8 ways people lose their crypto stored on exchanges

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

DON'T QUOTE THE WHOLE THREAD PLEASE!

 

Losing your money can be devastating. It is scary how often people lose accumulated coins on security mistakes.

In this article, you will learn all the ways how people lose their cryptocurrencies on exchange wallets and how you can avoid unnecessary losses.

1. A weak password

A weak password is something that has one or more of these qualities:

• It can be guessed with common words or your special days
• It is short and can be brute-forced easily with password hacking tools
• It is used in many places. If one service has a leak, all your accounts are compromised.

This is why creating a strong unique password for every site you use is important.

2. Phishing attempts and scams

Phishing is a type of scam that tries to get access to your assets by you willingly giving your login details to the scammer.

A typical phishing attempt is receiving an email that is supposedly coming from the exchange. Once you click the login link on the email, you are directed to a website that looks exactly like the exchange.

The only difference is the URL address and once you give your login details, you are not actually logging in. When you log in to your exchange a few minutes later, you realize that you have just willingly given your login details to a scammer and they already withdrew your funds.

3. Email or device got compromised

In 2013, 3.1 million phones were stolen in the USA. It is more common than ever to always be logged in to your email with multiple computers and your mobile devices (and old phones in your house).

Nowadays many exchange withdrawals and password changes require you to accept the withdrawal on your email. This is why email security is more important than password security.

• How many devices are you logged in to your email? Where are the devices?
• How many times have you left your work computer or personal computer or phone on when others could have accessed your devices and your logged in email account?
• How many times have you lost your phone?
• Are your phone and computer storage encrypted so the data cannot be transferred to another device?
• Does your phone have a mere pincode or do you use a strong password?

Remember, it only takes one person with ill-intent to exploit your ignorance.

4. Not using a 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

If your password does end up being breached 2FA acts as your second password. Most exchanges have an option to enable 2FA, you might see it under ‘Google Authenticator”.

Google Authenticator is an app that you install on your phone. Every 30 seconds you receive a new set of 6 random numbers that you need to enter timely into the exchange to confirm sensitive actions. It's almost impossible for someone to guess your 2FA code.

5. Phone with 2FA app is broken or stolen

One drop could cost you your crypto

A big problem with 2FA is the fact that people do not save the QR code they initially get from the exchange. It is easy to just add the Authenticator on their phone and click next. This is a major risk.

If something happens to your phone, you are not able to recover the 2FA generator!

You should either take a screenshot of the 2FA QR code and store the screenshot on a secure offline USB stick or print the QR code on a piece of paper and put it somewhere safe.

This way you are able to recover the 2FA generator even if your phone is lost. This is especially important in exchanges that you have not given your identity information.

6. The exchange itself gets compromised

Whenever you are using 3rd party service, you are exposing yourself to a 3rd party risk.

Take the legendary Mt. Gox case for example. It was one of the earlier crypto exchanges and in 2013 processed most of the world’s crypto trades. Many people trusted the website and stored their valuable Bitcoin on the exchange wallets for years.

But one day in February 2014 the site halted withdrawals and a few weeks later the site went down. Approximately 850,000 bitcoins belonging to customers and the company were missing and likely stolen.

7. Forgetting you have funds

It sounds silly but this is a real phenomena.

Imagine you had been a hodler for many years. The brain wants to forget about memories that have little emotional weight and that are not actively remembered.

A transfer of digital numbers years ago is not a highly emotional event which makes it easy to forget.

Another sub-category of forgetting is not preparing for accidents and even death.

Is your husband, wife, and children aware of your holdings or how to access them in case something happens to you?

Original source: https://www.collectiveholdings.io/

Edited April 9, 2020 by AkaCrafterCZ

[crypto7x 31]

thank you for sharing this information and i want to say the most secure thing to do is set Google Authentication that will make our account in any platform more secure..

[tienda 8776]

Thank you for sharing this advertise and with the such ways is useful and helpful for many members here, because is true I think all depend about us, if we dont make good things about our security.

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

On 4/4/2020 at 3:56 PM, crypto7x said:

i want to say the most secure thing to do is set Google Authentication that will make our account in any platform more secure..

