Topic: My bitcoin just disappeared (Read 552 times)

As far as I know Electrum for iPhone was never available, at least not the legal one - and if you had Electrum on your iPhone then you definitely had a fake version. You yourself confirm what the potential vector of the attack is, and if it is not a fake wallet, then someone has somehow come into possession of your seed.

Given that it is a period 2018/19, you should know that time was one of the most lucrative for hackers who have discovered a vulnerability in Electrum for a very effective phishing attack - thousands of BTC have been stolen, and even today anyone who is still using the old version (under 3.3.4) can become a victim.

Electrum vulnerability allows arbitrary messages, phishing

1. You should have started your own thread for this.
2. You don't have to start Electrum to deposit money "into it". Electrum only handles the keys to your coins, the coins are not in Electrum, they're on the "network".
3. I see other ways too to steal your coins:
* seed stored in mail, cloud or other unsafe places, including your desktop; also is it you who has generated the seed?
* other malicious software accessing files your Electrum or iPhone or Mac may have not been deleting (I don't know if/how possible that is on iOS though)
Of course, malicious wallet is also a possibility.

Hi,

I have same problem and came across this thread by looking for address to where my coins left to: bc1qef4qzdg33h5djutas735w4x4e237cek9dpw8cj
I had initiated my wallet using Electrum, deposited smaller amount of bitcoins into it (last time on April 3rd 2018) and deleted wallet. Yesterday I tried to restore wallet from the seed, and found that there was transaction on 17th November 2019. I *might* have used Electrum during 2018 or 2019 (I had mac at the time, now I am back on windows, I also vaguely remember there might have at some point been Electrum for iPhone available so I might have used that to check my balance). I do not see any other way of stealing my coins but by compromised Electrum wallet either on Mac or iPhone.

Here is transaction where my funds were stolen: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/76a270a530aad8d497b78768fb538a7abf1a39469a628b428f58204697b5ca0e

The 3 most likely things which might have happened are:
1) You used a malicious application to generate the seed in the first place, such that it for example wasn't random at all.
2) You somehow entered the mnemonic code somewhere you shouldn't have entered it (malicious application, website, etc..).
3) Your device which has/had the wallet file stored is/was compromised.

Could you please answer..

• What software did you use to generate the seed?
• Where did you enter your mnemonic code?
• Do you remember anything from the day your coins got stolen? Any new software installed, anything?

What else have you done with that 12-word phrase? What other wallets have you entered it into? Did you claim any bitcoin forks? Did you try and claim any airdrops by entering your phrase into a website?

Where did you store those bitcoins if it wasn't in an Electrum wallet? I am asking because the user who created this thread kept his coins in an Electrum wallet. You claim you didn't have one installed, but you ran into the same difficulties.

Did you insert a seed from a different wallet and from where did you download and install Electrum (if you did)?
 

This is strange to say the least.  Your bitcoin was moved over a year ago, and only just noticed? 

Odds are you (and the OP) downloaded a malicious version of Electrum some time in 2019, and your account was compromised.  But to try and help you understand what happened, please answer the following questions:

Did you download Electrum in 2019?  Did you enter your seed into a mobile app?  Did you use Electrum to create the seed?

Hello guys,

I have the same problem...

I just checked an old Bitcoins account and on 2019-11-20 I have a transfer to the same account: bc1qef4qzdg33h5djutas735w4x4e237cek9dpw8cj

I didn't have Electrum installed on my laptop and neither did my cell phone.

Today I walked in with my 12-word phrase that I had kept in a neat notebook.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may have happened?

Thank you,

Oscar

There are too many possibilities at this point. Just to be safe, try to scan your desktop or any other device that you used to access your wallet in the past and check your e-mail/anything related to the exchange/wallet. Maybe you got phished or something similar.

pooya87

I downloaded the electrum app and just put that the app ask for.
The diference is , the app do not ask for pasword and ask to you to create a pin.
The rest is the same.

