Bitcoins and transactions missing

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I had a wallet which had approx $660 worth of bitcoin somewhere around 0.05 BTC and all of a sudden it has vanished and my transaction tab shows nothing.

I have put my receiving address into the block chain and it shows that a transaction sometime in March of 2019 was made and I didn't make any transactions in March of this year. How odd. Anyway this has blown my mind and I don't know who to ask for help or what to do ?

Any ideas or can someone be of assistance? I really don't know what to do. In addition, I was thinking that maybe bitcoin had plummeted on the market and maybe it lost value and that's why maybe I have none but to be fair there was enough bitcoin in my wallet but no nothing.

Am I doing something wrong and it is safe for me to paste my receving address here for someone to take a look or is that a bad move ?

I only use my bitcoin to pay for VPN and it does show that I renewed my VPN in august which is when I did make a transaction so why it is showing a transaction in March 2019 makes no sense whatsoever.

I've read that something does cause bitcoin to appear as vanished but to be fair I've re-synced which took over 24 hours and I created new receiving addresses which I read can sometimes re-gig the system and your available bitcoins appear.

Nothing?

Any ideas ? Thanks KC

user96814

Posted 2019-07-09T08:21:32.060

Reputation: 1

1You can safely post the address here. It will begin with 1 or 3. Are you sure you are checking the right address? Many wallets don't re-use address and generates a new one for every new transaction – The Gripmaster – 2019-07-09T09:35:11.237

My address: 1MQbH1iM5iauKza39EVQenmmsapRwpbzMH – user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:40:25.633

It shows a transaction 2019-03-12 08:28:05. I used it in August 2018 to renew my VPN and that's all. I have no idea what's going on. – user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:42:52.513

I think the software that I use does not automatically create a new address you have to do this manually I think. Anyway I'm upset and doing to make a coffee to relax – user96814 – 2019-07-09T18:33:36.237

Any thoughts about the address I specified ? – user96814 – 2019-07-10T13:48:39.547

Answers

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Any ideas or can someone be of assistance? I really don't know what to do

TL;DR: Your money has been stolen. There is nothing you can do that has any significant probability to recover your $660.

The thief got access to the private-keys stored in your wallet.

a transaction sometime in March of 2019 was made and I didn't make any transactions in March

One possibility is that someone gained access to your wallet and stole your money.

One recent issue was with the Electrum wallet.

However, if you have a PC wallet or access an online wallet from a PC it is always possible that other malware on your PC stole your passwords and used them to access your wallet, steal money and finally erase logs and data to cover their tracks.

I have put my receiving address into [a] block chain [explorer]

Most modern wallets are HD wallets that create a new receiving address for each transaction.

I created new receiving addresses which I read can sometimes [make] your available bitcoins appear.

I've not heard of this, it would have to be a bug in a specific wallet. In general I would be surprised if this helps.

If you found unexpected transactions in a blockchain explorer, it is unlikely that there is a fault in your wallet software. More likely you are a victim of theft.

If your wallet is misbehaving. One solution is to make a careful copy of your seed-words or your private key (you should have these already in a safe place), then use those on a fresh computer (or phone etc) to download and install the wallet software from the only genuine trusted website and make a new duplicate wallet and let it synchronise fully. You don't need to erase your old wallet until the new one is working fully.

it is safe for me to paste my receving address here

Yes.

There are potential privacy issues if you only use one receiving address. Anyone can see a list of all the transactions made involving that address. But it doesn't give anyone any way to access your money.

You can also safely publish a transaction id and the name & version number of your wallet software (e.g. bitcoin-core 0.18.0, electrum 3.3.4, ...)

Never give anyone your private key, your seed-phrase / recovery-phrase or the password to your wallet or online wallet or account. Changing a previously disclosed password does not re-secure your wallet/account.

Also this is what I read regarding created a new address can sometimes show balances again: reddit.com/r/Iota/comments/6sim7o/

That advice relates to IOTA not to Bitcoin.

