pc got hacked and lost about 100k

[bonbon90]

Hey guys my brother was a victim of mail phishing.
He clicked on the zip file which was included in the mail.

It probably took control of the pc and stole all his crypto.

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

For bitcoin, hacker just transferred to another bitcoin wallet and he holding it and doing nothing of it yet.

The answer is 99,99% no but if someone experienced  or heard something similar I'd be glad to hear.

I work with my brother. We worked very hard to get this money and I am really sad for him.

[COBRAS]

Hey guys my brother was a victim of mail phishing.
He clicked on the zip file which was included in the mail.

It probably took control of the pc and stole all his crypto.

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

For bitcoin, hacker just transferred to another bitcoin wallet and he holding it and doing nothing of it yet.

The answer is 99,99% no but if someone experienced  or heard something similar I'd be glad to hear.

I work with my brother. We worked very hard to get this money and I am really sad for him.

yrs, contact with exchange asap, and USDT operator. UsdtOp and Exchange can freeze your money


https://x.com/Tether_to/
https://tether.recruitee.com/o/ai-engineer-llm/c/new

[tread93]

Hey guys my brother was a victim of mail phishing.
He clicked on the zip file which was included in the mail.

It probably took control of the pc and stole all his crypto.

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

For bitcoin, hacker just transferred to another bitcoin wallet and he holding it and doing nothing of it yet.

The answer is 99,99% no but if someone experienced  or heard something similar I'd be glad to hear.

I work with my brother. We worked very hard to get this money and I am really sad for him.

Very sorry to hear this OP. This is all too common these days these hackers are getting smarter with social engineering and AI, you’ve got to be very sure of who the links come from. I like to use browserling which is like a browser VM that allows you to check in a safe environment before compromising your own.

[PrivacyG]

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

It is possible, depending on the situation at hand it may be even likely to have them frozen.  However, this does not mean they can do much about it particularly because this is a situation that Authorities have to work on and not the Exchange itself.  Do not lose hope, but be realistic about the situation.  This is a theft that may or may have not been well planned.  If they did not Withdraw your brothers Cryptocurrencies to their Bank Account or if they did not complete Know Your Customer procedures, chances are dimnished.

I am mind blown how some people do not have at least a Hardware Wallet and prefer to rather hold this much Money on a Computer they do not even properly secure.  I do not want to carve the knife even more against his skin but why?  This was a constantly open invitation for any bad actor to his Wallet!

Whether he gets Authorities to retrieve his Money or not, from this extremely expensive lesson he must learn a thing or two.  Do NOT Trust your Computer and NEVER should you consider it is a safe idea to browse dubious websites or to open Email attachments on the same Computer you have very sensitive information on!  An old Computer can be purchased from about 20 Dollars and above and you can turn it into an Airgapped Device just perfect for storing Cryptocurrencies safely.  Or, just purchase a Hardware Wallet instead.  For 100 THOUSAND Dollars this should be a must!

-----

This is all too common these days these hackers are getting smarter with social engineering and AI,

What does Artificial Intelligence have to do with what happened to OP?  They simply opened an infected attachment.  This is one type of Hacking that has been around for many years.  Long before AI was at the tip of our tongue.

I like to use browserling which is like a browser VM that allows you to check in a safe environment before compromising your own.

OP, do NOT follow this idea.  NO!  A 'Browser VM' does about NOTHING to protect you from an infection if the Virus is intelligent enough.  If you really feel the need to open unknown Files, DO NOT OPEN THEM ON THE COMPUTER YOU STORE BITCOIN ON.

I have never been infected from Email attachments.  Not even once because I simply do not click what I know is not legitimate or something I should of received!  Is it this difficult?

[OrangeII]

I have experienced the same thing. However, I don't know what I did so that the hacker could access my Private keys and take everything in it. However, we must always be vigilant, and install a really good antivirus to prevent this. In fact, now I am really careful in clicking on links, because we don't know what the hacker sent us. I am sorry for what happened to you.

[NeuroticFish]

Very sorry to hear this OP. This is all too common these days these hackers are getting smarter with social engineering and AI, you’ve got to be very sure of who the links come from. I like to use browserling which is like a browser VM that allows you to check in a safe environment before compromising your own.

Actually the morale is not necessarily to install more software, the morale is to keep his money safe.
There are hardware wallets of all kinds, there is cold storage if one has good technical knowledge, there is even paper wallet that can be easily created and stored (on paper or steel, for example). I find nowadays bigger mistake to keep your coins unprotected than clicking a bad attachment.

