I've been hacked (Electrum 4.3.2)

[sheenshane]

Sorry for your expensive loss mate @julerz12, that's quite a big amount here in our country but I know you can work on it and cover your loss fund and pay back these two companies.

I am using this version of Electrum 4.3.2 which I've downloaded from the official website.

I've encountered this before but it wasn't version 4.3.2, upon opening the Electrum app on my laptop, there's a pop-up showing that I need to update the current version before I can proceed to make a transaction.  So I went to the official website and downloaded the latest version then deleted the old one, so meaning I didn't click the message pop-up on the screen.  (Everything went fine and that time)
My question is, have you clicked it?

I thought you were not using a hot wallet like Electrum since you've been here quite a long time managing signature and bounty campaigns.
But whatever mistakes it is, just face it and never do another stupid thing as you think to end this world, that doesn't solve the problem.  I read the suggestion of @Hhampuz which is ideal to follow.

(Laban lang Kabayan, kaya mo yan.)

[BlackBoss_]

Edit again, some screenshots:

I am really sorry for this accident you got and hope you will resolve it and come back.

Is the screenshot a message you got after upgrading your Electrum?

I searched and did not find any latest news or reports about Phishing attack on Electrum wallet. A past attack is in 2018 4 years ago. I am not so sure you got a same problem.
Electrum vulnerability allows arbitrary messages, phishing
Electrum Wallet Phishing Attack Nets Hackers $900K in Bitcoin


Does this attack come back?

My 2 cents.

It's not good to Escrow funds of different campaigns in 1 wallet. It happened already but I believe if you have multiple wallets with different seed, different passwords, you can have chance to protect one of two funds from [banned mixer] and Yomix.

Because you store them all in one wallet, when shit happened, you lost all.

I customize Preference in Electrum wallet.
Mis tab.
Automatically check for software updates.
I uncheck the option to avoid phishing attack.

I am using this version of Electrum 4.3.2 which I've downloaded from the official website.

When did you download that version?

I did not get a message like yours with my wallet.

[Poker Player]

In this case we see that the two people most affected, those who hired him, give him the benefit of the doubt. From a distance we cannot know what really happened to him but from the way he acted I am also inclined to think that the most likely scenario is that he was robbed of his funds.

He will have to reach an agreement to pay back the stolen money, even if it is little by little, and it is going to be difficult because the money he is paying back is going to be money that he will not be able to use to buy food for his family.

[Fullcoinese]

OP, you're in big trouble. because you hold the funds, you have full responsibility for the funds.
it seems that the campaign can no longer continue due to missing funds. one campaign seems to have decided to keep paying for the week. but for a campaign that was just released and should be discontinued. I doubt you can continue, seeing as they give negative feedback on your account. You still have to return it.
You can contact the relevant parties and discuss the best solution to the problem.

[julerz12]

1. If you can't guarantor marketing funds, you shouldn't be in this business.

2. It seems strange to me to create a new wallet (given that you have been working with other clients for more than one year). I would understand if you said that you do this all the time, but this is also strange because having a notebook with different private keys, and constantly switching from one wallet to another is a complete disrespect for your personal time). As a client, I wouldn't send you money if you didn't sign a Bitcoin message from any Bitcoin Address you've previously used to store campaign funds (or at least the one linked to your account here).

I created a new wallet for these campaigns since the previous Electrum wallet I had was not segwit, it's a legacy wallet, eats more fees.

Sorry for your expensive loss mate @julerz12, that's quite a big amount here in our country but I know you can work on it and cover your loss fund and pay back these two companies.

I am using this version of Electrum 4.3.2 which I've downloaded from the official website.

I've encountered this before but it wasn't version 4.3.2, upon opening the Electrum app on my laptop, there's a pop-up showing that I need to update the current version before I can proceed to make a transaction.  So I went to the official website and downloaded the latest version then deleted the old one, so meaning I didn't click the message pop-up on the screen.  (Everything went fine and that time)
My question is, have you clicked it?

