A couple in Rion-des-Landes, in France’s Landes department, was forced to hand over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies after intruders entered their home late on Aug. 10, before both victims were abducted and taken away, according to French local media outlet actu.fr.
The man was later found in the nearby town of Solférino, naked and suffering from multiple lacerations. The woman was rescued from a car several kilometers away in another department. French gendarmes later launched a broad search and checkpoint operation, and two suspects have been arrested.
Attack began around 4 a.m.
The report said the assailants broke into the couple’s home at about 4 a.m. and threatened them in an effort to force them to surrender a sizeable amount of Bitcoin and other crypto assets.
Authorities have not confirmed whether the attackers succeeded in obtaining the funds. What is clear is that the ordeal did not end at the house. The couple was forcibly removed from the property and later abandoned in two separate locations, several kilometers apart and across a departmental boundary.
Roads sealed off as investigators moved in
After the attack, French gendarmes deployed a large police presence and sealed the main road linking Rion-des-Landes and Lesperon, stopping vehicles one by one. The following day, forensic teams entered the crime scene, secured the area and collected fingerprints.
Two men have been arrested so far. Authorities have not released their identities or described their alleged roles in the case. The investigation has been handed to a specialized judicial authority in Bordeaux.
France has recorded 77 crypto-related cases in 2026
The case adds to a growing list of crypto-related violent crimes in France. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the country has logged 77 cases in 2026 so far involving kidnapping, unlawful confinement or extortion tied to the crypto industry, including attempted incidents. That is well above the 45 recorded in all of 2025, or roughly one case every 2.5 days.
Authorities said attackers often obtain home addresses through data leaks involving exchanges or service providers. They also said the people financing these crimes rarely carry them out themselves, instead outsourcing the violent part of the operation to local youths who are relatively inexpensive for criminal groups to recruit.
France has arrested about 200 suspects, and at least 88 people have been formally charged. Most are between 16 and 23 years old.
Earlier cases point to a wider pattern
The report linked the Landes attack to other incidents in France this year. The wife of The Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping outside her home earlier this year. In April, attackers posing as police officers allegedly used knives to force a Paris couple to transfer more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin.
On a global basis, the report said so-called wrench attacks in the first four months of this year jumped 41% from the same period last year, with most cases concentrated in Europe. France has been one of the hardest-hit countries.
Self-custody also brings physical security risks
The report said the latest case in Landes highlights the tradeoff that comes with self-custody. Holding crypto outside an exchange can reduce exposure to exchange failures or regulatory freezes, but once a holder’s identity and address are exposed, offline coercion becomes a direct and potentially deadly threat.
For people with substantial holdings, the report said keeping a low profile, avoiding public disclosure of portfolio size on social platforms, and splitting assets across multisignature setups or institutional custody arrangements are increasingly basic protective steps.