ZachXBT reports having helped investigators freeze around $800K in crypto of ransom money paid by french streamer.
Criminals get more and more creative on how to steal money. Cryto has opened a brand new path for lawbreakers to enrich themselves. Kidnappers tried to get around $2 million ransom in crypto for kidnapping the father of a French streamer, But this crypto sleuth threw a wrench in their works.
Kidnapping
In August of 2023, a man was kidnapped in Sarthe, France, by a group posing as Amazon delivery workers. French media reports the man being forced into a vehicle. He was held captive and filmed with a gut pointed to his head. The resulting videos were sent to his son to extort a large sum of ransom.
The son Killian Desnos is a French YouTuber and streamer known as TeufeurS, who made good money with streaming gaming content and online gambling. He did not hide his wealth.
He received the videos while on vacation and paid the demanded €1,7 million ransom in crypto despite the investigators' recommendations. The victim was released the following night by a roadside.
ZachXBT
ZachXBT is an American blockchain investigator and open-source intelligence researcher who does independent forensic investigations into cryptocurrency fraud, scams, and thefts, which he posts in investigative threads on X.
On April 22, 2026, he published a post about exactly this kidnapping in France. According to him, he worked with Binance Security to freeze some of the crypto ransom money the kidnappers had received.
I can finally share that I helped lead efforts that resulted in an ~$800K freeze with the Binance Security team after a $2M ransom was paid.
The details were previously kept private but a tweet by TeufeurS himself thanking the crypto detective seems to have prompted him to now make it public.
C'est triste ce que je vais dire, mais meme si toute ma famille est maintenant hors de France, et que tout le monde est en securite depuis que ca m'est arrive, je n'ai plus de crypto, et ca m'a degoute. J'ai mon proces qui arrive, j'espere que la justice va faire un exemple pour... https://t.co/UFKMez0Gaa
— TeufeurS (@teufeurs) April 22, 2026
Zach warns about rising crypto crimes and reports having helped a row of investigations of home invasions in France also freezing assets and identifying culprits.
In late 2023, French streamer TeufeurS was extorted for a ransom after a family member was kidnapped in France.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 22, 2026
I can finally share that I helped lead efforts that resulted in an ~$800K freeze with the Binance Security team after a $2M ransom was paid.
Six suspects tied to the... pic.twitter.com/8SasirtMN9
He also states that six suspects were arrested in connection to the case. French media BFM reports two initial and eight following arrests in 2023. However many it may be, the investigations and support by the crypto detective seem to have lead to arrests made and hopefully justice served as TeufeurS notes the trail is coming up and expresses hope to make example of his situation and prevent it from happening to others.
