Divorced wife steal ex-husband bitcoin wallet password using CCTV

[cr1776]

Jeez.  If true, talk about a betrayal. 

Things to remember: If you have cold storage it isn't just the device that shouldn't be connected, it is cameras looking at the device.  Likewise, if you intend to print your seed phrase that printer should never have been and never be connected to the internet or wifi, only use a cable. 

[Zlantann]

This is a very interesting case and i look forward to seeing how the U.K. property law would apply in reaching a verdict in this case. So apparently the estranged wife was able to view her ex-husband's recovery phrase through the CCTV in his home and move the coins to new addresses, which by the way hasn't moved since it was stolen.

I am wondering why the ex wife still had access to the CCTV in his home and why the seed phrase was easily visible to the cameras. Or maybe they were still married as at the time of this incident. That said, the case is going to trial and it would be interesting to see who wins.

This case is indeed an eye-opener since some of us have CCTV in our homes, and some people have access to the recordings. It means that these cameras shouldn't be positioned in places where our seed phrase could be easily accessed.

The ex-husband should be pleased that the money has not been moved. Maybe the man was hiding the Bitcoin and didn't want it to be part of the divorce settlement assets. The woman had to steal it and might just want part of the total worth of the coin. 

[Coyster]

The ex-husband should be pleased that the money has not been moved.

It doesn't still mean he can recover it. He would have to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt in court, that his ex wife stole his coins. It is pertinent to point out that the court already dismissed the plaintiffs initial claim of conversion, on the grounds that it only applies to physical properties, but that the case would go to trial on other legal claims. It would be interesting to see how the law in the U.K would be interpreted in this case to reach a resolution.

The woman had to steal it and might just want part of the total worth of the coin. 

Lol, she allegedly stole 2,323 bitcoin, that is worth around $170m. That definitely doesn't look like wanting a part of his assets, that's taking everything. 

[LTU_btc]

Damn, this is strong stuff. First of all, ex wife of this guy is really knowledgable. Reaching wallet seed in such way is something what many would be able to do. And that's really quality CCTV if it gives clear enough image to see password. Look at cameras at most supermarkets - images there is so terrible that sometimes you wouldn't even recognize yourself.

I do not think there would be a man that will trust his wife with huge amount of coins that is worth hundred of million of dollars.

If that's the case, why even getting married to that woman, if you can't trust her with money?

Better just have girlfriends if you can't find anyone trustworthy, and if you want kids, you can always do with Cristiano Ronaldo did. 

It's difficult question. Quite common thing that after marriage there is no such thing like my or your money. It's our money. I'm not married, and maybe my comment would sound different when I will family, but now I would say that I don't see giving logins to my bank account or access to crypto wallet to my wife. Offcourse, I would give her as much money as she needs, but not login details or private keys.

[Samlucky O]

I wanted to post this in scam accusation board but I think beginners and help board can be helpful for some people to also see it, especially the newbies. We really need to be careful and protect our coins. There are just some mistakes that we may not know and we should make sure no camera is watching us while backing up our seed phrase, passphrass, private key, wallet password or while using our wallet, What if it is an online wallet, some people will blame it on malware, but not knowing that it is someone around someone that did the thing.

I am not yet saying the defendant is not innocent and neither am I saying she is innocent, but there is possibility that something like this can happen.

https://www.iclr.co.uk/document/2026001715/2026ewhc532kb_TNA/html

Sometimes I just wonder how criminal are progressing by the day,  day by day they device a new means or strategy to steal. I haven't heard this type of criminality using CCTV to capture seed phrase or private key, I have never heard or seen this before. Although it could be a mistake or it was not intentional but could be that she mistakenly saw it from CCTV and use it for criminal porpose. But However I will advice us to be very careful how we keep our seed, and we must keep our camera away from sensitive documents, to avoid this kind of situation or reoccurrence.

[uchegod-21]

Stories like this make marriage scary. If we advice people to protect their seedphrase away from third parties, close family members (wife and children) are supposed to be the least people we fear. Because of this distrust, it makes inheritance planning a bit complicated. We don't have any other choice, we can't hide knowledge about our investments from our families for ever. We can only be careful to the best we can be. There are really some unfortunate incidents we do not have control over. I do not blame the man, he just got entangled with a evil partner, now ex.

[Hazink]

He trusted his wife or didn't even trusted completely, but didn't take the ultimate caution that cost him 2000+ bitcoin now. So we can't really trust anyone anymore because the wife is someone who we share everything with, which apparently means our finances too.

These kind of stories make me more afraid of this world, do we really become that cruel? Betray the one who trusted you completely...

