First UK's bitcoin robbery. Stay safe. - page 5.

pawel7777

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Quote from: jlanzago on January 29, 2018, 11:15:30 AM

I think you should always have a hardwallet such as Trezor or Ledger, and you should keep it inside a safe, if you have a lot of Bitcoins probably even in a security vault at the bank. And the backup phrases also somewhere safe.

Hardware wallets/on-site safe wouldn't work. You'll just be forced to open the safe and transfer funds.

Other idea, is having smaller wallet/alternative exchange account that you keep only small portion of your holdings, but not too small. Then you could say that's all you got and hopefully robbers would take it and f**k off.

Quote from: Soke on January 29, 2018, 11:06:33 AM

There will be many more similar incidents like this around the world. Safest thing you can do is to remain anonymous when you're involved with cryptocurrencies. Don't go out getting a "BITCOIN" license plate on your Lamborghini.

This is obviously good advise. Stay anonymous and don't brag about your mad crypto gains.
But not everyone can stay in the shadows, the victim in this case was/is running cryptocurrency trading firm, assuming the operations involve trading on behalf of clients and that his firm was registered, staying anonymous was not an option for the guy.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Ya, I saw the news and also this is been discussed in a thread here; https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.29168004
...

Thanks. Updated OP with the link.

Soke

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Quote from: jlanzago on January 29, 2018, 11:15:30 AM

I think you should always have a hardwallet such as Trezor or Ledger, and you should keep it inside a safe, if you have a lot of Bitcoins probably even in a security vault at the bank. And the backup phrases also somewhere safe.

That doesn't matter when you have a gun pointed at your head. You will go get that Ledger or Trezor and transfer them your cryptocurrencies. Best thing is to not advertise yourself as having cryptos.

jlanzago

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Cryptomooniac - to the moon and beyond...

I think you should always have a hardwallet such as Trezor or Ledger, and you should keep it inside a safe, if you have a lot of Bitcoins probably even in a security vault at the bank. And the backup phrases also somewhere safe.

walterw

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Do you need a campaign manager? PM me.

Quote from: pawel7777 on January 29, 2018, 09:49:45 AM

i.e. few days delay in withdrawing BTC above certain amount.

Wow. That's really scary! I also hope that it will not be a new trend for criminals.
I think that it is practically possible to introduce a delay, but it is probably very impractical for a transaction that you desperately wants to do (An advantage of BTC is the speed of transactions.). In addition, criminals could then force their victim to turn off the security measure (if it should be a security measure that needs to be activated).
So we would be back at the beginning. Of course, I agree with you that more safety measures should be introduced.

Soke

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There will be many more similar incidents like this around the world. Safest thing you can do is to remain anonymous when you're involved with cryptocurrencies. Don't go out getting a "BITCOIN" license plate on your Lamborghini.

penig

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Quote from: btcwish1 on January 29, 2018, 10:36:11 AM

This is really a scary news for all of us. But "No arrest has been made'' scares me even more there must be cc tv camera every where.

Outside town centers there are very few CCTV cameras, usually only garages or few private homes.

btcwish1

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This is really a scary news for all of us. But "No arrest has been made'' scares me even more there must be cc tv camera every where. These criminals need to be arrested asap.

penig

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Very little you can do in this scenario, one practical advice from the world of bullion/jewellery is to keep valuables offsite. In the case of crypto that means holding only an operational amount in wallet close at hand, the rest in cold wallets on a physically different secure location.

shulio

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3 months ago, an exchange owner has been kidnapped by robbers in Turkey. They forced the exchange owner to give private key of the cold wallet. Then the police had caught the robbers and rescued the exchange owner.

aleksej996

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Do not trust the government

I don't think adding new features in exchanges is what would help here, as this is quite the short term situation that many users hold their funds in exchanges.
In future, hopefully, you will not be exchanging BTC, you will be buying stuff with it. And hopefully users would be using their own software wallets.
Using exchanges increases your risk of being hacked in the first place, as centralized exchanges get hacked all the time, more often than people getting robbed. Same applies to other web wallets.

You can always add this into blockchain itself. You can simply lock most of your BTC with locktime transactions that would have the same effect as the delay that you are suggesting and you would be exposed to extra risk of holding your funds in a web wallet.

metenjean

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Everything can surely be done at gunpoint, i dont think we can prevent anything about that besides we do transactions without middleman just between wallet. If we do a transactions from a bank, then if any of that transaction arose suspicious, the bank can definitely cancel or pending that transaction for further notice. But with bitcoin everything is different, it didnt have any regulations and no one responsible for your wallet beside your own.

pawel7777

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Sad story from UK, it's all over the news today:

Britain's first Bitcoin heist as trader forced at gunpoint to transfer cyber currency
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/28/britains-first-bitcoin-heist-trader-forced-gunpoint-transfer/

Quote

Armed robbers broke into the family home of a city financier turned Bitcoin trader and forced him to transfer the digital currency at gunpoint, in what is believed to be the first heist of its kind in the UK.

Four robbers in balaclavas forced their way into the home of Danny Aston, 30, who runs a digital currency trading firm, before reportedly tying up a woman and forcing Mr Aston to transfer an unknown quantity of the cryptocurrency.
...

Other links:
http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/29/uks-first-bitcoin-robbery-prolific-trader-forced-transfer-fortune-7268576/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5444048/bitcoin-robbery-gunpoint-danny-aston-oxfordshire-amy-jay-baby/

I hope targeting bitcoiners won't become a new trend for criminals.

And seriously, what's the best practice to prevent such cases, when you hold/have access to significant amount of bitcoins? Sure you could hide your private key (or part of it) in some secure place outside of your home, but then the risk of you (or your family) getting tortured or even killed increases. Well organised group as described above unlikely would be happy to leave with nothing.

And what about exchanges? 2FA is a prevention from hacking, but won't work at all if you're held at gunpoint. I'd be very happy to see some extra (opt-in) security features on exchanges, i.e. few days delay in withdrawing BTC above certain amount.

Thoughts?

Disclaimer: I'm just a humble crypto-enthusiast and only hold modest amounts. Plz no raid.

Edit: alternative thread (no signatures allowed): https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.29168004 (thanks vintages)

Edit2: Please don't quote this entire post when replying unless it's necessary (almost never is). It makes thread harder to read and it's a bad practice.

Edit3: another, more horrific story from Moscow: https://cointelegraph.com/news/moscow-man-mutilated-and-mugged-for-1-million-in-bitcoin-local-sources-report

Topic: First UK's bitcoin robbery. Stay safe. - page 5. (Read 725 times)