A 16-year-old known as Faris Ali, along with accomplices Zay and Tommy, has been sentenced in the UK for orchestrating a violent home-invasion robbery that netted over $4.3 million in cryptocurrency. The sentencing took place at Sheffield Crown Court on November 7, 2025, with nearly all stolen funds seized by the Metropolitan Police.
The robbery occurred on June 18, 2024, when three masked men, disguised as delivery couriers and armed with machetes, forced their way into a UK home. They compelled the victim to unlock accounts and transfer more than $4 million in crypto to two Ethereum addresses: 0x7d1…86d99 and 0xe925…c4dcef. The victim publicly disclosed the incident on X hours later, tagging blockchain investigator ZachXBT, who initiated an independent probe.
ZachXBT's investigation uncovered chat logs where the perpetrators discussed using TLOxp, a restricted TransUnion database, to skip-trace the victim's address. Messages included surveillance photos and plans to pose as delivery workers, with one attacker noting, "Well I mean, it’s unlikely for someone to deny a package that was sent to his apartment and under his name." Faris inadvertently exposed his identity by sharing bail documentation on Telegram, and an Ethereum Name Service domain "farisali.eth" was registered post-robbery.
This case highlights broader security concerns, as data breaches like those at Coinbase and Byte Federal have enabled physical targeting. In a related UK incident, a November 4, 2024, robbery in Oxford involved the theft of a £450,000 watch and £1.1 million in crypto, leading to four arrests.
