Two teenagers have been arrested and charged in connection with a failed plan to steal $66 million worth of crypto assets from a home in Scottsdale, Arizona. The two teenagers were said to have traveled home from California on a more than 600-mile road trip.

According to FOX 10 PhoenixCase investigators believe the two teenagers, identified as Jackson Sullivan and Skylar Lapaille, were blackmailed into trying to steal crypto from two other people known only as “Red” and “8” on a secure and private messaging app. Signal. The pair of would-be thieves were reportedly given information on the target and $1,000 to put in materials to be used in the robbery. The materials collected by law enforcement from the alleged thieves included a 3D-printed gun, although it was not accompanied by ammunition and it was unclear if it would be used.

Incredibly, the teenagers are said to have initially pretended to be delivery drivers upon arriving home, echoing a previous $11 million crypto heist that took place in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores neighborhood last year. As in the case, Sullivan and Lapaille allegedly entered the home and restrained their victims with duct tape.

According to a Fox News reportthe police were alerted to the scheme by one of the teenagers’ mothers, who called the police after finding relevant messages on her son’s phone. A person inside the home during the invasion was also said to have been able to contact law enforcement for help. Both teenagers are now free on $50,000 bail with ankle monitors used to track their whereabouts.

Because of the extortion angle, the event looked like a real-life version of an episode of the television series Black Mirror titled “Shut Up and Dance.” In the episode, a teenager is filmed in a compromising position from his laptop by a hacker and then forced to complete several tasks in the real world under the threat of a compromising video released to his friends, family, and the rest of the world.

There is also a common Bitcoin email scams associated with this type of extortion where the sender claims to have a video that they will reveal to the world if funds are not sent to a specific Bitcoin address by a specific date. Of course, there is no actual video, and the intention is only to scare victims into sending bitcoins.

🚨 SERIOUS PSA 🚨

If you are a doxxed bitcoiner or crypto person in France.

LEAVE. EXCEPT.

Wrench attacks every day. My friends are affected.

If you are into bitcoin or crypto whose personal information is disclosed in France.

LEAVE.

— Joe Nakamoto ⚡️ (@JoeNakamoto) February 5, 2026

Physical crypto thefts, often referred to as “$5 wrench attack,” has become a more widespread issue in the past two years, along with data showing that 2025 will be the biggest year for this type of crime on record. In the same week that this most recent extraordinary incident occurred, Celebrity gossip outlet TMZ has received a ransom letter allegedly associated with the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping that demanded an undisclosed amount of bitcoin be sent to a particular address. However, this letter was later found to be an attempt to exploit the situation surrounding the kidnapping, and the alleged perpetrator was said to have nothing to do with Nancy Guthrie’s situation, according to Fox News.

Various data breaches—such as personal data leak of individuals who purchased crypto hardware wallets from Ledger and the situation in France where a tax agent allegedly sold the personal information of crypto holders to criminals—becomes a serious problem when it comes to the security of digital cash that cannot be changed by a third party once it is sent. Of course, this irreversibility goes out the window when it comes to centrally issued stablecoins such as Tether and “decentralized finance” DeFi apps with their own centralized safety nets for emergency situations. That said, there are also ways to distribute trust among multiple parties without handing over the financial self-sovereignty related to bitcoin through wallets that take advantage of features such as. multisignature addresses.