Disclaimer: This article contains a video that may be disturbing for some readers.<\/p>\n
A brazen attempt to kidnap the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, the co-founder and CEO of French crypto exchange Paymium, was foiled after the daughter and passersby reportedly fought off the kidnappers.<\/p>\n
Three masked men attacked Noizat\u2019s daughter and a male partner on May 13 while she was walking with her son in Paris\u2019 11th district. The assailants tried to force Noizat\u2019s daughter and her son into a waiting van, the French state-owned media outlet France24 reported<\/a> on May 13.<\/p>\n The accompanying male partner was assaulted when he tried to intervene, but Noizat\u2019s daughter resisted and managed to take one of the guns off an assailant in a scuffle and throw it away, police said.<\/p>\n En plein Paris, un homme a \u00e9t\u00e9 violent\u00e9 par des individus cagoul\u00e9s, habill\u00e9s tout en noir. Ils tentaient de l’enlever. Un homme a surgi, extincteur \u00e0 la main, pour les faire fuir. \u2192https:\/\/t.co\/P0qV6PR40v<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9f4r2Gi7ho<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) May 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Eventually, people passing by intervened, and the masked assailants fled in the van, which was found nearby. All three victims suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital.<\/p>\n Local outlet Le Parisien reported<\/a> that the botched daylight kidnapping is being investigated by the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, a special police unit of the French Ministry of the Interior.<\/p>\n Michael Englander, co-founder and CEO of Polish crypto exchange Plasbit<\/a>, says this incident should serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re in crypto and still flaunting it online, you\u2019re not just stupid, you\u2019re putting your family in danger,\u201d he said<\/a> in a May 13 post to X.<\/p>\n Crypto-focused lawyer Sasha Hodder said<\/a> on X that \u201ccrypto theft is evolving. It\u2019s not just social engineering or SIM swaps anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n In May, Las Vegas police said three teenagers had allegedly kidnapped a man at gunpoint<\/a> who was returning from a local crypto event and robbed him of $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens<\/a> (NFTs).<\/p>\n On May 3, Paris police freed the father<\/a> of a crypto entrepreneur who was held for several days in connection with a 7 million euro ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot.<\/p>\n At the start of the year, David Balland, co-founder of crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger, was abducted from his home in central France<\/a> during the early hours of Jan. 21. He was held captive until a police operation on the night of Jan. 22 secured his release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Crypto broker breaks ankles while fleeing kidnappers in Spain<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Jameson Lopp, a cypherpunk and co-founder of self-custodial firm Casa, has created a list<\/a> on GitHub recording dozens of offline crypto robberies, with 22 incidents of in-person crypto-related theft so far this year.<\/p>\n A University of Cambridge study in September found<\/a> these so-called \u201cwrench attacks\u201d are often underreported due to revictimization fears and involve a diverse group of attackers ranging from organized crime groups to friends and family.<\/p>\nOffline crypto-linked attacks grow<\/h2>\n