Don't wait till you get home

[Somegory]

If you are from a country with high level of insecurity you need to be very smart.
Something happened to my cousin yesterday, some cop stopped him on his way coming to my house.

He had his hardware wallet on him and they forced him to unlock it.
That one thing that hardware wallet does right is the ability to not show balance straight up.

But after he unlocked the hardware wallet the cop guy takes a few step away and keep pressing the hardware wallet, and they found nothing but my cousin noticed that they have camera on them.

After the cop left he instantly installed trust wallet on his phone and move all his fund from the hardware wallet to the trust wallet, I asked him why and he said what if the camera on them captured his recovery seed already? What if they step away from him to get the recovery seed captured?

It was when it all makes sense to me, it is possible that after they drove off they will try to drain the wallet, he doesn't wait to get to my place before he moved all the bitcoin out to a hot wallet.

A few minutes wasted could turned into a horrible event, I liked that he doesn't waste any time.

[BlackBoss_]

If you are from a country with high level of insecurity you need to be very smart.

What your friend did is not smart at all.

Something happened to my cousin yesterday, some cop stopped him on his way coming to my house.

He had his hardware wallet on him and they forced him to unlock it.
That one thing that hardware wallet does right is the ability to not show balance straight up.

But after he unlocked the hardware wallet the cop guy takes a few step away and keep pressing the hardware wallet, and they found nothing but my cousin noticed that they have camera on them.

If the cop did not see your friend's hardware wallet seed phrase, did not cap it by the camera, they can not do anything to steal fund stored in that hardware wallet. Your friend likely did not know this basics about hardware wallets and in general about non custodial wallets.
It's his keys, it's his fund, and from the story, he did not lose keys/ mnemonic seed phrase.

After the cop left he instantly installed trust wallet on his phone and move all his fund from the hardware wallet to the trust wallet

This is when things became stupid.

Why moving fund from a hardware wallet to a Trust wallet.
Trust wallet is close source.

A not stupid choice is Electrum wallet that is non custodial and open source, and it is available on phone.
Is the story real? 

[arzuo]

There are many who do not have the immediate seed or keep the password in a hard copy somewhere, in which case all those people will be in danger.
Did he memorize the seed and fund transfer password?

[uchegod-21]

I don't see what your friend did as an act of smartness. If he was smart, he would have known that carrying his hardware wallet around was a big risk, especially since he had no urgent need to transact. That was his first mistake, and if anything had happened to his coins, he should hold himself responsible.

Although he may have done the right thing by moving his funds quickly after suspecting that his wallet had been compromised, this would not have happened if he had not been carrying the device around.

It didn't end there. He quickly downloaded another hot wallet in a panic just so he could transfer his bitcoins out immediately. That was not a wise decision. As a Bitcoiner, you should avoid anything that puts you under pressure. Simple security and safety checks that are ignored can pose a greater risk than the one he was trying to escape from with the cops.

[5W-KILO]

OP it's obvious that you don't know much about hardware wallet.

Did you ask your cousin for the hardware wallet? Because you can only view recovery seed under settings of a hot wallet, you can't do the same with a hardware wallet.

Assuming the cops truly collect your hardware wallet, they can only look into it without revealing anything than your wallet address, there is no recovery seed viewable on the device anymore.

The first time you opened that wallet is when your recovery seed will be shown to you and you need to verify, once you have verified it's over, you have your backup stored elsewhere.

So the cops got nothing, no recovery seed was lost, you can't lose what's not visible.
Now moving those bitcoins to trust wallet is not a smart move.

Tell him to move it back into the hardware wallet, the only way I can be wrong is if there are hardware wallets that you can view it's recovery seed on the device after unlocking it, can someone maybe verify this?

[laspol65]

Your cousin brought his own danger, he wanted to face danger due to some personal mistake. Because he should not have taken the hardware wallet with him, fear of losing it and fear of losing it in an accident. And he downloaded the wallet in a hurry because he was afraid of the law and there was a possibility of mistakes at any moment, and the bitcoins in the wallet could be lost due to the slightest mistake.
However, using his present intelligence, he just moved himself away, but this mistake should not be repeated. Because later he should leave his wallet in a safe place at home, then the risk will be much less and the coins will be safe

[Rikafip]

He had his hardware wallet on him and they forced him to unlock it.

In what kind of country you live when cops can force you to unlock hardware wallet? Also, couldn't he say its like some other device and not hardware wallet? Btw, which one it was?

After the cop left he instantly installed trust wallet on his phone and move all his fund from the hardware wallet to the trust wallet, I asked him why and he said what if the camera on them captured his recovery seed already?

