Friend gives wallet seed to stranger and bitcoins disappear from his wallet

[mr.mister]

The story sounds quite difficult to believe for me, and I learned a long time ago that you shouldn’t believe everything you read in a forum. However, that there are some possibilities that that could have happened, whether to your friend or someone else.

What I don’t get is: did your friend go to the bar with the seeds written on a piece of paper? Always keep your money away from strangers. The fewer people know that you have money, the better, even acquittances.

Would your friend also give a stranger his fiat wallet with $10000 in it and then wonder if he will get it back?

Yes, I was thinking something like that. Not the fiat wallet but the password and the coordinates card or other security feature.

@Don Pedro


apparently, you did not read the whole post. I clearly stated that my friend asked for help with his wallet (at a bar where bitcoiners frequent), and the stranger gave him instructions on how to get the seed out of the wallet, but you would have had to read to figure that out.

[1715071475]

1715071475

[1715071475]

1715071475

[1715071475]

1715071475

[tiggytomb]

That really sucks, your friend was obviously pretty new to bitcoin if they handed this information over, as much as we can all say how silly that was this highlights a problem that many newbies could face.

If somebody just buys bitcoin without any knowledge of how it works and then an issue arises they are more likely to put trust into somebody with more knowledge than themselves to help fix the issue and this is where a problem like this can arise.

I know most wallets warn you whem setting up to never share your keys with anyone as they contain your bitcoins etc.so there is a lot of responsibility on the user to protect their coins.

I think it is fair to say that your friend will never get their coins back sadly.

[Agamemnus]

Oh man that is terrible you should never give away your 12 word seed! You should memorize it and store it in a safe place but never do that as that is access to all your coins!

[Za1n]

How did that person get in touch with your chap? a person who has 2.6 BTC in his wallet should have been more careful the stranger probably ran away with the BTC by now the chances of getting his Bitcoin is close to zero.

My friend apparently got in touch with the stranger at a bar that is known to have a lot of bitcoiners around.

Yes, get in touch with the Police right away, the sooner the better. If he actually met the person in a bar, there very well might be surveillance video of the person in question, or at least of him walking in/out of the place that your friend can review with the police and help identify him. But, some establishments overwrite their tapes or hard drives as they fill up, so the sooner you act the better the chance that this type of evidence will still exist. Also, there may be other people who frequent the bar, or one of the bartenders or waitresses that might know who this stranger is, but again this would be more of a job for the Police. The amount involved makes it a significant enough crime you may actually get someone out there to investigate the place and snoop around, as if he ripped you off he very well may have ripped others off as well.

[Kaller]

Someone probably tricked him... I got tricked before too and it sucks, but we live and we learn. Hopefully he did not lose too much.

[tomahawk9]

     A friend who asked for instructions on how to use certain features of his wallet, was apparently tricked into divulging his seed to a stranger, and now his 2.6 btc are missing from the wallet, and so is the stranger. Does he have any recourse?

I'm afraid that his coins are gone forever. Even if you can track the dude who did it, once the coins are moved from one address to another, there's nothing you can do to get them back.
Lesson learned, you never give out your seed/private keys or any kind of information related to you bitcoin wallet to anyone.

[Wowcoin]

     A friend who asked for instructions on how to use certain features of his wallet, was apparently tricked into divulging his seed to a stranger, and now his 2.6 btc are missing from the wallet, and so is the stranger. Does he have any recourse?

Never trust anyone seed or privatekey is so important no one can know it. I think his bitcoin gone but he need to ask that person that his bitcoin gone. But i think if that guy stole his btc he didnt admit it that his the one stole the bitcoin.

[btcprospecter]

This just shows how important the seed is to keep safe. It is most important it is kept secure even more so now that bitcoin has such a high worth. Your friend must be feeling very bad about been scammed like this.

[DebitMe]

If by recourse you mean legally, then yes, it is illegal and he can call the police on the guy. If you mean actually finding the guy, most likely not. The coins are probably long gone unfortunately.

