Criminals in Sweden are specifically targeting prominent local Bitcoin figures, which appears to be the result of ease of access to personal information and residential addresses in the country.
Reports from Swedish media outlets LT and Aftonbladet have linked separate robberies in Rönninge and Södertälje that appear to have occurred under the same modus operandi. Victims were tied up and physically abused to steal physical and virtual Bitcoin holdings.
Prominent cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall, who currently serves as a StarkNet Foundation board member, highlighted the incidents in an X post (formerly Twitter). Wall said the two assault cases indicate that Swedish criminals are actively looking to target Bitcoin users.
there's now officially a situation in sweden
this monday, a middle-aged swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. they were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. they were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the…
“This Monday, a middle-aged Swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. They were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. They were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the hospital via helicopter," Wall said.
He notes that the purpose of the assault was to steal the couple’s Bitcoin before highlighting the link to a separate incident where “two well-known Bitcoin/crypto profiles were targeted in their homes by masked, armed men.”
According to Wall, the victims were subjected to violent physical abuse for hours in an effort to steal their Bitcoin holdings held in hardware wallets. He adds that the first incident of criminals targeting Bitcoin users took place in 2022, when “one
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