We just can't predict people completely. The guy did not completely trust the wife, but he made a mistake by allowing the wife to know he owns Bitcoin and where it's hidden, which gave the wife the opportunity to install the recorder, which took the information she needed for her to be able to carry out the theft without him noticing.

Maybe when the marriage was young, they were all happy, and the ex-wife could have started planning this immediately after they started having issues and she noticed it would lead to divorce. Once it comes to money, we really don't know who to completely trust. In fact, we shouldn't trust anyone completely; we should be cautious every time.

[Hypnosis00]

This is so unfortunate of the man having an ex-wife that sees betrayal as the only way to revenge, no wonder why she ended as an estranged wife now. But this is also a reminder for everyone to secure our bitcoin assets the best way we can so that it won't be stolen by anyone, whether its part of the family or a total stranger.

As much as we can't be certain what will happen in our life in the future, or in our present relationship these days, then it would be best for us to secretly buy and accumulate bitcoin as long as we can without the awareness of our spouse or the kids, if that's the safest way so we can secure our bitcoin assets 100%.

[Asiska02]

Possibility of it happening is actually true. Not trusting anyone with your bitcoin holdings is the best. As of the time that the wife stole the password to trezor and stole those bitcoin, he may be doing it to get revenge on his husband, maybe that lead to their separation. Whatever may have transpired between them it is an act of theft and she should be prosecuted for that when found guilty.

I am sure even the man wouldn’t have thought that the CCTV camera at home that’s placed for security reasons will be used against him to steal from him, such a sensitive data does not need any third party interference, and for this case, the CCTV is one and has caused loss to him. This thread is very informative and I hope many of us, not only newbies will learn from this.

[Y3shot]

I wanted to post this in scam accusation board but I think beginners and help board can be helpful for some people to also see it, especially the newbies. We really need to be careful and protect our coins. There are just some mistakes that we may not know and we should make sure no camera is watching us while backing up our seed phrase, passphrass, private key, wallet password or while using our wallet, What if it is an online wallet, some people will blame it on malware, but not knowing that it is someone around someone that did the thing.

I am not yet saying the defendant is not innocent and neither am I saying she is innocent, but there is possibility that something like this can happen.

https://www.iclr.co.uk/document/2026001715/2026ewhc532kb_TNA/html

Maybe one of the reasons why the man wasn't even bothered about CCTV was because he never planned to separate from his wife, and even if she knew about it, there was no problem. Maybe that was why the CCTV never bothered him; couples normally know about their partner's assets.

However, for those who really want their assets to be private, it is important to be conscious of CCTV or any device that has the tendency to record. Securing Bitcoin is supposed to be absolutely private if you really want to be in control of it.

[tvplus006]

...when dealing with crypto you should trust nobody not even relatives...

No, we still need to trust our loved ones, because it is for their well-being that we have to work so hard. And what will happen to these bitcoins if an accident occurs and no one knows about their existence, or they will know but will not be able to use these savings?

[suzanne5223]

This is another eye opening that every crypto enthusiast should always be sure there's no way their wallet private information, and login won't be exposed before using their wallet, even when at home, because if the man's oldest daughter didn't expose the man's ex-wife doing, the man would have thought he lost the BTC in the wallet through another means. But I'm surprised the ex-wife can do such a thing, especially now that crypto is in the next phase of innovation.

[Zaguru12]

This is another eye opening that every crypto enthusiast should always be sure there's no way their wallet private information, and login won't be exposed before using their wallet, even when at home, because if the man's oldest daughter didn't expose the man's ex-wife doing, the man would have thought he lost the BTC in the wallet through another means. But I'm surprised the ex-wife can do such a thing, especially now that crypto is in the next phase of innovation.

The problem with this particular story now is you cannot simply tell the man to actually stop trusting everyone because at the end of the day someone who we trust must be one liable to our own wealth. I have read some replies here where some say you shouldn’t trust anybody in terms of keys and seed phrase, personally I think that is a subjective because imagine if the bitcoin is your inheritance and you keep the seed phrase secret to yourself then who will actually be able to spend from them if you suddenly die. Probably be in a will? Then you still trust someone, in a bank safe? That’s also a trust too.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Now it will be more clearing to us that we should not trust anybody, because we can't read everyone's mind or know their intentions towards us or anything that belongs to us, people can be so greedy to the an extent that what you give them is never Enough until they take more forcefully, this story has a lot to teach us and learn in life, there are some things we can do and never get away of it at the end.

[Outhue]

Maybe the husband didn't know how smart his wife really is,  because not all women even understand crypto and it's wallets, for her to know where to find the recovery seed must have been so unexpected. Then again, how did she knew that her husband have some Bitcoin? Maybe he told her himself?

