Lost 2.03 BTC via bitcoinpaperwallet.com Am I wasting my time trying to recover?

[someoneStoleMyBitcoins]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

[1714241440]

1714241440

[Charles-Tim]

It is a scam site.

Read this: Re: bitcoinpaperwallet.com - scam still alive?

Advice:
It is better to use HD wallet like Electrum to generate seed phrase and wallet on an airgapped device and use it as a paper wallet instead. You can extend your seed phrase with passphrase which is an alternative to BIP38 encryption on paper wallet, although it is not encryption but called word extension, which can generate different keys and addresses from the same seed phrase and makes your wallet safe like encrypting it.

[BitMaxz]

I never heard of that site and I agree with the above it might be a scam site. So there is no way to recover your BTC from the thief.

Another thing is why you store your private key to KeePass they always have vulnerability issues like the news recently hackers can retrieve your master password in clear text.
Always keep your private key on offline devices generating private key on Electrum or Bitcoin core are safer than using other sites that generate keys.

[panganib999]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

There's no way virtually at this point, the site you just visited and entrusted your bitcoins with is a known scam and people have fallen for it in the past, much to no avail. You might wanna sit this one out and find other ways to earn that 2.03 bitcoins back because well, since there's been a few months of inactivity on your part no doubt the coins have already changed hands multiple times, may even be untraceable now at this point.

Moving forward, do not entrust your money or your coins on anything that can be connected over the internet, even if it promises security, only transact specific amounts you would need and don't pull your whole investment out, and ultimately, invest on a hard wallet that is not connected to the internet to make sure that your coins are safe. Let this be a lesson, and I know it's a really expensive one, but I gotta set your expectations here in regards to earning your BTC2.03 back from these scammers, which is nigh-impossible since they jump-shipped a while ago if I'm not mistaken.

[IIrik11]

 

don't think u can do anything about it.

better read up on stuff on how to make a secure wallet before putting in substantial money in it.

that would be my advice going forward.

[mendace]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

It will do no good to report the owner of the service.  The problem is that you have relied on an online private key generator and this is already a wrong practice, there are many other ways to generate a secure entropy seed, for example you could do it with dice.  Also you kept the key on keepass which recently found a vulnerabilty bug.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/keepass-vulnerability-imperils-master-passwords

[Upgrade00]

I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Sorry for your loss mate.

You would have little success with a suit against the new owner (scammer) and as you pointed out it would cost you more in finances and stress. You could instead start building your Bitcoin stash and using better security protocol, like only using a reputable, non custodian, open source wallet (hardware or software).

[Onset]

Oh man, this is so much money & you had to learn the very tough way unfortunately…

Never trust random websites with that much money, man.. learn how to store BTC safely because a key generator website won’t do it and now you know.. Set up a cold storage and try again, better this time. You have to care about security of your coins!

[Lucius]

If you have time and you are a person who does not give up easily, then I suggest that you report the whole matter to the police, and it would be good if you try to determine where your BTC ended up (if at all possible) in order to maybe be able to detect the person behind everything. I'm not saying that the chances of you succeeding are high, but if that scammer has scammed a lot of people and if a large number of those people do the same as you, it is possible that someone will be interested in trying to solve the case.

On the other hand, if you don't do anything, you've admitted defeat and all that will only be an expensive lesson for the future. Whoever is behind it surely hopes that you will do the latter.

[posi]

Sorry for your loss and you had no luck storing your funds with bitcoinpaperwallet.com. It's a scam that has been warned on this forum for a long time. I would say you should forget about that bitcoin, and there will be no way to get it back once it has been stolen.
By the way, can you tell me, is Keepass really different from other online password managers? If they still have an online connection, that is another risk you are facing. Never host seed phrases on online platforms.

[Yatsan]

As other users have said, it is not a trustworthy site. You may try filing a case but indeed that would take time. If you have tried contacting their support and nothing happened, unfortunately you'd be really needing to face the reality. I have experienced sort of a scam before which pushed me to just accept it than to stress about it. I'm not rich but I am aware that if there's just a small chance to recover my funds, it won't be worthy of my time and effort. I'll be just looking for other way to earn money to somehow compensate with my loss. A matter of conserving my energy to what is left with me than to force things trying to please those who fooled me. Money can be earned but stress will haunt you for a long time.

[glendall]

sorry for your loss, but in reality everything was lost in vain, there is no recovery and return, when you enter a fraudulent or fake site, where we consciously connect to our wallet,
if you are sincere, make this a lesson, don't easily believe in new products that you know, even if you are given rewards that sometimes don't make sense, you should look for accurate information first

[leonair]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

I don't think it is possible to recover this scammed bitcoin. It is your fault that you deposited bitcoins there without verifying the site. This site is a scam site and this topic has been discussed before in this forum. this happened to you because you were not careful with your bitcoins. But later always use some trusted wallet to store bitcoin like electrum can be in trusted list.  And if you have a large amount of crypto you can use hardware wallet. This will keep your funds safe.

