How bitcoins are stolen: Five common ways. A short educational program on the topic of how bitcoins are stolen

Eat different ways how to steal bitcoin. Using several methods, unscrupulous companies steal your bitcoins. Let's look at the most common options.

How to steal Bitcoin from a wallet

Since the beginning of the opening of companies to the industry, there have been complaints from customers that their bitcoins were stolen from them, and technical support is unable to resolve the problem.

If you have any amount of bitcoins, you need to store them somewhere. You contact a company that provides a platform for creating . Crypto wallet providers try to make the procedure for organizing and managing accounts as easy as possible; for this purpose, keys are often stored in the system.

1. It's possible that some companies are abusing the fact that they have access to your private key. They simply transfer clients' funds to other accounts.
2. Perhaps losses and lack of enrollment are the result of weak software and errors. Because often, after proceedings, the money is restored.

Complaints of this kind are found against any company specializing in organizing bitcoins. It is worth considering here that some of the complaints are the machinations of competitors. Traditionally, large payment systems for virtual currencies that have been operating for several years are valued by their customers.

The digital industry itself is quite young, like most service firms for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Many companies are less than five years old, which is not enough time to build a strong reputation.

The risks are really greatest when the user decides to trust a new company, or when the owners of the system offer too attractive conditions, such as low commissions and benefits, more profitable than those existing on the market.

How can you steal bitcoins during an exchange?

Sometimes wallets are hacked, private keys are obtained and replaced with their own.

Like wallets, services usually have access to private keys for ease of transactions. It is much easier to complete transactions when the exchanger stores your private key. If such a service is hacked or the organizers decide to stop operations and steal money, there is little you can do to fix it.

You should look for a reliable exchange company by studying reviews and comments on forums and thematic websites.

How else can you steal bitcoins?

A non-existent product from unscrupulous counterparties is another way to steal bitcoins.

There is no return of money in the cryptosystem; a completed transaction is irreversible. If the seller decides not to ship the item you purchased or refund your money, there is nothing you can do. You will simply become a victim of a scam organized to steal bitcoins.

If the private key is stored on your computer, and a hacker breaks in and finds the keys, he will gain access to your account and can steal bitcoins. The attacker can be either a person or a spyware program.

Of course, you can steal keys stored on paper or a flash drive. Especially from a careless, gullible owner.

Thus, the most common way to steal bitcoins is to gain access to your private key.

About the theft of money from the Coinomi wallet, our editors received another request from a user with a similar problem. On our own behalf, we would like to add that the administration of the wallet does not respond to complaints in any way; there is still no sane answer.

Hello, a similar situation occurred with my coinomi wallet as with Alexander Yakovlev.

Having learned that the btg fork was working, the first thing I did was create a wallet in Coinomi on separate device, except for the Coinomi wallet, on this device There was nothing else at all - just an empty tablet.

Next, on my smartphone, I pulled out btg from several wallets and transferred them to the Coinomi account that I created on the tablet. After the btg arrived successfully, I was in no hurry to exchange them, I monitored the situation, one day, seeing that the rate was rapidly falling, I decided to sell them through the Changelly service in the same Coinomi, after making the exchange I received btc. After 20 minutes, I opened the tablet again and found that my btc had gone in an unknown direction.

Just like in Alexander’s wallet, I lost more money than I had.

BTG funds from this wallet were transferred to the Changelly service: https://btgexp.com/address/GXmdKKEqCrMmTxqb6G9bXWUsqXpRjptnZS
BTC: https://blockchain.info/ru/address/1NLRxwq655jP9nahfDziwBzeU4EdXFGcvX

Screenshots from the tablet are also attached.

When I wrote this letter, I remembered that I inserted phrases, as I now found out in the scam wallet mybtgwallet.com, which bitcoingold.com itself advertised on its website as an official wallet.

I learned that this is a scam service in this article http://bitcoinwhoswho.com/blog/2017/11/16/million-dollar-mybtgwallet-scam/

IN this moment there is not a single word about this on the bitcoin.gold website, but through the archive.org cache service it is clear that a link to mybtgwallet.com existed.

Initially, digital coins were developed as the most reliable payment instrument, which cannot be faked. However, in practice, we increasingly have to deal with theft virtual money. It is for this reason that their holders are interested in how to steal bitcoins from a wallet in terms of what to do to maximize the protection of their savings from viruses and hacker attacks.

With the growing popularity of Bitcoin and the increase in the number of active users, topics and software become relevant effective protection funds in electronic wallets.

How can bitcoins be stolen from a wallet and during an exchange?

Explaining the essence of the entire military-technical cooperation system in simple words, attention should be paid to the need for special storage for virtual coins. His main characteristic at the same time there is a maximum level of reliability. Otherwise, attackers may gain access to digital money. But, despite all the statements about anonymity and reliability, BTC holders are worried about whether Bitcoin can be stolen, and how the thieves do it.

Today, developers of specialized software and suppliers of crypto wallets, in order to simplify the account management process as much as possible, can store keys directly in the system itself. At the same time, one can increasingly come across customer complaints about abuse of access to these keys. Users also complain about the weakness of the software itself, due to which coins are lost.

However, the most dangerous is unauthorized access to the wallets of attackers. Most often this becomes the result of successful hacker attacks. Often secret keys may be stolen when used exchange services. As a result of hacking of such platforms attackers gain access to the wallets of cryptocurrency holders.

Fraud to steal bitcoins

Many films and films are devoted to various nuances of the digital money system and, in particular, the circulation of coins. IN Lately Increasingly, reports are being recorded of attempted attacks not only on cryptocurrency exchanges, but also on electronic wallets (BTC addresses) of users. When analyzing where and how attackers can steal bitcoins, it is worth paying attention to the most common types of fraudulent actions.

The record popularity of Bitcoin and the entire virtual money industry could not go unnoticed by an entire army of attackers whose main goal is to seize the user’s coins at any cost. The victims of scammers most often are newcomers taking their first steps in the world of cryptocurrencies. There are many ways to deceive users, but the most common fraudulent means are:

• Ransomware used by scammers to obtain a ransom for deactivating malicious software.
• Dummy wallets. It's about about sites and mobile applications, which outwardly look like real wallets, but can steal coins at any time.
• Phishing is a fairly widely used method of information theft based on social engineering.
• Financial pyramids adapted for cryptocurrency.
• Launch of fake digital coins. A striking example is the OneCoin project.
• Fraudulent ICOs. One of these fake platforms was able to raise about 10 million US dollars in investment.

In addition to all of the above, a user can lose his hard-earned BTC coins through P2P exchanges. This refers to services that facilitate concluding direct transactions between Bitcoin holders using third-party payment systems and bank cards.

Video: How Bitcoin is stolen

So, you decided to take advantage of the drawdown in the cryptocurrency market and bought Bitcoin or some other coin, and maybe even traded on the exchange. How to save money? Now I’ll tell you about the types of crypto wallets and their features.

For starters, there are wallets monocurrency And multicurrency. The first ones work only with one currency, while the second ones support many different ones.

• Hot. Keeping money in hot storage is the same as carrying bills and coins in your pocket. Cryptocurrency in such wallets will always be at hand and accessible from any device. This is good for quickly sending to the exchange, exchangers or other people, but bad from a security point of view, because the data, including the private key for sending funds, is stored on remote servers.
• Cold. It's like you hide the money under the floorboard or lock it in a safe. Such wallets do not need constant communication with the network. Private keys and money are stored on your device or piece of paper. Yes, it is safe, but at the same time it is not very convenient if you need to send money urgently.

All clear? And now more details.

1. Controlled online wallets

The easiest option to store bitcoin, ether and other crypto is to use a hot wallet on some service. People like blockchain.info and Cryptonator.com. Hot wallets are issued to users of the LocalBitcoins.com site and traders on crypto exchanges.

Yes, it’s convenient and easy to store money somewhere there, but - remote server could be hacked, confiscated by the feds, hit with DDOS attacks, blocked by the government, stolen by aliens, and the exchange - well, the exchange could also go bankrupt. Therefore, you should use such wallets only if you plan to actively trade. It is better to withdraw the same money that you decide to store into cold wallets.

🔥 If you decide to store money online, be sure to enable two-factor authentication and go through verification. Login and password alone are not enough for security!

2. Uncontrolled mobile and desktop wallets

Here you will have to work hard and install the appropriate applications on your computer or smartphone. Such wallets are safer than online ones because private keys will be stored on your device, but at the same time they are suitable for prompt cryptocurrency exchange. Since these wallets require an active connection to the Internet, there remains a risk of hacking.

Jaxx, Exodus, Coinomi are some of the most popular uncontrolled wallets.

🔥 This type of wallet does not require registration through email, no verification, so you maintain your anonymity. However, this places full responsibility on you for access to your money, because if you lose the SEED phrase to your wallet and payment password, then no one will help you.

3. Hardware wallets

Pocket safes are specially designed devices for storing cryptocurrency, similar in appearance to a flash drive.

Ledger Nano S – the most popular and secure hardware wallet. In addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum, it supports Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, NEO, Ripple, Stellar, etc. The wallet connects to the USB port of your computer, is protected by a PIN code that you enter directly on the gadget, and a long recovery phrase of 24 words - it is generated by the device itself without the help of a computer. To operate with cryptocurrency, you will need to install a wallet client on your computer.

