There have been news of people been attacked by criminals and forced to transfer their crypto to them. These thieves were able to get information about their targets because they exposed themselves as crypto owners. One of the advantage of using cryptocurrencies is that they promote privacy to a large extent. So there is no need to discuss what you own with friends because people cannot be predicated. Your friends might not be criminals, but they can discuss with other who might have bad intentions. So the best option is to keep your worth secret from friends except you are sure they can keep it secret.
TBH, I'm a bit curious how the criminals force people to transfer their crypto assets. Do you have the link of the news? 
I mean the criminals should have no way to force them if the criminals don't meet them face to face. Even the criminals know the identity of the coin holders, they can't force people if they do it through online. As far as I know in most cases the criminals stole people's crypto assets.
Even, our friends can be the criminals when they know it is valued thousands/millions of dollars. I agree that we aren't necessary to tell our friends about our crypto assets. We must keep it secretly and we only share the information with a very close people in our life (wife or children) if it is needed.