Crypto thieves handed prison sentences in China, UK, and France - Coinfea

Over the last few days, courts in China, the UK, and Morocco have handed down prison sentences to crypto criminals involved in physical crimes. While efforts are being made to make the crypto industry secure, law enforcement officials globally are also cracking down on physical crypto crime known as wrench attacks.

In a recent case, a court in Fuzhou, China, sentenced a man identified as Lin to 12 years and seven months in prison for stealing four Bitcoins from an acquaintance who had hired him to liquidate the holdings. The theft occurred in late 2020 when a man identified as Wang asked Lin to help convert his Bitcoin to cash. After Lin was given access to Wang’s hardware wallet and laptop, he copied the private keys, transferred all four coins to his own wallet, and sold them for approximately 900,000 yuan, around $124,000 at the time. Wang discovered the theft in 2024, and Lin was arrested shortly after.

Authorities continue crackdown on crypto thieves

The Cangshan District Court convicted Lin of theft and imposed a 300,000-yuan fine on top of the prison term. Lin’s appeal to that sentence has now been rejected by the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court, and the ruling upheld. The fact that China does not recognize cryptocurrency as legal tender did not shield Lin from prosecution, because under Chinese criminal law, as something that can be possessed, transferred, and has measurable value, Bitcoin qualifies as property.

Also, Cryptopolitan previously reported that France alone recorded at least 19 wrench attacks in 2025, with six more in early 2026. The use of cold storage protects against remote hacking, but offers no defense against someone who gains physical access to a seed phrase, whether through stealth, burglary, or violence. In a recent case, a 36-year-old City worker in Hertfordshire was literally attacked with a wrench.

During the attack, more than £10,000 was drained from his bank and cryptocurrency accounts. Four men received prison sentences at St Albans Crown Court in relation to the crime. According to reports, the men befriended the victim during a night out in Shoreditch, then forced him back to his home, where they beat him with a wrench and knocked him unconscious. They used facial verification to unlock his accounts while he was incapacitated and left him for his partner to find the next morning with serious facial injuries.

The police only began their investigation after Coinbase flagged unusual activity on the victim’s account. Jason Kareem, 23, received the longest sentence at six years and six months, which includes an 18-month consecutive term for breaching prior suspended sentences. Jerome Denton, 39, was sentenced to six years. Brandon Stephenson, 25, received five years and six months. Royan Campbell, 20, got three years and six months.

Cryptopolitan previously reported on the sentencing of 25-year-old Mohamed Hamid Bajou in Morocco. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for orchestrating a string of kidnappings targeting wealthy crypto holders in France. Bajou denied being involved with the kidnappings at trial and claimed to have been living on his grandfather’s farm in Morocco. However, investigators were able to link him directly to the kidnapping operations with seized messages.