• A Spanish citizen has fallen victim to a crypto robbery with violence and lost tens of millions of euros in crypto.
• Such physical attacks are uncommon but not unheard of, with crypto-related scams, ransom attacks, frauds, phishing scams, and fake Ads more popular in the space.

Spanish police are currently investigating a case in which one techpreneur was allegedly robbed of millions of Euros worth of crypto from his house in Madrid. The victim, Zaryn Dentzel, is the co-founder of Tuenti, a Spanish social network-turned communications firm owned by Telefónica telecommunications company.

Per Spanish Newspaper El País, which confirmed the story with the police, Dentzel, 38, was attacked Tuesday afternoon. Dentzel answered his doorbell after it rang only to welcome four or five hooded people. The perpetrators blindfolded him, covered his home’s security cameras, and beat him up.

Another Spanish newspaper El Español, which cited “judicial and police sources,” said the ordeal lasted several hours. During this time, the attackers sprayed Dentzel in the eyes and stunned him with a Taser Gun. Dentzel narrates that they stole some of his belongings and compelled him to give up the password to an online account containing his crypto stash. The account, according to the paper, held tens of millions of euros in Bitcoin.

Crypto theft on the rise

Eventually, the assailants fled with the stolen items. Police only turned up after one of Dentzel’s neighbours heard calls for help. El País reports that authorities found Dentzel with a cut to the chest as a result of the attack. Forensic officers are now examining the crime scene for additional information.

Cryptocurrency thefts have often been perpetrated through hacks, phishing scams, ransom attacks, and fake advertisements. One such is the $600 million cryptocurrency heist that Poly Network suffered from earlier this year. Cream Finance was recently the victim of a $117 million flash loan attack, the third to take place on the network.

Additionally, phishing scams are also masquerading in Google Ads as legit crypto accounts. More than $500,000 was lost from such scams over the weekend. A fake Bitcoin Ad that ran during the iPhone 13 reveal event stole about $70,000 in BTC. Ransomware payments, according to the US Treasury Department, amounted to $5.2 billion between January and June this year.

But even then, violent crypto robberies are not new under the sun. In January 2018, UK police reported to the home of Danny Aston who ran a crypto trading platform. British Newspaper The Telegraph reported that armed robbers broke into his house during morning hours and demanded he transfers his Bitcoin to them.

There has been an increase in physical cryptocurrency-related crimes as their prices continue to rise. In 2020, crypto intelligence website CipherTrace revealed that major crypto thefts, hacks, and frauds had totalled $1.9B in the year. The value is the second-highest ever recorded, after 2019’s $4.5 billion.