Two guys are chasing a Bitcoin thief

[whtchocla7e]

Where is proof that there was even theft involved?

Theft is a nice term used to try to cover up the stupidity of a person who exposes sensitive information, like their private key.

They can chase the "thief" all they want, they'll never see a single BIT of that coin ever again...

[5flags]

Where is proof that there was even theft involved?

Theft is a nice term used to try to cover up the stupidity of a person who exposes sensitive information, like their private key.

They can chase the "thief" all they want, they'll never see a single BIT of that coin ever again...

Someone stole the coins. Even if you leave the keys to your car in the ignition, it's still theft if someone takes it.

And no, those coins are gone. The only question is how much can the thief use without leaving clues to his identity.

[byt411]

Where is proof that there was even theft involved?

Theft is a nice term used to try to cover up the stupidity of a person who exposes sensitive information, like their private key.

They can chase the "thief" all they want, they'll never see a single BIT of that coin ever again...

Someone stole the coins. Even if you leave the keys to your car in the ignition, it's still theft if someone takes it.

And no, those coins are gone. The only question is how much can the thief use without leaving clues to his identity.

Nice term... LOL. Even if he left the private key lying around, and someone stole it, it's still theft.
If you left your wallet on a bench and someone takes the money, it's not theft?
English problems.

[j3steven]

The coins are gone forever, sad but true.

Lets say these cyber-detectives track some of these coins on to an exchange, where the thief is trying to sell them for fiat.  What are they going to do?  Contact the exchange/admins and say "there is a user on this site selling stolen coins".  The exchange wont do anything.  If the thief was remotely smart he'd sell them outside of an exchange, or like someone posted before launder them through alt coins and changed addresses (super easy to do).

[byt411]

The coins are gone forever, sad but true.

Lets say these cyber-detectives track some of these coins on to an exchange, where the thief is trying to sell them for fiat.  What are they going to do?  Contact the exchange/admins and say "there is a user on this site selling stolen coins".  The exchange wont do anything.  If the thief was remotely smart he'd sell them outside of an exchange, or like someone posted before launder them through alt coins and changed addresses (super easy to do).

If the admins do something, that would destroy the whole bitcoin system. Transactions are meant to be irreversible, authorized or not. If we make a special case for someone, more will follow.

[j3steven]

The coins are gone forever, sad but true.

Lets say these cyber-detectives track some of these coins on to an exchange, where the thief is trying to sell them for fiat.  What are they going to do?  Contact the exchange/admins and say "there is a user on this site selling stolen coins".  The exchange wont do anything.  If the thief was remotely smart he'd sell them outside of an exchange, or like someone posted before launder them through alt coins and changed addresses (super easy to do).

If the admins do something, that would destroy the whole bitcoin system. Transactions are meant to be irreversible, authorized or not. If we make a special case for someone, more will follow.

Exactly.  I guess my question of what will they do was more of a rhetorical question.  It's a theft and a crime, but at this point there isn't anything these guys can do outside of luckily finding the person in real life and having some fun with him/her/them.

[lemfuture]

i laugh at these "trackers".

spending all their lives looking at blockexplorer.com thinking it will reveal the persons real life home address.

while the thief can make 20 usernames on 10 different exchanges. (200 accounts)

then
1. deposit 100 bitcoins
2. then go into profile settings of account and generate a new address.
3. repeat 1 & 2. four more times to  get 500btc into one account.
4. buy litecoin and withdraw to a litecoin address.

5. go to next account and repeat 1-4

now the "trackers" are seeing bitcoin is being moved, they see 100btc go to an address, and then get split up again. they think its the theif splitting it up, yet the reality if splits below 100btc are other people withdrawing from the exchange mixer.

so the "trackers" are watching all these very small bitcoin transactions, whilst the theif is now playing with litecoins and moving them to an exchange where he can cash out.

there are other coins such as 21coin 42coin 66coin, where their values are of multiple bitcoin. meaning that exchanges wont see as much of a alt coin grab event compared to grabbing thousands of litecoin.

oh shit money laundering through altcoins o.o nicee..

[franky1]

Didn't the US IRS decide that bitcoin was not currency and labeled it as property?  If that's true, in your scenario wouldn't they be able to go to the police and say "i was on an online market and deposited bitcoins, or property per the IRS, to buy whatever i want.  and someone stole my property."

Now, I completely understand that the police will do jack-squat (Chris Farley voice), but doesnt someone have a legitimate claim if BTC is stolen to claim it as stolen property?  

ok lets talk about property. and lets convert blackmarket into the streets of detroit..

person: "hi officer i want to report a theft. i gave my TV, my car and my stereosystem to a drug dealer on the streets in exchange for drugs. i then found out that the tv, car and drugs were stolen and i cant now buy drugs of get my property back"

police: "so you were buying drugs... step this way"

property is property, and some dumb people will think that authorities will help out with any theft.. whether its financial or property. in my eyes.. people on drug websites should accept they will get extorted more so then on normal sites.. simply because.. you are dealing with criminals, and they know that the law wont help you. not because its property.. but because your doing a criminal act

[jparsley]

I haven't heard of the story before, interesting read, thanks!

I think the thief should start sending small amounts to random active addresses, even member addresses found on this forum. That will make the number of address to monitor explode exponentially.

that would be a good idea

[chandan123]

very interesting chase    

what if the thief uses a mixer    

[Bonio]

So if no one caught the theif then it just goes to show crime really does pay in crypto currency land!

[miztaziggy]

If he sends them in small chunks to localbitcoins and sells them for cash, how will the people tracking him ever know they have been through LBC?

On the blockchain will the transactions just look like small amount of BTC moving to one address then out to another?

[5flags]

If he sends them in small chunks to localbitcoins and sells them for cash, how will the people tracking him ever know they have been through LBC?

On the blockchain will the transactions just look like small amount of BTC moving to one address then out to another?

LBTC operates as a web wallet, so it's entirely possible that an LBTC address could be linked to them.

[bountygiver]

So if no one caught the theif then it just goes to show crime really does pay in crypto currency land!

That is if you actually know how to steal them.

But the majority of BTC users who are in for profit don't really know how to protect their private keys anyways, you can attack from the weakest point.

[bryant.coleman]

Where is proof that there was even theft involved?
Theft is a nice term used to try to cover up the stupidity of a person who exposes sensitive information, like their private key.
They can chase the "thief" all they want, they'll never see a single BIT of that coin ever again...

In this case it can be safely assumed that a thief was involved. Because it is believed that the owner of Sheep Marketplace (someone from the Czech Republic) was the same guy who stole the Bitcoins from his customers and the SMP vendors. He didn't exposed any sensitive information. He just stole all the coins, just like what Mark Kerpeles did with Mt Gox.

[nkocevar]

From when is this article? 99,000 = $100mill? Even if they find thief what are they going to do to him, call the police on him? You can't do nothing to the person who stole your BTCs

not to be a dick or anything, but "cant do nothing" is a double negative. Sorry it bothers me xD

[Inkvor]

From when is this article? 99,000 = $100mill? Even if they find thief what are they going to do to him, call the police on him? You can't do nothing to the person who stole your BTCs

not to be a dick or anything, but "cant do nothing" is a double negative. Sorry it bothers me xD

No chance , even by now i don think i heard any one got caught by stealing BTC

[halorose]

 interesting read, thanks!

[Pente]

i laugh at these "trackers".

spending all their lives looking at blockexplorer.com thinking it will reveal the persons real life home address.

while the thief can make 20 usernames on 10 different exchanges. (200 accounts)

then
1. deposit 100 bitcoins
2. then go into profile settings of account and generate a new address.
3. repeat 1 & 2. four more times to  get 500btc into one account.
4. buy litecoin and withdraw to a litecoin address.

5. go to next account and repeat 1-4

now the "trackers" are seeing bitcoin is being moved, they see 100btc go to an address, and then get split up again. they think its the theif splitting it up, yet the reality if splits below 100btc are other people withdrawing from the exchange mixer.

so the "trackers" are watching all these very small bitcoin transactions, whilst the theif is now playing with litecoins and moving them to an exchange where he can cash out.

there are other coins such as 21coin 42coin 66coin, where their values are of multiple bitcoin. meaning that exchanges wont see as much of a alt coin grab event compared to grabbing thousands of litecoin.

oh shit money laundering through altcoins o.o nicee..

And just imagine, jumping around from altcoin to altcoin. You can also use Darkcoin to really mess up the trail. And as the market caps gets bigger and bigger, laundering very large sums of money will get easier and easier.

[Wheelie]

"the two chasers began sending the thief tiny fractions of Bitcoins, specifically 0.00666 Bitcoins"


Well my guess is they are only giving him more coins to spend, they just can not keep dropping small amount on all new addresses.

nice read btw!