Police seize $60 million of bitcoin! Now, where's the password?

By John O'Donnell

 

FILE PHOTO: A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

 

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German prosecutors have confiscated more than 50 million euros ($60 million) worth of bitcoin from a fraudster. There's only one problem: they can't unlock the money because he won't give them the password.

 

The man was sentenced to jail and has since served his term, maintaining his silence throughout while police made repeated failed efforts to crack the code to access more than 1,700 bitcoin, said a prosecutor in the Bavarian town of Kempten.

 

"We asked him but he didn't say," prosecutor Sebastian Murer told Reuters on Friday. "Perhaps he doesn't know."

 

Bitcoin is stored on software known as a digital wallet that is secured through encryption. A password is used as a decryption key to open the wallet and access the bitcoin. When a password is lost the user cannot open the wallet.

 

The fraudster had been sentenced to more than two years in jail for covertly installing software on other computers to harness their power to "mine" or produce bitcoin.

 

When he went behind bars, his bitcoin stash would have been worth a fraction of the current value. The price of bitcoin has surged over the past year, hitting a record high of $42,000 in January. It was trading at $37,577 on Friday, according to cryptocurrency and blockchain website Coindesk.

 

Prosecutors have ensured the man cannot access the largesse, however.

 

(Reporting by John O'Donnell; Additional reporting by Anna Irrera in London; Editing by Pravin Char)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-08

 

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

There's only one problem: they can't unlock the money because he won't give them the password.

Surely it's 123456 isn't it?

20 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Surely it's 123456 isn't it?

No. Definitely Passw0rd as has to have one upper/lower and one number and minimum 8..........

11 minutes ago, topt said:

No. Definitely Passw0rd as has to have one upper/lower and one number and minimum 8..........

 

i think i might start using that. no one would ever think i could possibly be that dumb. oh wait. 

How can they say they have confiscated it?  And how can they prevent him from accessing it?

There has been a number of such stories in recent weeks - how bitcoiners who have lost their password cannot access their assets, which are usually of a fabulous size.

 

Does anyone else suspect they are PR stories generated to promote the 'safety' of this system at a time when it is being questioned by the traditional channels?

That guy is living dangerously! Electric torture, fingernail pulling, sledge hammer to knee caps and waterboarding comes to mind. We are talking about a chance for the plod to get 60 million dollar.

As already somewhat referenced to above, they have confiscated nothing, that's not how Bitcoin works.

Your wallet is not a bag of virtual money.

Remember that thing called 'blockchain'? right, that's where your money lives

Only thing you need is the key to access it.

Your wallet is a (password protected) way of keeping those keys, either as a collection of those keys (older system) or a way to generate those keys from a starting point (12 / 24 words)

In both cases though, you have a backup - and know the password or remember the words, you control the outputs on the blockchain (UTXO)

So I guess the police in this case have.. eh.. an encrypted file.

 

If I were the police, I would enter an incorrect password until the wallet

  cancels the bit coin, if they can not get it, then make it so the fraudster cannot

get it either.  Problem solved.  Bye bye bit coin.

Geezer

It'll be waiting for him when he gets out of prison.  He'll move out of Germany and slowly cash out in some developing country.   Wouldn't be surprised if he didn't end up here.   

On 2/8/2021 at 9:51 AM, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

That guy is living dangerously! Electric torture, fingernail pulling, sledge hammer to knee caps and waterboarding comes to mind. We are talking about a chance for the plod to get 60 million dollar.

Forget it. Its in Germany.

The country where a police chief was prosecuted for giving a kidnapper of a young boy a few good smacks hoping he will tell the whereabouts. Big "torture" story. The boy died from suffocation.

 

Maybe they will throw some cotton balls.

Five minutes with some of the 'boys' in Pattaya would result in a password I am sure.......

Lucky him. Very well done.