London police have recently reported a new type of crime case targeting cryptocurrency holders. An American tourist alleged that after taking a fake Uber vehicle in central London, he was attacked with a drug attack, resulting in the theft of $123,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP. The case involved a combination of the frequently occurring “devil’s breath” drug crime and the theft of crypto assets in recent years.
Case details: A drug-induced robbery by a disguised ride-hailing vehicle
According to the victim’s statement, on the evening of May 18th local time, he called an Uber vehicle through an unofficial channel. Shortly after getting in the car, he fell into a coma due to inhaling an unknown gas. After waking up, it was found that the mobile phone, wallet and hardware wallet carried with him had been stolen. Among them, the hardware wallet stored about 100 bitcoins (approximately 740,000 US dollars at the current exchange rate, but the victim claimed that the actual loss was 123,000 US dollars, which might involve the early transfer of some assets) and 200,000 XRP.
The Metropolitan Police of London confirmed that the “Devil’s Breath” commonly used in such cases mainly consists of scopolamine, which originated from a plant in South America. It has the effects of rapid hallucination and memory loss, and criminals often use it to carry out robberies. The police said that in recent years, robberies targeting cryptocurrency holders in the UK have been on the rise. Attackers often target them through social media and taxi-hailing apps, taking advantage of the victims’ possession of digital assets to carry out precise crimes.
Crypto asset tracking: On-chain data becomes the key to solving cases
After blockchain analytics firm Elliptic intervened in the investigation, it was found that the stolen bitcoins were transferred to multiple anonymous wallets within two hours of the incident, and then the transaction traces were attempted to be concealed through a Tumbler. XRP was split into small transactions and sent to approximately 50 different addresses. Researcher Elliptic pointed out: “Although the coin mixing technology increases the difficulty of tracking, each on-chain transaction still has a traceable ‘digital fingerprint’. We are cooperating with international law enforcement agencies to track the flow of assets.”
The head of the UK’s Crypto Asset Crime Unit (CACT) has warned: “The portability of cryptocurrencies makes them a new type of criminal target.” Although hardware wallets are more secure than hot wallets, the risk of physical theft still needs to be guarded against. It is recommended that users avoid exposing information about holding crypto assets in public places, especially in high-risk areas.
Industry warning: Equal emphasis on physical security and technical defense
This case has sparked discussions in the crypto community about “offline security”. Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger promptly issued a security alert, suggesting that users use devices with biometric locks and regularly store their assets in different carriers. The founder of the decentralized identity authentication project BlockID stated: “Traditional security measures (such as not disclosing private keys) are no longer sufficient to deal with new types of crimes. Users need to establish a dual protection awareness of ‘on-chain + off-chain’, for example, restricting the asset transfer rights of a single device through a multi-signature mechanism.” ”
The London police have called on the public to use ride-hailing services through official channels and avoid disclosing travel information on informal platforms. The case is still under investigation at present. The police have not released the specific identity of the victim or more details about the case.
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