Almost everywhere in France, the gendarmerie services are noticing an increase in burglaries. And this, for a very specific reason.
At the beginning of January, the figures seemed to offer a reassuring outlook: the Interior Ministry announced that residential burglaries had fallen slightly over the past year. In 2025, there were 212,000 break-ins in private residences, or 3% less than in 2024. Moreover, this is significantly less than 10 years ago, when there were nearly 250,000. But that was without counting on these first weeks of 2026, where intrusions started to rise again. No precise data has been communicated at the moment, but on social networks, the local gendarmerie services are indeed talking about a “resurgence of burglaries” at the start of the year. A clearly national trend, since the gendarmes of Brittany, New Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and even Center-Val-de-Loire report it.
And this sudden increase in burglaries is no coincidence. Don’t see any connection with inflation: the thugs are not particularly worried about the drop in their purchasing power. On the other hand, their activity does seem to follow the evolution of economic news… Because a particular reason would be at the origin of the increase in burglaries at the start of the year.
In reality, this increase would be linked… to the surge in gold prices. In the space of a year, its price has actually jumped by almost 60%: a kilo of the precious yellow metal today costs 50,000 euros more than in February 2025. And it was at the end of January 2026 that we observed the biggest peak, with a value reaching 144,480.78 euros per bar. So obviously, at more than 140 euros per gram, jewelry, coins and other gold objects are more popular than ever with thieves.
And if the robberies are increasing, jewelry stores and metal refineries are not the only ones targeted: individuals are also victims of burglaries and scams, each more elaborate than the last. On the internet, testimonials abound. In the regional press, several elderly people report having jewelry or even bars hidden under the mattress stolen, sometimes by fake police officers or fake public agents who entered in broad daylight.
Unfortunately, there is little chance of finding your gold once stolen: burglars are often part of vast networks specializing in the sale and concealment of precious materials. In jewelry or ingots, gold is most of the time remelted to avoid any traceability. It is then converted or resold, including outside our borders, notably in Belgium.