I thought you were not using a hot wallet like Electrum since you've been here quite a long time managing signature and bounty campaigns.
But whatever mistakes it is, just face it and never do another stupid thing as you think to end this world, that doesn't solve the problem.  I read the suggestion of @Hhampuz which is ideal to follow.

(Laban lang Kabayan, kaya mo yan.)

Thank you
I clicked it but I did not download anything. It redirected me to Electrum's website but I did not proceed on updating the wallet.

I use Electrum mainly for convenience, it allows sending rewards in batches.

Edit again, some screenshots:

I am really sorry for this accident you got and hope you will resolve it and come back.

Is the screenshot a message you got after upgrading your Electrum?

I searched and did not find any latest news or reports about Phishing attack on Electrum wallet. A past attack is in 2018 4 years ago. I am not so sure you got a same problem.
Electrum vulnerability allows arbitrary messages, phishing
Electrum Wallet Phishing Attack Nets Hackers $900K in Bitcoin


Does this attack come back?

I am using this version of Electrum 4.3.2 which I've downloaded from the official website.

When did you download that version?

I did not get a message like yours with my wallet.

The wallet was dowbloaded from Electrum's official website, around December 2022. I made that new wallet for the Coinomize campaign.
I even verified their signatures at that time to be sure.

There was no similar pop-up like the ones in previous phishing events. Only that little notification on bottom right of the wallet. I did clicked it though and it points me to Electrum's website but I did not download anything from there.

[Maus0728]

Next time, make sure you have a separate device that is only used for business or signature campaign purposes. This should include your electrum, ledger live, or any other tools that allow you to confirm the installer of electrum's signature (Kleopatra).

If possible, try installing at least the most basic Linux OS which is Mint for you to have some barrier and avoid doing stuff other than crypto. Practice a good OPSEC kabayan 

[shahzadafzal]

Sorry julerz12 for your loss... most probably your laptop was compromised and you were targeted by someone who was monitoring "you" or your computer, since the funds were drained within a few hours of transfer and your announcement.

We always focus on Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins but we forget to add that anything "online" keys, wallet phrases, passwords etc. are also part of not your keys not your coins thing.

Anyway don't cry over spilled milk, this is for your own reputation and to regain your trust back here... I think you should propose a plan to repay [banned mixer] and YoMix. Let me it be weeks or months but this was your responsibility and taking such responsibility comes with obligation.

Again the way both teams [banned mixer] and YoMix have handled the situation they must be appreciated too.

Don't say that! It's just a "little" money and not the end of the world! We will not open a scam accusation because of something like that. Sure it's not great, but it's not the end of the world as I said. The most important thing is that you straighten it out.

Sometimes, bad days are there to remind us that we have good ones to look forward to. Sad it happened, we'll run new campaign soon managed by Royse777.

Wow hats off to you Hhampuz for such a generous offer ... now its up to [banned mixer] (YoMix already selected Royse777)

I'd gladly offer my services to manage your campaigns free of charge until this entire situation is resolved so that you at least can continue your efforts (if you so wish) and hopefully see a different side of this forum.

[Oasisman]

I feel sorry for you for this unfortunate event man, I can't hardly remember, but I'm pretty sure I have participated in one of those campaigns and contest you've managed before.

Sometimes, we tend to do the most stupid things that puts us in a lot of risks for the sake of "convenience", and yeah it comes with a price as we are always responsible for our own actions.
You see, there have been a mixed sentiments here, some believes and some don't and you can't blame them. But don't lose hope, there's always a way to fix this. Either you do the extra work to recover the funds (which is almost impossible), or you pay it with your own pocket. I know that's a lot of money, but then again, you can do an extra work to pay off this considered as debt.
Remember, if there's a will, there's a way.
Good luck to you man and don't lose hope, you can do this.

Ps. Kudos to @Hhampuz for giving such a classy advice and stepping up for another campaign manager.

[Bttzed03]

~ Practice a good OPSEC kabayan 

It would be nice if you could post a comprehensive guide on good OPSEC on our local board.


