In brief
- A Trinidad man was ambushed by two gunmen and robbed of $85,800 in cash during an in-person crypto purchase on November 29.
- The attackers fled with the money and both men’s phones in a getaway car, as per a local media report.
- An expert told Decrypt that “wrench attacks” and related violence are now occurring roughly once per week worldwide.
Two gunmen escaped with about $85,800 in cash after ambushing a crypto buyer during a parking-lot transaction in Trinidad, the latest in a spate of violent attacks targeting digital-asset holders worldwide.
The Arouca resident was sitting in his vehicle at a Superpharm car park on Trincity Central Road last Saturday evening when the robbery occurred, according to a report by local media Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
He gave his two-year Belmont associate a black bag filled with cash, money he intended to use to buy crypto.
Moments after the money changed hands, two hooded figures carrying guns appeared at both car windows, knocked on the glass, and declared a holdup. The assailants then snatched the cash and both men’s phones before escaping in a getaway vehicle.
Investigations are still underway. Decrypt has contacted the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for further comment.
Wrench attacks surge worldwide
Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief security officer at self-custody platform firm Casa, who maintains a database tracking such incidents, has documented over 60 wrench attacks this year alone.
Recently, in San Francisco, a man dressed as a delivery driver tied up a homeowner with duct tape at gunpoint and coerced him into surrendering $11 million worth of crypto wallet access, phone, and laptop.
Last month also saw one of the deadliest cases when Russian crypto figure Roman Novak and his wife were killed in the UAE after agreeing to meet supposed investors who forced them to unlock their crypto wallets.
“What begins as digital harassment is increasingly manifesting as physical violence,” cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Baek told Decrypt, noting that wrench attacks are now occurring at a rate of roughly one per week worldwide.
He explained that attackers also employ blockchain analytics and AI-driven reconnaissance to track movements and cash-out behavior in real time.
“These are not random crimes but calculated, data-informed assaults,” he said. “The community must stop dismissing online threats as harmless trolling, because the boundary between the virtual and physical worlds has become perilously thin.”
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