If you are thinking of immersing yourself fully in the world of cryptocurrencies, you should know that before operating with bitcoin you have to avoid a very serious mistake.
Bitcoin is on everyone’s lips and cryptocurrencies have been normalized to a certain extent that it seems that anyone can get hold of some of these virtual currencies and start operating without any problem. Of course, things are not so easy and, in fact, trading cryptocurrencies is a complicated issue to manage.
The first thing to understand when operating with currencies like bitcoin is that security must be above all else. This security implies having to change the general attitude when working with cryptocurrencies, everything can mean a threat and, in fact, in most situations it is.
When making a change of attitude, what is sought is to maintain a low profile within cryptocurrencies, interact as little as possible with other users and be wary of strangers on the internet who make promises that are difficult to keep. There is no entity that keeps anyone in line in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Each user is responsible for their wallet and what they do with it, having to face the consequences of their actions and, above all, what may happen if mistakes are made. The perfect example is what Louis Nel relates, in the Twitter thread he tells how his friend lost 0.255 for a scam.
And, it is that, in the world of cryptocurrencies, thefts, scams and cyber attacks are completely normal. What has happened has as its protagonist an anonymous user friend of Louis Nel, his computer, his bitcoin wallet and an exchange. This user had his computer infected by a virus that intercepted money transfers.
A friend sent 0.255BTC from his bitcoin wallet to an exchange.He copied and pasted the wallet address on his computer.After 4 hours he was worried when the funds did not arrive at the exchange…
— Louis Nel (@LouisNel) March 14, 2022
This user decided to send an amount of bitcoin to an account and by doing so he believed that the money would arrive at some point. What happened is that the hours passed, but the money did not arrive and, in fact, it did not arrive. After seeing that there was a problem, he decided to check the reason why the money had disappeared, but without the other person arriving.
What he found is that inside his computer he had installed a malware that was dedicated to changing the addresses of the wallets in order to send the money to other accounts. That is why the money never arrived, but neither can it be recovered due to the way bitcoin works.
Louis Nel relates that his friend after realizing this checked to see if the computer was completely affected and it is. When trying to send bitcoin the malware changes the addresses. It is because of that Before operating with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the main thing is to make small shipments of Satoshis to avoid greater evils such as losing some bitcoin, in addition to checking for malware.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism