My trustwallet of $211,000 has been stolen, any help or advice is appreciated

[matrixconnor]

Hey everyone,

Yesterday I had my entire life savings of $211,000 stolen from me and the scammers sent it to a crypto exchange platform eXch.cx It was a total of 62 eth. This was literally all the money that I been working with to help my mom who is dying right now from heart disease. I know the whole point of crypto is to be anonymous but please I really need your help, this was everything that I had and it was for my family and to survive. I never clicked on any airdrop scam or link so I’m pretty sure I was hacked in some sophisticated manner. I already got a police report which I can show and also I hired someone to do an investigative report log showing the exact trace from my trust wallet account into the final destination which is the scammers wallet and exchange he sent it to. I am a new user here and can not direct message the moderator for the https://exch.cx which he posted on this forum and his username is eXch. Please if somebody can reach out to him and ask to freeze the assets that would mean the world. I am in a very bad place right now in my life
Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=577207.0

The scammer's addresses are 0x73f8a08aadcfd850e1a0ff18c0ea12f634775813 and 0xfaa7a4e434a33289c2f257876bc7e1bafd328577which were made on the eXch platform, then the scammers exchanged the ETH and send them to the main eXch 0xf1da173228fcf015f43f3ea15abbb51f0d8f1123 wallet



————-  below is the investigative report —————

On-chain investigation report
0x32d502fdf445a7d76b16a65d83bbdfa796628ce6 (my trust wallet)

On 04/03/24 hackers 0xed4dcc6bcbc850db680061ab28c5280cc93a9374 sent 0.15 ETH
(0x6389e5f2fbc06039e7778e9908d5ad81a50a761ace6fdfd08efee152a8ea5acd) to
0x32d502fdf445a7d76b16a65d83bbdfa796628ce6 presumably to use that amount for transaction
fees.
0xeD4DCC6BcBC850db680061Ab28c5280CC93A9374 had the last transfer
(0x744c3225cb3b7d8d676e6a5300dac7c5f7978a7f4821d53f844b039217b41e6b) to a MEXC
Global 0x8aa62b26c934af89d4e91b36fb7b5e329f53c5f2 personal address and then cashed out
(0xa75d082b41941c945e58242d8f83c5c739f234b921f59c9f8b0c94da0805d521) to
0x75e89d5979e4f6fba9f97c104c2f0afb3f1dcb88 MEXC Global main address of the exchange.

From the victim’s 0x32d502fdf445a7d76b16a65d83bbdfa796628ce6 address the hackers
transferred crypto tokens:
• 0xb7310125fcdf002089aff053f1a62b99eaa9c3ac6df6145c9a06cc612359e05b
• 0x94abf156a49d27898d115527c9a484c4712cc6230d715bcd8b981daffc5fed06
• 0x1b4ffb10b7186b4dfba2061321c3a0245f79ac0812251dc06e40518b56286fea
• 0x2786e3f48ce88df1c7504c3605235d0d6e6859e57042fdc8db5e8748f7c5ff91
• 0x147c1d9d295d2548d055373333118ab57bdf025338d667b7fba3ad7cdb8113b5

On the same day they also transferred 0.15 ETH
0x0edfd4402cf10d3e1f566609ddc783dc461bc42f69919acd75119fdfde7e4100 to
0x9987baf72097277efc52fb5307b9d2b98255142c address.

All the stolen from 0x32d502fdf445a7d76b16a65d83bbdfa796628ce6 crypto went to that
address.
Then the hacker swapped the stolen tokens to ETH:
• 0xffb52caa42fd8c7a0f1733227089339ee5d302173f8c4dec2550fa72132b8bcc
• 0x63d51fba10a001f6a9871d12ee3ea15273828ca48f376819ccbe1572d7cbe581
• 0x1b4ffb10b7186b4dfba2061321c3a0245f79ac0812251dc06e40518b56286fea
• 0x2786e3f48ce88df1c7504c3605235d0d6e6859e57042fdc8db5e8748f7c5ff91
• 0x147c1d9d295d2548d055373333118ab57bdf025338d667b7fba3ad7cdb8113b5
• 0xa1c290774dafe5dad8c2db41dd44d0ed87ecf02acf2073d35a207304ca369b57
• 0xcd2aebe8b87c4d300f56aa3272404b0e9e4114ccb8e4d9e139de0d36c18e1982
• 0xaf1e1710a69aacc6d51fe03326d4bdb2f76caaafeabd618348399de5b19e347f
• 0x2b40d0edc6d42c2ba41ba148830fa7016da3bbb7649395518bab1387ccb067ef

