Protect your crypto form Stop and Search threat

[casey15]

Everytime we discuss about attacks, hacks, quantum computing and recently the hardware attacks. One this for us especially in Nigeria that is an attack vector to our asset is not a hacker sitting in some basement in Russia... It is one police officer that is standing at a checkpoint somewhere on the highway.
E nor matter where you dey stay wether na Lagos or Abuja or port Harcourt, them dey everywhere. We know the usual format of park well. It's bad now that it not just people with cars that are victims. Even when you are in a commercial vehicle, when they see that you dress so well and look neat you have automatically become a target.
Once they spot By it, Binance or anything crypto related in your phone, them go behind extort you. Threats of detention go just dey fly up and down and them go say you be yahoo bog and they won't let you go until you have settled them.
This is a Type of attack too. So this thread is a discussion on how we can protect our assets from such.
Most AppLock and second space are no longer reliable because these officers don wise. So some of the suggestions that are still effective against them are:

* Use a clean phone: If you are commuting to a place that is orobe to these stop and search, it is advisable to use a burner phone. You can swap your sims and use a phone that have nothing related to crypto in it. You can even use a button phone that cannot assess the internet.
•Make use of a bait wallet: This one nor totally dey safe sha but you fit just use wallet wey be say na o ly like $5 or $10 dey inside .. this one na Incase them pressure you too much so that you fit show say everywhere red fir your side.
• Browser only wallets: You can use browser only wallets especially on PC so you don't have to install any native wallet on your phone. No logins, no bookmark e t c they will not be able to find anything to hold you with.
• Cold storage: Even with the current saga of cold storage breach, it is still one of your best bet to protect your asset.  You dint have to carry it around, it can be in your house while your phone is free from any conventional crypto app.

These are just my few ideas. This is a discussion so more ideas are welcomed. We cannot be 100 % free from them, this is just a way of reducing the likelihood of extortion.

For the everyday P2P vendors among us, have you had any encounter recently, and how were you able to handle it abi you still Settle the boys.

[PostQuantumBTC]

If you have money, get a lawyer, make sure you pay your taxes. If any of the police try to do something that is not in your favour, do not fear.

If the police is not cooperating, let him know that you want to record him with your phone and start recording and let him know that you have done nothing wrong and that your work is legit. Do not fight them but be very bold that you know your right.

If the police want to search your phone, ask the police of their search warrant and if they want to arrest you? Because searching someone's phone means they have been authorized to do so, but most police are only abusing it.

But sending a police to go and arrest someone as a target is different. Police do so because they are suspecting the person already that he is doing something not good like Yahoo Yahoo, but not the police you see on the road side that stopped you. I know what I can do to just let them leave me alone.

Always be polite with them.


About the phone, why will anyone be carrying his crypto phone about? What if it is not even police but thieves that can force the person to hand over his coins.

[NewRevelation]

Everytime we discuss about attacks, hacks, quantum computing and recently the hardware attacks. One this for us especially in Nigeria that is an attack vector to our asset is not a hacker sitting in some basement in Russia... It is one police officer that is standing at a checkpoint somewhere on the highway.
E nor matter where you dey stay wether na Lagos or Abuja or port Harcourt, them dey everywhere. We know the usual format of park well. It's bad now that it not just people with cars that are victims. Even when you are in a commercial vehicle, when they see that you dress so well and look neat you have automatically become a target.
Once they spot By it, Binance or anything crypto related in your phone, them go behind extort you. Threats of detention go just dey fly up and down and them go say you be yahoo bog and they won't let you go until you have settled them.
This is a Type of attack too. So this thread is a discussion on how we can protect our assets from such.
Most AppLock and second space are no longer reliable because these officers don wise. So some of the suggestions that are still effective against them are:

* Use a clean phone: If you are commuting to a place that is orobe to these stop and search, it is advisable to use a burner phone. You can swap your sims and use a phone that have nothing related to crypto in it. You can even use a button phone that cannot assess the internet.
•Make use of a bait wallet: This one nor totally dey safe sha but you fit just use wallet wey be say na o ly like $5 or $10 dey inside .. this one na Incase them pressure you too much so that you fit show say everywhere red fir your side.
• Browser only wallets: You can use browser only wallets especially on PC so you don't have to install any native wallet on your phone. No logins, no bookmark e t c they will not be able to find anything to hold you with.
• Cold storage: Even with the current saga of cold storage breach, it is still one of your best bet to protect your asset.  You dint have to carry it around, it can be in your house while your phone is free from any conventional crypto app.

These are just my few ideas. This is a discussion so more ideas are welcomed. We cannot be 100 % free from them, this is just a way of reducing the likelihood of extortion.

For the everyday P2P vendors among us, have you had any encounter recently, and how were you able to handle it abi you still Settle the boys.

Sincerely, I don't get you at all... Are you saying that as a Bitcoin investor for instance, and I haveade some Savings in my investment
or nay other crypto assets, then police go hold me say wetin happen?? Dem dey mad? Unless say u dey tell us now say you be Yahoo boy, and e get things wey u dey do online wey no dey legit(internet fraudster).

Normally, they will always come to molest you if they see you are well dressed. But because you are not a fraudster, you don't have to be afraid of them. What will they search for? You apps or what? I don't think one should fear is you are not a fraudster. Why will they threatem you for arrest, is crypto a crime? Or internet investment?  You will only fear if you know you aren't pure.

[Fiatless]

For the everyday P2P vendors among us, have you had any encounter recently, and how were you able to handle it abi you still Settle the boys.

Sometimes I dey wonder if police want everybody to become poor. If you drive fine car or dress well, you don become target. Abi dem want all of us to dey suffer, wear rag and dey trek.

The people I dey pity na people way dey engage in crypto transactions every time such as traders. But for people wey be long-time hodlers, their matter soft. Na to keep everything wey concern crypto for house. This na the best option.

[casey15]

Sincerely, I don't get you at all... Are you saying that as a Bitcoin investor for instance, and I haveade some Savings in my investment
or nay other crypto assets, then police go hold me say wetin happen?? Dem dey mad? Unless say u dey tell us now say you be Yahoo boy, and e get things wey u dey do online wey no dey legit(internet fraudster).

Normally, they will always come to molest you if they see you are well dressed. But because you are not a fraudster, you don't have to be afraid of them. What will they search for? You apps or what? I don't think one should fear is you are not a fraudster. Why will they threatem you for arrest, is crypto a crime? Or internet investment?  You will only fear if you know you aren't pure.

I don't think you understand the way things go now.  Na wetin I don experience up to 3 times this year alone. All the time I'm on my way to school with my bag and my official outfit but them go still stop... 2 times they stopped Keke because of me and na only me them search and nor be say I dey drip like that.
I'm speaking based in experience and I know of two other victims. They did not even allow one if them to explain they just tagged him a yahoo boy for the fact that he had crypto asset and he was driving a benz. He had to bail himself before they allowed him to go. I live in a student environment and a lot of people have experienced it

[Doan9269]

One this for us especially in Nigeria that is an attack vector to our asset is not a hacker sitting in some basement in Russia... It is one police officer that is standing at a checkpoint somewhere on the highway.

Don't dress indecently if you are into cryptocurrency in Nigeria and look like street hoodlums. This is one of the first things that reveals fraudsters, as they are easily identified by their way of dressing. We all know the kind of mentality we have in Nigeria, and you must be conscious of how you dress and the way you appear when you are going to any checkpoints to avoid any suspicious look on you by the security operatives.

[Ethan151]

My opinion, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment from the so-called police officers, is to dress responsibly, behave calmly, and answer questions simply and truthfully. Don’t become unnecessarily defensive.
We all know that, irrespective of the fact that some Nigerian police officers can be difficult, trust me, they can often differentiate between someone who looks suspicious and someone who is clean.
I’ve been in a situation like that before, and the officer knew I had nothing to hide. Although I later gave him some money, it was entirely at my own discretion and not because I was forced to do so.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

There's this saying that "prevention is better than cure" If you already know or learn about how the police men in your city of residence normally behaves, the best thing to do is to come up with your own strategy to avoid them, if you are also traveling outside your state, you should take on some precautions. Some of those officers can go extreme according the videos and stories I have seen on social media.
 Personal, I have few exchanges on my phone that I use for features and p2p trading and some wallets too but I don't usually keep money In those accounts unless I want to trade, my main wallet is usually off my phone if I am going to a place where I feel someone funny might likely happen.

You can delete those important apps from your phone when you are going out to a strange place or going to places where you feel you might have encounter with those officers.

[sokani]

The people I dey pity na people way dey engage in crypto transactions every time such as traders. But for people wey be long-time hodlers, their matter soft. Na to keep everything wey concern crypto for house. This na the best option.

With cases of police extortion happening everywhere, traders supposed dey wise. Dem supposed get a dedicated phone wey dem go dey use dey trade, wey dem no go dey carry around. Di phone go just dey for house and if for any reason, dem need to travel, let's say out of the state to anoda state. Nah to switch off di phone, put am for travelling bag.

if you are also traveling outside your state, you should take on some precautions. Some of those officers can go extreme according the videos and stories I have seen on social media.

Nah to keep funds for house but in case you need to carry am travel. You also need to protect yourself by getting a smart eyeglass. In case police wan extort you, you go secretly record and post am online. If e get to di authorities, dem go punish dem and return your fund.

[Bryan jessy]

Honestly the robbers we have now are not only the type that attack us with a gun pointed directly to our forehead, few weeks ago I traveled to my village I decided to visit because I have not visited in years and my parents are over there, I traveled through public transportation on our way it was almost like every 5 to 10 meters away are checkpoints and the sad thing is that fact that in every checkpoint they will not let the drivers go until he offers them money, the annoying part is if you give them any amount they are not satisfied with they will not let you drive pass, few years back it was about checking guys phone during that period lots of guys in my country was arrested and their money was taken from them due to false accusations by the police officers.

[Cryptoprincess101]

But i thought that the police commissioner in FCT has warned that no policemen should search phones during a stop and search. Did he just made that statement for formality? Anyways, we are in Nigeria so I understand how ineffective laws are, not to talk of an ordinary comment made by the FCT police commissioner. On a norm, police is not supposed to search someone's phone except there is a report of criminal behaviour by a suspect then they can do that when the person is arrested. The duty of the police at check points is to make sure that motorists do not carry exhibits in their car but I don't know how we got to this stage where they go as far as searching people's phones and extorting from them.
       Just like the first person that replied to this post said, get a good lawyer that will come through for you in terms of harassment by police officers. The reason why this uniform men have grown so much wings is because many of us don't know our rights. How can you suspect people that dress neatly that they're into fraud, even someone that dresses tattered is not supposed to be harassed because their is to dress code in the country as per say someone is violating the dress code.
         What kind of country did we even find ourselves that we can't just leave a normal life free from harassment and intimidation from our armed forces. They have made civilians become too scared of them even more than criminals. In fact, as a matter of fact our policemen have been caught severally on illicit act. This is really bad, we cannot run away from our country so the government needs to look into these cases. Another problem we have in this country is that the youths are too weak. They hardly protest over something that is not right if not, just one huge protest against this police harassment can put a stop or minimise these behaviours.

[Franklyn-wood]

One this for us especially in Nigeria that is an attack vector to our asset is not a hacker sitting in some basement in Russia... It is one police officer that is standing at a checkpoint somewhere on the highway.

Don't dress indecently if you are into cryptocurrency in Nigeria and look like street hoodlums. This is one of the first things that reveals fraudsters, as they are easily identified by their way of dressing. We all know the kind of mentality we have in Nigeria, and you must be conscious of how you dress and the way you appear when you are going to any checkpoints to avoid any suspicious look on you by the security operatives.

The way one dresses is the way one will be addressed life is give and take, it is good to dress well always to avoid being approached to buy law enforcement agents mostly the ones that are looking for opportunities to get money from the hands of people that are not properly dressed.
Many times I have been stopped by some of this enforcement agents the y sometimes stop me and as me questions and I will just smile and and respond to them calmly without a wavering voice.

[Churchillvv]

Nothing I know is that police leverage the opportunity that people do not know their right and harassing them based on that is the cure of all attacks but most times also have it in mind that Nigeria can happen to you even with all you have but always do the needful by having a lawyer to interpret things for you and then have them as contact for emergency and when you get stopped or searched you can call for their aid. When a police officer is wrong and you approach them in a cool way then request to call your lawyer they will dismiss the case and request some little thing for you based on free will if you want to but if not they will let you go but however, business money is not supposed to be carried about.

Every crypto guy out there knows that nobody is their friend with such money even police are not for your protection. So keep your crypto in a safe place when moving around.

[Tonimez]

To survive in Nigeria, you must be very wise as a person first before any other thing. You must understand when to be careful with your words and when to go fearless. Firstly, as a crypto handler, you must be careful about your outfit and looks always. I went to a place yesterday and while I was there, four guys entered with their phones and on siting them, I already knew they were either Yahoo guys or Traders. I kept cool and watched, it didn't take long before they started discussing about their trades and coins and I immediately realised I was right. The way most guys dress is the reason why police and other security agents extort them on the road.

Again, at all time try to be firm and respectful. Don't easily allow your phone to be searched, ask to know why they want to search your phone and get used to recording every moment with body cameras. Learn how to make videos secretly because if some of these officers know that you're recording them, they can harm you especially if the checkpoint is in a hidden location. But if the checkpoint is in a location where bystanders can easily see what's happening, you can record them openly and inform them that you will send the video online. By so doing, they will be careful not to loose their jobs.

[devouring-DARKNESS]

If you have money, get a lawyer, make sure you pay your taxes. If any of the police try to do something that is not in your favour, do not fear.

If the police is not cooperating, let him know that you want to record him with your phone and start recording and let him know that you have done nothing wrong and that your work is legit. Do not fight them but be very bold that you know your right.

