Incident Overview
Recently, French authorities arrested three men who kidnapped a 74-year-old man in an attempt to extort cryptocurrency from his son. The crime lasted nearly 16 hours and shocked the public with its brutality.
The Kidnapping
According to French media, the suspects broke into the elderly man's home in the early hours of January 25 and forcibly took him to a backroom of a bar in Valence. During his captivity, the criminals recorded violent footage and sent it via encrypted messaging to the man’s son as leverage for a ransom in crypto.
Mistaken Identity Leads to Release
However, after hours of abuse, the criminals realized their target was not the 'crypto millionaire' they believed him to be, but a regular web developer with limited digital assets. They abandoned the victim by the roadside late that evening, ending the harrowing ordeal.
Rising Crypto-Related Crimes
Violent crimes linked to cryptocurrency have been on the rise globally, with France being a notable hotspot. Reports indicate a surge in 'wrench attacks'—where victims are threatened or harmed to extract crypto assets. Last year, French authorities rescued a co-founder of a major crypto hardware firm and his wife from a similar abduction attempt.