French Man Indicted Over Wrench Attack on Crypto Holder After Data Breach

A recent spate of 'wrench attacks' on cryptocurrency holders in France has escalated alongside digital crimes, according to reports. The latest incident saw a 32-year-old man from Vaujours (Seine-Saint-Denis) indicted in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) for his alleged role in targeting a couple at their home. The attackers posed as police officers and attempted to steal the victims' cryptocurrency portfolio, which was exposed after a January data breach at French crypto tax reporting platform Waltio.

The attack reportedly came after the husband's €20,000 crypto holdings were revealed following the data breach, which affected approximately 50,000 users. The hackers responsible for the breach attempted to extort Waltio before selling the stolen data. In the aftermath of the breach, Waltio warned that attackers could pose as fake customer services, police officers and security services in order to carry out phishing attempts and scams.

The Nancy attack is part of a larger trend of physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders, which have escalated globally alongside digital crimes. French authorities have charged 88 suspects, including minors, across 12 active judicial investigations into crypto kidnappings. The attackers' modus operandi bears remarkable similarities to a March case in which three fake police officers held a couple at knifepoint, forcing them to transfer $1 million in Bitcoin.