9 hours ago
The rise in ‘crypto kidnapping' on the streets of France
It is an arrest that will trigger immense, if perhaps short-lived, relief among French cryptocurrency investors and authorities alike.
A suspected mastermind behind a raft of kidnappings of executives who own hoards of bitcoins and other crypto-coins was arrested in Tangiers, Morocco, on Tuesday.
His Interpol Red Notice profile photo shows one of France's 10 most wanted in the world, a pale, green-eyed 24-year-old with long hair and a beard.
The shadow of Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou looms large over the spate of ultra-violent for-ransom kidnappings of French 'crypto millionaires', or members of their family or entourage, across the country. Two of the kidnappings took place in the heart of Paris.
Bajjou is suspected of orchestrating the kidnapping of David Balland, co-founder of cryptocurrency firm Ledger, and his wife in central France, and ordering a gang to chop off the businessman's finger as part of a €10 million (£8.4million) ransom in January.
The French-Moroccan national is also accused of being involved in the attempted abduction of the pregnant daughter of a French crypto platform's chief executive, and the kidnapping of a businessman who had his finger chopped off in May.
His arrest will offer some respite to the government of Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, and in particular to Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister who is jockeying to run for France's top job in elections in 2027 with a tough-on-crime approach.
With the kidnappings becoming a security embarrassment, Mr Retailleau last month met privately with crypto entrepreneurs to discuss their safety and pledged extra safety measures, such as priority access to emergency services and police checks of their home security.
However, given the rising number of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs targeted, many are not comforted by the government's pledges, with some already fleeing.
One who has already done so is Benjamin Cohen, 31, founder and chief executive of Le Crypto Daily, a YouTube channel and newsletter, who left France for Canada after a series of scares.
'I'm Jewish and I received an anti-Semitic letter threatening to steal my cryptocurrencies and attack me and my family,' he told The Telegraph.
'I was terrified for my loved ones. I realised how unprotected they were here.'
Mr Cohen had his drink spiked while at a crypto event at a bar in Paris in which he was showcasing a new ring that doubled up as a 'crypto wallet' containing virtual currency.
'A group of young guys started asking a lot of questions. All of a sudden, the room started turning. I had the good sense to call a taxi despite their offers to drive me home,' he said.
'When I got there, I was out for the count for six hours.'
Despite the Morocco arrest, he says he has no intention of returning full time after leaving France in 2022.
Mr Cohen said France is seeing a 'rather unsettling era', in which for two, three or five thousand euros 'you can hire a hitman to kill', referring to a series of recent murders involving teenagers who were recruited by a Marseille-based drugs mafia.
'These same for-hire henchmen are apparently now being used for crypto extortion,' said Mr Cohen, who dismissed French government pledges of extra security as 'a bit ridiculous and frankly too light'.
But moving abroad does not give Mr Cohen total peace of mind.
Last month, his wife woke him at 3am to show him viral footage of a couple desperately fending off a gang who sought to drag the woman into a delivery van until a nearby shopkeeper scared them off with a fire extinguisher.
For a few minutes, he thought the target was from his own entourage until it emerged it was the pregnant daughter of Pierre Noizat, chief executive of the Paymium bitcoin exchange.
'For criminals it's a no-brainer to reason that this or that person who has been in crypto for 20 years probably has loads of money and quite often, I'm afraid, it turns out to be the case,' said Mr Cohen.
'It doesn't surprise me at all that there are foreign masterminds, it's the safest option. They call on young accomplices who are barely adults for tiny sums, hundreds of euros, to do their dirty work.'
Credit: Reuters
A legal source close to the kidnapping cases said: 'It appears the phenomenon of drug trafficking hitmen recruited for small sums via social media, sometimes by high-ranking criminals in detention, is for the first time turning its attention to extortion in the world of crypto around France.'
He pointed to the plethora of young recruits prepared to carry out abductions or specific logistical tasks.
Some 25 people, including six minors, were charged in Paris over various recent kidnappings, prosecutors said last Saturday. None were over the age of 23. Most of the suspects were born in France and others in Senegal, Angola and Russia.
'These people receive requests on social networks and some heed the call,' said Moad Nefati, lawyer for a 20-year-old suspect.
'They are told it's a simple task, take equipment or transport people, make sure someone is supplied. It doesn't sound like a problematic operation, they are paid very little – between one and four thousand euros – and are not necessarily aware of the risks and stakes, except those directly involved in the abduction.
'For the defence of these young suspects, it's very important that these masterminds are identified.'
Bajjou was one of those alleged masterminds wanted for 'abduction, kidnapping or arbitrary detention of a hostage to obtain the execution of an order or condition, committed by an organised gang'.
Described as 'extremely determined,' a police source told Le Monde that Bajjou 'has no qualms about violence and is not afraid to use it without warning'.
But while Bajjou may be a key player, police suspect he did not command alone. According to Le Parisien, another Franco-Moroccan man in his forties is thought to also have co-operated with Bajjou. Reportedly identified through analysis of cryptocurrency ransom transfer flows, he remains at large.
Police are also exploring possible links to other kidnappings or attempted abductions in Paris and western France over the past few weeks.
'Criminals go to where the money is, and we're seeing a huge rise in the price of bitcoin,' said Ari Redbord, global head of policy and government affairs at TRM Labs, a crypto tracing firm.
'Before, you needed sophisticated cyber capabilities to hack someone, but now you can be a violent criminal who can beat [the password] out of someone,' he told CBS.
These so-called 'wrench attacks' have prompted several top entrepreneurs to warn of the 'Mexicanisation of France'.
While there have been spectacular recent crypto hostage dramas abroad, 14 out of the 50 attacks that took place over the past year around the world targeting people involved in cryptocurrency were in France, according to Eric Larchevêque, a co-founder of Ledger who was contacted during the Balland hostage drama to send the ransom.
Out of the 50 abductions that took place across the globe last year, in which people involved in crypto were targeted, 14 took place in France.
'There's a real problem,' he told broadcaster RTL.
In the meantime, Mr Cohen has stepped up security, telling The Telegraph: 'I don't announce publicly when I'm going to turn up to an event, I make sure it's a safe place and don't stay long. I've told my wife to only post a social media story after we've left a venue.' His crypto transfers must be confirmed via video calls above a relatively low amount. 'I've also set a time limit for withdrawing more than £10,000,' he said.
Owen Simonin, alias 'Hasheur', one of France's top crypto influencers who has more than 760,000 subscribers on YouTube, concurred.
'There are enough problems in the world of crypto not to have to worry about one's personal safety,' he told The Telegraph.
In 2022, he was attacked in his home by an armed stranger who had found his address and tried to extort crypto from him. He pounced on the assailant whose gun turned out to be fake and who later turned himself to police.
'In our world, the threat is no longer virtual.'
'I always try to be accompanied by someone discreet and trained to intervene if necessary,' he recently told Le Parisien. 'Digital hygiene' – leaving no trace of his address or possessions online – is essential.
'While measures can be put in place to reduce fear, it should not exist. Not here. Not in France. It should not weigh on our colleagues, our families and our own lives. Leaving should not be our only option.'
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