Bitshield wallet not reputed. Be careful of the noncustododial wallet...

[Charles-Tim]

Do not use Bitshield wallet, or you will lose your bitcoin

An user on this forum complained some weeks ago when he imported the seed phrase he generated on Bitshield wallet to another wallet (Electrum wallet), the seed phrase has different derivation paths which should be a good reason not to use the wallet.

You can read about what happened and the reason any Bitshield user can lose their bitcoin: Re: trouble with bitshield

Another example of such wallet: is Abra

What is most concerning about these wallets is that most of them are not open source, people using the wallet do not know if their coin is actually stolen or not by the wallet developer. It is good to use open source noncustododial wallets with standard derivation path.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0

There is nothing bad to ask which wallet to use on a forum like Bitcointalk rather than just going to app store to download just any wallet, there are many scam wallets on app stores.

[Welsh]

What's the real worry is how frequent these are popping up, and because they're usually on the app store, they get quite a few downloads, meaning a lot of people could be caught out unknowingly. I think it's safe to say that most people getting into Bitcoin will likely use a mobile wallet, rather than doing their research, and then deciding. Since, a lot of the time it's more of a jump in the deep end, and figure it out rather than having the due diligence.

I think even most veteran users here will admit they didn't consider Bitcoin something they'd be using as a daily currency when they got into it. So, we need to figure a way of preventing these sort of users from getting compromised in this way. Unfortunately, we can't rely on Google's secure scan on the Google app, as that's rather generic.

[Husires]

The number of downloads and the blue tick (a well-known company name) are enough reasons for many beginners to download a wallet, so wallet marketing model may bring them more downloads than it is open source or developing action.

Beginners think that when you get the seeds you are safe ignoring the method of generating seeds and how to ensure that they are random, something that will only happen if the code is open source.

Trust wallet is closed source and many use it, so the problem is bigger than ignoring one unknown wallet.

[Upgrade00]

Did a quick search on the wallet on playstore and it does have a decent amount of downloads, but lots of bad reviews. More notably, many of the reviews from late last year to now are mostly complaints about their funds getting stolen, but much older reviews are mostly positive.

Sadly, many users do not do their due diligence when getting into bitcoin, and maybe do not understand the responsibility that comes with being your own bank, leading to mistakes and errors.

The Abra platform has a much higher amount of downloads and similar influx of bad reviews, so there is likely more victims from there.

[_BlackStar]

-snip-
There is nothing bad to ask which wallet to use on a forum like Bitcointalk rather than just going to app store to download just any wallet, there are many scam wallets on app stores.

Of course, beginners have asked here many times and always will. Since bitcoin in other words is money, they also need to know which wallet gives them a good sense of security to store their assets instead of directly downloading them from playstore or app store.

The sticky thread has actually answered what they needed to know, but many beginners don't read and prefer to start a new thread. I remember about my first post on the forum: About Wallet. So, actually bitcoin users just need to be more aware that their bitcoin are always being targeted by scammers out there in various ways, including fake wallets or something.

[2stout]

Did a quick search on the wallet on playstore and it does have a decent amount of downloads, but lots of bad reviews. More notably, many of the reviews from late last year to now are mostly complaints about their funds getting stolen, but much older reviews are mostly positive.

Sadly, many users do not do their due diligence when getting into bitcoin, and maybe do not understand the responsibility that comes with being your own bank, leading to mistakes and errors.

The Abra platform has a much higher amount of downloads and similar influx of bad reviews, so there is likely more victims from there.

Totally agree and you also have some of these entities running a long con, basically waiting for enough bitcoin to be put into wallets and value to equal a certain amount of fiat.  So when all of this lines up, which usually takes some time- typically 1- 2.5 years, and abundant positive reviews are garnered, then the rug pull occurs.

[vv181]

What's the real worry is how frequent these are popping up, and because they're usually on the app store, they get quite a few downloads, meaning a lot of people could be caught out unknowingly.

Also, they can clone the wallet, then just simply redesign the app and publish it over a new developer name, and the cycle backs again.

Did a quick search on the wallet on playstore and it does have a decent amount of downloads, but lots of bad reviews. More notably, many of the reviews from late last year to now are mostly complaints about their funds getting stolen, but much older reviews are mostly positive.

I doubt some people even look at the written review, instead, some might likely just simply see the overall ratings and proceed to install the wallet.

If one has a google account, you might want to help flag the wallet: How to report inappropriate apps & games.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

If one has a google account, you might want to help flag the wallet: How to report inappropriate apps & games.

