One Indicted Over Crypto ‘Wrench Attack’ in France

In brief A 32-year-old man has been indicted in Nancy over a so-called “wrench attack” targeting a crypto holder. The man was one of three who allegedly posed as police officers to attack a couple in a bid to steal $20,000 in cryptocurrency. The attack followed a January data breach at French crypto tax platform Waltio that affected 50,000 users. Three men allegedly posed as police officers to attack a couple at their Nancy home, attempting to steal their cryptocurrency portfolio after obtaining their personal information from a breached crypto platform, Le Parisien reported.A 32-year-old man from Vaujours (Seine-Saint-Denis) has been indicted in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) over the attack, and charged with attempted extortion with a weapon, attempted kidnapping by an organized gang, and conspiracy to commit a crime.Per Le Parisien, the attack saw a 45-year-old woman accosted outside her apartment. Both she and her husband were “brutally beaten” after he came outside to investigate the noise, with the would-be robbers fleeing after the couple’s daughters called the police from inside the house.Police recovered plastic zip ties and a €5 euro note left by the attackers, whom witnesses described as having been armed with an Uzi submachine gun.The attack reportedly came after the husband’s €20,000 crypto holdings were exposed following a January data breach at French crypto tax reporting platform Waltio. The breach revealed email addresses, 2024 trading gains and losses, and cryptocurrency balances for approximately 50,000 users, with the hackers responsible attempting to extort Waltio before selling the stolen data.In the aftermath of the data breach, Waltio warned that attackers could pose as fake customer services, police officers and security services in order to carry out phishing attempts and scams. “The attackers use the fact that they know your email address and an approximate estimate of your assets to gain credibility,” the platform noted.Crypto “wrench attacks” in FranceThe Nancy attack is the latest in a series of crypto-related assaults to have rocked France, including the kidnapping and mutilation of Ledger co-founder David Balland, an armed home invasion, the abduction of a magistrate and her mother and a kidnap attempt targeting the wife of “The Sandbox” co-founder Sébastien Borget.The attackers' modus operandi bears remarkable similarities to a March case in which three fake police officers held a couple at knifepoint, forcing them to transfer $1 million in Bitcoin.Eric Larchevêque, Balland's business partner, last month condemned what he called the "Mexicanisation" of France in the face of the authorities’ failure to address the spate of crypto kidnappings.French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau pledged to convene cryptocurrency business leaders at the interior ministry to “work with them on their security." In April, French authorities charged 88 suspects, including minors, across 12 active judicial investigations into crypto kidnappings.Physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders—known as "wrench attacks"—have escalated globally alongside digital crimes. In the U.S., Remy St. Felix received a 47-year prison sentence in September 2024 for leading a violent crypto home-invasion ring—the longest sentence in any U.S. cryptocurrency case. Elsewhere, Ukrainian police officers allegedly kidnapped crypto entrepreneurs to extort millions, while three suspects face charges for a California wrench attack spree.Phil Ariss, Director of UK Public Sector Relations at TRM Labs, called wrench attacks a “natural evolution of criminal behavior," explaining that, “Criminal groups already comfortable with using violence to achieve their goals were always likely to migrate to crypto.”Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.