Are Wrench attacks the result of adoption?

[Davidvictorson]

Has increased Bitcoin popularity resulted in an increase in Wrench attacks? Does anybody know? If so, are well-known public Bitcoin holders adequately prepared for the Wrench?

 

No. Rather it has resulted more in online scams and hacks. I would say the heat of the wrench attacks were many years ago when bitcoin was still gaining popularity and not many institutions, countries, and people had gotten in.
In my estimation, right now you one is 2x more likely to fall for a bitcoin scam or hack on their account than be a victim of a wrench attack.

[roxane40]

She tweeted months ago on How to sell his Bitcoin and most likely the criminals saw her post and then she became the target. Lucky her, the husband has a gun ready and he shot those criminals. What if those victims didn't have a chance like this?

To be honest, when I saw your comment it made me a bit curious. It felt strange to me that someone who invests in bitcoin would not know about this matter. Normally, people invest in bitcoin with a strong sense of privacy but if we do not properly understand how that privacy works, it can easily lead to problems for us. As an investor, I believe a person should clearly know how bitcoin can be sold and how the process works.

It was a good point that the victim had a gun for self-defense because if they did not have that protection, the situation could have been worse for them. The criminals may not have come only because of the bitcoin issue, there could also be other reasons behind the attack and if it is properly investigated those reasons might come out. In many homes there are valuable things that can be stolen and later sold for money. I believe the house that was attacked may have had some important items, the criminals possibly targeted those valuables. It is important for all of us to protect our privacy and also keep some means of self-defense at home so that we can protect ourselves in difficult situations.

Information is not so widely available. I did find this, "Wrench attack by mistake."
https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-divers/vaires-sur-marne-elle-aurait-ete-prise-pour-cible-par-erreur-une-famille-sequestree-pour-des-cryptomonnaies-bitcoin-en-seine-et-marne-2429354.html

People are wrenching anyone they want like "GIMME THE CRYPTO"

[ZAINmalik75]

Has increased Bitcoin popularity resulted in an increase in Wrench attacks? Does anybody know? If so, are well-known public Bitcoin holders adequately prepared for the Wrench?

 

Obviously the adoption is the reason. But criminals are not going after small amount holders I guess, because so far I have heard a few cases reported in France, but there were many in other countries too. These crimes are increasing with time and the cryptocurrency adoption is the only reason for this, although there are more factors to this, like in the bear market these crimes are less than they are in the bull market.

That means a bullish market is not too safe for those who hold a lot of Bitcoin. Sometimes we think we hold only 0.1 or 0.5 Bitcoin which is nothing, but for those who have nothing they see it as a huge amount. So maybe that's why we should never share with anyone we don't know, maybe they turn out to be criminals in the end.

[Hamza2424]

Yep, that's the main reason bro. People are unboxing everything and posting on social media, they are flexing portfolio screenshots, wearing Bitcoin conference lanyards with their full names on them, and then wondering why they feel unsafe haha. Silly fellows, but most of them are doing it because that's their profession. Mostly, they are being wrench attacked because they are either CEOs of a project or influencers who have shown their followers how much they made in the bull market.

If we are in crypto and we are neither influencers nor CEOs of any project, we don't have to tell anyone how much we hold. We should avoid sharing it on this forum, too. We should avoid sharing it anywhere. People sometimes open up on Reddit too, by thinking they are safe.

[Patikno]

Has increased Bitcoin popularity resulted in an increase in Wrench attacks? Does anybody know? If so, are well-known public Bitcoin holders adequately prepared for the Wrench?

 

Wrench attacks only happen to careless individuals, who don't realize how important it is to keep their Bitcoin holdings secret. All wrench attacks occur, because the perpetrators already know their potential victims own Bitcoin, so they easily carry out their actions by observing their potential victims. If you look for similar cases, they are sure to be premeditated or planned, and some of these cases have been discussed in this forum.

Therefore, I advise anyone not to easily share their Bitcoin holdings with anyone, even friends, let alone make it public. It is very dangerous; you will be monitored. I don't mean to scare you, and I don't wish it happen to anyone, but you should definitely keep your Bitcoin holdings a secret. There is no point in telling anyone about it; it will only make you vulnerable.

Regarding the OP question, I answer: The law of cause and effect clearly applies to the rise in Bitcoin popularity, but you must remember that this is due to individual negligence or error, not Bitcoin fault, or its popularity. The simple logic is, if you publicize your ownership of valuables stored somewhere, it will automatically provoke others to want to steal them (especially those with malicious intent). In other words, you don't need to publicize it; what is the point?

Regarding well-known public Bitcoin holders, I believe they have prepared for every eventuality. One well-known Bitcoin holder in my country often talks about the potential wrench attacks they might experience, and I believe they should discuss this, and take steps to prevent it from happening, to avoid such problems.

Personally, I don't see the point in sharing someone Bitcoin holdings, even for influencers. It will only make them anxious and put them at risk. It should be better to enjoy the peace of mind of owning Bitcoin, without anyone else knowing.

[roxane40]

It just amused me that if you adopt something, you need to get a wrench attack.

Adopt children?
-provide children with stable nurturing environments and improved developmental outcomes.

Adopt Bitcoin?
-total financial loss through extreme volatility or theft, severe physical harm from criminals targeting holders, kidnapping, extortion, permanent loss of assets due to lack of traditional recourse and regulatory crackdown leading to loss of access to funds.

I'm not sure... but I think people should THINK TWICE before adoption Bitcoin

 

[Lucius]

It just amused me that if you adopt something, you need to get a wrench attack.
---
I'm not sure... but I think people should THINK TWICE before adoption Bitcoin
 

If no one knows you bought BTC then you don't have to be afraid that anything bad will happen to you. The problem is that most people invest/trade BTC through CEXs or it comes into the focus of the authorities when paying income tax.

Unfortunately, most people behave very irresponsibly and take unnecessary risks just because they want to do everything according to the law, but as we saw in the case of France, thieves got hold of their data and started using it in the worst possible way.

[john_egbert]

It just amused me that if you adopt something, you need to get a wrench attack.

Adopt children?
-provide children with stable nurturing environments and improved developmental outcomes.

Adopt Bitcoin?
-total financial loss through extreme volatility or theft, severe physical harm from criminals targeting holders, kidnapping, extortion, permanent loss of assets due to lack of traditional recourse and regulatory crackdown leading to loss of access to funds.

I'm not sure... but I think people should THINK TWICE before adoption Bitcoin

 

Any good thing would have actors that downplay it by having ill intent. It's the same with any coin besides BTC. BTC is just the biggest coin.

[Z-tight]

Adopt Bitcoin?
-total financial loss through extreme volatility or theft, severe physical harm from criminals targeting holders, kidnapping, extortion, permanent loss of assets due to lack of traditional recourse and regulatory crackdown leading to loss of access to funds.

I'm not sure... but I think people should THINK TWICE before adoption Bitcoin

I don't know if you are trolling here, but hey, nobody is forcing anyone to adopt BTC, if you think it doesn't make sense to do so, then be on your way and buy stocks or whatever, just not BTC.

However, people have lost fiat and other kinds of investment in similar ways. Thieves also steal fiat and other valuables. The stock market is volatile. People get kidnapped and cash is paid as ransom in many parts of the world, etc. I understand that with BTC you are your own bank and that is one fascinating thing about it, but it is also important not to be stupid while holding your coins, so you don't talk yourself into trouble.

[FortuneFollower]

I don't know if you are trolling here, but hey, nobody is forcing anyone to adopt BTC, if you think it doesn't make sense to do so, then be on your way and buy stocks or whatever, just not BTC.

However, people have lost fiat and other kinds of investment in similar ways. Thieves also steal fiat and other valuables. The stock market is volatile. People get kidnapped and cash is paid as ransom in many parts of the world, etc. I understand that with BTC you are your own bank and that is one fascinating thing about it, but it is also important not to be stupid while holding your coins, so you don't talk yourself into trouble.

Agreed. Seems like an attempt to grab the attention by the feeling of it...

[OcTradism]

If no one knows you bought BTC then you don't have to be afraid that anything bad will happen to you.

People can have bitcoins while they don't buy it, like from mining it or as a gift from someone else. I agree with your advice but it can be expanded to like "If no one knows you own (have) BTC", it will have more general meaningful advice.

The problem is that most people invest/trade BTC through CEXs or it comes into the focus of the authorities when paying income tax.

Unfortunately, most people behave very irresponsibly and take unnecessary risks just because they want to do everything according to the law, but as we saw in the case of France, thieves got hold of their data and started using it in the worst possible way.

Trading on CEX with KYC is very risky for privacy and other things like tax issues. Because centralized exchanges collect Identity documents of users for KYC, AML and they even pass these documents to another third party company that is hired as an outsource for KYC verification.

CEX can do bad things with user identity documents already but it might be worse with a third party company as their partner for KYC verification. We don't know from where our identity document was leaked.

Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless.

[Yaunfitda]

Yep, that's the main reason bro. People are unboxing everything and posting on social media, they are flexing portfolio screenshots, wearing Bitcoin conference lanyards with their full names on them, and then wondering why they feel unsafe haha. Silly fellows, but most of them are doing it because that's their profession. Mostly, they are being wrench attacked because they are either CEOs of a project or influencers who have shown their followers how much they made in the bull market.

I even seen some in social media with the car's plate number with BTC in it or sticker like "When Lambo", which is surely very visible and any criminals will have to take that as a clue that you are a Bitcoin investor or you have a crpyto so you will be a target.

If we are in crypto and we are neither influencers nor CEOs of any project, we don't have to tell anyone how much we hold. We should avoid sharing it on this forum, too. We should avoid sharing it anywhere. People sometimes open up on Reddit too, by thinking they are safe.

And how narrative change too, before like in 2017-2018, we wanted to preach Bitcoin to everyone, so we show by wearing shirts with Bitcoin logo (I did this, I still have that shirt but I don't wear it anymore, going to land base casinos and see the reaction of the crowd), now you cannot do that in public because of the possibility of a 5 dollar wrench attack.

[TypoTonic]

And how narrative change too, before like in 2017-2018, we wanted to preach Bitcoin to everyone, so we show by wearing shirts with Bitcoin logo (I did this, I still have that shirt but I don't wear it anymore, going to land base casinos and see the reaction of the crowd), now you cannot do that in public because of the possibility of a 5 dollar wrench attack.

It's actually pretty easy, just bring a $20 wrench



Jokes aside, I think it's natural for the people to be concerned about their security, especially since Bitcoin has gained a lot of value over the years. Although here in my country, wrench attacks aren't that common yet.

However, people have lost fiat and other kinds of investment in similar ways. Thieves also steal fiat and other valuables. The stock market is volatile. People get kidnapped and cash is paid as ransom in many parts of the world, etc. I understand that with BTC you are your own bank and that is one fascinating thing about it, but it is also important not to be stupid while holding your coins, so you don't talk yourself into trouble.

Exactly. It doesn't matter whether it's Bitcoin or fiat, it's all the same in the eyes of a thief. If they know you have it, they will try to steal everything they can, that's why it's very important to keep our financial activities private.

[Taskford]

And how narrative change too, before like in 2017-2018, we wanted to preach Bitcoin to everyone, so we show by wearing shirts with Bitcoin logo (I did this, I still have that shirt but I don't wear it anymore, going to land base casinos and see the reaction of the crowd), now you cannot do that in public because of the possibility of a 5 dollar wrench attack.

It's actually pretty easy, just bring a $20 wrench



Jokes aside, I think it's natural for the people to be concerned about their security, especially since Bitcoin has gained a lot of value over the years. Although here in my country, wrench attacks aren't that common yet.

This is not really common before and I expect that many people is not aware of this type of attack. That's why it able to still lots of money from those unaware people.

And its really good that we see lots of discussion opened up to talk about those schemes made by hackers, so people could read it can prepare for any possible attack that they might encounter.

Many people especially those who use crypto are really concerned about their security, since its hard to lose money if we got caught by this methods done by few cyber criminals.

[Rgram]

Those of us who are most prepared are the most cautious about this issue. Most of the attacks you've seen in the news are of people who had been flexing their crypto wealth on social media or who were known to have cryptos because of their work.

This is the more accurate reason behind it. Adoption could be seen to be a more slight reason behind most of the attacks with the fact that, certain CEOs or share holders to some crypto related companies could be victims without them having to fled their holdings themselves but, being the admin to some of these firms that has to update the public on holdings puts them in harms way but, for the majority, it goes down to how individual holders tend to project themselves out their to the public on their part in the cryptocurrency industry.

[vanesha]

It makes sense. This type of attack is quite dangerous. Sometimes, for the sake of our lives, we are forced to hand over our private keys. Of course, this can be avoided if we don't overexpose our assets, and if not many people, or better yet, no one, knows our wallet address. Wrench attacks like this do make sense when compared to crypto adoption, but they choose the wrong method to make money. This is a criminal act. However, can this be considered a crime, given that cryptocurrency has no legal protection?

[Emjay24]

Has increased Bitcoin popularity resulted in an increase in Wrench attacks? Does anybody know? If so, are well-known public Bitcoin holders adequately prepared for the Wrench?

 

No, wrench attack is not the result of Bitcoin popularity nor Bitcoin adoption.  Wrench attacks are the result of people wanting to get money but sparing the hard labor so they tend to do this bad things in order to get money the easier but risky way. 


Wrench attack is the result of evil thought, not of Bitcoin adoption.

Would people want to get such money from nothingness? A thief targets who he knows have the assets he wants, and how does he know, those who flaunt such wealth around.
The evil thoughts comes from awareness of the existence of such assets and desire to acquire them illegally. Most of the crypto wrench attacks can be traced to publicity of those funds by their owners, you can maintain a very low profile on your crypto involvement if only you can keep your mouth shut and be careful with what you post on the media and as such there would be very slim possibility you would be the target.

Known huge Bitcoin holders are sure ready for this kind of thing, they hire bodyguards and security guards to protect themselves.

Bodyguards wouldn't save you from all attacks, depending on the country you find yourself in. In my country, you could be ambushed and your bodyguards eliminated, leaving only you to the mercy of their wrench. It is best to keep a low profile, nothing beats it.

[coinrifft]

Not sure if others have seen this news,

She tweeted months ago on How to sell his Bitcoin and most likely the criminals saw her post and then she became the target. Lucky her, the husband has a gun ready and he shot those criminals. What if those victims didn't have a chance like this?

Gotta be honest, it looks to me like she and her husband staged that attack in order to get some extra exposure, as you can't have enough of that when you are OnlyFans "content creator". 

Could be worst for her if this is staged, try to see if there is a follow up news, but I can't find any. Maybe it was stage, or maybe not. But the thing is that this wrench attack is really happening and we can't deny that we are all a target now. From CEO to average joe investor, everyone has his/her responsibility to protect ourselves and our crypto and not exposing to this criminals. It's a double whammy for us, from cyber criminals to real life physical attacks. If you are rich and wealthy then maybe hiring a body guard will somewhat deter the criminals. But for ordinary investor or average joe, staying low profile is the key not to be exposed.

[peter0425]

Yes. It should be expected that the more people know about a certain thing, the more people will be interested in it. Just like when winning in lottery, people may even hide that fact because they do not want people targeting them. People are seeing how bitcoin is valuable so criminals will be more eager to get their hands on it.