Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys

Okay so I'm not really sure about what sort of responses to expect here, but I feel its worth a shot.

A friend of mine was using BTC-e for trading, and had a number of coins on the exchange. He downloaded some software for mining Quark coin, but unfortunately it turned out that there was malware in the download, and all of his data was compromised. They got access to his accounts, and emptied the whole lot, nabbing around 8.5 BTC.

Now I know that many of you will read this and say, 'well this is his own fault, he failed to take care of his security and that's why he lost his coins' - This is absolutely true. But this kid is only 18 and has only just been introduced to Bitcoin, and he's had to learn this expensive lesson early on. He was saving to go travelling, and now those plans have been completely wiped out.

EDIT:

Originally I was hoping people might be willing to make a few small donations to help him get back on track, but after reading the responses I've realised that this is not really a reasonable request. So instead, I'll just say this:

Please, if you are new to Bitcoin and you are reading this, take on board what has happened here: this sort of thing seems to happen ALL OF THE TIME! You have to take security very seriously, and follow all the advice given e.g. Use 2 FA, don't download anything suspicious or that you aren't completely sure about, try not to keep coins on an exchange if you aren't trading them etc.

By day trading he was already putting at risk his coins. The fact he was using all his stash to daytrade was not the sensible thing to do.

Furthermore, lessons need to be learned. He needed the money to "travel", not to have a heart transplant. Asking for charity in that situation seems totally unjustified to me.

KID?  He is 18 and can vote etc.  This isn't some 11 year old.

That said, sorry that he lost it, as others have said, hopefully he can earn it back and get back to where he was.  ;-)

Sorry this happened to your friend. But isn't it like he will learn his lesson now?  And 8.5 btc isn't like he lost a fortune. Bailouts rarely help anything.

How about this can someone please just give me some bitcoins I am poor as junk my health is failing and I have nothing to leave for my wife if I pass on. What can you do you know asking for money for a 18 year old who wants to travel is kind of well selfish because for 1 he is still young and in good health ie wants to travel. Secondly he wants that money to travel how is that going to help a life be better? I could post up on here for donations for the reasons stated above but I am not looking for hand outs I am trying to earn it by learning programming and working a menial job and mining Cryptocoins for a chance they could be worth a bit someday. Tell your friend to get a job and in 4 months he will earn that back.

Mining Quark and (day) trading bitcoin? Sorry, but both activities indicate a very immature understanding of bitcoin, the crypto space in general, economics, and investing.

Cheap lesson

Send him some of yours. Nobody has any reason to believe these stories whether they're in fact true or not, because they're posted here daily in various scenarios.

I'm sorry for his loss.

Someone will be traveling on those 8.5 BTCs, but it won't be your friend.  >:(

A question:  Did he have two factor enabled?  I have two factor for BTCe login and 'three-factor' for BTCe withdrawals, Login + Google Auth. + Email confirmation.  I am curious if the malware out in the wild is sophisticated enough to get around those controls.

My brother is 14 and has more common sense...

Okay guys you all make fair points, sorry if I have offended anyone with my post. I honestly was just hoping to help him out and it seemed like this idea might be worth a shot. I will be giving him some of my own coins by the way, unfortunately I can't replace the full amount for him. And yeah, its true that this was not sensible on his part, but please go a little more easy - we all make mistakes, and I am very sad that this one has ended up costing him a lot. I'm sure he has learnt his lesson, and I find it such a shame that this sort of thing would even happen in the first place (yes of course, its just the world we live in - but that's what I find sad).

To anyone who thinks its fair game to steal other people's money like this, you need to take a good look at yourself in the mirror - You are exactly what's wrong with the world today.

Also please let this be a lesson to all of you who haven't taken care of your security - please please take the time and trouble to learn how to safely store coins, and be very careful what you download.

By the way I wasn't expecting people to send massive donations, I had in mind that maybe a few people might have the odd bit of change that they wouldn't mind sharing. But I guess there can't be room on the forum for this sort of thing, the number of hacks that occur would mean threads like this would pop up all the time. I guess I didn't think it through - I was really just trying to help out a friend, as I'm sure most of you can understand.

if you really want to help him, you should post a video of him. if you don't put a face to a story, less people will relate to his situation.

i won't be donating, especially since this is a story with little to no backing.. and i'm not even rich myself. there are plenty of other cases worth donating for too.

Video please and an apology

if i were dying of cancer, i wouldn't even bother to ask for BTC donations. kind of strange, as some people here have set the bar much much lower than most of us. i don't expect someone to have so much compassion for my plight that i'd ask for free money, but to each his own.

Yes you are absolutely right, I had intended to donate some BTC myself which I still will, just sort of rushed ahead with creating this post and didn't really think ahead. I will be sending 2BTC right now.

Yes I have already apologised for any offence I may have caused, you know sometimes you think you have a good idea, but then when you read people's responses you realise that what you were asking was unreasonable. So yes, I'm sorry, I was only trying to do something to help.

apology for what? all you asked for is a donation right? i've seen much worse.

