Topic: Be careful when lodging into any hotel (Read 567 times)

Op experience has really taught me alot to be very care about my seed phrase or password,  not everywhere is safe. If Op feels that before the incident occurs his wallet and seed phrase was properly protected,  them it could be is password was captured by the camera in the hotels.

The chain of events doesn't make sense.

You check into the hotel, your wife uses her smartphone in the best position for the screen to be captured which means the screen should lie perfectly horizontally if the camera was on top of the bed, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Second, anyone can try and check if a camera mounted two and a half meters on the ceiling in bad lighting will be able to capture some words even on a 6inch screen.
The next day after the check out your wallet gets emptied, you go back to the hotel, and those guys who have been installing cameras in your room and know they have taken your money spying on you let you in the room again unsupervised and they haven't even moved the cameras.

Nope, I don't buy this scenario, most likely your entire phone was compromised from the start with a keylogger or such or the entire wallet was a clone and not the original.

 

So sorry about this incident, I used to be very cautious about hidden cameras in a hotel on before now because I've worked in a place that has a lot hidden camera surveillance in place. However,  Another thing that could be reason for this hack might be that someone Or the hacker might have already gained access to the wallet on before that very event and it just happened that the person has to wipe the funds that very day she lodged in the hotel, I'm guessing another possibility.

There are cases of hotel CEO using people for rituals in every form this day, one was caught with JUJU implanted under customers' beds, and since then my mama always warns me about going to hotels, you will never know what bad things are already inserted in that room. May God have mercy on our souls.

That really sucks. You were just doing your usual stuffs and some people out there are going their ways just to do this kind of stuff. This is why I do not trust a lot of hotels these days and that is why I never attempt to reside in one. Sure it is your room temporarily, but who knows what is always laying behind the walls, ventilations, etc.

I even recall some people claiming that there are even hotels that have two-way mirrors. My findings might not be crypto-related, but it is a worth taking note of it considering that we're also talking about the common privacy we should have.

Buddy, using your mobile phone wallet as your primary wallet is the worst thing that you can do and an accident waiting to happen (like it did happen according to your story). I would advise you to get hardware wallet ASAP and only use mobile phone for a hot wallet, meaning storing there only the amount that you need for a couple of days of spending.

Tbh, seems unlikely to me that your wife lost her crypto via camera spying and chances are that she suffered from some other vector of attack. By the way, did you confronted the hotel about having cameras in their rooms?

This is the most awful topic I read on this forum, how come you don't know that such madness is going on in your country before agreeing to use an hotel OP? If this bad manner have become normal in your country then you should have known, either way what has occurred has come to pass, there is nothing anyone can do about it, I hope you learnt your lesson.

Will you leave your smartphone at home and go far away from home? I don't use a hardware wallet, my wallet is always on my phone, same as my wife.

I hope that it's a lesson for your wife and a warning to other people that importing wallet when you are in another place is not safe that's because it is not your own olace and there could be someone on that place where he/she knows crypto. I'm sorry to hear what happened to your wife at least she is safe and that's what matters the most unlike someone getting inside to threat your wife into making ber give the wallet. If it is not the camera think I think it could also be because of connectingt
 to their wifi that let them hack into your wifes device (If I am right).

Hidden camera... 
How can the hotel put two hidden cameras in the room, isn't that a violation of the privacy of their customers. I will not let it go if I find a hidden camera in the room that I have booked, this is a violation of the institution that can be reported to the authorities because they can see whatever I do in the room with my wife.
Losing assets that you experience is very sad, especially when there is 1000 PYR in it. Then what do you do after knowing all that, whether to make a complaint to the hotel or directly report it to the police.

I have high doubt that your wife was spied with a camera. I have been trying to imagine the resolution and pixels of the camera that would cover the whole hotel room. Even if it's a 360deg camera, how will it be able to capture the mobile phone that is in very close proximity to the eyes.

