- Police in Scotland have recovered 23.5 bitcoins stolen in a home robbery in 2020
- The robbers used a machete and other crude items to coerce the victim to transfer the BTC
- The prosecutors could convert the BTC into cash before returning it to the victim
Police in Scotland have traced and seized 23.5 bitcoins stolen during a home robbery four years ago. According to the police, three men entered the victim’s home and used crude objects like a machete to force the victim to transfer the coins. The person associated with the deposit wallet denied taking part in the robbery saying that a family member asked him to use his exchange account, something that tied him to the crime.
Rennie Was The “Technical Brain”
According to the prosecutors, the robbers invaded a home in Blantyre beat the unnamed victim, and later forced them to transfer Bitcoin. The individual who received the Bitcoin, John Ross Rennie, denied being part of the robbery.
Rennie told the court that his relative had asked for his crypto exchange account and made the deposit. Prosecutors, however, argued that Rennie was the “technical brain” in the robbery, with the court saying that his involvement “was pivotal” in making the raid a success.
The court ruled that Rennie would be under supervision for six months and conduct 150 hours of community service. The recovered funds could be converted to cash before being returned to the victim.
Scotland Case Echoes Others
This isn’t the first case that involves a physical home invasion to steal Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In 2021, armed robbers stormed into a house in Stockholm and forced a couple to transfer their Bitcoin.
In June, a Florida man was found guilty of orchestrating violent home invasions to steal crypto. In Hong Kong, a face-to-face Bitcoin sale turned out to be a robbery when the seller was robbed of the cash after transferring Bitcoin.
With the Scotland police successfully tracing BTC stolen in a physical robbery, it shows that law enforcement agencies now have the requisite knowledge and technology to trace crypto thefts.