And transferred them
(0x07d7eed9dabe1c2f10dd447b43d3faf272d22146686bc3c25bfa3a719c659a43,
0x36bae030cccae8be6239962f88eab31badfcbcaf7c9f8c0ce9985b1432a81b68) to disposable
eXch exchange addresses (0x73f8a08aadcfd850e1a0ff18c0ea12f634775813 and
0xfaa7a4e434a33289c2f257876bc7e1bafd328577 respectively) for the purpose of 1 transaction
(0xa4d2cb52205a3f679a8cc64538f1d55af1be8b79f3c6d38d860788feb47dc43e and
0x7973f8bcdca8473a3d5c6ef11f4e96bb7d1d7030d36005b74a0fecd817ae022b respectively) on
the main eXch exchange address 0xf1da173228fcf015f43f3ea15abbb51f0d8f1123 (with
thousands of transactions).
eXch exchange can be contacted to freeze the operation and continue the investigation
https://exch.cx/support .

[MusaMohamed]

I am a new user here and can not direct message the moderator for the https://exch.cx which he posted on this forum and his username is eXch. Please if somebody can reach out to him and ask to freeze the assets that would mean the world. I am in a very bad place right now in my life
Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=577207.0

You can not PM the user but you can quote his post on that announcement thread of eXch like this post.

Link https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=577207.msg63878048#msg63878048

It is a latest post of eXch account in that thread and by quoting it, you will have higher chance that the exchange representative will be notified when he logs in the account. It increases your chance to be seen and get a reply / support.

Trust wallet is a close source wallet and you need to change to open source wallet to use, after this accident.

[Amphenomenon]

I know the whole point of crypto is to be anonymous but please I really need your help, this was everything that I had and it was for my family and to survive. I never clicked on any airdrop scam or link so I’m pretty sure I was hacked in some sophisticated manner.

It might not be your fault, since Trust Wallet can be easily hacked but it is seems like you know the right ways of saving your funds but I don't know why still stick with Trust Wallet but hope you are going for a more better wallet or at least a good hardware wallet like Trezor.

Hope your Mom gets better soon, the is your strength, I see you already did made a post in their ANN thread base on MusaMohamed which will get to their notice faster

[matrixconnor]

Is there a way to flag the wallet address’s so they can’t easily be cashed out? Last place the stolen funds transferred is the platform exchange https://eXch.cx 
I don’t know if the scammers are trying to exchange the eth for monero or usdt, but just want to be able to prevent them from cashing out and see if the exchanges can freeze the assets and try to recover the funds. If you guys can refer me to someone or reach out to somebody that can help in this situation would greatly be appreciated.

[headingnorth]

Hey everyone,

I already got a police report which I can show and also I hired someone to do an investigative report log showing the exact trace from my trust wallet account into the final destination which is the scammers wallet and exchange he sent it to. I am a new user here and can not direct message the moderator for the https://exch.cx which he posted on this forum and his username is eXch. Please if somebody can reach out to him and ask to freeze the assets that would mean the world. I am in a very bad place right now in my life
Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=577207.0

You are asking if anyone on this forum can contact the exchange where your funds were sent on your behalf?
That seems like a very odd request. You or the investigator you hired should be able to do that for you.

People on this forum might be able to offer you some advice but no one can do the actual work that you yourself has to do to try to recover your funds, at least not for free.

