Violent Wrench Attacks Surge Against Crypto Holders Worldwide in 2025

• Violent attacks on crypto holders are increasing worldwide.
• Experts warn that personal safety is now part of crypto security.

In late 2025, there has been an increase in Wrench Attacks in Western Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States. The goal of these attacks was to steal the cryptocurrency holders’ assets. These primarily target children, teachers, and daily wage earners, in addition to the wealthy individuals.

What Are Wrench Attacks and Why They Matter

The wrench attack is the word that came from the joke. The wrench means that the Criminals don’t hack the Computers or passwords; instead, they directly target the Crypto holders and threaten or hurt them, and they force them to unlock their Crypto wallets and transfer the funds. Home invasions, Kidnappings, Fake OTC Trades, Torture and Extended violence, Phone theft, and Impersonation are the types of attacks initiated by the Criminals. These types of attacks are increasing day by day as the Crypto accounts are decentralized, and it’s impossible to find the owner of the account.

A recent attack happened in San Francisco, where a man who pretended to be a deliveryman tied up the resident and stole over $11 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Two months later, another incident happened in Minnesota, where the whole family was kidnapped by the two brothers, and they threatened the family members and forced them to transfer $8 million in Crypto. One victim was forced to retrieve a hardware wallet. 

Experts Warn of a Rise in Wrench Attacks on Crypto Holders

As per the Reports these crimes are increasing massively, and about 60% of attacks are successful. Experts say that these crimes are due to several reasons. As the Crypto wallets are hard to hack online, easy to transfer money, and the Crypto is more valuable, the price will be increasing in the Future and hard to recover for the owner once it is stolen. Analysts also state that as the Crypto price increases, the attacks increase. 

According to the 2025 report, more than 60 cases have been officially reported, and many have been unreported. These make the Crypto holders panic. More than $333 million has been lost by Americans in 2025 using Bitcoin ATMs. Many scams and crimes go unreported. The security firms are warning that the criminal gangs may hire Local street Gangs and Crypto ATMs, and in-person exchanges may increase risk. So the key advice is not to show or talk about the Crypto holding online and offline, and everyone should make it a practice to use the Multi-signature wallets, and avoid direct person-to-person Crypto trades. 

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