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Please whatever you're doing don't save your ether wallet private keys online avoid saving you private keys on your mail It's a death trap the best way to save your keys is on a paper and keep it somewhere secured maybe in your grandma photos album or a place you can easily get access to any anytime, there is this new scam going on a random message would just pop up on your mobile with two options "Cancel" and "OK" meanwhile "OK" means Cancel while "Cancel" means  OK they interchanged the options to get you traped a friend of mine ether wallet was hacked yesterday through his mail and all his assets taken away. The messages can not be avoided the best solution is to keep your private keys offline

There there still people who used Gmail or Yahoo mail to keep private keys? If there is they are stupid, emails can be compromised in several ways you can never think of, it's better to write it down in a book that only you have access to or carve to a silver steel, I used carving to safe mine

Who in their right mind would save their precious keys online? not to mention in an email THAT A COMPANY CAN SEE AND HAVE A HIGH RISK OF GETTING HACKED? But hey, thanks to your friends sacrifice, we get to know one of the scammers method.

It is really needed for us to save the private key to safe place yes it is good if it's offline because  once you save it to the gmail or any online platforms or in the computer possible the hacker will hack and for sure once they open your wallet your money will gone. Im not using a wallet that kinds of wallet if I save my private key I will make sure all the details will be safe no one can know expect to me.

I have created several thread about it:

[1] Do not use any note taking apps for recording your crypto keys and password (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5285432.0)
[2] The dangers and threat of using Self destruct Private Notes (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5255690.0).

So anything that is online is not safe to keep your private keys or mnemonic phrase. It's better to write it down, put in a safety deposit box for safe keeping.

Some people save their private keys online for them to have easy access to their wallets anytime anywhere.


I agree! Don't store your important private keys in email.

Would you give a screenshot of this random message? And I want to know if it's shown in an application or browser? These notifications show only in the browser because I see one of them and not aware that these could hack the private keys you have in your email.

save on email is very vulnerable it will be a valuable lesson for your friends ,write in a book or print and keep it in the cupboard is safer ,some other additions avoid malicious web / applications if you still have it on your hardware because a hacker keep trying to hack and enter through very small gaps ,it is a matter of money and the user should take better care of it like money in a personal home treasure box

I don't save my wallet details in any online way like email, facebook messanger etc. It is very risky to save wallet details in online like email. Don't click any suspicious email link. One years ago my blockchain wallet was hacked due to clicking a phising login attempt link in my email. I have thought i have tried to login few minutes ago, i opened the wrong link that wasn't mine and login with password. Few minutes later, i have found my balance empty. So, i won't recommend anyone to put wallet details in online. You can save your details in offline, increase security by 2fa code and mobile verification if it supports in wallet.

Can you please share more information on this pop up message? Your friend must have clicked some link on email or text message that contains malware. This is also the first time I've read about this okay means cancel and vice versa. Maybe the malware will be downloaded whichever option you click. It kind of reminded me of those porn sites years ago that when you try to close it clicking "X", more windows pops up instead.

Since you arrive in the crypto world, you learn with great losses.

But uploading files to the cloud is a great bad idea.

Never trust that, not even to save personal photos.

Better keep everything on pc or hard drives ...

What do you mean Myetherwallet? I have used Myetherwallet on the desktop for years and there are no problems,
if indeed everyone is no longer using it, try to make a wallet using a keystore file because it is very safe

it seems like this is a new method that used by the scammers. BTW i never instal suspicious application on my phone but sometimes there's someone who has been getting trapped by phishing.
We should always be careful with any application that we wanna try to deal with it.
Just always try to remember DYOR

So the malicious message works like phishing? Just click button and viola your ethereum in your wallet will disappeared? I think this lacks the real information of what happened to your friends wallet and how it was really hacked, anyways it's always safer to keep your wallet private keys offline or just write it down on paper 

Sad thing to have happened to your friend but don't you think the heading of your topic is a bit misleading! at first i thought eth wallet has resulted to scamming activity, after reading the post it was clear the scam took place as a result of of the info stored in the email, you make it sound like eth wallet is at fault,
anyways it has been over stressed here that people should avoid storing their priv key on their email on any online file, the danger is high,
and we should also learn how to avoid opening unknown mails, you can either flagged them as spam, put on blacklist or delete immediately without opening, you never know what will pop out.

This looks like a new method that many are not aware of this cancel and ok thing, it's better that you create a complete thread about this method , it's better to put this in the scam section or the beginner's help, is it possible to get your account or email compromised even if you have a 2 factor authentication, or phone verification, this is something that should be explore.

For 6 years almost now, I haven't seen any problem using Ether wallet because I saved my private keys on my USB, and from
that time until now still safe and sounds dude, So, in your case you are just learned from your experienced and thanks for that concern
anyway, Good day.

The email was hacked and his private keys stolen what part of it are you not understanding?

Indeed, keeping the wallet private keys offline is the best solution and I think that is the only way to be safe and difficult to hack by other people, therefore avoid fraudulent information so that we are not trapped and the website must also be considered when accessing the Ether wallet because many sites resemble official wallets so that we unwittingly access scam sites and all our assets are lost

This is very elementary. Why would you save your private keys online? If you are keeping your keys online, then you are somehow like keeping your funds in a custodial wallet. In the first place, you have kept your funds in a wallet where you own your private keys so that you really own your funds. But if you already have them and then save them somewhere other people could possibly force to access then the purpose is already defeated.

It's a very unfortunate incident, but why did you save your private key in your mail? base on what you said that was the case, but I dont think your email is just easy to penetrate if you have done securing it correctly.
Dont just use the same email at a time it is better to create an email according to its purpose and make it more secure by adding a strong password, enables the 2fa, in mobile, or an authenticator app, to make sure it was secure unless the email provider was already compromised, I believe you become a victim of phishing it is usually caused by just a link that looks like legitimate so be careful always exercise precautions before opening any link to avoid that happening again.

you just do not store your private key online, it is not safe at all, even without scams like the one described (which is unknown to me), all online data could be hacked, and you do not want to have your private key online, since this make it vulnerable
one more thing, it is good to have your private key on at least two different locations, without copy on mobile phone, since mobile phone is security hole for each IT expert

I was taught that when I joined blockchain new by my mentor those days.
I was once hacked and my btc in an exchange was withdrawn. Why the criminal was able to login to the exchange was because I was using web authenticator extension then, so he has access to it.
Nothing discourages as hack in blockchain. Losing your asset in a twinkle of an eye. That was my worst experience in the crypto-space.
Don't ever synchronize your Google account with the email you use in registration on several websites.

Don't synchronize it on anything, your main email should be separated from all the other emails that you are using from bounty campaign airdrop campaign and other sites where you have to sign up, and don't get into the habit of clicking any email that comes to you that are unfamiliar.

This is very tricky and hard to find out if the pop up is scam or not, well scammers are improving as well so we have to take caution always. Private keys are something that you should not share online so its not advisable to save it using a third party app, better to just write it down or put it into a place that only you have the access.

I have been using my eth wallet for a long time. Currently using Metamask. I don't know much about other Eth wallets like trust, atomic. But my eth wallet is best to me.

Scammers have many ways they can use, including using malware and the like. in cases like "pop up message" the best thing to do is not to touch any buttons on the screen, including "cancel". You can go directly to back or home navigation, then force close the browser or related application

I believe that before hackers take action to steal cryptocurrency from someone else's wallet, first of all it was necessary to attract their attention, that is, go to a phishing site or show the real attitude of a particular email to the owner's activities in the cryptocurrency market, since having only the wallet address and information about the balance, there is no way to steal it.

Yes, you can call it phishing. myetherwallet has also given a warning to bookmarks their website (if you want to access it using browser). Scammers use many methods including creating a website that is almost or even similar to MyetherWallet to create phising sites

^ nice topic. The private key is very sensitive so don't keep it anywhere especially Gmail/email. I have 3 wallet accounts = Atomic, Blockchain.info, and MEW, I store the private keys of each wallet that I have in my diary and store the book in my personal safe.

Things like that we have often found in the world of cryptocurrencies and they are always targeting our crypto assets then we have to be careful in creating wallet keys, now they have used a new way and this is very dangerous to us because every option in the form of ads we always press cancel, and this way is already used by them, then we must always be vigilant.

maybe your computer has been hacked i usually store the wallet keys in encrypted files which will cause every hacked attacker attempt to fail

Yes it's the best advice to have hard copy of private keys or memo phrases written on paper because it cannot be hacked or phished by someone no matter what. I do store store my private keys both offline and online just for back up purposes if anything happens on my hard copies. I felt i am guilty with this because i store my keys on my email, though i have enabled security measures on my email such 2FA, ip recognition and confirmation and my keys were compressed with high level password. So, i am still confident my email is safe and keys are safe as well.

want to save everything offline or online there is a risk, if you save online don't save it in Gmail, just save it on your laptop / PC note and put it where only you know where it is and avoid saving anything important online in apps / media that are widely accessible to the public , also save offline and have to be extra in mind that offline forgetting to taru which can be difficult, offline and online have the same risk of returning to yourself, if there is a suspicious message just ignore it

There are risks involved in saving money online the number of scams is increasing as the crypto market improves that's why you need to save money on reliable sites. In order to maintain the security of your wallet you need to keep your wallet password and private key offline or if you use 2fa code for email password no one will be able to access your wallet easily if laptop or pc is lost or hacked accessing information online is very easy so don't share your personal information with anyone to avoid the risk.

Google accounts are now easy to compromise so it's not better to save any private keys in a google account or any online platform. Don't the security protocols of any online platform, anyone can be hacked right now especially when you don't have 2fa or any additional securities on your account.

If you really want to keep it safe, I suggest to go offline and save those private keys manually written or printed on paper.

The ridiculous thing that they have done, many have suggested before that safer storage for offline private keys is the best place, no matter how strong the security is online, hackers are smarter to infiltrate especially with google accounts to be easy to connect at any time because hackers are already proficient at this is, I am not doing this carelessly, this will still be a lesson for you how big the risk is to storing assets online, especially the very important private key, hopefully this will not happen the second time around

Holy shit, this is first time I have seen this type of scam, random pop ups and swapped actual options makes it harder to counter, i wonder how does this actually work?

Private keys are meant to be kept offline not online, using cloud storages and emails to store private keys isn't close to safe at all, and again start using 2FA on your smartphones if you are using crypto wallets on your phone, with 2FA it will be hard for random pop up to hijack your keys

This isn't a scam, it's a phishing attack.
Users who usually store confidential data online are typical of those who are in a hurry and everything is laid out for easy access anywhere quickly. When many tabs are open in one app (eg chrome), they do not really pay attention to the addresses visited.

Yes, sometimes these random pop-ups are already a phishing website. So if in case you are working and suddenly a pop-up or unsolicited website appears, close it immediately. Usually, they come in the form of very enticing investment options or free items if you click their tab. Scammers are good in deceiving their potential casualty over the net.

Based on your story, I think there is confusion here:
The wallet is hacked, but why did you accuse that ether is a scam? This is a very different way to do that. You are scammed by ether if ether did something wth your asset, get it to lose because ether wallet who did it. And you may create a wallet in a fake ether wallet.
But from what you said is that the wallet is ahcked. So, it is not the fault of ether wallet, and it odesn;t mean that ether wallet is a scam.

However here, an online wallet is too risky. Ether wallet also has noticed about it before registering, an online wallet is risky and better to use mobile walet. or a hardware wallet. about how to store the private keys and other crucial data, I do believe that we need to store it in a saver device and must have a backup.

We are responsible to our own safety and your advice is not that bad as the safest place to hide your private key is not online but offline and with regards to what happen
to your friend, I am not so sure if how it happened but can you give a clearer information on how his assets has been taken away.

A random message has pop up but I am not so sure if hitting a pop up message can cause too much damage to your friend that end up lossing all of his assets in his ether
wallet. Is he using a mobile upon hitting the pop up message, where did he save his private keys? How long does it take for the hackers to transfer the funds. A extra information
will be very helpful to alert all the crypto members especially if they can experience this kind of scenario.

I store some keys on the Internet, but they are very well protected, just take a little care about protecting your data!

What will happen if one of your family member took your grandma photo album without you knowing? That's not a safe way of keeping your private key, it should be in your reach only, carve the keys on a wood or steel is the best way, just keep it in your wardrobe

I hate pop ups whenever I'm using the web or browser on my PC, I expected you guys to do the same, you don't have to check anything out because this days anything can be used to steal data from you, be you links or ads popping up on your screen, be strict and mean with such things