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Thieves are targeting digital currency investors in a wave of “crypto heists,” UK police said, with victims reporting large sums of money were stolen after their mobile phones were confiscated, the Guardian reported today.
Criminals combine strength with expertise to strip people of their cryptocurrency, according to the City of London Police. Unlike bank transfers, crypto transfers are irreversible, making the crime attractive to thieves.
A victim was ordering an Uber when robbers forced him to give up his phone. The gang returned the phone, and the victim later found £5,000 ($6,170) of Ethereum missing from his account with crypto investment platform Coinbase.
In another case, a victim told police his phone was stolen after a night out in a pub and later £10,000 was stolen from an account with investment platform Crypto.com. The victim was using his phone in the pub and suspected thieves were spotting him typing in his account PIN.
A third victim said he vomited under a bridge when a robber forced him to unlock his phone with a fingerprint, then changed his security settings and stole £28,700 including cryptocurrency.
Phil Ariss, who leads the cryptocurrency team for the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s cybercrime program, said that police officers would receive more training on a variety of crypto-related crimes and that they also need to look at ways to educate the public when accessing a crypto account be careful.
“You wouldn’t walk down the street with £50 notes and count them. That should apply to people with crypto assets,” he said.
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