Going public saying you own Bitcoin is not safe anymore

[Blawpaw]

Nowadays we need to be careful when publicly admitting to owning Bitcoin. A lot of crypto traders have been receiving threats as in the case of Daniel one of the guys from Chart Champions.

Things are escalating as, apparently, a 14-year-old kid from England got kidnapped after bragging on social media posts about having lots of money made from trading cryptocurrencies.

That's why I don't like anyone to know I'm in the Crypto business.

[Charles-Tim]

Saying you make bitcoin or you make money or displaying to public about the amount of your bitcoin holding is very risky and can lead to what happened to the 14 year old kid. We should always limit the information we share on social media, limiting the information we share in the public.


Although, this is not related to kyc, but we need to be very mindful of kyc we shared on centralized exchanges, data breach can also lead to people knowing about the information we provided centralized service providers like exchanges. People having bitcoin should try all means to maintain privacy, any information shared is dangerous.

[IIrik11]

No body but my father knows that I know of Bitcoin and other Cryptos and own a little.

He never talks about it to anyone and neither do I.

I treat Bitcoin as treasure. If you find treasure, you don't go around telling people about it.

This is another reason I prefer using non-KYC exchanges to buy BTC for I don't want no one to know that I am buying and holding Crypto.

[Jawhead999]

It's never safe to announce your Bitcoin or money to public, you're make people around interested with you and don't be surprised if something bad happen to you. You're taking the risk of people would attack you and don't blame them if they do that, you're need to blame yourself to not share any sensitive information to public.

This is another reason I prefer using non-KYC exchanges to buy BTC for I don't want no one to know that I am buying and holding Crypto.

Don't forget to separate your device which you're using regularly and for Bitcoin only. So if your phone are stolen or your friends borrow your device, they wouldn't find any Bitcoin related.

[fiulpro]

Nowadays we need to be careful when publicly admitting to owning Bitcoin. A lot of crypto traders have been receiving threats as in the case of Daniel one of the guys from Chart Champins.

Things are escalating as, apparently, a 14-year-old kid from England got kidnapped after bragging on social media posts about having lots of money made from trading cryptocurrencies.

That's why I don't like anyone to know I'm in the Crypto business.

It's not just crypto business, am pretty sure it applies to all the businesses as well. Having money and bragging about it is totally ridiculous. People end up getting kidnapped, dead or even scammed by their own family members. Well the kid was too young to know what he should have/shouldn't have done but at the end of the day I hope he is safe and home soon.

That's why we talk about privacy as well. It's not a small issue. It's really complicated as well. Things get messy within seconds.

Even KYC is something that takes all the information and sends it to the government and if the website gets hacked there would be addresses and personal information of the whales coming out as well.

How safe it would be for them ??

Boasting should never be done.

[masterrex]

Sounds alarming, But I think that was only an isolated incident because in reality no one talks or shares any info to the public that they have possessed a lot of cryptocurrencies particularly Bitcoin. because if that happens the government will after you and tax your holdings, second is you might be in danger of being robbed, After all, many bad people are already knowledgeable about the fortune of cryptocurrencies that's why no crypto users in their right mind to do that in the public.

[Taskford]

Nowadays we need to be careful when publicly admitting to owning Bitcoin. A lot of crypto traders have been receiving threats as in the case of Daniel one of the guys from Chart Champins.

Things are escalating as, apparently, a 14-year-old kid from England got kidnapped after bragging on social media posts about having lots of money made from trading cryptocurrencies.

That's why I don't like anyone to know I'm in the Crypto business.

IF you are a publicly flaunt your holdings everyday and always flex that everywhere then expect that you will be the target of those bad guys, but if you are silent doing your business and other thing over the net then you are safe from those kind of people. So better take our silence so that no disturbance will come to us and we will be safe from any people who do crime just to earn money.

It's ok that they know you are in crypto but let them guess on what you are doing and earnings from this things.

[Lucius]

Maybe it was safe to say 5-6 years ago that you have 1 BTC, but if you say that today you literally put a target on your forehead and it's only a matter of time before something bad happens. My advice is that if you also told someone that you have Bitcoin, when they ask you again, say that you sold back in 2017, then many have sold anyway. If you want to sleep more peacefully, take good care of your backups, set up an alarm and security cameras, and if you can legally obtain a firearm, do not hesitate to do so. Criminals always choose targets that are poorly protected, and will often avoid those that have a high level of protection.

Things are escalating as, apparently, a 14-year-old kid from England got kidnapped after bragging on social media posts about having lots of money made from trading cryptocurrencies.

From the article :

The driver of the vehicle, identified as Muhammed Khubaib in the legal proceedings, punched the boy with a gloved hand containing sand. The boy’s mother was able to reach an agreement with the kidnappers for £900 in exchange for her son’s safe return. Khubaib was sentenced to four years in prison.

