Fake Delivery Driver Steals $11M in Crypto During Violent Home Invasion

A man disguised as a delivery driver walked up to a San Francisco home, and walked out with $11 million in crypto after a gunpoint invasion. The attack is part of a fast-growing and deeply troubling trend in which thieves no longer only hack wallets online, they’re showing up in person.

According to details shared by Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan,  the incident occurred in the early evening of 22 November in a Mission Dolores neighborhood in San Francisco.

Tan has called for the arrest of the perpetrator given video evidence and the police have been engaged at the time of this report.

Physical Crypto Heists Are Getting More Sophisticated

Most crypto thefts happen online like this Russian heist that used a Zoom link to steal crypto assets, but there is a new trend of physical attacks and this is one of them.

Not minding the security cameras, the assailant invaded the victim’s home posing as a delivery driver wearing black clothes, a hoodie and sunglasses while holding a white box.

Once the victim stepped away to grab a pen, the attacker forced his way inside. He then proceeded to pull out a firearm, tied the victim up, and demanded access to wallets and devices.

A cybercrime consultant told Decrypt that since blockhain records create public trails, crypto assets stolen online are easier to flag and track. Physical theft, however, often involves forced transfers, seed phrase extraction, or device unlock coercion. All of which are far harder to reverse or trace.

This makes physical attacks one of the worst-case scenarios for self-custodied crypto holders.

Self-Custody Under Pressure: Is Your Crypto Safe at Home?

The crypto industry has a slogan; “Not your keys, not your coins.” This means if you don’t control the private keys of your wallet, you don’t really own the coins. While self-custody gives full control, but also full vulnerability.

An emotional Tan says the physical heist calls to question the level of security that self-custody offers compared to custodial platforms.

While it gives users full control over their assets, self-custody also comes with the risk of putting full responsibility on the asset owner, which can be too heavy to bear.

Garry Tan called the situation “terrifying,” questioning whether the industry has adequately addressed the real-world risks associated with storing large amounts of digital wealth at home.

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