Do Not Attached Your Hardware wallets to your personal house/car keys

SquirrelJulietGarden

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Quote from: Phu Juck on July 08, 2024, 10:36:45 AM

What a bad way to store your keys. I hope at least it is a good lesson to everyone else how to store keys NOT because it can be simply lost and we will lose access to our valauble coins. Storing coins safely should be a very high priority.

The dangerous points are

That person lost his hardware wallet to someone else who can steal his coin. There is still PIN protection layer and with only 3 attempts, it's hard to try and succeed but there is still another risk.

If the person did not make proper back ups, losing his hardware wallet will be the end to lose all cryptocurrency in that wallet.

With such careless person, I imagine that risk of don't have any back up is not too small.

How to back up a seed phrase? is useful for anyone who want to self-store cryptocurrency in non custodial wallet, must know of back up steps and recovery process.

Phu Juck

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What a bad way to store your keys. I hope at least it is a good lesson to everyone else how to store keys NOT because it can be simply lost and we will lose access to our valauble coins. Storing coins safely should be a very high priority.

Quote from: SatoPrincess on July 08, 2024, 09:43:42 AM

I suspect the owner does not have a backup of his seed phrase because if he does, there wouldn’t be a $10,000 reward for the hardware wallet. And that also means that the coins in that wallet is worth more than $10k, even if the person who found it came across the ‘Lost and Found flyer’ they might get the idea of trying to crack the keys on their own and keep all the money for themselves.

Yes, it might be as you've said and he desperately tries to find now his hardware wallet, even giving out a bonus to whoever will find it.

Lucius

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@SatoPrincess, you can't just crack the hardware wallet, there is still protection in the form of a PIN which, if entered three times in a row, will reset the device to factory settings. However, if I remember correctly from an article when some vulnerabilities related to Ledger were published, apparently it is not that difficult to brute force the PIN on that device.

I think that the average finder would still take $10k instead of embarking on an adventure that is first a criminal act, and then a mission that in the end can only yield one bricked device.

SatoPrincess

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I suspect the owner does not have a backup of his seed phrase because if he does, there wouldn’t be a $10,000 reward for the hardware wallet. And that also means that the coins in that wallet is worth more than $10k, even if the person who found it came across the ‘Lost and Found flyer’ they might get the idea of trying to crack the keys on their own and keep all the money for themselves.

Pandorak

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Quote from: ABCbits on July 08, 2024, 03:42:28 AM

Showing brand of the hardware wallet (Ledger) and high reward would make speculate that Ledger have private key for address with lots of coins and he don't have backup. I would speculate he attached his Ledger to house/car keys since he usually treat those very carefully. Although he just realize that "put all of your eggs in one basket" strategy doesn't work well.

The basic knowledge in crypto storage is to store your seed phrase carefully, even if you lose your hardware wallet, you can still recover it. I'm not sure he/she is that stupid, it could be a targeted scam, most likely the ones who will find out about it will be people who understand and hold crypto too. With this, fraudsters can easily get real targets.

RockBell

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Quote from: _act_ on July 08, 2024, 03:09:30 AM

Hardware wallet is not for fashion and it is not like phone that people can be taking around. If you are taking hardware wallet around and people are seeing it, it is like you are telling people that you are saving money at home and one day thieves can come and visit you. So it will not be surprising if we heard that someone like this got robbed even if he did not lost his hardware wallet. Taking your hardware wallet to everywhere that you are going and letting people seeing it is bad.

If he backup his seed phrase, he has nothing to be worried about. All he needed is a BIP39 wallet. Most wallets are BIP39. He can also buy a new hardware wallet and import the seed phrase. But he should get a better hardware wallet instead of Ledger Nano.

People should understand the difference between what they are supposed to use for fashion since hardware is not something you take everywhere because there are various things that may happen to your hardware wallet, and if you are robbed, there is a good possibility you will lose your money. And if you believe that if you close it, they would not be able to access it due to the seed phrase, you are mistaken. If it is not accessed, it is useless to the person who has the hardware. If the owner of the hardware has the seed, it can be backed up. However, anything is possible.

And the instant people discover you have money at home, which is the hardware wallet, they will undoubtedly come after you. And they may force you to access the hardware wallet for them. Everything in cryptocurrency is inherently dangerous. To stay safe, you must be mindful of what you say and do. That is why they always remind folks to keep their seed word safe. That manner, your valuables are 70% safe.

Alphakilo

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The worse thing that can happen to a person is not the loss of their hardware wallet. The worse thing that can happen to a person is the loss of the wallet if they didn't secure their recovery phrase.

I want to assume that the person who lost this device and is giving out 10k reward for it, is likely that he or she didn't have their recovery phrase securely stored which would enabled them to have peace and restore funds on a new device using this phrase.

If the person had not set a PIN code then, that is another reason to panic. Because even if the device gets into the wrong hands, will not be able to access your funds without the PIN code. And from the best of my knowledge, the device will reset to factory settings if the wrong pin is entered three times.

hd49728

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Not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: Felicity_Tide on July 08, 2024, 02:26:12 AM

"Keep your private keys separate from your car keys".

Keep your Bitcoin safe.
And don't forget to Keep your device safe as well.

Keep bitcoin in a hardware wallet is good, not say it must be open source hardware wallet. However, bring that wallet around and combine it with car, house keys is very bad idea.

Hardware wallets are like private devices that need to be kept privately and secretly, not to show them around at public places. It's bad practice starts from bad thinking on privacy and security.

If a person has need to use bitcoin or cryptocurrency, store it in a hot wallet like phone and of course, with small fund in a hot wallet, for using when hanging out. For bigger fund and spending, store it in a hardware wallet, at home and spend it at home.

Hatchy

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Quote from: Zaguru12 on July 08, 2024, 03:18:03 AM

Funny enough he had the picture of his car key and the hardware wallet. Although the whole idea of having your hardware wallet with you keys moving around were absurd but the biggest mistake here is if he doesn’t have the seed phrase to his wallet. A seed phrase would have recovered that wallet. Even if the hardware wasn’t even lost the danger of it getting damaged without backing it is something else.

Something tells me that this person isn’t after that hardware wallet but probably the other keys attached do the hardware wallet, because in an age like this where we the public knows much about cryptocurrency it would be risky to publicly reveal the lost of the wallet and also the huge amount as bounty for it. The one who holds it in his possession might just decided to access it. Someone offering some much as bounty wouldn’t be naive not to back up his wallet offline. So I doubt he hasn’t recover that wallet

Same taught I had when I read through this post. It literally made no sense. If he had backed up his seed phrase of the hardware wallet I see no reason for creating such bounty because I'm not sure there will be someone so stupid not to back up his seed if that wallet really holds such amount of funds he is trying to make it look like. It might just be another random social media post to get the public guessing but for me it make no sense at all. Let's just discuss on it because of some lessons here.

On the other hand, if this was a real life situation, it will serve two lessons to others out there.
1. Dont ever make this mistake of adding your hardware wallet to your personal Keys as they might get lost or stolen.
2.always try to back up your seedphase no matter what, So you won't have to regret over stupid mistakes that wouldn't have mattered if your did.

Outhue

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Normally, all hardware wallets are not made of rock and irons, they have chips running on the inside, no single hardware wallet till this day is made for rugged usage, like some rugged smartphone that can withstand any harsh weather or long falls, so even if you hang your Hardware wallet on your key it isn't safe either, one single fall can damage the device.

Some bad people can notice it in your hand or in a restaurant and they will attack you, maybe stab you to take it from you.

1. You bring dangers to yourself.
2. Your hardware wallet won't last, due to careless handling.

Even placing 10k on this key will make people who don't know about crypto and hardware to ask questions, and in the end they will find out that there is something more worthy on your keys, it is that simple.

Abbatty

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The image says it all OP there is really no need to flaunt your asset keys but that is just what most people do, they use it to show off probably to impress people most especially the ladies. Key holders are meant to hold keys and not an Hardware device so i see no reason why a person should attach his hardware wallet on a key holder. If he really have to take your wallet around why don’t he make use of software wallets instead where his wallet will be installed on his mobile device or personal computer. He must have learned his lesson and understand that hardware wallets are not meant to be taken around and are meant to be stored in a secure location.

Quote from: Felicity_Tide on July 08, 2024, 02:26:12 AM

I have seen real life scenario where people tend to attach so many things to their keys. The reason most people tend to do this is their mistaken belief that keys can hardly be misplaced. Just imagine someone offering over $10K to anyone who can find the keys, then you can imagine how much is on that hardware device.

Anything not worn on once body can be easily misplaced. Keys and wallets are things that can be easily misplaced and that’s why we need to extremely careful with them and only put minimal things in them so when they get lost or stolen we don’t lose much. But then thinking of it again, publicly announcing about your lost keys with an hardware wallet attached will make people want to hack into it when found.

bitbollo

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even to me its seems a kind of scam or just a joke. why on a earth some one would ask such high reward for a simple key?
why on a earth someone should say " I own bitcoin in a cold wallet" (and probably these are a big amount since he is offering a big reward?)
best solution is to keep more then one copy of private key/seed. Other solution can just lead to big issues.

Lucius

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Quote from: Felicity_Tide on July 08, 2024, 02:26:12 AM

~snip~
Don't think this is a joke of something, as it can happen to anyone who use similar method. I hope we all learn from this person's mistake to avoid becoming the next victim of such situation.

It seems like a joke to me, because who would have a picture of their keys together with a hardware wallet on them? So that person first took a picture, and then allegedly lost that same set of keys?

