A British Columbia family has lost their entire life savings—US$1.6 million (£1.2 million)—after a terrifying 13-hour home invasion. The assault involved waterboarding, forced nudity, and threats to their safety, all in an effort to steal their cryptocurrency holdings.
The incident took place in Port Moody in April 2024, revealing an alarming trend of organised international crime targeting cryptocurrency investors. In November, one attacker—a Hong Kong man recruited specifically for the crime—was sentenced to seven years in prison. However, three accomplices remain at large, and police warn this case may be just one example of a larger network.
The $50K Recruitment and Planning
In early 2024, a man named Chan was approached by an individual he knew in Hong Kong with an unusual proposition. The job sounded straightforward: fly to Canada, assist in a confrontation, and leave. Initially, he thought it was a joke.
But it was no joke. The pay was HK$280,000—approximately $50,000 CAD—equivalent to about six months of his family’s mortgage payments back home. Desperate and motivated by the money, Chan agreed.
He arrived at Vancouver International Airport on 5 April 2024. A man collected him and drove him to a house in the Lower Mainland. Court documents reveal that three other men were already there, all wearing masks. They were instructed ‘not to speak to one another.’ For three weeks, the four lived in silence, preparing for what was to come.
Part of Chan’s role was renting the van used in the attack. Court records later showed he was not merely a bystander but an active participant in the operation.
13 Hours of Terror Unfold
On the evening of 27 April, four masked men knocked on the family’s door dressed as Canada Post workers. Once inside, they revealed their true intentions.
The parents were zip-tied, blindfolded, and subjected to waterboarding at least 10 times. Each session pushed the father ‘to the edge of death.’ He was repeatedly stripped, beaten, and threatened with mutilation if he did not surrender his cryptocurrency accounts.
Meanwhile, their 18-year-old daughter was taken to another room, forced to undress, and filmed naked with her passport visible beside her. She was sexually assaulted on camera, her screams deliberately used as a psychological weapon to break her father’s resistance. Her father, blindfolded and listening, was helpless during the ordeal.
A fifth man, whose voice was distorted through a filter, directed the attack via phone. He demanded 200 Bitcoin—roughly US$26 million. When the father explained he had lost money in a scam in 2018, the ransom demand was reduced. Over the course of the 13-hour ordeal, the attackers drained US$1.6 million from the family’s accounts.
The daughter eventually broke free and managed to run to a neighbour’s house to call police. Officers arrived at 8:30 a.m. and arrested all four suspects.
Ongoing Investigation and Threats
Three of the attackers remain unidentified, along with the voice-filtered man who coordinated the assault. Port Moody Police say the investigation is still ongoing.
This was not the first warning sign. In July 2023, nine months before the attack, Delta Police and Richmond RCMP issued a public alert warning about criminal targeting of cryptocurrency investors in their homes. Police highlighted how criminals leverage knowledge of victims’ wealth and location to plan such attacks.
The Port Moody case illustrates how these criminals identify targets. The father had openly boasted about his Bitcoin wealth within British Columbia’s Chinese community and online. The attackers spoke English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, indicating they had infiltrated or monitored these networks. His own community connections became a source of intelligence used to plan the invasion.
With three suspects still at large and a proven payment model of HK$50,000 per recruit, authorities warn that similar attacks are likely to recur. The question is no longer whether this will happen again but how many other cryptocurrency holders are already under surveillance.