Four armed robbers have held up a man and his family in the United Kingdom to steal his bitcoin holding, the second armed robbery involving bitcoin in the last week.

The robbers targeted Danny Aston, reportedly a cryptocurrency trader, in the Oxfordshire village of Moulsford. The men were said to have tied up the man’s wife and put his child in a pram outside the house while he transferred his bitcoin holdings to them. Following the robbery, a police manhunt began, with nearby schools put on lockdown in case the robbers attempted to seek shelter.

The specific amount of bitcoin stolen was not disclosed but was described as being a “fortune.” Police confirmed that the attack was targeted and they are appealing to the public who may have witnessed the men, described as “between 18 to 25, dark-skinned and super-fit.”

Although the robbery is believed to be the first bitcoin heist in the U.K., it wasn’t the only bitcoin robbery in western countries last week. On Jan. 24, three men tied up four staff at a bitcoin company in Canada in an attempt to steal bitcoins.

According to reports, the men targeted Canadian Bitcoins, based in Nepean, Ottawa, and attempted to coerce employees into transferring bitcoin to them. The attempt failed as a staff member in another room alerted police before the robbers had managed to steal any bitcoin. A 19-year-old from Ottawa was subsequently arrested on multiple charges in relation to the robbery and local police were attempting to discover the whereabouts of the two other suspects.

To the south, armed cryptocurrency robbers were not quite as inept. The New York County District Attorney’s Office filing armed robbery and kidnapping charges in December against a man who stole $1.8 million in Ethereum in an armed robbery in November. Thirty-five-year old Louis Meza, in conjunction with another person, is said to have held the unnamed victim at gunpoint, only departing once the victime had transferred his Ethereum holdings to them.

Picture: Pixabay