A robber disguised as a delivery person made off with a victim's cellphone, laptop, and $11 million in cryptocurrency in San Francisco's Mission Dolores neighbourhood, according to a police report. The incident occurred around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday.
The suspect brandished a gun before tying the victim up with duct tape, then fled with the digital assets and other items. It is unclear if the victim was injured or if any arrests have been made.
The theft is part of a rising trend of robberies targeting cryptocurrency investors. In a separate case in Los Angeles, a former LAPD officer and an alleged Israeli gangster have been charged with kidnapping a teenage boy and threatening to shoot and waterboard him if he did not hand over his crypto. The teen eventually gave them access to a wallet containing $350,000.
In another incident, a cryptocurrency investor in Manhattan was arrested after allegedly holding an Italian businessman captive for over two weeks, torturing him to obtain his Bitcoin password. The suspect faces multiple charges including kidnapping and assault.