It will take time but you'll recover whatever you've lost @julerz12

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I do not agree with opinions in the spirit of "OP gets gets multiple negative feedback -> he's no longer able to earn from his bounty/sig campaigns activity -> creditors get nothing". There are enough examples on the forum when, with reputational losses, users continue to successfully conduct business (the tag will be changed to neutral when the lost/stolen funds are refunded).

From icopress   2023-01-10 : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=950662;dt

How is it going to resolve the problem? Because of the tag you left, many campaign mangers will deny him joining their campaign, companies will deny him to give their projects, resulting he is not going to financially benefit from the forum. As per his explanation the forum is his only earning source. sucks but it's reality for him.

Besides, look at the long history he have in the forum. Think logically (since you are a campaign manager yourself) what benefit it brings him to steal the funds and ruin his long established business. Nothing adds up.

You guys are too triggered to leave a feedback to others no matter neutral or negative or positive. I noticed the tendency especially the users who joined from 2017 and later. Some of you feel you are too much responsible to involve in anything that matters the reputation and jump on quick decision. Have I seen a feedback from LoyceV, yahoo62278, NeuroticFish, Hhampuz or me. All of them read the story so far. Others who are regular in reputation board and older members, don't you think many of them already read it but have they left a feedback yet? No.

It's not always black and white. Someone makes a mistake or became a victim of a bad incident and you all show up, destroy them without giving a chance to redeem. Ultimately you are the ones are causing trouble, liable to lose business for two parties. Both the victims. In the specific case, julerz12 will not be able to generate any revenue, results the two company don't get their lose back. How is your feedback helping a single member in the forum?

What would you feel and do if you are in the same shoe of julerz12? I hope your answer is not going to: You will never be in trouble in your life.

[Edwardard]

I do not agree with opinions in the spirit of "OP gets gets multiple negative feedback -> he's no longer able to earn from his bounty/sig campaigns activity -> creditors get nothing". There are enough examples on the forum when, with reputational losses, users continue to successfully conduct business (the tag will be changed to neutral when the lost/stolen funds are refunded).

From icopress   2023-01-10 : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=950662;dt

How is it going to resolve the problem? Because of the tag you left, many campaign mangers will deny him joining their campaign, companies will deny him to give their projects, resulting he is not going to financially benefit from the forum. As per his explanation the forum is his only earning source. sucks but it's reality for him.

Besides, look at the long history he have in the forum. Think logically (since you are a campaign manager yourself) what benefit it brings him to steal the funds and ruin his long established business. Nothing adds up.

You guys are too triggered to leave a feedback to others no matter neutral or negative or positive. I noticed the tendency especially the users who joined from 2017 and later. Some of you feel you are too much responsible to involve in anything that matters the reputation and jump on quick decision. Have I seen a feedback from LoyceV, yahoo62278, NeuroticFish, Hhampuz or me. All of them read the story so far. Others who are regular in reputation board and older members, don't you think many of them already read it but have they left a feedback yet? No.

It's not always black and white. Someone makes a mistake or became a victim of a bad incident and you all show up, destroy them without giving a chance to redeem. Ultimately you are the ones are causing trouble, liable to lose business for two parties. Both the victims. In the specific case, julerz12 will not be able to generate any revenue, results the two company don't get their lose back. How is your feedback helping a single member in the forum?

What would you feel and do if you are in the same shoe of julerz12? I hope your answer is not going to: You will never be in trouble in your life.

I agree with you here.
Even coinomize have decided to cooperate and help him recover with time.
Maybe he should be allowed to join sig. campaigns but the payout addresses should belong to yomix and coinomize so the weekly rewards are sent directly to these two service providers. Also by the time OP could find another job (offline or online) and fasten the process of recovery. It may take sometime, but theres nothing in life which can't be solved. Atlast, we are all humans with brains (not animals). Best wishes to the OP!