Of course, as a secondary step, indeed, making sure next time the brother cannot get into the position to mistakenly infect the computer is something worthy to think on.
But that can usually be done by being much more careful.



PS. Good luck, OP, in getting back your money. I don't think the chances are big, but I tend to think negative. As PrivacyG already said, you should get authorities' help; I don't expect the bigger businesses freeze money only because you ask them nicely (even with the proper proof).

I have never been infected from Email attachments.  Not even once because I simply do not click what I know is not legitimate or something I should of received!  Is it this difficult?

Actually, in some cases it is, especially as many email clients hide the sender address and show only the name, because "let's not be too technical".

[cryptoaddictchie]

Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

Yes I think report the wallet but the chances that you could get your money back was quite impossible. There will be a lot of process for that and verification. Thats why its always advise to take care of your security cause it might compromise you. Theres a lot of malware out there so be careful as always to download file.

[sosruko]

you need a good antivirus on your device, my pc once got infected with a virus that would replace my copied crypto address and replace with the hackers wallet address, i lost around 2k,, it was when i found out about it i formatted my whole pc and installed a new os,, after that i'm using an antivirus that is still protecting me from these kinds of viruses.

[Botnake]

The first thing to do is contact  OKX Immediately so they could freeze the user's account.

It's on their TOS

https://www.okx.com/help/terms-of-service

3.2 In the event that we learn or reasonably suspect, in our sole discretion, that your account is or may be associated with any of the Prohibited Businesses as set forth above, we will consider it to be a violation of these Terms and may suspend or terminate your account, and/or block transactions or freeze your funds immediately without notice, and we reserve the right to report any such suspected or actual Prohibited Businesses to the law enforcement authorities.

And you might need to file a police report in your local authrorities about what happened as they might need it as an attachment.

[NotATether]

Do not open strange files from the internet on the same device that has your bitcoins on it.

That is the easiest way to protect your money from theft.

It is too late now, but next time when you are in this situation, you should run all files you download through VirusTotal, and make sure that suspicious i.e. important files not only match the checksums posted but are also signed using PGP with a key that you can trust.

[Ultegra134]

you need a good antivirus on your device, my pc once got infected with a virus that would replace my copied crypto address and replace with the hackers wallet address, i lost around 2k,, it was when i found out about it i formatted my whole pc and installed a new os,, after that i'm using an antivirus that is still protecting me from these kinds of viruses.

A decent antivirus isn't always enough, sometimes if a malware is new, they go undetected and it has happened to me in the past with a fake Chrome extension that was probably installed by itself. Fortunately, I was lucky that time and had minor losses, it took a while till Malwarebytes detected it as a virus, I had to find the file and delete them myself, and of course, I didn't manage to find all the files myself, other browsers were still infected and it took months till I cleaned out the whole infection. Common sense should be exercised, no torrents or downloading random files is a must.

I'm sorry for your loss OP, the chances of recovering your money are quite minimal, you could try contacting the exchange in hopes of freezing the funds, unless he has already withdrew, still though, they have all his personal details and possibly a police report like others mentioned.

[hugeblack]

yrs, contact with exchange asap, and USDT operator. UsdtOp and Exchange can freeze your money

The first thing to do is contact  OKX Immediately so they could freeze the user's account.

It's on their TOS

I don't think Tether or OKX will respond to individual requests, so you should go to the nearest police station specializing in cybercrime or financial scam and prove that you have been scammed. OKX's cooperation with the local authorities may result in freezing that account or helping you track down the hacker, but don't be too optimistic about getting your money back.

[retreat]

That's a lesson for all of us, don't be too quick to click on anything in our email because it might be a virus - and it's even better to secure the PC we use by using an antivirus, a free version like Avast should be good enough.
And for the loss your brother experienced, he should report it to the police and then make a direct report to OKX exchange, if you have all the evidence they should help you identify the perpetrator, because as far as I know if users want to withdraw from OKX they need to do KYC.

[Mame89]

And the victim of the hacker is repeated, I am sorry for what happened to your brother. In the crypto world it is very important to continue to be careful in doing anything on the internet. You must know how to protect yourself from hackers who are very dangerous, they can steal your assets without you realizing it. Please note that in the crypto world which is growing rapidly every day, the threat of fraud and hackers is also increasing. However, if you take the right steps in protecting your assets, you can avoid traps made by hackers like this.

It is very important to always be aware of fraud carried out by hackers in every way to steal your assets, especially those that often occur via email, Wallet connections or messages from Telegram which are very vulnerable to hacking. So the hope in the future if there is something strange or a link that feels strange and you never follow it, never open it carelessly, you must immediately delete it, it is better to block it immediately because fraudsters will try to get personal information through psychological manipulation. They can also disguise themselves as trusted entities, so you have to be observant every time you receive an email.

