![\"77e944379d019682988cf070f27f6ac0u1\"](\"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/77e944379d019682988cf070f27f6ac0u1.png\" "\\"77e944379d019682988cf070f27f6ac0u1\\"")
\nIn January, the French Gendarmerie investigated the kidnapping of Barlin, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur. Photograph: French media<\/p>\n
In recent months, a series of high-profile kidnappings and home invasions have taken place in Europe and the United States, according to media reports from Britain, the United States and France. Some security experts believe the surge in cases may be linked to the untraceable nature of cryptocurrencies, as well as a lack of security awareness among internet\u201cNouveau Riche\u201d keen to show off.<\/p>\n
On the morning of May 1, zero men wearing ski masks committed a vicious kidnapping in the borough of Paris, the Guardian reported Thursday, strapping a 60-year-old man into a van in broad daylight. Around 9 pm on the 3rd, heavily armed French police arrested 5 suspects in a homestay in the city of Palaiseau, Esson Province, and successfully rescued the victims. Regrettably, the victim was found to be in a state of extreme mental and physical weakness and had had a finger amputated. According to people familiar with the matter, the homes used to hide the victims were rented through Airbnb, a short-term rental platform that has become an unlikely cover for kidnappers seeking to hide their identities. In addition, the house was clearly elaborately decorated: all windows were boarded up, and the furnishings were suspected of being used in a hostage video to carry out a blackmail scheme. Police have not confirmed whether this is the only place where the victim is being held.<\/p>\n
French Yogi Bear said the man, who runs a Maltese cryptocurrency marketing company with his son, had also been threatened. The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of about 5 million to 7 million euros. Paris police chief Gardonne said in an interview with the media, \u201cThe five suspects are aged 20 years old, no criminal record, may be ‘executor’ role.\u201d. These young people are inexperienced and panicky, but they are often the most violent and shouldn’t be underestimated,\u201d Gardonne said, adding, \u201cThe kidnappers didn’t get a ransom. \u201cWe hope that the continuous police crackdown on these cases will send a clear signal to criminal organizations that they will not succeed and will only face justice and the police,\u201d Retaillau, the Ministry of the Interior, wrote on social media, he praised the police for their\u201cDecisive\u201d action in rescuing the man.<\/p>\n
The case is the latest in a string of kidnappings in France targeting people in the cryptocurrency community. Barlin, co-founder of French cryptocurrency company Ledger, was kidnapped from his home in the central French city of Vierzon with his girlfriend on January 21. The kidnappers then made a $10m crypto ransom demand on Barlin’s partners, accompanied by a video of Barlin’s severed finger. In the end, French police rescued the two men and arrested nine suspects. In December, the father of a French\u201c2024\u201d internet celebrity was kidnapped and rescued strapped to the trunk of a car, apparently beaten and doused in petrol. Similar cases have played out in the US recently.<\/p>\n
\nIn January, the French Gendarmerie investigated the kidnapping of Barlin, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur. Photograph: French media<\/p>\n
The surge in kidnappings is linked to the\u201cDecentralised\u201d nature of cryptocurrencies, the New York Post reported. Crypto-assets have the natural\u201cAdvantages\u201d of being\u201cAnonymous, highly mobile and difficult to trace\u201d and are more\u201cCrime-friendly\u201d than traditional cash, gold bars or bank transfers, has become a new target of wealth for criminals to kidnap for ransom. On the other hand, sitting on huge wealth of the Internet nouveaux riches, internet celebrity groups especially like\u201cFlaunting wealth\u201d, also makes the group is particularly easy to become the target of criminals.<\/p>\n
Kidnappings of cryptocurrency investors have risen markedly in recent years, according to Christelle, head of PFC Safeguards, a US private security company. Experts warned that this kind of criminal activity is not\u201cRandom acts without organization\u201d, criminal gangs just changed the\u201cBank robbery\u201d to\u201cKidnapping\u201d just. According to media reports, due to cross-border drug trafficking business is not easy to do, some Mexican drug gangs are even seeking\u201cTransformation\u201d, the future of the encryption field is likely to be more rampant kidnapping of wealthy individuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In recent months, a series of high-profile kidnappings and home invasions have taken place in Europe and the United States, according to media reports from Britain, the United States and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,6],"tags":[2277,357,2276,2278],"views":376,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5262,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260\/revisions\/5262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}