[Ryker1]

^[snip]
What would you feel and do if you are in the same shoe of julerz12? I hope your answer is not going to: You will never be in trouble in your life.

At least give him a chance ^[month(s)] to resolve this problem before leaving negative feedback and I agree with you.
Leaving negative feedback as of now won't help --let @julerz fix this problem and repay those two companies within a specific time limit.

I do not know how you will pay them @julerz with that big amount --but it is worth it to save the reputation that you have built for how many years here in the forum ^{[also our country's reputation]}. I believe in you, don't lose hope --you can even raise funds in our local to cover up this mess. Many members there have joined the high paid signature campaigns.

[Solosanz]

How is it going to resolve the problem? Because of the tag you left, many campaign mangers will deny him joining their campaign, companies will deny him to give their projects, resulting he is not going to financially benefit from the forum. As per his explanation the forum is his only earning source. sucks but it's reality for him.

You guys are too triggered to leave a feedback to others no matter neutral or negative or positive. I noticed the tendency especially the users who joined from 2017 and later. Some of you feel you are too much responsible to involve in anything that matters the reputation and jump on quick decision. Have I seen a feedback from LoyceV, yahoo62278, NeuroticFish, Hhampuz or me. All of them read the story so far. Others who are regular in reputation board and older members, don't you think many of them already read it but have they left a feedback yet? No.

Many campaign managers doesn't only look on the negative feedback alone, they also consider how good reputation you have, how popular you're, and they also look on how many positive feedback they got too. I think an user who's reputable and get few negative feedbacks doesn't make them can't join signature campaign, I believe you're know which user I refer too.

Well companies can hire him as a manager only, but not act as an escrow. Which mean @julerz12 need to find an user who want to escrow the signature campaign funds, what do you think? it's fair enough considering he already make this mistake.

I think this case is quite different with Royse777 because he's not the one who has full control over the money, his friend is. While this case @julerz12 is the one who has full control over the money since it's belong to his non custodial wallet.

I understand @julerz12 isn't a scammer and he doesn't have any intention to scam, but he has a high risk of losing money and type 1 flag is applied here.

if someone now wants to put a flag or a red tag on you, then it will be well deserved.

Actually, unless OP pays them back, I believe a Flag is needed. Doesn't matter if OP did it on purpose or really "got hacked", by ignoring basic safety precautions, this applies:

Due to various concrete red flags, I believe that anyone dealing with this user has a high risk of losing money.

Here's the flag type 1 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;flag=3079

Let's up to everyone decide to oppose/support the flag.

[noorman0]

-snip-

I'm with you, difficult situations like this require a cooler brain temperature. I don't know julerz12 personally, but upon checking his past photos, he seems quite young at the moment and I'm sure running away with $5k won't be enough to sustain the rest of his life guilt-free.

Putting a red tag narrows julerz12's chances of fixing the problem and only encourages him to do something stupid considering this is big money as well from a revenue standpoint in my country. One thing I can remind anyone, I don't know what problem will befall me next. I can only sow good seeds to everyone all the time hoping they will help me when problem comes.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Not a very good start to the year, julerz12; I'm really sorry for you. I'm a parent too, and I can very well understand all your concerns about providing for a family.
But everything that has happened has already happened. Someone rightly said that you need to sit in a chair and collect your thoughts.
To proceed, one must be certain that this will not happen again in the future. Are you sure that you are an experienced Windows user? In any case, ask and think.
Are you using licensed Windows? How long have you had it? Do you allow the system to be updated regularly? Do you use your computer for anything other than work-related Internet browsing? Check everything: what browsers are worth, whether there is access to mail, and opening other people's letters. Such viruses are now being written that even Windows Defender does not recognize them as viruses. Remote Desktop, which might be named for another completely harmless process, could regularly monitor all of your activities. We just need to find the problem now.
Flash drives—are they all healthy?
In any case, I wish you strength. May your children always be proud of the honesty and correctness of their father.

[NeuroticFish]

First of all, big thank you to the few ones who managed to answer to this without quoting all the names (ie without triggering my notifications for nothing).

