Criminals in Sweden are specifically targeting prominent local Bitcoin figures, which appears to be the result of the ease of access to personal information and residential addresses in the country.

“This Monday, a middle-aged Swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. They were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. They were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the hospital via helicopter,” Wall wrote.

According to Wall, the victims were subjected to violent physical abuse for hours in an effort to steal their Bitcoin holdings held in hardware wallets.

Wall also believes criminals scour social media to identify and target Bitcoin or cryptocurrency users. He claims that a common theme of the attacks was that they took place shortly after individuals had livestreamed podcasts focused on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or mentioned the subject in public.

He also believes that Sweden’s Offentlighetsprincipen (Principle of Public Access to Information) laws, which give the public the right to request information, including residential addresses and tax records from the government, are becoming a means for criminals to prey on ecosystem participants.