A British Columbian court highlighted for the first time a horrific incident of violent house invasion in 2024 of a Canadian family being beaten, waterboarded, sexually assaulted, and robbed of $1.6 million in various cryptocurrencies.
The sentence in this ruling outlines what is considered one of Canada’s most serious “wrench attack” incidents, which has recently been made public.
The history of the case
The court document says that on April 27 and 28, 2024, four males entered a family residence after two of them had posed as Canada Post employees delivering a package.
The father opened the door, the guys pushed through, closed it behind them, and two more accomplices joined them shortly after.
This was while the assailants were seeking access to the father’s computer assets, with him, his wife, and daughter all bound by zip ties and subjected to hours of escalating violence.
According to the prosecution, the guy had previously discussed his cryptocurrency holdings with the Chinese community, which led them to assume he had a sizable Bitcoin wealth.
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At first, the attackers demanded 200 BTC, upon recognising he did not have this amount, they tried to cut the amount to 100 BTC. The attackers managed to get about $1.6 million in crypto and left the property.
They waterboarded both parents and threatened to mutilate them, while forcing the daughter to strip naked, filming her, and forcing her to repeat explicit phrases. While the other attackers persisted in pushing the family for access to their belongings, one of them sexually assaulted her.
The crypto theft
A door closed after the assailants bound the victims and covered them with blankets, allowing the daughter to partially free herself. The police inquiry began when she fled the house and dialled 911.
Tsz Wing Boaz Chan, one of the defendants, entered a guilty plea to charges of sexual assault, wrongful detention, and breaking in May. He was sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this month. Updates on the remaining suspects have not been released by the authorities.
Growing crypto thefts
The instance coincides with a marked increase in physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders throughout the globe. An armed robber posing as a delivery worker went into a San Francisco home over the weekend, handcuffed the owner, and stole $11 million worth of cryptocurrency, a laptop, and the victim’s cell phone.
In other parts of Europe and Asia, there have been several high-profile kidnappings and brutal extortion attempts. David Balland, a co-founder of Ledger, and his spouse were kidnapped in France in January. Balland suffered a severed finger during the 48-hour ordeal.
According to French authorities, criminal networks are increasingly targeting cryptocurrency holders and their families with pre-attack intelligence, stolen service trucks, and phoney delivery uniforms.