Upgrade Stole My Bitcoin - page 3. | Bitcointalksearch.org

dunfida

legendary

Activity: 3122

Merit: 1140

Quote from: rexxarofmoknathal on July 13, 2020, 02:21:09 PM

Quote from: Rex717 on July 13, 2020, 09:58:26 AM

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Sad to see that another mate has fallen to the hands of phishing attacks. This is so common that it makes me want to cry too. From now on, never act on upgrades especially when it comes from softwares you downloaded of the internet. The electrum wallet like any other wallets should always be downloaded from their official sites, if in doubt better ask first before it is too late - unfortunately, like in your case Sad

People should really mind even on the most basic things to avoid these kind of situation or circumstances.I didnt really expect that there are still people who got victimized
on this classic phishing attempt via Electrum updates yet this had been known already in the past. Damn, 3.5 bitcoin isnt something an amount that can easily be ignored.
@OP, sorry for your loss but no one could able to help you out since tx's are irreversible and theres nothing we can do about.

hosseinimr93

legendary

Activity: 2380

Merit: 5213

Quote from: sunsilk on July 13, 2020, 01:49:29 PM

Did you just searched through google the word electrum and didn't go directly to the official Electrum website?

This is not the case here.
According to what stated by OP, he/she got a message regarding updating Electrum and fell for the scam.
Old versions of Electrum let the servers to display a message when users broadcast a transaction. This feature can be easily abused. Servers can ask the users to install a fake version of Electrum instead of a real update.

A link to more details about this phishing attack posted above by o_e_l_e_o.

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on July 13, 2020, 10:39:48 AM

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/4968

rexxarofmoknathal

sr. member

Activity: 980

Merit: 260

Quote from: Rex717 on July 13, 2020, 09:58:26 AM

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Sad to see that another mate has fallen to the hands of phishing attacks. This is so common that it makes me want to cry too. From now on, never act on upgrades especially when it comes from softwares you downloaded of the internet. The electrum wallet like any other wallets should always be downloaded from their official sites, if in doubt better ask first before it is too late - unfortunately, like in your case Sad

electronicash

legendary

Activity: 3178

Merit: 1054

3.5 BTC is a huge amount. sorry for the loss.

damn its just a very unforgiving world. you lost it all and you don't have anyone to turn to but the forum. this is why i don't trust any emails i got and would rather research first who else got some message same as what i got. you'd have to be very vigilant when it comes to crypto that even the emails from the exchanges you signedup might not really be from them at all.

philipma1957laptop

jr. member

Activity: 38

Merit: 3

Quote from: Rex717 on July 13, 2020, 09:58:26 AM

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Okay I will assume op is telling the truth.

Lesson number 1) do not have all your coins in 1 wallet

sunsilk

hero member

Activity: 3038

Merit: 634

Quote from: Reid on July 13, 2020, 10:41:25 AM

You are using Electrum.
Try seeking help here.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0

He downloaded a fake electrum app, electrum had a warning on their website above to be careful downloading into other sources.

Sorry about what happened to you OP but there is no way to get back those bitcoins. 3.5BTC is a big amount and I know what you are feeling right now. Did you just searched through google the word electrum and didn't go directly to the official Electrum website?

Most cases did like that and downloaded the wrong electrum.

gmakaveli

jr. member

Activity: 34

Merit: 1

Damn, that's a hard lesson to learn man. Just don't get discouraged, if you believe in BTC it'll all eventually worth it!

bitmover

legendary

Activity: 2352

Merit: 6089

bitcoindata.science

Quote from: Reid on July 13, 2020, 10:41:25 AM

You are using Electrum.
Try seeking help here.

It is useless to seek help. Nobody can help him.

Those coins were already transferred to another address. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.

Quote from: Rex717 on July 13, 2020, 09:58:26 AM

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

There is one thing you can do: Get informed.

You had 3.5 bitcoins. For about 0.006 btc you can buy a ledger nano (https://shop.ledger.com/ buy only in this website).
The price of the proper security equipment for your investment is about 0.17% of what you invested.

A hardware wallet is, without a doubt, the best and most secure way to store your bitcoins. I strongly recommend one.

jerrison

full member

Activity: 1442

Merit: 106

Quote from: Rex717 on July 13, 2020, 09:58:26 AM

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

so sorry for your loss but if you could trace the details of the transaction, perharps, you can flag and report it so people can be on the lookout for transactions coming from the receipient address. Phishing attacks have been around for sometime and I have personally been a victim of phishing attack on two occasions and it has made me wiser, though, my funds never got retireved but then it has further advised me on how to safeguard my only wallet.

Reid

hero member

Activity: 3052

Merit: 651

You are using Electrum.
Try seeking help here.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0

Oh o_e_l_e_o above already answered your question.
Sorry for your loss.
Damn! The post from github is December 2018 and it is still happening.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

Activity: 2268

Merit: 18748

Unfortunately you have fallen victim to a phishing attack and have been tricked in to downloading a fake copy of Electrum. You can read more about this phishing attack here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/4968

You should only ever download Electrum from the official site (https://electrum.org/#download), and you should always verify the signature before installing and opening your wallets. See the guides on how to do this at the end of this post.

Sorry for your loss OP. You could file a police report or similar, but this scam has been going on for some time and as far as I am aware no one has ever managed to recover their stolen coins. You obviously need to delete all traces of the fake Electrum from your system and install the real copy by following the steps above.

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/
https://bitzuma.com/posts/how-to-verify-an-electrum-download-on-mac/

Rex717

newbie

Activity: 4

Merit: 0

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Topic: Upgrade Stole My Bitcoin - page 3. (Read 660 times)