Bitcoin Forum

London Gang Convicted of Kidnapping Barber They Thought Was a Bitcoin Billionaire—He Wasn't
London gang jailed for kidnapping barber over fake crypto fortune—he only had $9, so they settled for $2.7k. 

https://decrypt.co/331264/london-kidnapping-barber-bitcoin-billionaire-he-wasnt

"Four people in London were convicted for kidnapping a Belgian barber after he boasted online about a crypto fortune he didn’t actually have.

The gang ambushed him with weapons, but after discovering his wallet held only $9, they extorted $2,700 from his bank instead.

The case highlights rising “wrench attacks,” where criminals physically target people flaunting crypto wealth on social media."

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Bragging and social media are your enemies!

Why the hell would anyone even pretend to have a crypto fortune on social media in the first? My first guess would be to deceive people into believing what's not true, maybe to scam people or maybe not, but if not for anything, I'd say that serves him right and that he actually deserved what he got. At least that'll teach him to keep his mouth shut about his crypto holdings, maybe when he eventually manages to accumulate crypto in the future.
Not just him, this should serve as a lesson to people who go around bragging about their crypto holdings, even though some of them are actually telling the truth.

Lol! The gang members could have kidnapped instagram influencers or Onlyfans models instead. They surely have better amount in their bank account.

I honestly don't understand why people try to show off their wealth for no reason! When something good is happening with you, you should always keep quite. People usually ruin good things. I hope the berbar has got his lessons, but in a hard way! Social media is indeed your enemy when you are happy.

That is a crazy and funny story, but what is not so funny is how $5 wrench attacks are now so popular, there has been a lot of crypto kidnappings lately and it is starting to be very uncomfortable. I don't know why this barber would lie that he had a fortune in crypto, but what this story teaches is that a lot of people are watching what you post on social media, so for people who are into posting about crypto, they better be careful and not attract assailants.

I don't know where this world is going, but this is not a gang, this is a bunch of idiots. Think about it, they caught the wrong person, and instead of admitting their mistake and minimizing their crime, they forced the victim to give them $2,700. And for this they get a long prison sentence. $2,700 is the size of a pension in England. It's like stealing someone else's grandmother's pension.

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I saw a similar case of two Russians, one of whom threatened the other with a gun in Europe. And the kidnapper was playing Russian roulette with the victim. The victim owed money to the kidnapper.

But the kidnapper was smarter and when he realized that the victim had long ago spent all the money, he took nothing.
After the victim contacted the police, the kidnapper denied everything, no gun was found, the victim came on her own, and the kidnapping was not proven either. The only thing the kidnapper agreed on was that they didn't get into a big fight with the victim after drinking, so the victim had a few bruises.

As a result, the kidnapper spent six months in a detention center and was released. There was no evidence against him :)

I completely agree with you here, what were they thinking would happen when they stole fiat from the victims bank account, considering how easy it is to trace and block mobile/online bank transactions. Sometimes i wonder what goes through people's head when they do certain things, however, it would benefit us all if we had more stupid criminals like this bunch of idiots.

That's an important reminder for all of us that how dangerous it is to post your successful stories online. On Social media we have presence of both good and bad guys. The bad guys are continuously looking for potential client they can attack and by posting your stories online you are doing half of the hard work that needs to be done by bad guys. Since the the gang is caught, Belgian barber must has got his 2700$ back but he won't be able to undo the trauma he has to face during the kidnapping process.

I think the kidnappers and the victim are both stupid. The kidnappers are stupid in the sense that they could have let him go when they realized he wasn't a crypto billionaire, but they instead risked their freedom for a paltry $2700 dollars. The victim, on the other hand, is also stupid for pretending to be rich while he's as broke as a mouse. He could have gotten himself killed for this. I guess he has learnt his lessons.

He may not have funds in crypto, but he could be rich in another currency or asset, lol. I was just thinking about this case in another way, how possible can it be that this barber actually has a fortune in BTC, but he was able to deceive the attackers through plausible deniability, that is he extended his seed phrase with a passphrase and the attackers were only able to access his base wallet, where they found the $9, possible right?

