A 74-year-old French man was kidnapped and tortured for 16 hours; the kidnappers mistook his son for a "crypto millionaire."

According to Mars Finance, citing Actu17, police in the Isère department of France stated that a 74-year-old man was kidnapped from his home on January 25th and subsequently taken to a bar in the Drôme department, where he was illegally detained and severely tortured for approximately 16 hours. His face was slashed, and one finger was severed. The suspects mistakenly believed his son was a cryptocurrency millionaire and demanded a ransom of €3 million in cryptocurrency, sending videos of the abuse via encrypted communication to exert pressure. Police subsequently arrested three suspects in their twenties in the Rhône Valley area. All three have been formally charged and detained on charges including organized kidnapping, torture, and barbarity. The investigation suggests the suspects may have acted under the direction of others.