A LocalBitcoins trader from Northborough, Massachusetts has recently revealed that two individuals broke into his home and specifically demanded cash and bitcoin – a move that revealed it was a planned crime. The trader managed to escape and call the police, leading to the arrest of both suspects.

On the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange’s forums, the LocalBitcoins trader revealed he didn’t recognize the attackers. One of them pointed a gun at him and demanded his bitcoins, which showed him someone he had traded with ordered the invasion.

Reacting to the situation the trader, going by USMC1991 on the forums, handed the robbers “a couple hundred in twenty dollar bills,” and when asked for bitcoin claimed not to have any.  Describing how he got out of the situation, USMC1991 wrote:

After one unsuccessful attempt, I managed to escape out the front door of my house. I ran down the street yelling “CALL 911!”. This prompted them to get out of my house and get back in their car. As I turned around and saw them getting into the car, I approached it and made a mental note of the license plate number.

USMC1991

Making a mental note of their license plate proved crucial, as police were able to arrest both individuals the day they carried out the home invasion. One was reportedly recovering from a meth high, while the other one was armed. Looking back at the situation, USMC1991 revealed he was glad no one was hurt, that the assailants barely robbed anything, and that they got caught.

In his post he linked to a news story regarding the incident, and added that the two criminals seemingly staked out his house before attempting to move in, as it was later on revealed they did yard work in the area and ripped off his external burglary sirens and cut off internet cables before moving in.

In light of the situation Jameson Lopp, a prominent bitcoin engineer, created a GitHub page detailing various physical attacks bitcoiners have endured in the past few years. Lopp, who was himself a victim last year when someone sent a SWAT team to his house, urged those in the crypto space to “review [their] physical security.”

The GitHub page reveals that 28 physical attacks have targeted cryptocurrency owners so far, with 15 of them occurring since December 2017, when most cryptocurrencies saw their price surge to new all-time highs

At the end of his post, USMC1991 also advised other LocalBitcoins traders to get a home security system, and to get a firearm if they’re legally allowed to own one. He noted that if he had cameras on the outside of his house, he would’ve been able to stop the invasion and called police before the robbers got in.