I had done my part by reporting the app. We should do it as a community and have it taken down. What's alarming is that it already has over 10K downloads

When reporting, it's funny how Google play does not even have a slot for "fraud or scam" but they have one for "Hateful or abusive content" 

[BitMaxz]

I never heard of bitshield and I tried to search it I don't know how these people end up using it even though, you can see almost all reviews and comments on Playstore.

Most of the reviews are fake as what I can see there are many people who have had a bad experience using this wallet if they read the reviews I'm sure it will tell you that the wallet is risky and you should not trust this wallet.

Newbies are most of the victims of this kind of scheme they are mostly attracted to reviews without using Google search and asking it to someone who knows about wallets.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Did a quick search on the wallet on playstore and it does have a decent amount of downloads, but lots of bad reviews.

When you want to download a wallet, you should visit their official website, scroll up and down then get a link to Google Play or App Store, and download that wallet from there.

If you search in App Store or Google Play, you will find many applications and maybe some of them are fake, impersonating applications.

[dansus021]

I never heard of bitshield and I tried to search it I don't know how these people end up using it even though, you can see almost all reviews and comments on Playstore.

Most of the reviews are fake as what I can see there are many people who have had a bad experience using this wallet if they read the reviews I'm sure it will tell you that the wallet is risky and you should not trust this wallet.

Newbies are most of the victims of this kind of scheme they are mostly attracted to reviews without using Google search and asking it to someone who knows about wallets.

Yeah I neither ever heard of it, and why are people still using the new kind of wallets that unreputable unless doing it for test only.

and app review can be bought nowadays so we need double-check it with the community before making any deposit

[witcher_sense]

the seed phrase has different derivation paths which should be a good reason not to use the wallet.

I tend to disagree. Many relatively reputable wallets use custom derivation paths, examples can be found here: https://walletsrecovery.org/

That some cryptocurrency wallets use non-standard derivation paths isn't necessarily a bad thing and doesn't mean they want to scam their customers somehow or prevent them from shifting to competitors' wallets. I mean, as long as such software wallets are fully open-source, reproducible, and transparent about their derivation paths and other similar staff, it is totally fine for them to use whatever derivation path they wish. However, if the devs aren't transparent about what they are doing, if they hide software behind the curtain of closed-source code, if they use custom derivation schemes without disclosing the actual content of these algorithms, only then can we certainly claim that they are totally unsafe for exploitation and storing considerable amounts of money. The case of BitShield is quite clear: they either deliberately deceive their users by trapping them inside the unusable wallet, to which it is possible to deposit money but impossible to withdraw from, or they have come up with not a very smart idea of how to compete with other wallets disallowing users to restore their funds with another wallet. Either way, it is unacceptable behavior.

[Charles-Tim]

Trust wallet is closed source and many use it, so the problem is bigger than ignoring one unknown wallet.

Yes, close source wallet should not be trusted, although for Trustwallet, you can be able to import the seed phrase on BIP39 wallet because it uses the standard derivation path, but not recommendable because the wallet is close source, no one knows if pre-generated seed phrase is used or maybe there is a vulnerability intentionally included by the wallet developer that can make the wallet vulnerable to users.

I tend to disagree. Many relatively reputable wallets use custom derivation paths, examples can be found here: https://walletsrecovery.org/

But you did not disagree with the OP itself, Bitshield do have a recovery tool, you can not import Bitshield seed phrase on another BIP39 wallet or on wallet that is highly recommended by the bitcoin community which is Electrum. If they have those, I wouldn't have created this thread. Lastly, I indicated how the wallet is not open source which is the most discouraging reason not to use the wallet.

[Upgrade00]

Totally agree and you also have some of these entities running a long con, basically waiting for enough bitcoin to be put into wallets and value to equal a certain amount of fiat.  So when all of this lines up, which usually takes some time- typically 1- 2.5 years, and abundant positive reviews are garnered, then the rug pull occurs.

I have seen many a scam with this same operandi, and victims falling for them everytime without doing their due diligence. If anyone actually does their research before putting their bitcoins into wallets or exchanges, they would avoid platforms which does not actually give you control of your assets.

When you want to download a wallet, you should visit their official website, scroll up and down then get a link to Google Play or App Store, and download that wallet from there.

This is a good advice, and would help when downloading reputable and secure wallets, so as not to get the wrong application. But in this case, where the entire platform is a potential scam, it wouldn't really protect users.