Cloud Mining SCAM - Possible to steal BTC from my wallet?

[farleyn]

Hello,

A time ago i was found by a person by Linkedin offering me a Cloud Minning process that in theory was safe and could bring to me good earnings.

According to this offering i have read a lot about and i think i could try the investment because it would not be possible to steal bitcoin from my wallet without the private key in hands, but what happened to me sounds really strange.

The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet, including the private key. With these information my wallet in theory was connected to a S9 Antiminer equipment. After this i had to enter in my wallet again, change the password and enable 2FA and MFA authentication for security reasons, fund my wallet and let the minner know to start the mining process.

All this happened and after the process mining started the btc funded in my wallet after i changed the security information was deducted immediately like if i had stolen.

After this i have talked to the minners everyday but my money i never saw again, nor money, or the promised earnings. Please help me to find answers.

This is possible to happen? Is it possible for a miner to steal my btc without the private key? All this is a scam? Have i lost all my money?

Thanks for your help.

Farley.

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[bitperson]

If you have given someone your private key, yes, they can spend your bitcoins. That’s why you’re supposed to keep it private.

[farleyn]

I don't know if you understand what i told. I gave my private key only when my wallet was empty. After that i changed everything and just after that i funded and the values were deducted in theory due to mining process.

After i fund i did not gave anything to the miner and was this that make me confused. Was i stolen? What do you think?

[bitperson]

When you say you funded your wallet, do you mean that you sent bitcoins to an address to which your ‘cloud mining provider’ had the private key? If you did, then they would have been able to spend those bitcoins.

Also, I note that you have posted this same question to at least three boards here on Bitcointalk. Please don’t do that going forward. Instead pick the one board to which your topic is the most relevant.

[farleyn]

I did not send bitcoins to an address of my cloud mining provider. I send bitcoin to my wallet address that just i have the private key.

The cloud mining provider had my private key only when it was empty and in theory in time of "cloud mining setup". After that, never.

Sorry for the repeated topics, i am new here.

[AB de Royse777]

You don't understand.... if you give your private key to anybody when your wallet is empty and you fund it, even years later, they have access to your funds because they have your private key.

Control of private key = control of wallet - for ever. No password or anything needed. Thats why it's a PRIVATE key.

[bitperson]

It seems your party has misled you to think that all the details you mention would be relevant to spending your bitcoins. They’re not. What matters is that if, at any point in time, you sent bitcoins to an address to which someone else held the private key, then that person would have been able to spend those bitcoins at any later point in time. It doesn’t matter if the address carried no balance at the time you provided the key.

(Edit: it also doesn’t matter whether you yourself also had the key and therefore considered the address ‘yours’. Anyone who has a copy of a private key can spend the bitcoins related to that key.)

Consider a person who gives away the key to their empty house, then stocks up the house with goodies. A thief can enter the house later and take those goodies because the key is still the key to the same house.

[farleyn]

If i understood the blockchain wallet password and the blockchain private key are different things?

Can the "cloud minner" have access to my funds and spend them at any time even after i had changed my wallet password and after i enabled 2FA methods? Is that?

[AB de Royse777]

If i understood the blockchain wallet password and the blockchain private key are different things?

Can the "cloud minner" have access to my funds and spend them at any time even after i had changed my wallet password and after i enabled 2FA methods? Is that?

When he has your private key he can access your funds whenever he wants without a password or 2FA method.

Your password and 2FA are used to login to the website, your private key is used to have control over your BTC address.

[farleyn]

If i understood the blockchain wallet password and the blockchain private key are different things?

Can the "cloud minner" have access to my funds and spend them at any time even after i had changed my wallet password and after i enabled 2FA methods? Is that?

When he has your private key he can access your funds whenever he wants without a password or 2FA method.

Your password and 2FA are used to login to the website, your private key is used to have control over your BTC address.

I did not give my private key directly, and yes my blockchain.info wallet id and password in the first moment, and this time my wallet was really empty.

After this, even with the change of the password of the blockchain.info wallet and other enabled security procedures, can anyone ("cloud miner") have stolen from me? Is that?

[AB de Royse777]

If i understood the blockchain wallet password and the blockchain private key are different things?

Can the "cloud minner" have access to my funds and spend them at any time even after i had changed my wallet password and after i enabled 2FA methods? Is that?

When he has your private key he can access your funds whenever he wants without a password or 2FA method.

Your password and 2FA are used to login to the website, your private key is used to have control over your BTC address.

I did not give my private key directly, and yes my blockchain.info wallet id and password in the first moment, and this time my wallet was really empty.

After this, even with the change of the password of the blockchain.info wallet and other enabled security procedures, can anyone ("cloud miner") have stolen from me? Is that?

You said:

The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet, including the private key.

If you give your private key to anybody they will have FULL control over your btc address and the funds in it, now and for ever, also for funds deposited AFTER you gave your private key. It does not matter that you password protect it or enable 2FA.... they have your private key so they can do anything you want with your BTC address and the funds in it... do you understand this?

No, not every miner has access to your BTC address and your funds, only people who have your private key.

[farleyn]

I understood completely what you told and let me make a correction. When i told "The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet, including the private key" i mean "The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet ID and my wallet password".

In this case, can the miner got my private key and steal from me even after i changed the password and enabled security procedures in the wallet?

[BitcoinSupremo]

I understood completely what you told and let me make a correction. When i told "The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet, including the private key" i mean "The procedure was to create a wallet in the blockchain.info and send the miner the information about my wallet ID and my wallet password".

In this case, can the miner got my private key and steal from my even after i changed the password and enabled security procedures in the wallet?

He can easily once he is logged on , on your Blockchain.info account and export all or the only private key depending when this happened.

You should never give to someone your PRIVATE key and in the case when you have an online web wallet like Blockchain.info you should not give your login details to anyone, in the welcome email you receive from Blockchain.info it clearly says do not give the password to anyone, not even Blockchain.info workers.

Now moving on and start using https://www.electrum.org the best desktop wallet and read in depth all its documentation before you use it.

[jhenfelipe]

Your funds were obviously stolen.

The time that you gave your wallet ID and password to the thief, he surely exported your Private Key from your wallet and import to his. Knowing that, changing your password and adding 2FA won't be of any help anymore because your private key won't change at all. If you will continue making deposits to that address, the thief will continue stealing your funds as well.

Since you seem to be new in using blockchain.info, you don't have an idea that you could export your private key once logged in, that's why you just did what the thief told you to do. However, regardless of that, you should have considered protecting your wallet ID and password. In general (online accounts), securing your log in credentials is necessary and a good practice. <~ "security procedures" that you mentioned should start there.

Just learn from it to avoid being a victim again in the future.

[bitperson]

For everyone reading this thread, this is just another reminder to

- never give your password or private key to anyone, for any reason,

- not believe in offers that are ‘too good to be true’,

- be particularly wary when encountering a combination of the above, i.e. someone requesting your password or private key so as to make you rich quick.

[farleyn]

Thanks for all your answers. I really feel bad reading all this. I still am talking to the "miners" that tell me everything is fine, i still keep some hope but i must confess it's in the end. I will let you know here when all this really finishes but i feel really bad and that i lost my investment.

I am really sorry not have posted here before to hear from you.

The investment was not so little unfortunately.

Really thanks for everybody here.

[romero121]

Bitcoin mining is gaining more popularity, and large number of mining rigs were getting implemented each day leading to the increase in the difficulty of mining. By this time, some try to attract users with the name of cloud mining. Users need to be aware and stay away from them. Most of the cloud mining has got termed to be a scam.