The conversation around cryptocurrencies is an interesting one. On the one hand, proponents will tell you crypto is the future, citing countries like El Salvador adopting bitcoin as legal tender as proof that it’s only a matter of time. Critics think cryptos are pyramid schemes where early adopters and miners are looking for pansies to unload their worthless coins onto. Reality might be in the middle.
Critics love to point out that the higher anonymity cryptos can provide users attracts criminals. Criminals who want to accept funding for their illicit wares and criminals who want to defraud other crypto users, especially those who rely on exchange provided wallets. They know that there is no central organisation with which to demand transaction reversals. Essentially making it hard to recover any stolen funds.
Zimbabweans who have lost their life savings to bank closures will tell you that whenever some other organisation safekeeps your money, you are never ‘safe’. Cash or cold (offline) wallets in the crypto world will be your best hedge against theft.
HP Elite book
HP 250 g5
I’m looking for Hp 15t-dw300 LCD
Hp 250 G7
Of course armed robbers can relieve you of your cash and the cold wallet option is laborious and is responsible for many users forgetting/misplacing keys to cryptos worth hundreds of millions of dollars. So, choose your poison I guess, but just know there will be poison either way.
Bitfinex exchange was hacked
Back in August 2016, a hacker stole some bitcoin from the Bitfinex crypto exchange. It was a huge story as the bitcoin were worth about US$71 million. You might be thinking; aren’t the coins traceable, can we not consult the unchangeable ledger of transactions which records every coin movement? Yes to both.
Cryptocurrencies indeed are traceable.The world saw where the stolen coins had gone and every subsequent movement thereafter but no one knew who owned the wallets. That might appear to be a win for thieves but in practice, it’s not as easy to spend that stolen crypto or worse still to convert it to fiat currencies like the USD.
What happened with our stolen bitcoin was, since it’s not possible to just force a reversal, all exchanges just blacklisted those bitcoins. And in any case, crypto exchanges do have anti money laundering structures. Meaning even if the stolen crypto couldn’t be traced, an exchange would grill any user who tried to dump that many bitcoin at once.
So, the thief needed to be a master money launderer, à la Marty from Ozarks, to enjoy the fruits of their ‘labour’. This would prove to be no easy task as the bitcoin is now worth US$4.5 billion. You can just imagine how hard it is to clean billions of dollars knowing that you have no easy access to traders that you may offload the billions to.
The thief is caught?
It was only recently, in February 2022, that some people involved in the heist of 2016 were caught. A married couple from the USA were charged with trying to launder the stolen bitcoin. There is no case to prove that they are the ones who hacked Bitfinex, however their crime is trying to launder the proceeds of the hack.
Like we touched on, turns out even the ‘anonymous’ cryptos are hard to launder. In about 5 years, the laundering couple was able to launder only about 20% of the stolen bitcoin.
The couple tried shuffling the funds around to conceal the path of the bitcoin. They split the bitcoin into tiny fragments, remember one bitcoin can be split into almost infinite small pieces. Then they used the small fragments to exchange for other cryptos and also to buy stuff like gift cards, gold and even NFTs.
As of August 2021, about 80% of those stolen bitcoin still sat in the wallet they were transferred to initially. The launderers then decided to move about $760 million worth of the idle coins.
Again, they split the bitcoin into many pieces and then used “a series of small, complex transactions across multiple accounts and platforms” to move the bitcoin. The final destination of all these movements was one wallet which turned out to be in the name of the husband of the aforementioned couple.
The charges are that he conspired with his wife to launder that money and links have been made between the stolen crypto and crypto exchange wallets in the couple’s names.
So after the authorities recovered the stolen bitcoin, it turns out only 4% of the loot was successfully laundered.
The strange couple makes headlines
The couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have become legends. There is the bit about trying to launder billions of dollars and then there is the colourful half of the couple.
Lichtenstein is a Russian-American citizen who calls himself a tech entrepreneur. He posts about cryptocurrencies and NFTs on his social media and that’s about all that’s interesting about him.
His wife though, Morgan, is the one who caught people’s fancies. She used to contribute to Forbes and even has an article on tips to protect businesses from cybercriminals. How ironic that she turned out to be the cybercriminal. A company she incorporated years back was involved in a money laundering scheme.
She is also an amateur rapper, although not a good one. She has weird videos to her weird rhymes, you just couldn’t write an odder character.
