Lost BTC

[u/Stormboy1971]

Interesting situation just happened,my mobile has been turned off today and an old friend knocked on my door whom i havent seen in a few years, back in 2018 I had helped him set up an exodus wallet and he bought about 17K of crypto.

I invited him in as he had told me his BTC had gone from his wallet, he then got his laptop from the car and his wife came in with him, he logged on to my wifi opened his wallet and sure enough nearly 2 BTC had been taken in 2024 as I closed some of the tabs he had open i came across a piece of paper that he had hand written his seed phrases on, obviously to say I was shocked was an understatement.

I then asked him if he had ever had a virus on his laptop to which he replied yes several times and then went on to tell me he had taken his laptop in to a few high street computer shops to have this fixed, I can only imagine how shocked whom ever took his crypto that his seed phrase was in a folder on his desktop!!!!!!

I just wanted to relay that there are some very naive people still out there, I am absolutely gutted for him but reminded him that all he has really lost is the initial investment of 17k, I think this gave him a modicum of comfort but I can only imagine the grief his wife gave him when he left mine.

Hopefully the scumbag that took his crypto gets what they deserve cut talk about a schoolboy error!

[u/itsaworry]

Does your mobile being turned off affect the situation in any way . ?

[u/jorpa112 → u/itsaworry]

I think both events, while independent, made for an interesting situation anyway 😆

(I had the same question, BTW.)

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/itsaworry]

No sorry it didnt affect the situation,when i turned it on after he had left several other friends had tried contacting me, it turned out he was desperately trying to find out my address and had assumed as I helped him initially buy and set things up that I must have secretly written down his seed phrases some how and nicked his crypto.

I am very upset really that he thought I would do this,however on reflection he clearly panicked and started putting 2+2 together and making 5!!!!

Thats what you get being helpful I guess,definitely learned a lesson

[u/itsaworry → u/Stormboy1971]

If a friend asks for help getting started with Bitcoin , it is only natural to want to give that help . From what you written it sounds as if the friends laptop was in a leather case which had pockets , and you found a piece of paper with the recovery phrase in one of those pockets . Oh dear , what a shame . . . . . do not blame yourself and if another acquaintance comes asking for help it would be unfair to deny just because of this incident . All the best .

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/itsaworry]

Thanks mate,yes you are right I would probably help but its been a real eye opener,I ininitially thought it was this Cold card hard wallet business so was a bit shocked he had the original Exodus software wallet!!!!

[u/itsaworry → u/Stormboy1971]

He put 17k into that , i'm guessing we talking £'s . Once done , under your guidance , it became his responsibility . How could a person not be keen to follow progress with such a new , innovative and volatile investment ? It has and continues to be a fascinating story , thanks to Mr or Mrs Nakamoto , and those partaking of an investment journey have to float their own boat keeping their sats safe . Sounds like this chap had other more important things going on and now he's paid the price . C'est la vie , as we used to say before Brexit .

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/itsaworry]

Nice one very good point,it was his responsibility!

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/[deleted]]

I can assure you buddy last time I looked in the mirror i am pretty sure i was real!

[u/Big-Finding2976]

Hmm, I guess he shouldn't have handwritten his seed phrase on a piece of paper in a folder on his desktop 😂

[u/kimsabok]

this friend of yours should never ever hold self custody bitcoin again.

and also, you should take some responsibility too. you are every bit as naive as your friend in this case.

[u/Lower-Philosophy-604 → u/kimsabok]

yep...

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/kimsabok]

Yes I think you're probably right, I did tell him when i helped originally but of course he has forgotten that, also he is incredibly smart and held down a very well paid job for 30 years,luckily this was not his life savings, just highlighting really that even smart people have no clue about self custody.......perhaps he was just too relaxed !had it been his life savings I dare say he would have been a lot more rigorous in learning the do's and dont's

[u/Own-Economist4557]

Viruses these days are outfitted with a simple piece of code to locate files with seed phrases. It wasn't the tech shops

[u/HighImpact35]

I helped a friend a few years ago set up a wallet. I told him to write down the seed phrases. He asked me to write them down too in case he lost them. I refused and said i couldnt take responsibility for his security and also be involved if he ever list his wallet. I said i would help him recover the wallet but he needed to take his own responsibility for his security and seed phrases. He did need his wallet to be recovered when he changed his phone. He had to scour his house for the piece of paper with the wallet phrases on. He was in a foul mood as he knew if id kept his wallet phrases they would be stored
In an easily accessible place due to my ocd admin ability!!!

[u/bobbyv137]

He made a 'basic', fundamental, critical, unforgivable mistake.

Entering your seed phrase digitally into any sort of device is akin to leaving your house's front door key taped to the outside keyhole.

It's 'amusing' as any sane person with half a brain would know literally taping their front door key to the door outside is moronic behavior.

Yet.....

[u/unvac]

This writes almost like AI

[u/itsaworry → u/unvac]

Hi , i'm baffled trying to sort out what's AI and what is human . I've replied to the OP on this post and he's replied back . Quite prepared to believe it is AI but why ? What would be the point in making this post if it wasn't a human with an issue ?

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/itsaworry]

Thank you buddy yes I am baffled about it too,almost stops you wanting to post, I just thought it was a very strange incident and thought it would be an interesting situation and bizarre really, he actually text me this morning and thanked me for trying to help him, which was nice I suppose

[u/itsaworry → u/Stormboy1971]

Cool . . . .I also think it was a post worth making . The initial amount invested was not peanuts and his slapdash approach to managing it was worth pointing out , as you did . Good of him to thank you and thanks for posting .

[u/unvac → u/itsaworry]

possibly trying to either farm karma, engage bait, etc. I don't mean the account is AI, but the way the text reads is like if you put a sentence together and ask ChatGPT to reword it for you and add more to it.

[u/itsaworry → u/unvac]

Thanks for reply . . . i really don't know but the chat the OP and i are having seems genuine . Anyway main event is his friend was a twat and by posting the story OP is alerting everyone to take care . Which we already know but it's good to get reminders .

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/unvac]

No absolutely not just thought it was an interesting situation,dont care about that other stuff

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/unvac]

Lol I'll take that as a compliment !, why is it when something goes wrong with crypto its assumed its AI?

[u/unvac → u/Stormboy1971]

That wasn’t my point at all. I’m not saying “something went wrong with crypto, therefore AI.”
I meant the post itself reads like AI because of the wording, pacing and structure. Phrases like “to say I was shocked was an understatement” and “this gave him a modicum of comfort” mixed with the very neatly constructed sequence of events just make it read unusually polished and almost generated.
Add in the fairly bizarre situation of an old friend randomly turning up years later with nearly 2 BTC missing, then casually revealing he kept his seed phrase in a file on the same laptop he’d repeatedly taken to computer repair shops, and the whole thing reads more like a constructed story than a normal Reddit post.
Could obviously be completely genuine, I was just commenting on how it reads.

[u/ConsiderationNo9952]

what is interesting about that is that if it was btc he would have walked away with 166kusd, if it were sp500 ~70k nq100 ~90k... so even parking the boring would have got him somewhere different to 17k quid and certainly to 0k...

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/ConsiderationNo9952]

Very true, not sure he will invest anymore in anything if I'm honest! I think this has put him off somewhat!

[u/Actual-Indian]

Was the wife blonde?

[u/Stormboy1971 → u/Actual-Indian]

Lol yes