My hardware wallet was seized by US customs.

[Jet Cash]

As some of you know, I won a hardware wallet in a recent competition here in Bitcoin Talk. That was 4 months ago. The wallet was dispatched promptly following the announcement of the results, but I have only just received it. The wallet was contained in a (probably) sealed box supplied by the manufacturer, and double bagged for dispatch. I received the package in a Royal Mail bag which declared that the packaging had been damaged before entering the UK.Both of the bags had been ripped open and not resealed, and the security tab on the box was missing.

My suspicion is that the package was picked up in a scan, and sent for analysis to check for possible money laundering. Sending a loaded wallet is obviously a way to transfer funds with them being recorded on the blockchain. I haven't used any hardware wallets, so I'm wondering how easy it is for government agencies to check for stored Bitcoin in the wallet.

[1714771498]

1714771498

[gentlemand]

I haven't used any hardware wallets, so I'm wondering how easy it is for government agencies to check for stored Bitcoin in the wallet.

An awful lot more trouble than it's worth. If it was a Ledger you'd only have a few attempts to crack the pin before it's bricked. If it's a Trezor each failed attempt takes longer before you can try again until it stretches out to months between attempts.

I would assume the average customs agent knows nothing about how hardware wallets work so it's possible they tried. If they did then it's a pointless exercise.

It's just as likely a clueless and dishonest employee somewhere had a fiddle too.

[UserU]

What, that's actually a thing? Isn't the unopened package/ anti-tampering seal already a guarantee the wallet is brand new?

[Lucius]

You didn't write which hardware wallet it was, but if it was a Ledger or Trezor it would be a much better option if it was sent directly from the EU, because then such problems would certainly not occur.

It is very likely that US customs inspected the package, perhaps precisely because of the suspicion of illegal money transfer, but it is also possible that this was done by anyone in the supply chain in order to modify the device. As for checking whether crypto is in the hardware wallet, each such device has protection in the form of PIN and possible additional passphrase protection, so it's not easy to peek into someone's wallet. For example, the Ledger will reset to the factory settings if the wrong PIN is entered three times in a row.

In recent years, in some countries of the world, customs have been supervising not only postal packages containing electronic equipment, but also personal electronic items such as mobile phones or laptops.

https://www.businessinsider.com/can-us-border-agents-search-your-phone-at-the-airport-2017-2

[crwth]

I think whatever hardware wallet brand it is, it's possible to check if it was used, right? If there's a wallet already been created there, the seal would be ripped, and the box opened already. If the government is using the customs to check for possible devices like that, they should know that it's easier to just send BTC instead of a physical device in which they could seize it, right? I'm just thinking of the possibilities as well.

It's probably too late but congratulations on winning the competition, Jet Cash!

[yazher]

This is something we do not hear every day, thanks for sharing it with us. I think there are two possibilities here. the first one according to what you said, was checked by the customs to see if there was some huge amount of BTC inside that hardware wallet and might using it for money laundering. the second one is someone might want to see if that wallet is holding a huge amount of BTC so that they can get it with some force and will think of a way to get it from you. In this case, I think it's not safe to send our own wallet in this way.

[Jet Cash]

Thanks for the congrats.

The wallet is a keep key, and I can't check on anything atm, as I am in a supermarket car park waiting for an Amazon delivery. The indications are that the product was brand new on dispatch, and I take the point about a possible compromising of the security. Maybe I should do a factory reset before I start to use it. When I get the chance, I'l move a small amount onto it - maybe 0.1 Bitcoin . I'll start a review thread, and tell people what I think about the concept, and its ease of use for digital nomads.At the moment I've got mildly positive opinions, and I hope that will be justified.

[ololajulo]

the second one is someone might want to see if that wallet is holding a huge amount of BTC so that they can get it with some force and will think of a way to get it from you. In this case, I think it's not safe to send our own wallet in this way.

Does anyone approve the possibility of bitcoin theft by US custom officials?

[Tipstar]

Hardware are visible and hence are always prone to being searched by authorities. A hardware wallet being sent by mail internationally would of course attract attention. They could be one of the easiest way to launder money or fund terrorism. This also revealed your identity and location and probably might have been added you on the surveillance list. MI5 field operatives might be roaming around your house.

[Lucius]

The wallet is a keep key...  I'll start a review thread, and tell people what I think about the concept, and its ease of use for digital nomads.At the moment I've got mildly positive opinions, and I hope that will be justified.