[matrixconnor]

I really don’t mind paying for it as long as I can get my funds back, the private investigator was just someone hired from fiverr that conducted the trace of the final destination address. They have no power in contacting the exchange. I tried to reach by quoting eXch the user on this forum within his post but he has not reached out to me. I would prefer to message him directly but since I am a new user it’s not allowing me to message him. It’s unfortunate as this is time-sensitive

[Cricktor]

eXch say they do not log, censorship their customers or ask for any KYC details. And from what I understand how they operate, I don't think there are any coins of the criminals left on their platform as likely the criminals exchanged your ETH to something else to break easy further tracing of coin flow.

Another topic has already been touched: why did you put all your eggs in a closed-source "basket" with not the best safety history, despite its name? A software wallet can't really protect your coins if your computer becomes infected.

Some questions:
Did you share your mnemonic recovery words with someone else for the purpose of safe storage (good friend or relative)?
Could it be that you were somehow tricked to enter your mnemonic recovery words somewhere?
Did you have your mnemonic recovery words stored digitally on your computer or your mobile device (in text, as digital picture)?
Or did you store a copy of your mnemonic recovery words at some place where someone else could've gained access to them?

With a sum of your savings like that, I would've used a hardware wallet long ago. If properly used, a hardware wallet can protect your keys from an infected computer, but only if you carefully check and verify all details of an outgoing transaction to be signed by a hardware wallet.

[headingnorth]

I really don’t mind paying for it as long as I can get my funds back, the private investigator was just someone hired from fiverr that conducted the trace of the final destination address. They have no power in contacting the exchange. I tried to reach by quoting eXch the user on this forum within his post but he has not reached out to me. I would prefer to message him directly but since I am a new user it’s not allowing me to message him. It’s unfortunate as this is time-sensitive

You need to find and hire some kind of crypto recovery service that might be able to help you get your funds back, experts who may specialize in recovering stolen funds.
I have heard of some companies that help people hack into their wallet if they lost their private keys, but don't know anyone who can track down and recover funds after they have been stolen.

btw, how do you know for sure that it was a hacker who stole your funds? Are you sure someone didn't simply find (or stole) your private keys and sent your funds to themselves?

Perhaps even someone you know?

[Ultegra134]

As Cricktor already mentioned, eXch isn't like any usual centralized exchange such as Binance or Coinbase and stores no data about their customers, nor can they intervene in such matters, not because they don't want to, because I don't think they can. If it were a centralized exchange, you'd have more luck, but no hacker would do that. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to go into detail. Moreover, I can confidently claim that your Ethereum has already been exchanged with some other coin, such as Monero, which is also a privacy coin, to delete any traces leading to them.

I'm really sorry for your loss, but at this moment, I find it unlikely to recover your stolen funds. You should wait for a response from the eXch support through the forum, but as it was previously mentioned, I don't think they have the ability to assist you.

[CODE200]

It might not be your fault, since Trust Wallet can be easily hacked but it is seems like you know the right ways of saving your funds but I don't know why still stick with Trust Wallet but hope you are going for a more better wallet or at least a good hardware wallet like Trezor.

Hope your Mom gets better soon, the is your strength, I see you already did made a post in their ANN thread base on MusaMohamed which will get to their notice faster

I guess I'll need to move my bitcoin again, didn't know that Trust Wallet is that easy to bypass that they can just easily take away the funds in someone's wallet that easy? Kind of ironic that, you name your product as Trust Wallet but then you as a hodler can't trust to put your funds in there, I guess the plan to move it all to a safer Electrum wallet is going to be a priority to me now, prevention is better than cure. I hope that OP finds out the perpetrator and I think that with the resources that you've put into this, you've increased your chances of recovering that stolen funds if not find out who's the scammer. One thing that you've got to understand about this though, once they uncover that it's people outside of the country that you're in, you're going to have a hard time pinning them down because you're going to need the help of the country of origin of the hacker, if you're lucky they might make a move and arrest or seize that person or group behind the hack.

