Bitcoin Bandits Swipe $700,000 in Apparent Targeted Attack in Costa Rica

Thieves stole roughly $700,000 worth of Bitcoin along with other belongings in a robbery in a Costa Rican beach town last week, according to local news reports.

At least eight armed robbers violently robbed a group of Israeli nationals at a social event in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, taking a “substantial” amount of Bitcoin from them, local news agency Teletica reported Friday. The assailants, who were heavily armed and wearing police uniforms, appeared to have had law enforcement training, according to the report. 

The robbers arrived at Santa Teresa de Cóbano in expensive vehicles when the alleged attack occurred on August 4, overpowering the security guard and forcing the group of 11 Israeli nationals to forfeit their valuables.

It is unclear how the Bitcoin was physically taken from the victims. It is also not immediately clear if the targets are tourists or residents of Costa Rica. 

Costa Rican authorities did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment. 

The perpetrators of the crime have not yet been identified. Local authorities said the attack’s orchestrators most likely personally knew the victims, as the robbers appeared to know the visitors had Bitcoin on them, Teletica reported. 

The Judicial Investigation Agency is actively investigating the case, according to local reports. 

This latest theft is one of several violent crypto-related crimes in recent months.

Last month, thieves in Kyiv, Ukraine forced a man to transfer roughly $200,000 in Bitcoin to them before strangling him to death. Earlier this summer, a man was convicted of targeting victims’ crypto in a string of home invasions across several states in the U.S. from 2022 to 2023. 

The uptick in news reports on violent digital currency-related attacks comes amid a broader increase in crypto crime, particularly exploits. Nearly $1.4 billion in digital assets was stolen in the first half of 2024, up more than 200% from the same time last year, data from blockchain intelligence firm TRM shows. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward