Canadian neighborhoods are experiencing a concerning rise in home-invasion-style robberies, specifically targeting affluent crypto investors. Thieves appear to be searching for private keys linked to cryptocurrency funds.
Local law enforcement, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have warned about this alarming trend, as multiple such robberies have already occurred.
As investigations continue, the police have refrained from disclosing specific incident details or the amount of cryptocurrency stolen. However, they have acknowledged a “discernible pattern” emerging between each incident, hinting at a potential connection.
Unlike common online crypto crimes, such as scams and ransomware attacks, these physical robberies involve intruders posing as delivery personnel or authority figures to gain access to victims’ homes. Once inside, they seize information providing access to the victims’ cryptocurrency accounts.
This method of theft stands in stark contrast to hacking DeFi protocols, where criminals exploit pseudonymity and transaction irreversibility from afar to steal crypto funds. The stolen cryptocurrencies are typically kept in custodial wallets, non-custodial wallets with 12-word seed phrases, or more secure hardware wallets.
Ironically, the thieves seem to be targeting homes with hardware wallets, where backup seed phrases are often stored on paper. The police advise concerned crypto owners to trust centralized storage methods, such as using safety deposit boxes at financial institutions, to keep their valuables and financial information secure.