Police track $200K bitcoin robbery in Scottish first

In what was a first for Scottish law enforcement, a man has been found guilty of receiving bitcoin worth hundreds of thousands of dollars after it was forcibly transferred to an account linked to him during robbery.

During the robbery at an address in Blantyre near Glasgow in March 2020, roughly $200,000 worth of bitcoin was moved from the victim’s wallet while the robbers also stole valuable goods and a car.

Following an extensive investigation, specialist cybercrime officers tracked the stolen crypto to the crypto wallet of 28-year-old Lanarkshire man John-Ross Rennie.

In a statement from Scottish police, Detective Inspector Craig Potter described the investigation as “complex” and the “first robbery in Scotland to involve tracing the movements of stolen cryptocurrency.”

The statement doesn’t disclose who or how many people actively took part in the robbery.

Read more: 20-year-old imprisoned for $1M crypto SIM-swap scam

Despite Rennie not being present for the robbery and denying the charge of reset — the act of knowingly possessing goods that have been obtained through criminal means — he was tried at Lanark High Court and convicted on October 31, 2023. His sentencing date is yet to be determined.

Detective Inspector Potter added, “This conviction demonstrates Police Scotland’s capability and commitment to tackling criminality involving the digital space and bringing criminals operating in this world to justice.”