French Police Rescue Crypto Millionaire’s Father After Kidnapping for Crypto Ransom
The father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur has been rescued by French police in a daring raid after he was kidnapped and tortured by criminals demanding a ransom in cryptocurrency. The high-profile incident is the latest in a growing string of “wrench attacks” in the global cryptocurrency community.
Kidnapped in Broad Daylight and Finger Severed
According to reports from Le Monde and the Paris prosecutor’s office, the victim – a middle-aged man whose identity has not been released – was forced into an unmarked van by four masked assailants on Thursday morning in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. He was found days later at a rented villa in the Essonne region, south of the capital, with serious injuries after having a finger severed.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom of between €5 million and €7 million ($5.6 million and $8 million) in cryptocurrency. The prosecutor's office said no ransom had been paid before the rescue operation on Saturday evening.
Crypto-Involved Victim
A spokesperson confirmed that the victim was the father of a businessman who amassed a fortune in the cryptocurrency industry. The family now runs a crypto marketing company registered in Malta.
Five suspects, all in their 20s, have been arrested and are now facing charges related to kidnapping, torture and extortion. The rescue operation was led by special forces and cybercrime units.
Wrench Attacks Escalate
This is the third crypto-related kidnapping in France this year, reflecting a worrying trend of criminals turning to physical violence to bypass the digital security layers of cryptocurrencies – a practice known as a “wrench attack.”
The term was first coined in a 2012 XKCD comic strip and has recently been studied in depth by academics from the University of Cambridge and University College London. According to Jameson Lopp, CTO of Casa, a Bitcoin security company, the Paris incident is the 21st physical attack by 2025.
“These attacks are often proportional to the popularity of cryptocurrencies and the lack of security awareness among investors,” Lopp told Decrypt.
From Ledger to Pakistan: Global Trends
In January, David Balland – co-founder of hardware wallet company Ledger – was also kidnapped in the Cher region and subjected to similar torture to force him to hand over his crypto assets, before being rescued by police.
The wave has also spread beyond Europe to Asia. Last month, a Pakistani trader, Mohammed Arsalan, was kidnapped by a gang of criminals including local police and forced to hand over $340,000 in cryptocurrency to gain his freedom.
A Warning to Investors
Rigel Walshe, a former New Zealand police officer and now a developer at Swan Bitcoin, warns that crypto users need to maintain a “comfortable security mindset”, use multi-layered security measures and never reveal too much about their personal assets.
“You can encrypt your wallet, hide your seed phrase, but there is no technical way to protect yourself from a gun or a wrench,” he says.
As cryptocurrencies continue to attract large capital flows and global attention, incidents like these raise a new security question: not just about technology, but about personal safety in the real world.