How Coinbase stole my life savings.

[Jherek]

Sorry to hear this OP. Venezuelans have already been suffering enough and i heard that you can literally live off less than $5 a day so i would assume that 0.1 BTC is pretty big amount for everyone there. Venezuelans are actually using bitcoin to store their wealth as well becaues of the fiat collapse in that country, which is awesome to hear.

Anyways back on topic, yeah unfortunately you have probably been infected by the clipboard virus. What you should do now is download a good antivirus, scan your computer completely and isolate/delete any viruses that it finds. If no viruses are found then unfortunately you'll have to reinstall/reset your OS to make sure everything is clean.

When you copy addresses, make sure that the first four letters/numbers are the same before you press send. Next time you use bitcoin make sure you do that.

[codec]

This happened to me as well. I just registered for this. I found it and deleted it. The address was exactly the same. And ppl are still falling for it (check the address). I also changed my passwords that I used recently. You do the same.

I wish I registered in this forum the first day i came here, so I could tell you to give your address so ppl could donate to you. But in this fashion, ppl will just say it's a scam.

And btw if you could send me a screenshot of programs you have installed in your pc, I appreciate it.

[daemonfox]

I don't like to preach, but some of you have REALLY BAD online habits... this thing is not like the bank where you can bitch and cry and maybe they can help and refund etc. etc. YOU ARE THE BANK> BE YOUR OWN SECURITY. PROTECT YOUR OWN ASSETS. LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT DOING SO.

The #1 thing about all of this, is it teaches PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for your valuables online.

Take the extra effort, export and backup privkeys, wallets, account credentials... and store them somewhere PERMANENT and SAFE.

Here is an example for you... I have a drive just for coins, wallets and their chains. It stays UNPLUGGED at all times until I need it. It only ever sees the internet when I want to update a chain or make a transaction for those coins. I have every wallet.dat, chain, priv/pub key and the associated miners that I have ever used stored this way.

I can never lose my privkeys... they are stored in the wallet.dat files with passwords... and they are all saved to paper and stored securely too.

Lastly, go the Vanitygen suggestion I made... get yourself a recognizable address and ONLY use it from within a secured BTC client.

[Zepher]

To make the matter worse, I am sure you were victim of clipboard virus.

Jesus, this is so devastating, all my savings lost due to a virus.

Yes its a very interesting Type of virus which only changes the address to the child-parent address of the coder who created that virus.
The first create of the virus was Infinity Technology on Dark net.
Generally people who want to download bitcoin hack tools(which really doesnot exist) become the victim of this.

I don't recall looking for bitcoin hack tools at any time, but I remember looking for BTC making websites and that type of stuff. Downloaded some stuff a couple of weeks ago and didn't thought too much of it.
After downloading an Antivirus and making some checks, I had seven viruses, maybe it was one of them, I don't know.

Well guys, thanks for being so helpful, I'm just really desperate here and I don't know if you guys find it insulting or against your rules but I really need my 0.1 BTC back, I'm leaving my Bitrex wallet ID at the mercy of you guys generosity and kindness, and thanks again for everything, its been a couple of stressful days.

1EF8xcVaGixRpzM2saTBBrjEB7sTPtkEWt

Geupper, firstly I am genuinely sorry that you have been a victim of a clipboard virus. I can appreciate just how much money that 0.1+ means to you in your country.

Secondly, in the picture you posted, you have revealed your identity. Do yourself a favour and edit that post, and remove the image now - its done its' job, and we know now why your BTC never showed up.

Thirdly, this is NOT something I do, but here, have 0.005 BTC on me: https://blockchain.info/tx/3168d430e747bf20b24ae38f2bdb5de28f2e76165f52b755e1062583d2c430f6

(anyone messaging me asking for money will result in a negative rating...so don't even try it.)

Good luck with everything, and always remember, when dealing with cryptocurrencies, make sure you are using a computer with adequate virus protection... That's 100% essential. All the best.

