I lost all my Bitcoin for five years

[NeuroticFish]

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

Imho the easiest is to get yourself a hardware wallet. You can easily get one under 100$ (but better ask for advises on what model as soon as you have a budget set up).

Make sure you generate the seed. Make sure you write it down (yes, by hand, avoid electronics) and save it somewhere really safe, then recover from that seed so you are sure you've written it good. This will be your offline backup.

Put your money only onto the hardware wallet. Use the backup only if that hardware wallet breaks/dies or if, for some reason you have to reset the hardware wallet.


Really sorry for your loss

[AYOBA]

you said you have your btc stored in electrum it’s very secure even if someone got access to your device, without your seed phrase they won’t be able to access your bitcoin so maybe your seed phrase was easily accessible in your laptop and that was your mistake

This is reason why it’s every important for us to need our seed phrase in a very safe place that no matter happen to our laptop or phones nobody can able to get access to our seed phrase, but some people take it qua-ranted till after something have happened their them when their Bitcoin or any of their coins has been moved they will later be narrate stored; so that they people can help them out.  

And proverbs said that it’s too later to cry when the head is cut off, but from his story it’s clear that he has able to keeps his the seed phrase in a place that even the scammers can find it very difficult to get access to it; I don’t know how come he still lose everything after he repair his laptop back.

[Cookdata]

Directed by a friend to this forum, still fueled by anger but I will manage.

I lost some Bitcoin that I mined myself some years ago, I used Bitcoin wallet named Electrom and I was able to kept them for five years, I don't have interest in anything else than Bitcoin unfortunately something happened to my laptop and after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.

It's Electrum wallet!

What exactly happen to your PC? Was it an operating system problem or it's a storage. If the system is having software issue and not hardware related to storage, then it's nothing to worry yourself. Remove the hard disk and finds a cover with USB connector, you can get one from a computer hardware shop, couple it on the case and connect it to another computer, if nothing happen to your hard disk you should see every thing on the system, kindly install the electrum. Locate your electrum wallet folder, if the wallet is encrypted it will ask for a password, insert it and open your wallet, that's it.

If you really mine Bitcoin like you said, this process shouldn't be hard. If you have the wallet address, you can check before hand if your Bitcoin is intact.

That's a story for another day, I got angry because I suspected the repairer and I still landed in trouble, what I want to know is how to be more careful with Bitcoin so that I will not end up losing it after few years of keeping it, I regret not selling but how will I know that I will end up losing them? It is my fault, I should have been more careful.

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

Do you have your wallet address, check wallet explorer and see if the Bitcoin is still there. If they are, then you can follow the above instructions to recover your Bitcoin. If your hard disk is not affected, you will get back your Bitcoin. Try and create a paper wallet and send the Bitcoin to the new wallet just to be safe but make sure it's properly backup and it you can get a hardware wallet, that's a perfect choice for long term storage.

[rat03gopoh]

I lost some Bitcoin that I mined myself some years ago, I used Bitcoin wallet named Electrom and I was able to kept them for five years,

What did you tell the technician?
But before accusing a possibly innocent party, seeing your spelling errors makes me doubtful at several points. Sorry:
Did you mine real bitcoins? Did you use the original Electrum wallet?
Where did you learn standard security practices, such as who has access to your personal device for even a second (since you chose to store your private key digitally for years)?

I wouldn't be so quick to accuse the technician before knowing your habits.

[promise444c5]

Do you have your wallet address, check wallet explorer and see if the Bitcoin is still there. If they are, then you can follow the above instructions to recover your Bitcoin. If your hard disk is not affected, you will get back your Bitcoin. Try and create a paper wallet and send the Bitcoin to the new wallet just to be safe but make sure it's properly backup and it you can get a hardware wallet, that's a perfect choice for long term storage.

He said his bitcoin were moved out I.e stolen  months after the repair he made which led to him suspecting the repairer ..
“after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.”-- quote from OP

He probably agree he messed up already.. now, he’s trying to find answers to doing it rightly the second time.

