Crypto Kidnappings Surge in France: How Digital Wealth Became a Target
Another week, another chilling crypto-related crime—this time in France, where kidnappers are increasingly preying on digital asset holders. The pattern? Abduct, threaten, drain wallets. Here’s why it’s spreading.
The Modus Operandi: Crypto as Collateral
Gangs now track high-net-worth individuals through blockchain analytics—or old-fashioned surveillance—before striking. Victims are forced to transfer funds under duress, with transactions irreversible by design. No need for ransom drops when you can extort via QR code.
Why France? Liquidity Meets Opportunity
With Europe’s third-highest crypto adoption rate and lax physical security norms compared to banking infrastructure, France has become a soft target. Tourists flashing NFT wealth on social media aren’t helping.
The Irony: Decentralization Backfires
Pseudonymity cuts both ways—while it protects privacy, it also shields criminals. Law enforcement struggles to freeze funds mid-transaction, unlike traditional finance where regulators can ’pause’ payments to save bankers their bonuses.
As authorities scramble for solutions, one truth emerges: in the race between crypto innovation and criminal adaptation, the bad guys are currently lapping the field.
This morning in Paris, three hooded men tried to kidnap a young woman accompanied by her 2-year-old child.
Footage shows the woman being wrestled to the ground and resisting being dragged into a waiting van, before her partner runs out and scares off the perpetrators.… pic.twitter.com/klh8f3bxNH
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 13, 2025
Brazen Broad Daylight Attempted Kidnapping: The Latest In A String Of Crypto-Related Violence
The family of three who were attacked in broad daylight in Paris are related to the CEO and co-founder of Paymium, a French cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Of the three, the woman in the video is the daughter of the Paymium CEO while the child is the Granddaughter. The woman’s partner, who tried to intervene, was beaten pretty savagely for attempting to intervene.
Per the video footage, three masked men jumped out of a van and tried to force the woman and her child into the vehicle, the sources said. They beat the woman’s partner who tried to intervene.
The woman resisted, grabbing one of the attackers’ handguns and throwing it away, with the screams of the victims eventually attracting passers-by.
As the criminals backed off due to the noise and commotion the attack had caused, multiple onlookers began attempting to help the victims.
One passer-by can be seen picking up a heavy looking red canister before throwing it at the attackers as they jump into the back of the van, fleeing. The van was found abandoned not far from the scene of the attack, according to police reports.
Co-Founder Of Ledger Hard Wallets Recently Kidnapped And Had His Finger Cut Off
In France, this marks the fourth attack on a crypto entrepreneur since the start of the year. Just a month ago, David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, was kidnapped and had a finger cut off.
Fortunately, this morning’s attempted kidnapping failed. France is starting to resemble… pic.twitter.com/j7WlEV1yLz
— O₿i-Wan (@ObiWan_Coinobi) May 13, 2025
Yesterday’s events come hot on the heels of another high-profile crypto-related abduction in January of French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland is the co-founder of the Ledger crypto firm, and during the harrowing ordeal, he had his finger cut off by the criminals.
Prosecutors stated that the kidnappers demanded a hefty ransom in cryptocurrency, with no further information on the amount or whether anything had been paid to the criminals.
Balland was rescued as part of a wide-scale operation by France’s GIGN elite tactical unit. His partner was also found and released after being tied up in a car in a separate location from the Ledger co-founder.
Since the attack in January, at least nine suspects have been arrested, including the alleged mastermind of the entire plot. Following his rescue, Balland was hospitalized due to a serious hand injury, which was later revealed to be the loss of a finger as the kidnappers had cut it off.
These two high-profile kidnapping cases in 2025 come as France faces an epidemic of organised crime. In May last year, gunmen wearing balaclavas freed a jailed drug boss during a routine transfer.
The brazen criminals ambushed the prison van carrying Mohamed Amra, known as ‘The Fly’. During the rescue, two prison guards were killed in the process. Amra was on the run for just under a year before being arrested and extradited from Romania in February 2025.
With the uptick in violent crime and kidnappings across France, many are comparing the European country to Mexico, another nation known for its kidnapping culture of high-profile individuals and their families.
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Yesterday saw another crypto kidnapping attempt in Paris in broad daylight
- The victims were the daughter and granddaughter of a French crypto exchange CEO
- Luckily the victims fought off their attackers with help from the public
- The attackers fled in a van that was later found abandoned nearby
- This latest attack highlights a growing and worrying trend of violent crime in France toward prominent crypto figures
