Evan Luthra says attackers stole $2.1m in crypto during Oxford kidnapping
Five masked men forced their way into a private vehicle and used Face ID to drain assets from the investor's Binance and Gate accounts.
Key takeaways
- 1Attackers used Face ID to steal $1.5m from Binance and $600k from Gate
- 2A Richard Mille watch worth £450k was also stolen during the Oxford kidnapping
- 3Binance and MEXC helped Luthra recover nearly $1m of the stolen funds
- 4Several suspects have been arrested with a trial set for November 2027
Evan Luthra said on Monday that five masked men kidnapped him in Oxford and stole more than $2.1m in cryptocurrency in November 2025. The attackers forced their way into his private vehicle on a remote road and drove him to a secluded location to carry out the robbery.
The assailants assaulted Luthra and used his phone's Face ID feature to bypass security on his mobile applications. They transferred more than $1.5m in assets from his Binance account and approximately $600k worth of ether from his Gate account within 30 minutes. The speed of the transfers suggests the attackers knew how to operate crypto exchange interfaces.
Luthra said the group also stole a Richard Mille watch valued at roughly £450k during the incident. This is the first time the investor has publicly detailed the specifics of the robbery and the recovery efforts that followed. He had previously kept the details of the investigation private while police worked on the case in the United Kingdom.
Crypto exchanges including Binance and MEXC assisted in freezing some of the stolen assets after the theft was reported. Binance returned approximately $370k to Luthra, which helped bring the total amount of recovered funds to nearly $1m. The recovery of digital assets often depends on how quickly victims report a theft to centralised platforms.
Ether was trading at $2,150.51 on Monday, down 3.6 percent over 24 hours, according to YourKhabri data. The asset remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value at $262.8bn. Chainlink was also lower, falling 1.8 percent to $10.58 during the same period.
Physical security for digital assets has become a priority for high-net-worth individuals as physical attacks become more common. Many investors now use multi-signature setups that require approval from a second device kept in a separate location. These configurations can prevent total losses during physical confrontations where biometric locks like Face ID are compromised.
Law enforcement officials have arrested several suspects in connection with the kidnapping and robbery. The trial for the individuals involved has been postponed and is now scheduled to begin in November 2027. Luthra did not specify the identity of the suspects or whether any of the physical items, such as the watch, had been recovered by the authorities.
Reported and edited by the YourKhabri desk under our editorial policy. Nothing here is investment advice.