An American tourist in London has reported being abducted, drugged, and robbed of his life savings by an individual posing as an Uber driver.
Jacob Irwin-Cline, a 30-year-old former software developer from Oregon, claims the perpetrator stole roughly $123,000 in Bitcoin, XRP, and other cryptocurrencies from his digital wallets on May 9, as detailed in a report by local media outlet MyLondon.
Tourist Lured into Fake Uber After Night Out in London
Irwin-Cline had just exited The Roxy nightclub in Soho when a driver, calling out the name registered on his Uber account, drove up to him. Believing this vehicle was legitimate, he entered the car.
However, Irwin-Cline suspects he was deceived into getting into a lookalike vehicle operated by a criminal associated with a fraudulent Uber account.
The situation worsened after the driver offered him a cigarette that he believes was laced with scopolamine, a potent sedative commonly used in crimes in South America.
“I passed out for what I assumed to be 20 to 30 minutes,” he said. When he came to, he found himself injured and alone on a road in Golders Green, devoid of his phone and any memory of how he arrived there.
Upon returning to his hostel, he discovered that his laptop had been wiped clean and his digital assets had disappeared. Evidence presented to MyLondon indicates that $73,000 worth of XRP and $50,000 in Bitcoin were transferred to various wallets.
Irwin-Cline believes the stolen funds were funneled through exchanges such as MEXC and BTSE. Unfortunately, without insurance or a court order, the chances of recovering the assets appear slim.
The incident has been reported to multiple authorities, including the Metropolitan Police, Action Fraud, the FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit, and Uber. An investigation is currently in progress, but no arrests have yet been made.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the report was filed on the same day, estimating the cryptocurrency theft at approximately $150,000.
In the aftermath, Irwin-Cline has chosen to remain in London to assist law enforcement, though he harbors little optimism for recovering his losses. “It’s virtually impossible to get that money back unless some weird miracle happens,” he lamented.
Crypto Crime Turns Violent as Illicit Transactions Top $40B in 2024
According to Chainalysis, illicit cryptocurrency activities reached an estimated $40.9 billion in 2024, a figure expected to rise as more wallets linked to criminal actions are uncovered.
Hacks accounted for $2.2 billion of those losses, marking a 21% increase from the previous year. Groups linked to North Korea, including Lazarus and Tradetraitor, were responsible for more than 60% of these thefts, with notable incidents such as the $300 million hack of Japan’s DMM Bitcoin exchange.
However, the risks extend beyond digital thefts. Criminal organizations are employing cryptocurrency to facilitate and obscure a broader range of illegal activities, including investment scams, AI-enhanced romance frauds, drug trafficking, and even violent acts.
In one alarming incident reported on May 13, 2025, the daughter and grandson of the CEO of the French cryptocurrency platform Paymium were nearly kidnapped in Paris by masked assailants.
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, it is alleged that the French cryptocurrency platform Paymium CEO Pierre Noizat’s daughter and two-year-old child were targeted in the attempted kidnapping in Paris. There has been no confirmation of the identities of the victims or their relations by… pic.twitter.com/HAbsCU6fg1
— SuperNOVA (@NovaExcitement) May 13, 2025
The article is sourced from Finance Newso, detailing the unsettling rise of cryptocurrency-related crimes.
