French authorities have arrested three men accused of kidnapping and torturing a 74-year-old man for nearly 16 hours in a failed attempt to extort cryptocurrency from his son.
Police said the suspects abducted the victim from his home in Voiron, in southeastern France, after wrongly believing his son was a wealthy crypto trader holding millions in digital assets.
“These are extremely violent acts that demonstrate a rather blatant level of amateurism on the part of the perpetrators,”
Said a lawyer for the victim’s family.
Investigators said the attackers severed one of the man’s fingers, cut his face and filmed the abuse in a back room of a bar, sending the footage to the victim’s son while demanding a ransom in cryptocurrency.
The gang abandoned the extortion attempt after discovering the son was a web developer with no significant crypto holdings and released the victim later the same day.
Authorities said the case highlights a rise in so-called “wrench attacks” linked to crypto, with at least 19 such incidents reported in France, according to data cited by security researchers.
The victim has since been discharged from hospital with serious injuries, with his lawyer saying he endured “living hell” but showed “the mindset of a survivor.”