how to catch a bitcoin thief?

[tmoonpi]

Recently had my account at Bitfinex hacked.  without going into details, the hacker got my password and transfered 14.39 bitcoins to this address 1L6cuvsv9HJhu99mMUHwZeWjGujRXWsFmr.

Bitfinex has yet to give me the ip address the hacker logged onto my account.  not sure they will.  anyways, i understand it is most likely not the hackers true IP.

The hacker did log onto my gmail account.  The ip was 96.36.247.114 and the hacker was using Firefox 27.0.  Firefox makes me think that the hacker was likely using the TOR network as the TOR bundle comes with Firefox.  However, the version that TOR comes bundled with is Firefox ESR.  So maybe not.

i was thinking of asking bitfinex for information on any accounts that have been logged onto from this IP. bit shot in the dark and doubt they would give me the information anyways.

The coins have appeared to go through a tumbler, perhaps.  not sure how to really tell. they've moved around a bit. 

Anyways, if anyone has any advice or resources on tracking this thief i would greatly appreciate it.
a couple specific question i could use help on are:

1 - how do you tell a bitcoin address is from an exchange or otherwise traceable wallet?
2 - how can i get more information from Bitfinex, supaena?  do i have to get law enforcement involved?  which law enforcement? can i subpaena the information?
3 - how do i get more information about the ip i have? from Charter in South Carolina?  subpaena? local law enforcment.

I am well aware that i am probably wasting my time, but in the least i would like to attempt to trace the coins to an exchange (my best chance albeit very remote ).

Somebody has to learn how to catch these bitcoin thiefs sometime soon or confidence in Bitcoin will eventualy fade.  Seems Bitcoin theft is the safest form of crime nowadays.  I've even run across a few articles on how to steal bitcoins and an industry is growing around laundering bitcoins. 

[franky1]

if he got into your gmail and bitfinex. then he simply did not choose your username on this forum at random or from reddit or something. and then try brute forcing every password combination using that username..

he obviosly had more information on you. such as from a key logger, to then get both bitfinex and gmail.

so think about what alt coin clients you downloaded. what mining software or other bitcoin related stuff you downloaded within the 2 weeks prior to th theft (most theives are too greedy and impatient to wait for months before abuse the info they gain. (if they had patients, thy'd get a real job))

so look at thos programs and be brutally honest with yourself as to the source of said programs.

im betting it was a altcoin wallet. or a tradebot..(tradebot gets my vote)

[jonald_fyookball]

Sorry you got hacked.  Seems what the community is learning is that you either need to go with an off-line kind of wallet, do not keep money on exchanges.... Or go with a bitcoin holding company that is insured by a third-party (not sure this exist yet)...

[Shimini]

Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2014-03-24 05:03 GMT
Interesting ports on 96-36-247-114.static.gnvl.sc.charter.com (96.36.247.114):
Not shown: 1677 filtered ports
PORT     STATE SERVICE
22/tcp   open  ssh
5060/tcp open  sip
8080/tcp open  http-proxy

[Surge_Dev]

It would be quite difficult to track the thief. I say just make peace with it.

[BitCoinDream]

Recently had my account at Bitfinex hacked.  without going into details, the hacker got my password and transfered 14.39 bitcoins to this address 1L6cuvsv9HJhu99mMUHwZeWjGujRXWsFmr.

Bitfinex has yet to give me the ip address the hacker logged onto my account.  not sure they will.  anyways, i understand it is most likely not the hackers true IP.

The hacker did log onto my gmail account.  The ip was 96.36.247.114 and the hacker was using Firefox 27.0.  Firefox makes me think that the hacker was likely using the TOR network as the TOR bundle comes with Firefox.  However, the version that TOR comes bundled with is Firefox ESR.  So maybe not.

i was thinking of asking bitfinex for information on any accounts that have been logged onto from this IP. bit shot in the dark and doubt they would give me the information anyways.

The coins have appeared to go through a tumbler, perhaps.  not sure how to really tell. they've moved around a bit. 

Anyways, if anyone has any advice or resources on tracking this thief i would greatly appreciate it.
a couple specific question i could use help on are:

1 - how do you tell a bitcoin address is from an exchange or otherwise traceable wallet?
2 - how can i get more information from Bitfinex, supaena?  do i have to get law enforcement involved?  which law enforcement? can i subpaena the information?
3 - how do i get more information about the ip i have? from Charter in South Carolina?  subpaena? local law enforcment.

I am well aware that i am probably wasting my time, but in the least i would like to attempt to trace the coins to an exchange (my best chance albeit very remote ).

Somebody has to learn how to catch these bitcoin thiefs sometime soon or confidence in Bitcoin will eventualy fade.  Seems Bitcoin theft is the safest form of crime nowadays.  I've even run across a few articles on how to steal bitcoins and an industry is growing around laundering bitcoins. 

Immediately contact the Bitcoin Cop => https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=433845.0

[Beliathon]

Bitfinex? Never heard of them.

Paper wallets inside safety deposit boxes or buried underground. Or Coinbase or multibit. Or brain wallet, if you trust your brain (I do.)

Stop using these dubious, non-proven 3rd parties FFS.

[ryanmnercer]

Stop using these dubious, non-proven 3rd parties FFS.

EXACTLY. Why are people leaving funds in the hands of companies?!?!

[lorix]

Somebody has to learn how to catch these bitcoin thiefs sometime soon or confidence in Bitcoin will eventualy fade.  Seems Bitcoin theft is the safest form of crime nowadays.  I've even run across a few articles on how to steal bitcoins and an industry is growing around laundering bitcoins. 

I know the feeling, I've been ripped off before to the tune of 5 BTC myself, in that case it was a scam 12 month hosted mining deal where I got a couple of days of mining out of them before they vanished. I've had many thoughts about how I might track them down and where they might be located.

At the end of the day though you have to ask yourself - what would you do if you did find the thief?

Let's say you managed to track your thief down to a name and home address, and for the point of this argument let's say he lived only a couple of hours away from you.

Now what? I doubt the police would consider blockchain data as evidence so unless you were prepared to take matters into your own hand where does it really leave you?

[ryanmnercer]

Let's say you managed to track your thief down to a name and home address, and for the point of this argument let's say he lived only a couple of hours away from you.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my bitcoin go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

[Beliathon]

Thanks for another great post, Holliday. You're truly a credit to this community.

There is no Bitcoin theft that didn't involve someone making a bad security decision. And there never will be.

[activebiz]

Tracking btc is quite easy without the mixing part

[durrrr]

i thought bitcoin cant be traced or tracked? so your saying if i buy drugs or sell drugs to someone i could be traced back? so ive been lied to by the bitcoin community about its anonymous idea

[Foxpup]

i thought bitcoin cant be traced or tracked?

You thought wrong.

so your saying if i buy drugs or sell drugs to someone i could be traced back?

Potentially. Though normally tracking the delivery of the drugs themselves is more important to the investigation.

so ive been lied to by the bitcoin community about its anonymous idea

If anyone told you Bitcoin is or is meant to be anonymous, then yes, they have lied to you. Though nobody in the Bitcoin community is saying any such thing.

[zolace]

They will end up laundering the bitcoins, so it will be hard to trace after that.

[BitOnyx]

You need offline wallet.

Also people need more security and watch out what are they downloading. When you invite stranger to your house or keep doors unlocked you can't be surprised someone has stolen your grandma silver candlestick.