Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone

Today I have tried to send bitcoins from my electrum wallet to an address burt before I could do this my wallet was emptied within seconds, and not to the address i send it to.


I lost approx 0.02154837 BTC

the transaction ID is 387a2ecb74fecfa8329b976c23032ef7f21adabdd15fe1923a54575f1697ba8e when the BTC went missing

as far as i can see on the blodckchain, the BTC ended up in address 14kuUTfXM1MLzmDidMZPEFrU7Z9hR6tX1q

I have an encrypted wallet, have tried restoring it from seed, have connected to differenct servers etc

There was not any links / pop up prompting me to download the newest electrum version so I'm confused about what happened.

My recieving address from a completely new wallet and downloaded wallet from Electrum.org is 12u67WtWiYGHx6FYJjEKaJESo9VH2PWUvJ


Does anyone know if there is a way to get back the funds or have any advice ?


Thanks in Advance

Go through the link, you might get an idea about what happened today with the electrum wallet https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/an2khh/is_this_a_phishing_attempt_electrumorg_does_not/

There wasn't any such message pop up asking for an update or trouble with transaction, they just emptied the wallet straight after the funds came in. that's why I'm so confused as to why or how it's happened.

is there a way to track down the theif if it is them? I know it's very unlikely to get the funds back but I could try :/

And no I have not upgraded, I downloaded the file from electrum.org which is the latest version.

Another sad day for bitcoin. Sorry this happened mate, lots of scams going around and many target electrum and MEW due to their popularity. Best to invest in a hardware wallet, scammers do not return funds and there are no refunds in a decentralised economy

Absolutely no way to get the bitcoin’s back at all, bitcoin transactions are not reversible. Be thankful it wasn’t really that much money. I’ve seen horror stories on here about people losing hundreds of bitcoin’s due to a hack.

If you haven’t downloaded a new version of electrum then I can’t figure out how your wallet was emptied.
Do you use the same computer/laptop for downloading films/torrents etc?

I suggest that if you get a new computer or totally reset the current one to factory settings if you plan on using it to store crypto again.

I am sorry for your lose OP, just be happy it wasn’t more.

With the information we have, its impossible to track them and they could use a mixer anytime. There's really nothing much you can do except to prevent it from happening again. I'm also suspecting a malware or some sort on your side, go with LFC's advice, always keep your pc clean.

Consider getting a hardware wallet either ledger or trezor and have a read at this good practices in securing your wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet)

The transaction for your approx lost bitcoins got 24 confirmations, sorry for your lost there's no way to get it back. And looks like that hacker has attacked other victims too, I really think that you downloaded the wrong electrum I have been using it and I don't have that kind of experience. Please elaborate if you do really downloaded the official one and you upgraded it to the latest update. It's either you downloaded the wrong and fake electrum or you've been a victim of a phishing link.

Sorry man. Your bitcoins are gone. This is crypto sadly. You prob upgraded wallet from phishing site.

the real question is have you checked the signature of the file you downloaded? you may think the website was electrum.org but in fact it might have been a lookalike with a similar name but a fake website.

if you have the legit wallet then the only remaining possibility is that you might have some sort of malware on your computer that stole your seed or somehow you leaked it and that is how they accessed your funds.

Bitcoin transaction is irreversible so there's no way for you to get it back. The last time I used my electrum is wouldn't allow me to send any transactions so I downloaded the latest version 3.3.3 here https://electrum.org/#home. Or it could be your pc is infected by a copy-and-paste virus/malware.

It is not very difficult to miss this, if some Malware on your computer replaced the "electrum" with  "eIectrum". Some Malware will hijack your copy and paste function and look for the word "electrum" for instance and then replace it with something that looks very close to that, like "eIectrum".  >:(

I have even seen shortcuts in favourites in browsers being replaced by phishing links, so I would suggest that you look at your link in your favourites, to see if it was changed. They even inject the changes, when you use the auto-complete option in the address bar.  >:(

Rather type it, when you access these sites.  ;)

Sorry for your lost coin but I do not think you can retrieve or get back your coin. The rate at which people get hacked through electrum wallet this is day is alarming and I wont advise anybody to use the wallet. Since you said you do not update your wallet probably the wallet in your system has been affected by malware that automatically change your sending address when you want to send coin. Also you have not told us where you initially downloaded the wallet. If it is not directly from electrum website, that might be the source of the problem you have experienced.

