Three knives held to his face in the middle of the night: British trader robbed of $800,000 at home
Just after 9 a.m. today, a verified trader on X with the handle @rrealist posted a tweet that was seen by 1.93 million people:
In the middle of the night, someone broke into his home in the UK, tied him up, held three knives to his face, and threatened to kill him. In the end, $800,000 worth of crypto assets was stolen.
He later added more details himself, recounting what happened that night:
The robbers first accessed his main wallet and transferred out $40,000. Then they forced him to hand over a Ledger hardware wallet, which held another $720,000. Before leaving, they also took his Rolex and smashed his phone—presumably to stop him from calling the police right away.
He reported the incident to the police, and the entire house is now a crime scene. Thankfully, apart from a few bruises, he wasn’t stabbed.
He also shared the wallet address holding the stolen funds in his post. It can be looked up on Solscan, where the balance at the time was still 346.12 SOL. That’s how crypto is: the whole world can see where the money went, but getting it back is nearly impossible.
He reflected: “You hear about this kind of thing all the time, but never think it’ll happen to you.”
💡 A few practical takeaways
This is a warning to everyone involved in crypto—and a hard lesson learned the painful way:
First, don’t show off how much money you have online. You may think you’re sharing your wins, but to the wrong people, it’s a guide to robbing you: “This person has $800,000 in crypto at home.”
Second, physical security matters just as much as on-chain security. Don’t leave hardware wallets somewhere obvious, spread large holdings across different wallets, and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Third, don’t link your wallet addresses to your identity. The more transparent you are online, the more at risk you may be in real life.
Just after 9 a.m. today, a verified trader on X with the handle @rrealist posted a tweet that was seen by 1.93 million people:
In the middle of the night, someone broke into his home in the UK, tied him up, held three knives to his face, and threatened to kill him. In the end, $800,000 worth of crypto assets was stolen.
He later added more details himself, recounting what happened that night:
The robbers first accessed his main wallet and transferred out $40,000. Then they forced him to hand over a Ledger hardware wallet, which held another $720,000. Before leaving, they also took his Rolex and smashed his phone—presumably to stop him from calling the police right away.
He reported the incident to the police, and the entire house is now a crime scene. Thankfully, apart from a few bruises, he wasn’t stabbed.
He also shared the wallet address holding the stolen funds in his post. It can be looked up on Solscan, where the balance at the time was still 346.12 SOL. That’s how crypto is: the whole world can see where the money went, but getting it back is nearly impossible.
He reflected: “You hear about this kind of thing all the time, but never think it’ll happen to you.”
💡 A few practical takeaways
This is a warning to everyone involved in crypto—and a hard lesson learned the painful way:
First, don’t show off how much money you have online. You may think you’re sharing your wins, but to the wrong people, it’s a guide to robbing you: “This person has $800,000 in crypto at home.”
Second, physical security matters just as much as on-chain security. Don’t leave hardware wallets somewhere obvious, spread large holdings across different wallets, and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Third, don’t link your wallet addresses to your identity. The more transparent you are online, the more at risk you may be in real life.