Armed Intruders Disguised as Police Force French Family to Transfer $820K in Crypto in Latest Wrench Attack
A French family was violently coerced into transferring $820,000 worth of cryptocurrency after armed intruders broke into their home disguised as police officers, according to a report by The Block. The incident is the latest in a wave of physical crypto thefts sweeping France, where criminals are increasingly bypassing digital security by targeting holders directly.
The attackers entered the home by posing as law enforcement, a tactic known as a “wrench attack,” where physical coercion is used to force crypto transfers beyond the reach of software safeguards. Once inside, they threatened the victims with a knife, restrained them, and compelled them to transfer digital assets to wallets under the attackers’ control.
The French family forced crypto transfer follows a string of near-identical crimes across the country. Just weeks earlier, a couple in their late fifties in Le Chesnay, a suburb west of Paris, was forced to hand over roughly $1 million in Bitcoin to attackers who also posed as police officers, with Versailles authorities opening an investigation into kidnapping, armed robbery by an organized gang, and criminal conspiracy. In that case, the suspects fled the scene in a white van, prompting police to launch a manhunt, while the woman managed to free herself after they left and alerted neighbors around 9:00 a.m. local time.
France has become the global epicenter of this type of crime. Authorities estimate at least 41 crypto-related kidnappings have taken place in France so far in 2026, roughly one incident every two to five days. Officials say France now accounts for about 40% of Europe’s crypto ransom attacks, following a 75% global increase in such incidents in 2025.
The surge has drawn a response from government. Jean-Didier Berger, France’s minister delegate to the interior ministry, confirmed at Paris Blockchain Week in April 2026 that authorities have already launched a prevention platform drawing thousands of registered users, with a more comprehensive protective strategy being developed alongside Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
Investigators believe criminals are identifying targets through social media and online discussions that reveal crypto wealth, then conducting surveillance of homes and daily routines before striking. One expert described it as a natural evolution of criminal behavior, with organized crime groups accustomed to traditional robberies shifting toward digital assets as cryptocurrency ownership expands.
The $820,000 crypto transfer forced from this French family underscores a disturbing reality: Bitcoin’s core architecture, while resilient against hacking, creates significant vulnerability when the owner is under physical coercion, since transactions are immediate and irreversible with no central authority capable of reversing them. For crypto holders in France, the threat is no longer just online, it has arrived at the front door.
