Freebitco has a 4.08 annual interest rate on Bitcoin deposits. Has anyone noticed how amazing it is? Just think about this, 4% yearly interest is a very low interest but think about it, when freebitco introduced 4.08% interest annually, bitcoin's price was 1000 USD. If you bought 1000$ worth of bitcoins in 2017 and deposited on freebitco, it looks like you would receive 40$ in one year but now when the price went up to 40K, you are earning 4.78$ daily. Just think about this, the annual interest rate becomes a weekly interest rate because of Bitcoin's price and Freebitco is still willing to pay you as promised, this is amazing.
Interest is all very well, but I very much doubt that cases like the one you mention are commonplace. Buying a whole bitcoin and leaving it untouched for almost seven years would be crazy if that's all the bitcoin you have. It would be more sensible if you bought several and left one there just for the sake of interest, having the private keys to the rest. No matter how reputable freebitco.in is, it is always a risk to leave your bitcoin with an online entity.