The pregnant daughter of a top French cryptocurrency executive and her two-year-old child were the targets of a violent attempted kidnapping in Paris on Tuesday morning, a brazen daylight attack foiled by brave passers-by and caught on camera.According to CNN, three masked assailants leapt out of a van branded with the Chronopost delivery logo on Rue Pache in Paris’s 11th district and tried to force the 34-year-old woman and her toddler into the vehicle. Her partner, 30, was assaulted as he tried to shield them. In the video, he is heard shouting, “Help! She’s pregnant!”BFMTV reported that the woman, who is five months pregnant, managed to disarm one of the attackers, grabbing what turned out to be a fake gun and throwing it onto the street. She and her partner sustained light injuries and were treated at a hospital, while the child was treated for teargas exposure, as per Le Parisien.The attackers fled after locals, alarmed by the victims’ screams, rushed to help. One man threw a fire extinguisher at the van, captured in footage. Witness Jean-Jacques, 61, was quoted by Daily Mail as saying, “I saw hooded and armed men running away… I turned and saw a man with a bloody head lying on the ground. There was blood everywhere.”The van was later found abandoned nearby. Chronopost denied ownership, saying in a statement on X that the vehicle was likely a fake branded replica. “Everything suggests at this stage that we are dealing with an impersonation of our brand”, the statement added.The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into “attempted abduction, aggravated violence, and criminal association” by an organised gang. As of now, no arrests have been made.The woman is the daughter of the CEO and co-founder of French crypto platform Paymium, which, in a statement cited by CNN, said it was “extremely saddened” by the attack and called on French authorities to “reinforce protection for collaborators in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.” French interior minister Bruno Retailleau will meet with crypto entrepreneurs to discuss the spate of recent attacks.The Paris Anti-Banditism Brigade (BRB) is leading the probe. Investigators are working on the theory that the family’s ties to the crypto world may have made them targets.This incident comes amid a wave of violence targeting figures in France’s growing crypto sector. On May 1, the father of a crypto entrepreneur was kidnapped and held for ransom. He was rescued two days later, but not before kidnappers severed his finger, according to Daily Mail. Seven suspects were arrested; two were later cleared.In January, CNN reported that David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, was kidnapped with his wife and tortured. A €10 million ransom was partially paid in cryptocurrency, but most of it was traced and seized.The trend isn’t limited to France. In the US, crypto millionaires were also targeted, including a March case where thieves raided their home. In Canada, self-proclaimed “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski was kidnapped in 2022 over an alleged Ponzi scheme.These incidents have also raised broader concerns about safety in Paris. The attempted abduction unfolded just hours before Kim Kardashian testified at a nearby court in the high-profile trial of her 2016 armed robbery case, in which millions of dollars in jewellery were stolen.
