As cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity and value, so has the number of crimes related to them. And the villains have recently moved from cyberspace to more daring and radical acts: kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder.
At the beginning of this year, in France David Balland, co-founder of the French hardware wallet company Ledger, and his wife were kidnapped. Fortunately, the special operation ended in rescue. A total of 230 gendarmes and special forces were involved in the rescue of the hostages. Police arrested nine men and one woman aged 20 to 40. It happened in Paris. Balland’s arm was mutilated. A part of the €10 million cryptocurrency ransom demanded by the kidnappers was paid. But later «almost the entire amount was traced, frozen and seized».
The second case also occurred in Paris. Last week (May 13), in broad daylight, an attempt was made to kidnap the pregnant daughter of Pierre Noise, the owner of the Paymium crypto exchange. Four masked men jumped out of a white van with the Chronopost delivery service branding. But the woman and her partner, as well as passers-by, managed to fight back, after which the attackers jumped into the car and fled. Their child was also with the couple during the attack.
This is at least the fifth cryptocurrency extortion attack since 2023 in France alone. This brazen attack is the latest in a wave of brutal kidnappings around the world. Several incidents have also occurred in the United States. The targets were executives of crypto companies or their families. The victims were not only beaten: in two cases, their fingers were cut off.
Criminals’ goal — millions of dollars in cryptocurrency ransom
These attacks are often quite primitive: criminals rely on simple physical tools to force victims to hand over their money.
Hacking has long been the main risk for the crypto-rich. But to outsmart hackers, sophisticated cryptocurrency investors are increasingly switching from online wallets to physical (hardware) devices, which makes remote theft much more difficult. That is why criminals are moving to physical actions. The biggest threat to crypto millionaires is publicity. If the name is known, it is not so difficult to find ways and methods.
That is why the recent leak of personal information of almost 97 thousand customers of Coinbase exchange. This has already resulted in the loss of about $400 million. The hackers got their hands on not only names but also addresses and balance sheets. The company stated that the data was probably stolen by bribed contractors or customer support staff. Coinbase also reported that it was demanded a ransom of $20 million, but refused to pay. The relevant US authorities have already launched an investigation.
In addition to the Coinbase hack, another major data breach occurred in July 2020 after Ledger was hacked. The hackers gained access to Ledger’s marketing database, names, emails, and physical addresses of 272 thousand customers. Another cyberattack on the risk consulting firm Kroll gave hackers access to the addresses and other personal information of creditors in the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency company Genesis. In both cases, user data ended up on black markets.
The increase in the activity of cryptocurrency criminals was also driven by the general rise in the value of cryptocurrencies. For example, bitcoin has risen in price by 57% in a year. And by almost 1000% over the past 5 years. І BTC continues to grow.
Crypto owners flooded security firms with requests
An Australian crypto billionaire narrowly escaped kidnapping in Estonia in July 2024, according to local media reports, after fighting off attackers posing as painters. In March of this year, American crypto influencer and OnlyFans model Caitlin Siragusa (Amouranth) was attacked in her home and demanded a laptop. But her husband engaged in a shootout with the robbers and managed to protect the family. Four teenagers were arrested.
Famous crypto-influencers at first boasted about money and luxurious thingsand now they are rushing to close their social media profiles, demanding that their addresses and those of their families be removed from public registers.
After the attack on the daughter of Paymium’s CEO, the company called on the French authorities «to take immediate measures to strengthen the protection of employees of companies in the cryptocurrency ecosystem». French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will hold a meeting to discuss security issues. Retaillot said the attack is similar to other recent kidnappings in France. Group leaders recruited young criminals using apps such as Telegram and Signal and then «remotely controlled» their actions.
This was preceded by another incident: On May 1, the father of a crypto entrepreneur was taken hostage in Paris while he was walking his dog. The police released the victim only two days later. He was missing a finger. Five suspects aged 18 to 26 were arrested.
According to software developer Jameson Lopp, he has recorded at least 219 physical attacks on cryptocurrency users since 2014. This year, he has already registered more than 20 incidents around the world. These incidents are not just happening in France or the Netherlands. They are global in nature. Kidnappers, fraudsters, and gangs are monitoring wallets, looking for names and addresses, and then showing up at night with guns.
Jethro Peilman, the head of the Dutch company Infinite Risks International, said that his firm is seeing a steady increase in the number of long-term contracts from clients with large cryptocurrency holdings.
Security now includes everything from private drivers and round-the-clock security guards to checking people’s social networks for real-time location leaks. Infinite Risks International also monitors posts to make sure clients don’t leave clues that could help potential attackers find them.
Interestingly, Coinbase itself lost $6.2 million last year to defend CEO Brian Armstrong. That’s more than JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Nvidia spent on their top executives together.
Robinhood spent $1.6 million to defend Vlad Tenev. Circle Internet Group — $800 thousand for the protection of Jeremy Aller.
The organizers of the Cannes crypto conference EthCC have announced that they will strengthen coordination with the French police, special forces, and private contractors at this year’s event.
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