The theft of cryptocurrency leaves victims in a state of complete bewilderment. All transactions are recorded in a public ledger known as the blockchain, which makes any theft visible to everyone. However, recovering stolen funds is impossible, as noted by the BBC.
“You can see your money in the public blockchain, but you can’t get it back,” shares Helen, who lost about $315,000 (£250,000) to scammers. She compares the situation to watching a thief carry your valuables across an insurmountable chasm.
For seven years, Helen and her husband Richard (name changed) accumulated Cardano cryptocurrency, believing in its growth potential and being aware of the risks associated with investments. They stored their digital keys very carefully; however, scammers managed to access their cloud storage, where wallet information was kept.
In February 2024, after a test transaction, hackers quickly transferred all the couple's funds to their own wallets, and for several months, the couple watched as the money moved from one address to another, unable to take any action. The contradiction of cryptocurrency is that transactions are open for tracking, but the identities of users can remain hidden.
Helen and Richard are not wealthy people: she works as a personal assistant, and he is a composer. Their hopes for investing in Cardano were high.
“We collected these coins for a long time... We spent every saved penny on buying them,” says Richard. “This theft is the worst thing that has happened to me, apart from the death of my parents.”
Since then, Helen has set herself the goal of recovering the stolen money. She has requested reports from various police departments and Cardano developers. Despite having the criminals' wallet address, no one can help catch them.
The couple plans to raise enough funds to hire private detectives to try to track down the hackers. “It’s a feeling of helplessness, but I won’t give up,” says Helen.
Rise in cryptocurrency crimes.
According to a survey conducted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in August 2024, about 12% of adults in the UK own crypto assets, which amounts to approximately seven million people.
Currently, around 560 million people worldwide own cryptocurrency. However, as the number of owners increases, so does the number of thefts. The pandemic contributed to a sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices, leading to an increase in attacks on this market.
2025 was a record year for crypto criminals: according to analytics firm Chainalysis, the total amount stolen exceeded $3.4 billion (£2.5 billion), remaining at this level since 2020.
Most funds are stolen as a result of major cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies. For example, in February 2025, North Korean hackers stole $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) from the Bybit exchange.
While losses in most cases are covered by large crypto firms, which does not affect private investors, 2025 saw an increase in attacks on ordinary cryptocurrency owners.
According to Chainalysis data, the number of attacks on private investors rose from 40,000 in 2022 to 80,000 in 2023.
Hacks, fraud, and coercion to transfer funds accounted for about 20% of all cryptocurrency thefts, equivalent to $713 million (£532 million).
However, this number may be understated, as many victims do not report thefts. Unlike traditional finance, where banks often cover losses, there is no such level of protection in the cryptocurrency sphere.
“In the UK, cryptocurrencies remain virtually unregulated and high-risk,” notes the FCA. “If something goes wrong, you are unlikely to receive any protection, so be prepared to lose everything.”
Searching for “hacked Binance account” — the largest cryptocurrency exchange with 1.4 million users in the UK — shows that the page with recommendations for theft victims is blocked in the country.
Since 2023, the company has not accepted new customers from the UK as it has not received permission from the FCA. However, for criminals, it does not matter where their victims are located, making people targets for scams worldwide.
Chainalysis describes attacks on individuals as “a little-studied area of crypto crime.” They believe that the rise in crime is linked to the increasing number of new investors in cryptocurrency. Improvements in security measures at major services may have also pushed criminals to target more vulnerable victims.
The more cryptocurrency you have and the more actively you share this information, the higher the likelihood of becoming a victim of scammers. Small holders (or hodlers, as they are called) are much less likely to fall victim.
Burglaries, robberies, and assaults.
Theft can happen anywhere.
In October, researchers from Elliptic, a cryptocurrency data analysis company, reported that North Korean hackers are increasingly targeting wealthy cryptocurrency owners. There are also many young scammers and hackers from other countries.
In December, a 22-year-old Evan Tangeman in the US pleaded guilty to participating in a group of scammers known as the Social Engineering Enterprise, which is accused of stealing more than $260 million (£194 million) from October 2023 to May 2025.
According to prosecutors, they used hacked databases to trick victims into believing they represented cryptocurrency exchanges, persuading them to transfer cryptocurrency.
Gang members, all young people mainly from the US, spent the stolen money on private jets, luxury cars, and expensive accessories, which they distributed in nightclubs.
Some organized home invasions to steal equipment with keys for cryptocurrency wallets.
Burglaries and robberies have become so common that a term “wrench attacks” has emerged in cryptocurrency investor communities, as criminals often threaten victims with this tool.
In April last year, a group of crypto miners in Spain attempted to force a man and a woman to part with their cryptocurrency.
Spanish police reported that the man was shot in the leg and was held captive with his girlfriend for several hours while the criminals tried to access their wallets. In the end, the woman was released, but her partner was not found, and later his body was discovered in the woods.
In Spain, five people were arrested in connection with this case, and four others were charged in Denmark.
Several similar incidents have also occurred in France, including an attempted kidnapping captured on video.
In Paris, a masked group tried to kidnap the family of a cryptocurrency company executive.
In early 2025, David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, a cryptocurrency security company, was kidnapped along with his wife from their home in central France.
Days later, police rescued them, but Balland had a finger cut off during the extortion attempt.
Last month, British police arrested six people after masked men stopped a car between Oxford and London and forced one of the passengers to transfer £1.5 million in cryptocurrency.
Phil Ariss, UK Public Sector Director at TRM Labs, a blockchain analysis company, noted that criminal groups accustomed to violence will always seek to use cryptocurrency.
“As long as there are effective ways to launder and realize stolen assets, it doesn’t matter to a criminal whether the target is an expensive item or a crypto asset,” he added.
“Cryptocurrency has become part of the mainstream, which requires us to rethink our understanding of physical threats and robbery,” he emphasized.
David Balland, co-founder of a cryptocurrency hardware development company, was rescued by the police.
It is difficult to assess how widespread “wrench attacks” are, as they are rarely reported publicly. However, it seems that such thefts constitute only a small part of the growing problem of personal cryptocurrency theft.
Many criminals continue to use tried and tested methods of hacking or fraud, which are becoming easier due to data leaks from major cyberattacks on companies.
As the number of Bitcoin millionaires increases, so does the problem of theft.
“The problem with data leaks exists as the number of Bitcoin millionaires grows, and new stolen databases constantly emerge to replenish the list of targets,” explains Matthew Jones, founder of Haven, a cryptocurrency security company.
A hacker interviewed by the BBC cited the data leak from Kering, the parent company of Gucci and Balenciaga, as an example.
This leak affected millions of names and contact details of customers, as well as purchase information.
According to the hacker, he purchased spreadsheets for $300,000 (£224,000) with the aim of attacking major clients.
He claims to have used this data in combination with other stolen databases to fraudulently acquire at least $1.5 million (£1.1 million) in cryptocurrency from Coinbase users.
The criminal confirmed that he possesses the stolen data and demonstrated to the BBC that he has $700,000 (£522,000) in Bitcoin obtained from one of the victims.
“I buy hacked databases and match them to find wealthy people and relevant contacts. I continue to work with this data and quickly tripled my money,” he reported.
The hacker refused to disclose his identity, saying only that he is a student at an American university.
When asked whether he considers himself a hacker or a scammer, he replied, “Neither. I just want to make money.”
Kering did not comment on the situation but previously informed the BBC that its IT systems were secured after the leak and emphasized that no bank account numbers or credit card information were stolen as a result of the attack.
