During a night raid, the French police saved a man detained hostage for Rançon, following a removed linked to the crypto similar to several recent cases.
Police released the father of a cryptocurrency cryptocurrency entrepreneur after the kidnappers held him hostage in an airbnb for two days, according to Le Parisien, CNN, The Independent and The Economic Times.
The French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, said that the police had “exceptional work” releasing man and capturing the kidnappers.
Four men in the ski masks forced the victim in a van Thursday morning in Paris, the prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday. “The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made a fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the incident was accompanied by a ransom application,” the statement said.
The police did not identify the victim or the entrepreneur. According to Le Parisien, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 5 million euros and 7 million euros ($ 5.67 million and $ 7.9 million). No payment has been made.
In addition, the kidnappers would have cut one of the victim’s fingers. They sent a video of the man injured to his son, asking for money. “There were fears of other mutilations” if the police had not made a descent into the house, said the economic times, citing a source.
Police arrested five people aged 23 to 27 compared to this crime. Four of them were inside or near the Airbnb. The fifth led the van, that the police believe that the attackers used for the crime.
They also opened an investigation and explore a certain number of criminal charges, including extortion by an organized gang, the criminal plot and the abduction “with torture or barbaric act”, according to The Independent.
The police find similarities, but is it the same Crypto ransom group?
The victim’s wife told investigators that her husband and son had a cryptographic marketing company in Malta. They would both have received threats in the past.
This highlights the growing threats that wealthy cryptography owners are confronted, as related abductions have been increasing.
However, it is currently difficult to know if the recent series of cryptography abductions is linked. However, “obviously, there is at least one link in the Modus Operandi. Now, whether it is the same team or not for investigators to say, “said the internal security expert on Sunday, Guillaume burden on French television, as CNN reported.
It is undeniable that the last kidnapping is quite similar to other cases in France and elsewhere. In particular, a group of people kidnapped David Balland, co-founder of the cryptographic equipment portfolio manufacturer LedgerWith his wife, from their home in the center of France on the morning of January 21, 2025.
The attackers cut the finger of Balland and sent a video to the co-founder Eric Larchevêque, demanding ransom money.
Meanwhile, in November 2024, the kidnappers took Dean Skurka, CEO of Toronto Wonderfi technologiesIn downtown Toronto, Canada, during rush hour and was released after paying a ransom of $ 1 million.
In December 2024, a similar situation arrived at the wife of Crypto Investor and influencer Stéphane Winkel. She disappeared from their home in Belgium. Fortunately, she escaped after the kidnapper crushed his car during a police pursuit.
In January of this year, seven members of British gangs were sentenced to a long prison sentence for kidnapping, torturing and extorted a cryptocurrency investor.
In February, the American authorities billed six men as part of the October 2024 kidnapping of Chicago, forcing them to transfer around $ 15 million to crypto.
These are just a few of the many crypto kidnappings reported in recent months only. Be safe.
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