Scammer Poses as UK Police Chief to Steal $2.8M Bitcoin Through Phishing Attack

North Wales Police are investigating a complicated phishing rip-off the place criminals posing as senior UK legislation enforcement officers stole £2.1 million ($2.8 million) in Bitcoin from a chilly storage holder by way of an elaborate social engineering scheme.

The sufferer was contacted by a scammer claiming to have arrested a person whose cellphone contained the sufferer’s private identification paperwork, creating urgency by way of fabricated safety breach fears.

Supply: Facebook/NWP

The attacker instructed the sufferer to “safe their belongings” by logging into their chilly storage machine by way of a malicious hyperlink, main them to enter their seed phrase right into a faux web site. The scammers instantly accessed the sufferer’s pockets and withdrew all belongings.

The incident joins a rising wave of crypto-related crimes focusing on each digital belongings and their holders bodily.

This refined strategy mirrors prison patterns seen all through 2025, the place crypto buyers have misplaced greater than $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and safety breaches across 344 incidents during the first half alone.

Phishing assaults accounted for over $410 million in losses throughout 132 separate incidents, making social engineering the second costliest assault vector after pockets compromises.

Regulation Enforcement Corruption Allows Inside Crypto Crimes

The crypto trade faces threats not solely from exterior scammers but in addition from corrupt legislation enforcement officers exploiting their positions for prison achieve.

Final month, former Nationwide Crime Company officer Paul Chowles received a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for stealing 50 Bitcoins price £4.4 million from proof seized throughout a Silk Street investigation.

Chowles transferred the cryptocurrency from Thomas White’s “retirement pockets” to public addresses earlier than laundering the funds by way of Bitcoin Fog mixing service.

He transformed the stolen Bitcoin to kilos sterling and spent the proceeds utilizing Cryptopay and Wirex debit playing cards over a number of years, making 279 transactions totaling £23,309.

The theft remained undetected for years till White seen unauthorized transfers and knowledgeable police that solely somebody throughout the NCA might have accessed his crypto pockets.

Notebooks present in Chowles’ workplace contained usernames, passwords, and statements regarding White’s crypto accounts, offering proof of systematic theft.

Equally, two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division deputies admitted to utilizing legislation enforcement powers to assist crypto entrepreneur Adam Iza extort victims through armed confrontations and fraudulent search warrants.

Deputies David Anthony Rodriguez and Christopher Michael Cadman acquired substantial money funds for harassment companies, with Iza paying as a lot as $280,000 month-to-month to deputies he known as his “pawns.”

The corruption circumstances prolonged to staged arrests and armed extortion, with victims compelled to switch $25,000 instantly after gunpoint confrontations.

Rodriguez obtained fraudulent search warrants by mendacity to judges about investigating robberies whereas really looking for GPS monitoring information for personal purchasers.

Violent Bodily Assaults Escalate Throughout Europe and Past

Bodily violence towards crypto holders reached alarming ranges in 2025, with at the very least 32 “wrench assaults” reported globally, placing the 12 months on tempo to exceed 2021’s file of 36 violent incidents.

Practically one-third of those assaults occurred in France, the place criminals more and more goal members of the family by way of kidnapping and mutilation makes an attempt.

Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped alongside his spouse in January, with attackers severing certainly one of his fingers earlier than demanding a crypto ransom. The couple was held captive at separate places for 48 hours earlier than their launch.

In Might, a crypto entrepreneur’s father was additionally abducted by four men disguised as delivery workers utilizing a stolen UPS van.

The abductors severed one of many sufferer’s fingers and demanded €5-7 million ransom earlier than police rescued him throughout a raid in Palaiseau.

French authorities arrested more than a dozen suspects in coordinated raids throughout Paris, Suresnes, and Loire-Atlantique, believing a number of assaults have been orchestrated by the identical prison community utilizing social media platforms to recruit operatives.

The sample included supply automobiles, daytime operations, and systematic focusing on of crypto-affiliated households.

Bodily assaults unfold past France, together with the tried kidnapping of a crypto executive’s daughter and two-year-old child in central Paris, the place three masked assailants leaped from a postal supply van earlier than being fought off by the kid’s father.

The escalation prompted elevated demand for personal safety companies as crypto-related violence enters what safety specialists describe as a “darker, extra private section.”

Amsterdam-based agency Infinite Dangers Worldwide reported surging demand for close protection services from clients citing fears of kidnapping, extortion, and ransom makes an attempt focusing on themselves and their households.

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