Three teenagers have been accused of kidnapping a man at gunpoint after he was returning from a crypto event in Las Vegas, before driving him an hour outside of the city and robbing him of $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens.
According to police, the incident occurred last November. The victim had finished hosting a crypto-related event in downtown Las Vegas, and when he returned home, the suspects forced him into a vehicle and drove him to a remote desert area an hour away from the city.
There, they forced him to hand over passwords to his accounts, according to a May 10 report from Las Vegas local news outlet 8 News Now.
The man was allegedly told to comply with the teens’ demands if he wanted to “live to see another day,” and because they also “had his dad and would kill him,” according to the report.
It’s also alleged that a fourth person may have been communicating with the three young men through a phone call during the incident, which the victim could hear through a speakerphone.
After having his accounts drained of $4 million in crypto and NFTs, the victim reportedly walked five miles back through the desert to reach a gas station where he could call a friend for help.
Two 16-year-olds from Florida are facing charges including robbery, kidnapping, and extortion in connection with the incident. A third teen allegedly involved in the plot has left the country, prosecutors say.
One of the young men is behind bars with bail set at $4 million, while the other has been released under house arrest with electronic monitoring. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June, with both teens set to be tried as adults.
Digital asset lawyer Sasha Hodder said in a May 10 X post that this case illustrates how “Crypto theft is evolving. It’s not just social engineering or SIM swaps anymore.”
Uptick in thieves targeting crypto industry offline
Crypto industry participants are increasingly becoming targets for kidnappings and extortion. In a recent May 3 case, the father of a crypto entrepreneur was freed by police in Paris, France, after being held for several days in connection with a 7 million euro ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot.
In February, a UK crypto broker reportedly jumped 30 feet from a balcony to escape kidnappers who were threatening to torture and kill him if he didn’t hand over 30,000 euros ($30,917) of crypto.
Related: Ledger co-founder released after days in captivity in France: Report
Meanwhile, Jameson Lopp, a cypherpunk and co-founder of self-custodial firm Casa, has created a list on GitHub recording dozens of offline crypto robberies all over the world.
The first dates back to 2014, when someone allegedly tried to extort computer scientist and cryptographer Hal Finney of 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $400,000 at the time.
There have been 21 incidents of in-person crypto-related robbery so far this year, according to Lopp’s list. In 2024, there were 28 incidents, while there were 17 in 2023 and 32 in 2021.
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