I'm positive that I never used bitcoin this year

Everything suggests your Bitcoin was stolen.

I wouldn't use that wallet again and I wouldn't use that PC for any new wallet or any further financial activity again. Even after zeroing the disks and cleanly reinstalling the operating system, I'd worry about BIOS malware, infected USB devices, etc.

RedGrittyBrick

Posted 2019-07-09T08:21:32.060

Reputation: 4 815

My address is: 1MQbH1iM5iauKza39EVQenmmsapRwpbzMH – user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:40:40.140

Also this is what I read regarding created a new address can sometimes show balances again: https://www.reddit.com/r/Iota/comments/6sim7o/psa_if_your_wallet_displays_a_0_balance_suddenly/

– user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:41:14.163

The client that is use is Multibit 0.5.18 and is no longer supported as I tried to look for an updated version they've shut shop and discontinued. – user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:44:16.080

To be honest I don't use a private key or seed-phrase or recovery phrase - I have a local wallet on my PC which I use with that Multibit software which is local on my PC and I run windows 10 and my machine is secure no one has physical access and to be fair I use malware bytes. – user96814 – 2019-07-09T17:51:31.593

Thanks for replying and take a look at my address and see if you can see anything odd ? I'm positive that I never used bitcoin this year I only use it to renew my VPN on a yearly basis and the transaction in Aug of 2018 is correct because that is when I renewed my VPN services via bitcoin which I use for anonymity purposes. Anyway my bitcoin is gone and I'm well gutted. – user96814 – 2019-07-09T18:01:15.730

@user96814 you shouldnreally make a backup of your wallet (recovery phrase). If your PC hard drive crashes (and it will, eventually), there is a good chance you will lose your wallet permanently. Also, for bitcoin users, malware bytes is not a sufficient defence against many attacks, it just provides a blanket reactionary defence against common threats. Be wary of depending on it to keep your bitcoins safe! – chytrik – 2019-07-09T20:05:27.377

@user96814: Answer updated – RedGrittyBrick – 2019-07-09T22:24:38.393

I do have a backup of my wallet stashed in evernote. Will the funds be available in that ? But if someone has extracted my money using a transaction even after a restore wouldn't that transaction take precedence ? – user96814 – 2019-07-10T00:13:14.633

It's funny you should mention Electrum wallet getting hacked and people losing their money. Multibit recommended people move to that platform. Maybe the software itself stole my money before they closed it down - I've never had a problem untili now - funny how Multibit have disappeared off the scene. Is there no way to find out or challenge the wallet address who took my small amount of bitcoin ? I've traced it and it went to an address and was subsequrtently moved to a different address who's current funds are approxmiately 450k.. – user96814 – 2019-07-10T01:09:54.090

Any thoughts about the address I specified ? – user96814 – 2019-07-10T13:48:52.180

Anyway flipping hell if you can't even keep a wallet on your own PC without some c*** taking your money then how on earth can someone extract my funds from my wallet. I've really gone off bitcoin now. I just can't see someone gaining access to my machine even via malware to steal my bitcoin there has to be another explanation. If my bitcoin was hosted online and it got jacked fair game but for my bitcoin to go missing from a wallet which was on my local PC is very odd. Has anyone checked the address i specified. I'm just really pissed off about what has transpired and to be honest I'm fuming! – user96814 – 2019-07-10T13:53:34.697

@user96814 I checked that address in a Blockchain explorer. It shows the transaction in March which you mentioned. That's a real transaction. Since you didn't create it, someone else did. The only way they can have created a valid transaction is by using the private-keys from which your address was generated. How they got those keys can't be determined by looking at the blockchain. The keys are stored in your wallet (and in backups) A forensic examination of your PC (and your backups of your wallet etc) might reveal how the theft occurred. – RedGrittyBrick – 2019-07-10T15:50:36.140

Asked: 2019-07-09T08:21:32.060

Viewed: 77 times

Active: 2019-08-09T22:02:05.223