Family member has old transaction from 2011... Can someone help me?

[loudbay]

I'm sorry that this is a level 11 amateur post...

I have a family member who got an email from blockchain stating:
This is an automated notice that your wallet account has been credited with funds in the amount of 0.54798743 BTC.

I would have chocked this up to spam or phishing, but that same family member remembers being gifted .5 bitcoin in 2011 and found a folder on their computer with the transaction number (am I even calling it the right thing? It's an empty folder named with the transaction number)

They don't remember ever opening a wallet, we created a new blockchain wallet as nothing was linked to her email.

Where do i even start?

[ranochigo]

I'm sorry that this is a level 11 amateur post...

It's fine, no need to apologise.

I would have chocked this up to spam or phishing, but that same family member remembers being gifted .5 bitcoin in 2011 and found a folder on their computer with the transaction number (am I even calling it the right thing? It's an empty folder named with the transaction number)

They don't remember ever opening a wallet, we created a new blockchain wallet as nothing was linked to her email.

Where do i even start?

Bitcoin doesn't have a transaction number, Bitcoin only has a long string of alphanumeric characters, called the transaction ID. Try going to blockexplorer.com and paste the string into the search box. If nothing pops up, you probably don't have Bitcoins.

Sorry to say but its impossible for Blockchain.info to notify you that you have received Bitcoins 6 years later. It's probably a spam.

[loudbay]

I just tried to "Import Address" on blockchain.  The string of 28 characters (triple checked) yields me this:

"The value you entered does not appear to be a valid Private Key or bitcoin address"


So what is this folder on her computer and how can I recover this?  Pretty confused...

[loudbay]

Bitcoin doesn't have a transaction number, Bitcoin only has a long string of alphanumeric characters, called the transaction ID. Try going to blockexplorer.com and paste the string into the search box. If nothing pops up, you probably don't have Bitcoins.

Sorry to say but its impossible for Blockchain.info to notify you that you have received Bitcoins 6 years later. It's probably a spam.
[/quote]

Ok, so block explorer says no matches found to the 28 digit string from 2011.   Does that mean it never existed?  Was the community developed enough in 2011 for that to have been a spam attempt?  She found an empty folder named the 28 character string.  The email from September 2017 is believable that it's spam....

If she had created a wallet and forgotten, would that nullify the original transaction id?

[ranochigo]

Ok, so block explorer says no matches found to the 28 digit string from 2011.   Does that mean it never existed?

Then its likely not anything related to Bitcoin.

Was the community developed enough in 2011 for that to have been a spam attempt?  She found an empty folder named the 28 character string.

Your sister might have entered her email somewhere and it got picked up. I really doubt anyone would put their private key or any user info as their folder name. It could be the wallet ID on blockchain.info but its unlikely.

The email from September 2017 is believable that it's spam....

It probably is. Did you click on anything in it?

[loudbay]

Ok, so block explorer says no matches found to the 28 digit string from 2011.   Does that mean it never existed?

Then its likely not anything related to Bitcoin.

Was the community developed enough in 2011 for that to have been a spam attempt?  She found an empty folder named the 28 character string.

Your sister might have entered her email somewhere and it got picked up. I really doubt anyone would put their private key or any user info as their folder name. It could be the wallet ID on blockchain.info but its unlikely.

The email from September 2017 is believable that it's spam....

It probably is. Did you click on anything in it?

So strange that she would have that folder there...  

How do I check if it's a wallet ID on blockchain.info?  I used the import function and that did nothing.

Yes, the email was spam.  No official sender or anything.

This is the transaction ID in question if you'd like to triple check if I'm doing something wrong:

c5ef5b8d61b831a02698ac740634

Thank you so much for your time!!!

[ranochigo]

So strange that she would have that folder there...  

How do I check if it's a wallet ID on blockchain.info?  I used the import function and that did nothing.

Yes, the email was spam.  No official sender or anything.

This is the transaction ID in question if you'd like to triple check if I'm doing something wrong:

c5ef5b8d61b831a02698ac740634

Thank you so much for your time!!!

It might be created by a program or something, some do create it with gibberish.

It's not anything Bitcoin related. TXID are way longer than that, Blockchain.info's wallet ID is also longer than that, and so is the private key.

[loudbay]

I guess that seals it...

Thanks!

[Spendulus]

I'm sorry that this is a level 11 amateur post...

I have a family member who got an email from blockchain stating:
This is an automated notice that your wallet account has been credited with funds in the amount of 0.54798743 BTC.

I would have chocked this up to spam or phishing, but that same family member remembers being gifted .5 bitcoin in 2011 and found a folder on their computer with the transaction number (am I even calling it the right thing? It's an empty folder named with the transaction number)

They don't remember ever opening a wallet, we created a new blockchain wallet as nothing was linked to her email.

Where do i even start?

You start by assuming the email was spam or phished, and from that attempt to work out how the scam worked. Did it infect the computer? Did it point to a phished address? Etc.

I have also received spam alleging it was from blockchain alleging I was the owner of 0.5 btc. I assumed it was simple phishing intended to gather login credentials when the sucker eagerly goes to checkout his new fortune.

[slate_main]

This could be the new wave of scams, from phishing for crypto in this style, it is good you came to the forum and brought this to our attention, it is worrying as many will be caught out in this way.

[anorganix]

I'm sorry that this is a level 11 amateur post...

I have a family member who got an email from blockchain stating:
This is an automated notice that your wallet account has been credited with funds in the amount of 0.54798743 BTC.

I would have chocked this up to spam or phishing, but that same family member remembers being gifted .5 bitcoin in 2011 and found a folder on their computer with the transaction number (am I even calling it the right thing? It's an empty folder named with the transaction number)

They don't remember ever opening a wallet, we created a new blockchain wallet as nothing was linked to her email.

Where do i even start?

You don't start, you stop.
This is 100% scam, never click any link(s) from that e-mail. I've heard of it before, it seems it's still active.

Stay safe!