Swedish Bitcoiners targeted by armed criminals
6424 sats \ 43 comments \ @SpaceHodler 9 Nov 2023 bitcoin
Criminals in Sweden are specifically targeting prominent local Bitcoin figures, which appears to be the result of the ease of access to personal information and residential addresses in the country.
“This Monday, a middle-aged Swedish couple was tied up in their home and robbed by 4 masked men. They were physically abused and threatened with their own kitchen knives. They were tied up for hours and one had to be escorted to the hospital via helicopter,” Wall wrote.
According to Wall, the victims were subjected to violent physical abuse for hours in an effort to steal their Bitcoin holdings held in hardware wallets.
Wall also believes criminals scour social media to identify and target Bitcoin or cryptocurrency users. He claims that a common theme of the attacks was that they took place shortly after individuals had livestreamed podcasts focused on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or mentioned the subject in public.
He also believes that Sweden’s Offentlighetsprincipen (Principle of Public Access to Information) laws, which give the public the right to request information, including residential addresses and tax records from the government, are becoming a means for criminals to prey on ecosystem participants.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/swedish-bitcoiners-targeted-by-armed-criminals
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802 sats \ 10 replies \ @quark 9 Nov 2023
Reminder to do multisignature at least. This news are very bad. And Sweden seems going down the wrong hole. A lot of violence news from there recently :/
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753 sats \ 5 replies \ @k00b 9 Nov 2023
This.
Also if you're legally allowed to own a gun, you should probably have several.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 9 Nov 2023
Those opposed to private gun ownership are opposed to self-defense. And if one cannot defend themselves I have a hard time understanding how any of their other rights can be protected. I find it odd that many anti-gun people are fully in support of the state shipping thousands of guns to people in other lands to be used to kill people. They seem to only be opposed to private citizens being able to defend themselves against criminals. I do not debate people on guns but if someone did want to discuss this topic with me (in person) that is the first thing I would ask them. Are you anti-war? Are you a pacifist? If not, you are inconsistent.
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530 sats \ 0 replies \ @orthzar 9 Nov 2023
Also if you're legally allowed to own a gun, you should probably have several.
For those in countries that make legal firearms ownership difficult, look into black-powder cap-and-ball revolvers -- some countries will let you buy those with zero restrictions. While they are not as reliable as cartridge firearms, they are just as deadly. Also be aware that some European countries (e.g. the UK) have effectively banned self-defense. As usual, do your research, because this is a topic just as complex as Bitcoin itself.
(I am elliding a description of 3D printed guns for obvious reasons, but that is also worth researching.)
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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @SpaceHodler OP 9 Nov 2023
Can Casa and Unchained be instructed to only give you access to your keys after the specified notice period?
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @yoshi 10 Nov 2023
Nunchuk has this feature.
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187 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven 9 Nov 2023
Interesting and scary video from that last link demonstrating how quick a knife attack can be
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32 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 9 Nov 2023
Mulisig will stop attackers from stealing your bitcoin, but like in one of these stories they will still beat the sh$t out of you.
I'd suggest keep a pretty low profile. Sometimes I meet bitcoiners from the 2011-13 era who will casualty tell me they have 50 or so BTC. Its not a good idea to brag about that stuff.
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111 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bullen 9 Nov 2023
I never say anything about how much I have or how much I have invested, I am however vocal about Bitcoin and honestly, that feels like it might just be enough 🤷
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 9 Nov 2023
Yup I’m a fan of unchained cold storage multi sig as well, but it was a journey to get there!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zenul_Abidin 5 May
Multisig is not going to help you if you want to get out of there alive, it will only prevent funds from being transferred since the other party is not there.
This is a political problem, caused by the doxxing of residential address. If I had my address doxxed then I wouldn't feel safe either.
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813 sats \ 6 replies \ @DiracDelta 9 Nov 2023
Better opsec and better physical security are needed first, and then making sure it is IMPOSSIBLE to access your own coins quickly at home. You never know what you might do under duress.
Jameson Lopp has a list of known physical bitcoin attacks. https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks/blob/master/README.md
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20 sats \ 4 replies \ @megaptera 9 Nov 2023
that plus maybe have some accessable bitcoin to giveaway in such a situation. You never know what the attacker do if you explain them about multisig... they probably do not understand you and hurt you or your family. It's a tricky situation to be in.
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10 sats \ 3 replies \ @orthzar 9 Nov 2023
It's especially risky to hope that a small fraction of your stack will be enough to get them to leave. If you are public that you have tons of any cryptocurrency, then they won't settle for a small amount of your stack.
As far as multi-sig, a few robbers will be willing to spend all day driving you around town to pick up enough of your priv-keys to complete a multi-sig transaction. This will be especially effective against you if you have a wife and/or children, who they can use as hostages.