Could it be that your wife used a laptop? Even at that, is the hotel specifically for crypto users?
Or will the man behind the camera wait patiently for 4 months before he could have a crypto guest and then wait for another 2 years to have a crypto guest who will import a seed phrase in the hotel.
I strongly believe your wife was hacked either by public internet connection or keyboard mareware.

I've known that technique when I've seen it on a video and aside from cameras, whenever I go out of town or go into lodging place or a hotel. I simply don't connect to their WiFi and the same goes for public places that has free WiFi.

I think that your wife should have never done that, expose her seed phrase on an unknown place. That's why when it comes to this, it's better to stay at home and do the necessary transactions at your comfort.

Not blaming her but we really don't know the place where we're staying so, it's better to just stay there and avoid accessing anything related to crypto or finances.

I hope both of you recovers from this.

Not until they start to deal with the hotel owners for their secret agendas being leashed on customers, I've heard of similar case related before whereby the hotel hid some mini cameras on the AC panel, fan, table lamp, water heater and the bathing tub, these are ateas tgat are sensitive for caption and all dealings that comes with privacy could be achieved in such strategic location, they can even caption the bedroom and bathroom nude of a customer without being aware, and theu uses such against them later in future, which is total violation of human right, those specific locations should be investigated and thoroughly checked well lodging in a hotel.

I am currently in Singapore now in both leisure and attending crypto conferences. I have never opened any seed phrases as of the moment in any wallet that I have because of being so busy connecting and networking with a lot of people in conferences, meet up events, etc.

By the way, would you mind which hotel is it? You may want to report it to the police because of these unwanted hidden cams as it doesn't respect your privacy in any way. And I think if we write down the seed phrases, one trick is to write it the "reverse" way. Like for example, if that phrase is #1, you should make it #12 or so.

This is really concerning to be honest.

There have been such cases in my country where sex tapes are been leaked by the hotel runners, they install hidden camera and gain access to the nasty videos, later you will get a call and they will threaten you to pay them money or they release the video to the public, I don't even think about going to hotels again, they sometimes use charms too, many won't understand what I am talking about but that's the case here.

If a whole human body can go missing in a hotel that belongs to a powerful person how much more just leaked sex tapes? For all of you saying the story might be fabricated you are definitely from a good country.

It  is wrong for hotel to install camera's in their rooms. When people pay for hotels rooms it is their right for them to have maximum privacy to do whatever they want to do. Putting cameras  it means every activities  that will take place will be recorded which is supposed not to be so.

I don't blame you for what has happened,  it was never your fault.  It is wrong that the management of the hotel invades into people's privacy with their cameras.  It is just a criminal act, that means it is not safe for people to hold meetings that may concern money in hotels  because it is not safe. Am very sorry for all the loss.

Of course, I do not dispute that hotel personnel or other parties are not responsible for the actions they take to harm others, such as: installing hidden cameras in hotel rooms, cases like that have happened in several hotels in my country, I admit it.

But, how do they steal your wife's crypto assets in your wife's wallet, did your wife say anything about wallet keys right, all about assets or keys are on your wife's laptop/android phone, how do they know everything......! did the hidden camera in the hotel reach when your wife acted, That's not all a secret, without having to say it in the room when opening the wallet.

However, if it really happens and you find a camera in the hotel room you are staying in, you can report it to the authorities or the hotel owner, I'm sure, if you experience a loss the hotel will be responsible for your loss.

There have been many incidents like this before and I won't be surprised again when someone gets the proof. However the problem is not about those hidden cameras but I really want to know how accurate this OP's story is to believe.

I'm certainly not accusing him of fabricating a false story, but he might be able to ask for evidence from hidden camera footage ^{[if the case is reported to the police]} to support the claim that it caused his assets to disappear. If no evidence is recorded then there is another possibility that the data from his wife's phone has been leaked either due to malware or something else. The other thing that supports the most is that the wallet used by his wife is a closed source wallet, so I guess there are other possibilities as to why the assets are missing.