[suzanne5223]

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

You should get yourself a hardware wallet or create an airgap Electrum wallet, and have the wallet's private information safe in a bank's safety deposit box, which should be more than $200 (it depends on your geographical location), that's if you're planning to hold for the longterm.
To be sincere. It is hard to understand your story clearly. Did you lose the Bitcoin or only lose access to the wallet, but have the Electrum wallet private information?

[Lakai01]

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

You should get yourself a hardware wallet or create an airgap Electrum wallet, and have the wallet's private information safe in a bank's safety deposit box, which should be more than $200 (it depends on your geographical location), that's if you're planning to hold for the longterm.

To be honest, I can't recommend using a safe deposit box. Bank safe deposit boxes are broken into from time to time (e.g., just last week in Germany) and the value is usually insured for a maximum of $10,000. Bank safe deposit boxes also cost money per month; the $200 you mentioned is probably just an annual budget, so over 5-10 years, this adds up to a considerable sum.

It would be much safer to store your valuables in a fireproof and waterproof safe within your own four walls. This also guarantees that no third party (bank employees, etc.) will gain unauthorized access.

[Z-tight]

To be sincere. It is hard to understand your story clearly. Did you lose the Bitcoin or only lose access to the wallet, but have the Electrum wallet private information?

Yeah, i also had a hard time understanding op's story. I also believe their story should be clearer, since they claim to be a BTC miner who mined BTC many years ago. Op, if your funds were sent out of your wallet, then you should have the tx id right, can you post it here, so we can trace the movement of the funds. That is if you don't mind the privacy inconveniences.

[KiaKia]

Electrum is good and I am sure it's not the cause of the problem here but I have problem with the fact that you have to run the Electrum wallet on a Device like Laptop, this is where the security failed, because Electrum best security ends in the app or software itself, where you are going to install it won't be safe.

Why bother then? This is why hardware wallets are the best option, where to install them won't be a problem because you go hardware rather than relying on a software.

OP the best thing you can do is safe up for a open source hardware wallet that's true airgapped, like Keystone 3.

[m2017]

I lost some Bitcoin that I mined myself some years ago, I used Bitcoin wallet named Electrom and I was able to kept them for five years,

Well, if you managed to mine bitcoin yourself, then you should know how to spell Electrum correctly.

Electrom

... it made me smile.

I don't have interest in anything else than Bitcoin unfortunately something happened to my laptop and after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.

You claim to have mined bitcoin yourself, but you also say that "something happened to my laptop". I have doubts about the veracity of your story. Someone who managed to set up a miner and successfully mined bitcoin on their laptop (how long ago, according to you? 5 years ago?) can't describe the cause of the failure in a few words (any schoolchild could easily describe the superficial symptoms). There's also no information about the OS used, whether it was Linux, whether the disk was encrypted, whether Electrom Electrum wallet had a password, etc. No detailed information is provided, and we're supposed to immediately believe the story's veracity?

If you're going to lie, maybe you should at least do it beautifully? So it sounds plausible.

Directed by a friend to this forum, still fueled by anger but I will manage.

Let me return to this point: you personally mined bitcoin, but only learned about this forum from a friend? While not critical, it also seems a bit odd, since any beginner miner would likely first turn to a forum for information about mining.

That's a story for another day, I got angry because I suspected the repairer

So, who was the culprit?

nd I still landed in trouble, what I want to know is how to be more careful with Bitcoin so that I will not end up losing it after few years of keeping it, I regret not selling but how will I know that I will end up losing them? It is my fault, I should have been more careful.

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

Store on HW devices.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Do you have your wallet address, check wallet explorer and see if the Bitcoin is still there. If they are, then you can follow the above instructions to recover your Bitcoin. If your hard disk is not affected, you will get back your Bitcoin. Try and create a paper wallet and send the Bitcoin to the new wallet just to be safe but make sure it's properly backup and it you can get a hardware wallet, that's a perfect choice for long term storage.

