Upgrade Stole My Bitcoin

[maxreish]

Looks like they were right, you have downloaded fake apps and that upgrade make it all happen. Unfortunately, we can't get back your bitcoin. You probably downloaded if not phishing sites, fake apps then maybe there is a malware inside of it that can hacked your bitcoins. I hope you can be better soon and be careful in downloading apps. There are easy ways to check it the apps or the url we are typing is legit or not. You should be careful next time.

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[peter0425]

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Sorry for your losses mate but this happens if you are lack of knowledge how Crypto wallets works.

You should have contacted the support please before doing this Hackers advice of upgrading.


Hope you will not lose interest in Crypto and will continue to invest in crypto,and use this as a learning experience mate.

[raidarksword]

3.5 bitcoin is huge amount of money and best chance of probability that you are phished out on some phishing sites you have gone into and stole your funds right away. Sad to say there are still people are prone to that attack without leaving a trace and don't have the chance to get back of what are stolen. It's hard to accept but it is what it is and experienced will always be a great teacher and this will make you a more cautious person in the world of cryptocurrency.

[davis196]

Hope you will not lose interest in Crypto and will continue to invest in crypto,and use this as a learning experience mate.

Yeah,right.If I was at OPs place and I got scammed losing 3.5BTC I would never look at Bitcoin again(even though it's not Bitcoin's fault).
I don't know whether or not the OP is a Bitcoin noob or not.Having 3.5BTC and putting them in one wallet(even though it's Electrum) is a rookie mistake.
I really hope that he will recover from this loss and make enough money to give Bitcoin a second chance and invest his savings wisely next time.

[wxa7115]

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

Unfortunately you lost your bitcoin with a hack that has been around for more than one year and a half, I'm really sorry that you have lost so much bitcoin because I know how difficult it can be to obtain it, it seems to me that you left your bitcoin in your wallet for a very long time without updating your software wallet and as such you were not aware of the risks that you were victim of.

It is very possible to secure your coins properly with a software wallet, but you need to be honest with yourself about your capabilities and if you cannot do that then it is better for you to get a hardware wallet, I know it seems too late but if you are still planning to buy more bitcoin or if you have more bitcoin in other wallets then get a hardware wallet as soon as you can.

[Sanugarid]

If your funds were stolen, then you should be able to share the transaction ID for the tx which saw your Bitcoin moved.

Hmm I'm wondering if it is really stolen then there should be some history to his wallet and he could share it with us right? or what happened is that he also lost his wallet?

If not, then it could be possible that the latest version of the wallet simply updated to SegWit and lost legacy support, or that you just created a new seed.

What I think is if the electrum had an update, then he must have been notified so it'll appear on his screen, most probably it is covered by a new wallet and he could just see it when he seek from the support.

Please post the transaction ID for the transfer here and we'll see if we can help, if you can't provide this because there isn't one, then your funds are likely still safe.

Indeed, you can't say that it is stolen coz u can't find it. You won't just click anything on the internet knowing you got a decent amount of bitcoin in your wallet right?
3.5BTC imagine the smile of the hackers when they stole 3.5BTC, they could've been celebrating by now then. 

[Kelvinid]

3.5 BTC is pretty big and how lucky that scammers to get it. Scammers will use different tricks just to catch their prey and the sad thing is that you are one of those prey. It is really sad and we felt it and this is one of the disadvantages of crypto, you can't recover it anymore. Even though a lot of similar things happening around but then, many were still investing Bitcoin and ain't give them a big reason to quite. They are learning their past bad experience and that quitting is not a way to get it back.

[sheenshane]

3.5 BTC is pretty big and how lucky that scammers to get it. Scammers will use different tricks just to catch their prey and the sad thing is that you are one of those prey. It is really sad and we felt it and this is one of the disadvantages of crypto, you can't recover it anymore. Even though a lot of similar things happening around but then, many were still investing Bitcoin and ain't give them a big reason to quite. They are learning their past bad experience and that quitting is not a way to get it back.

How sad, another scam victim using Bitcoin. I don't know if this is probably the result of naive people using Bitcoin without enough technical knowledge on how to use it. Sad to say that probably 25% belongs to this kind of people that we called prey from scammers. If they are educated very well they won't fall into this kind of scammers trap.

Always verify the legitimacy before you will download or update your wallet into the next version, or might pretty good if you actually use the official wallet website not the popup message.

[Utoy101]

It's my first message and I'm crying...

I had about 3.5 bitcoin, I tried to use some a short while ago and got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

I downloaded and installed the upgrade on my iMac, restarted Electrum, and then it happened...

It immediately said there was not enough funds to transfer the amount of ALL my coins but continued trying to process it until it eventually said there is a zero balance.

BOOM! EVERYTHING IS GONE!!

:-(

This is so sad on different level, the scam has been going on since 2018 and people keep falling for it. I can only imagine what you are going through currently but you just have to keep the hope alive buddy!  And when next you get back at your feet standing tall, try to get a more secure hardware wallet to save your assets. It sad losing asset as big as this but i believe this will be a lesson for you and everyone, with time the industry will get rid of these scammers

[crustycrab666]

This is so sad on different level, the scam has been going on since 2018 and people keep falling for it. I can only imagine what you are going through currently but you just have to keep the hope alive buddy!  And when next you get back at your feet standing tall, try to get a more secure hardware wallet to save your assets. It sad losing asset as big as this but i believe this will be a lesson for you and everyone, with time the industry will get rid of these scammers

Yes, moreover we are in a very difficult situation, a global pandemic. We all need funds to survive in the midst of a declining economy, plus the loss of large assets, it's very sad.

