French minister says new measures are coming after crypto kidnappings

Jean-Didier Berger said at Paris Blockchain Week that France is preparing new steps to protect crypto holders as wrench attacks and kidnappings keep mounting.

Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the interior minister of France, said authorities are taking measures to protect cryptocurrency investors from the growing threat of crypto kidnappings and wrench attacks in the country.

Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Berger said his office has taken “preventative measures” against crypto wrench attacks, including launching a prevention platform that has drawn thousands of sign-ups. He added that he was working with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on what he described as a more serious plan in the coming weeks.

His comments come days after another reported crypto-linked abduction in France this week, where a mother and her 11-year-old child were reportedly kidnapped in Burgundy on Monday by four suspects who demanded a 400,000 euro ($471,000) ransom from the father, a crypto entrepreneur. Authorities caught the suspects and freed the victims on Tuesday morning, reported news outlet France24, citing the Paris prosecutor’s office.

France has become one of the most prominent centers for so-called wrench attacks, in which victims are threatened or assaulted to force the transfer of digital assets, and the government is now under growing pressure to respond.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been 41 reported crypto-related kidnappings in France, meaning that on average, a similar attack occurred once every 2.5 days in 2026, reported local news outlet RTL on Wednesday.

Wrench attacks increased by 75% in 2025 to 72 verified cases worldwide, according to cybersecurity platform CertiK. France saw the most incidents during 2025, with 19 confirmed wrench attacks, while Europe accounted for roughly 40% of global incidents.

In another incident, a French couple in their late 50s was robbed of $1 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) by criminals posing as police officers, Cointelegraph reported on March 10.

Related: Suspected insider wallets rack up $1.2M betting on ZachXBT’s Axiom exposé

A month earlier, in February, French police arrested six people over the kidnapping of a magistrate and her mother in a crypto-linked ransom attack targeting the magistrate’s partner, a crypto entrepreneur.

Magazine: Coinbase hack shows the law probably won’t protect you — Here’s why

Source: CoinTelegraph