Crypto Worker's Children Held Hostage in Latest French ‘Wrench Attack,’ $46,000 Taken
Four hooded men broke into a family home in Vendin-le-Vieil, northern France, around 4 a.m., held a couple and their two children hostage for more than three hours, and forced the father to transfer about €40,000 in crypto. The 40-year-old father works as an IT specialist in the digital currency sector. The intruders bound the family with tape, assaulted the father to obtain login details and codes, and reportedly struck the 12-year-old daughter in the face with car keys. The family later freed itself, and firefighters arrived around 7 a.m. Authorities opened an investigation for kidnapping and extortion by an organized gang; all four suspects remain at large. The case fits a broader rise in France of crypto-related “wrench attacks,” though this one involved a relatively modest sum and a salaried worker rather than a high-profile crypto figure.