Thank you for providing such trustworthy information. I never imagined such a thing happening at a hotel designed to house guests. I don't usually stay in hotels, but this information will come in handy if I ever need to visit one. But what could be the goal of a hotel that is intended for accommodation and has cameras inside? Isn't that prying into the consumers' privacy? I believe they can be sued for this and made to pay for the loss your wife suffered as a result.

Damn! Haven't heard this kind of allegations before. I have been in hotels before with my gf and sometimes even trading and accessing some of my wallets but luckily never robbed just like you man. I don't think this is possible though, these cameras arent that sophisticated I think. Those lil words coming from your phone would be invisible in video by these cameras as their mega pixels count would be low.

Newly wedded couples are supposed to concentrate on love making during honeymoon, and not business. You and your wife spoilt the whole fun 

I don't think that it is the hidden camera that the hotel workers used in stealing your wife seed and wipe all the fund. But probably she used a wallet that is genuine (fake wallet) and the creator of the wallet transfer everything to his wallet. Because all these things, I always tell people to use trusted wallets and not to migrate anyhow. Seed Phrase is not something she would be opening any how and any place she goes. And also using a public connection is another dangerous thing because even if nobody wiped you fund virus might have done that since you connected your wife phone to the hotel WiFi. Public WiFi is not secured, there are a lot of malware in public network.

yes that is might the real problem here, maybe he connected to wifi hotel address and if this true is not just seed phrase that lose maybe other thing also in danger.

and yeah you just simple transfer all the asset the new address than move all seed phrase the total fee maybe less than $10

Do you guys have to go everywhere with your seed phrase or private key? That's odd and feels wrong to me, knowing it's importance. It's the key to a treasure and should be kept as such.  Wallets comes with passwords authorisation after creation and would do okay to just send your coin where you need it to be, get to trade it if you want.

Besides, hotels aren't supposed to have cameras in there lodging apartment. The lobby and passages perhaps but, rooms, No. You could sue for that.

Honestly, apart from trying to save data I don't know what other excuse anyone would've using public WiFi. For someone to have enough cash to lodge in a hotel I don't think something as minute as saving data should be their problem. They can easily afford it. Regrettably, people have information they don't even make use of until bad happens to them. OP ought to have known better not to use public WiFi. I'm really scared shit using any WiFi that's not generated by my other device. As a rule, I avoid browsing in an area with open WiFi even with my data. If I'm out and I spot an open connection, I avoid like it's leprous.

That's not safe, OP started that he is from African country, could be the worst part of Africa where the law has no meaning, have you ever visited a lawless country before? You can go missing and you won't be found like ever, if he decided to walk away it means taking action is not safe.

There are lots of risks involved and potential attack vectors when connecting to a public WiFi, from man-in-the-middle attacks to loading malware on to your device. It's best to avoid public WiFi altogether and use your own mobile connection.

We don't know that because both of the wallets OP talked about are closed source, so they could be sending the seeds anywhere and you would have no idea. Other closed sources wallets have been caught sending unencrypted seed phrases across the internet (for example, Coinomi sent seed phrases to a Google server).

One lesson from your story is never to open any wallet when you're not at home because we don't know anything suspicious is around us.
I think some hotels may have installed hidden cameras to find out about their visitors' activities.
But actually, it has violated the privacy rights of visitors in the hotel or that place because the hotel installed hidden cameras without the visitors' consent.
You can report it to the authorities so the hotel can be monitored or even penalized for violating user privacy.

You should be more careful to read what people write above. The OP clearly wrote that he is from an African country. 
OP, did you have a good amount of money in your wallet so that the hotel management could risk their name for her? In addition, you write that you came to the room and were very tired. Could this work against you? Your wife could be inattentive and make some mistakes, and using public Wi-Fi, I think, could also play a cruel joke on you. 
I was the one who got their social media passwords stolen while using public Wi-Fi. Since then, I prefer not to trust them.

