Another wrench attack has hit a quiet family home in Verneuil-sur-Seine France, sending shockwaves through the French crypto community.
According to reports, three gunmen burst into the residence Friday evening, unleashing a savage wrench attack on a crypto investment executive, his wife, and their two young kids.
The intruders beat the parents brutally before tying up the whole family with cable ties, as reported by Le Parisien.
In a desperate moment, the victims broke loose and ran to neighbors for safety while the attackers bolted toward the nearby train station.
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The news of this latest wrench attack breaks almost immediately after another nightmare just a day earlier, when kidnappers snatched a 43-year-old man from his home in Saint-Léger-sous-Cholet.
In a similar fashion, attackers bound him, beat him senseless, and then dumped him 50 kilometers away in Basse-Goulaine.
The victim ended up in the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to Ouest-France. Investigators quickly linked it to his crypto holdings, as his family had already dodged multiple break-in attempts over the Christmas period.
Is France becoming a breeding ground for wrench attacks?
Quite unfortunately, France is fast becoming ground zero for terrifying, violent, in-your-face assault-type wrench attacks where criminals skip the hacks and go straight for physical coercion to force victims to cough up wallet access or transfer funds.
With Bitcoin and crypto surging in popularity, the dark side of crypto has truly unfolded with rising home invasions, kidnappings, and even torture to bypass all that fancy encryption.
Cybercrime expert David Sehyeon Baek said, “France has recently experienced one of the most visible waves of violent, crypto-linked kidnappings and extortion attempts in the EU.”
Security pro Jameson Lopp’s public database logged at least 65 wrench attacks documented in 2025 alone. However, Baek believes the real number is much higher and goes undocumented.
He warns this is only the beginning, with many more cases flying under the radar.
A tough choice for victims of wrench attacks
Further, reporting a wrench attack often means exposing wallet sizes, transaction trails, trading habits, and potential tax headaches or compliance red flags.
“For many, staying quiet feels safer than speaking up,” Baek explained.
Unfortunately, crypto victims are left with choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Low odds of ever getting funds back versus massive risks of IRS scrutiny, public exposure of wealth, reputational hits, or even more danger from the same criminals coming back.
When personal data gets weaponized, wrench attacks turn from random horrors into targeted nightmares.
