French police have reportedly arrested six people, including a minor, over the kidnapping of a 35‑year‑old magistrate and her 67‑year‑old mother in a cryptocurrency‑linked ransom plot targeting the magistrate’s partner, a crypto entrepreneur.
According to a France 24 report, citing the AFP, the magistrate’s partner received a photo of her and a threat to mutilate the hostages if a cryptocurrency payment was not made.
The two women were held for around 30 hours in a garage in the Drôme region before managing to raise the alarm and escape without any ransom being paid.
The case comes amid a broader surge in crypto‑related kidnappings in France. In 2025, French authorities charged 25 suspects, including several minors, over a series of kidnappings and attempted kidnappings of crypto investors and executives, with ransoms allegedly demanded in digital assets.
Related: Wrench attacks against crypto holders are rising and growing ‘more violent’
In that same year, the attempted abduction of the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, co‑founder and CEO of French crypto exchange Paymium, was thwarted after the victim fought back and escaped from her attackers.
Earlier French cases include an assault on a Ledger wallet user near Paris, in which attackers tried to force the victim to transfer crypto, and the kidnapping of Ledger co‑founder David Balland and his partner, during which Balland had part of his finger cut off before being freed.
Kidnappings “happening every 2 days”
France has attracted attention from crypto security researchers tracking so‑called “wrench attacks,” physical assaults, home invasions and kidnappings aimed at extracting private keys.
Bitcoin (BTC) security advocate Jameson Lopp said Friday that “8 of the 10 wrench attacks so far this year have been in France.”
Related: Why wrench attacks are becoming one of the most violent forms of crypto crimes
French Bitcoin developer and founder Kevin Loaec also raised the alarm on X, writing that “France is really fu**ed up.” He said that he had to explain to relatives living there that “at this stage, they will get kidnapped someday. And there is nothing I can do about it.”
In the same thread, he claimed that “kidnappings [are] happening every 2 days in France now” and warned that it no longer mattered whether you are a known figure or not.
“It just seem[s] to randomly happen to anyone who somehow used bitcoin, went to meetups, paid taxes on it,” he said, framing the problem as one of weak deterrence rather than technology. “Kidnappers basically don’t get punished,” he added.
Video journalist and influencer Joe Nakamoto issued a stark warning of his own: “If you are a doxxed bitcoiner or crypto person in France. LEAVE. GET OUT. Wrench attacks everyday.”
Global problem, not just France
Security experts advise that the use of technical tools like time‑locked vaults, decoy wallets and withdrawal delays are only part of the answer, agreeing that adopting low-profile behavior is critical wherever self‑custodied crypto is held.
Despite France grabbing the headlines for physical attacks on crypto holders, the United States remains the country with the highest cumulative number of recorded wrench attacks over a longer period, with multiple other regions seeing documented cases of violent crypto‑related coercion, indicating that the trend is global rather than uniquely French.
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Author: Christina Comben
