Paris

In brief

• A 35-year-old former crypto trader was allegedly kidnapped and tortured in Paris, with captors demanding €10,000 ransom before releasing him with a swollen face.
• France leads Europe with 10 crypto-related physical attacks in 2025, part of what experts call a hidden epidemic affecting the global crypto community.
• Cybersecurity experts warn the incidents represent “the tip of the iceberg” as organized crime groups increasingly target crypto holders as high-value victims.

A former crypto trader was allegedly kidnapped and held for ransom between Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye in another wrench attack.

It’s become a worryingly common incident in France’s rising crisis of crypto-related abductions that security experts warn represents only “the tip of the iceberg.”

The victim, identified only as Alexandre, was freed around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, with a swollen face after being strangled unconscious by his captors, who demanded approximately $11,600 (or  €10,000) from an acquaintance in Algeria through a disturbing photo showing him bound and kneeling, according to Le Parisien.

Police recognized the injured man walking home and immediately took him into custody for medical examination and questioning.

The wrench attack adds to a disturbing trend of crypto-related kidnappings that cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Baek told Decrypt is far more widespread than publicly reported.

“Many cases never reach the public eye because victims choose silence to protect their reputation or avoid becoming repeat targets,” Baek said.

France has recorded the highest number of crypto-related wrench attacks in Europe, with security expert Jameson Lopp’s database tracking around 10 incidents in 2025 alone—accounting for one-third of the 29 cases reported across Europe.

“Due to the cross-border nature of crypto, in many cases ransom is demanded in crypto to move funds and cash out,” Karan Pujara, founder of scam defense platform ScamBuzzer, told Decrypt, referring to Alexandre’s attackers demanding euros rather than crypto.

“Such attacks prove that traders and investors should not reveal or flaunt their gains,’ he said.

Baek warns that Alexandre’s alleged kidnapping points to a global phenomenon where “organized crime groups and even traditional offline gangs are now jumping into this game, seeing crypto figures as easy, high-value targets.”

This follows the abduction and wrench attack of Ledger co-founder David Balland, who was tortured and had a finger severed before police rescued him in January.

In June, French police arrested alleged mastermind Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou in Morocco and charged 25 suspects, many of them very young, in schemes that included the brutal attack on Paymium CEO Pierre Noizat’s pregnant daughter.

The pseudonymous nature of crypto, combined with its instant transferability, makes it particularly attractive to criminals willing to use extreme violence, according to Pujara.

He explained that criminals, if “not successful through online scams,” are willing to go as far as “harming a person and demanding ransom through family and friends, regardless of whether crypto is kept in a hot wallet, cold wallet, or multi-sig.”

Without significant changes to personal security practices and international law enforcement cooperation, Baek predicted that the wrench attack trend will continue to escalate.

Investigators are still examining Alexandre’s clothing and skin for forensic evidence while verifying his account of the ordeal.

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