[Merit.s]

Sorry for the great loss,this should be a lesson for you. You shouldn't use an online service for the safety of your bitcoin and password to your wallet,because the platform will end up scaming you. When last did you checked your bitcoin before you checked again two days ago to find out that your bitcoin is no longer there. As you said that reporting to the police will cost you more,I suggest that it is better you forget about your lost bitcoin because,you will never get it back after much stress that you will pass through to see that you sue the new owner of the company. They have scammed not only you but more people like you,maybe that was why the former CEO had to sell out the company because so many people might get him arrest.

[OgNasty]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

It will do no good to report the owner of the service.  The problem is that you have relied on an online private key generator and this is already a wrong practice, there are many other ways to generate a secure entropy seed, for example you could do it with dice.  Also you kept the key on keepass which recently found a vulnerabilty bug.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/keepass-vulnerability-imperils-master-passwords

Reporting likely won’t result in any action or recovery of funds, but at least it’s something. Who know, maybe it will get Google to stop directing people to the site.

It is unfortunate that people can get into Bitcoin and then experience a scam like this when just trying to easily store their funds. The thought was in the right place taking custody of his coins, but lack of knowledge in the space can be devastating.

[mendace]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

It will do no good to report the owner of the service.  The problem is that you have relied on an online private key generator and this is already a wrong practice, there are many other ways to generate a secure entropy seed, for example you could do it with dice.  Also you kept the key on keepass which recently found a vulnerabilty bug.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/keepass-vulnerability-imperils-master-passwords

Reporting likely won’t result in any action or recovery of funds, but at least it’s something. Who know, maybe it will get Google to stop directing people to the site.

It is unfortunate that people can get into Bitcoin and then experience a scam like this when just trying to easily store their funds. The thought was in the right place taking custody of his coins, but lack of knowledge in the space can be devastating.

Ok, maybe making a report could help other people not to fall into this scam if they do a Google search, but also talking about it here on the forum will certainly help, indeed search engines find the posts above very easily.  Too bad he was really doing it right.

[NASdaq]

Sometimes software wallets are just better than any of that strange sites on the internet

[Fiatless]

Three years ago I made a paper wallet using an online generator and my public key is 1MXb3vY5sCC2rB2bD2rusQjxEyYUDEKcHT. I stored my private keys locked in a Keepass password manager (with a very long and strong password) and made sure it's different than my primary general Bitwarden password generator. I just checked my balance 2 days ago and realized it's all missing since 11/25/2022. Any advice how to get my money back?  I feel like reporting or even trying to sue Sarkis Sarkissian (new owner of the bitcoinpaperwallet) would cost me even more headaches and waste of time since not guaranteed that I will get my money back. Do you happen to know any success stories or any recommendations on what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

I went through the thread created by a member and posted by Charles-Tim and it became clear that you are a victim of a scam site. I have never come across the website but it is clear that the owner of the site is scamming people. And the site is still operational and more people will still be scammed. Sorry for your loss but it has become a lesson for others to avoid generating keys from online platforms. There are claims that the former owner of the website Canton Becker is still behind the name Sarkis Sarkissian. So it is an intentional move to defraud people of their money. Reporting this scam to the police will be a good move because it will be on record that you lost money using their services. Maybe in the future, the scammers behind this website might be unraveled and arrested.

[kryptqnick]

It's quite a lot of money that you lost there, I'm sorry. I've never heard of the website, and I'm reading it's been compromised. Apart from Bitcointalk, many websites say it used to be legit but isn't anymore.
Do you have a passphrase or private key to your wallet?
I don't think it'll help, but why not try downloading Electrum, creating a wallet, choosing 'I already have a seed phrase' (something like that) and try to recover the wallet there?
If the money's already missing, it's probably stolen and beyond return, but still. Realistically, law enforcement is probably the only chance.

[Falconer]

Reporting this scam to the police will be a good move because it will be on record that you lost money using their services. Maybe in the future, the scammers behind this website might be unraveled and arrested.

I don't know how good move it will be, but there will definitely be something of value. But I'm not sure if the OP wants to use this approach which might be inconvenient because the police are bound to ask a lot of questions before the case is handled. Apart from that, I also believe that the handling of cases like this will not be free, but it all depends on who is handling the case and how clean the hands of the police in your country are.

Stolen bitcoin cannot be recovered, unless the thief himself wants to return your bitcoin. This will definitely be a very expensive lesson and experience for anyone, but I don't think you should stop here. Do something better, and I hope you'll get your money back some other way.