How could camera on them capture seed phrase? Its not like its written anywhere on (or in) the wallet. Also, I do hope that he moved money from Trust wallet somewhere safer.

Tbh, this story doesn't make much sense to me.

[mindrust]

I don't see what your friend did as an act of smartness. If he was smart, he would have known that carrying his hardware wallet around was a big risk, especially since he had no urgent need to transact. That was his first mistake, and if anything had happened to his coins, he should hold himself responsible.

Although he may have done the right thing by moving his funds quickly after suspecting that his wallet had been compromised, this would not have happened if he had not been carrying the device around.

It didn't end there. He quickly downloaded another hot wallet in a panic just so he could transfer his bitcoins out immediately. That was not a wise decision. As a Bitcoiner, you should avoid anything that puts you under pressure. Simple security and safety checks that are ignored can pose a greater risk than the one he was trying to escape from with the cops.

That could be a random event though. Maybe he wasn't carrying his hw wallet all the time with him...

In any event, I think he did the right think. When everyone around me has the potential to be a thief, I'd rather increase my paranoia levels than being sorry later.

Don't listen to the others OP, your friend did the right thing.

Now you should recolate to a different country imo. A safer one. That's the next best step to take.

[Die_empty]

When you life a a country where police can search and access your device, the ideal thing is to keep your wallet at home. Some people have more than one wallet. The hardware wallet is for large funds and serves as a cold wallet. While an online wallet with small amounts serves as a hot wallet.  I hope your friend has learned his lesson; he is lucky that he didn't learn it the hard way.

In what kind of country you live when cops can force you to unlock hardware wallet? Also, couldn't he say its like some other device and not hardware wallet? Btw, which one it was?

It is common in some countries where the government and law enforcement agencies are very corrupt. Even when it is against the law, the police still force people because they are not sanctioned or punished for breaking the law.

Now you should recolate to a different country imo. A safer one. That's the next best step to take.

Relocating is not that easy for those in developing nations. Accessing another country with better opportunities and safer living conditions is hard for people in third-world nations.

[hugeblack]

Is there a law that forces you to open your device wallet to the police? And why would your friend be carrying around a device wallet?

Generally, there's a passphrase feature where you can add a hidden wallet containing your balance, while letting the seed open a wallet with $100 or less.

[coinlary]

I don't seem to understand your story , which wallet shows seed phrase everytime while accessing unless they decide to check it themselves.  And even If they try to access, that will likely be as a result of knowing the pin he used for opening it.
Police do not have the right to check phones talk more of wallet but all this happen in a country where they violate human right  with no action to counter it.

Your friend is a citizen and he should know better not to take his wallet everywhere, keeping it hidden I'm his house protected with a passphrase solves most his headaches.

Lastly, you mentio Trust wallet , which hardware wallet is he using again?

[YellowSwap]

I like how sensitive this person is, or maybe just too sensitive, apart from this topic been right or wrong there is one thing that I've learnt here, if you feel any sense of danger around your wallet you are free to move your funds instantly.

I am guessing that this person has not much knowledge about hardware wallet but they still did the needful, only the experts knows that it's impossible for a camera to catch the recovery seed, but atleast he felt like something could be wrong.

He only needs to understand how hardware wallets actually works, I will also like to know the type of hardware wallet we talking about here, what if this person can't even tell the difference? I know a newbie that calls Electrum wallet a hardware wallet simply because it's available on computer too.

[summonerrk]

If you are from a country with high level of insecurity you need to be very smart.
Something happened to my cousin yesterday, some cop stopped him on his way coming to my house.

He had his hardware wallet on him and they forced him to unlock it.
That one thing that hardware wallet does right is the ability to not show balance straight up.

But after he unlocked the hardware wallet the cop guy takes a few step away and keep pressing the hardware wallet, and they found nothing but my cousin noticed that they have camera on them.

After the cop left he instantly installed trust wallet on his phone and move all his fund from the hardware wallet to the trust wallet, I asked him why and he said what if the camera on them captured his recovery seed already? What if they step away from him to get the recovery seed captured?

It was when it all makes sense to me, it is possible that after they drove off they will try to drain the wallet, he doesn't wait to get to my place before he moved all the bitcoin out to a hot wallet.

A few minutes wasted could turned into a horrible event, I liked that he doesn't waste any time.

And this is absolutely the right reaction from your brother, because the police can transfer all his bitcoins to their personal wallet, after which you will not be able to prove anything.
 Therefore, it is always best to try to protect yourself. In the country where I live, if I had lost my Bitcoins in this way, I probably would not have gone to the police because I would understand that no one would understand this case, not to mention that crypto has a gray status here.
In general, if I understand correctly, your brother decided not to delay, because these policemen apparently decided to rob this wallet later, and not immediately.