No no one is mad at you. I meant from your friend, apologizing for his mistake. It might get him sympathy donations. Vs. Greedy guy downloading malware then not even having the balls to post himself.

You're a good guy and friend, you're good in my book. Now get your btc offline.

Before you donate to him, he should apologize to you too, that way you know he learned his lesson.

derp

I know, I'll run this executable on the same box where I access my accounts

derp

If someone were dying of cancer, and I knew that a small donation could help ease their suffering, I absolutely would send something. I know there's a big difference between that and someone losing money by getting hacked, but you know, if I read about something like this and happened to be feeling generous I probably would send a small amount. I think that's why it seemed a good idea in my mind. Now I realise that the problem here is that there is not really any way to prove that I'm not just making this all up. I can promise everyone that I'm not, but that's about it.

Anyway I see that many of you are somewhat offended by the idea of asking for some sort of 'bailout' so once again, I apologise.

Get him a copy of virtual box and pirated xp

Ps we have all lost btc here, some much more than that. You mention the college kid. Well he had a photo. Our human brains may connect with that. A video would one up that. You are in negative territory as we arent even talking to him.

Wish I had friends like that, asking for donations in my name and sending me cash for my stupid mistakes.  
Allso, they should really lock btc addresses on exchanges to make it more secure. This way if someone broke in they would only be able to send your BTC to you.

Pps no one was offended. We've seen much worse. We've never asked for a video before.

Yet another sob story. People never learn that begging never brings anything around here.

Sometimes people do donate to these, but it's normally small amounts or happens more often with other alt coins. Some people are just naive and feel bad, and some people just want to help. From the perspective of beggars, what have they go to lose? They either get some free coins or they don't.

I guess so. Not that they have their dignity of some sort, right? ;D

I don't think its fair to say that he was being Greedy - he just wanted to download some software to mine a new type of coin. Sure he would have been looking to make some profit but that's why we mine, right? (As well as contribute to the network)

And as far as 'not having the balls to post himself' goes, it has nothing to do with whether or not he has the balls - he doesn't know that I'm posting here, I don't even know how he'd feel if he comes across this thread because he's not the sort of person that would expect sympathy donations. But it seemed like a nice idea when I thought of it so I just went ahead and posted.

So I guess the default reaction to anything like this is that it is a made up story looking for free coins? I guess I should have anticipated this, because I'm sure there are lots of people who would do that...

I guess I should just delete this thread, it was a stupid idea. Oh well, I only had good intentions with it.

I really hope we get to the stage where this sort of thing just doesn't happen - I have no idea how we would achieve this, but I am hopeful that we'll get there. The only other thing I can think of is some way of insuring deposits, which I imagine would be very difficult to set up and would involve all sorts of regulation.

i don't mean to poop on you or your thread, but any reasonable person would choose to NOT donate to you.. your story may be true, but there are way too many scammers out there to believe a story without substantial evidence. and to add to that, there are many stories of people who "need" money. way more than the generous BTC populous can handle.

Well, most people react to sob stories as scams, as most are. There are so many liers, it's not even worth trying to find the one that's telling the truth. Why? Because it's impossible.

Yes, you're right. There are far too many scammers on these boards. I feel stupid for posting because now people will be thinking I am a scammer, although I promise I'm not making this up. But I will delete this thread now.

A video will help because it would have entertainment value.

You can hear all the advice in the world, but the only real way to learn in life is to fail.

I got scammed out of $800 last week. Peanuts compared to 8.5BTC but it still stung because every dollar counts when you are starting out. Luckily, this "kid" was just saving up to travel and doesn't have a wife and kids that are starving. He will be fine.

Also, if he is seriously desperate, have him make a youtube video showing his face, and showing the transactions and all that crap. He might get something out of it.

The video idea sounds good, though anything can be acted out.

I see it.

You own 1MVb3rhB18WZKvh2FgskhjmmoAhB7th3Y1, right?  What is the reason behind sending 2 BTC in 2 transactions of 1 BTC?

It looks like this address, and 12dHgXQvYJmuogFbg84VR1DBK91rR3AxAn have seen lots of action.

1MVb3rhB18WZKvh2FgskhjmmoAhB7th3Y1 sends funds to 12dHgXQvYJmuogFbg84VR1DBK91rR3AxAn and vice versa.

If these are yours you are richer than I am, and certainly richer than your friend.

Call me a cynic but I'm having a hard job believing this sob story.

Even if its true, he should turn to his family, not a bunch of random people on the Net.

Half of BTC users are dishonest hackers anyway, your 'friend' isnt going to get any sympathy from these assholes.

Only half? ;)

I don't believe the "friend" exists ... I think he is one of those dishonest hacker BTC user types ...

It's funny searching Bitcoin on hackforum

I disagree, I think that the majority are decent and well intentioned people, unfortunately there are also a number of scumbags who cheat, lie and steal and its pretty much impossible to tell them apart from the honest folk.

I couldn't delete the thread for some reason, so I've just edited the original post. Just one more lesson to the whole community about how careful you have to be in protecting your money.

Fuck you.

No 2FA. I think using google authenticator probably would have saved his coins in this situation.

2factor auth is essential for keeping funds online.