How often are people really hacked out of their BTC?

[TheBitcoineers]

Has anyone here been hacked and if so, how? We should make sure that we share our stories of being hacked, even if they are painful,  to ensure that people do not repeat other people's mistakes.

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[bL4nkcode]

Most hacked bitcoiner cause of using malware/phishing wallet/software/website, some of them while using electrum and got phished by installing from malicious server the prompts as a notification. While some of them while using exchanges that were hacked.

The lesson is always verify the source/signature of every wallet you want to install on your device. And don't ever put your bitcoin on exchanges for a very long time or as an alternative for wallet.

[ReiMomo]

Lack of knowledge is the reason why crypto enthusiasts keep losing their crypto-asset or getting hacked. And sometimes greediness is also a reason why people get hacked, joining airdrop or the recent hacks just like a HIYP that promised you to have a double profit after a week or a month. But the fact, you are already prone to scams.

I suggest those newbies who want to own their own bitcoin is also to study how to store bitcoin, how to keep safe bitcoin and you will able to continue holding until you will get profit.

[marcbitcoins]

When you say you were hacked I assume you mean you were keeping your coins on a 3rd party platform like an exchange and they exit scammed. These 3rd parties keep your private keys and therefore have the ability to do what they want with it. As the pearl of wisdom goes “If you don’t own your keys, you don’t own your crypto”. To avoid this you should keep your bitcoin in cold storage.

[hulla]

Has anyone here been hacked and if so, how? We should make sure that we share our stories of being hacked, even if they are painful,  to ensure that people do not repeat other people's mistakes.

Murat once shared a story about how his savings wallet was hacked when he kept his wallet private keys, passwords, etc online.

Lack of knowledge is the reason why crypto enthusiasts keep losing their crypto-asset or getting hacked. And sometimes greediness is also a reason why people get hacked, joining airdrop or the recent hacks just like a HIYP that promised you to have a double profit after a week or a month. But the fact, you are already prone to scams.

I suggest those newbies who want to own their own bitcoin is also to study how to store bitcoin, how to keep safe bitcoin and you will able to continue holding until you will get profit.

You may be right because there are many ways attacker can hack wallet but there are some Bitcoiners that have good knowledge and their wallet was been hacked. I believe avoiding human error 24/7 and never let physical untrusted people know you're a Bitcoin holder are the best way to secure a wallet.

[Upgrade00]

As regards your topic title, I doubt there is any data of how may people lose their Bitcoins through hacks or some other form of compromise, but there's lots of information on what exposes you to such risks and how you can avoid them.
Security awareness is something every Bitcoin holder should have as you are responsible for your assets. There may be no way to be 100% secure, but there are steps that would reduce the risk of loss;

• Hold your Bitcoin in a wallet which you control the private key,
• Make backups for the private key in secure locations,
• Ideally, you should use a cold wallet, this could be a hardware wallet or a device which is disconnected from the internet permanently,
• Use privacy inclined services and try to remain as anonymous as possible (this could be done by using mixers, ad blockers, transacting through peer to peer platforms etc)
• Ignore unsolicited messages and mails and do do not click on any links included.
• Do not trust, verify. Websites can be compromised so always verify before taking any action.

[crwth]

The most common thing among the people who I see get hacked because of GREED. I see people sending referral links that have a "too good to be true" essence on to it, and upon researching for a little bit, it's already been reported that it's a scam, but it's still ongoing. People have the tendency to trade things like personal information, or worse, passphrases, that have their holdings on it. If someone is too susceptible to that type of thing, we would know what happens next.

I'm not sure about the frequency of getting hacked, for sure it's only a small fraction, but it still happens and we need to be vigilant about it.

[AniviaBtc]

People who are downloading any software without checking its legitimacy are the ones who are prone to malware attacks and getting hacked.

When you are a BTC holder, you should always consider having a high security in your device and when you are accessing platforms, you should check if it is safe to access. In my entire bitcoin investment, I'm not yet getting hacked because I'm aware of my own wallets and I always check them when I have some time.

Improving security of your bitcoins will make you comfortable so don't forget to to always check it.

[Olivia Wolff]

Thank God my account has never been hacked. I'm very careful about the security of my account. Guys, be very cautious about the safety of your account, password and private keys!!!!!

[oktana]

I've seen some people share their stories about being hacked and, I really feel for them. Just so you know, hacking can't happen from a different way except your private keys or mnemonic phrase. Phishing is one of the most common ways that people's wallet are being hacked. And to avoid falling a victim, make sure that you trust the tabs that are opened on your browser, or the apps / softwares you install. Some of them have the ability to pry and steal your keys. Oh, and never store your assets on exchanges, cause if anything goes wrong on that exchange, your funds becomes vulnerable.

[finn.cole]

Ohh I was almost hacked...   But I reacted in time. Luckily it ended well, but after that incident, safety became the most important thing to me.

[Wexnident]

There's different types of situations on how people get hacked. Some just get simply scammed, while some store their coins in an online wallet/exchange, and well, visited a phishing site letting hackers enter their pc and basically access all sorts of data stored in there, which is basically how they get ahold of your funds. I actually haven't heard much of any hacks of the latter(but it does happen), but the former is well known tbh. There are countless victims out there since most people are prone to be fooled by the sound of easy making money schemes.  Really, it's rather easy not to get hacked tbh, though there may be some funds needed to guarantee it to the max. Just don't visit any suspicious sites, use a hardware wallet, don't believe others nonchalantly, and DYOR.

[pecson134]

So far my bitcoin account were not yet compromised with regards to privacy and undisclosed information. I'm making sure that the site I am visiting is not of a phishing site to avoid stealing of information. The most thing I am avoiding is those mobile apps that pertains to wallets and bitcoin earning sites because mostly of those were scam or not legitimate.

[Evilish]

The only time I've gotten "hacked" was when my Bittrex account got compromised years ago. Attacker couldn't withdraw any BTC so they made a purchase on some ~0 volume coin. My guess is attacker placed a limit-sell order from their account at an exorbitant price and used my account to fill the order, leaving me with a bajillion shitcoins and them taking away my BTC. Still unsure whether it was done through password or API key. I realized it weeks after the fact and I didn't pursue it much after support told me "sorry can't help".

Lesson learned for life though. Never storing BTC on any exchanges. 2FA is a must, and no password re-use among different websites/exchanges.

This makes me wonder what the thought process of scammers/hackers who stole years ago is like now that BTC is ~$40k. Do they ever go "I stole x btc years ago, damn, now it's worth xxxxx. I should give it back". Do they feel guilty? Try to get back in touch with people who they stole from?

[Lucius]

Has anyone here been hacked and if so, how?

Many crypto users have been hacked, it’s just a matter of the way it happened. The most common way is through phishing, whether it is an exchange/online wallet or fake pages for desktop/mobile wallets. A hacker uses several approaches to a potential victim, sending a phishing link via email or some social network, or advertising through Google AdWords, which results in fake pages appearing at the top of the search for certain keywords.

I believe that there are many more who have become victims and have not publicly admitted it, as opposed to those who publicly seek help online or report it to the police. The reason for this is very simple, it is not easy to admit that you have become a victim of fraud, especially if it happened in a very naive way that could have been easily prevented.

The solution is pretty simple, never click on links in your email asking you to log in to a crypto exchange, or download a new wallet because the old one has some critical vulnerability. Save the link of a legitimate page in browser bookmarks and use it always, and when you search for something through the search engine always have AdBlock turned on which will block all ads from Google.

[XZERO1]

There would be almost zero chance of losing any funds in your wallet if you haven't made a mistake along the way and maybe enter your private key in a non-official wallet website(phishing website) or installed a non-official wallet, for almost any wallet there are tons of phishing websites and fake apps and any less experienced crypto user could be a victim of such attempts.

So just because many use the term "Hacked" it doesn't mean the blockchain and the network of that coin was somehow compromised and that's how they got to user wallets, and in 99% of the time it only means the users was simply not careful and someone somehow got access to their private key either by phishing websites/apps or any other possible way.

[TheBitcoineers]

Ohh I was almost hacked...   But I reacted in time. Luckily it ended well, but after that incident, safety became the most important thing to me.

I am interested to know, how did you stop the hack?

[Wysi]

Most of the users whose bitcoin wallet has been hacked are due to their negligence because we need to take proper precautions like avoid unofficial wallets, check the website URL link before entering your private keys to ensure its the same URL and MEW shows that notification as an awareness and users should avoid downloading malicious softwares. I have never seen any account getting hacked after taking precautions.

[Tstar]

Not so often, and when it happens, usually the problem is in people, not the bitcoin itself.

People are using weak passwords, clicking on phishing links, downloading phishing wallets, etc. Hackers are getting smarter and trying new stuff every day.

[LTU_btc]

I don't know how often people get hacked, I can speak for myself only. I've been hacked once few years ago. First, my Bitcointalk account got hacked, but I was able to get it back later with help of admin. Later, they hacked my Bittrex account, but fortunately weren't able to withdraw funds. There was SMS 2FA on withdrawals enabled.
I still don't know where exactly I made mistake, but I believe that my email got compromised first. Back then I thought that I'm not stupid and it won't happen for me, I didn't followed even basic things to protect my accounts and crypto. But it will happen for you if will be not careful enough. These tips to protect your accounts aren't made without reason. So, things like 2FA, strong passwords and other things is must have.

I believe that there are many more who have become victims and have not publicly admitted it, as opposed to those who publicly seek help online or report it to the police. The reason for this is very simple, it is not easy to admit that you have become a victim of fraud, especially if it happened in a very naive way that could have been easily prevented.

Yeah, it's not that easy to admit in public that you made mistake and got hacked. Some people don't want to say that because they are afraid to look stupid. Probably I also wouldn't admit if would be hacked in stupid way, like clicking phishing link in email or something similar.