A fake Uber driver abducted and drugged an American crypto investor, manipulated him into unlocking his phone, and drained his digital fortune before dumping him injured.

Fake Uber Driver Drugged American Tourist and Stole Majority of His Crypto Portfolio

In a chilling reminder of the real-world dangers crypto investors can face, American tourist Jacob Irwin-Cline has gone public with allegations that he was drugged, abducted, and left injured in London after entering a car he believed was an Uber. The 30-year-old from Portland, Oregon, said he was left on the side of the road and discovered soon after that the vast majority of his crypto portfolio had vanished.

The ordeal began after a night out on May 9 at The Roxy in Soho, when Irwin-Cline ordered an Uber at around 1:30 a.m. As he stepped outside the bar, a man in a dark sedan called out his Uber alias and appeared to match the photo on the app. “The guy seemed super chill, super nice,” Irwin-Cline told Mylondon. The driver offered him a cigarette. “I said I stopped smoking, but he said, ‘Oh c’mon’. I said, ‘Sure, if you want to bond over a cigarette’,” he recalled. He now believes that the cigarette was laced with scopolamine—a powerful sedative nicknamed “Devil’s Breath.” Irwin-Cline described the effects taking hold quickly: “I remember being really docile.”

Under the influence, he said he surrendered his phone, recalling:

I vaguely remember going through applications a bit. He got a couple of passkeys from me to enter applications.

“There was definitely some sort of drug in the cigarette. I passed out for what I assumed to be 20 to 30 minutes,” he added, noting that he was driven to a quiet neighborhood before the driver abruptly braked. “He calmly asked me to get out of the car and open the trunk,” Irwin-Cline said. “Under the influence of the drug, I did not think that was weird. I just asked why, and he said, ‘Don’t ask’. As I was getting out, he drove off and hit half my body, scraping my leg up and I’m left there on the side of the road. I watched him drive away for 10 seconds, then realized my phone was gone and started to come back a bit.”

With the help of a stranger, Irwin-Cline returned to his hostel and contacted a friend in the U.S., who helped him regain access to his compromised crypto wallets. What he saw confirmed his worst fears: “I lost $123,000 in crypto and assets,” he said, emphasizing:

They took the majority of my wealth.

He traced his missing funds to wallets on exchanges including MEXC and BTSE, but their movement through several layers of digital accounts has made recovery unlikely. “It’s virtually impossible to get that money back unless some weird miracle happened – taking down that ring and getting these wallets back,” Irwin-Cline said. “I was investing in crypto before anyone. I was really into it in high school before bitcoin was $1,000.”

Though battered and financially devastated, Irwin-Cline says he’s trying to focus on survival. “It sucks man. I’m alive, and that’s honestly – I was not so stoked at first – but that’s definitely the more important thing. Money will come and go. It’s just really strange. I’m just worried guys will keep getting away with it. He probably made enough money that he will not have to do this again for a while.” The Metropolitan Police confirmed the investigation: “Police were called at 4:48 a.m. on Friday, May 9, with reports of a theft in Westminster that morning. A 30-year-old man reported his phone had been stolen at Prince’s Square, following a ride in a taxi. He also alleges that around $150,000 worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from his bank accounts afterwards. No arrests have as yet been made. Enquiries are ongoing.”

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