Some time back, she gave a seminar about how to social engineer your way into anything and her methods are downright ugly. She herself learnt about six languages and so can fit in pretty much anywhere, making social engineering a breeze for her even as she boasted about some of the exclusive places she has infiltrated using her methods.
The lesson in all this: marry someone you can do everything with. If you end up facing 20-25 years in prison for your fun like Lichtenstein and Morgan are, then you know you face it together. None of this business of waiting for someone.
Crypto is not quite the wild wild west
The way critics of cryptos sound, you’d think it was a free-for-all for criminals using cryptocurrencies. But we have seen how in practice, if cryptos are blacklisted, the open ledger works against criminals.
There are actors who work against the system though. Some crypto exchanges in China, Russia and Eastern Europe would have gladly accepted the stolen bitcoin. The infamous North Korean hackers are known to cash out their stolen cryptos in China. Because yes, crypto exchanges are hacked quite often.
The prudent crypto enthusiast therefore does not keep his stash in an exchange provided wallet.
If we are to dismiss cryptos because some bad actors fund their illegal businesses through it or because some hackers regularly steal from exchanges we might as well ban cash too, or just money in general. Cryptos represent a means of exchange and what you exchange cryptos for is your prerogative, just like it is with fiat cash. Of course, knowing that the law enforcer will want a sit down with you if you cross certain lines.
watch out for the other bitcoin thieves here in Zim, being promoted by scumbags masquerading as CFX, cash forex group, cfx group etc etc “investment opportunity” etc etc
I’m blessed to recommend you to the best fund retrieval team at C R Y P T O R E V E R S A L (at) G M I L () C 0 M if you’ve lost money to online theft this team can recover the funds as they got back my stolen BTC from a fake broker with ease. Write them
also cash fx scumbags, be weary of these parasitic bums
Cyber security only works in the USA. On here in African nations.
Learn to remove unnecessary detail when writing such tech news. I have other things to read 🤣🤣🤣
This is very pathetic to deal with such heartless people , and how will we recover our stolen bitcoins?
For recovery of crypto currency, tokens or funds lost to online theft and individuals with negative intention reach out to JimFundsRecovery AT Consultant D0T Com to help you retrieve your lost. I lost a huge amount of coins to online scams, I almost lost my mind with it. This recovery agency literally saved my life and helped me recover all I lost in few days, thankfully I kept a record of the whole incident which enabled the recovery specialist to have access to the necessary details needed for my recovery. Contact the address above if you have lost any crypto currency to online crypto and investments scam.
reach out to JimFundsRecovery AT Consultant D0T Com to help you retrieve your lost $
contact lucenteq. net, they offer the best in recovery of lost funds. I was a victim of being scammed by fake brokers but they helped out In getting my funds back in no time.
Is it possible for scam victims to receive their money back? Yes, if you have been a victim of a fraud from an unregulated investing platform or any other scam, you may be able to reclaim what was stolen from you, but only if you report it to the appropriate authorities. You may reclaim what you’ve lost with the appropriate strategy and evidence. Those in charge of these unregulated platforms would most likely try to persuade you that what happened to your money was an unfortunate occurrence when, in reality, it was a sophisticated theft. If you or someone you know has been a victim of these situations, you should know that there are resources available to assist you. Simply do a search (r e v e r s a l p r o c o m) . It is never too late if you have the right information, your sanity can be restored.
I looked them up and filed a case, i got help too!
Don’t be despair you can recover your stolen bitcoins, ETH, USDT and other digital assets with ease when you reach out to C R Y P T O R E V E R S A L (at) G M I L () c 0 M for the best fund retrieval assistance
It’s unfortunate that there are people who set up platforms in order to financially ruin innocent people who want to invest. I, too, fell for a scam and would have been left in ruins if I hadn’t enlisted the help of reversalpro . com to ensure the success of my recoup process.
I lost my bitcoin to fake blockchain impostors on Facebook. Then I made a research online and found a recovery expert , with the contact address- Info(at)cyberoperations{dot}tech
I wrote directly to the specialist explaining my loss. Hence, he helped me recover a significant part of my investment just after 2 days he helped me launch the recovery program , and the culprits were identified as well , all thanks to his expertise . I hope I have been able to help someone as well . Reach out to the recovery specialist to recover you lost funds from any form of online scam>>
you can google CYBEROPERATIONS(DOT)TECH for more information
Ever been a victim of investment, trading or any cryptocurrency scam, don’t hesitate to reach out to Summitrecoup com to help recover all your funds. They’re truly the Best and most legit brand out there. Get help while you can.
