Alitin Mint Coin Breach

[Rmcdermott927]

Thank you for attempting to quickly get in front of this issue.  Please keep us updated as you find out more information. 

[msin]

I still have 17 Adam Smith coins listed for sale that were never funded, I consider all of these keys compromised.

- 1 key was swept on the 26th like most
- 1 was redeemed a few days ago which I presume was overlooked and fortunate for the owner
- 1 was in transit whilst this was announced, which was great timing

Unsure why one was not swept like the others. There was probably a range of presumed funded coins; I remember either hand picking/letting the customer choose the coin #, so there was probably a gap with non-funded coins that they overlooked when using their bot/software to redeem the keys in a singular instance, probably with no intention to try again (unless they realised a key(s) were missed)

How did you get 17 unfunded coins, did you just buy stock from Alitin?

[defcon23]

man ... seriously:  you have really kept private keys of your customers instead of properly destroyed them ??   cause if the answer is YES : sorry, but you're ENTIRELY responsible.  that's the basics ..   ( what's the goal to hold them as they are supposed to be destroyed after their secured generation .. ? )
IE: ask today to Ognasty or to Smoothie , Casascius, Gravitate  if they had keeped a private key of their funded coins ....  just to see : answer will be NO.

[bitenvy]

Richard,

Thank you for the update.  For everyone who has contacted them regarding their coins, I am confident you will get your refund.  I just received my refund of the stolen 2BTC from JR.  I know this doesn't answer who stole the coin funds, but I believe it wasn't JR or Richard.  And, I do believe the thief will be caught.

[defcon23]

Richard,

Thank you for the update.  For everyone who has contacted them regarding their coins, I am confident you will get your refund.  I just received my refund of the stolen 2BTC from JR.  I know this doesn't answer who stole the coin funds, but I believe it wasn't JR or Richard.  And, I do believe the thief will be caught.

hooo ..  !  i see .. : you got a refund ( your refund ) so , you're in "trust"  ?  and then you can "vouch for" ? ...  OK ..  

"let"s refund 2 bitcoin to the guy who yell much around ..  "  ...    how much Bitcoin in total was "stolen" ?  just to remind me ..

[RichardForsyth]

Thank you for attempting to quickly get in front of this issue.  Please keep us updated as you find out more information. 

Thank you sir.  I take this all so personally and I am totally on the side of anyone who is angry about this.  I would be too.  But any kindness at this point means so much to me.  I will never forget it.  Please know I mean it when I say I will do whatever is in my power to fix this.  My honor, my reputation, and my friends, my family and dependents mean more to me than my life a thousand times over.  I've met many of you personally and I have been so proud and touched by how kind everyone has been to me in the past. 

All anger is FULLY justified, and any kindness is like the love of God and a lifeline to me at this point.  But I realize I could never ask for or deserve your anyone's kindness who has been wronged.  I can't change what has been done. But I can do my best to fix as much as I can, whatever it takes.  I'm struggling to keep my focus through the lack of sleep and food, through the extreme anxiety, and the increasing mental fogginess.  I apologize if at any time I make mistakes, get confused, mix up any information, or seem to just be generally "out of it."  I am not going anywhere and I will do anything to fix this and take care of all of you and my dependents, even if it leads to my personal ruin. 

[vizique]

Any clue as to the point of failure?

I've yet to see anything regarding this.

Viz

[cryptodechange]

How did you get 17 unfunded coins, did you just buy stock from Alitin?

That's correct, we bought 20 * unfunded Adam Smiths in bulk back in 2014, with the intent to resell and fund on delivery.

[Zepher]

Glad to see that you are refunding customers, Richard. Still waiting to get access to my coin to take actual photos of it still fully sealed, but it was also raided in the same batch on the 26/02. I will be back in email contact shortly.

Good to see you are resolving this though. I thought those funds were gone forever.

Any clue as to the point of failure?

I've yet to see anything regarding this.

