France Charges 88, Including Minors, in Crypto ‘Wrench Attack’ Crackdown

France has charged 88 suspects, much than 10 of them minors, crossed 12 progressive judicial investigations into a question of convulsive crypto “wrench attacks,” successful a sweeping crackdown connected organized gangs targeting crypto holders.

The National Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office, oregon PNACO, said Friday successful a press release that 75 of those charged person been placed successful pre-trial detention crossed 12 judicial investigations handled by specialized magistrates astatine the Paris Judicial Court.

The charges screen kidnapping, unlawful confinement, extortion, and wealth laundering, each committed by organized gangs, according to Vanessa Perrée, National Prosecutor for Organized Crime astatine the French Ministry of Justice.

The charges bespeak the afloat standard of a situation that has made France the planetary epicenter of wrench attacks, convulsive carnal crimes successful which criminals coerce crypto holders into surrendering their integer assets.

French instrumentality enforcement has recorded 135 crypto-related incidents since 2023, including 18 successful 2024, 67 successful 2025, and 47 already successful 2026, which officials described arsenic the effect of “structured transgression networks.”

Last week, 3 men aged 25–30 were detained implicit a November 2025 kidnapping successful Challes-les-Eaux, followed days aboriginal by 3 much arrests, 2 already charged successful that case, linked to a abstracted December kidnapping successful Dompierre-sur-Mer.

All six person been placed successful pre-trial detention.

Crypto "wrench attacks"

Globally, wrench attacks deed a grounds 72 incidents successful 2025, up 75% year-over-year, with implicit $40.9 cardinal successful losses, arsenic Europe accounted for much than 40% of cases, led by France, which recorded 19 attacks, surpassing the U.S. with eight, according to CertiK.

Jonathan Riss, Blockchain Intelligence Analyst astatine CertiK, told Decrypt that the masterminds down these attacks are often insulated from arrest.

"The masterminds are often based abroad, extracurricular the EU and retired of contiguous scope of authorities, operating done section middlemen and young executors," helium said.

"France ranks among the apical 3 countries worldwide for idiosyncratic information breaches," Riss said, citing a leak astatine ANTS, the bureau handling nationalist ID cards and driving licenses, that exposed the idiosyncratic information of 12 cardinal citizens.

"That commercialized furniture is compounded by insider authorities leaks: for a fewer 1000 euros, civilian servants person proven consenting to resell highly invaluable information."

He said the occupation runs deeper than France's numbers suggest.

"Some regions are intelligibly underreporting: astir cases are inactive recorded arsenic modular robberies with nary crypto tag, and victims often enactment soundless implicit fearfulness of retaliation oregon taxation exposure," Riss said. "Not each state treats wrench attacks the aforesaid mode — immoderate jurisdictions deficiency the ineligible model oregon instrumentality enforcement grooming to categorize crypto-related coercion arsenic a chiseled crime."

On Saturday, a Telegram post by the company's laminitis Pavel Durov cited a lawsuit involving a French taxation authoritative who had allegedly sold crypto owners' information to criminals. Durov warned that authorities demands for idiosyncratic recognition and backstage messages would endanger crypto users, writing, "More information => More leaks => More victims."

Crypto attacks successful France

The crackdown follows a relentless bid of high-profile attacks that person shaken France's crypto community.

Incidents see the kidnapping and mutilation of Ledger co-founder David Balland, whose lawsuit saw its final fishy arrested successful Spain past month, a location penetration effort targeting Binance France’s CEO, and the abduction of a magistrate and her mother for a crypto ransom.

Last week, a parent and her 11-year-old lad were kidnapped from their location successful Burgundy successful a crypto-linked ransom plot, earlier being rescued by elite GIGN officers aft being held overnight.

A Versailles location penetration past period besides saw attackers airs arsenic constabulary and unit a mates successful their precocious 50s to transfer astir $1 million (€900,000) successful Bitcoin astatine knifepoint.

Perrée has warned crypto holders to bounds their societal media vulnerability and enactment alert to impersonation attempts, aft the PNACO separately flagged a surge successful phishing calls and emails targeting cryptocurrency holders.