The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment this week against Murad Mahajna, 46, for a violent home invasion robbery that netted approximately $600,000 in crypto and luxury items from a Herzliya resident.
The September 7 attack involved Mahajna and two accomplices who tied up the victim, stabbed him twice in the legs, and spent over an hour extracting digital wallet codes while threatening his family.
According to a local source, the attackers waited in the building’s stairwell at 8:10 a.m. before forcing their way into the apartment when the victim opened his door.
Two accomplices wore black face masks while Mahajna remained unmasked, claiming to represent the Karaja family and initially demanding 500 Bitcoin worth approximately $55 million.
When the victim refused to surrender his digital wallet credentials, one attacker retrieved a kitchen knife and held it to his neck.
The assailants stabbed the victim twice after he continued resisting, once in each leg above the knee.
Under threat and in pain, he surrendered codes allowing the robbers to transfer $547,260 in Bitcoin and approximately $42,248 in USDT.
The group also stole a Rolex watch valued at around $50,000, a laptop, a Trezor crypto wallet, approximately $5,300 in euros, and several thousand shekels in cash.
Before leaving, the attackers cleaned the apartment with disinfectant to obscure evidence and left the victim tied up, bleeding, and bruised.
Mahajna threatened, “If the police are contacted, the family will be harmed.”
Two days later, he allegedly called the victim again, demanding additional wallet codes and coins within 24 hours, warning, “wherever you took the wife and children, we will find them,” when refused.
The victim initially remained too afraid to contact authorities but eventually told his family, who persuaded him to file a complaint.
Police arrested Mahajna on September 10 after collecting evidence, including recorded phone calls, voice identification, technological data, and security camera footage. Mahajna also has 10 prior convictions for violent, drug, and weapons offenses.
The indictment charges Mahajna with breaking and entering a residence, aggravated robbery, extortion by threats, obstruction of justice, and making threats.
The defendant has denied the allegations against him. The case adds to Israel’s growing list of violent crypto-related crimes as criminals increasingly target visible cryptocurrency wealth.
The Israeli incident joins an alarming global surge in crypto kidnappings and robberies.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported 35 wrench attacks globally in July 2025, surpassing nearly all previous years. The spike correlates directly with Bitcoin’s rise to over $122,000 in early July, which has now broken a new ATH above $126K.
France has emerged as the global hotspot for crypto-related violent crime, documenting at least 10 separate kidnapping cases since January.
The pattern escalated dramatically when Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped and had his finger severed by ransom-seeking attackers.
May brought coordinated attacks targeting crypto executives and their families, with prosecutors ultimately charging 25 suspects linked to multiple abduction plots.
Criminal networks are increasingly using sophisticated tactics, disguising themselves as delivery workers with stolen branded vans from services like UPS and Chronopost.
One brutal case involved attackers kidnapping a poker player’s father in Paris, severing his finger, and filming the mutilation to coerce his son into transferring €5-7 million.
French elite forces freed a Swiss hostage in August after he was held captive near Valence-TGV station, with kidnappers demanding cryptocurrency for his release.
The violence extends globally.
Back in September, two Texas brothers faced federal kidnapping charges after holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for nine hours while stealing $8 million in crypto, forcing local schools to cancel their homecoming football game.
Belgian authorities also recently sentenced three men to 12 years for kidnapping crypto investor Stephane Winkel’s wife, while Australian billionaire Tim Heath narrowly escaped kidnapping in Estonia.
Similarly, a UK gang received lengthy prison sentences in January for kidnapping and torturing a cryptocurrency investor over several months, forcing him to transfer approximately $124,000.
Manchester Crown Court handed down sentences ranging from 13 to 20 years after police found the victim with burn marks, bruises, and wounds from being beaten with weapons.