Is there anyone else out there who has also lost a lot of money due to this scam? Please visit reversalpro (.) (com) right away to get assistance.
Is there anyone else out there who has also lost a lot of money due to this scam? Please visit reversalpro (.) (com) right away to get assistance.
Don’t be despair you can recover your stolen bitcoins, ETH, USDT and other digital assets with ease when you reach out to C R Y P T O R E V E R S A L (at) G M I L () c 0 M for the best fund retrieval assistance..
Topnotch
The best way to recover your money and bitcoin is by contacting a recovery company but make sure you have the proof connecting to you been scammed. Visit www, (grantbeyond), net to report scam and recover your losses
My name is Bruce I was a victim of a binary option scam but this is about a friend I met after I recovered my lost cash to a binary option broker…
I signed up to a dating app, I matched with a lady who works for the USA army, we started dating cause she was so loving, caring and beautiful, she approached me first, during this time I had already fell for her, so we started dating, after some weeks she told me she had been send to an African country for peace keeping, on getting there, she told me she had misplaced her debit, I felt bad for her, she asked for my help with money, I was so in live I didn’t think it over I sent her some cash to eat, after that I got asked help for her daughter who was in the hospital, I sent that too…. To cut the long story short, she asked for my help a lot of times and I kept helping cause I really cared about her, this happened for about 6month, I was getting tired of waiting so I told her, that was when she told me she would come over but first she has to pay some money, I so want to meet with her so I made a wire transfer, that was the very last time I heard from her, it was then I got to realized I had been scammed of about $110,000…
I was so sad, I had no one to talk to about it, I was so lost and didn’t know what to do, one good morning I was on my computer looking for solutions, it was then I came across **GRANTBEYOND, **saw how they had helped a lot of people recovered their lost cash, though I was scared of been scammed again but I had to take the risk, after providing to them all the details I was asked of, i got message from them in to 2weeks telling how they had help me recover back my money, I was so happy and also short of words cause during this time I had no hope and believe I would get my money back… GRANTBEYOND saved my life, made me smile again ………GRANTBEYOND (.) NET
Hello everyone my name is Shan Abel from San Francisco,
I had some cryptocurrency in a Bitcoin wallet that I thought was permanently lost. I’d sent my laptop to a number of reputable data recovery companies, but to no avail. After seeing a positive comment about Wrath Venom on “Morning Drew,” I decided to try one more time to recover my wallet.
Wrath Venom responded quickly to emails and recovered my wallet in just a few days. I was concerned about providing my wallet seed and passphrase, but there was no need to be. Wrath Venom was honorable and followed our agreement.
I would strongly advise you to use Wrath Venom’s services, even if you have almost given up hope of recovering your wallet.
Email (Wrathvenom@cyber-wizard.com) or
WhatsApp +1 (337)4140629
Thank you Rootkits Spammer (spammer@fastservice.com) for successfully accessing my wife’s private Gmail account without leaving any traces or receiving any notifications. This is my first time dealing with you, and I am incredibly appreciative of the outcome. Rootkits Spammer is undoubtedly a trustworthy hacking group that you can rely on if you need one.
Contact a team that will help you recover your funds regardless of how much you’ve lost to a fake investment company or sent to your soldier lover.
A team that has the ability and technology to recover lost funds and bitcoin . Either sent to a romance scammer, a fake broker or a fake investment company. FASTFUNDSRECOVERY will safely help you recover your money
visit the website below to file a complaint with them
www FASTFUNDSRECOVERY. NET
Hello everyone, I’m Penny Gordon and I was one of the victims of a fake investment platform, and unfortunately, I had already invested $704,000 worth of Bitcoins before I realize it was all a scam. I had reported them to the authorities but there was nothing the authorities could do to get back my money as everybody else thought Bitcoins were untraceable and cannot be recovered. I thought I had lost everything until my colleague at work told me about SPYWEB CYBER, a reputable fund recovery company. I contacted SPYWEB CYBER and provided all the required information, and to my surprise, SPYWEB CYBER was able to recover my money in 48 hours, a total of $702,000 was fully recovered back to my wallet. I’m super grateful to SPYWEB CYBER and I highly recommend their services to everyone out there.
Reach them via E-mail: (SPYWEB@CYBERDUDE. COM) & (CONTACT@SPYWEB. TECH)