This just shows that no one can be trusted in the life, even the ones that you are very close to can bring the end of you, you can be taken down by those who you calmed to love, this type of relationship hurts more than anything, IoT devices are not even safe for creating a crypto wallet,  you really can't tell who is watching you through your gadgets.

[Shadiq]

This is a theft that we can interpret as a betrayal. Sometimes security can be the main reason for your danger, which this story warns us. I do not see any major mistake of that person, rather his ex-wife was a traitor and a thief.

However, this story teaches us something new, one should not be careless with any person in financial matters and it is better to have a secret room where no one is watching you for privacy. Use that secret room to make the wallet seed phrase, password and code visible. But it is better to use a different place for storage. CCTV cameras can also pose a threat to our privacy, which I am learning for the first time from this story. This is very helpful for me

[sleepfirefly]

I don't blame the man but his ex-wife who stole his password in their house. He trusted his wife but she betrayed him since she didn't not love him and have plans to steal from him which was why she went this far. I think that our homes should be the safest place to hide our seed phrase and valueable documents regardless whether, CCTV is on or not.

Those that are not yet married should be careful with the kind of woman you bring into your life as your wife because she might be a thieve unknowingly to you.

the man did nothing wrong. he seems to have secured his wallet it’s just that the woman was smart and was able to outsmart the man. it’s important we choose the people we will trust even if it’s a family member, it’s better to be safe than sorry. money should be independent and everything doesn’t need to be shared all the time.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Did you even ask or ever thought what might have happened behind the scenes, what the man may have done to make the woman go to such extent. When you hear or read stories like this, don’t just look at what the media is trying to portray, also try asking some relevant questions too. What led to their divorce, what went on before the divorce and maybe after the divorce too, there could’ve been several justifiable reasons to what may have led to such an act and sometimes, infact, most times the media doesn’t always tell the whole story. Just my thought.

That's what I thought of first. What is the reason for their divorce? As you can see, there is no question of a lack of money and instability in everyday life, which is why divorces often occur. Had she cheated on him? And decided to leave him with an empty wallet? This version is more justified, but even here, the owner himself was clearly stupid if he trusted such sums to someone who could betray. Usually, rich people buy youth by marrying young people; in such cases, a marriage contract is necessary, and attention to the appetites of a young wife is paid. If there are other reasons, then again, the owner himself is to blame; having such amounts, it is very wrong to be so naive and trusting.

I wouldn’t understand how someone would do that to a person you practically spent some good memories with before whatever happened did happen but, doing that to a person is pure evil.

The future naive victim. Buddy, where there is a lot of money, there are good memories on one side that pay. The other side has only a cold calculation and the expectation of the moment when she will be the full owner of the capital, which will give others these memories.

[suzanne5223]

This is another eye opening that every crypto enthusiast should always be sure there's no way their wallet private information, and login won't be exposed before using their wallet, even when at home, because if the man's oldest daughter didn't expose the man's ex-wife doing, the man would have thought he lost the BTC in the wallet through another means. But I'm surprised the ex-wife can do such a thing, especially now that crypto is in the next phase of innovation.

The problem with this particular story now is you cannot simply tell the man to actually stop trusting everyone because at the end of the day someone who we trust must be one liable to our own wealth. I have read some replies here where some say you shouldn’t trust anybody in terms of keys and seed phrase, personally I think that is a subjective because imagine if the bitcoin is your inheritance and you keep the seed phrase secret to yourself then who will actually be able to spend from them if you suddenly die. Probably be in a will? Then you still trust someone, in a bank safe? That’s also a trust too.

You have a point.
There's no way we won't trust someone in this type of situation which is the reason why I said it's an eye opener situation because someone being a husband, sibling, or kid to Bitcoiners doesn't mean they are worth trusting.
I'm the type of person that always study the people around me, and I know some of my siblings that I can't trust with things that involve money it is not that I don't like the person but I'm just been cautious.
Some people mixed the relationship they had with people with financial trust. Every human has his/her own  flaws, know everyone around you flaws before you can be sure of the area you can trust them.
That's what I believe is the best thing every Bitcoiner needs to practise so that we won't see things like this or a situation where BTC holders are physically attacked due to someone knowing his/her holding.

[macson]

That's why we need to be careful when accessing our wallet or backing up our seed phrases, because we simply don't know if someone, CCTV, or anything else might be monitoring our activities, and this could endanger our security or our assets.

Even if it's someone close to us, whether it's a spouse, child, or friend, we shouldn't take such matters lightly because we don't know what others are thinking.

I'm not saying you need to be suspicious of those around you, but there have been many cases of wallet access leaks that actually originate from those closest to us or those around us. So, paying extra attention to this can prevent something like that from happening to us.