The slew of recent crypto kidnapping attempts in France has been linked to overseas organizers, according to French law enforcement authorities.
The French news outlet Franceinfo viewed a confidential report from the Organized Crime Information, Intelligence and Strategic Analysis Service of the Judicial Police (SIRASCO), which indicated that there were more than 40 crypto-linked kidnappings in France between July 2023 and the end of 2025.
These kidnappings are often put together by organizers abroad, who coordinate with recruiters in France. The recruiters link the organizers with young people with criminal records, who carry out online intimidation and physical attacks.
The victims of these kidnappings are usually men between the ages of 20 and 35 who are involved with digital assets as investors, entrepreneurs and/or influencers.
Victims often broadcast their wealthy lifestyles on social media, allowing kidnappers to start tracking their routines and the routines of their family members, who are also targeted.
Physical attacks against crypto holders are now a “structural threat’ to digital asset ownership, according to the blockchain security firm CertiK.
The firm noted in a report earlier this month that the number of so-called “wrench attacks” – when a criminal uses violence, intimidation, or confinement to compel a crypto holder to reveal their private keys or passwords – skyrocketed by 75% last year.
CertiK documented 71 incidents in 2025 that resulted in more than $40.9 million in losses, a 44% year-on-year increase.
Kidnapping is the most common form of wrench attack, but the blockchain security firm also notes that physical assaults rose by 250% last year, indicating “a clear escalation in brutality.”
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