Masked Hammer Attackers Force Crypto Transfer in Solihull Home Invasion as 'Wrench Attacks' Surge

A businessman in Solihull was beaten with hammers and forced to hand over hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency after three masked intruders broke into his family home and threatened to kill his heavily pregnant wife, the BBC has reported.

The couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, described the December attack as "horrific" and said they feared for the life of their unborn child throughout the 45-minute ordeal. Police are still investigating, and the charity Crimestoppers has announced a £10,000 reward for information that leads to progress in the case.

The incident is being treated as one of a growing class of violent robberies known in the cryptocurrency industry as "wrench attacks" — a term used when criminals physically coerce victims into surrendering digital assets rather than hacking them remotely. As crypto coins have climbed in value, reports of such robberies have multiplied in the UK, France and the United States.

The man, identified by the BBC only as James, said the violence began without warning. "The door gets pushed open, I can see gloves coming in, balaclavas," he recalled. He attempted to fight the intruders off, but they struck him repeatedly in the face, head and ribs with hammers. Images released as part of the coverage show the serious head wound he sustained.

His wife, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was pinned to the sofa by one of the attackers. "He's got a pillow over her face," James said. "He's literally suffocating her on the sofa. I can hear her screaming, 'I can't breathe'." The couple had no idea what the men wanted until one of them demanded that James unlock his phone and hand it over.

According to James's account, the attackers seemed to know he held cryptocurrency but did not understand how to access it themselves. Instead, they appeared to be following instructions from another person connected through a live video call. "I can hear the guy on FaceTime saying: 'Show me everything on his phone. Show me what apps he's got'," he said.

The situation escalated sharply once the remote caller identified a crypto wallet containing significant funds. "He was basically saying: 'Look, if you don't send us this money now, we're going to stab your wife in the stomach and kill your baby. We're going to kill your wife'," James said. His wife, who is in her early thirties and was expecting the couple's third child, said she feared James had been killed when she saw him lying unresponsive on the floor. She also worried that the stress of the attack could cause her to lose the baby. The child survived and was later born at full term.

James transferred his savings — hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency — to the digital wallet of the man on the video call. The intruders also took several luxury Rolex watches before leaving in a car driven by a getaway driver. James said that as they departed, he heard the man on the call tell his accomplices: "You can have 10 grand each but I am taking the rest."

Unlike money held in a conventional bank account, cryptocurrency is frequently controlled directly by its owner through digital wallets or physical storage devices. For criminals, that combination of speed, anonymity and irreversibility makes crypto holders attractive targets. Once funds are transferred, recovering them can be extremely difficult, as transactions on most blockchains cannot be reversed by a bank or other intermediary.

Crypto investigators at Chainalysis say wrench attacks have surged in recent years. According to their research, $30m (£22.6m) had been stolen in violent robberies in the year up to June, putting 2026 on track to become the worst year on record for such crimes. The firm also found that home invasions are rising. While the United States, Brazil and Thailand are identified as hotspots, France has recorded the largest number of attacks by far — a trend researchers attribute to a data breach at a tax office that appears to have helped criminals locate wealthy crypto holders.

"The physical security assumptions that protect traditional wealth, such as bank vaults and armored cars, do not automatically apply in crypto," the researchers said in their report. "Often, holders keep their assets in comparatively low security setups, like self-custody wallets, that can be compromised without any institutional gatekeeper standing in the way."

James said he began investing in crypto as an amateur in 2020 and made enough money to leave his job in 2023 to trade full time. Now he has lost everything and is seeking to return to his former line of work. He added that he holds little hope of recovering the stolen funds, but wants those responsible to be brought to justice.

Police have not yet identified the attackers. Alan Edwards of Crimestoppers urged anyone with information to come forward, noting that the public might be able to help identify the three intruders, the driver who waited outside without a face covering, or the man on the phone. "These criminals are obviously serious and part of some kind of organised crime gang," he said. "People might be scared to give us information but we are independent of the police and keep people completely anonymous."

The three attackers are believed to be in their late teens or early twenties. One is described as a black male with a scar beneath his left eyebrow. The case highlights a broader concern among law enforcement and crypto analysts: as digital assets become more valuable and more widely held, the risk of physical violence tied to them is likely to keep growing, and victims may have few practical avenues for recovering what they lose.