Now, to the topic: sorry BitcoinGirl.Club, but icopress is not wrong. The only reason I didn't leave red feedback was because I was sure other will do that. And while too much red feedback is useless in this case, at least one is a must. OK, when the missing money is paid back or resolved as debt with the involved people, then it can become neutral. But until then.. it has to be there. Else everybody will become campaign manager until the first big payment they can "lose" (and, why not, beyond). I am not telling that julerz12 is a thief (I don't know and it doesn't matter). What I'm telling that this kind of mishaps, if not handled, can give ideas to others.
Plus, indeed, he's also not wrong about the fact that red feedback doesn't stop people still do campaign management.

"What would you feel and do if you are in the same shoe of julerz12" <- this is bad approach. He did make a big mistake in handling money, and we don't talk about 5$ here. And while people get red tag for asking "no collateral loans" of 100$, he has lost ... 50x more.

But, with a bit of political skills, julerz12 can easily turn icopress' feedback to neutral. All he has to do is discuss with the campaigns he was handling and "convert" the missing money into debt with clear agreements about paying that back, and where that is not possible, maybe lend some money too for covering all this. Loans are neutral feedback. And then he can go on.
I mean, even some of the current big exchanges have lost users' money, but they've paid back soon enough and kept pretty good reputation. It can be done. Not cheap, but it can be done.

I see, like every time this kind of things happen, people go more for the drama than for being helpful.
Of course, the first impulse after reading this is the drama. But that was yesterday. Let's be helpful today. 5k is not the end of the world, at least one of the campaigns have shown understanding and I think that a rationale discussion can easily take place. So, with some more luck, it should not be that hard for julerz12 to "patch" a little this fuckup.

[YOSHIE]

Here's the flag type 1 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;flag=3079

Let's up to everyone decide to oppose/support the flag.

I don't think any kind of flag is appropriate for now to give to: @julerz12 against or support it, although one day it will be needed.

If it's true what happened and experienced by @julerz12 ended in an accident and disaster, not fraud, and he said it happened because of his own carelessness in placing the campaign funds he manages.

Besides both campaign owners have mentioned something in light of @julerz12.

Don't say that! It's just a "little" money and not the end of the world! We will not open a scam accusation because of something like that. Sure it's not great, but it's not the end of the world as I said. The most important thing is that you straighten it out.

Sometimes, bad days are there to remind us that we have good ones to look forward to. Sad it happened, we'll run new campaign soon managed by Royse777.

The campaign owner just wants to rectify the lost funds and what happened is certain what actually happened, there is no engineering later on or if it is known that the funds were not hacked or something that made the company owner angry.

I think in the case of @julerz12, the consequences and resolution are more to the point between @julerz12, YoMix and @[banned mixer], if they pardon or refund during the campaign contract, Of course we can all understand here and whatever decision the community takes regarding Julerz12 in the future, I think it is rational and reasonable, Flags, warnings and the like.

Because as far as I know hacking incidents can happen unexpectedly and at any time and that can happen to A and B, what is certain is that my hacking case has also experienced it, actually bitter, but bitterness must be swallowed by yourself, be it careless nature or the like.

[_morghulis]

Op sorry for your loss, geez $5000 gone into thin air that's so heart breaking. My guess is that your system has been compromised in some ways.
Since both parties involved are not willing to open a scam accusation thread against Op I think julerz12 should look for a way to convince them (yomix & coinomize.bix) or go into an agreement with them on how he's going to pay back if it's to find a real life job to pay back or if he's going to join signature campaign to payback the said money.
He should try as much as possible to sort this out if he wishes to keep his reputation because I have seen so many of Op bounty where he has escrowed altcoins that worth more than $5000 and he still did his work diligently.

I am currently also holding funds to Moonbet.io (an altcoin campaign), those tokens are safe since they are on my ledger but all the BTC funds from my Electrum wallet for Coinomize and YoMix campaigns were all drained.

