UK Couple Attacked in Crypto Home Invasion; £10K Reward Offered
In brief
- Four men forced entry into a West Midlands home on December 13, 2025, with a fourth relaying instructions via video call
- Husband assaulted; pregnant wife threatened with knife during the robbery
- Attackers fled with cryptocurrency and high-value watches in a black BMW X3
- Crimestoppers offering £10,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions
- Home invasions accounted for 41% of crypto-related attacks in H1 2026
The Attack
The couple returned to their house at around 5.20pm on Saturday, December 13. The men left with the funds and several high-value watches in what is believed to have been a black BMW X3. All four are thought to be in their twenties. One attacker was described as a black man with a small diagonal scar beneath his left eyebrow.
Crimestoppers, an independent charity that takes anonymous crime tips across the UK, is offering a reward of up to £10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The appeal went out on Wednesday, more than nine months after the attack.
"Four people planned this and four people know exactly what happened that evening" — Alan Edwards, Crimestoppers regional manager for the West Midlands
A Rising Threat
The incident fits a broader pattern. Home invasions were the defining shift in physical attacks on crypto holders in the first half of 2026, according to CertiK. Home invasions rose to 20 cases in the first half of 2026, representing about 41% of all crypto-related incidents, compared to a single publicly reported case a year earlier.
The security firm verified 52 attacks in total, with recorded exposure of $124.1 million. CertiK also described an increasingly layered structure, with organizers who buy data and coordinate logistics sitting above those who carry out attacks.
Europe accounted for three quarters of the cases CertiK verified, though France rather than the UK has been the centre of the wave with 33 incidents in the first half of 2026. The organized nature of these robberies — with coordinators, data brokers, and field operatives working in concert — suggests a criminal infrastructure that's adapted to target crypto holders specifically.
