Le 21 janvier 2025, au petit matin, David Balland, co-fondateur d’une start-up française spécialisée dans les crypto-monnaies, est enlevé avec sa compagne à leur domicile, dans le Cher. Une rançon est demandée. En moins de trois jours, les différentes unités de la gendarmerie mobilisées sur cette affaire conduisent les investigations, retrouvent les deux conjoints et interpellent dix malfaiteurs.
Le matin du 21 janvier 2025, un couple est enlevé à son domicile, à Vierzon, dans le Cher, par une équipe de malfaiteurs. David Balland est le co-fondateur de Ledger, une entreprise française spécialisée dans les crypto-monnaies. Les deux victimes sont aussitôt séparées et conduites en des lieux différents. Les ravisseurs contactent alors l’un des autres co-fondateurs de la start-up pour obtenir une rançon en monnaie électronique.
Concernant le volet cyber des investigations, l’Unité nationale cyber a déployé une quinzaine de ses gendarmes spécialistes, en appui de la S.R. de Bourges. « Notre action dans ce dossier a été double, a indiqué le colonel Hervé Pétry, commandant l’UNC. D'abord par une force de projection sur le terrain, pour appuyer les investigations par rapport à l'ensemble des supports numériques. Ces derniers ont été saisis de manière à geler la preuve, extraire les données, les traiter, les exploiter pour récupérer un maximum de preuves et d'informations nous permettant d'identifier et de localiser les individus pour retrouver les victimes. Nous avons pu progresser et transmettre les informations à la fois aux enquêteurs de la S.R. de Bourges et au GIGN, pour tout ce qui concerne le dispositif d'intervention et de recherches opérationnelles. Le deuxième aspect concerne des recherches effectuées à l'UNC, dont le siège est à Pontoise, en matière cette fois de cryptoactifs, d'identification, de traçabilité et de saisie. »
April 23, 2025
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its latest annual report. The 2024 Internet Crime Report combines information from 859,532 complaints of suspected internet crime and details reported losses exceeding $16 billion—a 33% increase in losses from 2023.
The top three cyber crimes, by number of complaints reported by victims in 2024, were phishing/spoofing, extortion, and personal data breaches. Victims of investment fraud, specifically those involving cryptocurrency, reported the most losses—totaling over $6.5 billion.
According to the 2024 report, the most complaints were received from California, Texas, and Florida. As a group, people over the age of 60 suffered the most losses at nearly $5 billion and submitted the greatest number of complaints.
“Reporting is one of the first and most important steps in fighting crime so law enforcement can use this information to combat a variety of frauds and scams,” said FBI Director, Kash Patel. “The IC3, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is only as successful as the reports it receives; that’s why it’s imperative that the public immediately report suspected cyber-enabled criminal activity to the FBI.”
To promote public awareness, the IC3 produces an annual report to aggregate and highlight the data provided by the general public. The quality of the data is a direct reflection of the information the public provides through the IC3 website. The IC3 standardizes the data by categorizing each complaint and analyzes the data to identify and forecast trends in internet crime. The annual report helps the FBI develop effective relationships with industry partners and share information for investigative and intelligence purposes for law enforcement and public awareness.
The IC3, which was established in May 2000, houses nine million complaints from the public in its database and continues to encourage anyone who thinks they’ve been the victim of a cyber-enabled crime, regardless of dollar loss, to file a complaint through the IC3 website. The more comprehensive complaints the FBI receives, the more effective it will be in helping law enforcement gain a more accurate picture of the extent and nature of internet-facilitated crimes.
The FBI recommends that everyone frequently review consumer and industry alerts published by the IC3. If you or your business are a victim of an internet crime, immediately notify all financial institutions involved in the relevant transactions, submit a complaint to www.ic3.gov, contact your nearest FBI field office, and contact local law enforcement.
Learn more about the history of IC3 by listening to this previously released FBI podcast episode: Inside the FBI: IC3 Turns 20.
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