If you have a Coinbase account: BEWARE because you could lose everything you own, just like I did (help me spread the word fellow steemians!)
Hi all,
I am sure many of you have heard of coinbase right? Well you best listen up, because you could lose everything. Why do I say this, because I just did. Earlier today someone outside of the united states gained access to my coinbase account and gmail address, most likely by someone sim swapping my cell phone, here is an article about it, wish I had known this much earlier http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/11896024/How-to-protect-yourself-from-SIM-swap-scams.html. Within 20 or so minutes they had not only emptied out my account with almost all my assets (I had planned to move my BTC to cold storage tomorrow, really wishing I had done it yesterday) but also had triggered Coinbases violation bots by buying 4 BTC using my bank address, though the buy request got denied and they decided to cover their tracks by closing my account. In a way it is horrifically brilliant. How did I figure all this out from a single email from coinbase saying that my account had been closed? Well in my trash folder whoever got into my email had forgotten to delete the email from coinbase saying my bank had cancelled the payment. The email with Googles warning about an unverified login, and all other coinbase emails must have been deleted already. To add insult to injury since the Coinbase account is closed I cannot and probably will never know the addresses my 7 ethereum and .52 BTC were sent to. The message from Coinbases customer service is essentially "Too bad". I hope that this isn't the end of my crypto journey, but the idea that I have lost not only 6 months of meticulous and successful trading, but also most of my lifes savings, is hard to swallow, I honestly keep pinching myself hoping to wake up from this nightmare. You never think it will happen to you... but it can... and it did happen to me.. While 1.2 BTC may not seem like alot for some people, I have essentially lost it all. If you have a coinbase account, I suggest being very vigilant and adding all the security you can, even though it didnt really do me any good. Maybe even move your stored BTC to a cold wallet... NEVER TRUST that coinbase will help you out.
If you would like to help others please help me spread the word by resteeming or promoting this post!
If you would like to help me out of this dark hole, here are my new wallets, anything you can give is appreciated. But again the message is far more important, I cannot sit by and let others get hurt the same way I did.
17kxfiXPJRGtw478FrNo4Nr9KwQXacUX8U (BTC)
0xcD02a7968D80BC10c5a95ed535B468be776FB473 (ETH)
Coinbase is really busy and has very little time to help those that get hacked. Everybody sez never leave your coin with them. MOVE IT immediately.
I was literally going to leave coinbase tomorrow morning. I've lost it all, and all my faith in coinbase because of their reaction to me. All 1.2 BTC has been stolen from me and coinbase doesn't care at all, that's why I'm trying to spread the word
What could they do? You lost all faith in them but in reality with the way ethereum and bitcoin are structured there are really no ways that I know of to reverse the transfers once they are completed. So you got hacked which really sucks, but I found myself thinking about coinbase and I really don't know what they could have done about this. It is something ALL of us run risks with anywhere that we store our crypto. :(
I am truly sorry this happened to you. Oh, and I don't use coinbase, so I am not defending them out of any sense of loyalty. I pretty much leave my money in steem power and I sell steem and sbd and convert it to fiat to buy things as needed. I don't leave it sitting anywhere but as steem power. :)
I am very sorry to read what you went through!. I know its not a lot you lost, but its ALOT to you and I feel you on that! :(
I always thought Coinbase is reliable, being so regulated.. ID verification, limits on deposits, withdrawals, so on, what a nightmare! Hope you recover soon, buddy, all the best!
QUESTION: what were your security precautions? Did you have Google auth as a 2FA?
I had Text 2fa set up (this is what bit me, since my sim card got swapped), my password was only bypassed because they had access to very private information such as my social security number (my password would take 3 million years to crack under brute force) . And Email confirmation as well, but all where redundant in the face of them having taken control of my number
Hm I see, you had 2 step verification - (a code sent to your phone) and not 2FA google Authenticator (thats why i was reading that text code to phone is less secure). BTW just read Coinbase are insured if you are in USA, but only if they are hack attacked, not losses resulting from the compromise of your individual Coinbase account :( And I guess you didn't try the BTC Vault (unfortunately they only have it for Bitcoin).
How can they have your SSN? Do these people know you? Or it all came because of the sim / phone compromise?!
Anyway, I am hearing more that people use PRE-Paid cards for that matter (to avoid sim-swap sh*t).
It is both, my SSN was stolen in a previous hack of Anthem Blue Cross. I'm sure there is an article about that here on steemit but in any case it is a healthcare insurance provider.