I'm already using Google Authenticator for all exchanges or apps I actively use and that offer this opinion to have a two factor authentication. Remember to keep the passphrase or the QR code in a secure place as a backup to avoid any losses if you lose your phone (same for private keys!).

[Jessica Karren 1242]

Very valid points. We all needs to read these all points and understand them all. The most common mistake is that most people create weak passwords. Your passwords should be very strong.

[rianpedia 816]

I would like to add, usually someone is exposed to a scam on the telegram, with the mode of asking for help about crypto but they are finally fooled.

[Hmooda 15]

On 4/4/2020 at 10:44 AM, AkaCrafterCZ said:

Losing your money can be devastating. It is scary how often people lose accumulated coins on security mistakes.

In this article, you will learn all the ways how people lose their cryptocurrencies on exchange wallets and how you can avoid unnecessary losses.

1. A weak password

A weak password is something that has one or more of these qualities:

• It can be guessed with common words or your special days
• It is short and can be brute-forced easily with password hacking tools
• It is used in many places. If one service has a leak, all your accounts are compromised.

This is why creating a strong unique password for every site you use is important.

2. Phishing attempts and scams

Phishing is a type of scam that tries to get access to your assets by you willingly giving your login details to the scammer.

A typical phishing attempt is receiving an email that is supposedly coming from the exchange. Once you click the login link on the email, you are directed to a website that looks exactly like the exchange.

The only difference is the URL address and once you give your login details, you are not actually logging in. When you log in to your exchange a few minutes later, you realize that you have just willingly given your login details to a scammer and they already withdrew your funds.

3. Email or device got compromised

In 2013, 3.1 million phones were stolen in the USA. It is more common than ever to always be logged in to your email with multiple computers and your mobile devices (and old phones in your house).

Nowadays many exchange withdrawals and password changes require you to accept the withdrawal on your email. This is why email security is more important than password security.

• How many devices are you logged in to your email? Where are the devices?
• How many times have you left your work computer or personal computer or phone on when others could have accessed your devices and your logged in email account?
• How many times have you lost your phone?
• Are your phone and computer storage encrypted so the data cannot be transferred to another device?
• Does your phone have a mere pincode or do you use a strong password?

Remember, it only takes one person with ill-intent to exploit your ignorance.

4. Not using a 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

If your password does end up being breached 2FA acts as your second password. Most exchanges have an option to enable 2FA, you might see it under ‘Google Authenticator”.

Google Authenticator is an app that you install on your phone. Every 30 seconds you receive a new set of 6 random numbers that you need to enter timely into the exchange to confirm sensitive actions. It's almost impossible for someone to guess your 2FA code.

5. Phone with 2FA app is broken or stolen

One drop could cost you your crypto

A big problem with 2FA is the fact that people do not save the QR code they initially get from the exchange. It is easy to just add the Authenticator on their phone and click next. This is a major risk.

If something happens to your phone, you are not able to recover the 2FA generator!

You should either take a screenshot of the 2FA QR code and store the screenshot on a secure offline USB stick or print the QR code on a piece of paper and put it somewhere safe.

This way you are able to recover the 2FA generator even if your phone is lost. This is especially important in exchanges that you have not given your identity information.

6. The exchange itself gets compromised

Whenever you are using 3rd party service, you are exposing yourself to a 3rd party risk.

Take the legendary Mt. Gox case for example. It was one of the earlier crypto exchanges and in 2013 processed most of the world’s crypto trades. Many people trusted the website and stored their valuable Bitcoin on the exchange wallets for years.

But one day in February 2014 the site halted withdrawals and a few weeks later the site went down. Approximately 850,000 bitcoins belonging to customers and the company were missing and likely stolen.

7. Forgetting you have funds

It sounds silly but this is a real phenomena.

Imagine you had been a hodler for many years. The brain wants to forget about memories that have little emotional weight and that are not actively remembered.

A transfer of digital numbers years ago is not a highly emotional event which makes it easy to forget.

Another sub-category of forgetting is not preparing for accidents and even death.

Is your husband, wife, and children aware of your holdings or how to access them in case something happens to you?

