyvale. It also alleges the suspects struck a victim in the head with a firearm when the person did not comply. The men face multiple charges, including attempted kidnapping."
""The majority of thefts and losses that we see related to cryptocurrency aren't these types of kidnapping still," said Paul Sibenik, CEO of Cryptoforensic Investigators. "In many cases, it's still some remote hacker that is unknown to the victim who they've never met, whether it's some sort of fishing-related incident or some seed phrase compromise through cloud storage-related breach.""
""I think there's also this misperception that crypto is a good technology to steal people's money and to get away with it, because maybe it's anonymous, or it's less understood," Nelson"
Two Tennessee men appeared in federal court in San Francisco facing allegations of violently stealing $6.5 million in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors say they and another suspect posed as UPS, pizza delivery, and DoorDash drivers to enter victims’ homes. The indictment alleges the suspects used guns, duct tape, and zip ties, and forced at least one victim to provide cryptocurrency account information while threatening harm. The case involves four victims across Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sunnyvale, and includes allegations of striking a victim in the head with a firearm and attempted kidnapping. The matter follows broader attention to cryptocurrency-related crimes, including a separate bitcoin ransom demand in a disappearance case. Experts say violent cryptocurrency thefts are relatively uncommon compared with remote hacking and account compromise, and that misconceptions about anonymity persist.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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