Bitcoin enables everyone to be their own bank. But great responsibility comes with great power. This man lost a lot of money through a SIM swap.
One of the most important arguments that Bitcoin’s passionate proponents use to promote the cryptocurrency is: “Become your own bank”. In fact, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies allow the bank to take on the role itself. Everyone can receive transactions, save assets and send transactions at their own risk.
While many advocates see this as one of the most tempting aspects of Bitcoin, the “become your own bank” aspect of Bitcoin also has its drawbacks. The main disadvantage is that you have to secure your own assets. If you don’t do it properly, you can easily become a victim of a hack.
$ 45 million was stolen from this whale
According to this Reddit post, which has now been deleted by the author “Zhoujianfu”, a large sum of Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been stolen from the whale. The Chinese whale, Zhoujianfu, sought help for the back processing of the transaction by the miners with about 3 confirmations. But the transaction seems to have gone through irrevocably.
The Chinese whale wrote:
“This is my address, damn it. The transactions currently only have 3 confirmations (from the miners), if any miners or the community can help in any way, I have the private key. Help, help, help … great reward. “
The attached addresses in the Reddit post, the possession of which the Reddit user has confirmed by signing a message with a private Bitcoin key, suggest that $ 30 million BCH and $ 15 million BTC were stolen.
How does something terrible happen?
According to the victim, it was a SIM swap. For those who are not aware of what a SIM swap is: A hacker assumes its own mobile identity, i.e. H. the mobile number. This often happens through social engineering tactics. Because many services require two-factor authentication in the form of codes that are sent as text to phone numbers, a SIM swap hacker can have easier access to online banking information, email, online file drives, and even enable the login data for crypto exchanges.
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