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I just lost 1,400 BTC

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Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#121

Post by pvg »

brianwawok wrote: post #29
nemothekid wrote: post #4

As far as I can understand 1. The user had 1,400 BTC in an old wallet using this software 2. An old version of the software was vulnerable to phishing 3. The user attempted to use the software, and was phished 4. Massive payday for the scammers Really unfortunate - and goes to show with software you manage yourself you need to be diligent about making sure it's updated. For all the shit coinbase gets, it's difficult…

Also, I think it's just the reason that crypto-currency will fail. If you trick me into an ACH transfer of 16 million, there will a) Trigger some random human based audits at my bank before the money can leave (likely involve some phone calls) b) Have actual recourse, like court orders to hold the funds at the other bank c) Take some amount of time to happen, to allow for A & B It's not perfect, and it has bugs.. but…

If you trick me into an ACH transfer of 16 million, there will

Fun recent case - Citibank claims they fatfingered $900 million over:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-25/citigr...

And they're having some trouble getting all of it back although the commentaries suggest that they (eventually) will.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#122

Post by dang »

eanzenberg wrote: post #117
eanzenberg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked it up. 6% of Americans don’t have a bank account. Doesn’t say whether they could go ahead and get one, or they choose not to. Sizable?

[flagged]

Would you please start respecting the site guidelines? We've cut you a ton of slack and given you a ton of warnings. If you keep violating them, such as by posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments, we're going to have to ban you.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I mean, seriously:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24213951

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23717834

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22815833

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19872246

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16703618

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16314542 ("we've warned you about this several times before")

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15265824

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14918125

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12756676

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12554500

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11812475

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#123

Post by Canada »

natcombs wrote: post #115
vmception wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can sign transactions offline and hand deliver the file if you felt so inclined. Signed transactions cant be modified. Someone needs to make sure nodes see it that transaction and add it to the database, eventually. This user experience has not been refined, but is very possible. A system with fewer nodes, like if the internet was attacked and not available, would still work for this currency.

> You can sign transactions offline and hand deliver the file if you felt so inclined. How big is that signature/file? Can it be encoded in a QR code or something simpler to bridge the airgap?

The specific transaction this post refers to was 1813 bytes. It had 12 inputs that had to be signed for making it larger than average. For $10M I'd be willing to manually type out the 3626 hex digits, or if feeling lazy splurge on a $10 USB stick. Only 3 inputs account for almost all of the balance, so really it could have been moved for under 1000 bytes, which I happily write longhand on paper with a quill in triplicate before I'd even consider exposing the secret key to the internet.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#124

Post by simonblack »

If you can't hold it in your hot little hand, it does not exist. This also applies to your money and other valuables held by third parties such as Banks or Trusts, or wealth stored as numbers in a computer.

Unless you hold and control it personally, it's not yours at all.

While it's definitely convenient in good times for your wealth storage to be in the hands of others, you're completely dependent on the goodwill of those others. In bad or difficult times, you're not going to keep that wealth for very long.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#125

Post by kobasa »

It's not crypto-currencies and it's not crypto currencies. It's simply cryptocurrencies. At least learn to spell the word correctly before giving your absolutely ignorant opinion on it.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#126

Post by EForEndeavour »

simonblack wrote: post #124

If you can't hold it in your hot little hand, it does not exist. This also applies to your money and other valuables held by third parties such as Banks or Trusts, or wealth stored as numbers in a computer. Unless you hold and control it personally, it's not yours at all. While it's definitely convenient in good times for your wealth storage to be in the hands of others, you're completely dependent on the goodwill of…

Pointing out that you don't technically own the money in your conventional bank's chequing account is a mere distraction from the fact that in the real world, it's easier to permanently lose access to your cryptocurrency than it is to permanently lose access to your bank account.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#127

Post by GaryNumanVevo »

btilly wrote: post #2

Reading these threads I always have to wonder. Is the report of being scammed a scammer trying to make extra money on a sale? How would anyone know?

Bitcoin being a public ledger, it's fairly easy to see if 1,400 BTC was moved recently: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/ef600c380a239d9b929c6c964d...

I mean they definitely could have seen that transaction and just acted like it was their stolen money.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#128

Post by ykevinator »

gota wrote: post #5

I've said this time and time again: 'be your own bank' is a terrible design error, not a feature, for 99.99% of users. This guy is most likely somewhat technically literate, and this happened to him.

Yeah agreed. If everyone was a developer and a security expert, Bitcoin is great, but instead its a massive hobby that has serious risk like what happened to this poor guy.

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#129

Post by coronadisaster »

Canada wrote: post #66

I can't believe someone would even allow a system with that balance to even connect to the internet. It's like filling a car with gold bars, driving it around town, and hoping nothing bad happens. He could have created another wallet, preferably a multisig, created the transaction with the software wallet offline, copied the signed transaction off and broadcast it from another system. What he did was reckless. Some p…

You have to keep them in an encrypted container.... Then you can email a backup to yourself

Re: I just lost 1,400 BTC

#130

Post by nodesocket »

crtasm wrote: post #118
eastbayjake wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was my understanding that the user had installed a version of the Electrum wallet that was not from the official source at electrum.org. (But agree - it was really difficult to identify the core issue from this string of GitHub comments.)

They were running an old official version which has a serious issue allowing the full node servers it connects to to pop up a message. e.g. "You need to upgrade - click here" - that led to the malware.

And there is no way to track down the node server that popped up this malicious message? Take it offline?
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