https://bitcoinvanitygen.com - not samr7 vanitygen

[MoparMiningLLC]

I am not sure where to post this - I used vanitygen to generate 21 different addresses which I funded, one I used and the rest were created, printed as a QR code and put on pokerchips for my children and grandchildren - the private addresses were never loaded to any program or stored/saved anywhere.

the above statement is false - I thought the vanitygen program was used, we set it up, we tested it but in the end the other person involved opted for a shorter/faster route which also ended up being compromised.

these are my 21 addresses that were emptied this morning:
1HEDDiESypk51VUd8FqBdaA7zZ4GVJK4wo
1ASHLeEYu71xk6sc9qweZG5UL5QsceXwhY   
1Eddiej8mqC2c8z3uW62c9k2ZygKsZeUF1   
1KaiLaQTwA5qtAhdH8Xz4VqPKa3gCesfLg   
1iSAiAhHae53SVt5rvEKDAMhqRKZ9eqRU
1xaNDerXNpPFtncFGX4mbaZW7At4RCxfp
1CaLebuQ5FcyVHTNUaAx1v5sLhww7DDURa
1MjLEonmFpFkE6gUjmN29aXh8zVYELfQBk
1Eric2r8vDD28BSN5c8PeyfiGiBazfnHGa
1JaicenJbkqL4rStxMd2UyHFU36BuJG4uW
1JuLianYMWXrQL1ucnCRtjTNJx7j49Pc19
1Maya2mzYFjwPGM7qsc9aCPGgn1LgYyr5c
1MissyTZW59BEvH2eP2j3VhW7JoSSMKDi4
1MindiBf4hWBUvemnMi8h3E444zdjGTbkm
1DaynarrwzjFR6bEvsLPPtoPS2a7UeNzNW
1ViCTorNnXuSmQb4twDC1CJSVtz8o73Er
1ZoeyUnsMqHfKH4zQ37R86ThzmPKz9Qyc
1HannabxvdhmBeJV2JX7Kc1DcS6V7sxoBN
1MaisyHCcQx5DQd3p5fBT8iYBdXTPLmBq9
1MoparCzLLgVhFjLMo9iS4a8qeEMpF3EeJ

if I look at the transactions, it is apparent that my addresses are not the only ones affected - I would highly recommend anyone using a vanity address, to move the funds asap.

[1714942968]

1714942968

[philipma1957]

How did you make addresses,
 off line?


1HEDDiESypk51VUd8FqBdaA7zZ4GVJK4wo  this one is missing 0.001

[MoparMiningLLC]

some of the stolen funds are sitting here:

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1MtcJqcg9UAU6FrMdYf1P5n4VNzcA1Y6Tm

[jackg]

Did you generate them offline or online? And how were they stored? In a passworded file/printed?

These are going to be helpful in determining if it was a malicious binary or if it was potentially an external piece of malware harvesting the information. Also were any generated using a public key additive?

[philipma1957]

I see they got the moparaddress

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1MoparCzLLgVhFjLMo9iS4a8qeEMpF3EeJ

I am trying to figure out if vanitygen is at fault

or some clever fishing is the issue.

I did this one  off line

and I erased the hard drive after I copied the keys.


1956jUdYPFwiBSzt9AECdWj3KE4WV7taiM

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=166799

[MoparMiningLLC]

offline - private keys were not stored, they were generated, printed and applied to pokerchips, which are still secured and in my possession. I kept no back up of the keys as I have the chips and planned on having them until I handed them to my children and grandchildren.

i dont know what you mean by "public key additive"

[philipma1957]

offline - private keys were not stored, they were generated, printed and applied to pokerchips, which are still secured and in my possession. I kept no back up of the keys as I have the chips and planned on having them until I handed them to my children and grandchildren.

did you erase the pc hdd once you recorded the info?

if you did then something is really bad.

if you kept the hdd and operated  software on it.

then a clever malware is on the hdd.

If the pc had no wifi
and was air gapped offline making the keys and you copy them.

the only ways it can be stolen are:

 the pc was not offline and a clever way to do hidden wifi was on that pc.
when you put the pc back online a way to find the keys was on the pc.

how did you record the keys?
did you import them?
where did you import them to?

[BrewMaster]

this may be obvious but are you sure you are using the real vanitygen project[1] and not some random fake .exe that you found on google search?
your case could simply be like those who keep downloading fake electrum wallets and lose their funds thinking the issues is with electrum.

