A techie from the US was reportedly drugged and robbed of over ₹1 crore worth of cryptocurrency in London by a man pretending to be an Uber driver. Jacob Irwin-Cline, 30, a former software engineer from Portland, Oregon, was in London for a two-day stopover on his way to Spain when it happened. Jacob said, “I lost $123,000 in crypto and assets. They took most of my money.”The incident took place around 1:30 am on May 9 after Jacob had spent the night at a nightclub in Soho. As he stepped out, a man called his name and it seemed to be his booked Uber. Without checking the car details, Jacob got in.

Inside the car, the driver offered him a cigarette. After smoking it, Jacob started feeling very sleepy and weak. He believes the cigarette was laced with a drug called scopolamine, which is sometimes used by criminals to make victims unable to resist. Jacob said he blacked out for about 20 to 30 minutes. While he was half-conscious, he gave the man his phone and passwords. The man later left Jacob in an unfamiliar part of the city and hit him with the car before driving away.

Techie said he vaguely remembers the thief accessing some apps and getting passkeys from him. He lost his phone during the incident and somehow managed to return to his hostel. There, he found that his laptop had been remotely wiped and he was locked out of his financial accounts.When he finally got access back, he saw that his cryptocurrency wallets were completely emptied. He reported the incident to British police, but so far, no arrests have been made and the stolen money has not been recovered. “It’s nearly impossible to get that money back unless some miracle happens,” he said.

His case is part of a growing trend of violent crimes targeting crypto holders. Just days ago, Italian crypto investor Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan was reportedly kidnapped and tortured in New York City. One of the accused was another crypto investor from Kentucky, John Woeltz. Carturan was tied to a chair, electrocuted with his feet in water, beaten with a gun, urinated on, and even cut with a chainsaw. He finally escaped when the attackers got distracted.