Original source: https://www.collectiveholdings.io/

Dear friend you share a good topic about exchange security. This helpful post for everyone. I read your article and learning about exchange security. Thanks for sharing it. And i uope you complet your search about that thank you

 

[malik6314193 5449]

Thanks for sharing this useful information with us  and i think it is good information to be noted in our minds and we should be careful about these things. 

[BTC Future 3946]

Concerning 2fa there have been many issues in the past and finally most exchanges have now an option to retrieve your account in case of missing/stolen or destroyed phone. This was actually a major issue with many people and exchanges thinking all was fine, but in fact led to many funds being lost.

[bliznec 22267]

I will never forget about my means, which is not very good, to forget. All these conditions contribute to the safety of your funds. You need to use all the protections for the safety of funds.

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

On 4/6/2020 at 9:31 PM, kipara said:

That's really great, you are posting something very important and you remind us, this is really good information thats will help all users thats are using crypto exchange for trading.

I'm trying to find the most interesting topics to share with the cryptotalk community. Maybe next time, please consider not quoting the whole topic as it's very long and takes a lot of the space on the screen.

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

21 minutes ago, Peter Urban said:

I think, that in crypto apps there are not some blocking mechanisms where you will write your password for few times bad and you will have to wait dew minutes / hours to make another try, cause there can be some brute-force attack - that will slow it down.

Brute Force attacks for an exchange account is most of the times impossible, as many people have strong passwords, 2FA or email verifications by default. Exchanges must pay attention on keeping their customers safe.

[Syed Al Mamun 876]

I want to give thanks for sharing your kind and so important information, this informative information so helpful for new commers. Because if they maintenance these advices then they mere safe from hacker's. Especially thanks for First tips.

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

On 4/6/2020 at 9:20 PM, Hmooda said:

Dear friend you share a good topic about exchange security. This helpful post for everyone. I read your article and learning about exchange security. Thanks for sharing it. And i uope you complet your search about that thank you

 

You're welcome. I see you're completely new to this forum, and I hope you enjoy your stay here. Next time, please don't quite the whole article and keep this topic clean.

[jacker 1095]

Yes. Those are the 8 common mistakes that make people lose money in the world of cryptocurrencies. I sometimes lose money because of a bad wallet, but a good wallet that loses money I believe errors from users, from security, the security of the password, the operation of the website ... are all important. Be careful and be absolutely careful

[Lover840 0]

On 4/4/2020 at 1:14 PM, AkaCrafterCZ said:

DON'T QUOTE THE WHOLE THREAD PLEASE!

 

Losing your money can be devastating. It is scary how often people lose accumulated coins on security mistakes.

In this article, you will learn all the ways how people lose their cryptocurrencies on exchange wallets and how you can avoid unnecessary losses.

1. A weak password

A weak password is something that has one or more of these qualities:

• It can be guessed with common words or your special days
• It is short and can be brute-forced easily with password hacking tools
• It is used in many places. If one service has a leak, all your accounts are compromised.

This is why creating a strong unique password for every site you use is important.

2. Phishing attempts and scams

Phishing is a type of scam that tries to get access to your assets by you willingly giving your login details to the scammer.

A typical phishing attempt is receiving an email that is supposedly coming from the exchange. Once you click the login link on the email, you are directed to a website that looks exactly like the exchange.

The only difference is the URL address and once you give your login details, you are not actually logging in. When you log in to your exchange a few minutes later, you realize that you have just willingly given your login details to a scammer and they already withdrew your funds.

3. Email or device got compromised

In 2013, 3.1 million phones were stolen in the USA. It is more common than ever to always be logged in to your email with multiple computers and your mobile devices (and old phones in your house).

Nowadays many exchange withdrawals and password changes require you to accept the withdrawal on your email. This is why email security is more important than password security.

• How many devices are you logged in to your email? Where are the devices?
• How many times have you left your work computer or personal computer or phone on when others could have accessed your devices and your logged in email account?
• How many times have you lost your phone?
• Are your phone and computer storage encrypted so the data cannot be transferred to another device?
• Does your phone have a mere pincode or do you use a strong password?

Remember, it only takes one person with ill-intent to exploit your ignorance.

4. Not using a 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

If your password does end up being breached 2FA acts as your second password. Most exchanges have an option to enable 2FA, you might see it under ‘Google Authenticator”.