RapTarX

I am not totally aware about my altcoins in my exchanges to.
But, there i never had problems .
And, i do the same way.
My altcoins is still there.
What i know now is, when i have a bit of money, i will buy my cold wallet , just if i stil be willing to come back to bitcoin.

maybe this is the problem.
please clarify that when you say "see my btc in the smartphone" do you mean you have imported your electrum seed in your phone wallet or did you only import your master public key/addresses there?

As you said, a transaction was created from your wallet and your btc was sent; technically you have no way of retrieving the btc. You only can go to your local police and suit a file so that they can investigate. You have nothing to do as your btx has already been sent to another's address.
Trust me, it's not Electrum's fault; it's your fault, you got somehow compromised your device which you are not aware of.

I will try to answer everibody as best as i can

Bit Maxz, i sent you a message.
Your personal message was not accessing , but , it was just for a while.
If you dont receive the message, talk to me in order to sending again.
Thanks for the support.

Hosseinimr 93

And, as i sad, i cant access the electrum using my password in the desktop anymore.
I just access it with the smartphone app
Someone know what it could be ?
Is about the synce that are you talking about?

Try ninja

I dont know about bitcoin like you. I am new here and i fucked myself unfortunately. I am trying to do the best to let the things clear .
Any question, i will try to answer as best as i can, in order to retrieve my btc.

About the last transaction , you are right . I rarely opened the electrum wallet. I was following the news about the bitcoin through internet graphics.
I was just waiting the bull market to try to sell it.
I use to spend months without see my wallet. I thought i was safe.

Altcoin builder

I never rooted my phone.
As i am unemployed, i just use my home internet .
I avoid seeing any information about money or btc out of my home .
About the list, all my apps it was downloaded on playstore.

do you rooted your phone? can you get a list of all apps you installed in it?

He said a transaction was made from his wallet:


So I assume this isn't any kind of synchronization issue.

But the last transaction is from November 2019, so either he is way too late (and his coins were stolen 3 months ago) or he isn't making things clear.

It's possible that bitcoin are in his address, but Electrum is not synced and the balance is not shown.

Yeah, there is nothing you can do and we can't really know where did you fuck things up. And we can't really do anything with the transaction id or addresses (if it's gone, it's gone - so I'm not sure why people are asking for it). I would honestly do a clean OS reinstall, create a new wallet and follow the basic instructions to safe guard your seed: don't store it anywhere online; only write it down; be paranoid when downloading stuff online, etc. Or even better, buy a hardware wallet (Ledger or Trezor).

If you are sure that your devices are not infected and use the original Electrum then Much better post your bitcoin address here where your BTC is saved and the output that you talking about.

If you can provide that we can check them if your BTC still there. Because there's a possibility that your wallet is not syncing properly and can't retrieve the latest balance of your wallet(Possible your wallet is blocked from your internet or ISP).
Or possibly the wallet you are talking about is different and you might have different wallets stored from your device(Which is your original wallet).

If you don't want to expose your Bitcoin address here you can pm them to me and let me analyze your wallet.

---

There are many outputs on this address bc1qef4qzdg33h5djutas735w4x4e237cek9dpw8cj I can't identify which address is yours. So much better post it here or send it to me through pm if you don't want to expose them.

I do care about my privacy, but, you are my last hope and, i am glad for any help you can do.

At the begining, just a curiosity and, i dont know how this could affect.
I deleted my electrum from my desktop and  from my smartphone too, after this problem. However, i downloaded it again now , just in the hope of any change.
My btc didnt come back as i expected, but, the password its not being accepted in my desktop´s electrum program. The smartphone app do not ask the password , just a pin number and the safety words. The smartphone looks normal . I dowloaded it from the playstore and the programa from the electrum.org.

So, my bitcoin was sent to this outputs: bc1qef4qzdg33h5djutas735w4x4e237cek9dpw8cj

Do you need just that or , the transaction id too ?

I dont have any hope of retrieving it anymore, but, thanks anyway .

If you have installed the correct electrum, your system has not been affected by any malware and you have sent bitcoin to the correct address, your bitcoin must be there on your address.
Can you post the bitcoin address you sent bitcoin to? (If you don't care about your privacy)

Maybe there's a problem with your internet connection and synchronizing.