[JollyGood]

Geupper, firstly I am genuinely sorry that you have been a victim of a clipboard virus. I can appreciate just how much money that 0.1+ means to you in your country.

Secondly, in the picture you posted, you have revealed your identity. Do yourself a favour and edit that post, and remove the image now - its done its' job, and we know now why your BTC never showed up.

Thirdly, this is NOT something I do, but here, have 0.005 BTC on me: https://blockchain.info/tx/3168d430e747bf20b24ae38f2bdb5de28f2e76165f52b755e1062583d2c430f6

(anyone messaging me asking for money will result in a negative rating...so don't even try it.)

Good luck with everything, and always remember, when dealing with cryptocurrencies, make sure you are using a computer with adequate virus protection... That's 100% essential. All the best.

That is such a nice gesture on your part Zepher. Good to know there are kind hearted, sympathetic people out there who care for others.

[Geupper]

Geupper, firstly I am genuinely sorry that you have been a victim of a clipboard virus. I can appreciate just how much money that 0.1+ means to you in your country.

Secondly, in the picture you posted, you have revealed your identity. Do yourself a favour and edit that post, and remove the image now - its done its' job, and we know now why your BTC never showed up.

Thirdly, this is NOT something I do, but here, have 0.005 BTC on me: https://blockchain.info/tx/3168d430e747bf20b24ae38f2bdb5de28f2e76165f52b755e1062583d2c430f6

(anyone messaging me asking for money will result in a negative rating...so don't even try it.)

Good luck with everything, and always remember, when dealing with cryptocurrencies, make sure you are using a computer with adequate virus protection... That's 100% essential. All the best.

That is such a nice gesture on your part Zepher. Good to know there are kind hearted, sympathetic people out there who care for others.

Like JollyGood said, that's such a kind gesture Zepher, I really appreciate it, thank you so much!

And I'll do what you and other guys told me, I'll just be more cautious next time. Thanks for everything guys!

[aadje93]

If you are still around next week i will donate you 50% of my signature earnings is not that much but i will be able to send you like 7$ just pm me your wallet id, i know is a small amount but maybe it will still help you a bit!

[daemonfox]

Geupper, firstly I am genuinely sorry that you have been a victim of a clipboard virus. I can appreciate just how much money that 0.1+ means to you in your country.

Secondly, in the picture you posted, you have revealed your identity. Do yourself a favour and edit that post, and remove the image now - its done its' job, and we know now why your BTC never showed up.

Thirdly, this is NOT something I do, but here, have 0.005 BTC on me: https://blockchain.info/tx/3168d430e747bf20b24ae38f2bdb5de28f2e76165f52b755e1062583d2c430f6

(anyone messaging me asking for money will result in a negative rating...so don't even try it.)

Good luck with everything, and always remember, when dealing with cryptocurrencies, make sure you are using a computer with adequate virus protection... That's 100% essential. All the best.

That is such a nice gesture on your part Zepher. Good to know there are kind hearted, sympathetic people out there who care for others.

Like JollyGood said, that's such a kind gesture Zepher, I really appreciate it, thank you so much!

And I'll do what you and other guys told me, I'll just be more cautious next time. Thanks for everything guys!

A lot of people just jump in on this without doing the research they should. Things like what happened to you tend to scare off the faint of heart.. kudos to you for sticking with it! At least you made the effort to understand how this happened.

I lurked here through all of 2012 before I made an account to participate... that was March 2013. My first BTC transaction was in 2011... deposits only until I started actually talking with people here daily.

You are well on your way to making some friends here... keep your optimism but shade it with some skepticism and you will be OK. Learn from this lesson and I have no doubt you will recover and look back at this as a blip in your crypto life.

GL!

[erikalui]

Sorry for your loss dear. Coinbase (and all 3rd party wallets) always gives you a brand new address and hence it is necessary to check the wallet before sending coins.

