Crypto heist in Las Vegas: Three teens steal $4 million
Three teens kidnapped a crypto investor in Las Vegas and pulled off $4 million.
Three teens have kidnapped a crypto investor in Las Vegas and pulled off $4 million. One suspect is still at large.
The three youths are charged with an armed robbery of a crypto investor. They allegedly threatened the victim with a firearm and stole $4 million in cryptocurrency and NFTs.
The incident occurred in November 2024 in Las Vegas. The victim is a man who reportedly organized a crypto event in the city. When he was driving home, the suspects waited for him outside his home and forced him into a car. They then drove an hour into the desert and demanded he transfer his virtual assets. According to the police report, they also claimed to have his father under their control and threatened to kill him if he didn’t cooperate.
One of the teens is currently in custody on a $4 million bond. Another suspect has been placed under house arrest and is electronically monitored. The third suspect is said by the Public Prosecutor's Office to have left the country.
Crypto advocate Sasha Hodder said in a post on X that this case shows that “crypto theft continues to evolve. It’s no longer limited to social engineering and SIM swaps.”
The first physical crypto heist dates back to 2014, when Bitcoin developer Hal Finney was extorted with a demand of 1,000 Bitcoin. That was about $400,000 at the time. Since then there has been a sharp increase in such incidents.
A GitHub list by Casa cofounder James Lopp documents this kind of crime. In 2025 there have already been 21 cases of personal crypto assaults reported, compared to 28 in 2024 and 17 in 2023.
On May 3, 2025, French police rescued the father of a crypto entrepreneur. He was held hostage in an extortion case in which more than $7.8 million was demanded. In February, a British crypto broker jumped from a balcony to escape his abductors, who demanded $30,000 in crypto from him.
