Masked gunmen took a woman hostage in Manosque after thieves targeted her partner’s USB drive containing cryptocurrencies.
The January 6 incident brought the total number of recently revealed cyberattacks in France to 14, surpassing global statistics according to security researcher Jameson Loeb’s database.
According to the newspaper Le Parisien, three masked people broke into the couple’s home, rue Schuman-Cham-de-Brunier, around 7:30 p.m.
The attackers tied up the woman, threatened her with a gun and slapped her while demanding cryptocurrency data.
After recovering the USB stick, they fled. The victim was able to free himself, called the police and escaped unharmed.
Tax officer caught selling targeting data to criminal gangs
The attack comes amid revelations that criminals accessed government databases to identify cryptocurrency holders.
According to the newspaper Le Parisien, tax official Ghalia S. was imprisoned. June 30, 2025 in Bobigny, after using tax software to provide addresses to organized crime gangs.
Prosecutors say she sought records on cryptocurrency investors, billionaire Vincent Bolloré and prison officials before selling the information.
“She refused to give her phone code and the name of the person who hired her; this is criminal behavior,” the prosecutor said. “This woman abused her position in a completely unnatural way in the service of a dangerous criminal.”
Investigators discovered that Galea used the “Mira” tax program to identify targets of violent robberies.
His research specifically included cryptocurrency investors. On September 26, 2024, a prison guard was attacked when three armed men burst into her home in Montreuil after she provided him with her address.
Police found large sums of cash and Western Union transfers in his accounts. According to the confessions of her arrested assistants, she received around 800 euros for each operation.
But prosecutors charged her in a similar case in Nancy, involving attacks on the homes of prison guards, her lawyer argued.
Physical attacks reach record levels
Physical violence against cryptocurrency holders has increased significantly, with the Loeb database documenting 269 attacks in total since it began tracking.
The year 2025 was marked by 65 incidents, or on average more than one per week.
Criminals successfully steal assets in two-thirds of documented attacks, and 60% of perpetrators are ultimately caught.
France has become a particular hotspot, with Paris authorities believing a single organized crime gang is behind many of the recent kidnappings.
Western Europe accounts for 27% of global attacks, followed by North America with 24% and the Asia-Pacific region with 20%.
Market correlation and advanced risk assessment
Investor Haseeb Qureshi’s analysis revealed key insights into attack patterns.
Their regression analysis revealed a correlation of 0.67 between cryptocurrency market capitalization and attack frequency.
“A simple regression gives an R² of 0.45, which means that 45% of the variance in violence is explained simply by price,” Qureshi noted.
The normalization analysis provided a nuanced perspective. Adjusting the data for population growth, Qureshi found that “cryptocurrencies were actually riskier in 2015 and 2018, when cryptocurrencies were very small.”
During this period, Coinbase’s monthly active users increased 60-fold, from 2 million to 120 million, meaning that violence did not increase proportionately.
“We have indeed seen a recent increase in violent incidents per user, but it is a moderate increase, roughly in line with 2021 violence rates, and much lower than before 2019,” Qureshi acknowledged.
The intensity of violence increases and the methods of criminals develop
The attacks have considerably increased in violence. Hasib’s classification of the severity of attacks indicates that 51% of them are now classified as “serious” and include armed robberies, kidnappings or home invasions.
A further 21% are classified as “serious”, including torture and amputation of body parts, while fatal outcomes account for 5%.
Criminals have adopted sophisticated methods, with home invasions accounting for 25% of attacks.
Perpetrators often pose as delivery men to gain entry, while kidnappings involve surveillance. Extralegal buying and selling has become particularly dangerous, with attackers luring victims to hotel rooms.
“Dubai is actually risky in many ways,” Loeb noted, while adding that Dubai maintains a 100 percent success rate in catching criminals before they escape.
All nine attacks recorded in the UAE resulted in arrests, unlike areas where criminals often evade capture.
Safety Recommendations
“Shut up,” Loeb advised bluntly. “Stop flaunting your wealth.”
Its recommendations include avoiding face-to-face exchanges, maintaining situational awareness, refusing food or drinks from untrusted sources, and implementing distributed multi-signature setups that make rapid money transfers difficult.
Qureshi gave more practical advice: “Stay in a safe city, preferably in a building with 24-hour security. Don’t wear clothes with encrypted codes in public or show that you have them. »
He recommended using services such as DeleteMe to remove personal data from intermediaries, create mailboxes for business mail, and maintain separate hot wallets containing large amounts that can be delivered without compromising the entire estate.
Manosek’s case is still under investigation and the financial losses have not yet been assessed. Authorities continue to pursue leads leading to the three suspects still at large.
Masked gunmen steal encrypted storage in France and a tax worker is arrested for selling data to gangs. appeared first on Cryptonews Arabic.