Well it's just an accusation the hotel isn't 100 percent guilt yet, until perfectly proven. Although I think you should also fear blackmail if there are hidden cameras in the room then it may have caught sensitive compromising details of you or your wife or even both.

I hope you take this matter seriously and simple things can help us out like I conduct all my crypto-currency business at home, if you have a good schedule of your time and discipline it's very easy. Make all transfers, and transactions at home or places very convenient with less threat. Maybe you and your wife have learnt good lessons with this event.

Another thing to is to use a VPN.  A lot of these hotels use no encryption and anybody can connect, including scumbags and scammers and gain credential in clear text.  IMHO a VPN is a must regardless as it also keep your ISP from tracking everything and then selling this information to marketing and advertisement firms.

I'm so sorry for your loss, but honestly, I'd be more concerned about the camera inside your room. While it sucks that you lost your coins, a recording of you and your wife by some sicko sounds way worse to me. Your privacy is much more important than money. Sometimes, it might not even be the hotel planting the cameras, but some previous sick guest who rented the room. As others have already suggested, it's best to avoid accessing your wallet in public places or networks. It's better to be safe than sorry. However, I could never have imagined being screwed over in this way. Last month, I lost some XRP due to a fake Google Sheets extension that installed itself. Scammers never fail to impress me.

What the hotel wifi network would have made to her, even if she was connected to it, I don't understand. No wallet sends its seed to internet or to any network. If one would do it it would be already empty. Nowadays almost all traffic is encrypted through HTTPS/TLS protocols so even if one evil maid would be spying the wifi network, she wouldn't see anything. The most dangerous threat is not always the one we think. And I wouldn't recommend anyone to bring outside his home any wallet with a critical amount into it.

It could also be that your wife's device where she entered the seed had malware. Does she use crypto regularly on that device? Did she create any wallet or enter any seeds on that device previously, especially recently?

But regardless of what happened, it's still a good advice to be wary of your surroundings when you do operation with seeds. Maybe in the future there will even be cases of crypto heists where people would get robbed in their own homes as attackers would install hidden cameras into victims rooms to take a picture of their private keys.

If you are so sure that they have nothing on you then walking away from trouble is the best, I will like to know which country you are from but I guess you aren't ready to discol that, if I were in your show I will at least report to the police just in case, but since you are sure of your actions well no problem.

This is nothing new, the first thing I would check in any motel/hotel is a hidden camera, it's very important, some people are so evil-minded and dirty that they plan to have a video of couples making out, imagine, they can even use this against you if care is not taken, I am not trying to side a part but the loss of asset might not even be from the hands of the hotel workers, anyway we learn every time.

Making multiple posts in a row is against the forum rules, you don't have to reply every user individually, you can merge all your replies to every individual user in a single post of yours.

Well, i am sad to know that's the situation where you come from, but i am also from an African country and 'common' people do win court cases everyday, but since you said nothing explicit was recorded by the hidden camera, then it is all good, and it might be a better option to just basically let sleeping dogs lie.

The camera in the room is a breach of privacy, certainly the people behind the camera where not just after your wife's wallet seed as they wouldn't have known that you she was into cryptocurrency just by looking her, they probably set up the camera in the room to capture something more most likely her private activities. The hotel deserves to be investigated and shut down as that is clearly against the rules of hospitality especially for a room you paid for where your privacy is supposed to be priority. In all, the moral you can learn from this story is that you should never let your guard down even in areas or places that you think is a private space.

Nothing else was recorded because we were so exhausted when we get back to the hotel, we slept off straight away, also I couldn't find any hidden camera in the bath room which would have raised some alarm already, thanks for your concern.

Police case? Where I am from the law can be bought with money, I am not a rich person to win this if turned to a case but thank God nothing else happened.

As for the wallet it's real, not the fake one, I started my crypto journey years ago and we were together through out the journey, I thought her all that's need to know.


