First Steps After A Theft

[Rustam Meraj]

To protect yourself, you need to move all remaining money to new secure hardware wallet and change all your passwords with password manager to stop hacker from getting to other accounts. Another important thing is to gather proof such as screenshots and get in touch with exchanges quickly in order to attempt to freeze stolen money before it is moved. You should also watch out for recovery scams where people promise to get back your money for fee and you should check your computer with virus scanner to make sure that hacker is no longer spying on you.

[Lakai01]

If you have any remaining funds in the wallet that was compromised, transfer them to a completely new and clean wallet that has never been used before, preferably a hardware wallet.

I read a story recently about someone whose wallet was compromised, but because no coin was stolen, he didn't generate a new seed phrase and move his funds. He kept on using the wallet, but unknown to him, the scammer had other ideas. Basically, the scammer did not steal the fund initially because it was just a little amount. So, he decided to wait for some years for a substantial amount to enter the wallet before he strikes, and that was exactly what happened. So, whenever a wallet gets compromised, we shouldn't be like this guy whose story I just shared. Create a new wallet and move the funds.

To my knowledge, this is not a true story, but rather a so-called "warning story" intended to draw attention to this issue. I tried to find a source for this some time ago and have now tried again using ChatGPT, but even the AI system cannot find an official source confirming that this actually happened.


But you are right about the basic message, of course. As soon as a seed has been compromised, it must be replaced without question. If my front door key were stolen, I would also have the lock replaced and would not be happy that the thief did not take anything anyway. The same applies to the seed.

[Hatchy]

• File a police report with your local law enforcement and any relevant national cybercrime agency in your locality.

Not all scammers or hackers are that dump, so the chances of them using an address from a centralized platform is very small. Most scammers are already aware of the implications and many means by which they can be tracked..also, in many countries where the government are against cryptocurrency usage, it would be impossible to report such cases to the authority. For instance I'll assume you are from Nigeria since you post on same local board as mine, we know how strict the government has been with the crypto industry for years, even if there isn't any law banning it, you still can't go and report any issues of crypto to them, not alone let them know about your crypto involvement..

[SFR10]

Do not be scammed twice.. this is because after a hack, the victims are still usually targeted but so called 'Crypto recovery Experts'  who promises to get the funds back for a fee. Do not fall for it.

You're right about those fake recovery services, but it's worth noting that there are "a few legit ones" that collaborate with law enforcement agencies, so they have a higher chance of intercepting their activities ^{[if scammers use centralized platforms]}.
^{- In addition to the above list on my other post, Chainalysis and Crystal Intelligence are also legit, but this doesn't mean a 100% success rate!}

[boyptc]

Have you ever been scammed? what steps did you take after?

I did but I have done nothing after I became a victim because I have no idea about the whereabouts of the scammers, they're mostly using fake identities and names.

And so even if I file it to the police and make a report out of it, they can do nothing about it. They might just tell me tips on how to avoid it next time for being dumb and becoming a victim of these incidents.

Those are some good steps that OP shared via this thread but I believe prevention is better than cure applies here as well.

I agree, those who have been scammed will have their ways to avoid it through their experience. And if someone didn't experienced it, it's best to listen from other's experience.

[Iamgoat]

If you have any remaining funds in the wallet that was compromised, transfer them to a completely new and clean wallet that has never been used before, preferably a hardware wallet.

I read a story recently about someone whose wallet was compromised, but because no coin was stolen, he didn't generate a new seed phrase and move his funds. He kept on using the wallet, but unknown to him, the scammer had other ideas. Basically, the scammer did not steal the fund initially because it was just a little amount. So, he decided to wait for some years for a substantial amount to enter the wallet before he strikes, and that was exactly what happened. So, whenever a wallet gets compromised, we shouldn't be like this guy whose story I just shared. Create a new wallet and move the funds.