Google Authenticator is an app that you install on your phone. Every 30 seconds you receive a new set of 6 random numbers that you need to enter timely into the exchange to confirm sensitive actions. It's almost impossible for someone to guess your 2FA code.

5. Phone with 2FA app is broken or stolen

One drop could cost you your crypto

A big problem with 2FA is the fact that people do not save the QR code they initially get from the exchange. It is easy to just add the Authenticator on their phone and click next. This is a major risk.

If something happens to your phone, you are not able to recover the 2FA generator!

You should either take a screenshot of the 2FA QR code and store the screenshot on a secure offline USB stick or print the QR code on a piece of paper and put it somewhere safe.

This way you are able to recover the 2FA generator even if your phone is lost. This is especially important in exchanges that you have not given your identity information.

6. The exchange itself gets compromised

Whenever you are using 3rd party service, you are exposing yourself to a 3rd party risk.

Take the legendary Mt. Gox case for example. It was one of the earlier crypto exchanges and in 2013 processed most of the world’s crypto trades. Many people trusted the website and stored their valuable Bitcoin on the exchange wallets for years.

But one day in February 2014 the site halted withdrawals and a few weeks later the site went down. Approximately 850,000 bitcoins belonging to customers and the company were missing and likely stolen.

7. Forgetting you have funds

It sounds silly but this is a real phenomena.

Imagine you had been a hodler for many years. The brain wants to forget about memories that have little emotional weight and that are not actively remembered.

A transfer of digital numbers years ago is not a highly emotional event which makes it easy to forget.

Another sub-category of forgetting is not preparing for accidents and even death.

Is your husband, wife, and children aware of your holdings or how to access them in case something happens to you?

Original source: https://www.collectiveholdings.io/

This is the reason i dont keep my coins in any exchange platform anymore. And it is must to use the 2fa security authentication feature to provide your assets a high level security. Don't compromise for your privacy. 

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

17 hours ago, Lover840 said:

This is the reason i dont keep my coins in any exchange platform anymore. And it is must to use the 2fa security authentication feature to provide your assets a high level security. Don't compromise for your privacy. 

Yes, if you buy a big amount of cryptocurrencies, it's worth it to move the funds to your wallet instantly upon buying to secure your funds. Next time please don't quote my whole thread to keep it clean here.

[MrGox 880]

It is really fantastic topic, thanks for sharing this information with us my dear. l have read all of them. Through this way l have more knowledge right now about exchange security.

[Whited35 15285]

I have also lost some cryptocurrency holdings on some exchange due to their huge scam exit. Nowadays, more centralized exchange sites are making the huge scam exit. People lost their funds on the different exchange sites majorly due to their own faults. 

[rianpedia 816]

Actually what is more important than all of that is not linking verification step (2FA) is very important. I'm sure everything will be safe if you have linked this.

[iloveyobit 6599]

Thank you for the topic. I hope people will benefit from this information and use it as tips in order to avoid being exposed to hacking or stealing their balance in the future.

[AkaCrafterCZ 1140]

On 4/11/2020 at 12:23 PM, Lativak said:

The best topic that I visited today, those were definitely the ways that usually people lose their money in crypto, the best suggestion to solve those problems mostly is to store your funds(specially bigger amounts) in your personal wallet and avoid keeping them in exchanges too long.

You're welcome. It's not suggested to keep your trading profits and funds in an exchange for long times. It's convenient, as you can instantly exchange whenever you want, but withdrawal fees are usually expensive and if you store the funds in an less trusted exchange, they can exit scam or get hacked and you lose your funds. Withdrawing to a real wallet will always remove the 3rd party from maintaining over your funds!

[bitcoinb 1359]

This is an  interesting article that can help a lot of people to  understand importance to use the basic precautions to protect their money. I  hope a  maximum of members will read it. 

[magd 5231]

It is true and these methods happen with a lot of people without knowing them sometimes, such as losing a mobile phone, but an important advice came to my attention, which is the use of authentication, which I advise everyone to pay attention to, because some think it is just an unimportant routine procedure.

[Calvinpriva 17296]

I agree with you in all of them except number five. You can steal access your account even if you are using 2FA security while you have lost your mobile phone. You just need to remember your email address and password because you can login with your email address in other devices and receive the 2FA code.