So, who hasn't lost coins or been scammed?

Me. I don't think it's that difficult.

I lost about 4btc a few weeks ago because my Live USB Ubuntu went kaput and freezes at startup. The data is still intact when I mount casper-rw on another PC but it's encrypted. Anyone know how I can get my sweet Bitcoins back?

Haven't lost any, but I have sent bitcoin to my friend at his mybitcoin address, and I'm fairly certain he never moved or used them for anything. His loss.

I have not been scammed.

Quote from: GideonGono on August 04, 2011, 10:38:01 AM

You didnt backup wallet.dat? Copy the file in a couple of cd's and you are set.

It is super easy to not get scammed.

To not be hacked or etc, that is another thing.

I have information loose out there now because of tamperers to a site, but honestly, keeps me changing passwords and I am definitely lucky to not have lost any actual coin yet. Knock on wood and all that, because I do know one thing, shit can happen to anybody no matter how safe you are.

I've not lost any yet.
Donated some small amounts to things that tickled me... gave some to family.

Missing some common sense cost me 22BTC while dealing with a ***** individual at biddingpond, anyway could have happened to me anywhere, some normal auction on local and more known sites, no big deal.
Other than that, its pretty impossible to actually lose btc or get scammed, as said before, its supereasy to remain safe.

Lost 7BTC because of paypal chargeback

I haven't lost any yet.. but I also haven't entrusted my bitcoin's to anyone but myself.

Here is a few tips for people that may not be obvious to some.

#1. Keep your computer updated, and if it has EVER been infected with any viruses please know that it is no longer trustworthy, even if it scans clean. Todays viruses are some of the nastiest buggers ever, and not even some of the most sophisticated virus software is able to remove them. They hide themselves within unused tracks on your hard drive, they rewrite your master boot record, they replace core system files to cloak themselves, they install themselves as SSL certificate authorities, and some have been known to REFLASH YOUR VBIOS (rare but it has been done and IS possible)! Doing ANY kind of financial transactions on a system that has ever been compromised is probably a bad idea, take the time to clean / reinstall / resecure your computer properly. Did you know that if your Java 6 JVM is older then the latest "Update 26" that your machine can be made to execute ANYTHING without a prompt just by clicking the wrong URL?!

#2. When using bitcoin why not consider keeping your data folder & wallet.dat in a different path than where it gets installed by default? You can launch the bitcoin client with the datadir option. bitcoin -datadir="path to your bitcoin data folder" I like leaving a wallet.dat in the default location with only 1/2 a bitcoin in there as sort of a "Canary in a coal mine." If you have a significant amount of bitcoins, why not consider purchasing an IronKey? I can use my IronKey on any computer, Windows, Mac, or Linux. The Ironkey also has built in Backup Software that is able to backup all of your data in an encrypted format to your hard drive. If you lose your ironkey, it is protected by HARDWARE encryption that will perform a full data wipe if it receives 10 wrong passwords. If the worst happens, you can restore one of your encrypted backups that the ironkey makes on to the same ironkey, or a new one if lost or stolen, as long as you know your password you have your data!. Granted.. once the ironkey is unlocked it mounts the data in an unencrypted format, but also remember the fact that the bitcoin data is now running from a non-standard path, which is just a simple form of protection, but it seems to work. Heck, even if I had my bitcoins at the bank in a safety deposit box, I would still use an IronKey.. for under $100 its a small price to pay.

#3. Create an address that is NOT online, print the wallet.dat file with "PaperBack", put it on a thumb drive, CD-ROM, whatever.. Transfer coins there for security. Don't keep all of your eggs in one basket, or in this case, bitcoins.

I hate seeing ANYONE get hurt, financially or otherwise. I'll admit that its easy to make a mistake, and these kind of things could happen to the best of us. But lets face it, many of the major losses were due to poor judgement on the wallet holders fault, and they will all admit it openly. Many of them HAVE NOT practiced some of the basic common sense strategies for protecting their bitcoins, they chose to entrust their untraceable and anonymous bitcoins to the cloud, to dropbox, and even worse to parties who themselves were also anonymous and untraceable. Some of these large bitcoin holders obtained these coins as early adopters by mining them before anyone else was into the game. Anything is possible actually and maybe nothing is as it seems... Heck, for all I know, "Losing Bitcoins" could be used as a pretty good tax shelter. If someone has 1/2 million in bitcoins are they a taxable commodity, well not today at least until they are converted to fiat. But what about the exact opposite, if you buy bitcoins with fiat and "Lose them" would that be considered a financial loss, or a write off? It's unknown to me as I'm not an accountant. Luckily I'm not in this for greed, or to become rich.. I like technology and I find this to be an interesting project with some great really smart people involved...

Its unfortunate that bitcoin has such a big target on its back, but what did everyone expect? Bitcoin has been under attack since it started becoming more mainstream, not only by hacker theives wishing to steal bitcoins since they are untraceable, but possibly also by other more organized operations wishing to discredit the project as a whole, as it is a threat to them. It's a true shame that this community can't come together and be stronger than those that would wish to ruin one of the coolest open source projects I have seen in a long time.

Rise up bitcoin and be strong!

I haven't lost any coins or been scammed. I had a small amount at MtGox when they were hacked and they were there when they came back up.

I did however have people screw me over by not selling me btc when I first got here, despite having plenty of id and references to my character. Missed out on a hefty profit when the rise to 30 happened.

I lost one bitcoin.

AK versus KT. Went all-in. Opponent spiked a T on the river.

so far lost nothing, zero, nada, zip. Hopefully going to keep it that way.
I follow a few golden rules

Remember peeps if it sounds 2 good 2 be true it prob is.

Escrow charges can save you loosing a lot more. (i miss Clearcoin) but there is btcrow now.

Never use paypal ever unless buying coins.

Only trade with people you trust.

All bitcoin services should have a phone number listed with a live person on the other end.

There is no excuse to not do this.

0% loss.

Had a spare gmail account I used for bitcoin sites hacked somehow, but managed to reset password, and didn't lose that either. No coins lost.

Quote from: foggyb on August 04, 2011, 03:59:57 PM

All bitcoin services should have a phone number listed with a live person on the other end.

There is no excuse to not do this.

Because people can't lie to you if they're talking over the phone.

Never been scammed, and only lost some test coins while playing with Android Wallet.

never lost a bitcoin. My method is to never do business with a stranger.
If I were to sell bitcoins to someone I do not know well they would have to incur the risk. I would do cash in person, Or I might send coins after I have received payment and moved that money to a safe place.
Don't like those terms? Go find someone else.

I have never lost coins or been scammed.

Nothing of value was lost