Fugitive's USB Drive Containing Seed Phrase Seized: A Case Study on the Importance of Crypto Wallet Security

2025-12-03 11:40:35

[Chain News] I recently came across a pretty interesting case. There was a fugitive who fled with a computer containing a crypto wallet, but ended up being caught by the police in the UK. When they searched him, they found a bunch of electronic devices like phones, computers, USB drives, and so on.

Here’s the key part—a photo of a notebook was found on one of the USB drives. The relevant pages of this notebook seemed to have been torn out before the police seized it, but the photo remained. It clearly showed the boot password for that black computer, along with several sets of mnemonic phrases. For example, phrases in the format “number+love,” with hints about the numbers written next to them. These clues allowed the police to successfully recover the Bitcoin.

Mnemonic phrases really shouldn’t be written down casually. Once they’re leaked, it’s almost impossible to keep the assets in your wallet safe.

In addition, last month the Supreme Court held a criminal trial work meeting and specifically mentioned the need to improve judicial rules, with a focus on new issues like the disposal of virtual currencies and electronic data forensics. It looks like regulators are paying more and more attention to the judicial handling of crypto assets. For the industry, this is a signal—compliance and security will be regulated even more strictly in the future.

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RooftopVIP

· 57m ago

Haha, this guy is unbelievable. He wrote his mnemonic phrase in a notebook, took a photo, and stored it on a USB drive. Isn't that just handing over evidence? --- Writing down your mnemonic phrase? Bro, are you trying to get caught even faster? --- This is hilarious. He wrote down his password and mnemonic phrase in a notebook, went on the run carrying a USB drive. With this level of intelligence, I have nothing more to say. --- "Numbers+love" as a format is way too obvious. The police must be laughing; there's no need to even bother cracking it. --- The key point is, this guy even took photos as a backup. Was he afraid his assets wouldn't get lost thoroughly enough? --- Now that's great, even money laundering with cryptocurrency requires some brains. This level is just pathetic. --- Feels like this is a textbook example of what NOT to do. Mnemonic phrases really should be stored in your head. --- Regulators are starting to take cryptocurrency forensics seriously. Criminals will need to be even more careful in the future.

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WealthCoffee

· 1h ago

Writing the mnemonic phrase in a notebook is really wild. This guy is too bold—he runs off and still handwrites his password. The police must be cracking up.

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TokenVelocityTrauma

· 4h ago

Seriously, writing down your seed phrase is a shortcut to bankruptcy. This guy is a living cautionary tale. --- Even fugitives can be caught, do you really think your flashy password-hiding tricks work? The police aren't that naive. --- A seed phrase format like "number+love" is hilarious. Can it get any more basic? No wonder it got found. --- The most ridiculous part is saving it as a photo—isn't that basically giving it away? A USB drive is just a ticking time bomb. --- Wait, they actually recovered Bitcoin through the seed phrase? That shows on-chain tracing is more advanced than we thought. --- Cold wallets, hardware wallets—all that is secondary. The key is that people can't be too clueless. --- Are virtual currency cases really getting this much attention now? Regulation is definitely tightening up. --- I just want to ask: how many people still have a slip of paper with their private key stashed somewhere at home? --- The real takeaway is that the police can recover Bitcoin, which means there's no real anonymity protection.

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SerumSquirrel

· 12-03 12:08

Writing the mnemonic phrase in a notebook? Bro, that's just giving it away, no wonder it got recovered. --- LOL, even labeling the password with hints, this guy must have never been online before. --- I just want to know why bother taking photos and storing them on a USB drive—why not just burn it directly? --- That's why, no matter how cold your cold wallet is, you still can't save yourself from your own mistakes. --- The Supreme Court is holding meetings about virtual currency? Feels like this space is going to get more and more regulated in the future. --- This case proves one thing: your biggest security weakness is always yourself. --- Lesson one of wallet security is never write it on paper, yet people still fall for this trap. --- Looks like from now on, even mnemonic phrases will have to be memorized. That's wild.

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ForkMonger

· 12-03 12:02

lol dude literally wrote down seed phrases like he's storing a wifi password... this is exactly the kind of governance failure that destabilizes entire ecosystems. one bad actor, one stupid u-disk, and suddenly law enforcement gets a perfect case study on why centralized key management is a systemic vulnerability. the protocol doesn't protect stupidity, never has.

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YieldChaser

· 12-03 11:49

This guy is really unbelievable. He actually wrote his mnemonic phrase in a notebook and dared to run with it? No wonder it got recovered. --- Damn, these cops are amazing too. They managed to dig up photos and use them. Now the fugitive has shot himself in the foot. --- That's why you should never write down your mnemonic phrase. It's even riskier than exposing your private key. --- And with this level of intelligence, he thought he could run? I want to know why he had to use a dumb password combination like "love." --- Unbelievable, if you don't destroy the last step completely, all your previous efforts are wasted. People in crypto really need to learn from this lesson. --- Regulation is really coming. This incident is a wake-up call for the crypto community.

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PrivateKeyParanoia

· 12-03 11:45

Haha, is this fugitive out of his mind? Writing the mnemonic on paper, taking photos, and storing it on a USB drive. --- This guy really doesn't understand security, even left the password hint out in the open. --- With this level of intelligence, he wants to launder money? Serves him right to get caught. --- If they can recover it like this, it shows that on-chain tracing isn't as hard as everyone thinks. --- So the key is don't be fucking stupid. If you're going to hide something, this isn't the way to do it. --- With regulators moving this fast, we need to be even more careful in the future. --- He ran off without even destroying the USB drive? That takes some nerve. --- Writing down the mnemonic is basically a suicide move. How are people still doing this? --- The courts are starting to take virtual assets seriously. Feels like the winds are changing. --- The most ridiculous part is taking photos as records. Does he want to get caught?

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