Last month, on a Friday morning in an upscale neighbourhood in New York City, a 28-year-old man ran out of an eight-bedroom townhouse, flagged down a traffic agent, and said he had been held captive for several weeks by two men trying to steal his cryptocurrency holdings.

The man — a visitor from Italy — told police he had been tortured, beaten and at one point dangled off a five-story ledge, all to get him to reveal his Bitcoin wallet password.

Recent reports of similar attacks have come out of France, Britain, Canada and several states in the U.S. There have been home invasions, kidnapping attempts, and people held captive. Experts call these “wrench attacks,” a nod to a meme about robbing someone with a wrench as a weapon.

Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke to Ari Redbord, global head of policy with the blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, to learn more about what’s behind the rise in these incidents.

More on this

“The Rise of Wrench Attacks and Crypto-related Violent Crime” - from TRM Labs

“Why ‘wrench attacks’ on wealthy crypto holders are on the rise” - from The Associated Press