He said his bitcoin were moved out I.e stolen  months after the repair he made which led to him suspecting the repairer ..
“after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.”-- quote from OP

He probably agree he messed up already.. now, he’s trying to find answers to doing it rightly the second time.

And you believe him? Everyone should ask themselves what would be the first thing they would do if the device they stored their bitcoins on fell into the wrong hands? The OP isn't just a beginner, but also a bit of a miner. I think everyone would first check for the presence of their bitcoins and then urgently transfer them to another wallet. But here we see a story where the OP remembers three months later that he had bitcoins on a laptop that was broken in the past.

Electrom

... it made me smile.

It's not exactly a well-contrived story.

[Y3shot]

It is possible that the person who repaired the laptop might have moved the bitcoin out from the laptop, it is so unfortunate that you lose your bitcoin. And you also part of the reason you also lost you bitcoin,  i think you should have know better on what to do as your laptop got spoilt. Even if your laptop got bad their is still ways which you can recover your bitcoin back, so far as you always have access to seedphrase you can claim your bitcoin back if your laptop gets bad.

[liasbaa]

Just as you need to keep your wallet seed phrase secure, you also need to be careful about the device you are using to manage it. The Electrom wallet is fine, but keeping it on your laptop is a mistake, and not using your personal key to access your wallet can lead to your assets being stolen. Some people don't use their personal key on their personal devices that can lead to them losing their assets. You should have your personal key enabled for access to every important apps and also email verification alerts.

[suzanne5223]

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

You should get yourself a hardware wallet or create an airgap Electrum wallet, and have the wallet's private information safe in a bank's safety deposit box, which should be more than $200 (it depends on your geographical location), that's if you're planning to hold for the longterm.

To be honest, I can't recommend using a safe deposit box. Bank safe deposit boxes are broken into from time to time (e.g., just last week in Germany) and the value is usually insured for a maximum of $10,000. Bank safe deposit boxes also cost money per month; the $200 you mentioned is probably just an annual budget, so over 5-10 years, this adds up to a considerable sum.

It would be much safer to store your valuables in a fireproof and waterproof safe within your own four walls. This also guarantees that no third party (bank employees, etc.) will gain unauthorized access.

I'm unaware of the German vault where all the bank safe deposit boxes were robbed until you made mention of it, and I did some research about the incident that happened in Germany over the Christmas period, where roughly 105 million in cash, gold, and jewelry was stolen.
But, let's be honest, there's no total invincible security, and if a Bitcoiner must have a fireproof and waterproof safe box within his/her, it must be something s/he install by him/herself because there's still a chance that the person who's aware of the box may hint thief when they later become aware you're into Bitcoin.

Having said that, it is always good to have our Bitcoin wallet private information safe in different location.

[Zanab247]

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

I guess you have learned a lesson from this incident that happened to your BTC. I don't think you will leave BTC in your wallet without writing the seed phrases down, because that is what will help you to recover the BTC when your laptop got bad, and it will be easy for you to know the repairer is the one that stole the BTC or not, because you will find the trace of the address to where the BTC was forwarded.

Mentioned that you used electrum wallet to store the BTC you mined show that you used the right wallet to store your BTC, because electrum wallet is safe for long years hodling.

[tech30338]

Directed by a friend to this forum, still fueled by anger but I will manage.

I lost some Bitcoin that I mined myself some years ago, I used Bitcoin wallet named Electrom and I was able to kept them for five years, I don't have interest in anything else than Bitcoin unfortunately something happened to my laptop and after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.

That's a story for another day, I got angry because I suspected the repairer and I still landed in trouble, what I want to know is how to be more careful with Bitcoin so that I will not end up losing it after few years of keeping it, I regret not selling but how will I know that I will end up losing them? It is my fault, I should have been more careful.