[Helena Yu]

Really sorry to hear that @OP, it's huge.

My suggestion is you need to contact MEXC support because they're centralized exchange, even though we can use it without KYC, but probably the hacker might have KYC-ed his account.

eXch exchange can be contacted to freeze the operation and continue the investigation
https://exch.cx/support .

There was no mentioned they will freeze someone else coins and complying with the laws, so I doubt it. But that's what the real No KYC P2P exchange where they're freely to accept anyone to use their services.

[Kakmakr]

I seriously doubt that a unregulated exchange that does not even ask for KYC information, will help you to "block" those coins. A lot of these unregulated exchanges are most probably just created to launder money for criminals.

People should never have all eggs in one basket, they should rather split their hoard into short term and long term storage, to prevent them from losing everything in one hack.  

Still sad to hear stories like this, because this hurts a lot of people.

[Silberman]

As Cricktor already mentioned, eXch isn't like any usual centralized exchange such as Binance or Coinbase and stores no data about their customers, nor can they intervene in such matters, not because they don't want to, because I don't think they can. If it were a centralized exchange, you'd have more luck, but no hacker would do that. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to go into detail. Moreover, I can confidently claim that your Ethereum has already been exchanged with some other coin, such as Monero, which is also a privacy coin, to delete any traces leading to them.

I'm really sorry for your loss, but at this moment, I find it unlikely to recover your stolen funds. You should wait for a response from the eXch support through the forum, but as it was previously mentioned, I don't think they have the ability to assist you.

As unfortunate as this can be, this is also the truth, hackers know what they are doing, so whenever they get such a huge sum of money they move really fast so they can erase any trace those coins may leave that could connect them to the theft, it is also very disheartening to see these kind of things keep happening, 211k is a lot of money and a small investment in a hardware wallet could have been all what the OP needed to keep their coins safe, but now it is too late to take such preventive measures.

[Hatchy]

I guess I'll need to move my bitcoin again, didn't know that Trust Wallet is that easy to bypass that they can just easily take away the funds in someone's wallet that easy? Kind of ironic that, you name your product as Trust Wallet but then you as a hodler can't trust to put your funds in there, I guess the plan to move it all to a safer Electrum wallet is going to be a priority to me now, prevention is better than cure.

Trust wallet for long has been considered unsafe and any users still using such wallets to store funds is only doing that at a huge risk. Just like op here, trust wallet has been breached so many times and hackers easily gets access to users funds. It's more like a centralized wallets and though you are given the privilege of holding your seedphrase, but trust wallet is not to be trusted. You should also do well to move your funds out of there . Just like you had said, consider using safe wallets like electrum which are also open sourced.

I really don’t mind paying for it as long as I can get my funds back, the private investigator was just someone hired from fiverr that conducted the trace of the final destination address. They have no power in contacting the exchange.

If the scammers already moved your coins out of the exchange, it might be too late to recover them. This should serve as a warning to you and many others. Only use secure wallets trust wallet is unsafe.

[headingnorth]

I really don’t mind paying for it as long as I can get my funds back, the private investigator was just someone hired from fiverr that conducted the trace of the final destination address. They have no power in contacting the exchange.

If the scammers already moved your coins out of the exchange, it might be too late to recover them. This should serve as a warning to you and many others. Only use secure wallets trust wallet is unsafe.

I would take that a step further and advise everyone to stay away from Ethereum altogether, where 90% or more of all crypto hacks have always occurred.
The respected author of The Bitcoin Standard said 'Ethereum is the mother asshole from which the shitcoins spring.'
 

Cointelegraph: Ethereum’s ERC-20 design flaws are a crypto scammer’s best friend
https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/phishing-crypto-erc-20-bait-scammers/


James O'Keefe Exposes Ethereum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJDwW1so_s

[mk4]

Man, $211,000 on Trust Wallet? On a mobile app/browser extension? Not even an $80 hardware wallet?

Best of luck.

I would take that a step further and advise everyone  to stay away from Ethereum altogether, where 90% or more of all crypto hacks have always occurred.

I get the criticism towards Ethereum, but of course the huge majority of hacks would be on Ethereum — because all the apps are on Ethereum/L2s. Ethereum's competitors outside of Solana have little to no on-chain activity.

[CODE200]

I guess I'll need to move my bitcoin again, didn't know that Trust Wallet is that easy to bypass that they can just easily take away the funds in someone's wallet that easy? Kind of ironic that, you name your product as Trust Wallet but then you as a hodler can't trust to put your funds in there, I guess the plan to move it all to a safer Electrum wallet is going to be a priority to me now, prevention is better than cure.

Trust wallet for long has been considered unsafe and any users still using such wallets to store funds is only doing that at a huge risk. Just like op here, trust wallet has been breached so many times and hackers easily gets access to users funds. It's more like a centralized wallets and though you are given the privilege of holding your seedphrase, but trust wallet is not to be trusted. You should also do well to move your funds out of there . Just like you had said, consider using safe wallets like electrum which are also open sourced.

Thank you for enforcing that belief even more, after I'm done with my thing outside, this will be the first thing that I've got to do when I get home, I don't like the idea of a sword of Damocles hanging over me all the time, not going to fuck around and find out if it's true that Trustwallet is safe or not, don't like to be charitable to the people that don't deserve it.

[matrixconnor]

Is there a hard wallet that connects to an iPhone or are most of them thru androids. Also which hard wallet would you say is pretty user-friendly? Hypothetically speaking, if let’s say your computer is compromised or has a Trojan in it and if you connect your hard-wallet is it still pretty safe? I’m assuming with a hard wallet, your keys are on the device so if you happen to misplace that wallet your funds are also gone? You can not use your keys to open it in another hardware wallet?

It’s pretty brutal that I can’t recover funds, so you’re saying all these huge hacks where people steal 60 million worth of bitcoin from larger exchanges. Everybody just gets away with the money? The feds or government agencies can’t catch them, because if they transfer it to an exchange like eXch, it’s game over then? That’s just crazy considering how much money we’re talking about in some of these hacks

[lovesmayfamilis]

It might be a good idea to initially find out if the OP made a storage error instead of blaming a wallet that isn't the best but that many have been using for a long time. There are so many things that an owner might miss when they think their money is safe. I am sure that the theft was the fault of the wallet user. Also, storing such an amount, which is many times higher than the price of a hardware wallet, is simply stupid. And as an expression often repeated on the forum: “The most expensive thing on earth is stupidity. Because you have to pay the most for it!”
We must always remember that when owning a cryptocurrency, we must handle it competently so as not to fall into such situations and then seek help from outsiders. As a substitute, in the absence of a desire to be responsible, there are banks.

[makishart]

Is there a hard wallet that connects to an iPhone or are most of them thru androids. Also which hard wallet would you say is pretty user-friendly? Hypothetically speaking, if let’s say your computer is compromised or has a Trojan in it and if you connect your hard-wallet is it still pretty safe? I’m assuming with a hard wallet, your keys are on the device so if you happen to misplace that wallet your funds are also gone? You can not use your keys to open it in another hardware wallet?

It’s pretty brutal that I can’t recover funds, so you’re saying all these huge hacks where people steal 60 million worth of bitcoin from larger exchanges. Everybody just gets away with the money? The feds or government agencies can’t catch them, because if they transfer it to an exchange like eXch, it’s game over then? That’s just crazy considering how much money we’re talking about in some of these hacks

Do you know what things that makes it harder to recover your funds. Im only quoting this from exch's official thread.

➥ No registration required
➥ We don't collect IP addresses nor any other metadata
➥ Fully automatic exchanges that take less than 1 minute to complete

I assume scammer has withdrawn your money. It's very different from a centralized exchange site when it pushes its users to register and comply with the regulations like doin KYC verification. Im sorry for your loss but the chance for you to recover your funds is so damn small.

Try to message the owner. There is nothing wrong here because he will be able to track your funds and validate them.