In 2021, we acted defensively. We cashed out our whole life insurance policies and moved the funds into Bitcoin. We followed the advice of Michael Saylor and Saifedean Ammous and stored our bitcoin in a cold storage wallet offline. We occasionally checked our holdings when Bitcoin would surge in price. It was so exciting. When it dropped in price, I distracted myself. This was pretty much our life savings.
This year, July, I was mysteriously logged out of my proton mail account, even though the box was checked to remain logged in. Protonmail has something called proton pass where you can store end to end encrypted passwords and notes.
After this weird automatic logout, I attempted to log back in. I have never changed my password as long as I have had my proton mail account, and that has been many years. Proton kept denying my password entry. Finally I was forced to change it to access my info. I thought it was Proton's way of securing my info by forcing this password change. When I changed the password, I received the warning that my account would be encrypted unless I know my old password to restore it. I know my old password. I only had one. I changed the password, went in to the settings to restore my account, and my old password was rejected. Relentless emails to proton abuse got nowhere. They continued to respond that I used the wrong password, and continue to use it in the recovery process. I showed them proof it was my correct password, to no avail. I quit using proton and went back to Yahoo. Fast forward to October this year, when bitcoin was surging. I pulled out that old trezor model one and plugged it in to see our holdings. It was WIPED!
I thought there may be a mistake. I thought perhaps a firmware update was needed..etc. No! all our bitcoin was stolen from an online hacker back in July this year, which was around the time I had all that trouble with Proton. At the time of the theft, our bitcoin was worth $65k. Yep. Gone. I reported to local authorities. The deputy who came out to write up the police report told me he also had the same problem with Proton. How odd that two people in the same county had the the exact same problem with proton, but proton denies any breach or malfeasance on their end. I am not sure that I stored my seed phrase on proton pass or not, as it was so long ago. But either way, Proton advertised to be the most secure end to end encrypted network on the planet. If I didn't store it here, then I am thinking it could be something with Trezor's firmware, because our seed phrase remains on paper in a safe only I can access.
Exodus, which is a online wallet storage, was most helpful. They traced and tracked my bitcoin to Binance. Binance located two individuals as suspects. Local law enforcement is not wanting to move forward as they don't know how to investigate this. I filed with the FBI, and received notice that not all cases are actually taken or investigated.
Every company from Trezor, to Binance, to Exodus, to The Bitcoin Way, to Privacy Action Plan, to people well versed in crypto assets has told me that recovering our Bitcoin is slim to none. These 'devs' as they call themselves on X tell me they can restore my bitcoin in minutes. I haven't fallen for the Dev scam, but I have entertained a few in dialogue.
I will never again move something I can hold in my hand into a block chain that is traceable but not recoverable. This is the perfect crime.
In my lifetime, I have been shown more times than I care to admit, that, experts are usually not experts. I believe the only true experts are scammers.
I was a huge promoter of Bitcoin. I trusted it would be there when we needed it. I trusted the block chain. I trusted the experts promising bitcoin is the future. I trusted Proton as truly secure and encrypted. I trusted Trezor's firmware. I am certainly guilty of trusting.
I hear a voice in my head at random times that says, 'you will get your bitcoin back'. I don't know where the voice is coming from, but, I don't think I will trust it either.
Doubting Thomas is the new way for me. We have some goldbacks (not many) as diversification, but other than that, it will be a long hard road to recover from this loss.
I was told to read a book by Bryce Paul & Aaron Malone called CRYPTO REVOLUTION: Your Guide to the Future of Money. In 2022 I gambled with less than $2,000 after doing what the authors said was essential to keep it all safe. Bitcoin was at about $31,000 USD and tanked right after I put in my cash. But I ignored it because I'm long term. And, All the big players are in it. From Blackrock to Buffett. Don't do if's and please read that book. We all have to do great research or we will be scammed like never before seen--and we need to talk to each other.
Marjory, Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. You give off such a pure heart and I know you will be blessed; I feel it. I pray for you. I want you to know you have opened me to so many helpful remedies over the years and I love who you are and what you are all about. God bless you. "THOUGHTS ARE EVERYTHING" I will use that in my life from now on, Thank you again
So sorry that this happened to you. I got taken once too, it will never happen again. Real tough lesson, but well learned. May you be blessed with abundance and prosperity.
Marjorie, so devastating for you and so good of you to warn others!
Years ago I was tempted to buy Bitcoin. But then I read how unscrupulous people - usually criminals - start up a crypto money site similar to Bitcoin and invite people to invest with the promise of excellent returns. However after sometime, they then withdraw your money and fold up the investment site and start a new one with a new name ... and keep on doing so. So, you lose all your money. I've never invested in Bitcoin or anything like it.
Fortunately once when someone tried to scam me, my bank phone me within minutes to ask if I had authorised the transaction. I hadn't so they put a stop on my account so I didn't lose any money, but had the inconvenience of having to wait for new cards to be issued.
Marjorie, something you said made a LOT of sense ... having a number of smaller accounts so they cannot have access to your entire savings!
Another time Trend Micro debited my account (I had purchased an antivirus many years prior, but had NOT authorised them to restart my subscription!) but my bank contacted them and reversed their transaction as it was illegal for them to charge me without my authorisation.
Hello from Australia, and thank you for your wisdom, shining like a light. I'm on the periphery of your work, but I actively check in to see what's up. All power to you. As you mentioned, the Universe had to help you course correct. Much love.
I'm so sorry. I'm in the process of a scam right now with QFS Trump bucks. I will try what you have said and start thanking them for releasing my funds to me. God bless you for sharing.
Hi. I was scammed by a Nigerian scammer off of Match.com. You can view “The Security Brief “ You tube video under Adam Levin. The headline of the show is ‘Stole My Heart and Money”. Another nurse was on the show and scammed for $60,000. It happened for one year from 2010 to 2011. I went public immediately and NBC also did a segment on me.
I never saw a penny of that money back. Stay vigilant everyone. Heidi
Oh Marjory. A beautiful soul you are.
This should make you feel better.
In 2021, we acted defensively. We cashed out our whole life insurance policies and moved the funds into Bitcoin. We followed the advice of Michael Saylor and Saifedean Ammous and stored our bitcoin in a cold storage wallet offline. We occasionally checked our holdings when Bitcoin would surge in price. It was so exciting. When it dropped in price, I distracted myself. This was pretty much our life savings.
This year, July, I was mysteriously logged out of my proton mail account, even though the box was checked to remain logged in. Protonmail has something called proton pass where you can store end to end encrypted passwords and notes.
After this weird automatic logout, I attempted to log back in. I have never changed my password as long as I have had my proton mail account, and that has been many years. Proton kept denying my password entry. Finally I was forced to change it to access my info. I thought it was Proton's way of securing my info by forcing this password change. When I changed the password, I received the warning that my account would be encrypted unless I know my old password to restore it. I know my old password. I only had one. I changed the password, went in to the settings to restore my account, and my old password was rejected. Relentless emails to proton abuse got nowhere. They continued to respond that I used the wrong password, and continue to use it in the recovery process. I showed them proof it was my correct password, to no avail. I quit using proton and went back to Yahoo. Fast forward to October this year, when bitcoin was surging. I pulled out that old trezor model one and plugged it in to see our holdings. It was WIPED!
I thought there may be a mistake. I thought perhaps a firmware update was needed..etc. No! all our bitcoin was stolen from an online hacker back in July this year, which was around the time I had all that trouble with Proton. At the time of the theft, our bitcoin was worth $65k. Yep. Gone. I reported to local authorities. The deputy who came out to write up the police report told me he also had the same problem with Proton. How odd that two people in the same county had the the exact same problem with proton, but proton denies any breach or malfeasance on their end. I am not sure that I stored my seed phrase on proton pass or not, as it was so long ago. But either way, Proton advertised to be the most secure end to end encrypted network on the planet. If I didn't store it here, then I am thinking it could be something with Trezor's firmware, because our seed phrase remains on paper in a safe only I can access.
Exodus, which is a online wallet storage, was most helpful. They traced and tracked my bitcoin to Binance. Binance located two individuals as suspects. Local law enforcement is not wanting to move forward as they don't know how to investigate this. I filed with the FBI, and received notice that not all cases are actually taken or investigated.
