A criminal court in Amiens has sentenced two young men over the third attempted break-in at a house in France’s Somme department that had been repeatedly targeted for cryptocurrency believed to belong to its former residents. The current owners, a farmer and a bank executive in their late twenties, had no connection to the estimated €1 million in digital assets sought by the attackers, according to local reporting.
The case shows how stolen personal data and outdated address records can turn a property’s previous owner into a lasting security risk for whoever moves in next. The couple bought a village home once occupied by a former crypto millionaire, whose tax details and address had reportedly appeared on dark-web markets. Three groups then targeted the address within less than a month.
The Amiens court sentenced a 20-year-old defendant to three years in prison and a 21-year-old defendant to 18 months for their roles in the July 17 attempted break-in. Both men, from the Île-de-France region, were also barred from entering the Somme department and from contacting one another for three years.
At least two other alleged participants in the third attempt were not identified publicly and had not been apprehended, according to the account of the case.
A house repeatedly targeted for former residents’ crypto
The first intrusion attempt took place on June 24, when the couple’s dogs discouraged the intruders. Two days later, another group entered the home, restrained one resident and assaulted the other, local reporting said. The assailants also streamed the attack on Snapchat before leaving after discovering they had attacked people who were not the intended targets.
The couple subsequently installed an alarm system. That security upgrade appears to have helped stop the July 17 attempt, when another group arrived at the property equipped with a crowbar, balaclavas and cable ties.
One of the defendants was reportedly recruited through Telegram for a payment that could have reached €30,000 if the group forced entry. The other man allegedly worked as a rideshare driver and received €300 to transport the group and its equipment.
The court’s sentences bring a partial legal outcome for the third incident, but the earlier attacks underline the practical difficulty for people caught in the wake of exposed personal data. The residents have sought to sell the house, according to local reporting.
The alleged attackers were not pursuing access to a wallet controlled by the couple. They were acting on information tied to the home’s prior occupants, making the address itself a target long after its original crypto-linked residents had moved away.
Physical attacks follow exposed personal records
The Somme case emerged amid a rise in reported “wrench” attacks, a term used for assaults, kidnappings and home invasions intended to force someone to surrender cryptocurrency or access credentials. Unlike remote wallet exploits, these crimes rely on physical coercion and often begin with personal information gathered from social media, public records, leaked customer databases or tax files.
Chainalysis said it had identified at least 30 crypto-related physical attacks in France during the first half of 2026. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said authorities documented more than 70 violent incidents connected to cryptocurrency during the period, according to the supplied account.
Security tracking cited in the material estimated 52 wrench attacks globally in the first six months of 2026, with home invasions and kidnappings both increasing. The same tracking estimated that home invasions accounted for 37% of reported incidents and that physical thefts had generated roughly $30 million in losses worldwide by mid-year.
Those figures capture only reported cases. Victims may describe an incident to police as robbery, assault or kidnapping without making public any cryptocurrency connection, particularly where disclosure could expose them to further targeting.
France has featured prominently in reports of these attacks following the exposure of personal data linked to wealthy cryptocurrency holders. Chainalysis connected the country’s pattern to a 2024 breach involving a tax official who allegedly stole and sold dossiers on high-net-worth crypto holders. Later leaks and public disclosures reportedly added names, addresses and holdings to data circulating on dark-web markets.
A criminal group does not necessarily need a victim’s private key or wallet password to create a threat. An address paired with an estimate of a person’s wealth can be enough to trigger surveillance, intimidation or an attempted forced entry. In Somme, the data reportedly led attackers to a property whose occupants no longer matched the records they were using.
Old online disclosures can raise risks
The case also illustrates why public claims of cryptocurrency wealth can carry consequences beyond online scams. Jameson Lopp, a security researcher who tracks physical attacks against cryptocurrency holders, has repeatedly documented cases in which victims’ public profiles, business roles, social-media posts or leaked records made them easier to identify.
Personal security measures cannot eliminate risks created by compromised databases, but they can reduce opportunities for attackers. Alarm systems, reinforced entry points, cameras and careful limits on public financial disclosures all make a home less accessible and reduce the amount of information available to criminal groups.
For people whose names or addresses may have appeared in tax leaks or breached corporate records, the Somme attacks offer a more troubling lesson: changing homes may not immediately remove the danger if criminals are working from stale data. The former residents’ digital-asset profile remained attached to the house, and the new owners paid the price for that mistake.
Worried by wrench attacks and data leaks? Strengthen your defenses with Toobit’s guide on crypto safety standards today.
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