Just as I was finishing this newsletter, the weekly JDD revealed another kidnapping of a crypto entrepreneur, in Troyes, whose name has not been released27, which took place on Friday 24 January. The 30-year-old man, lured into a trap, was held in a suburban house and a ransom of €20,000 was demanded. The victim managed to alert someone close to him and the police intervened quickly.
Last month in Belgium, it was the partner of Stéphane Winkel, a seller of training courses and self-proclaimed crypto millionaire, who was kidnapped and then freed after a motorway car chase.
Interviewed by Le Parisien28 in the wake of the Balland case, Owen Simonin (Hasheur) said he had been held up at gunpoint at home in 2022, which has forced him to take more precautions ever since.
Alexandre Stachtchenko, a web3 figure and head of strategy at Paymium, also explained on the public radio station France Inter29 that he had put security measures in place, and even added:
“We know we’re the target. We hope the mood around all this is going to change. For a few years now, when people talk about crypto, it’s either to talk about crime or about a casino where you win loads of money.”
Same story in Le Mans just before Christmas, when the family of a crypto influencer, who constantly flaunts his money to sell training courses, was found bound after being abducted 600 km away, in the Ain, in eastern France30. The 35-year-old influencer had immediately alerted the police, who found his mother and sister, but not his father, who was found in Le Mans on 2 January.
Enough to wonder whether there is a deeper trend at work. Some have even linked politicians’ remarks and the media debate on crypto to the idea that certain entrepreneurs now have “a target” on their backs.
True, violent kidnappings are up 8% according to the French interior ministry’s figures. But the vast majority are committed by young people, sometimes minors, and target public figures, which makes them more heavily covered. Add to that the fantasy of easy money, or of crypto, especially when victims flaunt apparent wealth in interviews or on social media.31
And yet, according to a police source who knows the latest case well, these cases could be very different. Because Djordje Novakovic, known by the handles SwitzyMyTeam or BeneficeMax, is one of those Dubai-based “entrepreneurs” who made a fortune in affiliate marketing. Their business has nothing to do with investing: it consists of running X or Telegram accounts that give out trading “signals”, and taking hefty commissions on deposits and transactions. Novakovic is the subject of many testimonies on social media and regularly buys fake articles so that these don’t surface on Google32. The investigation currently leans towards a settling of scores.
As for the Troyes case, the €20,000 ransom was the alleged loss in a dispute between the victim, a seller of mining rigs, and his kidnappers. The four suspects have been placed under formal investigation, and two have been remanded in custody.