Sad story from UK, it's all over the news today:
Britain's first Bitcoin heist as trader forced at gunpoint to transfer cyber currencyhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/28/britains-first-bitcoin-heist-trader-forced-gunpoint-transfer/Armed robbers broke into the family home of a city financier turned Bitcoin trader and forced him to transfer the digital currency at gunpoint, in what is believed to be the first heist of its kind in the UK.
Four robbers in balaclavas forced their way into the home of Danny Aston, 30, who runs a digital currency trading firm, before reportedly tying up a woman and forcing Mr Aston to transfer an unknown quantity of the cryptocurrency.
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Other links:
http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/29/uks-first-bitcoin-robbery-prolific-trader-forced-transfer-fortune-7268576/https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5444048/bitcoin-robbery-gunpoint-danny-aston-oxfordshire-amy-jay-baby/
I hope targeting bitcoiners won't become a new trend for criminals.
And seriously, what's the best practice to prevent such cases, when you hold/have access to significant amount of bitcoins? Sure you could hide your private key (or part of it) in some secure place outside of your home, but then the risk of you (or your family) getting tortured or even killed increases. Well organised group as described above unlikely would be happy to leave with nothing.
And what about exchanges? 2FA is a prevention from hacking, but won't work at all if you're held at gunpoint. I'd be very happy to see some extra (opt-in) security features on exchanges, i.e. few days delay in withdrawing BTC above certain amount.
Thoughts?
Disclaimer: I'm just a humble crypto-enthusiast and only hold modest amounts. Plz no raid.Edit: alternative thread (no signatures allowed):
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2838558.msg29168004#msg29168004 (thanks vintages)
to be honest, i really am not surprised that something like this really did happen.
if you think about it, it is pretty logical that criminals will also target crypto people since they can see money on doing so. and i mean a huge amount of money. which is why i am pretty paranoid about choosing who i inform about what i really do. which i think is what most of you should really consider as early as now. do not be careless. because i can really assure you that more of this is obviously about to come. not just in uk but most probably around the globe. as technologies progress, everything follows this progression. and crimes are not exempted.
stay safe guys.