I'm sorry, that is a very large nominal. You have to pay a lot to get a lesson that the security of your wallet is everything, and the fake application is real, I can't say anything else, losing 0.03 BTC makes me sad all day, let alone 3.5 BTC. Hopefully, you can reflect on this incident, do not regret, all of this must have a silver lining, next time use a hardware wallet to store assets in large amounts.

[NurAzizahhh]

in my opinion the loss that you experience it needs to be understood, if you can track transaction details, perps, you try to report it so people can look for transactions that come from the recipient's address. Phishing attacks have been around for some time and I personally have been a victim but made me wiser in overcoming things though, I am newbe I have never retired but then have advised me more about how to protect my only wallet.
better try first.

[MCobian]

This is a scary experience in my opinion, because you are not careful that you end up becoming a phishing victim. I can not help much
with events that you experience, and which is annoying if we are exposed to phishing. It is impossible for our lost Bitcoin to return.
3.5 BTC is very much, for now all you can do must move on. Learn from your mistakes, so later will not be repeated. I pray for you, so
that you can quickly get the change for your lost.

[Yaunfitda]

The thought of losing just a few satoshi from this scammers and unimaginable, what more for 3.5 BTC. I hate to say this, but to really learn our lessons here, most of time we need to be a victim before we realised what we really need to do on how to protect our assets. This scammers are not going to stop here, they will continue until they victimised again. Electrum is one of the best wallet out there, if you really know how to used them.

[Darker45]

...got a message that there is a compulsory upgrade.

Could you please tell us where this message was sent and where it came from?

Sometimes it is not the downloading of the app which is problematic itself. One may download the legit app but still fails to protect his/her BTC due to messages such as the one you received giving fake instructions on the updates.

How sad, another scam victim using Bitcoin. I don't know if this is probably the result of naive people using Bitcoin without enough technical knowledge on how to use it. Sad to say that probably 25% belongs to this kind of people that we called prey from scammers. If they are educated very well they won't fall into this kind of scammers trap.

25% is too low in my opinion. I guess more than 70% of BTC owners have made a misstep or two along the way that could have totally wiped out everything they own. It so happened that scammers are eyeing the significant amounts.

When I finally got into Bitcoin myself several years ago, I was quite enamored by the revolutionary philosophy behind it and I was too excited to own a little amount just to share with the feeling of being part of the entire saga. But that was before I got educated by the technical aspects of its security. I think this is also happening to many other newcomers probably including the OP.

[Negotiation]

Truly this is a very sad thing. But lost bitcoin can never be recovered So you have to know and learn well first. Try learning by observing the best sites for bitcoin control They are as safe as keeping physically precious metals. Just like keeping a bag of gold coins a person who is careful can have their personal cash safe by being stolen by hackers The wallet is very reliable in Electram but 2fa code is much less likely to be hacked.

[FinneysTrueVision]

Sorry for your loss. This is why I always verify signatures whenever I upgrade to a new wallet version.

[TheGreatPython]

OMG, damn! 3.5 bitcoins? That’s a really big amount that you lost there. I don’t have that much, and if I do and I end up losing it, I will cry meehn. I hope you find a means in future to make more than that. I usually recommend that newbies make use of wallets that they can easily understand.

All these decentralized wallets like Ethereum, Exodus, and the rest of them are quite complicated with their process and that’s why I wouldn’t recommend it to a newbie who knows nothing. If you’re using a simple wallet like Coinbase on your mobile phone you wouldn’t have had this problem, since every upgrade will be on app store. Sorry for your loss man.

[Rex717]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your replies and kind words. Yes, it was a huge loss, and I haven't felt like coming back here (or much else) since then.

For all those comments about learning lessons. Yep, hindsight is a great teacher and I take responsibility for my own mistakes. It's certainly becoming more and more necessary to keep our eye on the ball without even blinking. Goodness, I'm getting sore eyes already! LOL

The reason that I had the BTC is that I had an investment a couple of years ago that only paid dividends in BTC, so I had to get a wallet to receive them, and Electrum seemed like the best option at the time. The value of the coins was low at the time, so I just let them sit in the hopes they would increase.

Now that I had a need, I planned to withdraw them (to help build small businesses in poor communities in India and Africa).

I started to do a test withdrawal of a small amount when I got the popup message within Electrum that a mandatory security upgrade was required before proceeding with the transfer. This didn't surprise me, because I hadn't used it for a couple of years and still had 3.2.3.

It didn't have a link, but a masked url to copy. As soon as I downloaded and installed the "upgrade", it did the transfer of everything in my wallet..... and there was frustratingly no STOP button to press while it was in process.

I must admit, the unrecoverable nature of crypto has not made the thought of trying it again very palatable, but praise God, I'm sure it will work out in the end.

BTW, there were some who made comments about posting the transaction details. Is there really a possible outcome with that?

Thanks again everyone.
Rex717

[Itsmylife]

BTW, there were some who made comments about posting the transaction details. Is there really a possible outcome with that?

Thanks again everyone.
Rex717

Actually posting the transaction details is not help you recover your bitcoin, they just want to check if your loss is real or it is your fantasy story.
Anyway, I think now you feel better , let's believe that nothing is lost forever, it will come back to you in another form .

[thesmallgod]

Electrum wallet are very vulnerable and a lot of bitcoin wallet has been lost and reported even here on bitcointalk. It is very important that when you want to use the wallet, always download from official website and do not try to use any link from other source. You didn't provide details about where you download the original electrum wallet from, that could be where the problem come from. I will suggest you drop full details of your wallet address and transaction to further analysis