A thief disguised as a delivery driver stole eleven million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency in San Francisco
TOI GLOBAL DESK | TOI GLOBAL | Nov 25, 2025, 01:36 IST
In San Francisco, a thief disguised as a delivery driver entered a home, stole digital assets exceeding eleven million dollars, shot, and duct-taped the victim before making his escape. The event is a warning about the rising trend of crimes against crypto holders.
TL;DR
A person impersonating a delivery driver robbed a San Francisco resident of over eleven million dollars worth of cryptocurrency. Police say that crimes targeting holders of digital assets are increasing across the country.
After a robber pretending to be a deliveryman entered the house of a Mission Dolores resident, San Francisco police are looking into a case in which more than eleven million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency was stolen. The robber broke into the house early Saturday morning and took both physical and digital assets. Authorities reported that the man also threatened the victim with a gun and after taping the victim's hands with duct tape left the place, according to an Independent article citing a police document.
The police stated that the event took place at 6:45 in the morning on Saturday when the perpetrator came to the house with a package to deliver. According to the police report, the situation escalated when an unauthorized person broke into the house, showed a gun, and forcibly tied the victim with duct tape. The perpetrator, according to the police, took a cellphone and a laptop and obtained access to digital wallets before getting away with them.
Assistant SFPD spokeswoman indicated that after the event, police came on the scene and recorded the crime. The woman said the victim told the police that during the incident more than eleven million dollars in crypto was moved from their accounts. Authorities have not provided any information regarding potential suspects and have not suggested that there have been any arrests.
This case is illustrating the increasing pattern of offenses that are directed towards individuals who hold considerable amounts of digital currency. Security experts for a long time have been warning that cryptocurrency owners are in a vulnerable position as anyone with access to seed phrases or login credentials can easily get into the digital wallets. Laura Mitchell, a cyber-security expert, whose interview was quoted by local media, remarked that the nature of such crimes is gradually changing from being purely online to the perpetrators physically engaging the victims. Mitchell pointed out that criminals are now mixing the use of traditional methods of armed robbery with the aim of obtaining digital assets.
The incident in L.A. is another example of this trend. The prosecutors there have indicted a former LAPD officer and an alleged Israeli gang member on a charge of abducting a teenager and threatening to shoot and waterboard him for the password of his Bitcoin wallet. According to Deputy District Attorney Jane Brownstone, the offenders aimed guns at the boy and ordered him to give them the way to get digital money. The case is going on in Los Angeles Superior Court and it is still at the early stage.
Ladies and gents in law enforcement from big urban areas in the States are advising people who hold digital assets to beef up their own safety measures, keep quiet about the assets they hold, and if possible, even go as far as storing the sensitive information in a place where no one can get to it but them, offline. Authorities in San Francisco have neither made the identity of the Mission Dolores homeowner public nor given further updates on the case.
FAQs
A person impersonating a delivery driver robbed a San Francisco resident of over eleven million dollars worth of cryptocurrency. Police say that crimes targeting holders of digital assets are increasing across the country.
After a robber pretending to be a deliveryman entered the house of a Mission Dolores resident, San Francisco police are looking into a case in which more than eleven million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency was stolen. The robber broke into the house early Saturday morning and took both physical and digital assets. Authorities reported that the man also threatened the victim with a gun and after taping the victim's hands with duct tape left the place, according to an Independent article citing a police document.
The police stated that the event took place at 6:45 in the morning on Saturday when the perpetrator came to the house with a package to deliver. According to the police report, the situation escalated when an unauthorized person broke into the house, showed a gun, and forcibly tied the victim with duct tape. The perpetrator, according to the police, took a cellphone and a laptop and obtained access to digital wallets before getting away with them.
Assistant SFPD spokeswoman indicated that after the event, police came on the scene and recorded the crime. The woman said the victim told the police that during the incident more than eleven million dollars in crypto was moved from their accounts. Authorities have not provided any information regarding potential suspects and have not suggested that there have been any arrests.
This case is illustrating the increasing pattern of offenses that are directed towards individuals who hold considerable amounts of digital currency. Security experts for a long time have been warning that cryptocurrency owners are in a vulnerable position as anyone with access to seed phrases or login credentials can easily get into the digital wallets. Laura Mitchell, a cyber-security expert, whose interview was quoted by local media, remarked that the nature of such crimes is gradually changing from being purely online to the perpetrators physically engaging the victims. Mitchell pointed out that criminals are now mixing the use of traditional methods of armed robbery with the aim of obtaining digital assets.
The incident in L.A. is another example of this trend. The prosecutors there have indicted a former LAPD officer and an alleged Israeli gang member on a charge of abducting a teenager and threatening to shoot and waterboard him for the password of his Bitcoin wallet. According to Deputy District Attorney Jane Brownstone, the offenders aimed guns at the boy and ordered him to give them the way to get digital money. The case is going on in Los Angeles Superior Court and it is still at the early stage.
Ladies and gents in law enforcement from big urban areas in the States are advising people who hold digital assets to beef up their own safety measures, keep quiet about the assets they hold, and if possible, even go as far as storing the sensitive information in a place where no one can get to it but them, offline. Authorities in San Francisco have neither made the identity of the Mission Dolores homeowner public nor given further updates on the case.
FAQs
- Is Cryptocurrency-related crime on the rise?
Only to a very limited extent, experts and recent cases have been used to infer that the number of crimes against digital asset holders is increasing. - Have the police identified a suspect?
The San Francisco Police Department has neither given information about a suspect nor an arrest.