Bitcoin wallet to avoid

[Odusko]

Hey fellow bitcoinairs so I recently thought of receiving some payments through Bitcoin for a contract deal sometime around January 10-01-22 as I newbie then looking for a wallet to use I searched google and stumble on a free bitcoin wallet all my thoughts was to get a good and fast service from the wallet, the Bitcoin was sent with network confirmation but I never receive the balance on my free Bitcoin wallet and this is running to a month now and when I contacted the support they simply told me To be relaxed that it will be processed when the technical team is done solving the problem, I have lost that deal due to my inability to meet and I was asked to send back the Bitcoin when it eventually drops in my wallet.
This act is quite unethical of a Bitcoin wallet provider.
Posting this here to warn others to desist from using the free wallet, it is better to use a none custodial wallet that you are in control of the keys to be able to restore the wallet on any other wallet provider app or site.
I have moved on to a lightning network as it gives faster transactions and low fees.

[1714077953]

1714077953

[mk4]

Ah, FreeWallet. Probably literally the worst cryptocurrency wallet that ever existed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/k2nfkq/my_story_of_being_scammed_by_freewallet/
https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/ptzf1t/psa_freewallet_is_a_scam_avoid_report_posters_who/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/n63t65/freewallet_kyc_scam/
https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/ks8ttc/i_think_i_may_have_been_ripped_off_by/

[noorman0]

This wallet is too familiar as a scam in this forum, there have been many accusations and problems in the past and even once locked Elonmusk funds. LOL
You can PM this guy or their official thread if your balance has not been credited, and create a thread or move this thread on the scam accusations board if you don't get a response.

[bitbollo]

They are very famous also for locking Elon Musk account and receive a negative promotion by him directly on twitter.
However it has been a kind of historical dispute, and for sure (after such events) I will never use their wallet (but no doubts since not my keys, not my coins).

Please find below some posts/news about this issue
https://news.bitcoin.com/musk-shoots-down-crypto-wallet-app-freewallet-after-it-tried-to-ride-his-dogecoin-fame/
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5316110.0

[Odusko]

This wallet is too familiar as a scam in this forum, there have been many accusations and problems in the past and even once locked Elonmusk funds. LOL
You can PM this guy or their official thread if your balance has not been credited, and create a thread or move this thread on the scam accusations board if you don't get a response.

Thanks for your reply I have contacted they support and all they could say it that there is deposits delay on their server that I have to wait for the issue to get resolved.

[ABCbits]

it is better to use a none custodial wallet that you are in control of the keys to be able to restore the wallet on any other wallet provider app or site.

It's even better if you choose non custodial and open source wallet with decent reputation.

This wallet is too familiar as a scam in this forum, there have been many accusations and problems in the past and even once locked Elonmusk funds. LOL
You can PM this guy or their official thread if your balance has not been credited, and create a thread or move this thread on the scam accusations board if you don't get a response.

Thanks for your reply I have contacted they support and all they could say it that there is deposits delay on their server that I have to wait for the issue to get resolved.

Ask them how long you'll need to wait until the "issue" resolved, IMO they expect you'll forget about the issue soon by giving vague answer.

[boyptc]

Thanks for your reply I have contacted they support and all they could say it that there is deposits delay on their server that I have to wait for the issue to get resolved.

Well, good luck if they will do what they've said.

The best thing that you can do is if you still have pending transactions and payments to receive, don't use that address anymore from freewallet.

It's better to use electrum and it's easier to use and known to be trustworthy. And before you search and download for it, make sure that it's the legitimate link because there are phishing websites that copies them.

Official electrum website --> https://electrum.org/#home

[Mpamaegbu]

This wallet is too familiar as a scam in this forum, there have been many accusations and problems in the past and even once locked Elonmusk funds. LOL
You can PM this guy or their official thread if your balance has not been credited, and create a thread or move this thread on the scam accusations board if you don't get a response.

The two accounts you mentioned here are heavily tagged. I'm not convinced there's much they can do to alleviate OP's issue. I feel bad that OP didn't do embark on search before using them. It's really sad that Freewallet turned out this way. I guess it's a new development as I didn't notice such when I used the wallet a few years ago. Now, I doubt I will want to attempt using them with all the negative reviews to their credit. Who waits for a Bitcoin transaction to reflect in their wallet after a month when there isn't any reported case of congestion on the blockchain. This is unethical and appalling.

[Synerggy]

Freewallet again see the problem that freewallet has is been centralised, the team keeps users private keys themselves which is wrong, any crypto project that gives users no control over their keys should be avoided at all costs.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Recommended wallets
Cryptowisser.com - Wallets
[GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum [Guide]

For all wallets, don't trust, verify. You have to verify wallets in order to know that it is a real wallet, not a phishing one. If you install a phishing wallet, and store Bitcoin in it, your Bitcoin will be stolen by scammers.

Electrum wallet is good because it is non-custodial, does not require big storage space, and it is available for desktop as well as android.

[Findingnemo]

Why do you guys still use such wallets? When every bitcoin wallet is free of cost apart from hardware wallets. Even when the network is highly clogged it won't take more than a week or the transaction will be cancelled but for the last few months the fastest fee required remains 1 sat most of the time so you can go with Electrum like wallet.

[pooya87]

a Bitcoin wallet provider.

This defeats the whole purpose of bitcoin! Bitcoin was created, and we use it because it doesn't need any third parties and middle men to be used. If we go back to using them through custodial wallets, then there is no reason to use bitcoin in first place.

In any case any bitcoin wallet should satisfy the following conditions:
1. Is 100% open source (even if a single component is closed source, the wallet should be avoided)
2. Is old (it has to have been around for a while)
3. Is popular so that it is reviewed by enough experts and most bugs are fixed

[Odusko]

a Bitcoin wallet provider.

This defeats the whole purpose of bitcoin! Bitcoin was created, and we use it because it doesn't need any third parties and middle men to be used. If we go back to using them through custodial wallets, then there is no reason to use bitcoin in first place.

In any case any bitcoin wallet should satisfy the following conditions:
1. Is 100% open source (even if a single component is closed source, the wallet should be avoided)
2. Is old (it has to have been around for a while)
3. Is popular so that it is reviewed by enough experts and most bugs are fixed

Open source is the whole essence of Bitcoin wallet the owner having 100% control over the operation of the wallet and in control of the private keys to secure the wallet security.

[Wiwo]

Ops I had a very bad experience with the wallet also but my mind was just delayed transaction for some days by it was later reflected on my balance, another bad feature of free Bitcoin wallet is the high fee charged on the transaction I don't know why mutant newbies always fall for that wallet thank goodness people like you are speaking out.

[ayuskabob]

Just throwing this out here if its about wallets to avoid = coinomi (really really slow Exchange function compared to other wallets that have exchange function)

[Pmalek]

Just throwing this out here if its about wallets to avoid = coinomi (really really slow Exchange function compared to other wallets that have exchange function)

Is that an exchange service that Coinomi provides or do they use some third-party instant exchange? I think Coinomi has partnerships with Changelly, Simplex and maybe some other providers. If there is an issue with an exchange or a swap, Coinomi won't take responsibility for it. They will probably tell you to contact the exchange provider to find out what went wrong or they will do it for you because they aren't the ones offering the service.

[pooya87]

Just throwing this out here if its about wallets to avoid = coinomi (really really slow Exchange function compared to other wallets that have exchange function)

You shouldn't avoid coinomi because of slowness of some third party service. You should avoid coinomi wallet because it is closed source and shady with a terrible history of doing things that have no reasonable explanations such as sending users' seed phrase to a remote server!

[Pmalek]

You shouldn't avoid coinomi because of slowness of some third party service. You should avoid coinomi wallet because it is closed source and shady with a terrible history of doing things that have no reasonable explanations such as sending users' seed phrase to a remote server!

To spellcheck the seed words, no less. Back when that issue was discovered, I remember their forum representative saying they only did that with the desktop version, and the same way of handling your private data wasn't present in their mobile software. So they weren't putting all of their users coins at risk, just a bit of it. But since the wallet is closed-source, who can verify that what they are claiming is true? No one. 

[pooya87]

You shouldn't avoid coinomi because of slowness of some third party service. You should avoid coinomi wallet because it is closed source and shady with a terrible history of doing things that have no reasonable explanations such as sending users' seed phrase to a remote server!

To spellcheck the seed words, no less. Back when that issue was discovered, I remember their forum representative saying they only did that with the desktop version, and the same way of handling your private data wasn't present in their mobile software. So they weren't putting all of their users coins at risk, just a bit of it. But since the wallet is closed-source, who can verify that what they are claiming is true? No one. 

Exactly. And not just that, they could still be sending users' seed phrases to their own servers but encrypt it on your system before sending it out so that even if the user ran some sort of packet sniffer they couldn't figure out what is being sent to them and think it is the regular communication.

[dkbit98]

You shouldn't avoid coinomi because of slowness of some third party service. You should avoid coinomi wallet because it is closed source and shady with a terrible history of doing things that have no reasonable explanations such as sending users' seed phrase to a remote server!

Than explain to me why are so many people still using ledger junk that is closed source, they leaked private customer information multiple times, their devices are full of bugs/issues and they have same third party exchanges?
I think coinomi was open source before, and this issue you are talking about it resolved, but I would still not recommend it.
People generally don't care, they use what is convenient for them, they buy what the herd is buying influenced by paid shillers commercials/youtuber advertising.