French police investigate spate of cryptocurrency millionaire kidnappings

French police are investigating a series of kidnappings of investors linked to cryptocurrency after a 60-year-old man had a finger chopped off by attackers who demanded his crypto-millionaire son pay a ransom. In the latest of several kidnappings of cryptocurrency figures in France and western Europe , the man, who owned a cryptocurrency marketing company with his son, was freed from a house south of Paris on Saturday night. He had been held for more than two days. One of the man’s fingers had been chopped off and investigators feared further mutilations could have happened if he had not been rescued. The man, who has not been publicly identified, was abducted in broad daylight at 10.30am on Thursday morning as he walked down a street in Paris’s 14th arrondissement. Four men in ski masks forced him into a delivery van. He was freed by armed police in a raid at 9pm on Saturday night from a house 20km (12 miles) south of Paris, in the Essonne area. Five suspects in their 20s were arrested at the house. The state prosecutor said in a statement: “The victim appears to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, with the crime involving a ransom demand.” The victim’s wife told investigators that her husband and wealthy son, who both owned a crypto marketing firm in Malta, had received threats in the past, a police source said. Le Parisien reported that the attackers had demanded a ransom of €5-7m (£4-6m), which was not paid. The five kidnapping suspects, aged between 20 and 27, were still being questioned by police on Sunday. The kidnapping is the latest in a series of abductions of cryptocurrency figures in France and neighbouring countries. David Balland, the co-founder of the crypto firm Ledger, which is valued at more than $1bn , was abducted with his partner on 21 January at their home in Méreau, near Bourges in central France. He also had a finger cut off. The attackers arrived at Balland’s house in the early hours of the morning, taking him and his partner and separating them. Balland was taken to a house in the town of Châteauroux, where one of his fingers was cut off. Police were contacted by Balland’s business partner who received a video of the finger alongside a demand for a large ransom in cryptocurrency, of around €10m. Balland was freed in a police raid soon after. His partner was found tied up in the boot of a car in a carpark in the Essonne area south of Paris the next day. Nine suspects are under criminal investigation in that case, including the alleged ringleader, 26, who has a police record for a previous kidnapping. In December 2024, the 56-year-old father of a French cryptocurrency influencer based in Dubai, was the target of an alleged kidnapping in eastern France, local media reported. Attackers arrived at the man’s home, tied up his wife and daughter and forced him into a car. The man’s influencer son received a ransom demand and contacted police. The two women were then quickly freed. The father was only discovered 24 hours later in the boot of a car in Normandy, tied up and showing signs of physical violence, having been sprinkled with petrol. Other abductions of cryptocurrency figures or their partners were reported in Spain and Belgium in the past five months.