If you haven't clicked any links that prompted during a transaction and you're sure that you downloaded the wallet from Electrum's official website then there is a possibility that another person have access to your wallet/private key, is there someone had accessed the device you are using to store your Bitcoins before the time this happened? If none, then scan your device if there's a malware in it, possible that someone might also have access to your device remotely.
Unfortunately there's no way you can get those Bitcoins back because it is already sent to another Bitcoin address that you probably don't own. My only advice to you is to move on and know your mistakes and learn from it so this will not happen to you again in the future.

You probably have fake Electrum wallet, and hacker is wait a moment in which there will be some funds in your wallet. If wallet was empty before you could not even know it was fake. Second option is that you maybe have download good wallet, but your PC is infected with remote access trojan, which gives complete control of your PC to hacker.

Bitcoin can not just disappear for no reason, so let this be a lesson for you and maybe for some others that we all need start thinking in a smarter way to outsmart the hackers. My advice is to invest some money in hardware wallet and prevent this kind of thing happen again.

Sorry for your loss OP!

Obviously as has been posted you wont get your funds back.
I never thought that you could have downloaded a fake wallet.

For the benefit of others that we/they wont make the same mistake
and that there is a sharing on knowledge could you post up
exactly what happened, where you downloaded it etc.

It just shows that the scammers have many opportunities to
claim our funds, its like they have traps laid all over the web
waiting to catch us off guard.


absolutely, I'll bet the $100 trezor sounds like a real deal now
that funds are gone.

I also use Electrum but for temporary funds only like the proceeds
of my signature campaign or funds I use to buy odds and ends,
otherwise the coins go to the Trezor.

It is very sad, you can only see where your fund move to but you can not take it back. You need to be extremely careful and vigilant. 

Help PLEASE, just made sending bitcoins through a mixer, clicked send a window appeared where update was written and so on, there were no versions download links, I clicked ok. I clicked send bitcoin to the address, after which the window clicked ok, I started updating version , I look and the translation has already gone, after which I started watching the transfer transaction, sending has already taken place, but bitcoins have not yet arrived at the address I have already received 3 hours and not one confirmed transaction please help the guys, I don’t understand me or what? I didn’t follow the links by any means, a small window popped up and I clicked ok and that's it!!!!http://http://

You downloaded the update through the program. Sorry man.

No, this is not true. Electrum isn't safe. Sorry.

First btc i buy in 2011, so if i have same app, ga, 2fa, usb-backup's, knowledge, experience and i lost my coins yesterday just like that from original electrum - something is wrong. And its gone, i have diversification and money managament, but i cant trade now.

Someone steal low ammount, so for me this is paranoid. I read now about it, many people just hacked.  

Well, unfortunately you messed up somewhere. I use Electrum almost every day and my coins are intact. Electrum isn't the problem (trust me).

You must have:
a) downloaded a fake wallet.
b) downloaded a malware.
c) saved your seed online (where you shouldn't).

Or something else. These are the main reasons people get hacked.

How long? Couple of years? Trust me, many times i used Electrum and Core. I dont have just LTC, but diversified coins. Why someone steal only little ammount of LTC? I read now, people lost a lot of money using Electrum.

I'm looking for the real cause right now. In my opinion it is not safe for large amounts.

Show us or link us to the threads of the people who lost money with Electrum and someone will tell you what they did wrong!
Most of these threads are created when it is already too late and they usually start with 'I received a message to download Electrum 4.0 and I did'...

TryNinja already mentioned the most common mistakes users make with Electrum that results in lost coins.

Come on, im not joking. I used Electrum many times, for years https://github.com/pooler/electrum-ltc/issues/176

Google >> Electrum scam
Google >> Trezor scam
etc etc..

You never know when you will be robbed. trust me im little shocked. ;)

1. People were discussing here about the Bitcoin Electrum. If you are discussing about Electrum-LTC, you should make a specific thread for it and tell clearly that you discuss about a specific variant of Electrum.
2. I don't know how Electrum-LTC is, but if it's close enough to the normal one then the small amounts "stolen" could be either a 2FA fee, either the transaction fee. When there's a bad/fake Electrum, then that one usually steals all the funds, always.