It's human nature to want to seem to be more successful and happy than they actually are. I think most people boasting about success are actually dreaming about success or hoping to have success in the future. It's very normal.

It's very bad to commit such a serious crime against a innocent working man. Heartless.
And very stupid because bitcoin is very easy to track on the open ledger so they should have put some time to find out which addresses are his so they know how much there is to take.

 This sounds really funny because these kidnappers were so desperate to get money that they forgot that the person bragging was only a barber. Of someone like him could brag over something he didn't have, when he finally becomes a "crypto millionaire, I doubt he'd remain a barber.
 He's even lucky that they spared his life for that sort of stunt he pulled since there are some who might not be so forgiving. The sad part is that despite knowing of the dangers of coming online to announce how much wealth one has made, some people still make such errors, it's as if they want to test and see if these kinds of things would happen to them.
I'm not saying that it was a good thing the barber got kidnapped but he should learn a lesson or two from this careless action of his.

This is the reward for bragging and showing off on social media. Even in real life, I see people bragging about their wealth, and this is very dangerous. Boasting is the enemy of privacy, and the first thing we learned in Crypto is the need to maintain privacy.

These people don't realize the dire consequences of not maintaining privacy, and they become targets for many scammers and criminals who pursue them to gather information about them. They may be physically attacked or even have their online accounts hacked.

Why did this Belgian barber need to lie and brag on the Internet? Did he want to make headlines? :)

It seems that this story will take first place among the "most stupid situations related to crypto" - pretend to be a rich bitcoiner, so that you can be kidnapped and tortured? What could be more idiotic? :)

And on the part of the kidnappers, there is still an opinion that law enforcement agencies will not be able to find them when stealing and extorting crypto? Why do criminals think that they will go unpunished for crimes related to crypto? Or do they think that they will definitely become millionaires by committing such a crime?

How were they supposed to do that, if i don't post all of my BTC addresses, how can you know the coins i own, this barber may have boasted to be very rich in crypto, but he may never have posted his addresses to the public. All the information 'crypto kidnappers' need is the status of their potential victim, once they can ascertain that the victim is a popular figure in the crypto industry or poses as a rich person in crypto, they can attack.

I found the story quite funny. Why would the kidnappers go on to take funds from the barber's account after discovering that he was the wrong fish in their net? The obvious reason is that that was a broke gang hoping to make a killing off the "crypto czar." Unfortunately, this is now a common trend and owning crypto could even cost you your life if you're not careful. I came across news last year of a crypto millionaire who was abducted in Argentina and murdered. Worse, the killers dismembered his body and dumped parts of it in a river. He was later identified by his tattoo. And the guy was not even Argentine but a tourist.

Usually such cases are covered in the press and the police catch the criminals, as in this case.
There are many jokes about how you can earn a million by working hard all your life or stealing and then spending 3-5 years in prison. Some choose the second option, but they do not understand that they will still have this money taken away from them in jail.

Because there are many idiots in this world who are more interested in appearing to be rich than actually being rich, regardless of the possible consequences. Take Instagram, for example.


Yes, I was thinking about that same case too.

Dismembered remains of missing millionaire crypto influencer found in suitcase (https://glamsham.com/technology/dismembered-remains-of-missing-millionaire-crypto-influencer-found-in-suitcase/)

I'd rather be filthy rich and pretend to be poor than have it the other way around. The world believe that Bitcoin holders are freaking rich thereby making them formidable targets, and since hacking their wallets isn't always that easy, they often turn to the option of abduction in order to steal their funds without much efforts.

I believe I've seen a related case being discussed on the forum where a Bitcoin holder was also abducted an tortured using several methods just for him to release his secret phrases. We see this all the time, and it's only wise for Bitcoin holders to learn from these experiences and keep their mouths shut about their holdings.