I don't want to ruin your fun with a new device, but KeepKey it is not something that has made many people happy. I've never used it personally, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from everything I've read so far I haven't found too many satisfied users. Maybe your personal experience will be different because you haven't used any other hardware wallet so far so you can't make a comparison.

Yes, the Keepkey is a worthless black bricklet

[kryptqnick]

As some of you know, I won a hardware wallet in a recent competition here in Bitcoin Talk. That was 4 months ago. The wallet was dispatched promptly following the announcement of the results, but I have only just received it. The wallet was contained in a (probably) sealed box supplied by the manufacturer, and double bagged for dispatch. I received the package in a Royal Mail bag which declared that the packaging had been damaged before entering the UK.Both of the bags had been ripped open and not resealed, and the security tab on the box was missing.

My suspicion is that the package was picked up in a scan, and sent for analysis to check for possible money laundering. Sending a loaded wallet is obviously a way to transfer funds with them being recorded on the blockchain. I haven't used any hardware wallets, so I'm wondering how easy it is for government agencies to check for stored Bitcoin in the wallet.

Wow, that's some intense stuff! I don't know if it's okay for them to do such checks, to be honest...
I also had a bad situation with a hardware wallet and customs, but a different one.
When I won the newest Ledger wallet from Bitcasino.io, it was also stopped at the customs. My package wasn't damaged, but it was stopped at the customs on the grounds of needing to pay taxes. I would not have needed to pay them if Ledger did not pack Ledger Nano S along with Ledger Nano X 'as a token of appreciation', and the sum reached this ridiculously low limit of tax-free price. I was living abroad back then, so I arranged for my sister to take it for me. Anyway, the customs officers claimed that the price stated by Ledger officially in the bill is too low to be true, and that such wallets cost more and thus she has to pay even more taxes (and even without this 'extra taxes' thing it was $20 for what cost $130). Which is ridiculous, and they clearly just wanted a bribe (unfortunately, corruption is a big thing in my country). Instead, we decided not to collect it from the customs due to unfairness of the situation. It then arrived back to Europe to Ledger, and I arranged for my friend in the EU to take it, and then she got it to me through personal travel to my home country (this way the limit on the price is 10 times higher, so it wasn't stopped at the customs at all). Customs suck, apparently especially so when it's crypto wallets, 'cause after a while I had other things arriving from abroad without any problems.

[Jet Cash]

I'm not too bothered about the police of MI5 checking on me. Although I am experimenting as a digital nomad, this doesn't mean that I reject the laws and infrastructure of the country. Good luck if they want to check on me though, as it was delivered to a friends address, and he relies on his daughter ( at a different address) for any computing stuff that he needs to do.

Thanks for the comments on Keep Key, and it sounds as if I should start with just 0.01 Bitcoin. My node is out of sync at the moment, so it might be a while before I can do the transfer, or maybe I will experiment with an out of sync node just for the knowledge.

Well that is interesting. I thought I would read the getting started manual, but Morrisons has blocked the keep key site. Morrisons is the supermarket providing the WiFi, and they seem to be anti Bitcoin and crypto. They do allow me to access Bitcoin Talk however.

[hatshepsut93]

Breaking into a hardware wallet to investigate potential money laundering is such a strange thing to do. Why would anyone send a wallet with bitcoins instead of sending a Bitcoin transaction? It's so unsecure, because you'll have to trust that the other party didn't copy the private key. And if the seals aren't broken, there's a really low chance that someone already put some coins in it.

So, either whoever did this wanted to steal coins, or these customs officials are just dumb and have an urge to check every piece of electronics. I wonder if they check every USB stick or a Blu-ray disc, because those can have bitcoins on them too.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Our customs also have been reported doing the same thing, there were package that is broken when it was receive telling the receiver that it was broken when they got and never do anything on it.

But this? I just think they opened it hoping for something else but wasn't expecting what's inside, coz if they do they will surely withdraw all the funds you got on that hardware wallet.

If they suspected it for something, or was seize that time, they should be contacting the receiver and tell that they are going to check it. Am I right? or they have the right to check on it without anyone knowing?

[htsy585]

As some of you know, I won a hardware wallet in a recent competition here in Bitcoin Talk. That was 4 months ago. The wallet was dispatched promptly following the announcement of the results, but I have only just received it. The wallet was contained in a (probably) sealed box supplied by the manufacturer, and double bagged for dispatch. I received the package in a Royal Mail bag which declared that the packaging had been damaged before entering the UK.Both of the bags had been ripped open and not resealed, and the security tab on the box was missing.

