Bitcoin theft and mobile phone

[zasad@]

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.

[o_e_l_e_o]

People need to think of mobile wallets like their actual physical wallets. Would you carry around $400,000 in cash in your wallet? Of course not, you would put it in a bank account somewhere. Why, then, would you carry around $400,000 in bitcoin in your mobile wallet instead of putting it in a hardware wallet or cold storage? Mobile wallets should be for small amounts of daily carrying and spending bitcoin, not for your life savings.

Also, don't protect a mobile wallet with biometrics, since they are incredibly insecure and can be duped, faked, or forcibly taken from you as in this case. Use a strong password or PIN instead.

[e_abrams]

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.

[Leviathan.007]

That's not really related only to bitcoin because I've seen many cases like this when a man kills his father to take control over his real estate, gold, or even for cash and that's not a new story at all which can be happen in any situation for anyone and with any asset, not just bitcoin, but still, that's really sad to see a son kills his father for money or bitcoins even if his father was a bad man still he was his father and doing such thing was not good at all in any situation, but regardless of this, the most interesting part of the story is whoever if the earth could even imagine on 10 years ago that bitcoin would be that much valuable for people to kill other people for it.

[zasad@]

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.

[mk4]

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.

Probably not enough trust to literally hand over the exchange account's credentials or the wallet's private keys, but trusted enough to be live in the same home/room and probably give access to the phone's pin. Obviously the son still needs to have access to the phone itself, so this is the solution he thought of.

[Rruchi man]

That's not really related only to bitcoin because I've seen many cases like this when a man kills his father to take control over his real estate, gold, or even for cash and that's not a new story at all which can be happen in any situation for anyone and with any asset, not just bitcoin.

Man's nature is very unpredictable, and we must always exercise caution even to the ones we claim to know. There's an old saying from my locale, "Someone who knows you well, is the most likely to kill you", it is just a summary to say that you may feel too relaxed and let your guard down with people you claim to trust, but you may never know their motives. The man must have told his son the amount of bitcoins he had without ever imagining that his son will be capable of such mischief, how disappointed the man must be!  

[vv181]

That's not really related only to bitcoin because I've seen many cases like this when a man kills his father to take control over his real estate, gold, or even for cash and that's not a new story at all which can be happen in any situation for anyone and with any asset, not just bitcoin.

~
The man must have told his son the amount of bitcoins he had without ever imagining that his son will be capable of such mischief, how disappointed the man must be!  

In fact, the father was already kind of aware of the surrounding before such an accident happened:

Ghersony’s father—whose name has not been published—recalled being told by his son that he was “too emotional” and “too attached” to his crypto holdings.

He also said that his son’s use of drugs—which included benzodiazepines and cocaine—led to him blacking out on a daily basis.

He also recalled his son telling him he needed to sell his crypto.

I also do aware that such immoral acts may happen outside the bitcoin space, but in the first, place keeping such a large amount of bitcoin on a mobile wallet shouldn't be the norm. The barrier to simply stealing or hacking bitcoin within a mobile wallet is way more prone to be lost.

[kentrolla]

This is just like friends or family members stealing money at gunpoint or by getting person drunk and this can happen in all the situations with any asset. But this is why hardware wallets has to be utilizes if you are holding more bitcoin than you need because any sort of fraud can happen to online wallets as are prone to get hacked or easily tricked.

This should be considered as a general fraud as similar thing can happen with your bank account as well and this is not limited to bitcoin or crypto alone.

[tabas]

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.

[franky1]

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.

but you have no problem understanding a kid that would drug his own dad and steal from his dad?

i think this scenario is less about how he stored his crypto and more about how he raised his kid.

[Henrobakkara]

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.

"Ghersony’s father—whose name has not been published—recalled being told by his son that he was “too emotional” and “too attached” to his crypto holdings." I do remember some other post here where we talked about not revealing your crypto HODLings to anyone, that conversation right there clearly shows that the Father told the son he had Crypto Hodling worth $400k. To me, the first important step to securing your Crypto assets is not Telling anyone about them but you can leave info on how to recover them if it becomes necessary.

[franky1]

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.

"Ghersony’s father—whose name has not been published—recalled being told by his son that he was “too emotional” and “too attached” to his crypto holdings." I do remember some other post here where we talked about not revealing your crypto HODLings to anyone, that conversation right there clearly shows that the Father told the son he had Crypto Hodling worth $400k. To me, the first important step to securing your Crypto assets is not Telling anyone about them but you can leave info on how to recover them if it becomes necessary.

if you cant even trust your own kids, and they are doped up on drugs and begging you to cash out so they can get high more.. worry less about your phone and worry more about getting your kid into rehab, or if he is showing tendencies to want to get you to blackout to steal from you. tell him to leave the house and clean his life up

[Questat]

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.

[7788bitcoin]

"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.

Storing coins in mobile phone is not a ideal situation but in this case, that stupid son stole the coins from his father and even if he stored them in a hardware wallet, he will be able to access them considering the way in which he was able to move them from his mobile phone.
It is time to hide digital wealth from family members.

[adzino]

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 trusting their family. It's about carrying around $400,000 worth of bitcoin on their phone instead of storing it somewhere safe. If his family member were able to recover the coins from his mobile wallet application after his death, then it means anyone could have stolen his phone and somehow recover the coins. It is not safe to store large amount of coins in a phone wallet.

Storing coins in mobile phone is not a ideal situation but in this case, that stupid son stole the coins from his father and even if he stored them in a hardware wallet, he will be able to access them considering the way in which he was able to move them from his mobile phone.
It is time to hide digital wealth from family members.

Not sure if the son is stupid or someone else over here.... How does one steal from his own dead father that probably left the wealth for their children?

[Peanutswar]

I guess for having a convenient holding without hassle still it's not ideal better to use a cold wallet to make sure that a large amount of money will save you up. Also it's risky if your mobile phone is the one you are using as the primary phone there's an instance that might steal by someone and easily access your wallet. Still, it requires a password unless you didn't add a passcode. If the wallet you are using has a seed phrase and you stole the phone ideal to recover immediately and transfer again into a more safe device of hardware.

[TheGreatPython]

I guess for having a convenient holding without hassle still it's not ideal better to use a cold wallet to make sure that a large amount of money will save you up. Also it's risky if your mobile phone is the one you are using as the primary phone there's an instance that might steal by someone and easily access your wallet. Still, it requires a password unless you didn't add a passcode. If the wallet you are using has a seed phrase and you stole the phone ideal to recover immediately and transfer again into a more safe device of hardware.

That might be the reason on why he prefer using a phone than other alternatives because he is already old and you know older people do not want to tire their self much and sometimes their mobile phones do not have a password but I bet this is not the case that happen to this story because why would his son drugged him anyway when he can just easily stole the money but even if he stole it, what can his father do?

I do not think he will punish him heavily because that is his child in the first place but maybe he do not want to lend his son a money because his son was a drug addict and will only use the money on drugs. He should have rehab his son before because drug addict people are kinda dangerous.

[KaliLinux]

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.

Well, you got that right. When it comes to money, I believe it is to trust no one, we have heard many stories about couples betraying each other because of money and here we are again, a son killing his own father because he wants to steal his Bitcoins but would it have mattered if the father stored them in a hardware wallet? cos I think the same way the son had access to the phone wallet he might as well be able to have access to that too cos he already knows the father owns that much and would do anything to take them just like he did. it is just a sad story.

[LoyceV]

People need to think of mobile wallets like their actual physical wallets. Would you carry around $400,000 in cash in your wallet?

That's the great thing about Bitcoin: it weighs nothing and doesn't take up physical space. $400,000 in $50 bills weighs 8 kg and would make your wallet 80 cm thick.

Why, then, would you carry around $400,000 in bitcoin in your mobile wallet instead of putting it in a hardware wallet or cold storage?

Given enough people, some of them are bound to do stupid things.

If a man trusted his family, he would give them access to his wallet.

That's not a smart thing to do. Giving additional people access to your wallet increases the risk of losing your funds, even if they mean no harm they can make mistakes.