No one would ever think that they would be drugged, abducted and have their crypto wallet drained when they got into an Uber. But this was exactly what happened to American tourist Jacob Irwin-Cline.

Irwin-Cine was an American software developer who was in London for a two-day layover. On the night of the crime, he was returning from The Roxy nightclub when he hailed an Uber.

According to initial police reports, Irwin-Cline was intercepted by a driver who created a fraudulent Uber Driver account and managed to find out his name.

CCTV footage from the nightclub later confirmed that Irwin-Cline has carlessly entered into a dark sedan instead of the Toyota Prius he hailed as he didn't had the time to check the license plate or vehicle details against what was listed on his phone.

Irwin-Cline later recalled that the driver introduced himself as Mohammed, and he was a very chill guy.

Upon getting on the vehicle, Irwin-Cline was tricked into accepting a cigarette from the driver which was laced with a drug called Devil's breath-a powerful sedative known for its use in South American crimes.

When he regained consciousness 30 minutes later, Irwin-Cline found himself injured and lying at the side of a road in Glders Green, with his phone missing and no recollection of how he got there.

Worst still, when he returned to his hostel, he discovered that his laptop was remotely wiped clean, and his digital assets had vanished.

Screenshots provided to media outlets show that $73,000 in XRP and $50,000 in Bitcoin were siphoned from his wallets, with the funds funneled through exchanges such as MEXC and BTSE.

Authorities later confirmed that the attackers accessed his wallet directly after a forced login to his Revolut account.

While Irwin-Cline claimed he has already made a report to the Metropolitan Police, Action Fradu, the FBI's Virtual Assets Unit, and Uber, but he is pessimistic that he would ever get his money back.

"It's virtually impossible to get that money back unless some weird miracle happens."

Irwin-Cline is currently staying in London to help with local authorities with the investigation.

The Broader Trend: Physical Crypto Crime on the Rise

This case is not an isolated incident, but part of a disturbing global trend where criminals are escalating from online hacks to real-world violence and deception to steal crypto assets.

Just last week, the daughter of a French crypto exchange CEO was attacked and almost abducted in broad daylight in the streets of Paris.

Luckily, the perpetrators were hindered by passersby, who helped the CEO's daughter to fight off the kidnappers.

In 2024 alone, it was also recorded that the amount of illicit crypto transactions had surged to at $40.9 billion, with hacks accoiunting for $2.2 billion-a 21% increase from the previous year.