France charges 88 in crackdown on crypto wrench attacks

France has charged 88 people, including more than 10 minors, across 12 judicial investigations into violent crypto “wrench” attacks, the National Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office (PNACO) said. Seventy-five of those charged are in pre-trial detention.

Specialized magistrates at the Paris Judicial Court are handling the cases. Charges filed include crypto kidnappings, unlawful confinement, extortion and money laundering. Investigators said they identified organized networks by linking repeat offenders across multiple incidents.

This month police arrested six people in two separate operations linked to kidnappings in Challes-les-Eaux and Dompierre-sur-Mer; all six were placed in pre-trial detention. In a related case, authorities found a 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother injured in a garage in the Drôme region after an abduction investigators say involved a crypto ransom demand. Those inquiries remain open.

French authorities have recorded 135 crypto-related incidents since 2023: 18 in 2024, 67 in 2025 and 47 so far in 2026. Wrench attacks involve victims being threatened or forced to transfer cryptocurrency.

High-profile episodes linked to the trend include the arrest in Spain of the final suspect in the mutilation and kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland; an attempted home invasion targeting the CEO of Binance France; a Versailles break-in where a couple were forced at knifepoint to transfer roughly $1 million in Bitcoin; and the abduction of a mother and her 11-year-old son in Burgundy, who were later rescued by the GIGN special police unit.

Industry tracking shows 72 wrench attacks in 2025, a 75% increase from the previous year, with reported losses above $40.9 million. Europe accounted for more than 40% of cases in 2025, and France recorded 19 attacks that year.

Jonathan Riss, a blockchain intelligence analyst, noted that the criminal networks often operate with organizers based abroad using local middlemen and young executors. He also pointed to data leaks and occasional sales of personal information by insiders that make it easier to identify and target wealthy crypto holders; one leak exposed data for about 12 million people.

Prosecutor Vanessa Perrée urged cryptocurrency holders to limit public exposure and be careful about sharing personal details online, warning of a rise in phishing calls and emails targeting crypto owners. Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging service Telegram, wrote on the platform: “More data => More leaks => More victims.”

Officials say underreporting remains an issue because some incidents are recorded as ordinary robberies and victims sometimes do not report crimes out of fear of retaliation or concern over tax exposure. Prosecutors added that the current legal actions are part of a broader effort to dismantle networks and pursue both local perpetrators and their foreign orchestrators.