Since 2014. Anyways, regardless of Electrum is bad or not, using only a desktop wallet is never safe enough when you are dealing with a lot of money. That’s why hardware wallets exist.

If that was the case, everyone would be robbed, don’t you think? It’s easy to put all these cases and say Electrum is the problem while you don’t actually know that. How can someone blame Electrum when your PC could be infected? There are many variables, not just “I used Electrum so they must be the problem”.

Thousands of people use Electrum every day. Why only you and a couple of people got robbed?

And why are you linking an Electrum-LTC (which is just a fork) issue in here?

I mean, Electrum is not safe, your money is not safe. Thats all.

Sorry, but this is missunderstanding. A lot of people have been robbed on different ways, huge losses were recorded.

Because it's a very easy way to rob people.

I saw too much scams and i secure my portfolio/exchanges well, l could do my best. Now I was robbed. What's more funny, I'm careful. That is why i diversified assets. And bang - i just lost very small part - but they disappeared, just only inform you.

Ok, but i dont have time for thinking about it. I tell you truth, it is not serious to wonder if someone will rob you one day. Still i dont know when exactly i made a mistake.

Never been hacked or rob with Electrum I use this wallet for a long time but never experienced that I lost or someone stole my bitcoins.

If you use Electrum you should know how to protect it. Like what I did I'm using this wallet as a cold wallet and making transaction offline. If you know how to protect your device or PC it won't happen. Just like what I did.

Try to use the Electrum cold storage instead and never connect the device to the internet if you want to make a transaction use coinb.in and sign the transaction through your offline wallet. This performs like a hardware wallet(Ledger nano as a sample)

aren't you?
from that issue:
(real site is https://electrum-ltc.org/)

for you does this translate into Electrum not being safe?
or is it the user's fault for not doing the basic thing of verifying the authenticity of the downloaded file by doing a very simple signature verification?

Tell us what steps you have taken to secure your portfolio and in what ways you are using your computer where you have Electrum installed?

Now we are moving in the right direction. You made a mistake somewhere that exposed some of your sensitive information. Try to think what you did wrong?! Why would Electrum 'rob' a small portion of your assets, it doesn't really make sense don't you think?! 

I checked the sources and history and I did not find anything suspicious.

In my opinion risk is too big anyway, one moment of inattention and you have a scam. At the same time the same secured other cryptocurrencies larger quantities have not disappeared. The thief had more than a day for it, because i saw it later.

Thank you for the advice. I just want - keep this in mind. I'll check again where is the problem. For me it is not a loss but a waste of time, anyway, after what I've read about this scams, in my opinion electrum is not safe.

pooya87, Even if ... there are many possibilities for loss. And as you can see, the thief must wait for it. I know how to deal with it, but it is stupid simply. Who wait and steal 300usd, seeing in history 30-60ltc? No logic.

Have a nice day.

So... scams happen when the user has a moment of inattention, but electrum is the problem? Sure bud.

It looks like you already have your opinion formed and don't want to look at the facts. But of course, it's always easier to blame the software than your own stupidity¹. Anyways, looks like we are just wasting your time in here.

¹i'm not trying to offend you, just putting in words what exactly happens

Please, do not mislead people. I dont blame nobody. This is a fact, ammount disappeared, your money is not safe, because your system cant be safe in 100%, so electrum in my opinion is not safe - due to poor protection against hackers.

BTC is not perfect either.

if you drive your car under influence and have an accident killing someone you can't blame the car companies saying the car they sold you was unsafe.
it doesn't work like that, you are the one who made the mistake and will be charged with manslaughter and would have to pay the price.

Electrum is safe as much as you are sure what you are doing, otherwise it is just service for hackers. This is not some bulletproof software which will protect you and say to you that you should have clean device, update only from official site, check address before sending or to keep seed in safe place. There are many warnings on internet and even on Electrum site (even in case of Electrum LTC) that users should update only from official site and check signature before install.

Every user have other options, use some other desktop / mobile wallet, buy hardware wallet or print your private key on paper / any other material and protect you money from hackers.