Every company from Trezor, to Binance, to Exodus, to The Bitcoin Way, to Privacy Action Plan, to people well versed in crypto assets has told me that recovering our Bitcoin is slim to none. These 'devs' as they call themselves on X tell me they can restore my bitcoin in minutes. I haven't fallen for the Dev scam, but I have entertained a few in dialogue.
I will never again move something I can hold in my hand into a block chain that is traceable but not recoverable. This is the perfect crime.
In my lifetime, I have been shown more times than I care to admit, that, experts are usually not experts. I believe the only true experts are scammers.
I was a huge promoter of Bitcoin. I trusted it would be there when we needed it. I trusted the block chain. I trusted the experts promising bitcoin is the future. I trusted Proton as truly secure and encrypted. I trusted Trezor's firmware. I am certainly guilty of trusting.
I hear a voice in my head at random times that says, 'you will get your bitcoin back'. I don't know where the voice is coming from, but, I don't think I will trust it either.
Doubting Thomas is the new way for me. We have some goldbacks (not many) as diversification, but other than that, it will be a long hard road to recover from this loss.
You are so blessed to have only lost 10k.
Wishing you all the best.
I was told to read a book by Bryce Paul & Aaron Malone called CRYPTO REVOLUTION: Your Guide to the Future of Money. In 2022 I gambled with less than $2,000 after doing what the authors said was essential to keep it all safe. Bitcoin was at about $31,000 USD and tanked right after I put in my cash. But I ignored it because I'm long term. And, All the big players are in it. From Blackrock to Buffett. Don't do if's and please read that book. We all have to do great research or we will be scammed like never before seen--and we need to talk to each other.
Bless you on your Crypto journey
Marjory, Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. You give off such a pure heart and I know you will be blessed; I feel it. I pray for you. I want you to know you have opened me to so many helpful remedies over the years and I love who you are and what you are all about. God bless you. "THOUGHTS ARE EVERYTHING" I will use that in my life from now on, Thank you again
I love this post. So sorry it happened but I love your comments
So sorry that this happened to you. I got taken once too, it will never happen again. Real tough lesson, but well learned. May you be blessed with abundance and prosperity.
Marjorie, so devastating for you and so good of you to warn others!
Years ago I was tempted to buy Bitcoin. But then I read how unscrupulous people - usually criminals - start up a crypto money site similar to Bitcoin and invite people to invest with the promise of excellent returns. However after sometime, they then withdraw your money and fold up the investment site and start a new one with a new name ... and keep on doing so. So, you lose all your money. I've never invested in Bitcoin or anything like it.
Fortunately once when someone tried to scam me, my bank phone me within minutes to ask if I had authorised the transaction. I hadn't so they put a stop on my account so I didn't lose any money, but had the inconvenience of having to wait for new cards to be issued.
Marjorie, something you said made a LOT of sense ... having a number of smaller accounts so they cannot have access to your entire savings!
Another time Trend Micro debited my account (I had purchased an antivirus many years prior, but had NOT authorised them to restart my subscription!) but my bank contacted them and reversed their transaction as it was illegal for them to charge me without my authorisation.
Hello from Australia, and thank you for your wisdom, shining like a light. I'm on the periphery of your work, but I actively check in to see what's up. All power to you. As you mentioned, the Universe had to help you course correct. Much love.
you are already bouncing back making this video....many of us have been scammed....you give us all so much, thanks from a fan in Illinois!
I'm so sorry. I'm in the process of a scam right now with QFS Trump bucks. I will try what you have said and start thanking them for releasing my funds to me. God bless you for sharing.
Hi. I was scammed by a Nigerian scammer off of Match.com. You can view “The Security Brief “ You tube video under Adam Levin. The headline of the show is ‘Stole My Heart and Money”. Another nurse was on the show and scammed for $60,000. It happened for one year from 2010 to 2011. I went public immediately and NBC also did a segment on me.
I never saw a penny of that money back. Stay vigilant everyone. Heidi
P.S. The Nigerian scammer got a total of $ 50,000 from me. Horrible.
I’m so sorry this has happened to you. I do appreciate your thoughts on how and maybe why it’s happened.