[mr.mister]

A Police report has been filed, and a description of the person, a stranger has been given to them. The bar is cooperating. There were surveillance cameras so they may be able to identify the guy, or not. regardless, it may be difficult to get the coins back.

[kier010]

     A friend who asked for instructions on how to use certain features of his wallet, was apparently tricked into divulging his seed to a stranger, and now his 2.6 btc are missing from the wallet, and so is the stranger. Does he have any recourse?

your friend bitcoin is gone even if you find the guy he would just deny it unless you have witness or proof. 2.6 btc is a huge amount this should serve as experience to your friend. walled seed is always important so never talk or give it to stranger.

[pooya87]

A friend who asked for instructions on how to use certain features of his wallet, was apparently tricked into divulging his seed to a stranger, and now his 2.6 btc are missing from the wallet, and so is the stranger. Does he have any recourse?

yeah, i also heard someone offered a kid some candy in his van but the kid never got the candy but he was molested instead.
the "resource" i have for this one is a video:

[Rinder]

Why those person would trust his keys with a person he doesnt know at all, this forum has a lot people wich can help and support others with their issues. But well lesson learned, i do hope your friend will be able to find this person, but there is no way to force those to repay unless bitcoin is already legalized and you can proof he had stealed, besides the fact your friend gaved the seed.... and ended loosing the coins.

[Fundalini]

You can't do anything now to recover the lost btc. Transactions are irreversible and most likely that stranger is gone like bubbles in the sea. You'll just have to charge this to experience and hope to avoid making the same mistake. Do proper research about bitcoin since large sums of money are on the line. And with that, I hope you refer this forum to your friend as there are many helpful threads in here.

[Jating]

     A friend who asked for instructions on how to use certain features of his wallet, was apparently tricked into divulging his seed to a stranger, and now his 2.6 btc are missing from the wallet, and so is the stranger. Does he have any recourse?

I'm sorry but bitcoin transaction is irreversible. There's no other way to refund it if that what's you mean. That's why we need to protect at the highest level our private keys because once we give it to a total stranger, your bitcoin is good as gone. Why does your friend trust a total stranger to begin with. I can't fathom that someone will totally divulge your private keys. And 2.6 BTC is damn high amount to be scammed. Its gonna be painful but let this be a lessons learn for you and your friend. That's why we always preached hear to protect your wallet and your private keys or seeds.

[lawabidingcitizen]

Bummer. I don't think the authorities will be able to assist in this matter. He'll just have to deal with it and move on. Lesson learned

[Qiuyue201]

My thinking even if your friend could track down the thief, the probability of the thief himself giving back the btc to your friend is kinda low.
even worse if your country have no regulation to cryptocurrencies, the government will just don't give a shit you know.

[Basmic]

In most cases of thefts of money is to blame in the first place the users themselves. Was warned a million times not to give your password, not to visit suspicious websites and don't store all your coins in one place. Imagine how many people would suffer from a virus such as if You kept coins offline on their PC.

[mr.mister]

Going forward, my friend tells me he will buy more bitcoin, but be more careful next time. Right now, he will be on the sidelines because he has no more money to invest.

He is thinking that this was a great kick in the balls from the stranger. What if btc goes to 10k, 25k, 50k? I told him he needs to hope for the best, however, expect the worst, and move on.

[bitart]

A Police report has been filed, and a description of the person, a stranger has been given to them. The bar is cooperating. There were surveillance cameras so they may be able to identify the guy, or not. regardless, it may be difficult to get the coins back.

Just be careful... 2.6 BTC is a really high amount of money in fiat. If he has just exchanged his life savings to bitcoin some weeks before, than it won't be a problem, but if he collected the bitcoins over the years (when it has much less value), it could generate a problem (taxes). Police will start to investigate where the bitcoins went, but after, they will hand over the whole thing to the tax authorities, to investigate where that amount of money came from... so be really careful
My opinion is that starting a police investigation was maybe a wrong way (but obviously the only legal way). If the surveillance cameras took photo about the stranger, it would be wiser to start a private investigation instead. But I hope I'll be wrong at the end. Fingers crossed, keep us updated please