From Digital Heists to Street Fights: How Wrench Attacks Are Becoming Crypto’s Newest Threat

Crypto crime just got brutal. Forget hackers in hoodies—now thieves are wielding wrenches, swapping phishing scams for physical assaults. The dark evolution of crypto theft is here, and it’s leaving bruises.

Why hack a wallet when you can strong-arm the password? As DeFi protocols toughen their digital defenses, criminals are pivoting to low-tech violence. The result? A chilling new risk for crypto holders—one that firewalls can’t stop.

Security experts call it ‘off-chain targeting’—a polite term for old-school robbery with a crypto twist. Victims report being followed from meetups, ambushed at ATMs, even held at wrench-point until they drain their wallets. (Turns out, ‘not your keys, not your coins’ gets literal fast.)

Law enforcement scrambles to respond while privacy coins complicate tracking. Meanwhile, exchange insurance policies—written for cybercrime—don’t cover blunt force trauma. Cue the usual Wall Street think-piece: ‘If crypto wants institutional money, it shouldn’t smell like a back alley.’

The irony? Blockchain’s very strength—irreversible transactions—makes it the perfect target for street-level crime. No chargebacks, no fraud department, just a wrench and a demand. Welcome to finance’s ‘wild west’ phase—where the sheriff’s still figuring out what a bitcoin is.

• In recent times, there has been a new rise in wrench attacks. These kinds of attacks involve the use of physical violence and threats to force victims to share the details of their crypto wallets.
• Security officials have warned that everyone who holds crypto should be watchful and raise alarm on any form of suspicion they perceive around them.

Ever since the creation of the first cryptocurrency in 2009, year in and year out, there have been records of crypto hacks and different crypto scams. From social engineering to phishing to hacks on different blockchain platforms, the crypto space has seen it all.

However, in recent times, there has been a sad shift in the way hackers and scammers approach stealing cryptocurrency. This hacker has ‘revolutionized’ their stealing mechanism from online breaches and scam calling to real-life kidnapping, assault, and torture.

What Exactly is a Wrench Attack?

A wrench attack is a method of extorting crypto assets from victims. This attack happens when an individual uses violence and intimidation to threaten a victim so they could give access to their crypto wallets or accounts.

In simple terms, this attack starts when a crypto hacker or scammer tracks down someone with assets in their cryptocurrency wallets, and this hacker now makes use of physical violence like beating in order to force the tracked victim to share the security details of their wallets, in most cases wallet phrases.

Wrench Attacks That Have Happened in Recent Times

As previously recorded by Tronweekly, a month ago, two crypto investors kidnapped an Italian man in New York and tortured him to share his wallet phrase. According to the details shared, the Italian man was attacked in his home in Manhattan and was beaten and tied up for three weeks because he refused to share his Bitcoin password.

Although these two suspects were arrested, there are other cases very similar to these ones that the suspects got away with. In January, David Balland, the co-founder of Ledger, a French-based crypto company, was kidnapped with his wife. According to the details shared by Reuters, the kidnappers mutilated the hand of the co-founder and also demanded a ransom from him.

Final Thoughts

Security officials have warned that crypto investors should try to keep their assets and themselves safe by raising alarms on any FORM of suspicion around them and minding the kind of conversations they engage in.