pull down to refresh

123 sats \ 4 replies \ @Norbert 23 Nov \ on: B.C. family tortured for 13hrs by thieves impersonating mailmen in crypto heist bitcoin
Threatened with having his genitals cut off, the father gave the men access to his and his wife’s cryptocurrency accounts. Over the course of the evening, they made multiple withdrawals from both accounts totalling US$1.6 million (roughly $2.2 million Canadian), effectively draining the accounts.
Security is all about friction and inconvenience. If you have convenient access to USD 1.6M, there are scenarios like this that you're not secure against.
But if they had been secure against it, wouldn't the attackers have cut his genitals off? Of course there's a chance, but the calculus doesn't really check out. It's a significant and unusual escalation for no realistic gain.
write
preview
0 sats \ 3 replies \ @SwapMarket 23 Nov
The problem starts when the attackers know roughly how much you have, so they won't leave you alone until they get it all. Travel Rule helps to make this info leakable.
reply
0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Norbert 23 Nov
In this case it also didn't help that the husband had been bragging about his bitcoin trading success, even lying about having 200 bitcoin.
reply
0 sats \ 1 reply \ @SwapMarket 23 Nov
Oh, did not see that detail. Indeed an idiot.
reply
21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Norbert 23 Nov
Yeah, it's not in the article, but in the judgment, which is worth a read: https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcpc/doc/2025/2025bcpc192/2025bcpc192.html
reply