France saw its 10th crypto kidnapping this year as a man was abducted for �5,000 and his Ledger key. Its unclear how many tokens were in his hard wallet, but the attackers have not been arrested yet.
Law enforcement has been taking this horrifying pattern very seriously, arresting gang ringleaders in Morocco earlier this month. Either the gang is still active, or unrelated copycats are at work. Both scenarios are ominous.
The crypto industry has always had a seedier element, but todays crime wave is a whole new level of violence. Crypto kidnappings have taken place on multiple continents, but France is seeing an especially dark period.
According to local reports, the nation witnessed another incident, which is the tenth such attack this year.
So far, Frances law enforcement agencies have only provided rough details on the kidnapping victim.
A 23-year-old man was abducted in Maisons-Alfort, a suburb of Paris, and his romantic partner was forced to hand over 5,000 euros and his wallet password. Police have not disclosed how much money was in this wallet or whether the victim ran a business in the industry.
This last question is especially concerning. The authorities vowed to pass new measures protecting Frances crypto entrepreneurs from kidnapping.
Web3 CEOs, founders, and their relatives have been targeted in this spree of violence, creating a climate of fear in the nations crypto community.
Earlier this month, France cooperated with Morocco to arrest key kidnapping ringleaders, but some of the suspects remained at large. Moreover, these men routinely hired or enticed local muscle to carry out the violence without even setting foot in France.
In other words, these imprisoned ringleaders might not have anything to do with todays incident. A single organized gang began the crime spree, but its international news right now. For all we know, todays attackers couldve been copycats.
Both of these possibilities are very scary for France, especially because todays kidnapping was ostensibly successful. The perpetrators knew about the victims hard wallet, obtained it, and havent been arrested yet.
Apparently, the governments efforts to prevent this sensational crime wave have been insufficient so far.
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