Is this more than just a wrench attack?

Are we looking at another situation where people just talk too much? I've got a feeling there’s more to the whole wrench attack situation happening in France lately. Since the start of 2026, there have been over 40 wrench attacks. Can we really believe that all those victims were just careless with their words? I don’t think so... It feels like someone is figuring out who has crypto or bitcoin. I hate to throw out ‘what ifs,’ but I can’t help it. What if there’s an insider at some centralized crypto company in that country? What if someone’s leaking info on the deep web or something? I remember a story from my country where a couple of bankers were tipping off armed robbers about clients with big accounts. It went on for years before they got caught, and the victims were between 14 and 20, with some actually getting killed.

All these are highly possible. We have seen how exchanges like Coinbase has been very careless with their customers information, but it can be beyond this because their could be insider information in a way that the exchange may not know customers information has been leaked. KYC is extremely dangerous, but there are instances that the victims caused it. Example is someone that revealed his crypto holding on social media and targeted by the criminals not long after. But some people need to increase their security and their family security. Example is the David Balland, co-founder of cryptocurrency wallet firm Ledger, was abducted with his wife at their home in central France. These kind of people can not hide, so they are targeted.

Whoops, this is something that feels really scary, and giving a big massage to everyone that we should use more no-KYC platforms, but you will see with the passge of time that governments of different countries around different edges of the world they will start to regulate in a way that everyone has to use centralized platforms more that we can only use when we do KYC. Actually, governments are planning to regulate the crypto market in such a way that whatever their users are earning from this space, they should pay taxes on it. So, this is why they are working on such a framework actively around different edges of the world. But we, as crypto space users, are more used to privacy that government and authorities don't like the most. So, let's see which side of the thing will move in the coming time.

There must be an insider who is giving information to these criminals about potential individuals that might own Bitcoin, and because of scenarios like this that is a more reason why people now need to prioritize anonymousity, no matter how small the amount of Bitcoin they might have. Because with this story, it is a clear sign this is not a coincidence anymore, but a well planned attack on people they suggest might have a large number of Bitcoin. And in addition to this, I won't still doubt if these people aren't forcing their victims into creating a Bitcoin wallet, then use it to buy BTC with their fiats on an exchange they forced them to register and verified with their KYC, and then transfer the funds back to them in a non custodial wallet. So with this been at an increasing rate, people just need to be careful.

There are many ways for Bitcoin owner information to be leaked to criminals, whether by third parties, second parties, or themselves. I don't think they would bother purchasing such data, which is commonly sold collectively, because hacking/fraud attack vectors don't target random victims. Physical attacks require more time for criminals to learn the target's habits and environment. They should obtain information from closer sources.

I already wrote about this in another thread, but you obviously missed it. The law in France states that anyone who own cryptocurrencies must declare them, and one person who had access to that data was selling them to criminals. The conclusion of the story is that if you want to be a good and honest citizen who blindly follows idiotic laws, what is happening in France can happen to you.

IMHO, most people that have that much asset whether it's with Bitcoin or any other assets, they're lowkey people. Although we've seen some incidents before that there's this girl influencer/content creator who's too vulgar and vocal of her holdings. So, all possibilities are in there and even the inside job. We're in an era that data = oil = gold to this generation. And that's why if the sensitive information that says how much this couple has got was taken by these hackers, they've probably sold their info or they were the ones who did it.

Yes, in my opinion, the KYC procedures that people mindlessly undergo on various centralized platforms pose a huge danger to these individuals. 🙋 The super-rich may be public figures. After all, they have well-trained and armed security. They are protected by professionals, military personnel, or intelligence veterans. Essentially, they are completely safe. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are in a completely different situation... From a public perspective, a cryptocurrency enthusiast is rich but vulnerable. There is no government or corporation behind them. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts (in the public's view) have made their money easily. Incidentally, many ordinary people envy cryptocurrency enthusiasts. They wouldn't sympathize with them if they were robbed by bandits.🙅 Therefore, those who undergo KYC procedures on centralized platforms, in my opinion, are putting themselves at risk. They are voluntarily becoming targets for criminals.  Meanwhile, the management of Binance or any other crypto exchange will not protect them if (God forbid!) something happens to them. They don't even admit their guilt in leaking confidential information.

Oh, I see. This is where the increase in crypto related attack in France is emanating from. The attack on well-known crypto users who have crypto businesses or flaunting their wealth on social media was common. And I thought it was their fault because crypto users should live private lives. But in this present case, the government is simply assisting criminals to attack its citizens. The problem is that the government forces people to obey these laws with sanctions. But it seems there should be a room for "principled disobedience" if your safety is at risk.

