UK Student Bitcoin Mugging Highlights Importance of Multisig Wallets

A student starting at England’s University of Kent last year was threatened at knifepoint in the first week of term after his new “friend” and eight East London thugs paid a visit to his on-campus dorm room and demanded access to his bitcoin.

The amount stolen by the criminals was worth around £6,000 (US$8,200) at the time (12 months ago) but is now worth around US$93,000 as the price of bitcoin has risen. Another £3,000 (US$4000) of the student’s grant money was also stolen. The suspects were never charged.

This story should come as a warning not to disclose your crypto holdings to people you don’t know. Violent crimes targeting bitcoin theft are becoming increasingly common and with the cryptocurrency economy rising significantly over the past year, crypto robberies are also on the rise. Do not trust even your next Tinder date, as he or she could be a potential threat to your crypto holdings if you aren’t careful.

Keeping digital assets in mobile or hot wallets come with significant risk. If you are bullied or tricked into giving up your wallet keys, it is very difficult to recover your money.

Multisig Wallet Benefits

By using technology such as a Casa multisig wallet, crypto holders can significantly reduce the risk of losing control over their funds. Attackers cannot spend stolen funds if they don’t have all of the client’s different keys to gain full access to the compromised wallet.

Learn more about Casa’s multisig bitcoin wallet in this video: