Bitcoin Forum

From murders to kidnappings, it seems criminals are targetting Bitcoin hodlers these days. Now why is it that individuals are more careful with fiat than they are with crypto. This is money and more people (even crooks) are realizing that. I read this analysis of Bitcoin related crimes and think we should think of ways of keeping our crypto safe and our lives also. https://cryptoinfowatch.com/cryptocurrency-crimes-surge-as-industry-strives-for-greater-adoption/

Bitcoins anonymous transaction is the major cause of crime related to bitcoins. Most criminals have concluded that the best way to get their operation going is to use bitcoins or cryptocurrencies that give privacy and can't be trace to a particular person.

bitcoin transactions are not anonymous.
and this has nothing to do with it either.

most of the times it is all about idiocy of people. for example the idiot who wanted to sell his bitcoin off the market and made an arrangement with a random shady person on the Internet whom he met in a secluded place where the perp guides him towards an alley with their car parked when they rob him has nothing to do with bitcoin! he might have been doing any other trade this way and gotten robbed the same way.

Bitcoin anonymous transactions has nothing to do with the crimes related to it. it was only used because it lessens the risk of them getting caught red handed. me. personally knew about bitcoins with the deep web lol anyways, be safe everyone.

There, I fixed it for you. Bitcoin is for everybody, although Bitcoin is not anonymous, it's pseudo-anonymous. If the user is not careful enough, some skilled people can find out (some of) his wallets.


They did since Bitcoin started to have some value, really.


Many are fooled that Bitcoin is anonymous. Many are not tech savvy and this reflects int their online behavior, including the way they store or spend Bitcoin, including the fact their computers may not be protected against malware, including the fact they sometimes boast about their bitcoins, not thinking that bitcoins are easier to steal than the content of the bank account.

Criminals will always try to steal money whenever they find an opportunity which is why I don't find this news to be surprising at all. This is the world that we live in. Ever since cryptocurrencies gained more prominence last year, hackers understood clearly that this is a gold mine waiting to be hacked. This is why we have been hearing stories about exchanges getting hacked especially this year. This is why you need to secure all your cryptocurrency assets in a secure and effective manner preferably by using a hardware wallet like Trezor which is beneficial in the long run.

It is the same with jewellery and expensive watches, if it's worth money they will go after it. Bitcoin can be hidden so if you don't flaunt it then you can safely hold it, much better than jewellery

There are a lot of things to keep in mind for the development of electronic money industry, One of them is safety. Each new hack or big theft from Mt. Gox in 2014 to Bitfinex in 2016, undermining trust and leading to ridicule from the media. Security is a haunting concern for the digital industry. Bitcoin of the blockchain technology has been (so far) "no-fake" and safe. However, e-wallet and electronic transactions aren't both and are the preferred target of online criminals.

Up to this point, I have never heard of theft based on wallet addresses, all thefts are caused by protocol weaknesses and their smart contract bugs. Crypto is a technology and technology will always be recorded and detected even using anonymous aliases. Crime can appear anywhere and anytime based on opportunity, so when you find a strange transaction in your wallet just ignore or move to a new wallet to secure your assets.

Yes, many scammers use bitcoin to commit criminal acts. This is a fact. Why carry a lot of money with you in a suitcase if you can transfer them to another person using bitcoin. This is very convenient.But as Everyone knows from fairy tales Good always triumphs over Evil.I hope that in addition to the bad things you can use bitcoin to do good things.I do not want most people to associate bitcoin with crime. With this approach, we will wait a long time to increase capitalization.Regarding the security of your wallets, I recently read an article that quantum computers can bring security threats to any wallet in the future (which are now being created at a rapid pace).The development of this industry is worth paying attention to all cryptocurrency holders.As you know the saying, “forewarned is forearmed”

Okay, I'm no engineering or techno expert, but if every transaction is recorded on the Blockchain, how come it can't be used to track the criminals or to pull our Bitcoins back? This is the perpetually confusing part of the Bitcoin/Blockchain thing for me. Just saying.

The best way to prevent crime surge is to prevent using it in the public. Like what others says it is very handy and all you need to bring is your mobile phone. But if you look on the negative side you are on high risk upon exposing your account on public you become their target.

Regulations must be needed to protect investors and its users. Formation of anti money laundering team to monitor each transactions and activity.

The blockchain is only a ledger; it isn't controlling the flow of transactions but is only recording it together with a timestamp. People can always follow the taints of every transaction but knowing that an address doesn't relay any personal information to its owner whatsoever, it's not that easy to trace/track criminals. Also, bitcoin transactions are irreversible; once it's done, it's done unless a double-spend is created before the transaction is confirmed.


You'd be amazed how the crimes made using fiat currency overshadow that of bitcoin's. Take this (https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/09/30/the-banks-that-helped-danske-bank-estonia-launder-russian-money/#de5f64f73197) for example, even the most respected banks tend to launder money through established connections. Not only that but they were successful in moving billions of dollars without ringing some alarms ::) ::)

Unbelievable. Its money anyways so one might have to believe in such crimes. Also heard one of the biggest story last year in which bugler actually confiscated victim in his house in Australia, and looted his wallet by forcing him. So this kind of news not new and they will keep rising as those who are doing this knows the bitcoin and crypto currencies very well. With the time, people will have to be more anonymous than ever and not to show that one carries bitcoin in their virtual wallets.
It creates doubt though, how those people come to know who has the bitcoin.  ???

I've been hearing all about this issue many times now that bitcoin related crimes surges but all I can say is that either there's a bitcoin or not, crime still surges because of human nature that wants to commit crime, bitcoin was created with positive advantages to our society but there are also shady people who used and abused the power of bitcoin. 

The bitcoin have changed many things in our lives in very positive way i believe. But the bitcoin and the cryptocurrency have brought some bad things too.. The most important things are; you can use it in illegal business like kidnapping, drug trade and terrorism.. When you can't track something there would be bad things too. And i know that there are no solution fot this problem right now.. 

As a decentralized currency, Bitcoin is getting more popular among the general people in the world. Criminals always had used money to do their job. Now, they are using Bitcoin. If you look at it from that way, it isnothing new. Bitcoin is not be blamed for this.

I agree with you on this. The trade could be illegal in the first place.
We should be very careful in dealing with strangers online.
We don't know everybody's motives and scumbags are just lurking everywhere.

These people who have malicious intents are really doing their very best
to persuade someone and become their victim.
We all should be vigilant in these kinds of illegal transactions to stop
these criminals from endangering other people's lives not only to those who are
holding bitcoins but also to the innocent people who are still planning to engage
themselves into crypto space.

Bitcoin has both good side and bad side. Many anti social people use its bad side for their many illegal activities. Bitcoin is mainly famous for its online money transaction facility. Which is untraceable and uninterrupted. No third party like bank doesn't interfere with its transactions. Because of this many anti social people use for their criminals activities. Many people use it as a illegal money laundry tool. It also use for many cyber crime like malware attacks.

Now I'd like to see some articles that show how much crime is committed using Paypal or credit cards for example.
I'm almost certain that those numbers would just be way higher than crimes committed with Bitcoin.


Have you not even bothered to read the rest of this thread? It has already been mentioned that Bitcoin is not untraceable...

It doesn't makes any difference, crypto or fiat, criminals will always find ways to steal money from unsuspecting victims. But to site once example about a tragic death of A Norwegian Man Killed After Selling his Bitcoins. (https://ethereumworldnews.com/a-24-year-norwegian-man-killed-after-selling-his-bitcoins/) So its really senseless, I just wish that the perpetuators will be caught and send to jail. Everyone should be careful not to discuss anything in public, particularly how much bitcoin or crypto assets you have, that's the first lesson we have to get into our heads.

Why would you relate murder and kidnapping in Bitcoin?  Transaction  using bitcoin is anonymous so how can they kidnap a person with so many Bitcoin not unless they announce it to the public that they have lots of Bitcoin in their wallet.

if I think bitcoin. can be used for crime bro. but all that depends on the principles and goals of each person. because bitcoin is like a knife that can be useful if we use it to peel fruit and so on ..if we use it to hurt someone it is an act that is not commendable and all of them will definitely be rewarded

when a currency is being used more by people that means it is being used by all kinds of people and one type is criminals. but don't worry about it because bitcoin can not compete with US dollar in this case because bitcoin is traceable :D

First, Bitcoin is not anonymous, at least not at it was as first appeared.
Second, criminals are also aware that cryptocurrencies are great source of profit and that many Bitcoin holders are new richmen suitable for taking money from them. And sometimes people who use cryptocurrencies think they are more protected in virtual world, which is not true and because lack of cautious become vulnerable.
Third, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being used for all kind of criminal activities but that is nothing new anymore.

Here is what can be done for this :

1) People should be made more aware for using crypto technology carefully and wisely so as to avoid scams.

2) There should be separate laws and departments to deal with crimes related to crypto.

We all are aware with the decentralised nature of bitcoin and this is very obvious also that there is no one keep eye over all the bitcoin activities as there is no such proper authentic regulating body over bitcoin and this leads to its illegal use as some social defaulters knows this thing very well that bitcoin has no governing authority and thus use in selling drugs, explosives, money laundering etc and these are the illegal activities that are related with bitcoin and in order to stop this bitcoin needs to get legalised all over the world.

indeed bitcoin is very useful for its users. but sometimes bitcon is used by some irresponsible people. lazy to work hard. but his dream was to become a millionaire. finally choose a shortcut. which is stealing other people's assets

The anonymity of bitcoin is a part that bad exploits take advantage of, since then unlawful transactions will not disclose owner information.

i don't think we need a "separate law enforcement department" for dealing with cryptocurrency related crimes because these crimes aren't actually a different category of crimes!
for example hacking an exchange is a general crime called "hacking"!
or robbing someone's bitcoins at gunpoint is the general "armed robbery" crime.
so is everything else you can think of.

Criminals now sees bitcoin or any altcoin to be a good investment too?   :D

So we can say they are early adopter criminals . Seeing how much BTC crimes on TV being investigated, I guess they find inspiration of those who got away.
Its money and so criminals can cash out without paper trail, exchanges doesn't care where you got the coins and its easy to carry amounts of cash in the form of BTC.

The most important and paramount thing you need to do in order to protect your financial capital and your life is to talk less to strangers and unfamiliar people about what you do and how much cryptocurrency you have. Believe me, there are keys if you want) You may find it very naive and frivolous this advice, but believe me, this small but very important step will lead you to the safety of your money and health. In other words, keep your mouth shut.

Well I'm sure some authorities would prefer that criminals use Bitcoin instead. Stats like this suggest that they're getting better at tracking illegal activity on the network, so they probably have a lead on most of these cases.

But yeah it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. This doesn't define Bitcoin, and any reasonable person would acknowledge that.


I've actually heard of exchanges freezing accounts because of shady activity. I can't really verify their legitimacy though. One reason why criminals still use Bitcoin over more anonymous alts is Bitcoin's liquidity. Alts are much harder to get rid off, especially without the help of an exchange.

Because of their centrality and anonymity, many have relied on it for bad practices such as money laundering, tax evasion, crime. And no one is going to be responsible for these things, which is why governments are worried about Bitcoin exploding.

there was a statistic over the internet.crypto is almost at last of the list.its not about the people dont know crypto.if i do money laundry, i search every option.they do the same and use fiat currency.they think about this who says crypto is for illegality.

The illegal activities have always happened and the reason is not Bitcoin. My concern is that why do they use Bitcoin if there are more anonymous digital currencies in the market? Maybe the smart ones use them and we just see the new ones. Anyway, Bitcoin's advantage recovers its disadvantages and it is not right to blame Bitcoin on irregular issues.

Your post made me to go and watch "The first purge" again mate, fuck that movie is funny as fuck when
You think about it, that movie also has a new story, something new to look at something from a new angle
To have a night in every year to have the crimes completely legalized, including murder. nffa or new
Founding fathers. Bitcoin is the same in a way, it's a new idea and it has it's ups and downs without
A doubt mate. what people should know is that you should never tell other people if you have any
Bitcoins. when people don't know whether you have Bitcoins or not, they can never hurt you because
They don't know that you have any Bitcoins. all of these crimes happen because people know things
About you and your Bitcoins, they can't normally know if you have Bitcoins by looking at the transactions
In a site or block explorer, how they can find out is by knowing exactly who has those Bitcoins, when I
Think about it I can see that there is an easy way to find out and get this information by having the
Information from an exchange, the only way for others to know if you have Bitcoins is by having your
Information such as identity and related documents from an exchange, that's why you should make sure
Not to trust every exchanging services with your information, they can easily use that information to
Blackmail or hunt you down. how do you know if exchanges are keeping your information safe and are
Not using them to track Bitcoin owners and take their coins from them?

today, many hackers with crypto specialists, their goal is bitcoin and some top coins like ETH and XRP.

even hacking exchange can make coins fall, like happened in Korea, bitcoin becomes low liquidity, and crypto exchange volume will fall drastically.

saving assets in a hard wallet and not saving assets in a wallet exchange is the best choice.

I dont believe cryptocurrency or bitcoin makes criminal activity increase. Many criminal using US dollar for their criminal activity and i dont think its related to US Dollars. Its about people behaviour and mentallity. I dont believe criminal have relation with bitcoin or cryptocurrency

Just as long as bitcoin and other cryptos are showing an increase potential in profit, there will be malicious people who'd want to take advantage of other people's money and assets. It's easy money for them.

This is the only downside of crypto currency. It is a little bit anonymous but every transaction is transparent. This makes Bitcoin the favorite medium for payment by criminals. The solution to this is to make local crypto withdrawal services require more ID proofs, and investigate large withdrawal transactions.

Something like this was going to happen eventually, criminals are realizing that cryptocurrencies can be used to get away with their crimes and now they are realizing they can steal cryptocurrencies from their owners and very few if any police departments are going to take the victims of the crime seriously and even if they did they do not have the resources to prosecute them.

I read the craziest story earlier this week. Entrepreneurs in Amsterdam are living in dread of criminals who are undermining to cause acts of terror unless they are paid a extortion expense in bitcoin.
As per a Netherlands newspaper NLTimes, messages have been sent to different organizations in Amsterdam requesting bitcoins worth 50,000 euros. Inability to pay, the messages caution, hand explosives will be planted at the business premises or the organizations will go under a hail of slugs compelling conclusion. In the Dutch capital, businesses are required to close down for a timeframe if there should be an occurrence of a shooting or after an explosive has been found.

Indeed, crypto can become a target for criminals, and must be vigilant so that we can overcome this. Once there is an opportunity then we can use it if the opportunity is good and has more benefits then use it, and don't let the opportunity be taken by irresponsible people.

Bitcoin is open to every one so it is easy for every one to use this currency for crimes and illegal activities but these crimes were large in the past and if we say that it is increase with this currency it will not be true because all type of crimes like kidnapping murders and etc were happening in the past and this is just a coin which can be use by users for different purposes.

Bitcoin cannot solve stupidity. Some people would not walk around and tell random people that they have $300 000 in their Bank account, but for some reason it is acceptable for them to tell people that they have 1000 bitcoins stored away.  ::)

Keep you financial status hidden from other people and never reveal your primary hoard to vendors and merchants. Use a separate wallet for purchases online, which you fund from smaller paper wallets, when they are empty. I created several paper wallets with smaller amounts and when I need to buy something big, then I fund my wallet from these paper wallets.

This way, nobody can trace how many coins I have. <The paper wallets was funded via a Bitcoin mixer service, so the main wallet stays hidden.>  ;)

I haven't read such news but in any case this has nothing to do with bitcoin. this sounds like a terrorist act rather than being an extortion and this would be the first time they ask for bitcoin. in the past there has been thousands of cases that they did the same and asked for fiat since fiat like US dollar is easier to use by the terrorists and is impossible to track. that is why what you posted here is strange to hear.

Criminals are everywhere,  so as bitcoiners you should not tell  to anyone that you owned a bitcoin because not all people you spoken are  your friends. Instead keep it as a secret.
We heard different news that bitcoin was use for different illlegal transactions thats why other people think bitcoin as a scam. We should be resposible in using bitcoin  so that  it will not cause you in danger or even to others.

Not because Bitcoin for crime, but because who is using Bitcoin. Bitcoin is like a sword. Good people can use it to bring peace to the world, while evil people use it for greater destruction.
For criminals. They also like money and guns. You can’t deny the positive meaning of bitcoin.

Many events that target bitcoin as an easy asset to get profits and this is a lot of people who are targeting to be hacked anyway.
Be careful and vigilant in order to avoid crime will be better.

On the one hand, anonymity would guarantee us security; on the other, it is a good way to remove money to scammers without a trace. In general, it is worthwhile to find out more, as many say that Bitcoin is not anonymous.

Crooks target bitcoins as bitcoins is anonymous and they can mask their identity easily on the other hand this also can means bitcoins still have its value there.

Many states have already conducted their research on the use of bitcoin for criminal purposes, including in the United States and in the European Union. They concluded that Bitcoin was used for criminal purposes in no more than ten percent of cases. The fact is that Bitcoin is only relatively anonymous and its owner can be set by the relevant services. Criminals use in most cases coins with a high degree of anonymity, such as Monero, Cash, Dash and others.

All depends on who uses it, Bitcoin can be very useful when used in accordance with its function. And because it is anonymous, Bitcoin can be misused by criminals to commit a crime, for example it is used as a means to fund their crime. In this case Bitcoin cannot be blamed.

The problem with Bitcoin during the 2017 mania was that too many people wanted to show-off their earnings and that's how the kidnappings and thefts started.

I remember a long time ago before Bitcoin ATMs I met an individual in public to buy a few hundred dollars worth of BTC. This was years ago. He seemed nice and everything but he was showing off how he had $50,000 in his laptop bitcoin.dat file.

I told him you need to becareful because you don't know who you might run into and you might get robbed. The reason why its popular with theft is because its not reversable and once its sent, its gone forever.

Bitcoin is a thing, things cant act on their own and needs human intervention for them to moved or to be used. So Bitcoin is not the one to be blame over crime surges. Even fiats are being used in crimes.

Kinda strange when buying and selling bitcoins online is so easy now. I use coinbase and you get money instantly and can transfer it into paypal instantly and then instantly into you bank account. If I sell I have the money in my bank account with in 10 mins. I would never dream of meeting a complete stranger to sell crypto too. I also do not mind paying tax on money made from bitcoins so do not care if there is a trace on it as Im not doing anything illegal.

Well bitcoin is money. And one day perhaps it can possibly replace real money. We all know money can drive people to do crazy things so it's not a surprise if bitcoin can attract criminals to it also.

Correct and theres nothing you can do if someone would point you out on your head with a gun nor a piece of wood and ask out on whats your private keys or password then
those bitcoin of yours would really be stole from you.Being careless is one of the main reasons why those people do get robbed if they werent hacked on other way.
Crime do really exist and this is the favorite spot because of anonymity and irreversible transactions.

You got a point on here bro  . i dont understand why they blame bitcoin  while they dont blame fiats if they will get robbed or other bad things happen to them .  maybe they think that bitcoin is not just an ordinary currency or payment method  . bitcoin related crimes on the other hand , are now surging because crypto is also becoming popular    .

Crime on bitcoin holders are rare. And like any other crime this can easyly be stop.

Most important.
 Holders need to not advertise there holding and stay Anonymous.
Keep wallets safe and seed untouchable where no one can find this.

If you are a cryptocurrency exchange and have no way of anonymous then up your security. And move to a safe country. I don’t think I would like to be advertised as an exchange holder and live in  third world country. This is dangerous for your safety and exchange.

This is why I have opened up a poll asking about cryptocurrency banks. We don’t have to call these banks can be called bitcoin trust funds account. This way people will know you don’t hold your wallet at home or office this can stop crime. Like a bank account you only hold small amount in wallet most large fund are locked which can only be taken with a visit to the bank. Or place

We do not need banks, this is a decentralized system, any on such introduction will make it less of it. In this system, your wallet acts as your bank and it's in your total control, there are different kinds of wallets with varying levels of safety.
For utmost safety just get a hardware wallet and that's that, you are sure of your safety with it

The question is how those criminals find their victims because they already know what they are looking when they are doing that crime. The problem is people tend to boast a lot to their friend and family and also on social media websites so they are a very easy target for criminals , especially because they know crypto are untraceable.