Ok, i will put here the answer that i gave to another one of the electrum comunity.

At first, sorry about my english . I need to improve it and i try to review all my text before sendind. But , today i will try to be more direct.

He post that

1. Where did you download Electrum from? There are plenty of fake electrum clones, are you sure you downloaded the real one from electrum.org?
2. Did you check the signature it is the correct Electrum?
3. Is your computer safe from viruses and malware?
4. Was your seed stored securely? I am asking because the coins are not in the wallet and anybody who has access to the seed can spend those coins from any wallet.

Answers:

1. Electrum.org
2. Yes
3. Yes, i barely dont use my notebook. I used to see my btc in the smartphone app. My phone is safe too. Just me use it and, is very rare i download something new. And, since i downloaded the electrum wallet, i dont remember of have had dowloaded other things.
4. Yes, i put it encrypted in a word file, and, this word file was inside a pendrive alone. And, i wrote the seed in a paper too. the pen drive it was just in case i loose the paper. The paper is hidden inside my wadrobe and, nobody have access and know what is it for. My wife and my friends dont know about my bitcoins and, when i receive some visit , i lock my room´s door. I am a bit paranoic about the things. Its cultural side of the people of my region in my country. We are very, very suspicious with the things.

I dont know if this help.
But, in the app, there is the output of whom took it out .That random serie of number and symbols (i am not acquainted with the terms).
I research in the blockchain.com , and i saw all the movements relative to this address.

You didn't answer some of the questions above. How the community will help you clear this thing out?

You just keep on saying your own sentiment without showing an eagerness that you want to solve this. Do you really want to know what are some of the reasons that might cause your lost funds?

Literally speaking, it's impossible that your wallet will just become empty out of nowhere. Maybe you did some unexpected actions before or things you aren't aware of. There is also a chance that your funds are just there but you gave up looking for possible solutions.

I saw all the coments and, i did all the steps in order to let my bitcoin safe. I put the safety words and all you said to me to do.
However , my btc just disapeared and, my altcoins in another exchange account is safe. In other words, does not pay taking my btc out of the exchanges . The exchanges is better then your wallet. I come from a poor country, i am unemployed and i tried to put just a bit of my money in bitcoin, to try have a better luck maybe. After a time, been unemployed is very desperate and, we use to do some craizy choices. I was innocent maybe. But, i still know how to identify lame excuses and weasel words. At least, put on your home page the words: is better have some pre knowledges . Just as you were saying in the comments. I am out. Btc for me its not the future anymore, its just the past. At the time, i am without money too, even if i wanted. rsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrs.

 

We all hate to read threads like this.  Our hands are "tied" when someone posts only AFTER the damage is done, and instead of coming here and getting starting directions before loading a wallet in the first place.  In ten years I have not lost a coin.  I wish there was a way to write code so that the software would NOT install until a GPG verification of signature was signed in some way first (I know  I am over reacting here but these situations are so common).

Electrum is the safest and most popular Bitcoin-only software wallet there is. You are in possession of your own keys and nobody else is, as long as you downloaded Electrum from the official website and verified the signatures. You lost your coins because of a mistake you did. My coins have never been stolen from or by Electrum.

Unfortunately you did something wrong, otherwise your Bitcoins wouldn't be gone. Where and how did you save those words which are called a seed?

The wallet doesn't belong to anyone here, it is not our wallet. Have you checked the addresses where you were holding funds on a block explorer like https://blockchair.com/ or https://blockstream.info/? Does it show outgoing transactions? Ca you share the addresses so we can take a look?

They are not an organization at all. They provide a free community service and aren't paid for it.




The letters are as big as the rest of the text and they are written on top so that is the first thing people see who visit the download section.

You don't need to register anywhere on the site to download and use an Electrum wallet. How should Electrum know how and where to contact you?

Besides 'this shit', information about Electrum is available on many social media channels. Check a few posts above mine for the links.

