Suggest Practical Ways Someone Could Have Prevented This

[ContentWriter]

Keeping huge funds in banks is even more riskier. Almost all the bank staff will know how much you are worth. There are incidents where bank staff acts as spies for criminals, and give them information about the client's accounts. Criminals also force targets to transfer funds from their bank accounts. But the good part of it is that such funds can be tracked easily.

If a bank employee commits a crime, the bank is liable and makes you whole. ..That's what a bank is.

The bank is liable okay, but that's if you're alive to sue.

What learned from all these is that hodling is banking. A hodler is a bank and banks can be robbed. Unfortunately, most hodlers are not well-protected like banks.

[EL MOHA]

Use a bank instead. That's why people like banks. Physically guarding your own savings is for the birds.

How does he use his bank? This kidnappers or thieves weren’t working just on speculation of him having bitcoin, they were definitely sure he had bitcoin, so should he deny it at the detriment of his life, I don’t think that’s one wise decision. He made a mistake and that’s announcing his bitcoin holdings which might have got him into this mess from the onset there is nothing that a bank can do here.

You could tell me that the bank account he transfers money to might have a details of someone but the criminals wouldn’t be that naive to move such way, they might ask him to do a physical withdrawal because if he sends to their banks they can be traced, same if the bitcoin too is sent to a platform or exchange with KYC

[legiteum]

Use a bank instead. That's why people like banks. Physically guarding your own savings is for the birds.

How does he use his bank?

Well, in this case he should have used an account at a brokerage like Binance or something.

Most people don't benefit from self-custodial wallets with their life savings in them. It makes perfect sense for "small" amounts of money, but for large amounts, a bank connected to your identity is best.

I wrote about this apparent contradiction in an article called, The Anon Paradox.

[avikz]

This guy was kidnapped in Kyiv, forced to transfer all his BTC and murdered. What could he have done to prevent this?

https://unn.ua/news/u-kyievi-vykraly-ta-vbyly-inozemtsia-zarady-bitkoiniv-na-miliony-hryven-politsiia

Never flash your wealth unless you can afford bodyguards and live a modest life. I think every single person needs to remember and practice this.

Bitcoin is a pseudo anonymous asset. So there is no way to know how much Bitcoins you are holding unless you are vocal about it. It's sad to see such kind of incidents. But it's more important to understand the source of information where criminals were able to identify a person with Bitcoins and planned to steal it.

[tabas]

What could he have done to prevent this?

Criminals won't be trying to get your bitcoin off you if they didn't know you have bitcoin in the first place.

Be private with your bitcoin/crypto holdings because no one really has to know.

https://chainsec.io/wrench-attack

This is true.
The bad actors will never know that you've got Bitcoin if they don't really know that you've got it in the first place. They won't end up kidnapping someone and force that guy to transfer his Bitcoin to them without them knowing that you have it. That's why staying low profile is important if you want to make yourself safe from all of those bad people. You don't need to flaunt your crypto assets or even your fiat or wealth to the public, especially on social media. You have no idea how many bad eyes are looking at you.

[camilocollin6]

The only business where maintaining privacy is essential is investing in Bitcoin. If someone can't keep that privacy, then I believe they are responsible for the consequences. Hold your Bitcoin and there's no need to tell anyone about it.

[legiteum]

Interesting link between two of our threads here.

Everybody here seems to be clear that keeping your Bitcoin holdings private is essential to keeping safe.

And yet in another thread we're talking about how Bitcoin cannot really be used privately.

[Pokapoka124]

Interesting link between two of our threads here.

Everybody here seems to be clear that keeping your Bitcoin holdings private is essential to keeping safe.

And yet in another thread we're talking about how Bitcoin cannot really be used privately.

Everybody here knows Bitcoin is pseudonymous and all transactions are visible on the blockchain. Bitcoin is not a privacy coin. That does not mean you cannot keep your bitcoin hodlings private. Your finances is your personal business and for your knowledge alone. I believe the only reason why the robbers were interested in the bitcoins was because they had information (either through his social media or an acquaintance) that the man had bitcoins in his possession.

In my opinion, people who cannot be silent about how much they have cannot “be their own bank”.

[mrmacintosh]

In my opinion, people who cannot be silent about how much they have cannot “be their own bank”.

Kinda puts an interesting little discussion on the debate between personal autonomy and personal competency in today's population. The reason safety guards and authority states exist is because of the incompetency of the average person. We all have seen cases of the naive individual who falls for some email scam, or even a street hustle. Everyone is just too ignorant and/or not cautious enough.

[legiteum]

The reason safety guards and authority states exist is because of the incompetency of the average person. We all have seen cases of the naive individual who falls for some email scam, or even a street hustle. Everyone is just too ignorant and/or not cautious enough.

Anybody can be caught up in a scam--anybody. I've known some very, very smart people caught up in scams (e.g. pickpockets and the like). Just because you are smart doesn't mean you spend every waking hour looking for ways people can scam you--as scammers do.

The reason safety guards exist is because we have this cool "civilization" thing that allows us to have specialized professions, freeing most people to pursue their field rather than needing to know ever single one of them.

[Pokapoka124]

In my opinion, people who cannot be silent about how much they have cannot “be their own bank”.

Kinda puts an interesting little discussion on the debate between personal autonomy and personal competency in today's population. The reason safety guards and authority states exist is because of the incompetency of the average person. We all have seen cases of the naive individual who falls for some email scam, or even a street hustle. Everyone is just too ignorant and/or not cautious enough.

It is indeed an interesting discussion especially for the young people who have been introduced to a culture where it is the norm to have all of your business online for the world to see. They do not seem to care about the harm it does to their privacy and autonomy. Social media has programmed people to be careless with their personal information all for likes and comments.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

In my opinion, people who cannot be silent about how much they have cannot “be their own bank”.

Kinda puts an interesting little discussion on the debate between personal autonomy and personal competency in today's population. The reason safety guards and authority states exist is because of the incompetency of the average person. We all have seen cases of the naive individual who falls for some email scam, or even a street hustle. Everyone is just too ignorant and/or not cautious enough.

It is indeed an interesting discussion especially for the young people who have been introduced to a culture where it is the norm to have all of your business online for the world to see. They do not seem to care about the harm it does to their privacy and autonomy. Social media has programmed people to be careless with their personal information all for likes and comments.

Emphasis in the quotes is mine.
It's not a matter of 'being smart'. It is a matter of what should be plain common sense! You don't go around on social media bragging about all of the nice things you have and sometimes in the same breath tell that your are going on vacation tomorrow for a week. You don't have apps running on yer phone letting everyone know where you are (or for that matter have GPS active at all). etc etc.

Regarding:

Just because you are smart doesn't mean you spend every waking hour looking for ways people can scam you--as scammers do.

The reason safety guards exist is because we have this cool "civilization" thing that allows us to have specialized professions, freeing most people to pursue their field rather than needing to know ever single one of them.

Again, being knowledgeable in a given profession is irrelevant: When delving into something new - LEARN ABOUT IT - not just 'what it is' and 'how much you can make' but also potential pitfalls, how to avoid them, and what to look out for before investing in it.

[EarnOnVictor]

1. Never disclose your Bitcoin asset or its worth to anyone and make sure you only buy your Bitcoin from external sources that can never trace it to you.

What's external sources?

I'm surprised you asked this question if I must be plain with you. As the coherence of the post is, the external sources are those outside your reach, unlike your immediate circles, like friends, relatives and others. They are the ones you can do Bitcoin transactions with and will not even know you ever existed after completing it.

This is common with P2P and other exchange platforms.

[AVE5]

This guy was kidnapped in Kyiv, forced to transfer all his BTC and murdered. What could he have done to prevent this?

https://unn.ua/news/u-kyievi-vykraly-ta-vbyly-inozemtsia-zarady-bitkoiniv-na-miliony-hryven-politsiia

While I tried to read on the link but I couldn't because it's written in Russian language, I'll only say that the option to prevent this is to just stay away and prevent whatever that would attract the public of your assets and don't trust even your loved ones because betrayal can come from anywhere.
Don't also try to suffocate the venerable with your money because it attracts the public that you've a lot of money.

[Iranus]

Use a bank instead. That's why people like banks. Physically guarding your own savings is for the birds.

How does he use his bank? This kidnappers or thieves weren’t working just on speculation of him having bitcoin, they were definitely sure he had bitcoin, so should he deny it at the detriment of his life, I don’t think that’s one wise decision. He made a mistake and that’s announcing his bitcoin holdings which might have got him into this mess from the onset there is nothing that a bank can do here.

You could tell me that the bank account he transfers money to might have a details of someone but the criminals wouldn’t be that naive to move such way, they might ask him to do a physical withdrawal because if he sends to their banks they can be traced, same if the bitcoin too is sent to a platform or exchange with KYC

That's right, the bank can't help the guy in this case either because there are many ways for criminals to get money from bank accounts.

He made the mistake of showing off his assets to others and accidentally became the target of criminals. In this case, if it wasn't bitcoin, he still wouldn't be able to avoid being robbed if he accidentally let criminals know about his assets.

To me, bitcoin robbery stories are not many compared to money and gold robbery stories that happen every day... and the reason is all because they like to brag. Therefore, not only with bitcoin but with all our assets, we should keep it a secret from everyone and especially avoid bragging on social networks if we don't want a tragic ending like that guy.

[kryptqnick]

Cryptos are fairly popular in Ukraine, so it's not surprising that the criminals wanted to get someone's crypto holdings. I am sorry that this resulted in a violent crime and the death of the victim. What is good is that the police acted fast, arrested the alleged perpetrators, and they are facing Ukraine's most serious punishment: life imprisonment. So swift work of law enforcement is a positive side here.
I am not sure what could have been done to prevent it. The article mentions that the attack was planned in advance and that the offenders learned that the victim had a certain amount of BTC. It is not clear how they learned that, but this was a potential point that could have been different (if the foreigner's crypto funds were not discovered). But let's not resort to victim-blaming here. It was an unfortunate turn of events, a murder. Sometimes there's nothing that can be done to prevent it.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Just as the first comment already said, if an individual doesn't expose their crypto portfolio to anyone, they cannot be kidnapped and killed after the kidnapper must have stolen the individual's asset. 

Never trust anyone with your investment information, just as you cannot trust them with your private key. Some people might be your friends, but inside their hearts, they are not fully happy with your success, and if you are giving such friends information about your financial status and investment, they can gang up against you with some other bad friend.

Bitcoin makes it possible for anyone, anywhere, to invest any amount of money in Bitcoin and hold it in their wallet without the identity of the investor being known to anyone. So, if you keep your Bitcoin investment a secret, kidnapers will not know. 

[AmoreJaz]

Just as the first comment already said, if an individual doesn't expose their crypto portfolio to anyone, they cannot be kidnapped and killed after the kidnapper must have stolen the individual's asset.

Never trust anyone with your investment information, just as you cannot trust them with your private key. Some people might be your friends, but inside their hearts, they are not fully happy with your success, and if you are giving such friends information about your financial status and investment, they can gang up against you with some other bad friend.

Bitcoin makes it possible for anyone, anywhere, to invest any amount of money in Bitcoin and hold it in their wallet without the identity of the investor being known to anyone. So, if you keep your Bitcoin investment a secret, kidnapers will not know.

In short, don't divulge to anyone about your crypto dealings. Don't boast or post anything to your social media accounts because scammers are always looking for someone to be their victim. They are just silently watching and reading the movements of people and they will attack as soon as they found their victim.
In addition, make sure your computer is free from possible virus, if you are using your computer to store your crypto-related files. Check your firewall. As scammers are getting advanced and so their hacking tools.

[Reatim]

Which leads me to conclude that it isn't enough that you appear to have no Bitcoin in real life. It might also be a must that we don't attach our real identities with any of our online accounts.

We have to be extra careful because there are a lot of advanced tools out there that could seek out your real identity from our online persona. Like ip addresses for example. It is very important to combat against what could be a violation of privacy. Make sure to also strengthen your accounts and only use alias and not something that could be tied back to your real name.

In addition, it is said in the news that "people in a nearby house heard screams and saw the man being beaten and bundled into a car."^[1] Nobody came out? The criminals could have immediately fled with the sight of people checking out what happened.

You can't blame them. A lot of them might just be scared of what is happening and had no power to help. We don't know if they were prepared or not. It is unfortunate but it is what has happened already.

[dezoel]

I do agree that the best case would be just not letting anyone know, if you tell everyone that you have bitcoin, then they are going to do this. So, if you keep the information to yourself then that would be the best method to keep it safe.

I mean after all, if they kidnap you, then you saying "I have no money" is probably too late, or even if you hide it so well that you can't access it, that is still not acceptable because then they will just hurt you.

So, the best method is always hide the fact that you have any money, don't tell anyone at all, never an exact amount neither. I mean the "best" method is not to have any money at all lol, because that is what I do, I have no money to be stolen from and that is why nobody has any reason to steal from me lol.

But jokes aside, if you are in danger like that, it could be way too late for you and there is really not that much you can do to protect yourself, a person who is willing to kidnap another person and steal all their money would not really be thinking twice about anything else, these people are crazy and they are not in a normal state of mind. So just avoid that kind of discussions with anyone, always make sure to stay humble in your talks.