[1] this is their topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0 which also has a PGP signature that you should have verified after downloading and before generating those keys.
did you verify sig or compile yourself? could you post the hash of the file you have?

[MoparMiningLLC]

this may be obvious but are you sure you are using the real vanitygen project[1] and not some random fake .exe that you found on google search?
your case could simply be like those who keep downloading fake electrum wallets and lose their funds thinking the issues is with electrum.

[1] this is their topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0 which also has a PGP signature that you should have verified after downloading and before generating those keys.
did you verify sig or compile yourself? could you post the hash of the file you have?

the pc used to generate the keys was running vanitygen but is a pc that has never been online. The pc is at a shop shared by myself and 2 others.

I am trying to sort out all the details - the creation of the keys was a joint effort with myself and a friend - he also uses the program.

I downloaded the vanitygen from here https://github.com/samr7/vanitygen installed it on the laptop via usb. My friend at the shop would run the program and print them out. I would pick them up when I was next at the shop.

I do not think this is anything done by him or anyone at the shop - as there are literally hundreds of addresses affected so others must have been using the same program - as I look at the inputs and many of them are easily identifiable as vanity addresses.

Also, let me also clarify - this affects nothing I have ever done or sold to anyone --- these are my personal addresses.

I am on my way to the shop now to see if he can add any further details. I literally got up, took the grandson to school, sat down at my pc with a cup of coffee and saw the transactions hit in electrum. by the time I checked all the addresses they were all empty.

I could not peel/sweep the chips fast enough. Every one I peeled to check was already empty.

I will get the hash when I get to the shop and bring it back here in a bit.

[MoparMiningLLC]

ok.....

I have to digest this --- and I had to leave the shop rather quickly before I killed the motherfucker.

I had downloaded the vanitygen program and installed on pc and we ran a few while i was in the shop that day. some take longer than others - some were fast some took a while.

well my "friend/coworker" agreed that if i supplied him the names, he would run the program, copy/paste the addresses/keys and print them so I can pick them up when I come in (I go in like once a week) he also wanted to use the program so he could 3d print things with vanity addresses and provide keys to customers - he runs a 3d printing business.

sooooo - I walk in and tell him what happened - asking if for any reason he put the pc online, even temporarily - he says no. Then he tells me he has to tell me something...

he said the program was taking too long on longer vanity addresses, so apparently in his genius thought process, he looked for other ways to generate addresses, and he came upon

https://bitcoinvanitygen.com/  

and he stated he has been generating the addresses from there vs the vanitygen program on the laptop. He did not think to tell me as it the "outcome is the same".

I told him he owes me $500 and he better call any/all customers and see how many lost their funds and that he needs to have all his stuff out of the shop by the end of the week.

I have been sitting in my car for about 5 minutes still too pissed off to drive.

I spoke with minerjones who pointed out that years ago he had issues with the same site. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1476782.0 apparently this is a known issue.

so to summarize (I will edit my OP) this has nothing to do with the vanitygen by samr7  - and is strictly tied to https://bitcoinvanitygen.com/  website --- which explains how it involves so many other addresses not just the ones I used.

so, I repeat this is not related to the vanitygen by samr7

the issue here is a complete breakdown of an agreed upon process - and complete disregard for my funds/funds of my children and grandchildren -well, and the funds of his customers.

I did create/use 2 from the program - for my parents. I will be in contact later today to have them check the funds - I did not save their public addresses so I cannot check them myself.


IF ANYONE ELSE HERE USES THAT WEBSITE I SUGGEST YOU TAKE YOUR FUNDS OFF THE ADDRESS IF THEY ARE NOT ALREADY TAKEN AND DO NOT USE IT ANY FURTHER

[philipma1957]

Well the good news is it was only 500 of your dollars.

The bad news is you lost a friend and a trusted person turned out to be not so trusted.

Still 500 is not too bad of a loss. I am hoping it stays under $1000 in total.

Just think if the "thief website" waited and btc mooned the loss could have been 5 or 10k

[MoparMiningLLC]

Well the good news is it was only 500 of your dollars.

The bad news is you lost a friend and a trusted person turned out to be not so trusted.

Still 500 is not too bad of a loss. I am hoping it stays under $1000 in total.

Just think if the "thief website" waited and btc mooned the loss could have been 5 or 10k

well according to minerjones post from years back he lost 3 btc to the site.

and i count hundreds of addresses possibly affected by this and thats just the transactions that i can see because they involve my addresses.

[Agrawas]

I hope these scammers rot in hell, can never understand what these people get from stealing other's money and especially this website who has been know to do this over and over again..

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

You scared me for few minutes until I read the clarification and the move from your dickhead friend.  Good to know that the damage was not much for you. In minerjones's case I think the 3 btc did not worth much at that time. But it's sad to know that possibly few thousands of bitcoin users were already affected by it.

May be we can report this bitcoinvanitygen.com site and take it down. I never heard of this hosting service provider. It's ovh.com, I am trying to figure out how to talk to them about it and file a complaint using the reference of this topic.

[jackg]

i dont know what you mean by "public key additive"

Vanity gen has an online option that allows you to get someone else to generate the key buy adding a certain key onto it and giving them the public part of the key (while you have the private) so all they know is your address and having part of the private key (when the numbers are 128bit-256bit it's more secure than it sounds)...

If you haven't found one, I could make a batch script that produces addresses in bulk and post it publicly on the forum (I've probably done it before but it's a simple 3 minute task)...

[LoyceMobile]

This scammer has been promoting that site in his signature for years: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=303026

He mostly promotes it on boards that don't show his negative feedback. Feel free to tag him more though.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

This scammer has been promoting that site in his signature for years: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=303026

He mostly promotes it on boards that don't show his negative feedback. Feel free to tag him more though.

I tagged them.

I could not report the site to the hosting service provider. It's asking me to create an account and I am not in a mood to create one. Will anyone do the reporting and keep us undated? I may find some times later if no one does this.
This domain needs to be off from the cloud.

[TryNinja]

I could not report the site to the hosting service provider. It's asking me to create an account and I am not in a mood to create one. Will anyone do the reporting and keep us undated? I may find some times later if no one does this.
This domain needs to be off from the cloud.

I did report them (and suggested MoparMining to do the same) on Google's safebrowsing page. They are more focused on phishing websites, but I think there is a chance they block the website: https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?hl=en

I also just reported them to OVH: https://www.ovh.pt/abuse/

[MoparMiningLLC]

I could not report the site to the hosting service provider. It's asking me to create an account and I am not in a mood to create one. Will anyone do the reporting and keep us undated? I may find some times later if no one does this.
This domain needs to be off from the cloud.

I did report them (and suggested MoparMining to do the same) on Google's safebrowsing page. They are more focused on phishing websites, but I think there is a chance they block the website: https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?hl=en

I also just reported them to OVH: https://www.ovh.pt/abuse/

Ty - I wonder how many of the affected are on here.

[icopress]

Well MoparMiningLLC, I sympathize with you, but I want to ask you, is your friend a bitcointalk member? I was reading the conversation on Discord and following the conversation on this thread, and it occurred to me that your friend's behavior might be even more unacceptable than you think.

What is the likelihood that he emptied addresses in his favor and told you that he used bitcoinvanitygen.com ^{(knowing about the theft precedents)}

[philipma1957]

Well MoparMiningLLC, I sympathize with you, but I want to ask you, is your friend a bitcointalk member? I was reading the conversation on Discord and following the conversation on this thread, and it occurred to me that your friend's behavior might be even more unacceptable than you think.

What is the likelihood that he emptied addresses in his favor and told you that he used bitcoinvanitygen.com ^{(knowing about the theft precedents)}

That is gangster. I am 63 being around a long time. Seen lots of shit.

If he did what you wrote he is a cold hearted mofo.

Or possibly an addict.

I have seen addicts do just about anything you can think of to feed their habits.

[MoparMiningLLC]

Well MoparMiningLLC, I sympathize with you, but I want to ask you, is your friend a bitcointalk member? I was reading the conversation on Discord and following the conversation on this thread, and it occurred to me that your friend's behavior might be even more unacceptable than you think.

