A recent burglary and extortion case targeting cryptocurrency assets occurred in the southern French city of Alès. A couple was held captive by two masked armed individuals for over two hours at their home, during which the attackers demanded a cryptocurrency transfer. After neighbors called the police, the assailants fled before the authorities arrived.
The child was also in the room at the time of the incident.
According to local media reports, the incident occurred last Saturday in the early hours at a residential area in Ales. Two intruders, wearing gloves and armed with guns and knives, entered the residence, tied up the couple, and continuously threatened them, attempting to force them to hand over their cryptocurrency assets.
At the time of the incident, the couple's young child was also in the house. After receiving the report, the police arrived at the scene, but the suspect had already fled. The Organized and Professional Crime Department of Nimes, France DCOS, has taken over the investigation, and there is no information yet in the preliminary reports indicating that any suspect has been apprehended.
There has been a clear increase in related cases in France this year.
This case is not an isolated incident. Recently in France, there have been continuous incidents of kidnapping, illegal detention, extortion, and attempted robbery targeting holders of crypto assets and their relatives.
The French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nu, stated in July this year that as of the end of June, France had recorded 77 cases related to encrypted assets, including kidnappings, detentions, or extortion, which exceeded the total of 45 cases for the entire year of 2025. According to him, some of the masterminds may be located outside of France, while the actual perpetrators of the violent acts are mostly recruited lower-level executors.
Another set of public statistics from Chainalysis shows that France recorded 30 publicly disclosed cases of violent encryption in the first half of 2026, which is higher than the 19 cases for the entire year of 2025. Due to a narrower scope of the statistics, this figure is lower than the data from the French internal affairs department.
The proportion of crimes committed by entering a residence is on the rise.
Online analysis institutions and security companies have mentioned that criminal methods are increasingly turning to home invasion threats, where they directly control the victims to gain access to their wallets or force them to make transfers.
Chainalysis It is estimated that in the first half of 2026, the amount of crypto assets successfully obtained through offline violent means globally exceeded 30 million US dollars. Among the 46 cases recorded, only 12 resulted in actual payments, with a success rate of about 26%, which is lower than the 49% in 2025 and 67% in 2024.
According to statistics from this institution, burglaries accounted for 37% of the publicized cases in the first half of this year, which is higher than the 14% in 2025; kidnapping cases accounted for 52%. Victims' families and individuals associated with crypto holders made up about one-quarter to one-third of all publicized cases.
The data for CertiK also shows a similar trend. In the first six months of 2026, this institution recorded 52 offline violent attacks targeting crypto assets, a year-on-year increase of 33.3%. Of these, France accounted for 33 cases, which represents 63.5% of the globally verified incidents.
In the past month, there have been several similar cases in France.
Less than a month ago, a similar incident occurred in Lyon-Laurentide, France. Several suspects broke into the residence of a couple, attempting to steal a large amount of Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The two residents were subsequently taken away from their home; the man was found later injured and naked, while the woman was rescued in another area. Two suspects have already been arrested.
Even earlier, in the province of Yvelines, a suspect pretended to be a police officer and broke into a residence, threatening the victim with a knife to hand over around 900,000 euros in Bitcoin. In another case, a man pretending to be a courier broke into the home of a person working in France's cryptocurrency industry, attempting to force them to hand over their private keys with a gun. He was eventually arrested after the victim resisted and neighbors called the police.