Is this story from Fiatless? My fiat story: How I nearly lost a brother because of banks I can not know the story is real or fake.

This raises a lot of questions about data protection and who has access to what in these agencies in charge of receiving and protecting data of consumers. It is crazy that one person could put the lives and assets of thousands at risk, simply because they wanted to play by the books and give their data to the government. I think there should be proper vetting of staff who are in such positions and there should also be limited access to such information. But nonetheless, this is just further proof of how dangerous kyc can actually be.

They are getting information for data leaks too. It doesn't necessarily have to be through hacks or other similar data breaches. An employee from a country can decide to sell the exchange company users' KYC data to the locals if she has access I don't  know if there's any available data to back the first statement  about loaded individuals been low-key.  I do know that it is  part of human nature to brag about what they have or own . Some could even say it somewhere without really trying to brag about it , they just let it off without  even thinking twice and later it eventually hunt them. The influencer situation is part of show off and yeah, influencer & cleleb don't really have that much of private life,  most people know where they live, when they move and so on .

They are getting information for data leaks too. It doesn't necessarily have to be through hacks or other similar data breaches. An employee from a country can decide to sell the exchange company users' KYC data to the locals if they  have access. I don't  know if there's any available data to back the first statement  about loaded individuals been low-key.  I do know that it is  part of human nature to brag about what they have or own . Some could even say it somewhere without really trying to brag about it , they just let it off without  even thinking twice and later it eventually hunt them. The influencer situation is part of show off and yeah, influencer & cleleb don't really have that much of private life,  most people know where they live, when they move and so on .

It’s hard to actually stop this because I don’t think any kind of vetting can actually stop this, human greedy even a  supposed vetted person is put at those places there would definitely be those who will actually leak out such informations or data, and the most frustrating thing about all this is that government will still deny them to been the ones leaking the information. Personally for me I think the only way to curtail this is for citizens is to resist declaring their crypto asset and then prioritize or focus more on anonymity while using cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has provided an avenue for this to be possible

Nobody will wish his brother such a bad experience. I have no reason to lie about such a sensitive issue. It was a true-life story. I am not surprised that some people disputed it since it was not published in any newspaper. Unreported crime in some countries is greater than those reported to law enforcement agencies. If it were reported in any newspaper, I wouldn't have published the story here for privacy's sake.   I was sad when it was moved to the off-topic section because I knew that I was telling the truth. But it's all good.

This could be true an insider in all the centralized companies or exchange may be giving information to criminals, if such a thing can happen in a bank then such a thing can also happen in crypto centralize companies or exchange. A lot of of things are happening, and people are doing everything possible to make sure that they get money or become rich an insider in the company can be giving details to criminals so they will go and attack those ones with High crypto or bitcoin however, I will not put all the blame on them because I may not be sure if that is true or not. Some people usually talk a lot and they review to other people that they have a lot of bitcoin in their wallet and this also can be the reason why some people get robbed of their bitcoin. I have seen a situation where someone was reviewing his bitcoin holding, and the next day he was robbed of his bitcoin by criminals on run point.

Without being told, this is not a coincidence or ordinary case without links to someone or a group of people letting out the information of people hodling big sum of Bitcoin in their portfolio, in the same country and they are being attacked without them letting out their Bitcoin accumulation on social media. The French government shouldn't wave this off, to call it a coincidence because this is not an ordinary attack that should be treated lightly that those being attacked are fortunate to be attacked by the fake police as Cointelegraph is making us believe so.

There is nothing that isn’t possible any more. Some wrench attacks are the fault of the victim while some are not. One thing I know which has always happen cases like this is that the attackers are eventually going to get caught and will face the law. On the other hand, this is a lesson for all of us to not trust anyone so much that we tell them how much we may have accumulated since investing in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

This is very possible, after all the allure of money is tempting and many can't resist.  That is why we should be very careful about our crypto informations. This thing is common.  Most perpetrators of theft, robbery, and kidnapping are guided by the insiders.  Even bank robbery is done through the intel of an insider.  Phishing and Hacking of bank accounts, too, are sometimes orchestrated by people who are handling banks' user data.

This is scary; if a record that the government asked people to declare their Bitcoin holdings in can easily be leaked and sold out by an official, then there are other data that are in the hands of the government that have been sold out this way. Nothing is safe again; this is not just about cases of someone having a big mouth and spitting to the public the size of their pocket, but now it's from the desk of the government. Just because someone chooses to obey the law, they are now a target; everyone who has declared their crypto assets should be careful about their safety.