These things are mostly caused by our negligence, how we do not take important things seriously and end paying dearly for it. If you noticed a hacker got access to your seed phrase or access to your wallet even when they don't steal anything from the wallet right away do not keep using the wallet and the advise is for you not to make the kind of mistakes you will later regret bitterly. Some hackers are very smart in the sense if they get access to your account or wallet and they noticed there is just small money inside they will not touch it and pretend as if no body else is looking at the wallet for a long period of time they can keep monitoring until they hit the target they are looking for which is majorly determinant on when your account eventually recieved a huge money, they will then immediately unleash their attack and steal the money.

[Catenaccio]

These things are mostly caused by our negligence, how we do not take important things seriously and end paying dearly for it. If you noticed a hacker got access to your seed phrase or access to your wallet even when they don't steal anything from the wallet right away do not keep using the wallet and the advise is for you not to make the kind of mistakes you will later regret bitterly.

I am very curious about what you said, does it actually exist?
How do you know that someone accessed your wallets if they did not move your bitcoins to anywhere else?

You only know about a wallet compromisation of hackers moved your coins and at that time of knowing about the compromisation, it is very late to do anything for securing your bitcoins. Bitcoin transaction if was confirmed by Bitcoin miners, and mined in a Bitcoin block, it won't be revesed and you will never be able to get your bitcoins back from hackers.

Exception is only if you file a criminal report to government and somehow they arrest the hacker, seize the stolen fund and return it to you. There is no too big hope for it, honestly.

[Rubuchi]

• File a police report with your local law enforcement and any relevant national cybercrime agency in your locality.

Not all scammers or hackers are that dump, so the chances of them using an address from a centralized platform is very small. Most scammers are already aware of the implications and many means by which they can be tracked..also, in many countries where the government are against cryptocurrency usage, it would be impossible to report such cases to the authority. For instance I'll assume you are from Nigeria since you post on same local board as mine, we know how strict the government has been with the crypto industry for years, even if there isn't any law banning it, you still can't go and report any issues of crypto to them, not alone let them know about your crypto involvement..

oh it is true so you don’t get to report such cases to the police In countries bitcoin has not yet been legalized because you may end up being arrested and prosecuted for cybercrime related issues which dos not make any real sense and could also be a point of leverage for the hackers to keep doing it because they feel the victim does not have the power to report them.
Does it also mean that for countries where it is legalized, you can just go and track the hackers address down and immediately and if such is the case then the rate of hacking of those kinds of places will be more sophisticated

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Does it also mean that for countries where it is legalized, you can just go and track the hackers address down and immediately and if such is the case then the rate of hacking of those kinds of places will be more sophisticated

Not really that sophisticated on the contrary, because with the use of mixers, one can now easily make a Bitcoin transaction untraceable, which is actually one of the reasons why the US government back then in 2023 wanted to crack down on mixers, simply because they thought it was aiding internet fraud. But it is obvious, hackers still diverse several means of remaining untraceable after stealing the hacked fund and swapping it through mixer or decentralized exchange before sending it back to a non custodial wallet where they have full control of it's private keys.

[bhadz]

Being knowledgeable about the basic matters in crypto is very important. While recovery is for sure possible as long as you know the seeds you have got, and that's an importing thing for your seed. But if it's used wrongly by the scammers of course to target people, they'd explain it to them that it's very possible. That's why understanding that transactions are irreversible and by determining that, no one will be scammed by them as long as you know the basic about the transactions, importing and exporting of seeds. Because they might really explain it to the point that the person listens to them will get confused and will only agree to anything they say that are serving as those fake 'crypto recovery experts'.

[pliego]

Being knowledgeable about the basic matters in crypto is very important. While recovery is for sure possible as long as you know the seeds you have got, and that's an importing thing for your seed. But if it's used wrongly by the scammers of course to target people, they'd explain it to them that it's very possible. That's why understanding that transactions are irreversible and by determining that, no one will be scammed by them as long as you know the basic about the transactions, importing and exporting of seeds. Because they might really explain it to the point that the person listens to them will get confused and will only agree to anything they say that are serving as those fake 'crypto recovery experts'.

