A woman and her son have escaped being kidnapped in Paris, with the aid of a local shopkeeper, in the latest of a string of incidents in France targeting figures in the cryptocurrency industry.

The woman was identified as the daughter of Pierre Noizat, the chief executive and co-founder of French cryptocurrency firm Paymium.

A gang of four men wearing balaclavas targeted the woman in a street of the 11th arondissement of Paris as she walked with her husband at about 8:20 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to local media.

Brutal attack

The street was relatively busy at the time and a group of children was passing nearby on their way to primary school.

Three of the men leapt from a white van and tried to force the woman and her child into the vehicle.

Her husband resisted and video captured by an onlooker showed the three men struggling with the couple on the ground.

At one point the woman seized a gun from one of the attackers and threw it into the street. The weapon was later identified as a replica air gun.

The man was beaten repeatedly over the head as he tried to prevent the kidnappers from abducting his family.

The owner of a nearby bicycle shop rushed at the attackers with a fire extinguisher. The attackers then fled into the van and were driven off by a fourth man.

The shop owner threw the fire extinguisher after the van as it sped away. The van was later found close by.

The shop owner, who gave his name only as Nabil, told Reuters he had grabbed the fire extinguisher in a panic.

“I rushed over with that object, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it. But I feel like it ended the altercation. So I achieved my goal,” he said.

He said the husband’s resistance had made a difficulty for the kidnappers and “that’s what made them give up, more than the fire extinguisher”.

Crypto kidnappings

The couple were treated in hospital for minor injuries.

In January David Balland, co-founder of French crypto company Ledger, and his partner were kidnapped with a “large ransom in cryptocurrency” demanded for their return.

When Balland was rescued by authorities they found one of his fingers had been cut off.

Police have detained at least nine suspects in the case, including the alleged mastermind.

Last week French police rescued the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire who had been kidnapped in another area of Paris while walking his dog and held for ransom.

Police arrested seven people connected to that plot.

The attacks apparently target such figures in order to gain access to crypto funds, which authorities have long warned pose a risk for money laundering and criminal financing, as they are relatively difficult to trace.