Almost lost all of my coins in an exchange last week

[Bitcoin Guy]

As for the question you asked about  the hacker not moving the funds immediately, I guess maybe he thought he has gotten full access to the account and felt he should keep it for now and withdraw the money later, since prices are going up? I’m just guessing though, but it’s good that you got your money out before stories that touch.

It won’t be because of the price are going up.  Because if they just withdrawal the coins to their account without converting them to fiats, the coins would be as they are. 

[molsewid]

It's a good thing that you got your assets back, but be careful next time, there's lot of news nowadays that their wallet is being hacked, the easiest and well-known type of hacking is phishing, many people click some links that can gather all their info, maybe you use your account in online stores since you are in the US, maybe you buy on Amazon and you linked it with your credit card or your PayPal in which you have your full info and that info can be used to open your account. I used google authenticator and sms verification too the phone that I am using doesn't have any apps just email and authenticator for me to prevent hacking.

[Bitcoin Guy]

I used google authenticator and sms verification too the phone that I am using doesn't have any apps just email and authenticator for me to prevent hacking.

That is a good idea.  If affordable, use a dedicated phone for Google Authenticator and the email.  The email address should be dedicated for investment accounts only.

I have a sim lock on my phone number so that it cannot be transferred to another devise unless I go to the store in person with valid IDs.

[age7393]

Of course, I agree with you that in most cases it is better not to store your cryptocurrency on exchanges. But let's say, if you are a trader, then it is very stressful, especially when the network is very busy now ...

[Findingnemo]

I used google authenticator and sms verification too the phone that I am using doesn't have any apps just email and authenticator for me to prevent hacking.

That is a good idea.  If affordable, use a dedicated phone for Google Authenticator and the email.  The email address should be dedicated for investment accounts only.

I have a sim lock on my phone number so that it cannot be transferred to another devise unless I go to the store in person with valid IDs.

Dedicated email to register on exchanges right? But still the information can be leaked from exchange or sold by exchange itself since it happened in the past so use email in your primary mobile and the authenticator on separate mobile better consider using Authy which is better than Google Authenticator.

[Bitcoin Guy]

Dedicated email to register on exchanges right? But still the information can be leaked from exchange or sold by exchange itself since it happened in the past so use email in your primary mobile and the authenticator on separate mobile better consider using Authy which is better than Google Authenticator.

No one is immune from a data leak or breach on an exchange, but the less access to different sites can minimize the credentials  info losses.

I don’t remember if any authenticator beside Google are offered in the exchange.

[Findingnemo]

I don’t remember if any authenticator beside Google are offered in the exchange.

Google authenticator isn't the only one, there are tons of authenticators available and one of the best is Authy which is available for both Android and IOS which also provides some of the features like desktop version and mobile transfer.

You can choose any authenticator you want, all you need to do is to just scan the codes or enter the provided key to enable 2FA.

[epis11]

The good things is atleast you recovered your assets and you can still trade it in other available exchanges Binance has a well secured parameters to avoid hacking attempts next time if you do not want to ip banned then why not use a vpn a premium one I think this is also use by other US customers as I can read.

[Rehan Zakir]

Very sad. I suggest you to never put money on small, fake and untrusted exchanges. Only put money in exchange that  has a good reputation in the market such as binance, kucoin, bitmex, houbi etc. Our money stay safe in big exchanges. There are many fake exchanges in the market so we should avoid them.

[EdgeoftheContinent]

Very sad. I suggest you to never put money on small, fake and untrusted exchanges. Only put money in exchange that  has a good reputation in the market such as binance, kucoin, bitmex, houbi etc. Our money stay safe in big exchanges. There are many fake exchanges in the market so we should avoid them.

The exchange he was using was the first one on your list of good reputation exchanges. So the instead of saying trust this or that exchange it should be said to trust no exchange and as soon as you can to get your coins into your custody. Glad that you were able to remedy the situation I'm sure that was a very stressful thing to have happen.

[Bitcoin Guy]

Very sad. I suggest you to never put money on small, fake and untrusted exchanges. Only put money in exchange that  has a good reputation in the market such as binance, kucoin, bitmex, houbi etc. Our money stay safe in big exchanges. There are many fake exchanges in the market so we should avoid them.

The exchange he was using was the first one on your list of good reputation exchanges. So the instead of saying trust this or that exchange it should be said to trust no exchange and as soon as you can to get your coins into your custody. Glad that you were able to remedy the situation I'm sure that was a very stressful thing to have happen.

Yes, you are correct on all. 

And it was a very stressful and helpless moment.  At the time when I was trying to get into my account, 4 times had already tried, so only one try away from my account being locked.  And once it is locked I would not be able to get any help because they would not reply to my email nor I can submit a help ticket because US customers are no longer served.  Moreover, even after I successfully reset my password and regained my account, I still need to find solutions to move my coins out.  At that time, I was so stressed out, but I still need to search for solutions and learn how to implement my solutions with different wallets and tools.

Before I figured out where to move most of the coins to, I was also worry that if the exchange would not let me withdraw, if the phone which has the Google Authenticator installed broke for good (since the battery on that phone is bulged), and if the hacker will strike again before I moved my coins out.  I was also racing against time.

Last night I just realized that I could use VPN to set up a new account from the same exchange, move my coins there, immediately convert them to BTC or ETH, and transferred the BTC out to other accounts, ie, a hard wallet.   This would be the easiest way.  Even though doing so may also incur some potential risks.