A 21-year-old Ukrainian student in Vienna was beaten, forced to reveal crypto wallet passwords, then burned in his car, amid a global surge in violent “wrench attacks.”
Police say two suspects beat the victim in a hotel garage, kidnapped him in a Mercedes, and tortured him to obtain access to two cryptocurrency accounts. Investigators report the victim was doused in gasoline, set on fire in the back seat, and later found burned, with his crypto accounts completely emptied. Security data show over 60 violent “wrench attacks” on crypto holders in 2025, up more than 30% from 2024, with incidents concentrated in France, North America, and the UK.
A 21-year-old Ukrainian student was killed in Vienna after attackers forced him to reveal passwords to cryptocurrency wallets before setting him on fire, according to Austrian authorities.
The victim, identified as Danylo K., was found dead on November 26 in a burned vehicle on Marlen-Haushofer-Weg in Vienna’s Donaustadt district after fire alarms alerted residents to the blaze around 12:30 a.m., police reported.
Details of the Attack and Investigation
Two suspects, a 19-year-old student and a 45-year-old Ukrainian national, fled to Ukraine with large amounts of cash but were arrested on November 29 by Ukrainian authorities, according to Vienna police. The charred remains were discovered in the back seat of a Mercedes S 350D bearing Ukrainian license plates beneath the Ostbahn railway line, investigators stated.
The attack began hours earlier in the underground parking garage of the Sofitel “SO/Vienna” hotel on Praterstraße, where the 19-year-old suspect confronted the victim following a loud altercation, according to police reports. A hotel guest alerted reception after hearing the confrontation, prompting police notification. Passersby later noticed a large pool of blood in the stairwell leading to the parking area.
Investigators said Danylo was beaten in the garage before being forced into a black Mercedes. The assailants drove him to the Donaustadt location while subjecting him to torture to extract his crypto wallet passwords, according to police.
After gaining access to two crypto accounts, the attackers doused the victim with gasoline purchased from a Wagramer Strasse station, investigators said. The victim was set ablaze while in the back seat, according to authorities. Colonel Gerhard Winkler of the State Criminal Police Office stated that autopsy findings indicated suffocation or heatstroke as the decisive factors in the death. Burns consumed 80 percent of the victim’s body, according to the autopsy report. Forensic teams recovered a melted gasoline canister from the vehicle.
Vienna police identified both suspects through surveillance footage captured at the hotel garage and the gas station where fuel canisters were purchased, according to officials. The pair crossed into Ukraine at 9:07 a.m. the morning after the killing, triggering an international manhunt, police said.
Ukrainian authorities arrested the suspects after finding them in possession of large amounts of U.S. dollar bills, according to reports. Investigators believe the cryptocurrency was rapidly converted to cash following the robbery. Austrian officials have transferred the case to Ukrainian jurisdiction, as extradition is not possible under existing agreements between the countries.
Police confirmed that the victim’s crypto accounts were completely emptied after his death, though authorities declined to specify the total sum stolen. The victim’s family in Ukraine had reported him missing on November 25 after losing contact with him and discovering his digital wallets had been drained, according to police.
Victim's Background and Wider Trends
The victim, who was the son of Kharkiv’s deputy mayor, had been living in a luxury apartment in Vienna’s Triiiple Tower on Landstrasse’s Danube Canal with his partner and their child at the time of his death, according to reports. Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov acknowledged the incident, stating, “This is a human tragedy,” while noting the loss remained a family matter for his deputy.
Security researcher Jameson Lopp has documented over 60 “wrench attacks” targeting cryptocurrency holders in 2025, representing a 169% increase since February and a 33% increase over all of 2024, according to his data. France leads global incidents with 14 confirmed cases, while violent robberies have been reported across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom this year, according to security reports.
Last week, a British Columbia court detailed a 2024 home invasion where attackers tortured a family and stole cryptocurrency after demanding Bitcoin, according to court records. Similar incidents occurred in Oxford where masked assailants forced victims to transfer cryptocurrency during a car ambush, according to reports. Analysts attribute the increase to rising cryptocurrency values, which have made holders high-value targets for criminals.