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I had 4 coins on an old laptop and went to move them to a new wallet only to find out they had all been removed and sent elsewhere in 2014.

To: 1KM6rLnwgD67wRdMx9aVLRf1gfoNyCyv7Q

Debit: -3.93584800 BTC

This was to buy a house for me and my family and now my balance is at 0, i'm devastated but pretty sure there is nothing that can be done about this, just asking here in case I've overlooked something, any advice welcome, thanks

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  • buying a house with four bitcoins - don't you think this is a bit tough as explanation? at the beginning of '14 bitcoin was declining from 1000 USD, and ended in the 350s... what type of house do you want to build with it? You need to manage your expectations, eh? Anyhow, the coin are moved, and without knowing the owners or keys they are gone... Nov 27, 2017 at 22:16

2 Answers 2

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It seems that your coins are indeed long gone, and have traveled to, and through various exchanges. There's really nothing you can do.

If you're interested as to where they went, take a look here,

https://www.walletexplorer.com/wallet/0be05327716173e1?from_address=1KM6rLnwgD67wRdMx9aVLRf1gfoNyCyv7Q

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Two ideas how to catch the thief, however the chances aren't really high because the thief didn't reuse addresses often and exchanged at mixing service and at a not anymore existing exchange.

Social
Any idea how somebody could have stolen it? You caught a virus on the old laptop? Was the priv key on the laptop? Did you write down the priv key so other people could have seen it? Did someone know the password of the laptop and/or app or did you reuse the password? Whom did you tell you have 4 BTC for the house or for whatever? In case the group of eligible persons is small and your conclusion is that the thief knows you you might get an idea and could speak to the person(s) to see their reaction.

Technical
Looking through the transaction trees my assumption is that the address 1FLDALCmVz5VP1sKkn3D5iyiPn724Bar61 belongs as well to the thief. This address got funds from 15WtLXz24WitRWtfdEzWPWZJYYDEBjjhUf which derives from a ransomware attack (1) and was used in 128 transactions. If there were addresses assignable to the same owner as the 15W... cashed out at an exchange (e.g. bank transfer) then there would be a chance to catch the thief or someone who knows more. Would need deep investigation and the conclusions in the bitcoin tree are mostly not sure only associated with a high likelihood. You might investigate as well if the ransomware attacker was catched, could be the same person or at least a person which had a financial relationship to your thief.

Finally even in case you or the police would catch the thief you might need to convince that you weren't the initiator of the transaction.

(1) https://sefcom.asu.edu/publications/behind-closed-doors-ecrime2016.pdf

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