4 youngsters in Houston, Texas, had been charged Friday for assaulting and attempting to steal Bitcoin and Ethereum from an OnlyFans influencer in early March. Kaitlyn Siragusa, identified on-line as “Amouranth,” was sleeping in her residence in northwest Houston when three males broke into her room and demanded cryptocurrency, reported FOX 26. Siragusa had beforehand posted on social media a screenshot of her greater than $20 million in cryptocurrency balances, in line with the New York Submit.
The three males allegedly pistol-whipped the OnlyFans influencer 3 times earlier than Siragusa’s husband fired photographs on the suspects, who then fled Siragusa’s residence, in line with FOX. The Harris County District Clerk’s Workplace recognized the three males on Friday as Demarcus Morris Jr., 17; Dylan Nesho Campbell, 18; and Bryan Anthony Salazar Guerrero, 19. Officers additionally recognized a 16-year-old as a suspect.
“They introduced duct tape and masks and had been armed with handguns,” Siragusa posted on X.
The assault and tried theft is only one of a sequence of current assaults on people with identified crypto holdings.
In late January, French police leapt into motion after a bunch of criminals kidnapped David Balland, cofounder of the crypto {hardware} developer Ledger, and his spouse, demanding a ransom in Bitcoin. French authorities, nonetheless, tracked down the abductors and rescued the couple. Balland’s spouse was discovered unhurt however the Ledger cofounder had his finger severed within the ordeal. The Paris prosecutor’s workplace stated that police had arrested 10 people alleged to be a part of the kidnapping.
And in February, six males had been accused in a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit of kidnapping three members of the family and a nanny from a Chicago townhouse, in line with the Chicago Tribune. The criminals launched the victims after they compelled the household at hand over greater than $15 million in cryptocurrency.
Crypto executives and rich crypto house owners are taking discover. Some are hiring bodyguards to guard themselves from would-be attackers, in line with WIRED. And others are shopping for up “wrench-attack” insurance coverage, or insurance policies designed to insure people in the event that they’re the victims of a physical-force crypto theft.
“Basically the most effective issues Bitcoiners can do to remain protected is to stay non-public,” Jameson Lopp, a well-known early Bitcoiner, instructed Fortune. “The purpose needs to be to keep away from changing into a goal,” he stated. “Don’t go round telling anybody about your Bitcoin holdings. Don’t flaunt your wealth on-line or in meatspace. Don’t interact in threat actions equivalent to high-value face-to-face trades.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com