[michellee]

Why he take his hardware wallet with him? That is too risky, the hardware wallet should stay in a safe place. That is his asset and he need to protect it from anything.

But your cousin doing the right thing after the cop left. He should moves his funds from the hardware wallet to other wallets to prevent anything bad. But he should not repeat the same, carrying his wallet to anywhere avoiding the same thing happens.

[Agathamay]

If you are from a country with high level of insecurity you need to be very smart.
Something happened to my cousin yesterday, some cop stopped him on his way coming to my house.

He had his hardware wallet on him and they forced him to unlock it.
That one thing that hardware wallet does right is the ability to not show balance straight up.

But after he unlocked the hardware wallet the cop guy takes a few step away and keep pressing the hardware wallet, and they found nothing but my cousin noticed that they have camera on them.

After the cop left he instantly installed trust wallet on his phone and move all his fund from the hardware wallet to the trust wallet, I asked him why and he said what if the camera on them captured his recovery seed already? What if they step away from him to get the recovery seed captured?

It was when it all makes sense to me, it is possible that after they drove off they will try to drain the wallet, he doesn't wait to get to my place before he moved all the bitcoin out to a hot wallet.

A few minutes wasted could turned into a horrible event, I liked that he doesn't waste any time.

I was tempted to to ask you which country this incident happened because when reading your story, my mind was already fixed on a country something like this can happen but I had to withdraw the question so I don't seem too negative towards my country.
Your friend made a very nice move and I'm glad he was able to to spot the camera else the story here wouldn't have been the same and that is why we are urging everyone to take their safety and privacy very serious and in all you do, never trust people easily as anyone is capable of doing what you can't just imagine

[KiaKia]

OP owns us some explanation, tell us why he moved the hardware itself in the first place, both recovery seed and hardware wallets are supposed to be kept separately unless his home isn't safe.

I will only move my hardware wallet from my home to another location if it's not safe to be there at home anymore, I'm thinking this is what happened, I remember my old home where everyone gets to your space easily because we are family.

Maybe that's why he moved the hardware wallet? Him leaving that house and going to OPs house means one thing, after he is gone someone can go through his stuffs and find the hardware wallet.

[sergiorus]

I'm not sure this story is even real, BUT here's what I would do instead:

I would say that I've no idea how to unlock it and if they want they can just take it. That's right, assuming I'm in a really corrupted country and the cops are clearly intending to give me some hard time, I would just tell them to take the hardware wallet (80-90 EUR cost) and let me go but I would NEVER unlock it for them, let alone expose the seed phrase if I had any significant funds on there.

They still wouldn't be able to unlock it soon enough, if ever. I would have plenty of time to move funds to a safer place using the seed phrase when I get home.

[examplens]

Sorry, but this story seems very unrealistic to me. It would have been more logical for me if he had been using the Trust wallet until then, but after anyone touched his phone, he decided to urgently transfer the coins to another wallet.
Now I'm curious, which hardware wallet is it that is easy to unlock and displays the seed phrase, while at the same time not displaying the amounts in the addresses?

[lovesmayfamilis]

OP, on the forum, people from your region have repeatedly told stories about when the police can stop anyone for no reason and search him and his phone and everything else. Unfortunately, this is the reality of life in some countries, which I sympathize with very much. It doesn't even matter if this story is made up or not; the fact is that you, living in such a country, should be twice as careful with your vaults. You should not carry any phones in which there may be some data about crypto assets or hardware wallets. Your vigilance should always be on the alert; you should not create reasons for someone to put you in an unpleasant position.

[Zaguru12]

Sorry, but this story seems very unrealistic to me. It would have been more logical for me if he had been using the Trust wallet until then, but after anyone touched his phone, he decided to urgently transfer the coins to another wallet.
Now I'm curious, which hardware wallet is it that is easy to unlock and displays the seed phrase, while at the same time not displaying the amounts in the addresses?

While I wouldn’t say OP is actually lying, I would say the person who narrated the story to OP was definitely not telling a true story. Yes the hardware wallet doesn’t just display the balance of your wallet which is true like the OP said it, but it also doesn’t displays your seed phrase easily too. You definitely have to get a pin to access it first, hardware wallet like even Trezor displays that seed once when creating the wallet from that device. So how do they get access to the seed phrase easily or probably it was a guess by the narrator which is completely wrong by him.

Now with that seed phrase exposed to the internet if at all this story is true then there is nothing like a cold wallet again. Question for the narrator is how was the hardware wallet with him on the street, how did he get access to the seed phrase easily too.