What is the likelihood that he emptied addresses in his favor and told you that he used bitcoinvanitygen.com ^{(knowing about the theft precedents)}

he is not a member here to the best of my knowledge - while there is over 100 instances of the bitcoinvanitygen in the internet history, there is zero instances of these forums. he basically was lazy, the program was taking too long so he took a short cut and figured it was fine and that no one would be the wiser.


as for him emptying the addresses - there were hundreds affected i mean hundreds - one txn had 150 another had 90 something etc etc if it was him, he would have had to generated a lot of addresses and I dont think he is  a thief - just a dumb ass.



edit - as a note, the site is not currently reachable. at least for me it is not. and notice that he no longer has the site listed in his signature. and probably not a coincidence he was on the forums today - the day of the heist.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Narf... I had used that site a couple years ago to make my Vanity Address, never really used the address but I do see that someone deposited $15 into it on Sept 23 and that the address along with many other folks addresses was swept clean yesterday as well https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1Fuzzyk398kDWVjuC5qPX5v6CjSkvbgAbd
Crunching a new address OFFLINE for tips/donations as I type...

edit: done, took 4 hrs to generate new 7 char address offline

[Rizzrack]

some of the stolen funds are sitting here:

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1MtcJqcg9UAU6FrMdYf1P5n4VNzcA1Y6Tm

Seem that most of the funds were sent to Binance.
Sorry for what happened!
Lesson learned and paid for I guess.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Seem that most of the funds were sent to Binance.
Sorry for what happened!
Lesson learned and paid for I guess.

Which means if anyone alert Binance and by any chance if the account is KYC verified then it will be a way to find the guy considering how much importance Binance will pay in the case.

I did report them (and suggested MoparMining to do the same) on Google's safebrowsing page. They are more focused on phishing websites, but I think there is a chance they block the website: https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?hl=en

I also just reported them to OVH: https://www.ovh.pt/abuse/

Thanks man. I tried to visit the site and I receive an error from Cloudflare which is a Host Error. does that means that it worked?

Error 522 Ray ID: 5e105e4738b7e65c • 2020-10-12 11:09:22 UTC

[Rizzrack]

I tried to visit the site and I receive an error from Cloudflare which is a Host Error. does that means that it worked?

Google can't shut down a site.
At most they can make the browser give an alert to users trying to open it.
This is what they claim to do:

Google Safe Browsing helps protect over four billion devices every day by showing warnings to users when they attempt to navigate to dangerous sites or download dangerous files.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

^^ is correct, Google cannot shut it down, just at best they delist it from search results or tag it with a warning. Since for now the site is gone we have to assume the site host (OVH) acted on complaints and took it down.

[TryNinja]

Thanks man. I tried to visit the site and I receive an error from Cloudflare which is a Host Error. does that means that it worked?

Probably. The website was taken down by their host or the scammer did it himself to prevent any evidence ghatering. Either way, I'm glad it's down (at least for now).

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Google can't shut down a site.
At most they can make the browser give an alert to users trying to open it.
This is what they claim to do:

Google Safe Browsing helps protect over four billion devices every day by showing warnings to users when they attempt to navigate to dangerous sites or download dangerous files.

We were not talking about google. Of course they can not shut it down. The only one who can do is the domain service provider and if they do then Cloudflare will not get the host.

Thanks man. I tried to visit the site and I receive an error from Cloudflare which is a Host Error. does that means that it worked?

Probably. The website was taken down by their host or the scammer did it himself to prevent any evidence ghatering. Either way, I'm glad it's down (at least for now).

This just crossed my mind.

He used Cloudflare, the hosting he had should know his identity too. His coins were going to a Binance address. Intelligence agency have 3 leads to get this guy. Anyone who are victim of him can file a case and see if the scammer can be caught.

[MoparMiningLLC]

Google can't shut down a site.
At most they can make the browser give an alert to users trying to open it.
This is what they claim to do:

Google Safe Browsing helps protect over four billion devices every day by showing warnings to users when they attempt to navigate to dangerous sites or download dangerous files.

We were not talking about google. Of course they can not shut it down. The only one who can do is the domain service provider and if they do then Cloudflare will not get the host.

Thanks man. I tried to visit the site and I receive an error from Cloudflare which is a Host Error. does that means that it worked?

Probably. The website was taken down by their host or the scammer did it himself to prevent any evidence ghatering. Either way, I'm glad it's down (at least for now).

This just crossed my mind.

He used Cloudflare, the hosting he had should know his identity too. His coins were going to a Binance address. Intelligence agency have 3 leads to get this guy. Anyone who are victim of him can file a case and see if the scammer can be caught.