[SatoPrincess]

I hate to sound like I’m victim-blaming right now but you should never click on links you’re unsure of. A friend of mine recently lost all his crypto to a phishing attack. This was the first time I have seen this happen to someone I know personally and it’s not pretty. We didn’t bother to trace the bitcoin transactions because the chances of recovery are very low and we just don’t want to get our hopes up for nothing. In your case, I suggest you report to the authorities and hopefully they have a team that are specialized in investigating these cases.

[Peanutswar]

I guess I consider that case as a loss, you can contract the okx but I guess they will took few days or weeks because its not their negligence related on the account instead its outside their bound, if the funds are still on hold on the account of okx possible they might freeze the account but I don't know if they will send it back to you because it will takes a lot of process to prove that thing, next is if don't for sure you cant do anything right now and just move on. This you must need to secure your account and as possible have a hardware wallet next time.

[Lucius]

you need a good antivirus on your device, my pc once got infected with a virus that would replace my copied crypto address and replace with the hackers wallet address, i lost around 2k,, it was when i found out about it i formatted my whole pc and installed a new os,, after that i'm using an antivirus that is still protecting me from these kinds of viruses.

You obviously had an encounter with clipboard malware that was hidden in something you downloaded from the internet. A good AV will always scan everything you download and warn you of possible danger, and if it detects something dangerous, it will quarantine that file. The "problem" is that most people don't want to pay for a good AV/firewall - and let's say that the victim in this story had something like that on his computer, maybe a hacker wouldn't be able to take over that computer so easily.

All in all, keeping $100k on a computer in a hot wallet while not knowing basic security protocols is a perfect recipe for disaster.

[fuguebtc]

Hey guys my brother was a victim of mail phishing.
He clicked on the zip file which was included in the mail.

It probably took control of the pc and stole all his crypto.

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

For bitcoin, hacker just transferred to another bitcoin wallet and he holding it and doing nothing of it yet.

The answer is 99,99% no but if someone experienced  or heard something similar I'd be glad to hear.

I work with my brother. We worked very hard to get this money and I am really sad for him.

yrs, contact with exchange asap, and USDT operator. UsdtOp and Exchange can freeze your money


https://x.com/Tether_to/
https://tether.recruitee.com/o/ai-engineer-llm/c/new

I doubt they will help OP because it is our responsibility to protect our property, they are not responsible for protecting anyone else's property, nor are they the police or law enforcement. In short, they have no responsibility to us and have nothing to do with our assets.

If OP lives in a country where bitcoin is legal and he complies with government regulations. What he should do is report to the police and provide them with full evidence of the stolen property. The police are the ones who can help OP and only they have the authority to contact OKX or tether. On the contrary, if he lives in a country where bitcoin is illegal , I think he should accept the reality and consider it the most expensive lesson .

By the way , OP, my condolences to your brother because this loss is a huge amount of money .

[Taskford]

Hey guys my brother was a victim of mail phishing.
He clicked on the zip file which was included in the mail.

It probably took control of the pc and stole all his crypto.

I retraced hacker's transfers and I realized that he swapped all crypto to usdt and transferred all to okx exchange.
Do you think there's a possibility to freeze hackers okx account or something ?

For bitcoin, hacker just transferred to another bitcoin wallet and he holding it and doing nothing of it yet.

The answer is 99,99% no but if someone experienced  or heard something similar I'd be glad to hear.

I work with my brother. We worked very hard to get this money and I am really sad for him.

If the hacker is fast and immediately withdrawn the money they hack from your brother I guess there's slim chance that he can do something with it. But by the time he notice that he compromised then immediately contact the support of Okx maybe they can do something on those hack amount and you seek help from authority so that they can ask Okx to freeze that funds. But looking at the situation its like the hacker outsmart your brother and for sure that the criminal is already happy to cashout the money of your brother.

Another hard lesson to learn. Hopefully next time your brother will not click any unknown links since he already experience the worst scenario that might happen to curious people. Although its hard to move on if we loss such huge amount of money, but I guess he don't have a choice but to do it.

[Solosanz]

@OP be careful if someone DM-ed you and offer recovery services or something like that, it must be scam.

I think you can't do much in this case, you can report to the police, but they might don't understand what you mean and they might charge you some money. You can also contact the exchange, but they might ignore your request and you will get replied by bots.

Take this as your lesson, keep grinding to reach $100K again.