It appears that not even Tinder is safe from the ever-present scams that seem to plague the Bitcoin industry. A blog post written by Casa’s Jameson Lopp, details a strange and dangerous attempt at stealing a man’s precious bitcoin.
The blog describes how a man simply trying to find a date via the mobile app Tinder initiated conversation with a woman who claimed to be a “cryptocurrency trader” according to her profile. The two exchanged pleasantries and eventually met up in person.
Beyond feeling like her pictures were slightly different from her in-person appearance, the date appeared to be straightforward.
It wasn’t until the two decided to go back to the man’s apartment that things turned sour. According to the post, “While he was there we suspect the woman laced our client’s drink with scopolamine, also known as ‘Devil’s Breath,’ or a benzodiazepine. These drugs are well known to cause loss of inhibition and memory loss.”
Beyond being exceedingly illegal in nearly every state, the act of drugging an individual is an invasion of their health, privacy and personal decision making. Indeed, the next act for the woman was to take the man’s phone, and attempt to gain access to it.
“Some time later, he believes the woman picked up his phone and asked him to show her how to unlock it and find his passwords,” states the blog post. It goes on to say, “Our client woke up the next day in his bed and noticed his phone was missing, though his wallet along with cash, debit cards, and ID were still there.”
The post goes on to detail that the man did indeed lose a small amount of bitcoin, although a relatively small percentage of his total holdings due to the multisig setup he had. Despite even the best security, under certain circumstances people can quickly lose the ability to defend themselves and their digital assets.
As this story demonstrates, not only is bitcoin increasingly becoming a target for thieves, but physical security is paramount to proper safekeeping of your bitcoin. In the transition to a hyperbitcoinized world, bitcoiners must pay careful attention to protecting their wealth.
Included in the blog post by Lopp is a list of known physical attacks against bitcoin holders, as well as a call for anyone who has experienced this to contact him, “If you have been a victim of a physical attack, especially one with novel attributes, I encourage you to contact us at incidents@team.casa.”
I encourage anyone who has experienced this to reach out as well, as the physical security of all bitcoin holders can be better improved by a collective knowledge of previous attack vectors.
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