I would do it but to be honest I have no idea how that type of stuff works - I luckily only lost about $500 but I can tell you based on the addresses I did see, many were small amounts as well but add it all up, it was a lot - I mean he could have had em all on watch and just decided that was the day to do it. Maybe someone deposited a large sum?

another hard factor would be getting everyone to come forward - many like to hide who they are and hide the fact they have crypto.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I would do it but to be honest I have no idea how that type of stuff works - I luckily only lost about $500 but I can tell you based on the addresses I did see, many were small amounts as well but add it all up, it was a lot - I mean he could have had em all on watch and just decided that was the day to do it. Maybe someone deposited a large sum?

another hard factor would be getting everyone to come forward - many like to hide who they are and hide the fact they have crypto.

I do not know the proper way too. Let's wait here and see if anyone else can have some idea or may be create a new topic about it in another section. I will try to find some info from WO guys and will let you know if anything is helpful.

Update: Here, let's see what my brothers has to say in this.

[jojo69]

 the other person involved

[MoparMiningLLC]

 the other person involved

? why are you quoting me but then using something I never said in place of the quote?

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I got sensible answer from Lucius  

It all depends on where the scammer is, because if he is in Russia or a similar country, then there is not much help to open a case. Also, if it's not a large sum of money, no one will even blink an eye for such things - not to mention that in some countries the police have no idea what Bitcoin is.

If the information is correct that the minerjones lost as many as 3 BTC on the same site a few years ago and nothing happened, then that scammer is pretty good at hiding tracks. For start, it would be wise to contact Binance and try to freeze funds there (if it’s not too late for that).

May be we can start with contacting Binance about the case. Use this topic as reference. While you do that, let's see if we have anyone else to say something about it. Knowing the scammer from which country will be a challenge I guess.

[Dabs]

As a sort of off-topic but related to this, you should be generating segwit compatible vanity addresses now. Look around the forum for them. They spit out addresses that start with bc1 or 3.

I don't use them anymore as much, I just stick to random ones. You can have seed words for those too.

If the private keys you have begin with a 5, then your software will work, but it is outdated. Compressed private keys begin with L or K, but any address that begins with a 1 is also a legacy address.

[Hueristic]

Seems that dummies are being directed there.

https://www.dummies.com/personal-finance/generate-bitcoin-vanity-address/


I tried to contact them but the site is run by some publishing company that says they have no control over the content (probally liable if anyone feels like going after them for being directed to the scam).

Also I cannot find a correct email for the author Tiana Laurence, but to be fair I am not signing up for those sites that supposedly will give up her email if you sign in.

Whats even funnier is they have this warning on the bottom of the page. LOL

Never share your private keys! Save your private key and a public key someplace safe. Use your public key to receiving or send Bitcoins. (You can share your public Bitcoin keys as much as you want.) The private key is the actual keys to your Bitcoins. If your private key is stolen or lost, you’ve lost your coins forever.

Edit: Oh and if anyone else wants to call them this is the number to the owners of the site.

1 877 762 2974

[xhomerx10]

 the other person involved

? why are you quoting me but then using something I never said in place of the quote?

 Jojo took a vow of silence.  Likely he has something very important to say but he simply can't.  Roughly translated, it says, "Not your keys, not your coins"

I know it might be too late now since trust has been broken but there is a faster program called  vanitysearch - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112311.0
I would say it's easily 5x the speed of vanitygen.

[MoparMiningLLC]

 the other person involved

? why are you quoting me but then using something I never said in place of the quote?

 Jojo took a vow of silence.  Likely he has something very important to say but he simply can't.  Roughly translated, it says, "Not your keys, not your coins"

I know it might be too late now since trust has been broken but there is a faster program called  vanitysearch - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112311.0
I would say it's easily 5x the speed of vanitygen.

ahh ok then thank you JoJo.

as for key/vanity address generation. I will do it the safest way - just do it myself on an air-gapped laptop. I can do up to 7 characters rather quickly. Over that starts taking quite a bit longer.

[LoyceV]

as for key/vanity address generation. I will do it the safest way - just do it myself on an air-gapped laptop. I can do up to 7 characters rather quickly. Over that starts taking quite a bit longer.

Did you know you can search for many different prefixes at once?

Code:

-f <file>     File containing list of patterns, one per line

I usually search for ~15k prefixes at once, which is much faster than one by one.

[MoparMiningLLC]

as for key/vanity address generation. I will do it the safest way - just do it myself on an air-gapped laptop. I can do up to 7 characters rather quickly. Over that starts taking quite a bit longer.

