Five people were arrested for allegedly dousing an influencer’s father in gasoline and forcing him into the trunk of a car in exchange for ransom payments in crypto. The attack, whose details first surfaced this week, occurred at the every end of 2024 near the French border with Switzerland.
The arrests put a spotlight on the uptick of physical attacks on crypto holders, often known as “wrench attacks”, in France. Out of the 24 physical Bitcoin attacks this year, about two-thirds of them have occurred in France, according to a list compiled by Bitcoin owner Jameson Lopp.
The target of the 2024 attack was the father of an unnamed Dubai-based influencer and crypto entrepreneur, according to DL News and French media publication France 3. Police did not say whether the influencer made the Bitcoin payments that the attackers demanded.
Investigators made arrests across France, far from the original site of the crime. Among those detained was a 16 year-old at the time of the attack, and the oldest of the five suspects was 42. Prosecutors are planning on charging the alleged attackers with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, extortion, organized crime, and aggravated violence.
Another notable example of a wrench attack in France occurred on January 25, when three men tortured a 74 year-old for 16 hours in order to get $3.5 million in crypto from his son. The alleged criminals abandoned their scheme after discovering that the victim’s son was in fact not a crypto trader.
Every year, the number of physical coercion attacks on crypto holders goes up. There were 72 documented wrench attacks last year, a 75% increase from 2024, according to blockchain security auditor CertiK. Bitcoin owners can access their crypto holdings through a physical or digital key, and once money is transferred out of their accounts, the transaction is often irreversible. This feature of Bitcoin ownership makes people susceptible to physical attacks.
