A thwarted home invasion near Montpellier adds to France’s surge in violent “wrench attacks,” as high‑profile and doxxed crypto holders are increasingly in criminals’ sights. A man posing as a delivery driver allegedly tried to extort a crypto investor at gunpoint in a suburb of Montpellier, in what local media describe as the first reported crypto-motivated home invasion in France’s Hérault region. According to French outlet Actu.fr, the suspect gained access to the family home in Saint-Jean-de-Védas on April 11, pulled out a handgun and forced the parents and their children into a room before the father overpowered him during a struggle in which a shot was fired. No one was injured, and investigators from the Montpellier research section of the Gendarmerie later identified and arrested a 25-year-old suspect, who has since been charged and remanded in custody while police examine whether he acted alone. Read more
Fake “Cointelegraph” accounts are scamming crypto users. Learn how to spot impostors, verify identities and stay protected in 2025. If you’re a tier-1 crypto media sales representative in 2025, chances are you have an impersonator. These are often fake Telegram, X or LinkedIn accounts offering “Tier-1 PR” to unsuspecting businesses, only to share a personal USDT wallet address when it’s time to pay. Cointelegraph has seen plenty of such cases. In October 2025 alone, a Telegram profile styled as “Tobias Vilkenson | Cointelegraph” messaged BNB Chain to “set up a time to chat and feature BNB Chain in a Cointelegraph article,” linking to an X account under the same name with more than 6,000 followers. It’s a textbook impostor play: borrowing a newsroom’s credibility, promising coverage and moving targets into private direct messages (DMs) where the scam continues. Read more