Viz

This please. Also, a full list of all 600 addresses would be great, so we can see just how bad the damage actually is....

[TheNewAnon135246]

Glad to see that you are refunding customers, Richard. Still waiting to get access to my coin to take actual photos of it still fully sealed, but it was also raided in the same batch on the 26/02. I will be back in email contact shortly.

Good to see you are resolving this though. I thought those funds were gone forever.

Any clue as to the point of failure?

I've yet to see anything regarding this.

Viz

This please. Also, a full list of all 600 addresses would be great, so we can see just how bad the damage actually is....

I agree. We can help check all the addresses. Saves Alitin a lot of time.

[RichardForsyth]

Who all had access and/or exposure to the private keys?

You, your brother, and who else?

We (My brother and I) are the only ones who had authorized access. There were very few people who had access to our facilities, but we had robust security measures.  The theft is breathtaking to us because we still can't figure out how they did it under our noses and left no trace (until the theft).  

My current theory was that it was a theft while we were in the milling process of producing the actual coins themselves.  If it was not an insider who did this (and thus a close friend or relative), then it was someone who knew an insider and got the information from them.  We can't truly be sure who spoke of what and to whom within the very limited circle of insiders, and what those secondary individuals might have told others.

I will be turning over the names and contact info of all individuals I know who had any access to the premises at any time  during our milling process to the FBI, or any other investigative authority that is appropriate.  Placing their names and contact info online for public consumption is another matter.  I am very concerned about innocent people being threatened, and some people are angry enough that I am worried innocent people will get personal threats and harassment they don't deserve. I'm also concerned about adding a libel or breach of privacy suit to the great list of challenges we are facing right now.  That could certainly slow down our efforts to get refunds back to aggrieved parties as soon as possible. We have no wish to be obtuse about anything. And our hesitancy to provide information in some cases is only out of a sense of caution for unintended consequences, and not to avoid or be obtuse to anyone.   We will turn over all names: family, friends, associates, ancillary contacts, and all identifying information to the authorities and we will let them to do their work in a confidential manner.  

Again, the FBI has been informed by me personally, and I am working with them to discover what happened and bring justice to all of our friends and family who have been victimized.   We will do everything we can do bring the perpetrators to justice and to restore our customers to a state as close to whole as possible.  

[msin]

My current theory was that it was a theft while we were in the milling process of producing the actual coins themselves.  If it was not an insider who did this (and thus a close friend or relative), then it was someone who knew an insider and got the information from them.  We can't truly be sure who spoke of what and to whom within the very limited circle of insiders, and what those secondary individuals might have told others.

I thought you engraved the private key on the coins yourself, or was the private key milled on the coins during production? How did you generate your private keys?

[defcon23]

yeah .... too much dollars BTCitcoin involved in this story, unfortunately....  just my two satoshis..

[TheNewAnon135246]

What I don't get is that you go from this:

And only one person ever sees the private keys before they are destroyed from our records--and that person is me.  I am the CEO and I engrave the coins myself.  I also do the ciphers and much of the packaging.  Tamper proofing cases like this is a challenge.  It's slow and tedious work.  But thorough.  We built in 6-8 weeks just in case we got big orders.  We would rather our customers be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.  

To this:

We (My brother and I) are the only ones who had authorized access. There were very few people who had access to our facilities, but we had robust security measures.  The theft is breathtaking to us because we still can't figure out how they did it under our noses and left no trace (until the theft).  

My current theory was that it was a theft while we were in the milling process of producing the actual coins themselves.  If it was not an insider who did this (and thus a close friend or relative), then it was someone who knew an insider and got the information from them.  We can't truly be sure who spoke of what and to whom within the very limited circle of insiders, and what those secondary individuals might have told others.

You claimed that you were the only person who had access to the private keys to saying that several people could've had access to them, and even possibly shared them with secondary individuals......

[BurtW]

1) He is reimbursing the BTC.

2) He is trying to figure out how it happened.

3) He has or will report everything to the proper investigative authorities.

