Former Ukrainian police colonels allegedly kidnapped crypto entrepreneurs and extorted roughly $2.2 million, prosecutors said Thursday. The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office announced completion of a pre-trial investigation into a group that included four former officers and a civilian accomplice, accused of targeting at least four victims using law enforcement tactics, official transport, and police impersonation. The suspects were active officers of the Main Police Department in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as a Kyiv-based unit, before being discharged following their arrest. The case comes amid a global rise in crypto 'wrench attacks' — physical coercion schemes to steal digital assets — with 72 verified incidents recorded worldwide in 2025, a 75% increase from the prior year and confirmed losses exceeding $40.9 million, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.
Prosecutors Detail Alleged Extortion Operation
Two colonels organized the group, recruiting fellow officers and a civilian accomplice with a prior criminal conviction, according to prosecutors. The officials accuse the defendants of creating and participating in an armed gang, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, robbery, extortion, and illegal possession of drugs. Prosecutors identified at least four crypto entrepreneurs as victims who were allegedly tracked, kidnapped, held at gunpoint, and forced to surrender money and sign documents acknowledging non-existent debts.
In one documented case, a victim in Kyiv was allegedly abducted at gunpoint and forced to draw up a fake "debt" of $5 million before being moved between multiple undisclosed locations. The gang's illegal activities were terminated in November 2025, and all participants were released from the police service, with the case materials forwarded to the court.
Former Officers Used Law Enforcement Tactics in Kidnappings
The gang reportedly used official skills, connections, and resources to operate in a coordinated manner with a clear division of roles, communicating through encrypted messengers, using official transport, and presenting themselves as law enforcement officers while committing the crimes. The suspects' backgrounds as active police officers in Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation since 2014, as well as in Kyiv, provided institutional cover for the alleged scheme.
Crypto Entrepreneurs Face Rising Physical Security Threats
Law enforcement credentials have been used in crypto wrench attacks before. In March, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury convicted former LAPD officer Eric Halem of kidnapping and robbery after he and accomplices posed as police to enter a Koreatown apartment, handcuffed two victims, and transferred $350,000 in Bitcoin from a 17-year-old's crypto account. The same month, a Versailles home invasion saw attackers pose as police and force a couple in their late 50s to transfer roughly $1 million in Bitcoin at knifepoint.
Cases where institutional authority is abused to coerce crypto holders remain unusual, cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Baek told Decrypt. "The victims' crypto may have been cryptographically secure, but that did not matter once violence, coercion, and forced agreements entered the picture," he said. Crypto creates a distinct security risk because assets can be transferred "quickly, across borders, and under duress," he added, noting that once local protection becomes unreliable, entrepreneurs need to treat personal security, jurisdictional risk, legal backup, and operational secrecy as seriously as wallet security.
The case illustrates how crypto entrepreneurs can become targets not just for hackers but for actors capable of exploiting official power, Baek said, warning that in high-corruption environments extortion can resemble "a distorted abuse of state authority" rather than ordinary street crime. War, corruption, and institutional stress can create conditions in which coercive schemes are harder to detect, he noted, giving criminals more room to operate behind what he called "confusion, fear, and fake legal pressure."
In France, authorities charged 88 suspects, more than 10 of them minors, in judicial investigations into violent crypto kidnappings in late April, after recording 135 crypto-linked incidents since 2023. The most recent high-profile case came earlier this month, when six suspects, two of them teenagers, allegedly attempted to kidnap Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget's wife at their French home.
FAQ
What did former Ukrainian police officers allegedly do to crypto entrepreneurs?
Former Ukrainian police colonels and three other ex-officers allegedly kidnapped at least four crypto entrepreneurs and extorted roughly $2.2 million, according to prosecutors who announced Thursday the completion of a pre-trial investigation. The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said the group used law enforcement tactics, official transport, and police impersonation to carry out the scheme, with one victim in Kyiv forced to sign a fake "debt" of $5 million.
How common are crypto wrench attacks globally?
72 verified wrench attack incidents occurred globally in 2025, a 75% increase from the prior year, with confirmed losses exceeding $40.9 million, according to a report from blockchain security firm CertiK. In France, authorities charged 88 suspects in late April after recording 135 crypto-linked incidents since 2023, while cases in Los Angeles and Versailles in March involved former law enforcement officers or attackers posing as police to steal Bitcoin.
