Three armed assailants in Pattaya, Thailand, forced a Chinese national to transfer 820,000 USD in cryptocurrency

A luxury villa near Pattaya, Thailand, was the scene of an armed robbery, where three armed individuals broke into a gated community, took control of a Chinese national with Turkish citizenship, and forced him to open a safe and hand over cash and three luxury watches. The attackers also threatened the victim at gunpoint to transfer $820,000 worth of cryptocurrency into one of their wallets, which was then immediately sold.

After escaping, the victim reported the incident to the police, who have yet to confirm the nationalities of the three suspects. The police's second district has launched an investigation and identified the vehicle used in the crime through surveillance; the vehicle was later abandoned in a remote area. The police are tracking the sold digital assets to identify the related accounts and recover the funds. Chainalysis estimates that such violent robberies have stolen over $30 million in cryptocurrency in the first half of 2026.