A couple in France lost nearly $1 million in Bitcoin after attackers impersonating police officers staged a violent home invasion and physically coerced them into transferring cryptocurrency, highlighting the growing threat of physical crypto theft.
Three individuals disguised as police officers gained entry to a residence in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, a town near Paris, where they threatened a couple in their late 50s at knifepoint and forced the husband to send Bitcoin to the attackers, according to French authorities. Both victims sustained injuries, and the husband was physically restrained and tied up before the assailants fled the scene in a vehicle.
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French law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident, with specialized organized crime units leading the effort. Potential criminal charges under review include armed robbery by an organized criminal group, unlawful detention and criminal conspiracy.
The attack represents a growing category of crypto theft known as “wrench attacks,” where criminals use physical threats or violence rather than technical exploits to force victims to transfer funds. Rather than attempting to crack encryption or hack wallets, perpetrators bypass digital security entirely by coercing the owner into authorizing transactions.
Posing as law enforcement officials proved effective because it taps into several psychological triggers, including authority, urgency and fear. People are socially conditioned to obey police directives, and the appearance of an official raid creates the impression that immediate compliance is necessary. Under stress, victims often fail to question the reason for the raid, the legitimacy of demands or the authenticity of the entire situation.
In 2025 alone, documented cases of verified wrench attacks reportedly rose sharply, increasing 75% from 2024. Europe, and France in particular, stood out as a growing hotspot for such incidents. Financial losses reached $40.9 million in 2025, marking a 44% annual increase. While kidnapping remained the primary threat vector, physical assaults surged by 250%.
France has recently recorded multiple high-profile violent crimes linked to cryptocurrency, including kidnappings carried out to extort cryptocurrency ransoms and home invasions specifically targeting high-profile figures in the crypto industry. These recurring incidents point to a shift in criminal behavior, with more deliberate efforts to identify individuals who hold cryptocurrency and increased surveillance of their physical locations and daily routines.
Bitcoin’s core architecture gives it considerable strength in normal circumstances, but it also creates significant vulnerability when the owner is under coercion. The ability to transfer value immediately, the absence of any central entity capable of reversing transactions, and permissionless worldwide accessibility mean that once funds are transferred under duress, there is virtually no realistic chance of recovery.
Several underlying factors are driving the increase in physical crypto attacks. A rising number of users now hold their own private keys and manage their assets directly through self-custody, making them more immediate and accessible targets. Many cryptocurrency investors, company founders and executives maintain public profiles that make their wealth and identity relatively easy to identify.
As digital wallet security improves and remote hacking becomes more difficult with hardware wallets, multisignature setups and cold storage solutions, criminals are increasingly turning to the softer target: the human user. For perpetrators, coercive attacks are often faster and more reliable than trying to break through technical defenses.
Although authorities are increasing enforcement in response to such incidents, these cases continue to present serious challenges because of the rapid cross-border movement of stolen assets, the pseudonymous and irreversible nature of cryptocurrency transactions and the involvement of organized and professional criminal groups.
Security experts recommend that cryptocurrency owners never publicly reveal or discuss the extent of their holdings, keep their real-world identity separate from their wallet addresses, and use multisignature wallets so that no single individual or compromised key can authorize transfers. Distributing signing authority and key control across different geographic locations or trusted parties can also protect against coercive attacks.
Some high-net-worth crypto holders now use “decoy wallets” with small balances that can be revealed in coercive situations instead of their main holdings. Private security firms have also started offering specialized protection services for crypto investors, including travel risk assessments, home security audits and digital footprint reduction strategies.
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