Bitcoin theft and mobile phone

[mia_houston]

It's sad that the son killed his father just because of money.

I'm sure the father has all the trust for the son, but his son knowing the father has the bitcoin stored on his phone was probably tempted to steal it. Nowadays, it's hard to trust anyone even your family, so it's better to keep silent about your holding and make sure you don't store in an online wallet if we are speaking of a huge amount of money already.

What disturbed me more here is the Son willing to kill the father just for the money, not the bitcoin stolen by the son.

After I read the article, I think the son has no intention of killing his father, the son just wants to make his father faint to get his father bitcoins, I think maybe the child has an addiction to drugs so he wants to steal the assets owned by his father, but still whatever the reason for the child to do it, it is clear that what he did was quite bad and should not be imitated.
Storing bitcoins on cell phones is not a good move, but we know that cellphones are now the only thing that we often carry and are the simplest for us to access, so I think that's the reason the old man kept his bitcoins on his cellphone, but to be honest,  I don't agree if the father hides Bitcoin assets from his family, let alone his son, because after all, his wife's children have the right to know about the assets that the man has.

[Odusko]

Heem,that's life for you,this world is full of evil, a son that can drug his father because of money without thinking about the consequence or the damage the drug will do to his father can kill anyone,it is good to have strong password for your account and try to be secretive about what you have in your wallet, because the son was aware of the bitcoin that was why he took such drastic step.

[Oasisman]

At least the father could've kept it to himself when he started  stashing some Bitcoin on his wallet. $400,000 is such a huge amount to stored in a most vulnerable place in crypto.
Family conflict always involves money or properties, that's very common. The father should've known that already assuming he knew what his son is capable of. 

The next time when his son's greediness kicks in, he might commit a murder.

[Mauser]

What a sad story. I know storing 400,000 USD in a mobile wallet is a big security risk and the dad should have known better, but I still feel for his loss, its terrible. I am using a mobile wallet myself because its so convenient. The wallet is of course only for small amounts. Everything below 100 USD I try to do with my mobile wallet. It's very fast to pay things online. The security is a big issue, as soon as there is more than 100 USD on it I will transfer the coins to a more secure wallet. When having more thab 100,000 in crypto currencies, buying a secure hardware wallet makes no real difference. And for any funds below a paper wallet seems the most secure to me.

[Anonylz]

The man probably trusted his family, which is a really natural thing to do, though sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, like it clearly did in this here, as the son proved untrustworthy, unfortunately.

What relationship is stronger than father and son! Of course, he trusted his son enough to inform him about his mobile wallet and the content stored inside, otherwise, he would not have a clue about it.
It is a shame something like this happened with a trusted member of the family, is this indirectly saying don't trust even your closest relatives! I think the son is just being too impatient to do stuff like this, if this was a random thief it would have been different, but this is a son, too bad this can cause a rift in the relationship between father and son.

[poldanmig]

The man probably trusted his family, which is a really natural thing to do, though sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, like it clearly did in this here, as the son proved untrustworthy, unfortunately.

What relationship is stronger than father and son! Of course, he trusted his son enough to inform him about his mobile wallet and the content stored inside, otherwise, he would not have a clue about it.
It is a shame something like this happened with a trusted member of the family, is this indirectly saying don't trust even your closest relatives! I think the son is just being too impatient to do stuff like this, if this was a random thief it would have been different, but this is a son, too bad this can cause a rift in the relationship between father and son.

Maybe it would be understandable if the theft was committed by someone else and there might be a legal process running in the case, but this case is quite difficult because the victim is his own father, no matter how bad the father is of course he will not report his son to the police, but of course after this incident the relationship between the two people will become tenuous in my opinion and there is no longer any trust in one another in the family.

[Baofeng]

Maryland Man Drugs Father to Access His $400,000 in Bitcoin
https://decrypt.co/92072/maryland-man-drugs-father-to-access-his-400000-in-bitcoin

"After his father passed out, Ghershony used his father’s phone to move $400,000 of Bitcoin to an account he could control"

Probably this situation will not become a sensation, but I never understood people who store their bitcoins so that they can be stolen using a mobile phone.By installing any wallet program on your mobile phone, you tell many spyware about your cryptocurrency.

Or better yet, be vocal about it and telling even his close families that he has half a million of bitcoin in that wallet. So this is another good lesson for us, even an average investors shouldn't used their phone as a wallet to store some bitcoin. Maybe just a small amount will do for some micro payments. But putting it all? Better buy a hardware wallet for it.

[qwertyup23]

Maryland Man Drugs Father to Access His $400,000 in Bitcoin
https://decrypt.co/92072/maryland-man-drugs-father-to-access-his-400000-in-bitcoin

"After his father passed out, Ghershony used his father’s phone to move $400,000 of Bitcoin to an account he could control"

Probably this situation will not become a sensation, but I never understood people who store their bitcoins so that they can be stolen using a mobile phone.By installing any wallet program on your mobile phone, you tell many spyware about your cryptocurrency.

I am somehow guilty with this post as this hit me. Unfortunately, I store my BTCs in two (2) exchanges (one in my local exchange; other in bitpay since it accepts bech32 address). The problem associated with this is that the information is stored within my phone. In the event that it gets stolen, the thief "may" be able to access my funds and send it to another wallet.

Fortunately, those said exchanges have 2FA enabled where it requires my password before sending my BTCs. Though this may be the case, I do also think that it is a bad practice to keep my BTCs inside exchanges as they are prone to hacking, like what happened to several big exchanges in the past.

[kryptqnick]

I never access my BTC from my phone, but I do use online banking, so essentially I'm also at risk (online banking has a password protection, but I use the same for my BTC). The article doesn't say how it was with the phone. Perhaps the wallet was 'protected' by fingerprint, which could easily be done using an unconscious father? Or maybe he knew the password? Or do people store BTC in such quantities in a way that allowing accessing it simply by going to the wallet's app?

The man probably trusted his family, which is a really natural thing to do, though sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, like it clearly did in this here, as the son proved untrustworthy, unfortunately.

If a man trusted his family, he would give them access to his wallet. And then he would not have been poisoned by drugs, and he could have died.
Having a lot of money makes you a target primarily for your family and friends, so it is very important to keep this data secret.

Well, the man didn't trust his son for a good reason: his son's a drug addict and thus cannot control his financial behavior.

[Vaskiy]

Mobile phone gives the anywhere access with ease than accessing a wallet through a laptop. This is the reason why people prefer mobile wallets over the desktop wallets. Most of the users prefer exchange as well as online wallets when the holding is small. Looking upon the amount the son has transacted is quite big. His father would've used one of the hardware wallet. If I'm not wrong, using the 2FA this incident might've happened.

Through this crypto something good has happened in the family out of the bad the son did. Now slowly the family is getting together as well as the son is getting out of addiction. The mother and father have reported that they can feel the difference in their son.

[acroman08]

as much as I sympathize with the father on what happened to him. he is a dumbass in how he stores his bitcoin.

-snip

the father wasn't killed. the son's plan was to make his dad unconscious to get access to his father's phone. the son even tried calling his dad after a day or two and when his dad is not answering he called his father's girlfriend to check up on his dad. read the article.

[D-law]

Blames should be to the father, he should know he's som better than anyone does, with the quest for Bitcoin everyone wants to get it by all means.
Too bad, the father should be very upset at this, been recalcitrant and stubborn wouldn't help anyone over their Bitcoin stored in their phones, it's best you listen to advice and get hardware wallet to store them.
Hearing such news irks me badly, since I'm no big fan of theft...... Watch people around you, they're the best at giving your information to  the opps!!

[davis196]

That's why my rule number one about storing BTC is:
Don't tell anyone that you have lots of Bitcoin!Don't even tell your closest friends and relatives.
The world is full of sociopaths and psychopaths.You don't know what people are capable of,when it comes to gaining wealth.Of course,you have to store your BTC in a cold wallet and keep the private keys,seed phrase and all that stuff.Keeping your mouth shut is as important as using a cold wallet.
Yeah,it's obvious that storing lots of BTC on a mobile app is a huge mistake,but I guess that the biggest mistake this guy has made was telling his son about having lots of BTC.

[bounceback]

I won't keep that much money on a mobile wallet. It's obvious that there's a danger if somebody knows that you're holding that much and you're too vocal with it.
It's a typical robbery that someone can think of even the closest people that you know if they know that you're holding that much. You don't really trust anyone with your assets.

I also never keep larger amounts of money in my cell phone wallet because I realize that money is one of the sources of happiness for humans so that it will make some people willing to do anything for the sake of their life needs even they are also willing to become killers, no one which we can fully trust when dealing with finances, even our closest family, because their conscience will usually just disappear when they want to get the money.

[AakZaki]

Mobile wallets are very vulnerable to spyware and can be easily hacked when the cellphone owner does not have access to the cellphone. The use of security Geometry fingerprints and face detection will also be weaknesses that can be exploited by bad people to force users to send assets in their wallets. many cases happened as told by the OP, and these are some cases of bitcoin theft by exploiting the negligence of mobile wallet users. no one can be trusted completely .

[Ararbermas]

if it's not a spyware probably he was informed already by his father how to manage thus stuff. Because to be honest even me if i'm very sick especially if i know already that my end is near, i will gonna tell everything to my son as well to manage my bitcoin for his future wherein instead of losing it forever and no one can get benefits from it.

[The Cryptovator]

If your son or wife wants to steal your funds then it's very sad and eventually, your fund would lose. Because those who we have written our seed phrase in a notebook they could steal that if they are aware of it. So isn't become difficult to save the fund from family? My wife could steal during I sleep. So to whom can I trust? By the way, keeping funds on the mobile device wouldn't be safe anyway. Need to use a hardware wallet to store such as the big amount and not to share a password with anyone. The seed phrase should keep safe way and should find by the family in case of death.

[taufik123]

If your son or wife wants to steal your funds then it's very sad and eventually, your fund would lose. Because those who we have written our seed phrase in a notebook they could steal that if they are aware of it. So isn't become difficult to save the fund from family? My wife could steal during I sleep. So to whom can I trust? By the way, keeping funds on the mobile device wouldn't be safe anyway. Need to use a hardware wallet to store such as the big amount and not to share a password with anyone. The seed phrase should keep safe way and should find by the family in case of death.

If your family doesn't believe it, of course you have to use third party storage services such as Safe Deposit Boxes provided by several banks to store personal and very important documents. That is a way out that can be taken. and the determination of inheritance rights must be truly trusted.

But it is very rare for his wife or children to steal our property or our assets, unless there is no harmony in the family. The recommended storage is indeed a hardware wallet because it is more secure and not as easy to hack as a mobile wallet application.

some other suggestions are also to save the seed phrase or in the form of a hardware wallet in a time capsule as I explain in the thread below:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5278821.msg55286832#msg55286832

[bitterguy28]

The man probably trusted his family, which is a really natural thing to do, though sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, like it clearly did in this here, as the son proved untrustworthy, unfortunately.

It is not about His trusting the Family but this is about the general case of the risk being hacked as he installed the wallet in His phone and at any chance can be hacked.

the point of this thread is to let people Know the risk of doing such thing and must be prevented .

I know as well if the Father had saved His funds in secure wallet like Trezor or Nano ledger .

[sirminesalot]

The man probably trusted his family, which is a really natural thing to do, though sometimes it turns out to be a mistake, like it clearly did in this here, as the son proved untrustworthy, unfortunately.

Trusting your family is natural, but it's also not without risk. We don't know what people think, not even our closest ones or family.
Some people usually when they want something they will do anything to get it, including crime.
Yes, sometimes money blinds everything, we don't know who, when, and where people will be mean to us. May this be a lesson for all of us.

When it talks about money moreover big bag of money, family could turns into bad because every human have their greed about the wealth.
We should never trust anyone but anything that could save our money under the law so we are safely saving our assets.
This was a lesson learned story, even there are so many similiar cases about this, but at least everytime we read it again we could be more aware about it