Due to a virus, I too lost my coins from blockchain and I did not even get any notification about the same. Is there any solution for the virus in your case? I guess that major antivirus software too don't detect it as it's what in my case.

[swogerino]

To make sure you do not have that virus around anymore I say you need to save all your important files to some other place and format the PC, reinstall Windows again, directly after install an antivirus and then install a desktop wallet and stop using Coinbase. This would be 100% of what you need to be in track again.

[daemonfox]

Sorry for your loss dear. Coinbase (and all 3rd party wallets) always gives you a brand new address and hence it is necessary to check the wallet before sending coins.

Due to a virus, I too lost my coins from blockchain and I did not even get any notification about the same. Is there any solution for the virus in your case? I guess that major antivirus software too don't detect it as it's what in my case.

This is inaccurate. Every time you click Wallet Address, it gives you the same address UNTIL you send coin to it. Once that completes, the next time you click Wallet Address it will give you a new address.

[erikalui]

Sorry for your loss dear. Coinbase (and all 3rd party wallets) always gives you a brand new address and hence it is necessary to check the wallet before sending coins.

Due to a virus, I too lost my coins from blockchain and I did not even get any notification about the same. Is there any solution for the virus in your case? I guess that major antivirus software too don't detect it as it's what in my case.

This is inaccurate. Every time you click Wallet Address, it gives you the same address UNTIL you send coin to it. Once that completes, the next time you click Wallet Address it will give you a new address.

Yes, it gives you a brand new address everytime you ask for the same and which was  NEVER used before. The address that the OP sent coins too was an OLD address that already had transactions since May 2017. That itself raises a doubt that the address was not generated by coinbase for the user.

[TechnoMusic]

Oh that is reallly ugly what they did to you.I think that this is some kind of virus which changed way  of travelling your money so money go to other way to other wallet.

[Spoetnik]

So you did what i said and checked if your PC is clean ?

[Pilar]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. You live in such a beautiful country, but it is terrible whats going on there right now. If you pm me your adress I´ll send you some $ in bitcoins.

[daemonfox]

I am starting to think you WERE NOT infected...

You stated you got an email response that your country is not supported. When you signed up, you had to tell coinbase where you live and personal info right?

Maybe, LEGALLY, right now they cannot allow you to use their services, and to protect themselves, most likely after giving you a notice when you signed up that your country wasn't supported yet, your account is flagged to NOT process deposits into your balance until they are compliant with whatever is needed to support your country.

I know that sounds shite as hell... BUT if that is true, YOU HAVE HOPE!

IF this is true, Coinbase has your coins, and the tx in their DB linked to your Coinbase ID. The day it becomes legally allowed, you will get your balance credited. Until then, they likely have no other recourse as even refunding you would violate certain money transmission laws in the US.

I hope this works out for you, I hope to see you post here screaming how you got your BTC back!

GL!

[DrBlobber]

Same happened here.

Have 2 addresses in notes on an iPhone.
NO chance of infection.
(but iphone safely to apple now to get the history out trough a official technician, we're an MFI supplier so have access to them...)

Transferred quite some money from my Coinbase app to my wallet. Like i did many times before.
Checked the first few positions of my address, i have them in my head and can see if its my BTC or ETH account by that even.
All was okay.

Waited few hours even for the ETH to arrive in my offline wallet. Nothing there.
Checked in the app, could see "transfer completed" so was wondering, could not see any trace in the iPhone app so i went online in the webapp and saw a totally unknown and non-exisiting address in the transfer.

Coinbase keep saying my mistake, but i'm 100% sure it wasn't...

I'm going to get this to the deep end, it was too much money to let it go and the legal dept of my (owed business) is luckaly close by and are stepping in.

Either;
- fault in Coinbase iPhone app
- fault in queue handling or similar on there servers
- a once in a while random 'we take' action of Coinbase

I'm fearing the last since they keep telling its my mistake although they should by now realize there are some other issues or maybe even unfair (i'll call it that for now) situations going on.