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FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

fbi.gov

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Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#71

Post by jandrese »

jsmith99 wrote: post #7

They also specifically ask for people who made withdrawals. In a fraud like this, those who lost money often recover from the people who got out in time. Eg almost 90% of the losses from Bernie Madoff were recovered by suing those who innocently withdrew their 'gains' before the ponzi scheme was discovered.

Although this is the crypto realm which makes clawbacks harder. Usually when one of these exchange scams collapses you'll get a news story about how "unknown hackers stole everything" right afterward.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#72

Post by everfree »

fortran77 wrote: post #34

If someone wants to pour money into a crazy scheme, why should our government waste resources to protect them? The website says "The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that it investigates" so I suppose that's the stated reason, but why should they care? If someone was illegally selling securities that they claimed were regulated or audited, or that depositor's funds were FDIC or SPIC insur…

Are you asking why the government should prosecute crimes, or are you asking why securities laws exist in the first place?

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#73

Post by kolbe »

nindalf wrote: post #9
nonethewiser wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not exactly sure what the FBI would gain here, and it may be nothing, but distrusting them by default seems rational given their long history of corruption.

Again, this communication from the FBI is specifically targeted at victims of a particular scam. The victims have already lost more than what the FBI could hypothetically maybe do to them. Unless we live in Scooby Doo-verse and the FBI agent removes his mask to reveal that he was the IRS all along and this was all a ploy to get people to pay their taxes.

I think the real fear is that you never know what the FBI really wants. So unless you feel confident that you've covered all of the possible angles that an intelligence agency with 10000x the information you have could only be seeking exactly what they claim to be seeking, then sure, answering their call is fine.

But the general rule is to never ever talk with them unless you have a lawyer present. You have no clue whether you're the target of an investigation. You have no clue whether the FBI knows some percentage of their targets were victims of this scam, and are using it to get an in with them (you). You just don't know anything going on behind the scenes.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#74

Post by astrange »

judge2020 wrote: post #20
voytec wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about the right mind but the BTC core developer who "lost" 216 BTC a few days back apparently tried asking FBI for help[1]. [1] https://twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1609630432546406404#m

As long as you were going to pay taxes and weren’t actually defrauding people, might as well file a report in case anything comes of it.

Well, he can now take a $3000 capital loss deduction for the next 1223 years.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#76

Post by astrange »

fortran77 wrote: post #34

If someone wants to pour money into a crazy scheme, why should our government waste resources to protect them? The website says "The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that it investigates" so I suppose that's the stated reason, but why should they care? If someone was illegally selling securities that they claimed were regulated or audited, or that depositor's funds were FDIC or SPIC insur…

North Korea can steal crypto directly and doesn't need help from Estonians.

Though Lazarus doesn't seem to have been indicted for anything yet.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#77

Post by gggggg5 »

icepat wrote: post #35
_throwawayaway wrote: post #33

I've never seen a Russian name written like that: Ivan Turõgin

That's an Estonian name. Estonians are not Russian, though there's a Russian speaking city, Narva, in the east. Calling Estonians Russians is not taken well at all. The relationship between the Russian minority, and the Estonian majority is... tense.

Of course Турыгин is a Russian name. Spelling it using Estonian script doesn't change anything.

Looking up other Turõgins in Estonia, they all have very obviously Russian first names and zero obviously Estonian names.

There's no doubt that Ivan Turõgins parents fully intended to give him a Russian name, even if Estonia requires Estonian script on Estonian identity documents.

Even Estonians call these names "Russian names", that's what they are. If someone in Estonia decides to name their kid Muhamed, that doesn't magically become an Estonian name.

> Calling Estonians Russians is not taken well at all

I suspect that your comment wouldn't be taken very well by Estonian Turõgins

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#78

Post by simple-thoughts »

themitigating wrote: post #45
simple-thoughts wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When considering which corporate bodies to trust, I consider their public statements and policies, their historical behaviors, and reports from other users of their services. The FBI’s official policy is to harasses individuals they place on secret watchlists. Historically, the agency has been one of the most corrupt from the beginning, especially the Hoover era, and has never gone through a period of substantive ref…

"Historically, the agency has been one of the most corrupt from the beginning," What proof do you that the FBI is more corrupt than other government agencies?

Most USG agencies did not have programs similar to COINTELPRO. The FBI is the USG secret police and as such share they same set of problems other secret police have in other countries - since secret police suppress internal dissent with tactics veiled in secrecy, they are able to violate human rights much more easily than agencies that have more openness and less political valence.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#79

Post by gggggg5 »

luma wrote: post #66
lfodofod wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s worth noting that Luke would be a prime target for nation state hackers from DPRK and the likes. What happened here was likely a failed attempt to slip a backdoor into bitcoin core, attackers pulled out and took his bitcoins as a consolation prize after he realised his server had been compromised. The FBI should absolutely be jumping on this, not because of bitcoin, but because of the likely perpetrators.

Luke had his wallet sitting on a server that he knew to be compromised for months. There is no reason to expect a nation state actor, his loss was 100% his own poor security. It also says a lot about the "wisdom" of hosting your own wallet. Can't trust the exchanges, and you can't trust your own wallet.

> Luke had his wallet sitting on a server that he knew to be compromised for months

How do you know this? Luke has denied this over and over again. It seems like you've invented this in order to defame him.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#80

Post by icepat »

gggggg5 wrote: post #77
icepat wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an Estonian name. Estonians are not Russian, though there's a Russian speaking city, Narva, in the east. Calling Estonians Russians is not taken well at all. The relationship between the Russian minority, and the Estonian majority is... tense.

Of course Турыгин is a Russian name. Spelling it using Estonian script doesn't change anything. Looking up other Turõgins in Estonia, they all have very obviously Russian first names and zero obviously Estonian names. There's no doubt that Ivan Turõgins parents fully intended to give him a Russian name, even if Estonia requires Estonian script on Estonian identity documents. Even Estonians call these names "Russian n…

> If someone in Estonia decides to name their kid Muhamed, that doesn't magically become an Estonian name.

Correct, but it does not suddenly make them another nationality. Also, it's not spelled as you spelled it for a reason -- it's Estonian you're looking at. Not Russian. The reason it looks different, is because they're Estonian, so the name will be different.

My second point, which is pretty clear in the first place, is that a nation of people illegally occupied by Russia for decades, isn't keen on being labelled as Russian.

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