4 years for physical assault and kidnapping of minors - these people are obviously eating some weird mushrooms and using drugs - they should have given him more recognition because he didn't kill the child and because the ransom was only £900 - maybe work for the common good in the royal palace

[Zilon]

I had to change my location because I was no longer comfortable with how people around my neighborhood saw me. Many who know I trade Bitcoin started putting up some funny attitude each time I tried going closer to them. I had to change my location currently where I reside no one know I trade and this has made my relationship with people around me mutual

[acroman08]

it doesn't really matter if you are making money on cryptocurrency or not. as long as you brag on how much money you make you will be a target. in this case it was a kid who is bragging about the money he made.

regarding the kidnapping. those kidnappers are a dumbass. they asked for £10k but ended up agreeing to £900 and then ended up getting arrested for it. its clear that these guys are amateurs. that boy is lucky that the kidnappers are amateurs. I just hope the kid learned his lesson not to brag how much money he makes. may it be in cryptocurrency or not.

[adamantasaurus]

Yea I see all these clowns on fb crypto groups announcing exactly how much they own and asking advice on if their portfolio is good I'm like wtf? But I don't announced it on social media or anything but people I know irl like my family or friends I dont have an issue with telling them.

[dkbit98]

It was never safe going public and bragging that you own Bitcoin, that is why all public figures like Jameson Lopp or Andreas Antonopoulos keep their Bitcoin in complex multisig setups that can't be accessed so simple even if they want to do it.
What happened to this 14 year old boy is a shame, but in reality similar things are happening for years, you can check all known physical bitcoin attacks recorded since 2014, and I am sure there are much more unknown attacks.
Note that this list is only publicly reported attacks on Bitcoin owners, so better think again before speaking out in public:
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks/blob/master/README.md

[Findingnemo]

Nowadays we need to be careful when publicly admitting to owning Bitcoin. A lot of crypto traders have been receiving threats as in the case of Daniel one of the guys from Chart Champins.

Things are escalating as, apparently, a 14-year-old kid from England got kidnapped after bragging on social media posts about having lots of money made from trading cryptocurrencies.

That's why I don't like anyone to know I'm in the Crypto business.

Then how all the billionaires are living in this world? These are not excuses to make money, threat comes when you become richer but it can be tackled when you nade enough money to hire best security for you so you can feel safe at any moment.

If you ask me owning bitcoin is safer than fiat, no matter how much someone tries to steal money they can't unless you give access to wallet.

[dupee419]

Since when was it even safe to admit or brag to anyone that you own Bitcoin?

It's just simply flexing that you have a big fat wallet, in the eyes of a thief. In the case of the 14-year old kid, it's the kid's fault but still, his/her parents could have at least know about this since trading at a young age needs adult supervision, can't put the blame on the kid but to the parents themselves.

[Lucius]

If you ask me owning bitcoin is safer than fiat, no matter how much someone tries to steal money they can't unless you give access to wallet.

If someone really wants to steal your BTC, they can do that in two ways. The first is to ask you nicely to tell them where you hide your wallet/seed, and if you refuse there are some methods by which you will tell all the secrets of your life. If you’re still some John Rambo or Jason Bourne resistant to torture, all these bad guys need to find is a weak point, and I’d love to see who says NO when they put the gun on the head of your child, father, mother, sister or spouse.

You keep your fiat in the bank, your crypto is mostly on your computer, smartphone or hardware device, and all this is at the fingertips of anyone who enters your home.

[BlackHatCoiner]

And since when was it safe going public saying you own money? It never was.

You should never announce you own money at all, not just many. A person who doesn't have a penny will rob anyone who owns it. When you state this in public, you increase your chances of drawing their attention.

When you say you own bitcoin, one may believe you own more than just 1 BTC. Otherwise, kidnapping a 14-year-old wouldn't make much sense.

[xSkylarx]

I had to change my location because I was no longer comfortable with how people around my neighborhood saw me. Many who know I trade Bitcoin started putting up some funny attitude each time I tried going closer to them. I had to change my location currently where I reside no one know I trade and this has made my relationship with people around me mutual

Wow, I've never seen anything like this before, but I believe that in terms of money, people could think devilishly. Whether you're making money from bitcoin or something else, if others hear about it, I believe you've received threats or they could be friends looking to take advantage of you. It's becoming increasingly difficult to flaunt your assets these days, because kidnappers and people who want to do bad things are also on social media, watching your every move. Nowadays, it is preferable to hide rather than to flaunt one's wealth.

[samuraijin]

that's what i do here too, i work in a restaurant and i don't want people to know i have crypto in my wallet, at least they know i get money from working day and night in a restaurant, worried it will be bad impact when people find out i have crypto and a lot of money

[electronicash]

the mother is good at haggling the kidnappers that it was reduced down to £900 when Khubaib was actually asking £10000.  so why is he not asking for BTC as ransom, i would assume the parents also have some BTC.

but true it's not good to show off your BTC on social media, criminals are just lurking which is an easy target and a kid in school is perfect for petty criminals.

[UserU]

I had to change my location because I was no longer comfortable with how people around my neighborhood saw me. Many who know I trade Bitcoin started putting up some funny attitude each time I tried going closer to them. I had to change my location currently where I reside no one know I trade and this has made my relationship with people around me mutual

It's pretty much the same outcome as winning the lottery, except with way better chances.