Crypto: four men directly target a family
The incident took place during the night of Saturday, September 19, to Sunday, September 20, in Vendin-le-Vieil. Four masked and gloved individuals allegedly entered the home of a man working in the cryptocurrency sector, where his partner and their two children were also present. According to the initial findings of the investigation, the attackers did not come across the family by chance: they were specifically looking for the father’s digital assets.
The case strongly recalls the hostage-taking that recently occurred near Rennes, where individuals attacked tenants after believing they would find the property’s owner and his cryptocurrencies.
In Vendin-le-Vieil, all four family members were tied up. Initial reports also indicate that the father and his 12-year-old daughter were assaulted, with the girl allegedly struck in the face. The father reportedly eventually managed to alert emergency services in the morning.
The criminals allegedly obtained the codes needed to recover approximately €40,000 in cryptocurrency before leaving the scene in a vehicle. Le Parisien, citing a police source, confirmed the amount and said the four individuals were still being sought.
The private key is no longer the only weak point
The case illustrates an evolution in crypto crime that is now difficult to ignore. For a long time, protecting one’s assets mainly meant using a hardware wallet, not sharing a seed phrase and avoiding malware. These protections remain essential. However, they become far less useful when a criminal decides to target the person who knows the password directly.
That is the principle behind a wrench attack. Rather than trying to break the cryptography protecting Bitcoin or a wallet, the attacker uses threats or violence to force the holder to transfer their funds. A private key can withstand billions of computer attempts. Its owner is much less resilient.
France is experiencing a particularly sharp acceleration in this type of crime. Bref Crypto had already counted 77 crypto-related kidnappings, hostage-takings, extortion cases or attempted offenses during the first half of 2026, compared with 45 for the whole of the previous year, according to figures presented by authorities at the time.
The phenomenon is no longer limited to major crypto entrepreneurs or publicly known holders. Partners, parents, children and even people with no direct connection to the targeted assets can be used as leverage. Near Rennes, the attackers had even targeted the wrong house.
In Vendin-le-Vieil, the presence of the two children gives the case another dimension. The financial target was the father. The entire family nevertheless suffered the attack.
France remains particularly exposed
The growing number of physical attacks is gradually changing the debate around crypto security. Self-custody removes the risk of a bank or exchange freezing the funds, but it also shifts more responsibility onto the holder. When tens or hundreds of thousands of euros can be accessed using a few memorized details, the owner’s identity and home themselves become sensitive information.
CertiK had already recorded 52 verified physical crypto attacks worldwide during the first half of 2026, including 33 in France, according to data cited by Bref Crypto. Home invasions had increased particularly sharply. The country therefore accounted for an unusually large share of the documented cases.
The response can therefore no longer focus solely on wallets. Wealth privacy, personal data protection and custody arrangements are becoming equally important. Properly designed multisignature custody, for example, can prevent one person from immediately moving all the funds. Geographically separating the keys can also reduce the risk, without of course eliminating the physical threat.
This reality was already apparent in a US case in which three men were accused of surveilling a bitcoin holder and his family. As cryptoassets increase in value, some criminal groups appear to view their holders as targets comparable to the owners of jewelry, cash or other easily transferable assets.
The attack in Vendin-le-Vieil now adds another case to an already lengthy series. This time, approximately €40,000 allegedly sufficed to motivate the break-in, the hostage-taking of a couple and their two children, and several hours of violence.
The blockchain was not hacked.
Nor was the wallet.
The attackers chose the shortest route: they went directly after the person holding the keys.
