Paris
CNN
–
French police rescued the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur from a lureman on Saturday night, but found out that one of his fingers had been cut off.
The victim, not publicly identified, was forced into the van Thursday morning by four men wearing ski masks on a street in Paris. He had been hostages from the southern French capital, 12 miles south of the French capital, before being rescued.
According to CNN affiliate BFM TV, the temptation contacted the victim’s son and sent a video of the mutilated victim with ransom money.
Five people, ages 23 to 27, were taken to police custody following the attack, according to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
The temptation shares remarkable similarities with other recent temptations related to cryptocurrencies in France and its surrounding countries.
In January 2025, David Balland, co-founder of Crypto Wallet Company Ledger, was invited to his wife from his home in central France.
Before the couple was released by the police, the assailant cut Ballands’ fingers and sent a video of the cut attachment to his business partner Eric Raschebek, demanding ransom money.
In December 2024, Crypto Investor’s wife and influencer Stéphane Winkel was invited from the Belgian couple’s home. She was rescued after her temptation crashed his car in a dramatic police chase, Winkel wrote in X’s post.
It is unknown whether they are connected like the recent cipher-tricking temptation.
“Obviously, there’s at least a link to the trick. Now, investigators say whether it’s the same team or not,” internal security expert Guillaume Farde said he was speaking on French television Sunday.
Police have launched an investigation into the latest inductions, including organized gangs and criminal conspiracy terror, the Paris prosecutor’s office told CNN.
