Another attack on a representative of the crypto community took place in a suburb of Paris on the night of June 13-14.
Over the weekend, a 26-year-old crypto influencer from TikTok was kidnapped and beaten in the suburbs of Paris. The kidnappers demanded a ransom but, upon discovering that the popular trader had no money, released him, according to Europe1.
The crypto blogger, who has 40,000 followers on TikTok, was kidnapped on Friday night as he was returning to his home in Essonne, a department that has been the scene of several kidnappings in recent years. Four men forced the victim into a stolen Renault Clio.
The attackers demanded a ransom of €50,000. However, after checking his wallet balance, they realized that the trader did not have that amount and let him go, according to Europe1.
This was the latest in a series of attacks on cryptocurrency owners for ransom near Paris. According to the co-founder of Ledger, a cryptocurrency wallet manufacturer, France accounted for 14 of the 50 such attacks worldwide in the last year, Decrypt reported.
This phenomenon has been dubbed the “$5 wrench attack” in crypto circles. The name comes from a 2009 XKCD comic strip in which a character explains how to bypass complex encryption not by hacking, but simply by threatening someone with a cheap wrench.
In early June, police arrested the alleged organizer of a series of kidnappings for ransom, who was already wanted by Interpol at the time. There are also reports of at least 12 suspects being arrested in connection with the kidnappings, but the exact number has not been disclosed.
At the end of January, Ledger co-founder David Balland and his girlfriend were kidnapped in France. Balland had his finger cut off. He was released the next day, and his girlfriend was found tied up in the trunk of a car in Essonne. In early May, a group of kidnappers who were holding the father of a crypto millionaire and demanding €5 million to €7 million for his release were arrested in the same area.
In mid-May, using the same method, a group of unknown individuals attempted to kidnap the daughter of Pierre Noaz, co-founder and CEO of the French cryptocurrency exchange Paymium, in central Paris. Masked men tried to force her into a van, but her companion and passers-by managed to prevent the kidnapping.