My suspicion is that the package was picked up in a scan, and sent for analysis to check for possible money laundering. Sending a loaded wallet is obviously a way to transfer funds with them being recorded on the blockchain. I haven't used any hardware wallets, so I'm wondering how easy it is for government agencies to check for stored Bitcoin in the wallet.

I think there're missed up in some place and the person that actually tampered with the package really knows little about how crypto wallets operate because with my experience in this space, i don't think anyone will load fund on hardware wallet and shipped it to another location. It might be one of the shipment agent trying to be smart by trying his luck if he'll be able to access the wallet and cater away with the fund

[Jet Cash]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, and this is what I believe happened.

The wallet was sent P2p, and not from a recognised supplier. I suspect this raised a red flag, and customs decided to investigate. The local depot didn't have the resources for this, so they sent it away for analysis. The bankers virus probably slowed down this process, which is why it ended up taking 4 months to deliver. I understand that it is easy to send Bitcoin via the blockchain, but this leaves a permanent record. Using a loaded wallet for a money transfer is closer to a cash payment, and doesn't leave any record of the transaction. Maybe wallets with viewable balances, but secure withdrawals will become the cash of the future.

I think the wallet is interesting, especially as it has a possible integration with shape shift, and this could be useful for me when selling domain names. I'm really pleased to have received this for experimentation, and I'll let you guys know how I get on with it. I set it up on a different computer, and see if somebody here will sell a small amount of crypto to load on it. For various reasons, this may take me a week or so to set up though.

[The Cryptovator]

The wallet was sent P2p, and not from a recognised supplier. I suspect this raised a red flag, and customs decided to investigate.

That's the fact why they investigate it deeply. Usually when customs find something suspicious then they have right to open when its p2p. I have ordered Ledger package (Ledger-s+Ledger-X) from Amazon and I received it sealed. I am currently working on Middle East (KSA). But I have sent a Ledger-s to a friend in my native country but there wasn't any problems on the customs. Obviously it was sent p2p, when one of my colleague went vacation I have sent with him. Hope when I will go then there will not be problem on the customs. Just for info, Bitcoin is fully illegal in my country.

[Wind_FURY]

As some of you know, I won a hardware wallet in a recent competition here in Bitcoin Talk. That was 4 months ago. The wallet was dispatched promptly following the announcement of the results, but I have only just received it. The wallet was contained in a (probably) sealed box supplied by the manufacturer, and double bagged for dispatch. I received the package in a Royal Mail bag which declared that the packaging had been damaged before entering the UK.Both of the bags had been ripped open and not resealed, and the security tab on the box was missing.

What competition? By Trezor/Ledger? I would be suspicious if it wasn't by the manufacturer.

Assume that wallet is compromised. Throw it away.

My suspicion is that the package was picked up in a scan, and sent for analysis to check for possible money laundering. Sending a loaded wallet is obviously a way to transfer funds with them being recorded on the blockchain. I haven't used any hardware wallets, so I'm wondering how easy it is for government agencies to check for stored Bitcoin in the wallet.

Hard if you have a strong passphrase, https://wiki.trezor.io/Passphrase

[Lucius]

Wow, that's some intense stuff! I don't know if it's okay for them to do such checks, to be honest...

You should have just read my post, there is one interesting link that says that it is quite legal for customs officers to check every electronic device that may contain information or in this case cryptocurrencies that are illegally taken out of the country, or vice versa.

What competition? By Trezor/Ledger? I would be suspicious if it wasn't by the manufacturer.
Assume that wallet is compromised. Throw it away.

The wallet is a keep key...

If it was a newbie I wouldn't say anything, but Hero and Legendary members who write blindly without being able to read a few posts

[bakasabo]

Have you thought about writing your story to manufacturer and ask what to do next? Imagine that your hardware was not checked by government, but was modded by a unfair post worker, that just scanned the parcel, saw a hardware and installed something into it?

This is a question of hardware reputation. The best way for manufacturer is to send you new, unopened device, or make a step-by-step how to check yours and restore it to default settings or something.

You say "when you got a chance to..." means you havent done anything with it? Write an email to manufacturer. It will take you not more than 5min, but might save your funds