This guy accidentally sent 800 coins to an old Mt.Gox address - he needs help

[grahvity]

BTC Reward offered BTC

He writes:

I messed up big time. I sent this address 800 bitcoin:
113MmkyjjH6zS9VMvbwrhBNoMe6upzdvNC
https://blockchain.info/address/113MmkyjjH6zS9VMvbwrhBNoMe6upzdvNC
I had previously sent this address 300 bitcoin a year ago, and for the life of me I cannot remember what that was!
Any and all help appreciated.

The answer comes:

Mystery solved: this is a MtGox address. You sent 300 to it one year ago
ae1332a4-f3c0-4805-89d4-396387e7a96e,8c71169c-c0b2-46a8-97c8-8940cf2bb89a,"2013-04-16 18:37:04",deposit,300
So. I guess my goxcoins just became 800/202000 = 0.4% more worth. Thanks buddy.
Jokes aside this clearly sucks. I would recommend that you write a PHYSICAL letter and send it off to Japan.

If you have better advice for him besides "send a letter to Japan," please reply to him in the thread below.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/273vi2/if_you_just_received_800_bitcoin_out_of_the_blue/

Thanks!

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[hilariousandco]

I don't understand why you wouldn't double, triple or quadruple check before you sent that amount of money. I think I usually check everything multiple times before I send any amount of bitcoin.

[DJFC]

Hi,

That's me.
 

Any help is appreciated, and I will be generous with rewards.


-DJFC

[DJFC]

Before I engage the lawyer, is there a way to confirm that this definitely was a Mt. Gox address... I was never able to verify that myself.

[hodlmybtc]

Ouch sick story, good luck getting your coins back!

[joecooin]

Can the bloggers and journalists on this board please publish articles about this incident?

The man is much more likely to get his coins back once there is public awareness and the guys in charge at gox know that people are watching how they handle this situation!

[whtchocla7e]

Legally speaking, it is not possible to force someone to send back Bitcoins (assuming you are able to determine who controls the recipient key). Am I right?

Personally, I would be careful about using lawyers and such and you definitely don't want to start your communications with a threat.

[Djao]

@DJFC: why did you send the coins via Coinbase?

[nottm28]

I'm not buying it - you don't just send half a million dollars to any old address - I smell bs

[Djao]

@DJFC: why did you send the coins via Coinbase?

No reason to add insult to injury- I'm sure he's hurting enough with the feeling of losing half a milli.

With that said, getting info here for initial guidance is good but you're going to need some type of legal assistance in this, no matter what.

Didn't mean to insult anybody, just asking a totally sane question. He's into bitcoin since at least 2010, so I guess he kinda knows how things work in the bitcoin world. I'm totally fine with having 1-10 BTC in an online wallet, but 800?

[DJFC]

Well it happened and I'm sorry.

Is there any tech contact at Mt. Gox these days?

[Abdussamad]

If you have better advice for him besides "send a letter to Japan," please reply to him in the thread below.

I suppose that someone losing 300 BTC on Gox and moving 800 BTC like it was spare change still controls a very large number of coins and/or fiat, so :

1. Get a good lawyer. One that knows how liquidations work in Japan.
2. If it works like it does in developed countries, then the liquidator representing the company is not allowed to accept any new payment or delivery from former partners after the liquidation starts.
3. Let your lawyer write to the liquidator and/or the Japanese court and demand the bitcoins to be sent back to you.

It will cost you between $10k and $100k and you have a 50% chance of recovering them.

Japan is a developed country so I don't know why you are implying otherwise in 2. I also don't see how it would cost so much just to get a lawyer to write a letter.

[Rannasha]

Well it happened and I'm sorry.

Is there any tech contact at Mt. Gox these days?

Since MtGox has started bankruptcy proceedings, all contacts have to go through the representative assigned to MtGox by the Japanese bankruptcy couirt. The regular MtGox employees no longer have any control over what goes on there. You should be able to find contact information on the MtGox homepage in one of the press releases.

[Djao]

Well it happened and I'm sorry.

Is there any tech contact at Mt. Gox these days?

Since MtGox has started bankruptcy proceedings, all contacts have to go through the representative assigned to MtGox by the Japanese bankruptcy couirt. The regular MtGox employees no longer have any control over what goes on there. You should be able to find contact information on the MtGox homepage in one of the press releases.

https://www.mtgox.com/img/pdf/20140521_announce.pdf

Bankruptcy trustee
Attorney-at-law Nobuaki Kobayashi
Shibuya 2-11-5, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
MtGox Co., Ltd. bankruptcy trustee office
Tel +81-3-4588-3922

[jc01480]

Can you not attempt to log in to your Mt. Gox account?

https://www.mtgox.com/

Hopefully you can remember your old credentials.

Hope this helps.

[Bit_Happy]

Well it happened and I'm sorry.

Is there any tech contact at Mt. Gox these days?

Please tell us why you sent so much and who did you think you were sending to?
I read this thread and part on Reddit and didn't see the answer (maybe I missed it) ...Sorry about your loss.

[LiteCoinGuy]

I don't understand why you wouldn't double, triple or quadruple check before you sent that amount of money. I think I usually check everything multiple times before I send any amount of bitcoin.

yeah normal people would do that....maybe he holds 5000 BTC and dont care  


ask Mark if he can sent it back. (sry ironic)

[SteadyAsSheGoes]

Well it happened and I'm sorry.

Is there any tech contact at Mt. Gox these days?

Please tell us why you sent so much and who did you think you were sending to?
I read this thread and part on Reddit and didn't see the answer (maybe I missed it) ...Sorry about your loss.

@DJFC
I was about to ask a similar question. I don't really think the amount is relevant though. What I mainly wonder about is: how precisely did you end up sending it to that address? If you had not sent anything there for a year, then how did you end up using that specific address? Did you use something like an address book and you clicked the wrong one, or did your wallet get compromised, or ..?

Note that I am asking this because I am sincerely interested in understanding the situation in detail. And I think it can be helpful to everyone here to understand what went wrong, in an effort to try and prevent the same mistake happening again.

In either case: I hope you manage to recover the funds.

[padrino]

I suspect you can get some traction with the rep. for Mt. Gox on this given the amount and situation at hand however I would start by signing the addresses you sent from so it's clear who controls them as a way to show proof you own the addresses at hand..

In addition a very good story on how you accidentally sent the coins to the wrong account, I would compare it to the situation when someone accidentally transfer $500,000 to the wrong international account.. Well that is extremely rare but there is at least a frame of reference for how to handle that type of situation including ownership of funds, etc..

I have a Lawyer that handles these types of things but a chain of custody (signing the addresses, etc.) would need to be established before kicking the door open.. While others assume a Lawyer means threats that isn't the job of your Lawyer from the onset, at least it isn't with respect to this issue.

[DJFC]

I have signed the addresses.

I accidentally used the wrong address because this address was on top alphabetically from all the addresses I had ever sent to, I accidentally copied this address instead of my own address.