Three individuals stole almost $1M on Bitcoin from a couple at knife point at their home.
The Bitcoin Crime Modus Operandi
French outlet TF1 Info reported today that on early Monday morning, a man and a woman in their late fifties were held captive in their home in Le Chesnay, Yvelines (France), by three individuals posing as police officers.
Related Reading
Following the TF1 account, the woman opened the door of her house when the individuals identified themselves as the police, only to be then pushed and kidnapped inside alongside her husband. The slightly injured woman and her husband were forced onto their sofa, where the man was tied up by the kidnappers. Afterwards, one of the individuals pulled out a knife and threatened to attack the woman if her husband didn’t transfer the equivalent of €900K in bitcoin. Around 9 a.m., when the robbery was completed, the individuals fled in a white van. Only then was the injured woman able to untie her husband and called the neighbors for help.
The Investigation
No arrests have been made just yet. The Versailles prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for kidnapping and armed robbery by an organized gang, as well as criminal conspiracy, according to TF1. The investigations are being carried out by the Brigade de répression du banditisme (BRB).
Related Reading
From Online Exploits To Violent Offline Attacks
This is not an isolated horror: it is but the latest entry in a growing ledger of real‑world Bitcoin heists.
On March 4, as reported by out sister website Bitcoinist, veteran trader “Mr Silly” suffered a multimillion‑dollar theft, where address poisoning and an offline robbery combined to strip him of roughly $24 million and push him out of the market. On November 24, 2025, an armed robber invaded a San Francisco home posing as a delivery worker. The modus operandi was pretty similar to the Le Chesnay crime: the homeowner was tied up and the attacker took the victim’s cellphone, laptop, and $11 million worth of cryptocurrency.
In France, kidnappings for cryptocurrencies have multiplied since the begging of 2025, TF1 claims. In January last year, the co-founder of Ledger, David Balland, was abducted and later freed by the police. Just last month, on February 12, the head of Binance France, was targeted by also three (poorly prepared) hooded individuals in a failed home invasion in his Val-de-Marne apartment, french outlet RTL News reported.
For Bitcoin holders, the lesson is brutally simple: the attack surface has moved from your seed phrase to your front door
BTC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview
Cover image from Perplexity, BTCUSDT chart from Tradingview