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They said they saved bitcoin in that exe file. How do I access this bitcoin? They also created other bitcoin exe files with different names. Thank you
Someone said they would send me bitcoin, they sent me a exe file, called bitcoin.exe, and it is not running
Answers
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This sounds like a scam, or at least, an attempt to compromise your computer with malware.
Sending someone a Bitcoin transaction does NOT involve sending someone an executable file. It involves using the bitcoin network to send a bitcoin transaction that moves some amount of bitcoin to addresses owned by the transaction's participants.
You can generate receiving addresses, or send transactions of your own by utilizing bitcoin wallet software. You should download this software only after learning about how to use it, and finding a reputable place to download it from. In pretty much every case, you should not download and run a .exe file sent to you by an unknown person. If you have already done so, you should consider your computer compromised, and never use it as a bitcoin wallet otherwise, you will need to find a clean device for that purpose.
For more information on getting started with Bitcoin, see: I am new to Bitcoin, how can I get started?
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In increasing order of scepticism:
- most charitably, maybe they sent you a nice exe that unzips to make a bitcoin client, and includes a bitcoin keyring('wallet') with some keys giving you access to bitcoin on the chain. I wouldn't even know how to do this, but it seems possible. I doubt your 'someone' has the necessary skills.
- less charitably, they just saw a bitcoin.exe on their computer and figured that would be enough to send you, with the intention of sending you bitcoin after you had the client running (you need to generate the receiving address first).
- it's malware. In this case, you're irrevocable compromised already. Where you go from there is up to you. I would reformat the whole system, but my system already has bitcoins and other sensitive info. Yours might not - just remember the malware will always be there, so in future any bitcoins you get might disappear.