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

This is why its very important to bring your laptop to an authorized repair center in your location or even country, because there is a paper you need to fill-up and it is indicated there what is needed to do, and what is not to do, for example never format your disk, you also need to tell that never touch the files, or anything, but more important is if you can also encrypt the files or if its so important ask them to remove the disk and give it to you, also never leave any trace of important things in your hard disk that can be read or copy, next time be very careful there are lots of untrusted technician not all, they really don't know their job, i been repairing computers and laptop hardware or software, any information or files i never even dare open, even one time.

[rdluffy]

This is why its very important to bring your laptop to an authorized repair center in your location or even country, because there is a paper you need to fill-up and it is indicated there what is needed to do, and what is not to do, for example never format your disk, you also need to tell that never touch the files, or anything, but more important is if you can also encrypt the files or if its so important ask them to remove the disk and give it to you, also never leave any trace of important things in your hard disk that can be read or copy, next time be very careful there are lots of untrusted technician not all, they really don't know their job, i been repairing computers and laptop hardware or software, any information or files i never even dare open, even one time.

To be honest, a laptop or any PC with a crypto wallet or anything related to crypto should never be taken to a technician, even if it is an authorized company

The ideal thing to do is to uninstall any crypto programs or files and keep the seed safely stored
Preferably, have a hardware wallet

Never trust anyone, not even authorized technicians

[sunsilk]

Directed by a friend to this forum, still fueled by anger but I will manage.

I lost some Bitcoin that I mined myself some years ago, I used Bitcoin wallet named Electrom and I was able to kept them for five years, I don't have interest in anything else than Bitcoin unfortunately something happened to my laptop and after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.

That's a story for another day, I got angry because I suspected the repairer and I still landed in trouble, what I want to know is how to be more careful with Bitcoin so that I will not end up losing it after few years of keeping it, I regret not selling but how will I know that I will end up losing them? It is my fault, I should have been more careful.

What should I do so that this misfortune will never repeat itself in my life ever again.

Next time if your PC or laptop is broken, search for the possible fix by yourself. Yes, you can DIY if it's already broken.

But if you can't do the fix, don't just leave your laptop on the technician because you'll never know what they can do.

Just be there and see what the technician does so that they won't even log into the desktop of your laptop and just see if it's fixed without touching any of your installed apps.

[Franctoshi]

... unfortunately something happened to my laptop and after several months of using my laptop after repair my Bitcoin was moved out.

That's a story for another day, I got angry because I suspected the repairer...

It's probably not the repair guy. Months have already passed, yet you're still blaming him, are you sure nothing else happened to your laptop? Maybe malware from downloaded software or another source.

If a repair tech had malicious intent and found your wallet, the funds wouldn't last for days or weeks, they'd be gone immediately.

If I have my wallet in my laptop and the laptop gets bad, I'm not sure I am going to fix it. I will rather get a new device and reinstall the wallet in my new computer and forget about the old.
If anyone is going to fix it, they should be able to do it before me and I will monitor everything. You don't keep your laptop with technicians overnight

Another way is that, even if your to keep the laptop with the computer technician for repair without being there, because every so often the issues don't get solved that same day, next time he should find a way to move that particular Bitcoin that logged log into the laptop elsewhere using another device, so the computer technician especially those “hackers” tracking down such opportunities to access people's critical information or data in a disguise of fixing their laptop do not tamper with crypto holdings, or gain access to critical information, maybe the technician might have extrated dome critical information from the laptop used in moving the Bitcoin during the process of repair.

[Z-tight]

The Electrom wallet is fine, but keeping it on your laptop is a mistake,

It is Electrum, not Electrom. And there is nothing wrong in using a desktop wallet. Even if it is a hot wallet, you can still manage to use it for small amounts without running into any problems at all. For greater amounts, you could turn your old laptop into an airgapped device by following a few steps, which would provide better security for your funds in cold storage.

and not using your personal key to access your wallet can lead to your assets being stolen. Some people don't use their personal key on their personal devices that can lead to them losing their assets. You should have your personal keyenabled for access to every important apps and also email verification alerts.

What are you talking about, what do you mean by 'personal key' here?