Even if we ignore the first aspect of the story, why would he ask for the keys publicly and offer such a large reward if he has a backup with which he can recover his coins on another hardware wallet? Of course, we can assume that this person does not have a backup (which is really stupid), or that he does not understand that the coins are not on the device itself, but on the blockchain.

In any case, if there is truth in this, then it only proves that people are the weakest link in the security chain - because if you provide them with a device for safe storage (which Ledger is not really) and give them the possibility of creating a safe backup, they do such stupid things... Roll Eyes

When I think about it a little more, this looks like a bad advertisement for Ledger (given the geniuses from that company, I wouldn't be surprised).

Ishicryptic

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Quote from: Nwada001 on July 08, 2024, 02:35:26 AM

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Aside from losing the key by mistake, there are also possible scenarios of theft. It's easier to forcefully take that from you and force the person to open it.

This is the main reason why people should not show their hardware wallet in the open, either by putting it with a bunch of keys or where other people can easily spot it. Apart from misplacing it, the holder is also putting himself at risk of being a target of robbers to steal it, and he can also be harmed in the process of robbing it. The person can even be kidnapped to be sure of getting the seed phrase from him and not to mention the harm and trauma that will follow in the operation. Unlike bank bank accounts, wallets are the properties of the holder who has the private keys so people should keep their wallets and private keys away from the public eyes to avoid temptations of criminals.

ABCbits

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Showing brand of the hardware wallet (Ledger) and high reward would make speculate that Ledger have private key for address with lots of coins and he don't have backup. I would speculate he attached his Ledger to house/car keys since he usually treat those very carefully. Although he just realize that "put all of your eggs in one basket" strategy doesn't work well.

Helena Yu

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The lesson of this case isn't about attached your hardware wallets to personal house/car keys, instead back up your seed phrase in very safe material (stainless steel plate).

Attaching your hardware wallets to personal house/car keys are bad for privacy, but hardware wallet isn't the last way to retrieve your coins, seed phrase is.

Look at the bright side, if someone lost the keys, they can't access or open anything, but if someone lost the hardware wallet, they can still access their wallet.

Mia Chloe

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The person who lost those keys is in big trouble. If someone eventually gets hold of it , the tendency of them returning it is greatly dependent on their level of good will.
Placing such a huge bounty on that drive is gonna draw way too much attention for theft infact his phone number makes it easier to track him down. If someone should find that drive stick and decide to plug it into his PC and discovers it a drive for backup for bitcoin seeds or keys, it's good as gone because no one will place such huge bounty of $10,000 for something that is not valued at way over $10k.
I believe this should be an eye opener to people who carry their bitcoin keys or seed backups with them always.

Zaguru12

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Funny enough he had the picture of his car key and the hardware wallet. Although the whole idea of having your hardware wallet with you keys moving around were absurd but the biggest mistake here is if he doesn’t have the seed phrase to his wallet. A seed phrase would have recovered that wallet. Even if the hardware wasn’t even lost the danger of it getting damaged without backing it is something else.

Something tells me that this person isn’t after that hardware wallet but probably the other keys attached do the hardware wallet, because in an age like this where we the public knows much about cryptocurrency it would be risky to publicly reveal the lost of the wallet and also the huge amount as bounty for it. The one who holds it in his possession might just decided to access it. Someone offering some much as bounty wouldn’t be naive not to back up his wallet offline. So I doubt he hasn’t recover that wallet

_act_

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Hardware wallet is not for fashion and it is not like phone that people can be taking around. If you are taking hardware wallet around and people are seeing it, it is like you are telling people that you are saving money at home and one day thieves can come and visit you. So it will not be surprising if we heard that someone like this got robbed even if he did not lost his hardware wallet. Taking your hardware wallet to everywhere that you are going and letting people seeing it is bad.

If he backup his seed phrase, he has nothing to be worried about. All he needed is a BIP39 wallet. Most wallets are BIP39. He can also buy a new hardware wallet and import the seed phrase. But he should get a better hardware wallet instead of Ledger Nano.

Ever-young

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Quote from: sunsilk on July 08, 2024, 02:45:23 AM

Yeah, it's a hardware wallet attached to the keys. If the owner doesn't have the private keys attached to it like a small taped paper on the back of it, he'd be fine. He has lost his car keys and then the hardware wallet.

He'd be able to take back his funds through his private keys if he's ever kept it somewhere else.

The actual keys probably are more important than the hardware wallet itself and that's why he's giving that kind of reward. If it's with the car key, he can always go to the dealer and asks for a duplicate if he has lost the duplicate as well.

If the private key is saved somewhere else, he can easily use that to get his funds back. I don't think there is any way he can be offering that kind of money to anyone who can help him find his keys.

Offering $10k for lost keys means that might only be his possible means of accessing whatever he has in that wallet, either because he doesn't know where he kept his private key or because it could also be attached to the bunch of keys all together. Yeah, some people can be as careless as that.

Topic: Do Not Attached Your Hardware wallets to your personal house/car keys (Read 205 times)