American tourist claims $123K in bitcoin and XRP stolen in fake Uber 'Devil's Breath' attack in London

An American tourist, Jacob Irwin-Cline, claims he was abducted and drugged by a fake Uber driver in London, resulting in the theft of his life savings of $123,000 in bitcoin and XRP amid rising cases of criminals targeting wealthy crypto holders, according to local police.

The 30-year-old former software developer from Portland, Oregon, was visiting the UK on a brief layover when he left a Soho bar and was allegedly lured into a fraudulent rideshare by someone posing as his Uber driver, calling out the alias he had saved as his name in the app, local media outlet MyLondon initially reported on Wednesday.

Irwin-Cline told MyLondon that the driver, who introduced himself as Mohammed, resembled the photo shown in his app, but he didn't have time to check the license plate or vehicle details against what was listed on his phone. Having reportedly later asked the venue for CCTV footage of the incident under GDPR data protection laws, Irwin-Cline said it was a "dark sedan" that pulled up, and not the Toyota Prius that was advertised on the Uber app. He believes the driver was operating an Uber account linked to the Prius that was being driven by an accomplice.

Irwin-Cline believes the driver spiked a cigarette he offered him with scopolamine — a powerful and rare sedative known as "Devil’s Breath" — causing memory blackouts and extreme suggestibility. He recalled handing over his phone and passcode to apps while slipping in and out of consciousness, before being dumped in a London suburb and run over by a car, which left him injured and without his phone in the early hours of May 9. Irwin-Cline said he asked for toxicology reports from the local hospital and police, but no tests were ordered, making verification difficult.

'Less than 1% chance' of recovering the funds

Upon returning to his hostel, Irwin-Cline discovered his laptop had been remotely wiped and his crypto wallets emptied. He reportedly shared screenshots with MyLondon showing his XRP wallet fell from $73,000 to under $1,000 and his Bitcoin wallet from $50,000 to less than $10 the night he was robbed, along with smaller losses in several other cryptocurrencies. Irwin-Cline said he traced some of the funds to exchanges MEXC and BTSE, but without insurance or effective recovery tools, he believes there is a "less than 1% chance" he will be able to get any of the money back.

"It's virtually impossible to get that money back unless some weird miracle happened — taking down that ring and getting these wallets back," said Irwin-Cline, who was made redundant from his developing job a month ago. "I was investing in crypto before anyone. I was really into it in high school before bitcoin was $1,000." Irwin-Cline described the attack as "really organized," but did not believe he was targeted beforehand. "I think they just got really lucky I had a bit of wealth put away," he told the outlet.

According to Decrypt, authorities later confirmed that the attackers accessed his wallet directly after a forced login of his Revolut account. However, Revolut suspended its crypto services to U.S. customers in 2023 due to regulatory uncertainty. While Irwin-Cline's parents reportedly live in Spain, it’s unclear what jurisdiction his Revolut account was tied to, and how or why he was reportedly storing such significant crypto holdings on the platform.

Irwin-Cline reported the incident to local police, Action Fraud, the FBI's special IC3 cybercrime unit, and Uber, but said he has received limited follow-up. The City of London Police confirmed to The Block that the alleged crime had been reported and said that there is an ongoing investigation, but no arrests have been made.

"Everybody should feel safe when riding with Uber as the safety of everyone using the app is always the number one priority," an Uber spokesperson told The Block. "The experience the passenger describes is totally unacceptable and we are fully investigating the reported incident."

Updated with comment from Uber.