I think you should try as much as possible to make payout of bounties and signature that has been completed so that you can have more time to face the issue in ground. Please do well to complete other work so that others won't start to think that you plan on doing something with the funds.

[LoyceV]

Imagine if you were in such situation, what the fuck would you think you would do considering it is a lot of money for you?

I'd feel very uncomfortable keeping it in a hot wallet. That's what I would do. It's not just hypothetical, I've handled a similar value in a certain Forkcoin, and the only thing that worked at the time was using a hot (Android) wallet. I only used it after sharing my concerns and the owner told me it's okay and he wouldn't blame me, but still I felt very uncomfortable with it. It took the guy a few days to tell me where to send his coins, and it was a huge relieve when I could finally get rid of them.

Using a hot wallet when there you have safer options is negligence (at best).

In this case we see that the two people most affected, those who hired him, give him the benefit of the doubt.

One of them didn't:

I use Electrum mainly for convenience, it allows sending rewards in batches.

As a campaign manager, you're being paid to deal with that little inconvenience. You could easily setup a system with offline signing: create the transaction in a watch-only hot wallet, copy the raw transaction to a system that doesn't have internet (and never bring it online!), verify all addresses, sign the message, and broadcast it from your other system.

Here's the flag type 1 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;flag=3079

Let's up to everyone decide to oppose/support the flag.

Allow me to copy the Trust system descriptions:
Negative feedback:

Negative - You think that trading with this person is high-risk.

I don't think that's the case.

Newbie warning Flag:

Due largely to the factors mentioned in this topic, I believe that anyone dealing with julerz12 is at a high risk of losing money, and guests would be well-advised to avoid doing so. This determination is based on concrete red flags which any knowledgeable & reasonable forum user should agree with, and it is not based on the user's opinions.

I think this applies. Any knowledgeable forum user should agree using a hot wallet for funds you can't afford to lose is bad. I believe it's correct use of the Trust system.
The only thing stopping me from Supporting the Flag is this:

I've seen an escrow involved in someone losing $50,000, and everyone still trusts him.

I don't think OP, who actually posted the problem by himself, deserves a harsher treatment than the other guy.

But, with a bit of political skills, julerz12 can easily turn icopress' feedback to neutral. All he has to do is discuss with the campaigns he was handling and "convert" the missing money into debt with clear agreements about paying that back, and where that is not possible, maybe lend some money too for covering all this. Loans are neutral feedback. And then he can go on.

This sounds doable, although it's a bit of a loophole. A loan still doesn't mean it really gets paid back, so there's still a chance they've lost their money.

I see, like every time this kind of things happen, people go more for the drama than for being helpful.
Of course, the first impulse after reading this is the drama. But that was yesterday. Let's be helpful today. 5k is not the end of the world, at least one of the campaigns have shown understanding and I think that a rationale discussion can easily take place. So, with some more luck, it should not be that hard for julerz12 to "patch" a little this fuckup.

I like this spirit

I don't think any kind of flag is appropriate for now to give to: @julerz12 against or support it, although one day it will be needed.

If it's true what happened and experienced by @julerz12 ended in an accident and disaster, not fraud, and he said it happened because of his own carelessness in placing the campaign funds he manages.

Those are all reasons to Support the Type 1 Newbie Warning Flag. It doesn't matter that it's not fraud. You call it an accident, I call using hot wallets for large funds an accident waiting to happen.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

This looks unbelievable but is the reality of what is ongoing right away, being a campaign manager I don't think giving an excuse for weakness or negligence to secure the means which you handles your employers fund is appropriate and from this, the responsibility lies on the manager's hands to bear or face the consequences to his actions by taking responsibility for a repay except he companies wish to extend linient during the process by lifting off the burden on him after which he might have paid part of it, this is a thing of commitment, if you're not capable of being a campaign manager don't just dabble into it, as far as i know they need to have working experience while being under a manager that they might have learnt managing a campaign from, this is just a pity that a campa got paused even right before starting.