Really I don't know that some cameras can't be detected this way, sigh, but it's all well and Good, I am grateful that we did nothing in private in that hotel, if not I will be in worries right now.


It was actually my first time using a hotel, if not for the wedding festival I am not the type that you can see in a hotel, mind you the country that I am from this isn't something new and with high corruption going on I can't do what you asked of me because I can't win no matter what, I am from African country but I've learnt my lesson.

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No she never connected to the hotel wifi, you don't get it, she had enough internet data on her phone, likewise me myself, I think we are been spied on because the second camera was right on top of the bed, if you lay on the bed and press your phone the camera will pick every thing you doing on your phone, I was able to understand this as the camera is well placed, if that camera have zooming then it's possible.

I am not surprised with this. This issue has been lingering for many years already. I just do not know if there is anyone that was able to prove that cameras on such private rental spaces/room.

@OP, is there really any camera technology like what you have described? Regardless, I think the reason why the assets have been stolen is probably because your wife connected with the hotel's wifi when she accessed the wallet while revealing the seed phrase.

Just to ask, can't you track where the assets have been sent?

I think if you use anti peeping screen protector which is for privacy purpose, this incident wouldn't happen.

However I wonder what's the purpose of your wife to import the seed from Atomic wallet to Trust wallet, it's actually a same unsecured and closed source wallet. If you're know the hotel have a hidden camera on your room, why you're not make a report to police and documented the whole evidence instead of suggest it to anyone?

I am surprised that a hotel room has a hidden camera, that is violation of privacy and if it is true i think you can take legal action against the said hotel, when i saw your topic subject i thought the issue would prolly be that you used a hotel's wifi and got into trouble doing so, as we know it is not good to use a public wifi when you'll be accessing your crypto stuffs; but this case of hidden camera is quite strange to me, and if i am to be honest, i haven't heard of something like this before.

Just as @Lucius has said, rather than making a post here, i think you should be writing a statement at your local police station against this hotel.

I'm sorry for the loss of your coins, but there are a lot of things you (or your wife) did wrong here:

• Atomic wallet is closed source
• Trust wallet is closed source
• Interacting with your seed phrase anywhere except the security of your own house
• Probably doing all this while connected to a public WiFi network

This will only find cameras which are emitting infrared light. Not all cameras do this, so it is not 100% reliable.

Apart from those tokens, the value of which I really don't know, maybe you should be more concerned about whether the hidden cameras recorded something else that could threaten your privacy. The fact is that it is bad to carry your seed everywhere and do what your wife did, and a case with hidden cameras is something that should be reported to the police - because no one has the right to monitor you in your private room.

In addition to hidden cameras, it is possible that your wife downloaded a fake wallet, or had a keylogger on the device.

My wife's assets was wiped out a day after our wedding, the only reason why I suspected the hotel we lodged in is because I found two hidden camera in the room the following day of the incident and my wife claimed she revealed her wallet seed because she needed to import her seed into trust wallet from Atomic wallet after we lodged out of the hotel that day all her assets was wiped out, this include 1000 PYR token I got for her as a birthday present months back, I went back to the hotel claiming I forgot a sim card and the room was still empty, here is how I knew the room had hidden camera, could be useful for anyone.  

Make sure that everywhere is dark by switching off the light and bring out your smartphone, ON the camera and start waving it around slowly, cameras have something like infrared that flashes light, that light can be detected with your smartphone camera.


You can try this with your smart TV remote too, press a button while your camera is on you will see red light blinking.

Stay safe out there people


UPDATE

There is more to this story that I am not ready to share on here but I have said the important part already, I am only trying to warn others most especially those from corrupted countries that hotels aren't safe no more, I have tried to take some legal actions but all I am getting is warnings not to go up against the owner, I will be a threat ( trying to spoil the owner's name ) they say, moreover the cameras might be removed already, this is not America, and there have been few cases like this here that justice was never served, I heard a lot even from  the police, I don't want to sleep at night with one eye open.

Thanks for all your concerns