Overview
- Three masked men entered a gated home near Pattaya, threatened a Chinese expatriate with Turkish citizenship at gunpoint, forced him to open a safe and coerced transfers of about $820,000 in cryptocurrency.
- The victim escaped after the robbery and reported the attack to police, and officers say the intruders also stole cash and three luxury watches before fleeing.
- Investigators recovered the suspects’ abandoned getaway vehicle, identified the same black Toyota Fortuner on CCTV the day before the raid, and are checking immigration records to track possible movements.
- Police Region 2 is tracing the blockchain transfers and examining accounts tied to the reported sale of the stolen crypto to find intermediaries and recipients of the funds.
- The case fits a wider rise in violent ‘wrench attacks’ on crypto holders in 2026, with analytics firms reporting dozens of verified incidents and millions of dollars exposed, which complicates recoveries because criminals can rapidly liquidate or move assets across borders.