Did you know you can search for many different prefixes at once?

Code:

-f <file>     File containing list of patterns, one per line

I usually search for ~15k prefixes at once, which is much faster than one by one.

yes, I know that i can create a list - I need small sets at most 30-40, no need to do 15k addresses, vanity or not, at once - at least I do not. I generate them when needed to put on the poker chips.

[NotATether]

As a sort of off-topic but related to this, you should be generating segwit compatible vanity addresses now. Look around the forum for them. They spit out addresses that start with bc1 or 3.

I don't use them anymore as much, I just stick to random ones. You can have seed words for those too.

If the private keys you have begin with a 5, then your software will work, but it is outdated. Compressed private keys begin with L or K, but any address that begins with a 1 is also a legacy address.

There are some more restricted characters that can't be used when generating bc1 addresses: 0, O, l (lowercase L), I (uppercase I); those four are expected because they're not in base58, but also, 1, b, i, o can't be inside a bc1 vanity address according to 1miau:

Nested SegWit (3...) has to start with an uppercase letter or a number. For example 3Fery works but 3fery not.
Native SegWit (bc1q...) has some more "restrictions" and in addition to O, 0, I and l the letters / numbers 1 (except the 1 in bc1q), b, i and o won't work. So sad that I can't create bc1qmiau... 

3 vanity address can't start with a lowercase letter, and I asked about this, and the reply I got is it also can only have prefixes between 31h1 and 3R2c, so 3111 and 3SSS are also invalid segwit prefixes to search for.

So I think that is why people still generate legacy addresses even though they have higher fees, because there are less restricted characters.

[MoparMiningLLC]

no progress - I am at a roadblock - I don't know anything that can be done with expending more $ than I lost already. I will file a loss on my taxes and hopefully recoup it that way.

and the guy who first mentioned the site years ago here on the forums (but never used that address he created) is still showing up here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=303026

[krogoth]

Man...what a story. Why not report him to the FBI cyber crime unit?? https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber

  Try and buy a Mycelium Entropy for key generation and an airgapped computer that only you will ever use.

[MoparMiningLLC]

Man...what a story. Why not report him to the FBI cyber crime unit?? https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber

  Try and buy a Mycelium Entropy for key generation and an airgapped computer that only you will ever use.

I did file a report - not sure if it will go anywhere.

and my set up was an airgapped laptop - he just wasn't using it. I now do all the key generation - will not trust anyone else again.

[krogoth]

Man...what a story. Why not report him to the FBI cyber crime unit?? https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber

  Try and buy a Mycelium Entropy for key generation and an airgapped computer that only you will ever use.

I did file a report - not sure if it will go anywhere.

and my set up was an airgapped laptop - he just wasn't using it. I now do all the key generation - will not trust anyone else again.

    I agree...you cannot leave this in other peoples hands for sure. I even pulled out my wifi card from my laptop to make sure no signal will ever be picked up.

    I am always paranoid of something or someone infiltrating my laptop.

    And I do hope they go after this scum of a person. Over the years i imagine he has stolen BTC valued in the thousands of $$

[MoparMiningLLC]

Man...what a story. Why not report him to the FBI cyber crime unit?? https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber

  Try and buy a Mycelium Entropy for key generation and an airgapped computer that only you will ever use.

I did file a report - not sure if it will go anywhere.

and my set up was an airgapped laptop - he just wasn't using it. I now do all the key generation - will not trust anyone else again.

    I agree...you cannot leave this in other peoples hands for sure. I even pulled out my wifi card from my laptop to make sure no signal will ever be picked up.

    I am always paranoid of something or someone infiltrating my laptop.

    And I do hope they go after this scum of a person. Over the years i imagine he has stolen BTC valued in the thousands of $$

the pc we set up is never online, has never been online, and never  will be online.  With just counting the addresses affected on the few transactions that involved my 21 addresses - there were hundreds of other addresses where funds were taken. He went all out this time and then shut the site down.

[NotATether]

I’m glad that shitty site is down now, but watch out for any new ones just like it that pop up, I found this one about a week ago: ~link killed~

Their method of delivery reeks of insecurity.

Safety is our top priority. Upon completion of your address generation, our system will automatically send it to your email.
We have no access to your keys because the entire process is encrypted, fully automatic and excludes all traces of generation.