We are all very curious as to how this happened, I know I am, but let's give the guy a chance to catch his breath and figure this all out.  Remember 1) is the most important to the customers.  Everything else is interesting to Alitin as they try to recover the stolen funds and interesting to the Bitcoin community at large so that something like this might be prevented in the future.

But due to 1) let's give him some breathing room.

[defcon23]

What I don't get is that you go from this:

And only one person ever sees the private keys before they are destroyed from our records--and that person is me.  I am the CEO and I engrave the coins myself.  I also do the ciphers and much of the packaging.  Tamper proofing cases like this is a challenge.  It's slow and tedious work.  But thorough.  We built in 6-8 weeks just in case we got big orders.  We would rather our customers be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.  

To this:

We (My brother and I) are the only ones who had authorized access. There were very few people who had access to our facilities, but we had robust security measures.  The theft is breathtaking to us because we still can't figure out how they did it under our noses and left no trace (until the theft).  

My current theory was that it was a theft while we were in the milling process of producing the actual coins themselves.  If it was not an insider who did this (and thus a close friend or relative), then it was someone who knew an insider and got the information from them.  We can't truly be sure who spoke of what and to whom within the very limited circle of insiders, and what those secondary individuals might have told others.

You claimed that you were the only person who had access to the private keys to saying that several people could've had access to them, and even possibly shared them with secondary individuals......

you are right : all is based on what OP said ...   that's all.   so , if he need to refund few more guys  to have "few more guy who trust him" .... let's do this !   damn : if all precautions were taken, no problem were happend !    is private keys were properly destroyed or NOT ?

[BurtW]

you are right : all is based on what OP said ...   that's all.   so , if he need to refund few guys more to have "few more guy who trust him" .... let's do this !   damn : if all precautions were taken, no problem were happend !    is private keys were properly destroyed or NOT ?

defcon23 (-12: -4 / +4 Warning: Trade with extreme caution!):  Did you own any of these coins at the time of the theft?  Do you have a claim against Alitin?

[defcon23]

you are right: all is based on what OP said ...   that's all.   so , if he need to refund few guys more to have "few more guy who trust him" .... let's do this !   damn : if all precautions were taken, no problem were happend !    is private keys were properly destroyed or NOT ?

defcon23 (-12: -4 / +4 Warning: Trade with extreme caution!):  Did you own any of these coins at the time of the theft?  Do you have a claim against Alitin?

Burtw:  in what are you concerned exactly ?  leave me alone, stay to your place, please . i havent anything to talk on this with YOU.
Thanx !


ps: my personal ignore list will grow again .. lol  

how could you make your basis on this shitty "trust ref"?

have you even read a bit by  "who" and for "what" I had been tagged ??  I'm surprised, coming from YOU, to go in this way  as you know what is unjustice ( at least, I was thinking  to.. )



the relation you had just did few line ago about this , is exactly same  if i was told :  " if you was arrested by police it was for good reasons .. ! nothing  never happend for nothing .. "  you got me now ?    but i didnt.  i was able to made my OWN judgement... and i would expected you would be able to do the same ..


so : if i open my mouth in this story ( Alitin ): it's beacuse i have my own concern/personal  reason  : they dont concern you in anyway.


why have you open your mouth in this case ? i dont understand : feel free to post this  poor trust ranking as much as you like ... just sad..

[bithalo]

Richard... I sent a PM to you now.  I'm following up on our emails from a few days ago.

Thanks
Howard

[RichardForsyth]

We are going to be working with coin owners on a case basis.  Please contact me at raforsyth@alitin.com to begin the process. We will need to verify that you are the rightful owner, that the case is not compromised, and that we're not refunding a duplicate request.  We're borrowing the money to refund, so timeline on this somewhat depends on how fast we can acquire the funds, but we're going to try to do it fast.  Please refer to AlitinMint.com for more updates from now on, and please contact us if you think you might be the victim of a theft.  We are going to try to get everyone their BTC back.