If the police want to search your phone, ask the police of their search warrant and if they want to arrest you? Because searching someone's phone means they have been authorized to do so, but most police are only abusing it.

But sending a police to go and arrest someone as a target is different. Police do so because they are suspecting the person already that he is doing something not good like Yahoo Yahoo, but not the police you see on the road side that stopped you. I know what I can do to just let them leave me alone.

Always be polite with them.


About the phone, why will anyone be carrying his crypto phone about? What if it is not even police but thieves that can force the person to hand over his coins.

Not up to a month ago a guy was shot in Port Harcourt by the police for refusing to settle them, his actions according to certain reports were a bit arrogant but it was done under the pretest of knowing his rights, the police can stop and search you on the way, there is a cut around there as far as the law is concerned, you can get your lawyer and they will claim they saw a bulge in your clothing that looked like you were concealing a weapon of any kind, they don't have to find anything on you, the claim that they suspected you had something on you is enough for them.
Being polite can also be twisted as being smug, if you've encountered them on the way you will understand, searching your phone is a different matter, I'm not sure they have a right to do that based on a suspicion but talking about not taking you crypto phone with you is too short sighted, what if I was going home for the holidays or was going back to where I stay after the holidays, you can expect me to not have my phone with me because I had my wallet installed on it.
What I would consider to do is to uninstall these apps when you are travelling, getting them back won't cost much and you can avoid any unnecessary shenanigans if your phone does get searched by the police, you can always install them back later, your account will still be your own.

[Yablee0]

I am pretty surprised to heard about this in this present time. That is to say that our police that are supposed to be going after criminals like kidnappers, arm robbers etc, are now after innocent citizens all because they look good , or were they expecting people to start looking very dirty or to be so unkept like I don't understand our police anymore.

This is really unfair and I think it's lack of supervision from their superiors is the cause of all this nonsense that is happening. However, the best is just to make sure you didn't install any crypto related apps on your mobiles to avoid such senero and embarrassment because even if you decide to report them to their various offices superior's, they will still want to place some allegations on you just to justify what their officer's did  since they're all birds of the same feather flock together.

[Big Dirams]

One this for us especially in Nigeria that is an attack vector to our asset is not a hacker sitting in some basement in Russia... It is one police officer that is standing at a checkpoint somewhere on the highway.

Don't dress indecently if you are into cryptocurrency in Nigeria and look like street hoodlums. This is one of the first things that reveals fraudsters, as they are easily identified by their way of dressing. We all know the kind of mentality we have in Nigeria, and you must be conscious of how you dress and the way you appear when you are going to any checkpoints to avoid any suspicious look on you by the security operatives.

The way one dresses is the way one will be addressed life is give and take, it is good to dress well always to avoid being approached to buy law enforcement agents mostly the ones that are looking for opportunities to get money from the hands of people that are not properly dressed.
Many times I have been stopped by some of this enforcement agents the y sometimes stop me and as me questions and I will just smile and and respond to them calmly without a wavering voice.

There are some things that are taken normal which it isn’t supposed to be that way. Dressing doesn't define someone character, behavior and personality, sometimes with dressing we can easily tell the kind of person someone is but we can’t fully assume on that and be 100% sure but in this our country things like this are what they use to judge someone and harass people.
 Either we are a imam or pastor the moment we dress in a manner we ain’t supposed to then if we are seen by any uniform personnel most especially those law enforcement officers or police officers too then we will get stopped and Probably even get harassed by them. So dressing now is something we need to be caution of in this our country especially as a young teenager.

[MisFoxie]

-snip-

Such an incident can happen as a real world view. It could be related to crypto adoption, police may think something suspicious if they see a crypto wallet or exchange on people phone or maybe they become greedy after seeing crypto balance. But in the end they will not be able to take any legal action against you if they do not get any strong proof.

I already keep my wallets on another offline device and the exchanges stay on my regular phone but I use the hide app option on my phone because of which when the phone is opened my phone looks completely clean.

I think using browser based wallets becomes very risky, we should always keep our crypto wallet on an offline device for better security.

[nelson4lov]

~Snipped
If the police want to search your phone, ask the police of their search warrant and if they want to arrest you? Because searching someone's phone means they have been authorized to do so, but most police are only abusing it.
[...]

Where is this? Most of these officers don't care about a search warrant. They most especially don't care if you're polite. What they want is simply to extort you any way they can. Sometimes even if you go out without a phone, you risk putting yourself into a problem with them because they will feel you're hiding something which is why you intentionally kept device at home.

The best thing is just to avoid getting into those situations because the situation is never a pleasant one to be in, lawyer or not.