Recently a student from the University of Kent in London was robbed at knifepoint for his bitcoin. After eight thugs stormed his dorm room and demanded that he reveal his crypto credentials and passwords, the student was forced to leave the campus and he moved back home.

Freshmen College Student Loses Bitcoin in an On-Campus Mugging

A recent report shows that a college student who started the year as a freshman was robbed at the University of Kent, a school located in the historic city of Canterbury. The student’s mother details that five days before starting his course, her son started to talk about cryptocurrencies with a friend from the school.

“They were just having lads’ talk. [Then] the conversation turned to [finance] and the friend started talking about cyber currency,” the student’s mother explained. After the discussion, the boy’s friend alleges that the student brought eight friends from East London to visit the student’s room and he instantly “knew he was in trouble,” his mother declared.

The student says that his bitcoin stash was worth around £6,000 ($8.2K) at the time he was robbed. But now that same stash of bitcoin is worth £68K ($93,000) and the gang of thugs stole £3,000 worth of his school grant money. The student then called the police and ran to the security hut and the student’s mother said the security guards didn’t go to the crime scene. The police never arrived because there were more important matters to attend to that evening. The student’s mother stressed:

The only action the university took was moving him to different accommodation. He was too traumatised so he moved back home even though he had safer and better accommodation.

Police Dropped the Case 8 Months Later, Mother Warns of London’s ‘Freshers’ Fishing Week’

To make matters worse, the money was never returned to the student. The Canterbury District Police Department dropped the case after eight months. The mother detailed that she was upset that the Kent security guards and police did nothing. She also warned other freshmen students that the same could happen to them.

“The police commonly call Freshers’ Week ‘fishing week’ because all the criminals come down,” she said. “They know the students have got grants, laptops, and new stuff. Attacks, assaults, and muggings are quite common across the country,” the student’s mother added.

The fact of the matter is, it is not wise to disclose crypto asset holdings to others, unless you truly trust them. Bitcoin muggings have been taking place for years, but there’s been an increase in crypto robberies that leverage violence to steal bitcoin or other digital assets, since the crypto economy’s massive rise in value during the latter half of 2020.

What do you think about the college student that was robbed at knifepoint by eight thugs and his so-called friend? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.