American tourist loses $123,000 worth of Bitcoin and XRP after being drugged by a fake Uber driver

According to a new report from local news publication MyLondon, Jacob Irwin-Cline from Portland, Oregon, was on a two-day layover when he requested an Uber after leaving The Roxy, a nightclub in Soho, around 1:30 AM on May 9.

An American tourist has lost $123,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple’s XRP after being robbed and drugged by a fake Uber driver following a brief stay in the city, a report by MyLondon says.

The report says 30-year-old former software developer and crypto investor Jacob Irwin-Cline, who had traveled from Portland, Oregon, for a two-day layover in London, requested an Uber after leaving The Roxy, a nightclub in Soho, at around 1:30 AM on May 9.

However, he was reportedly intercepted by a driver who appeared to match the profile displayed in the app and who called out the alias he had saved as his name in the Uber account.

Having later asked the nightclub for CCTV footage of the incident, Irwin-Cline said it was a “dark sedan” that pulled up, and not the Toyota Prius that was listed on his Uber app.

“The guy seemed super chill, super nice,” the techie was quoted as saying.

Techie Smoked a Cigarette Before Feeling Disoriented

The techie said he accepted a cigarette from the driver and started feeling disoriented shortly afterwards. He believes the cigarette may have been laced with scopolamine, also known as “Devil’s Breath,” a powerful sedative known for causing blackouts while keeping victims conscious.

While in a semi-conscious state, Irwin-Cline inadvertently handed over his phone’s passcode and access to his crypto accounts before he was abandoned in a London suburb as the fake taxi driver fled with his phone.

After returning to his hostel with the help of a stranger, he discovered his laptop had been wiped remotely, and he was locked out of his digital accounts. He later regained access but realized that roughly $123,000 in crypto had been withdrawn from his wallet, including around $73,000 in XRP tokens and $50,000 in Bitcoin.

He reportedly shared screenshots with MyLondon revealing his XRP holdings dropped from $73,000 to under $1,000 and his BTC from $50,000 to less than $10 on that fateful night.

Irwin-Cline said he doesn’t think he was targeted beforehand and that instead the assailant got “lucky” that he had some wealth “stored away.” The FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit is investigating the case, though the crypto investor believes there is “less than one per cent chance” of getting his funds back.