A London court has convicted four people in the botched kidnapping and wrench attack of a Belgian barber. The group lured him to London with promises of luxury and companionship after he made out that he was sitting on a Bitcoin fortune.
But to their surprise, when his attackers demanded he give them access to his funds, the victim revealed he had just over $9 (£6.71) in his crypto wallet. Stunned, the kidnappers lowered their demand to $67,000 (about £50,000), then eventually settled for $2,700 (or £2,000) from his bank account.
The victim, Quentin Cepeljac, was abducted in May 2023 after being lured to the U.K. He was attacked, held overnight, and later released after his captors learned he had no significant crypto holdings, according to a report from The Times.
One of the attackers, Davina Raaymakers, had befriended Cepeljac on social media weeks earlier. After he claimed to be a successful crypto dealer, she invited him to London and offered what she described as a luxury flat.
Instead, she led him to a bedsit in Shepherd’s Bush, where three men, including her boyfriend, were already waiting. They then ambushed Cepeljac, held a machete to his neck and a knife to his leg, and demanded access to his crypto wallet.
After they realized he had no significant crypto holdings, they settled for cash from his bank account and let him go.
The paper reported all four defendants admitted to blackmail and identified Isleworth Crown as the venue. Although court records remain unavailable, the paper says police met Cepeljac at St. Pancras and used phone and Airbnb data to identify the suspects.
Decrypt has filed FOI requests to verify the charges, pleas, and sentencing details.
Crypto ‘flex culture’ and wrench attacks
The case has become part of a wider trend known as “wrench attacks,” where perceived crypto holders are extorted through physical force. These attacks target people directly, bypassing digital security.
In a similar case, a TikTok crypto influencer in France was kidnapped and held for ransom, only to be released after his attackers discovered he was broke. The gang had tracked him based on social media posts and believed in his supposed wealth.
“Flex culture in crypto is perilous: Criminals target holders just like they would if you posted an Instagram Story showing a luxury watch by the pool,” Eyal Gruper, founder and CEO of self-custodial Bitcoin recovery platform RITREK, told Decrypt.
Flex culture, derived from the slang term “flexing,” refers to the act of showing off wealth, status, or possessions, often to impress others.
“Opportunists lurk in the same channels you use, following industry insiders’ feeds and monitoring conference hashtags to spot anyone worth coercing,” Gruper said.
In crypto, this includes flaunting wallet balances, NFT purchases, profitable trades, or high-profile travel to industry events.
Still, some see the focus on flex culture as misplaced.
“Flex culture isn’t unique to crypto, it exists across industries,” Callum Mitchell-Clark, co-founder of tokenized basket management protocol Alvara, told Decrypt.
Mitchell-Clark argues pointing to flex culture misses the point and risks deflecting responsibility from perpetrators.
“Blaming it for violent crime shifts attention away from the real issue: the criminals,” he said. “Violence is a choice, not a consequence of visibility, and we shouldn’t excuse it by pointing fingers at victims.”
