- Attackers severed man’s finger and cut his face, police say.
- Gang mistakenly thought victim’s son was a rich crypto trader.
- Crypto-related kidnap cases are on the rise in France, data shows.
French police have arrested three men in their twenties suspected of kidnapping and torturing a 74-year-old man in a bid to extort $3.5 million worth of crypto from his son.
Officers said the trio abducted the unnamed victim at dawn on January 25 from his home in Voiron, in the Isère department in the southeast of the country, the French media outlet Actu 17 reported.
However, the would-be kidnappers aborted their efforts after learning that the man’s son was not a crypto trader at all, but actually a web developer with no significant crypto funds.
“These are extremely violent acts that demonstrate a rather blatant level of amateurism on the part of the perpetrators,” a lawyer for the victim’s family told reporters.
Crypto-related kidnaps and other violent attacks are on the rise worldwide.
This is particularly the case in France, where 19 so-called wrench attacks have been reported, per Certik data.
Last year, French authorities rescued David Balland, the co-founder of crypto hardware firm Ledger, along with his wife, after they were kidnapped by criminals seeking a ransom.
A ‘living hell’
Officials told reporters the 74-year-old endured “nearly 16 hours of torture” at the gang’s hands.
Police said the trio found three 17-year-olds, who had rented a building on the victim’s property for the night, in an outbuilding.
The men reportedly tied these teenagers up and confiscated their mobile phones. The victim’s partner managed to hide in an attic room, where she remained undiscovered.
The victim was forced into a vehicle and driven to a back room of a bar in Valence, where the assailants reportedly filmed themselves torturing the man.
The gang then sent footage of the torture to his son via encrypted messages, demanding that he pay a ransom fee in an unnamed cryptocurrency.
When they eventually realised that the man’s son was not a “crypto millionaire” as they had incorrectly assumed, they decided to release their captive at 11 pm the same day, pushing him out of a car onto a roadside.
Officers said they questioned the bar’s manager and the vehicle owner, but released both without charge.
The victim has been discharged from hospital, the lawyer said, with “very deep scars, particularly on his face.”
The septuagenarian had “the mindset of a survivor,” the lawyer said. “The victim went through living hell and was confronted by determined individuals who were ready to stop at nothing.”
Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.
