Magistrate and mother abducted for 30 hours, kidnappers demanded cryptocurrencies while threatening physical mutilation.
According to AFP, French police have arrested six people in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother, during which the kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrencies while threatening physical mutilation. The operation concluded after 30 hours when the victims managed to escape without any ransom being paid.
The kidnapping took place during the night between last Wednesday and Thursday. The victims were found injured in a garage in the Drome region on Friday morning, as confirmed by Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran. The magistrate’s partner, who was not at home during the abduction, holds an executive role at a cryptocurrency startup. The kidnappers sent him a text message containing a photo of his partner and a cryptocurrency ransom demand, threatening to mutilate the victims if payment was not made quickly.
The magistrate and her mother managed to free themselves by making noise inside the garage in Bourg-lès-Valence, attracting the attention of a neighbor who opened the door and helped them escape. The arrests involved four men and one woman, with three people arrested during the night and two on Sunday morning. The prosecutor subsequently confirmed that a minor was arrested on Sunday afternoon.
This episode is part of a series of cryptocurrency-related kidnappings that have hit France since January 2025. In January, kidnappers abducted Ledger co-founder David Balland and his partner, severing Balland’s finger and demanding a ransom. Balland was released the following day, while his partner was found tied up in a car trunk outside Paris. In May, four hooded men kidnapped the father of a man who ran a cryptocurrency company based in Malta, severing his finger and demanding several million euros. The victim was freed after 58 hours during a police operation.
French authorities have intensified efforts to combat these crimes. The French interior minister stated in May of last year that he would meet with cryptocurrency industry leaders to address the increase in “wrench attacks.” In June, an alleged organizer of several crypto-related kidnappings was arrested in Morocco: a 24-year-old French-Moroccan citizen, detained in Tangier following an Interpol red notice and connected by authorities to several kidnapping and extortion cases that have targeted crypto executives and their families.