There is also Trezor and KeepKey, but after information about a vulnerability in ST32F05 chips appeared on the Internet, trust in these gadgets was undermined.

🔥 Included with Ladger Nano S you will find a card with 24 passwords. Take great care of it, because if your wallet breaks or gets lost, using one of these passwords you can order the exact same one from the manufacturer and recover your money.

4. Paper wallets

Wat?! Yes. Bu-maz-ny-e. But how?! Very simple. You create keys offline using the WalletGenerator.net program. You need to download the site code to your computer, disconnect from the Internet, then select the desired currency and generate public and private keys in the program, which you then need to print out on a piece of paper. The public key to receive money can be safely distributed to everyone left and right. Closed for shipping, of course, it needs to be hidden away.

🔥 By creating a paper wallet, it’s like going back in time - to the very times when money was paper. You could touch them, drop them out of your pocket, lose them in a fight with gopniks, or lose them after a night with a dubious lady.

5. State purses

In Russia, such wallets do not yet exist, but if you believe the recently published bill of the Ministry of Finance “On Digital Financial Assets”, they are about to appear. The thing is that the Ministry of Finance wants to prohibit Russians from buying and selling cryptocurrency without intermediaries, which will be “digital financial asset exchange operators” - offices that comply with the laws “On the Securities Market” and “On Organized Trading”.

These legal intermediaries will issue “digital wallets” for Russians to store crypto, and only after full identification of the person in accordance with the law “On Combating the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism.”

The question of how to steal Bitcoin worries not only cybercriminals, but also cryptocurrency owners. After all, “who is forewarned is forearmed.”

It is not uncommon to hear about cases of bitcoin theft. It all started in 2011, when the first major victim of hackers was an ordinary user with the nickname Allinvain. After this, users of the MyBitcoin service, which previously functioned as online wallet. The total amount of stolen bitcoins was one million dollars. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of similar examples. And the most recent case that caused a wide resonance was the robbery of the Mt.Gox exchange, whose clients lost a total of eight hundred thousand bitcoins.

The fact that Bitcoin owners are independently responsible for their savings is an important feature of cryptocurrency. Complete freedom to manage digital currency has only one danger - the risk of losing savings as a result of an error remains. For example, you can lose your savings forever by sending a large sum to the wrong place. As a rule, only newcomers to the topic of cryptocurrencies encounter such situations. But every day, cybercriminals are becoming more skillful, coming up with new ways to steal bitcoins. Therefore, even experienced users can become victims of scammers.

Let's look at the most popular methods of stealing cryptocurrency today.

Hacker programs

The use of ransomware is one of the most profitable methods Bitcoin theft. This method is far from new, but most hackers prefer to follow a well-established scheme:

· the virus gets onto the user's computer;

· the program encrypts files on the computer;

· the program asks the user to pay a ransom to decrypt the files.

Not only large companies, but also regular users. Therefore, it is very important to do it in a timely manner backups your files, do not open suspicious or unfamiliar programs and use a reliable antivirus.

Fake wallets

This method of stealing bitcoins is not very common, but many cryptocurrency owners have already become its victims. A fake wallet is an application that looks exactly like an existing wallet. Even the logo and interface are copied. Some wallets were made so convincingly that they even managed to pass verification in the App Store.

By storing your savings in such a wallet, you can lose them at any moment. Therefore, it is recommended to download applications only from trusted sources. You can verify the reliability of your wallet by contacting members of communities such as Bitcointalk or Reddit.

Fake cryptocurrencies

Let's say you regularly use a trusted BTS exchange site and buy this cryptocurrency, knowing everything about it. But what if you are offered to buy an unknown digital currency at a low price, promising that its value will increase several times in the near future? It sounds dubious, but many users have already become victims of this type of fraud. Thus, the Onecoin company offered to mine its own cryptocurrency, convincing that very soon it would become popular and begin to generate income for its owners. After some time, it turned out that the Onecoin blockchain or network of miners did not exist at all.

If you want to check a cryptocurrency before purchasing, use the sites Coinmarketcap or CryptoCompare. This way you can be confident in the reliability of your investment.

Fraudulent ICOs

This method of deceiving users is rapidly gaining momentum. Its essence is that Bitcoin owners are offered to pay for tokens as part of a pre-sale when the project is launched. From the outside it looks very convincing, because everyone knows that ICOs have helped many trusted companies raise millions of dollars.

To avoid becoming a victim of scammers, you need to carefully study all the information on the project website and collect as much information as possible about the company.

Phishing