Swedish Bitcoiners targeted by armed criminals

Criminals in Sweden are particularly concentrating on distinguished native Bitcoin figures, which seems to be the results of ease of entry to non-public info and residential addresses within the nation.

Stories from Swedish media shops LT and Aftonbladet have linked separate robberies in Rönninge and Södertälje that seem to have occurred below the identical modus operandi. Victims had been tied up and bodily abused to steal bodily and digital Bitcoin holdings.

Distinguished cryptocurrency proponent Eric Wall, who at present serves as a StarkNet Basis board member, highlighted the incidents in an X publish (previously Twitter). Wall mentioned the 2 assault circumstances point out that Swedish criminals are actively seeking to goal Bitcoin customers.

there’s now formally a scenario in sweden

this monday, a middle-aged swedish couple was tied up of their dwelling and robbed by four masked males. they had been bodily abused and threatened with their very own kitchen knives. they had been tied up for hours and one needed to be escorted to the…

— Eric Wall (@ercwl) November 8, 2023

“This Monday, a middle-aged Swedish couple was tied up of their dwelling and robbed by four masked males. They had been bodily abused and threatened with their very own kitchen knives. They had been tied up for hours and one needed to be escorted to the hospital through helicopter,” Wall mentioned.

He notes that the aim of the assault was to steal the couple’s Bitcoin earlier than highlighting the hyperlink to a separate incident the place “two well-known Bitcoin/crypto profiles had been focused of their houses by masked, armed males.”

Based on Wall, the victims had been subjected to violent bodily abuse for hours in an effort to steal their Bitcoin holdings held in {hardware} wallets. He provides that the primary incident of criminals concentrating on Bitcoin customers happened in 2022, when “certainly one of Sweden’s most well-known Bitcoiners” had their condo damaged into.

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Wall additionally believes criminals scour social media to determine and goal Bitcoin or cryptocurrency customers. He claims {that a} frequent theme of the assaults was that they happened shortly after people had live-streamed podcasts targeted on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or talked about the topic in public.

He additionally believes that Sweden’s Offentlighetsprincipen (Precept of Public Entry to Data) legal guidelines, which give the general public the fitting to request info, together with residential addresses and tax information from the federal government, have gotten a way for criminals to prey on ecosystem contributors.

“Whereas the intention behind this laws was to scale back corruption, it’s not match for contemporary society.”

Wall provides that he left the nation attributable to these legal guidelines and that Sweden “might be one of many least protected international locations to be lively within the cryptocurrency sector.”

The Offentlighetsprincipen regulation additionally reportedly makes it simple for residents to seek for Swedish residents’ addresses in addition to scour their tax information. That is being abused, as criminals can verify how a lot a person has paid in earnings or capital good points tax and “measurement them up” in consequence.

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