The most dangerous crypto asset thefts may not happen on-chain at all.
Crypto investor Evan Luthra has spoken publicly for the first time about the violent robbery he experienced in Oxford, UK.
In November 2025, the car he was riding in suddenly turned onto a secluded road. Five masked men rushed into the car, beat him, and forced him to unlock his phone using Face ID.
Over the next 30 minutes, the attackers took direct control of his trading accounts:
Binance account: More than $1.5 million in crypto assets was transferred out.
Gate account: Around $600,000 in ETH was transferred out.
They also stole a Richard Mille watch worth around £450,000.
This was not a hack in the traditional sense. The attackers didn’t need to crack his private keys or breach an exchange’s systems. They only had to control the account holder himself to bypass safeguards many people assume are secure enough.
After the incident, exchanges including Binance and MEXC helped freeze and recover funds. Binance returned around $370,000, and the total amount recovered to date is close to $1 million.
Several suspects have been arrested, but the trial has been postponed until November 2027.
There’s been plenty of discussion about the risks of self-custody for crypto assets, but it’s easy to overlook another risk: when the asset owner is under someone else’s control, their phone, Face ID, and exchange accounts can all become points of attack. Personal safety is just as much a part of asset security as on-chain security.
Crypto investor Evan Luthra has spoken publicly for the first time about the violent robbery he experienced in Oxford, UK.
In November 2025, the car he was riding in suddenly turned onto a secluded road. Five masked men rushed into the car, beat him, and forced him to unlock his phone using Face ID.
Over the next 30 minutes, the attackers took direct control of his trading accounts:
Binance account: More than $1.5 million in crypto assets was transferred out.
Gate account: Around $600,000 in ETH was transferred out.
They also stole a Richard Mille watch worth around £450,000.
This was not a hack in the traditional sense. The attackers didn’t need to crack his private keys or breach an exchange’s systems. They only had to control the account holder himself to bypass safeguards many people assume are secure enough.
After the incident, exchanges including Binance and MEXC helped freeze and recover funds. Binance returned around $370,000, and the total amount recovered to date is close to $1 million.
Several suspects have been arrested, but the trial has been postponed until November 2027.
There’s been plenty of discussion about the risks of self-custody for crypto assets, but it’s easy to overlook another risk: when the asset owner is under someone else’s control, their phone, Face ID, and exchange accounts can all become points of attack. Personal safety is just as much a part of asset security as on-chain security.