So, I guess your phone number was associated with your email??? Yeah, we live in those smart phone times, where the phone becomes your fri**ing wallet...
I re-steemed your story yesterday. I hope more people do that and help you out.
Thank you very much! Steemit has always been good to me, so I am hopeful that this post will pick up!
Damn that is awful! I truly feel for you, it's why I only started using Coinbase to transfer and instantly withdraw, can't trust that exchange!
What do you use to cash out? I'm open to suggestions.
Hi @sensatus, I'm a journalist at Fortune writing about Coinbase hacks just like yours (yours is the third I've heard about in just a couple of weeks). Hoping you can tell me a little more about what happened, even anonymously if you prefer. You can find me on Twitter @jenwieczner (email address in bio)--thanks!
"Everybody sez never leave your coin with them."
^This is one of the most important things I learned. Still somewhat new to crypto, but I learned that keeping my BTC on Coinbase was a risk. Now I buy and immediately move to my wallet.
Also, does anyone use Abra to buy Bitcoin? Seems like a better alternative. But I don't see it mentioned much in Bitcoin circles.
if not Coinbase, then who??
Theres a site called Localbitcoins that seems to be a much better way of purchasing BTC, If i hadnt sunk my life savings into BTC originally I would probably use them as my GO-TO, to get back in, and probably to get out aswell when the time comes
Trezor is a good safe place for bitcoin.
Look it up..:)
Will do! This looks pretty sweet, if I ever get some of my money back, i think Ill order one!
The Trezor is great. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, it's really the wild west here and I know that Coinbase has had a four fold increase in new users since January and that the system is probably a bit overwhelmed. But yeah, def get coins in cold storage right away next time. Good luck
A decentralized exchange like Lykke where you hold a private key! There are also others like Bitsquare, but Lykke is easy to use.
lots of exchanges out there.
lots of wallets out there.
use the right tool for the purpose.
exchanges are not wallets.
I'm sorry about all of this.
Upvoted and resteeming. Hope that will help.
:/
Thank you, it means alot
@shayne just made a $100 purchase with coinbase this morning! Quick, whats a good cold wallet to snag?!
Jaxx Wallett is a very secure and easy to use wallet
I use a KeepKey hardware wallet, personally.
Ok going to check that out, thanks! ☺
i am sorry this happened, but I sincerely appreciate you sharing the info as I was about to set-up an account with them. Resteeming this.
I'm glad that I could help you! That was my intention with posting this!
Resteemed to spread the word. I'll be upvoting your comments on the post too.
You are truly amazing, I know you've probably heard this before... but thank you, thank you, thank you
You're welcome
You're welcome
You're welcome
XD
I know that God will not stop blessing you. Kind hearted man.
Thanks for the heads up
EXACT thing happened to me, now I'm in a back and forth email frenzy. I believe their security is terrible.
How did that happen? Can you explain a bit? I am so sorry to read such sad news, but please enlighten the others as sensatus did. Hope for you and all the best!
oh my goodness that is horrible! Hope that your sharing will bring back to you 10 fold for your losses. Very sad news :(
Yes its really crushing, you'd think life would have given me a little more used to being an adult before it up and strips it all away. And Id probably propose to Steemit if I managed to recoup even 50% of my losses haha
I'm sorry to hear this. It seems to be happening more and more. I posted an article yesterday relating to password security http://bit.ly/2sGwyCV while @stellabelle wrote a post about SMS 2FA hacks 2 days ago: http://bit.ly/2r9gyY9. I hope these links are useful to you going forward.
So sorry for your loss. May God help you to recover all.
Thank you, I hope that it is possible!
Is there anyway to really keep your crypto safe other than cold storage? I'm running into the problem of who I can trust with my money. What happens when you store wealth in something that computer whizses can crack and steal from? Which wallet is secure without downloading the core client? I hope you get back 10x what was taken from you. I speak blessing to you brother, keep your head up and learn this very valuable lesson. Be thankful you were not in like a million and have this happen. Learn it now to secure your funds so when you get a million you'll be just fine :-)
Thank you for the kind words! Yea, I think you may be on to something with cold storage and not being able to trust the established services, If I manage to recoup enough of my losses to purchase a physical wallet, I will do so in a heartbeat. Someone recommended Trezor to me
I would also recommend getting out of Bitcoin altogether and looking more towards altcoins like ethereum and steem. I actually think storing money on here is safer than most exchanges.