That being said, multi-sig is very effective against those who would break into your house while you are away.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @antic 9 Nov 2023
One of my strategies involves distributing to many people in other states who are instructed to not give me the shards outside of the next normal time I see them and only after I have given them a 2 week warning that I’d be expecting it—and anything short of that is an alarm to involve authorities with an abduction/hostage report. It’s a little more complicated than this but that’s the gist.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DiracDelta 9 Nov 2023
"Sorry, left one of my keys in the mountains, you will need to hold them hostage until late spring in order for me to retrieve it."
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @orthzar 9 Nov 2023
In that case, you'd be betting that the robbber's laziness is greater than his greed and malice, which is a dangerous assumption. Plus, he could return when the last privkey becomes available and start the robbery all over again. Your only option at that point would be to move somewhere that the robber can't find you.
What I'm trying to point out is that you shouldn't be trying to trick criminals. You should be shooting them when they attack you.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Ribbit 9 Nov 2023
Wow.
This should be shared more.
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33 sats \ 6 replies \ @Ribbit 9 Nov 2023
I baffles me that Max Keiser does not have armed security with him all the time
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176 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bullen 9 Nov 2023
What makes you think he doesn't?
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Ribbit 9 Nov 2023
Part of deterrence is , seeing.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 9 Nov 2023
Have you seen him in person IRL?
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Ribbit 9 Nov 2023
No.
I have also never seen Andrew Tate in person, but i know he is surrounded by 3 to 4 burly slavs and his brother at any given time, Tate is also a weapon himself .
From what i have seen in several videos, Max has huge gaps in his personal safety procedure or communication of his procedures as part of his "Brand". The way banks and countries have them.
Put another way: Max is several orders of magnitude richer than Tate, with an inverse level of security presence.
Unless you are suggesting he has retained a team of Jamaican sprinting champion ninja's that manage to always stay behind the camera at conferences, interviews, public photo ops, this is obvious.
A huge error for instance was the Alex Jones quiz. If you can tell me this doesn't make him a target for people he was not a target for before, you are terribly innocent.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 9 Nov 2023
LOL. I don't know what it is but people assume a lot on SN. I agree with you on his need for security. Was just curious.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Ribbit 10 Nov 2023
He just posted a picture holding a gun and funny caption. So things are looking up.
We need to protect this man, which is why i mention it.
Things are getting weird.
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @knorozov 9 Nov 2023
Elephant in the room: were the attacks successful?
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Ribbit 10 Nov 2023
Several have been.
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks/blob/master/README.md
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @NigerianBitcoiner 10 Nov 2023
Thanks for the link. Super helpful :)
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110 sats \ 0 replies \ @lightwalker 9 Nov 2023
Privacy really matters, even if you think you have nothing to hide. This is a pity lesson.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @lonestarr 9 Nov 2023
This could be a serious risk of single-sig self custody without sufficient physical security. This is why banks use armored trucks and armed guards.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 9 Nov 2023
Don't these criminals know bitcoin is worthless? Criminals are so dumb.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 9 Nov 2023
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200 sats \ 5 replies \ @brandonsbytes 9 Nov 2023
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130 sats \ 1 reply \ @stagathy 9 Nov 2023
Sweden's laws in regards to public information are actually unhinged. It may not have been that big of a deal in the past before internet but it clearly is a big safety concern nowadays.
The thing is that the information is not behind ANY wall. There are multiple swedish sites where you can search a person by their name and it will instantly give you their address, DOB, how long they have lived at current address, who they live with, their siblings etc. Tax information is also public so it is easy for criminals to check your income in the past few years and determine if you are a worthy target.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 9 Nov 2023
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 10 Nov 2023
You don't even have to ask. Plenty of info is a public record. Why? I don't really understand why was this allowed in the first place. But here we are, even in the US.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @SpaceHodler OP 9 Nov 2023
Its stated purpose was to fight corruption.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 10 Nov 2023
AKA, "to totally control the population". The bad things always are "for your safety". My safety is my 12 GA and my dog :-) Just saying.... and I will keep it that way
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @yoshi 11 Nov 2023
Create a honeypot, allocate 5-10%. Nobody knows how much you have unless you got a big mouth.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 10 Nov 2023
Attacking Vikings? That's a bad idea.... Also, get a dog...lol Problem solved (and I mean like a Doberman or Rottweiler, they are such nice dogs) :-)
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @sovereign 9 Nov 2023
I live a couple of minutes walk from the house where they got robbed. We're not even allowed to build gated communities here.
It is a relatively good area, but crime is getting more and more rampant and spread outside of the bad areas. I don't even recognize the country from how it looked 15 or so years ago. I feel trapped and in constant risk of being doxxed here.
Deciding to leave involves more than your own life, like your family, friends and everything you worked for.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sovereign 9 Nov 2023
And what they say is true. For example, 2 minutes after I knew the adress I knew his name, his wife, what companies he's active in and what profit his private companies filed the last couple of years. Absolutely awful.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @antic 9 Nov 2023
I’ve always wondered about Bitcoin conferences. Never gone to one because I’d imagine it would be a place that a lot of extortion attempts or at least future profiling and planning occurs.
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