Crypto Criminals Use Social Media Profiling to Select Victims for Violent Wrench Attacks

### Executive summary Organized criminals are increasingly weaponizing social-media intelligence and digital surveillance to identify high-value cryptocurrency holders and execute violent “wrench attacks” (home invasions, kidnappings, armed robberies) to force surrender of wallet access; the report documents incidents across France, the US, Canada, and the UK, describes hybrid tactics (OSINT, unauthorized cloud access, hardware wallet theft, and on-chain laundering techniques), and recommends reducing digital exposure, adopting multi-signature custody, strengthening residential security, and combining blockchain intelligence with traditional law enforcement.