From what I’ve seen, most victims get scammed twice: first by losing funds, then by trusting fake recovery offers. Knowing the basics helps stop that second hit

[bhadz]

Being knowledgeable about the basic matters in crypto is very important. While recovery is for sure possible as long as you know the seeds you have got, and that's an importing thing for your seed. But if it's used wrongly by the scammers of course to target people, they'd explain it to them that it's very possible. That's why understanding that transactions are irreversible and by determining that, no one will be scammed by them as long as you know the basic about the transactions, importing and exporting of seeds. Because they might really explain it to the point that the person listens to them will get confused and will only agree to anything they say that are serving as those fake 'crypto recovery experts'.

From what I’ve seen, most victims get scammed twice: first by losing funds, then by trusting fake recovery offers. Knowing the basics helps stop that second hit

Yes, it happened to me when I was scammed long time ago. As the saying goes, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". If the victims have been scammed for the first time, they have to learn what the basics are. And so if another scammer approaches them and sees them as vulnerable targets, they can't be target locked anymore for they know how to avoid these fake recovery experts that are trying to take advantage on them.s

[Perfectbaby]

[
Don't get me wrong, there are possibilities for this to help, and your point is absolutely valid for it. But it's much better if they never find themselves in such a state by taking the necessary measures to avoid it.

The best practice still remains PREVENTION... That is why we should take security measures very important, it helps to prevent every other hassles that comes with being scammed or hacked

There are some people who are that careless when it comes about security, some people do not apply cautiousness when it comes about having a better security about their credentials it could seed phrase, password and private keys.
Most people still leave these things on their phones knowing too well that their phone could stolen or being misplaced at any given time and when it is displaced then they wouldn't have access to their funds. So, being so preventive is actually nice before someone endangered themselves.

[Zigabel]

This is a good step to take for recovery if been hacked or your wallet is been compromised, although this is not guaranteeing an absolute recovery because some hacker ls are really fast so before you will be able to get all of this doen, if you are nit fast enough, they will be steps ahead of you. I think it will be best if you quickly result to moving all of your assets first to a different wallet before proceeding to taking other steps, that way, you will be sure to have firstly secured the the remaining assets if some has been take or evennall of they were yet to move all of it already.

This should remind us to always be careful enough with how we store our passwords and phrases so as to limit or even not give access to our wallet and by extension our assets. The only time you will need to take this king of stringent measures is after a compromise has been effected, so as much as possible avoid them all as much as you can.

[bit_stacker]

I had an account on Blockchain.info years ago, and after a few years, a certain amount was deducted from my account without giving any information on every trnsaction it was about 0.01 BTC. I contacted the support of this site and asked them for help, but none of them responded and said they could not do anything for you. My first suggestion for newcomers is to use wallets like Electrum, or wallets that are not under the control of a specific site.
And recently, after installing an unknown software, I noticed that when pasting the address to deposit Bitcoin, the address was changing.
Always check the recipient's address after pasting to make sure it has not changed.

[OcTradism]

I had an account on Blockchain.info years ago, and after a few years, a certain amount was deducted from my account without giving any information on every trnsaction it was about 0.01 BTC. I contacted the support of this site and asked them for help, but none of them responded and said they could not do anything for you. My first suggestion for newcomers is to use wallets like Electrum, or wallets that are not under the control of a specific site.

Use open source, non custodial wallets with reproducibility for testing from their wallet open source code and have private keys to control your coins.

Verify wallets before funding and using them.
[GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum.
The paranoid user's security guide for using Electrum safely.

And recently, after installing an unknown software, I noticed that when pasting the address to deposit Bitcoin, the address was changing.
Always check the recipient's address after pasting to make sure it has not changed.

Be careful with your practical steps when receiving or sending your bitcoins is good but not enough. The more important thing of your practice is long time before you make any transactions either receiving or sending. You must have good habit and actions on your devices and on Internet to keep your devices clean and not infected with things that are tracking your devices, wallets and wait for chance to steal your coins.

How to lose your Bitcoins with CTRL-C CTRL-V

[gibrab16]

Disconnect from Internet first and backup your wallet and recovery phrases.
Format your PC.