Nobody should be sending private keys over plain-text email. At the very least, they should encrypt it with the customer's PGP key. (And if you're not giving vanity generators like this a way to encrypt your keys, then why the heck are you using one in the first place?)

The whole process is definitely not encrypted, because eventually the key is output from samr7 vanitygen in plaintext at some point.

Seriously, people who are trusting others give them private keys better read the fine print like this and use their brain to check if anything is done unsafely.

[LoyceV]

watch out for any new ones just like it that pop up, I found this one about a week ago: http://vanitygenSCAMbitcoinSCAM.net/

If you're worried about the site, why do you provide them with such a nice backlink to increase their search engine ranking?
Please edit and break up the URL:

Code:

[url=http://vanitygenSCAMbitcoinSCAM.net/]http://vanitygen[b][color=red]SCAM[/color][/b]bitcoin[b][color=red]SCAM[/color][/b].net/[/url][/quote]

~snip~

Kill the link please.

Their method of delivery reeks of insecurity.

There's no "insecurity", email is the least of the problem. It's a lie to mask their scam for gullible people. Any offer for a vanity addy that doesn't use a split key is a scam.

Split key:

Instructions
I can just create an address, and send you the private key. This means you have to trust me, my computer, my cat, both our email clients, and by definition it can no longer be used for cold storage. So let's not. Instead, use split key:
Step 1: Goto https://www.bitaddress.org/ move your mouse/type in the field until it shows 100% and wait a second.
Step 1.5: Optional but highly recommended. Download the page, verify the download and run it locally^*.
Step 2: Click Vanity Wallet click the Generate button next to Generate your "Step1 Key Pair"
Step 3: Reply to this thread with your public key and the prefix for your address. Save the private key somewhere safe. You will need it later when I generated your partial private key. Also, let me know if your preferred prefix is case sensitive, or any case is okay (the latter is much faster)
Step 4: Once you received your partial private key, go back to bitaddress.org and click on Vanity Wallet.
Step 5: Go to step 2 Calculate your vanity wallet. In the first field put the private key you saved and in the second field put the partial private key I gave you. Click Add and Calculate Vanity Wallet
Step 6: Copy the Vanity Private Key (WIF) and import it into your preferred wallet.
Credits to shorena for most of these instructions!
If something doesn't work as expected, have a look at this example.

[MoparMiningLLC]

and that is why I run the vanitygen on an offline computer, the keys are printed and adhered to the physical item and covered with a holo - at no time are the keys saved on the computer or are they emailed/transmitted in any fashion.

the whole issue that started this thread for me was my partner skipped all of the above steps and used a website instead because it was easier/faster. when it comes to keys, do not take the easy/fast way.

You either need to trust the person creating the physical item and the address or you need to do it exactly as LoyceV has pointed out.

[malevolent]

If (low) speed is a concern, since this is what seems to have led to going for shortcuts, use samr7's oclvanitygen if you have an AMD GPU, or Jean_Luc's VanitySearch if you have an nVidia GPU. I prefer the latter nowadays, but it only uses CUDA instead of OpenCL so use whatever does its job.

[MoparMiningLLC]

If (low) speed is a concern, since this is what seems to have led to going for shortcuts, use samr7's oclvanitygen if you have an AMD GPU, or Jean_Luc's VanitySearch if you have an nVidia GPU. I prefer the latter nowadays, but it only uses CUDA instead of OpenCL so use whatever does its job.

i am using samr7's - that was what the shop was set up to do, he just wanted to go faster so used that damn scam site.

[MoparMiningLLC]

to update:

looks like he has a new website -

http:// vanitygenbitcoin . net/ (added spaces as I dont want an actual active link to the bullshit site)

this site was just registered on 6/29/2020
but at the bottom it states "2014-2021" -- so my guess is that it is the same guy just with a new domain...


also this person appears to have quite a bit of background looking into the site

https://ushertechs.com/the-bitcoinvanitygen-scam

[UsherTechs]

also this person appears to have quite a bit of background looking into the site

https://ushertechs.com/the-bitcoinvanitygen-scam

Hey thanks for the shout out man, I appreciate it. I’m not on here very often but I just wanted you to know that the scammer’s “new” site is also offline now, so perhaps authorities yanked it or he just gave up. Either way, I’m glad and it shows that being vocal about it wasn’t completely in vain. Now I just wish they’d actually catch the rat behind it all. Maybe in time, as bitcoin becomes taken more seriously and cyberforensics improve.