Hong Kong national faces 7-year sentence after guilty verdict for role in crypto theft

A Hong Kong national has pleaded guilty to an elaborate attack involving breaking and entering, unlawful confinement, and sexual assault in an attempt to steal digital assets. As a result of the plea, the suspect, who was part of the gang that carried out the act, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

According to reports, the gang robbed a B.C. cryptocurrency investor who is known for his boasts online, taking $2 million in BTC from him after subjecting his family to different kinds of attacks. These attacks included waterboarding, sexual assault, and death threats. The gang came in masks, with the family only able to recognize them as “One,” “Two,” “Three,” and “Four.”

Hong Kong national sentenced to prison

According to reports, the details of the horrifying attacks were revealed by a B.C. Provincial court judge who sentenced Tsz Wing Boaz Chan, a 35-year-old Hong Kong national. Judge Robin McQuillan said the Hong Kong national and three others held the family at gunpoint, beating and threatening the crypto investors while forcing his daughter to strip naked in a video next to her open passport.

The criminals threatened to post it on social media if they went to the police, while a man with a disguised voice at the other end of the phone demanded 200 Bitcoins, which was worth around $26 million. However, the man could not come up with the demands, so the criminals settled for the $2 million from accounts they could access.

“Within the Chinese community in B.C., [the investor] has boasted and exaggerated about his success with cryptocurrency investments,” McQuillan wrote. “[He] explained to the man on the phone that he had exaggerated his success and that he had lost his cryptocurrency in 2018 in a scam.”

According to several reports, the criminals had to cut short the terrifying attack after they discovered that the man’s daughter had found a way to escape.

The Hong Kong national was sentenced in Port Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver. In addition, details including the location of the family’s home, names, ages, and other identifying details were redacted from McQuillan’s decision. The Judge mentioned that Chan, who used to work as a sailor, was recruited in early 2024. An acquaintance said the job required them to go into someone’s house in Canada and beat them up and then leave.

“At first, he thought the acquaintance was joking, but a few days later, the person followed up with Mr. Chan, asking him if he was interested,” McQuillan wrote. “He was offered what was the equivalent of six months of his family mortgage payments.”

Weeks before the attack, the Hong Kong national and the other men lived in a house where they wore masks and understood that they were not to speak with each other. A week before the act, he was asked to call someone who gave him instructions on what to do.

‘Wrench attacks’ on the rise in the past year

The attack is part of a wave of incidents that have terrified cryptocurrency investors across the globe. The staggering increase in the value of Bitcoin has made its investors targets for what has now become known as “wrench attacks.”

In a recent article about self-defense forums for crypto traders, the New York Times claimed that crypto investors and their families have been targeted by armed assailants more than 60 times in the past year.

High-profile cases included that of the kidnapping and waterboarding of self-proclaimed Crypto King Aiden Pleterski in Ontario in 2022 and another gruesome assault in January that saw attackers collect ransom after cutting off the finger of the father of a French crypto hardware firm.

The New York Times called the mechanics of crypto an appealing guest. “Unlike bank transfers, crypto transactions don’t require the authorization of a financial institution,” the report says.

If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.