Known Physical Bitcoin Attacks
A list of known attacks against Bitcoin / crypto asset owning entities that occurred in meatspace. NOTE: this list is not comprehensive; many attacks are not publicly reported. If you are aware of an attack that is not listed, please open an issue or pull request — see CONTRIBUTING.md for what qualifies and how to add entries.
For interactive visual dashboards of this data, check out our map and the Crypto Crime Dashboard
For more comprehensive statistical breakdowns of attack attributes, check out gart.io
Another comprehensive list of attacks is available at bitcoin-wrench-attacks.zaup.org
For high level analyses and best practices, readers may be interested in this 2020 presentation: "The Hodlguard- a primer on physical security in Bitcoin" and slides.
Also, Jameson's 2025 presentation with updated metrics and advice.
Finally, this academic paper analyzing physical attacks using Bitcointalk as a data source.
| Date | Victim | Location | Description |
|---|
| December 29 2014 | Hal Finney | Santa Barbara, California, United States | Bitcoin developer SWATted after months of harrassment & extortion (original link) |
| January 3 2015 | Amanda McCollum | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | BTM thieves strike smoke shop, fire gun (original link) |
| January 22 2015 | Martin Wismeijer | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Thieves steal 2 bitcoin ATMs (original link) |
| February 2015 | Dean Katz | New York, New York, United States | Bitcoin trader robbed of $12,000 at gunpoint (original link) |
| May 27 2015 | Dwayne Richards | New York, New York, United States | Firefighter kidnapped, robbed of $1,100, & stabbed by crypto thieves (original link) |
| November 16 2015 | Robert Nederhoed | Delft, Netherlands | Thieves steal bitcoin ATM containing 2,000 EUR (original link) |
| July 11 2016 | Tadas Kasputis | Kaunas, Lithuania | Cryptocurrency executive kidnapped at car wash (original link) |
| July 25 2016 | Steve Manos | West Palm Beach, Florida, United States | Bitcoin trader robbed of $28,000 at gunpoint (original link) |
| August 14 2016 | Multiple | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Police arrest teens in string of bitcoin-related robberies (original link) |
| November 6 2016 | Tivoli Brasserie | Oudenbosch, Netherlands | Dutch Bitcoin ATM Owner Laughs at Thieves Who Took His Machine (original link) |
| 2017 | Young merchant | Boyacá, Colombia | The "Los Hackers" gang used a woman as bait to lure merchants who worked with cryptocurrencies, then abducted and beat a young merchant and demanded he transfer the equivalent of COP 12 million in crypto-assets to a personal wallet, also stealing phones, cash and jewelry; two men were arrested in July 2019 and all five members accepted kidnapping charges. (original link) |
| February 16 2017 | Josoj | London, England | Description of robbery during Localbitcoins trade (original link) with Bitcoin Uncensored interview and the robber's side of the story. |
| February 26 2017 | Rocelo Lopes' wife | Florianopolis, Brazil | Wife of crypto exchange owner kidnapped and ransomed (original link) |
| March 14 2017 | 3 Indian Bitcoin traders | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 3 Emiratis pose as cops, kidnap victims and rob them of 25 BTC (original link) |
| April 6 2017 | Rajesh Kumar Nishad | Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh, India | A local criminal grabbed a bitcoin trader's phone during a demonstration, pointed a revolver at him and forced him to transfer all his bitcoin (~INR 25 lakh) plus his mother's holdings to a Zebpay account; he was arrested in July 2017. (original link) |
| April 7 2017 | Hitesh Shukla | New Delhi, India | A LocalBitcoins dealer answering an offer of 50 BTC was taken hostage in his car at the V3S Mall with INR 36 lakh in cash and driven to Ghaziabad, where the money was taken by a gang later tied to two similar robberies; six members were arrested in September 2017. |
| June 17 2017 | Miyuki Noda | Gifu, Japan | Woman strangled, attacker takes 100,000 yen worth of BTC (original link) |
| September 4 2017 | Alexey Sherstne | Kyiv, Ukraine | Man tortured for $50k in Bitcoins (original link) |
| October 2017 | Multiple | Toulouse, France | 4 bitcoin traders robbed at gunpoint (original link) |
| October 2017 | Multiple | Los Angeles, California, United States | "Discount Bitcoin Bandits" committed 5 robberies at gunpoint (original link) |
jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks
