French data breaches have coincided with a noticeable increase in phone-based cryptocurrency fraud, according to entrepreneur Owen Simonin, better known as Hasheur.
The founder and chief executive of the French platform Meria says he has received multiple reports in recent days of callers posing as customer-support staff from established exchanges.
Victims are told their accounts or holdings are at immediate risk and are then urged to move funds to a “safe” address supplied by the caller.
Simonin attributes the spike to the accumulation of leaked records from both private firms and public agencies.
When those datasets are combined, he argues, criminals can more easily identify people who hold digital assets and determine which platforms they use.
An August incident involving France’s tax authority, the DGFiP, is frequently cited in this context; officials confirmed that data belonging to hundreds of thousands of taxpayers had been compromised.
Separate reports have described large commercial lists of French crypto users circulating in underground markets.
The script used by the callers is consistent.
They create urgency by claiming an account is compromised or that funds must be transferred at once to prevent loss.
Anyone who complies typically sends assets to a wallet controlled by the scammers.
Simonin stresses that legitimate support teams do not initiate unsolicited calls demanding transactions or personal details.
Contact normally occurs only after a user has already opened a ticket about a specific issue.
Even then, platforms do not ask customers to move coins to a new address supplied over the phone.
The pattern fits a broader environment in which personal information about French residents has become easier to obtain.
Repeated leaks allow fraudsters to cross-reference names, phone numbers, and financial indicators, then tailor their approach.
Similar impersonation tactics have already appeared in messages and emails; voice calls add another layer of apparent authenticity.
Simonin has also warned that generative tools will make these campaigns cheaper and more scalable, enabling attackers to automate outreach and refine scripts at speed.
French authorities and cybersecurity services have previously documented a rise in social-engineering attempts aimed at crypto holders, including fake bank or law-enforcement callers.
The latest wave focused on exchange support desks simply exploits the same underlying data.
Users are advised to treat unexpected incoming calls with skepticism, hang up, and independently verify any claim through official app channels or published support numbers.
No reputable platform will pressure a customer to send cryptocurrency during an unsolicited conversation.
The combination of large-scale data exposure and the irreversible nature of blockchain transfers makes the current campaign particularly dangerous.
Once coins leave a victim’s wallet, recovery is rarely possible. Heightened awareness among French traders remains the most immediate defense while investigators and platforms work to disrupt the networks behind the calls.