Inside France's brutal crypto crime wave with chopped off fingers, delivery van street kidnaps & £10million ransoms

The Irish Sun

14-05-2025

FRANCE is facing a wave of cryptocurrency kidnappings with victims snatched off the street in daylight and being returned with gruesome injuries such as chopped off fingers.
Police sources told The Sun they are probing if these shocking cases - with at least four terrifying kidnappings or snatch attacks - are the "latest fad" for organised crime.
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Many of the attackers have used unassuming looking vans to target their victims
Credit: LeParisien
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Harrowing footage shows three men, whose faces were covered, trying to force a mother into a van at around 8:20 a.m
Credit: LeParisien
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The woman was helped by a passerby, who intervened to stop the assailants
Credit: LeParisien
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Shocking abductions have seen assailants
target
both people working in the crypto industry and their loved ones over the past few month
It has sparked an urgent investigation from French law enforcement.
These horrifying abductions have seen millions in euros of ransoms demanded - and even some victims mutilated in the process.
Attacks can happen in a split second, with one video capturing an attempted attack by masked men in a delivery van.
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Such is the scale of the trend that French officials have vowed to take action to protect French officials and their families.
Victims have been tied up, doused with petrol and more than one case had their fingers chopped off as part of a ransom demand.
"There are certainly possible links between the suspects involved,' an investigating source in Paris told The Sun.
"Crypto kidnaps are becoming the latest fad in organised crime, and the robbers are becoming more ambitious.
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"The crypto industry is worth billions, and the coins are exceptionally easy to move between individuals, while avoiding any third party, such as a bank.'
"All Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a blockchain, but law and order officials do not have the same powers to investigate transactions as they would with regular financial exchanges."
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And experts told The Sun that the more furtive nature of cryptocurrency makes it appealing to potential hostage-takers looking to claim ransom money.
The law enforcement source spoke to The Sun after a stunning attempted abduction on the streets of Paris yesterday, where a woman who is believed to be the daughter or a crypto tycoon was targeted by three masked men.
This
The 34-year-old, along with her young child, was reportedly attacked at around 8.20am local time yesterday, when the men attempted to snatch her off the street into a delivery van.
One of the greatest risks that's beginning to emerge are individuals that are prominent within the crypto space
Will Geddes
security expert
However, she was saved by the intervention of a passerby, while the father of the child covered her during the horrifying attack.
She has since been identified as the daughter of Pierre Noizat, co-founder of the dealing platform Paymium.
Police in the French capital believe that the intention was to take the victims to a secret location, before the thugs sent a ransom demand to Mr Noizat.
He has one of the highest profiles in the crypto industry, saying in an interview in 2021 that some companies were worth billions, while others wanted to "conquer the world".
Mr Noizat said at the time: "Our competitors raised considerable funds, amounting to billions—a thousand times more than us —making Paymium dwarfed by these behemoths.
"But that's the story of technology in France: it's sometimes very difficult to obtain funding to conquer the world."
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French gendarmes stand alert on a street in Mereau, near Vierzon, after the a crypto kidnap in January
Credit: AFP
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France's Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau vowed to protect crypto investors
Credit: AFP
The dangers of crypto investing
These incidents are just part of a spate of attacks targeting people of profile in the crypto world.
Individuals with profile in the industry have been attacked by gangs looking to exploit its relative furtiveness.
Criminal gangs might take family members hostage in order to blackmail people with crypto investments for large sums of money.
Security expert Will Geddes told The Sun: "One of the greatest risks that's beginning to emerge are individuals that are prominent within the crypto space."
The latest incident involving the Noizat
family
adds to a string of violent crimes targeting crypto-affiliated individuals or their families – in France and other parts of the world.
Security expert Will Geddes told The Sun: "One of the greatest risks that's beginning to emerge are individuals that are prominent within the crypto space."
He added that they are "ultimately ending up being targeted by organised crime and low level criminals that are seeking opportunity that they can then acquire and rob them of significant amounts of funds that they can then funnel into their criminal activities and utilise in various different ways."
Crypto expert Professor Carol Alexander of the University of Sussex told The Sun: "I don't think the kidnappers are very clever.
"It used to be the dark web and the silk road - and bitcoin was used for
money
laundering.
"But nowadays, the FBI and the Department of Justice... the forensic software you can use to trace them is to good, the kidnappers would likely be very quickly found out."
France
alone has now experienced seven such crimes in 2025.
One particularly shocking incident saw a 60-year-old man have his finger cut off by attackers who demanded son - a crypto millionaire - pay a €5-7 million ransom.
He was snatched off the street in broad daylight and held for more than two days in a Paris suburb by the assailants.
The victim was eventually rescued by French cops, while four suspects were arrested.
French prosecutors said he 'appears to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, with the
crime
involving a ransom demand.'
Mutilation of victims is an established trend in this spate of kidnappings.
David Balland, a co-founder of French crypto firm Ledger, was abducted at his own home in central France along with his wife in January.
They were then taken by car to two separate addresses where they were held, according to prosecutors.
Balland was reportedly taken to an address in the central French town of Châteauroux, while his wife was found in Paris.
Criminals are said to have demanded a €10 million ransom, but they were later rescued by police.
Balland's hand had also been mutilated, according to reports - while his wife was found tied up but uninjured.
Elsewhere, a 56-year-old father of a Dubai-based influencer was found alive in a car boot in Normandy after being the target of an alleged kidnapping.
His son received a ransom demand and contacted the police about the incident.
The victim was found tied up, having been beaten and sprayed with petrol, 24 hours later.
Interior Minister
Bruno Retailleau has vowed to take action after the swathe of kidnap attempts.
"I will bring together cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in Beauvau to work with them on their safety and to make them aware of the risks," the minister told CNews/Europe 1.
Retailleau added: "We must jointly take measures to protect them.
"But we will also find the perpetrators wherever they may be, perhaps even abroad."