In brief
- Victims of a Bitcoin wrench attack in Canada were waterboarded, sexually assaulted, and beaten as assailants sought access to their crypto holdings.
- One member of the four-man crew was sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this month.
- Documented wrench attacks have more than doubled this year amid Bitcoin’s rise.
A sentencing decision in the Provincial Court of British Columbia this month revealed the graphic details of a 2024 attack in which the victims were bound, waterboarded, and sexually assaulted—all in an effort to steal the family’s Bitcoin holdings.
The “wrench attack,” or physical attack in which an assailant attempts to gain access to a victim’s cryptocurrency, took place on April 27-28, 2024.
During the home invasion, four men unlawfully entered the victims’ home, first gaining access when two of the men dressed as Canadian Post workers sought a signature for a fake package.
After entering the home, the men then closed the door behind them, and were later joined by two others. Once inside, the victims—a husband, wife, and daughter—were restrained with zip ties.
They were then threatened and beaten as the assailants sought to gain access to the father’s cryptocurrency. As they attempted to access his funds, they forced the daughter to remove her clothes, exposing her genitalia as they recorded multiple videos. She was instructed to say explicit phrases, and was physically assaulted by one of the crew.
The men also waterboarded the husband and wife, and threatened to cut off the husband’s genitals if he did not provide them with the access to his funds.
The man had reportedly boasted about his success with crypto investments within the Chinese community of British Columbia leading the crew to initially seek 200 Bitcoin—currently valued at around $17.8 million—during their attack. Later, they lowered their demand to 100 BTC, but ultimately made away with much less, nearly draining the crypto accounts of the victims and making off with around $1.6 million in total.
After being tied up and wrapped in a blanket, eventually the daughter heard a door close and partially freed herself before fleeing the residence and calling 911.
In May of this year, one of the four crew members, Tsz Wing Boaz Chan, pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, unlawfully confining the victims, and sexual assault. This month, Chan was sentenced to seven years in jail for his role in the crime.
Wrench attacks are on the rise this year, nearly doubling last year’s mark according to a recorded count by Jameson Lopp, the co-founder and chief security officer at self-custody crypto wallet platform, Casa.
Lopp’s database, which extends back to 2014, now counts 60 documented incidents in 2025 alone.
This weekend, a man posing as a delivery driver robbed a San Francisco home owner of $11 million worth of crypto. And on Sunday, a Chinese victim had $10,000 stolen after an alleged kidnapping and robbery in Thailand.
Earlier this year, the high-profile kidnapping and wrench attack of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife left the crypto entrepreneur with a severed finger.
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