My bitcoins have been stolen

[redemptor]

A question,please.

reformatting hard drive and reinstalling Windows will remove keystroke logger,viruses AND rootkits?

thank-you

[edd]

There is no guarantee that the guy actually stole his BTC. Many wallet stealers won't take the funds right away but will wait until a sizeable amount is transferred into the wallet before it cleans it out.

This is what I am talking about. There is 90% chance that he did stole btc from OP, but still 10% chance that he did not. There is no strong evidence.

I would say even less than 90%.

Evidence supporting this person was the thief:

• He had unrestricted access to the computer.
• The funds were transferred almost immediately after he left.

Evidence against:

• As Blazr mentioned, wallet stealers often wait until a significant amount triggers them into action and this address hardly had more than half a bitcoin in it before the day in question.
• This person should have known that he would be the first suspected and that his victim could easily track him down.

[Dlcoates1]

A question,please.

reformatting hard drive and reinstalling Windows will remove keystroke logger,viruses AND rootkits?

thank-you

Technically, no. Like phones, computers have firmware. Anything you ever do, download, or see on your computer is embeded in your firmware. However, reformating can remove the virus from your computer rendering it useless, but that doesn't mean it is off of your computer for good.

[redemptor]

"Remove" may be the wrong word. reinstalling windows will disable the rootkit/keystroke logger?

[yvv]

I meant, Kennji had no reason to let him touch his computer. I thought you were saying that it was the easiest way to give him the receiving address to send the funds to. I now see you probably meant it was the easiest way for a thief to gain access to his wallet and you're right, it is.

Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry for my bad English. After OP let the guy to log in to his computer, the guy could copy his wallet.dat by one click.

[Blazr]

"Remove" may be the wrong word. reinstalling windows will disable the rootkit/keystroke logger?

Yes, but if it copied itself onto some low-level firmware then no. So for most intents and purposes a reformat is enough.

[redemptor]

thx

[freethink2013]

There is no guarantee that the guy actually stole his BTC. Many wallet stealers won't take the funds right away but will wait until a sizeable amount is transferred into the wallet before it cleans it out.

This is what I am talking about. There is 90% chance that he did stole btc from OP, but still 10% chance that he did not. There is no strong evidence.

I would say even less than 90%.

Evidence supporting this person was the thief:

• He had unrestricted access to the computer.
• The funds were transferred almost immediately after he left.

Evidence against:

• As Blazr mentioned, wallet stealers often wait until a significant amount triggers them into action and this address hardly had more than half a bitcoin in it before the day in question.
• This person should have known that he would be the first suspected and that his victim could easily track him down.

so he's returning the card out of the goodness of his heart and despite the fact he lost not only what he paid for the card but also money from his own wallet.

[Blazr]

thx

Note, when you reformat make sure that you write a new Master Boot Record to your drive, as malware can copy itself into it.

[edd]

so he's returning the card out of the goodness of his heart and despite the fact he lost not only what he paid for the card but also money from his own wallet.

If I believed the other person needs it more than I do and was not responsible, I would.

Besides, if he was the thief and he returns the card, what has he gained? Just the BTC, right? They would both be back to where they started - Kennji would have his card back and the thief would have just stolen his own bitcoins back.

[yvv]

Evidence against:

• As Blazr mentioned, wallet stealers often wait until a significant amount triggers them into action and this address hardly had more than half a bitcoin in it before the day in question.
• This person should have known that he would be the first suspected and that his victim could easily track him down.

Yes, if he is really a thief, he is very stupid thief. If he would wait for several days before cash out, first of all, OP would not suspect him, and second, OP could put a couple of btc more to his compromised wallet.

[bittheodds]

He brought over his 3 year old daughter too and my son played with her while we did the transaction.

It's not the first time I hear about petty criminals using children has a decoy to their misdeed, but bringing one's daughter to conduct a scam that could have gone wrong very quickly is just shocking to me!

[edd]

He brought over his 3 year old daughter too and my son played with her while we did the transaction.

It's not the first time I hear about petty criminals using children has a decoy to their misdeed, but bringing one's daughter to conduct a scam that could have gone wrong very quickly is just shocking to me!

I remember watching an interview with a car thief serving time in prison who claimed he always took his toddler daughter along so as not to look suspicious.

[bittheodds]

A question,please.

reformatting hard drive and reinstalling Windows will remove keystroke logger,viruses AND rootkits?

thank-you

Well, I'd say yes, under the following conditions:
- You do a full reformat (ie not the the 'quick' one your OS might offer you during the install).
- You make sure your computer is offline during the process (pull the ethernet cable/disable the wifi card if any)
- You make sure you're not reinstalling the said malware in the process: Clean, official windows CD purchased in the store, legitimate software etc
- You immediately install an antivirus (try avast) and antimalware (try superantispyware)
- Using a different, safe machine or even better, someone with more IT experience than you, destroy/wipe any remove media you may have used on the compromised machine (usb sticks, etc)

Good luck!

[malevolent]

Next time:

don't let others remote into their computers, you never know if their PC wasn't set up to steal from yours or whether it wasn't hacked by someone else
DISABLE autorun for all devices (cd, usb, hdd, etc.) so even if there is a virus on a USB memory (or any other device) it won't be able to start up and wreak havoc

[freethink2013]

so he's returning the card out of the goodness of his heart and despite the fact he lost not only what he paid for the card but also money from his own wallet.

If I believed the other person needs it more than I do and was not responsible, I would.

Besides, if he was the thief and he returns the card, what has he gained? Just the BTC, right? They would both be back to where they started - Kennji would have his card back and the thief would have just stolen his own bitcoins back.

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

I can't believe how people on here seem to want to go for the most elaborate scenario possible when it's obvious what happened. Anyway good luck to the op.

[edd]

so he's returning the card out of the goodness of his heart and despite the fact he lost not only what he paid for the card but also money from his own wallet.

If I believed the other person needs it more than I do and was not responsible, I would.

Besides, if he was the thief and he returns the card, what has he gained? Just the BTC, right? They would both be back to where they started - Kennji would have his card back and the thief would have just stolen his own bitcoins back.

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

I can't believe how people on here seem to want to go for the most elaborate scenario possible when it's obvious what happened. Anyway good luck to the op.

I agree that he is the most likely culprit, I'm just pointing out details that show it isn't as "obvious" as it might seem.

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

He wasn't caught, he was accused.

[Blazr]

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

I can't believe how people on here seem to want to go for the most elaborate scenario possible when it's obvious what happened. Anyway good luck to the op.

Believe it or not most of the other scenario's mentioned in this thread happen to people all the time, and aren't as elaborate as you might think.

[yvv]

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

He was not caught, but he freaked out nonetheless. This is very suspicious, indeed.

[Blazr]

He's only returning the card because he was caught.

He was not caught, but he freaked out nonetheless. This is very suspicious, indeed.

If it was me and I accidently infected OP's PC with malware that I didn't know was on my USB stick I would feel guilty for OP's loss and return the card.