I use Electrum for bitcoin, litecoin, dash and bitcoincash for years and I did not lost any coins - but at some point I decide to buy hardware wallet and reduce risk to even lower levels. If at some point I see that hardware wallets are not safe, I will move all my coins to cold storage, problem solved.

I will write again to be clear. I have believed in cryptocurrencies since 2011.
I am still trading and holding cryptocurrencies from 2016 until now.

pooya87, You mixed up the logic here. You do not understand that I cant find the reason for this theft, because i followed the basic rules in security or a lot more. there is no option to defend yourself and this is the truth. that's why I think this program is weak, similar to the leaky windows. it is so much worse that it is not known where my mistake is. I'm trying to find the reason for the 4th day. And no idea.

proving someone's mistake after time is incorrect. The mistake is that it's so easy to steal money. Paradise for hackers.

Hello, same there, but you will never see it. until the theft. anyway, it's like online millionaires. everybody knows each other and they use it, but in reality no one will admit that it is not as it seems to everyone.

The more you use Electrum the more you are exposed to theft. And this is fact, what I am deeply regretting, more than the loss of a ridiculously low amount.

Looking through all these years on scams and the effects of the collapse of exchanges through disappearing funds i cant write directly to people that their money are safe, because it would be a fraud. Electrum is generally poorly protected against hackers, and these thieves will be more and more. The most frequent collapse of the stock market was breaking into a cold wallet, write me in that case how is it possible?

One of many examples https://bithub.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bter_com-600x270.png


PS: sorry I'm using a translator. Have a nice day.

Obviously not.




Only if you don't know how to protect yourself.




That is not a fact, but simply wrong.
Electrum can not protect you from your ignorance.
A software wallet can not be more secure than your overall setup / computer.




No, YOU are poorly protected.
YOUR computer is poorly protected.
YOU have chosen the wrong security measurements (if any at all).




Completely offline, of course.
Or.. if the attack happened online, it wasn't a cold wallet. Poorly implemented then.



Instead of blaming electrum, accept your mistakes and try to find your weak spot.

There is no 100% safe way to protect crypto seed / private keys, but every user of cryptocurrency must be aware of all the dangers, but also the possibilities of reducing the risk. Taking into consideration all that, we conclude after Mt.Gox that crypto exchanges are not safe, and that they should be used only for trading, not long-term storing of crypto.

Then part of users is start to use desktop wallets, but with time we see they also can be tricky to use (for inexperienced users particularly), so we move to hardware wallets which are today very safe way of storing crypto - but it would be stupid to say they are 100% safe. Some people trust only in cold storage, and this way of storing (if it is properly made) is probably one one of the safest.

Electrum is free software, and this is main reason why people use it, but big amounts of coins should not be stored in such hot wallets, risk is just to big. If you buy $100 worth of crypto today, then invest $50+ in decent hardware wallet or just print that private key on paper and put it in safe place.

Lucius, You're right. Most people do not know about it, much less security, but they think they know everything and are right in everything. Standard.

Just think what will happen with growing popularity, who will be the main beneficiary of disappearing huge values.

By definition, BTC was created to oppose the banks and replace money.

And now think about many huge BTC thefts on the stock exchanges - whether they were better or worse secured than on my computer. How will people defrauded by the stock exchange defend themselves? The case will be discontinued because there is no evidence. Bitcoin for people, yeah right. I know that confident people are trading here for 50-150 $ but think about people trading higher amounts.

I still have no answer as to how my computer is being spied on and why only the LTCs have disappeared. I assume the only option: seed stolen by malware, which was not detected by antivirus and antispyware. is it possible? If so, then the money is less secure than in the bank or in gold.

About hardware wallets and security: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=771&v=Y1OBIGslgGM

AV's only detect very well known or very poorly coded malware.
Anyone who slightly has a clue how to code properly, can create malware which is completely undetected by any AV.

So.. definitely possible.



Regarding the youtube video.. Besides multiple other requirements, an attacker needs physical access..
If i gain physical access to your credit card.. it is WAY easier for me to steal your money. Just take the credit card and use it. This is not the case with a hardware wallet. Even with multiple exploits it is more complicated than that.

Therefore i don't really think your money is more secure in a bank...


"Be your own bank" implies that you also have to deal with securing the funds.