Not an organization at all, see above.

I doubt you are even interested in learning and understanding what you did wrong so if it helps you can continue blaming Electrum for what happened. Nevertheless, I am sorry for everyone who losses money, especially those who made poor choices but learnt something from their mistakes.

I am afraid you are one of the victims of phishing scam, you should directly download the app from their official website.
Man, I can share this because I have experience in the past where my balance was hack, good thing it was just a small amount, it happened like this, I open my wallet, I saw a message to upgrade my wallet then I do so but without knowing I was redirected to the wrong site and sadly I entered my key and everyone is gone for a second, that experience gives me a lesson to learn and good thing it's not in a hard way.

What Electrum wallet you actually using? The desktop version or a mobile version? As you said you use it on the smartphone so I guess you are using Electrum mobile.
If so, you might be using an old version of Electrum mobile which is blocked to new working Electrum servers. It means it can't request for latest data of your wallet.

Do you have a backup seed?
If you have a backup seed try to update your mobile wallet check the right URL below.

- https://download.electrum.org/3.3.8/
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.electrum.electrum

Take note: If you update it directly from PlayStore you can only get the 3.3.7.0 except for direct download from their download page which is 3.3.8 latest version.

At what point did you give "the organisation" your email address so they could contact you?


You mean except for Twitter, GitHub, IRC and Reddit?

Did you look here: https://electrum.org/#community

There are multiple ways to contact the Electrum Devs and/or Community to seek assistance.

I hope you reconsider this decision that making it seem that Bitcoin or Bitcointalk has anything to do with your loss because it's not. You could say that you have made the right choices, but I wish that before you did the steps that you say is "safe procedures", you should've come here in the first place. In this forum, many people are capable and willing to help those in need, especially in the Beginners Section. If you have made the necessary precautions, but you still lost it, there's still something wrong, and you can't blame everything to the people here. This experience could serve a lesson for you in the future and do not blame anybody else for your mistake, only learn from it. There's nothing to be gained in blaming others but hatred.

@RobertoCC

I'm sorry for your trouble.  Electrum is a safe wallet, I've been using it for 1.5 years now, and I've had no trouble.  Electrum is an open source software that's developed by the community.  They are not compensated for their work, they do it to support bitcoin.  They are not a business with a support staff like other types of software. 

If you accidentally downloaded a malware version of Electrum then I'm afraid your money is lost.  If you are misusing the real version then you many have made a mistake which we can help you solve.  If you can, please answer the questions posted by NeuroticFish, we can at least find out what happened and you may be able to save someone else from being harmed.

Electrum should only be downloaded from the official site: https://electrum.org/#download
If you did not download the software from that site, then you are the victim of malware.

1. Where did you download Electrum from? There are plenty of fake electrum clones, are you sure you downloaded the real one from electrum.org?
2. Did you check the signature it is the correct Electrum?
3. Is your computer safe from viruses and malware?
4. Was your seed stored securely? I am asking because the coins are not in the wallet and anybody who has access to the seed can spend those coins from any wallet.

PS. How to send you e-mail if they don't ask for an address?

I put all my bitcoin in the electrum wallet. I thought this wallet was safe. I have altcoins in some exchanges and, until now, i have no problem with them. But you, that say is better and safier then this exchanges ,lost my bitcoins .I made all the safe procedures (that gathering of words, passwords and etc...) , i just use to see my bitcoin in the smartphone app whitout doing any transaction or puting any risky information (just like the read mode in a pdf file, i just saw ). I used to do this rarely. Even so, my bitcoin was vanished from you wallet.
You should close your doors. You are not a serious organization, you just took the people´s money and put in your wallet for some months, until someone steal it. And, in your homepage, you put a message saying in small letters: the old version is vulnerable to phishing. I just do not receive any advise on my email and, i didnt know that i had to open your website to see this text. you dont have any formal channel to entering in contact but this shit. At least, i took the habit of saying this history in all youtube channel that talks about your wallet. You are the worst organization that i already saw in my life.
My worst regards .