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Thieves in London target digital investors by taking phones
- johndoe0815 4y agoOnly in the UK… „A third victim said he had been vomiting under a bridge when a mugger forced him to unlock his phone“ :)
- bryanrasmussen 4y agonot so fast, people vomit a lot under bridges here in Copenhagen, Denmark as well.
- dazc 4y agoWould a Danish person say he was vomitting under a bridge as if was it the most normal thing to be doing though?
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoaccording to the Swedes it's about the only thing we do over here. also, yeah.
- InCityDreams 4y agoOh, that Copenhagen.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agodidn't want any confusion with the one in NY.
- thrwyoilarticle 4y agoAre quite a lot of them British?
- bryanrasmussen 4y agono, also a quote from Shakespeare is appropriate here: "This heavy headed revel east and west Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations; They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase Soil our addition; and indeed it takes From our achievements, though perform'd at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute." Now I always thought that was Shakespeare's sly little dig at his own country's reputation, but some years ago I was reading and presumably it was because the Danish royal court had visited England the year before the writing of Hamlet, and been scandalously drunk the whole time they were there.
- throwawaycities 4y agoThe entire list of victims makes the article read like something from The Onion. The guy agreeing to go down the alley to buy cocaine from a group of strangers, the guy that got “pick-pocketed” while at the pub, to the anon vomiting under a bridge…where I am from the guy randomly vomiting under a bridge doesn’t have a phone much less $30k in crypto on it. It just doesn’t seem plausible a random thief sees someone under a bridge vomiting and reasonably thinks that victim has untraceable crypto on his phone.
- Ekaros 4y agoIt depends. If the vomiting guy is well dressed in what could be considered expensive or stylish and clean clothes it is an excellent target. Probably someone with money and lessened ability to protect themselves. Also might be doing some drugs or other things which also makes contacting police less likely.
- logifail 4y agoIf one owns items of substantial value, something which is easy for a thief to take/hard to trace/almost impossible to recover once stolen, why would you carry it around with you unless you absolutely had to? Setting up your phone so it can directly access your crypto wallets appears to be the modern equivalent of carrying physical silver/gold/bearer bonds around in your backpack every day.
- bell-cot 4y agoIt’s harder to ++ your social status and self-esteem if you don’t have proof of your buying into the bottom of the crypto pyramid handy, to show off and admire.
- crtasm 4y agoI guess a watch-only wallet doesn't cut it.
- koolba 4y ago> Setting up your phone so it can directly access your crypto wallets appears to be the modern equivalent of carrying physical silver/gold/bearer bonds around in your backpack every day. Arguably it’s much worse too as at least worth the physical bonds and metals, the thief has to carry them away. Normally that’s be transferred to a second or even third member of the crew. Digital assets are going to put the thief team members that are handed off the stolen goods out of work. Maybe they can learn to code.
- logifail 4y ago> Arguably it’s much worse too as at least worth the physical bonds and metals, the thief has to carry them away Admittedly once the crypto transfer is done there's no need to involve someone else to fence the goods, but note that one million USD of gold isn't actually that hard to move around (less than 17kg / 37lbs), although you'd stand out at airport security. I once carried a small quantity (by value) of silver coins through Manchester Airport, UK and attracted far more attention there than I wanted! You can get away with way more if you're Gene Hackman and have a beaten-up truck :) (Heist, 2001, directed by David Mamet...)
- electic 4y agoDo not have non-custodial, or custodial, wallets on your phone. It is incredibly not wise.
- drexlspivey 4y agoIn a recent Darknet Diaries episode, the guest describes how the world's most valuable data breach dump (the one from the hardware wallet company Ledger) is used to steal crypto. The perpetrators were cross checking data from the dump with an exposed Coinbase API that would return the user's balance without prompting for 2FA and then they targeted the high balance individuals with spearfishing attacks and SIM swaps.
- derwiki 4y agoHighly recommend this episode, it was eye opening!
- riekus 4y agoNumber?
- drexlspivey 4y agoEpisode 112 https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/112/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/112/
- youniverse 4y agoThis episode is crazy informative about how hackers target crypto holders and perform sim swapping. Strongly recommend anyone interested to check it out.
- blablablerg 4y agoI live in a pretty safe country, but these days in the smartphone era I feel more vulnerable when alone at night in the city, not because I have crypto or anything but just because I have a smartphone, an expensive device and a PITA to lose in general. In the pre-smartphone era, I'd have a maximum of 50 euros in cash in my pocket, not worth it for most muggers. I'd hand that over gladly.
- dazc 4y agoA friend once told me that in Buenos Aires you have a nice phone you leave at home and a shitty Samsung with a cracked screen you carry around with you for when you inevitably get mugged.
- sandworm101 4y agoPre-crack your screen. They cannot pawn/sell any device with any sort of crack. It is also a great security feature. As each crack is distinct, nobody will ever be able to swap out your phone without you noticing. I read of one person a while back who dissuaded a mugger by saying that they worked for the NSA, that their phone would be tracked and therefore would be dangerous to take. It is something to think about. Put a "property of US government" sticker on your phone.
- hypothesis 4y ago> Put a "property of US government" sticker on your phone. How does it work when say passing airport security check? Does it mean that you voluntarily surrendered your property to govt and they get to see everything on that phone or do they bust one for lying to feds? Maybe remove US part to weasel out? :)
- sandworm101 4y agoYou can tell them it is a lie. Freedom of speech. A tattoo of that doesn't make your body property of the us government either.
- tester756 4y ago
- game_the0ry 4y agoThere is upside to being financially "self sovereign," where you do not rely on a 3rd party to have custody of your money. But there is also a big downside - you bear accountability for your actions with your money. There is no "customer service" or "fraud department" in crypto. Some people only learn the hard way. Lesson here is - use a cold wallet, and maybe a "watch only" wallet[1] on your phone. [1] Watch only wallet is a wallet that is connected to your offline cold wallet, where you can deposit and view your funds on the watch only wallet, but you cannot withdraw.
- HWR_14 4y agoSo, if you have a watch only em wallet, all you have to do is worry about people willing to use force and who have your home address deciding that they want the number in the screen to belong to them.
- tsol 4y agoTrue, but that is a lot more work so it's that much less likely. But sure if they want it enough they can do that.
- kkfx 4y agoI'm FAR more concerned about real owners power, witch means Alphabet, Apple etc the real owner of such smartphones "ecosystem", in terms of thief and effectiveness in changing our society...
- mateo1 4y agoThat's also a good reminder about the "security" of biometrics.