A couple in France’s Somme department was targeted by three separate groups of home invaders seeking roughly €1 million in cryptocurrency that the victims never owned. This happened after cri
A couple in France’s Somme department was targeted by three separate groups of home invaders seeking roughly €1 million in cryptocurrency that the victims never owned. This happened after criminals apparently relied on leaked personal information belonging to the property’s previous owners.
The victims, an agricultural worker and a banking executive, purchased a house that was previously owned by wealthy retirees associated with cryptocurrency. The former owners’ tax information and home address were reportedly exposed in a data breach before appearing for sale on the dark web as information on a potentially lucrative crypto target.
That information was apparently never updated after the property changed hands.
The new owners were subsequently targeted three times in less than a month. During the first attempted intrusion, their dogs scared the attackers away. A second group later entered the property, restrained and assaulted one of the residents and streamed part of the attack on Snapchat before realizing they targeted the wrong people. An alarm installed afterward helped foil a third attempted break-in on July 17.
Two men, aged 20 and 21, were sentenced by an Amiens court this week for their involvement in the third attempt. One was reportedly recruited through Telegram to help gain entry to the property. The pair received sentences of three years and 18 months respectively.
France emerges as crypto home invasion hotspotThe Somme case is part of a particularly dangerous evolution in crypto-related physical crime: attackers appear to be working from databases combining names, addresses, tax information and perceived crypto wealth.
CertiK describes this as a shift toward “data-driven targeting,” where criminals can combine leaked databases, tax records, exchange information, blockchain activity and residential data to construct profiles of potential victims. Outdated information can therefore leave people exposed even after the intended target has moved.
France has become the center of that trend. CertiK recorded 52 verified crypto wrench attacks globally during the first half of 2026, including 33 in France. Home invasions surged from just one verified case in H1 2025 to 20 this year, while recorded financial exposure across all wrench attacks reached $124.1 million.
(Source: CertiK)
French authorities use a broader definition and counted 77 crypto-related physical incidents during the first half of the year, compared with 45 a year earlier.
For the Somme couple, the threat has persisted despite having no cryptocurrency to surrender. They are now reportedly trying to sell the house.
