🧠 When Wealth Becomes a Target

Why the Misinformation Around Tax Is Making the Wealthy Genuinely Unsafe

By Philip Grindell MSc CSyP, Founder & CEO, Defuse Global

🚨 A Growing Pattern of Attacks

January 2025: French crypto founder David Balland kidnapped and mutilated.
April 2025: Billionaire Steve Sarowitz’s home torched after ransom threats.

“Their crime? Being visibly wealthy in a world where success is treated like guilt.”

These aren’t isolated incidents — they’re part of a wider shift.

Wealth has become a target.

🧩 The Dangerous Narrative

Repeated misinformation about “tax fairness” is fuelling resentment, creating risk.

💷 The facts tell a different story:

The top 1% of UK taxpayers (≈500,000 people) contributed £93.8 billion in 2023–24.
That’s 33% of all income and capital gains tax.
The top 100,000 paid £55 billion.

💬 “One per cent of taxpayers carried a third of the tax burden.”

Yet public conversation paints wealth as wrongdoing.
Once you’re cast as the villain, the pattern is predictable:
scrutiny → exposure → harassment → violence.

📈 The Reality on the Ground

Allied Universal reports 1,500% more threat assessments this year.
Forbes reports security firms at record demand levels.
Following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 41% of young voters said the killing was “acceptable.”
Online threats to CEOs spiked 41% in just six weeks.

“The level of fear among the upper classes and their children has reached an all-time high.”
— Amanda Uhry, New York

🎯 The Three Modern Threat Types

1️⃣ Fixated Individuals

People who personalise you build a story where you are the problem.

Escalate from online watching to real-world following.
Know your routes, car, and children’s schools.

2️⃣ Ideological Actors

Activists who see exposure as justified.

Track private jets, publish addresses, organise protests.
Example: 2024 Stansted private jet attack.

3️⃣ Disgruntled Insiders

Ex-staff or advisers with motive and access.

Leak personal or financial data.
Example: Capita fined £14m after a breach exposed client information.

😔 The Human Cost

“My clients are exhausted.”

They’ve built businesses, created jobs, paid taxes — and now they:

Check exits at restaurants.
Reconsider social media posts.
Worry about strangers filming their families.

It’s not paranoia. It’s the psychological toll of being visible and successful.

🔐 Why Traditional Security Isn’t Enough

Cameras and gates won’t stop digital reconnaissance.

💡 Reality check:

A bodyguard (£120k/year) ≠ for protection.
True executive protection starts at £2m+, combining physical, digital, and behavioural layers.

What works is Behavioural Threat Assessment — the same US Secret Service model Dr Robert A. Fein trained me in, and the one I used to prevent a planned terrorist attack against an MP following Jo Cox’s assassination.

Threats don’t appear overnight — they build.
If you know what to watch for, you can intervene before violence occurs.

🛡️ The Defuse Global Approach

1️⃣ Digital Exposure Control

🧩 We find what’s visible about you online — then remove, seal, or monitor it.
Our Privacy Package® cuts your digital footprint before others can exploit it.

2️⃣ Behavioural Threat Intelligence

🎯 We analyse intent, capability, and escalation patterns — not just “mentions”.
This is what separates monitoring from understanding risk.

3️⃣ Proactive Crisis Management

🧭 We plan for breach response, protest management, insider risk, and harassment.
When a crisis hits, you’re not reacting but executing a plan.

The outcome: control, calm, and psychological freedom.

❓ Questions to Ask Yourself

How much of your private life could be pieced together online?
Who in your circle has motive and inside knowledge?
Are you prepared if you appear in tomorrow’s headlines for the wrong reason?

If these questions make you uneasy, you’re not paranoid. You’re being realistic.

💬 Final Word

“The threats are knowable, manageable, and preventable — if you work with people who understand targeted violence.”

Wealth shouldn’t require an apology.
It requires intelligent protection.

📞 Let’s Talk

In just 72 hours, our Digital Exposure Assessment will show what others can see —
your family, assets, travel patterns, and digital trail.

Protect your privacy.
Protect your peace of mind.