Category_Thin Jewelry Cabinet Seed Phrase Theft

Notice: This page is a freshly imported case study from an original repository. While the original content had a similar format, some sections may not have been fully completed. Please help fill in any empty sections or any missing information you can find. If you are new here, please read General Tutorial on Wikis or Anatomy of a Case Study for help getting started.

Jewelry Cabinet

Category_Thin is a Reddit user who stored their Ethereum seed phrase along with other valuables in their jewelry cabinet. They report that someone broke into their house and took the whole cabinet. Insurance will not cover the loss.

About Category_Thin

Category_Thin is a resident of New Jersey, United States.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Category_Thin Jewelry Cabinet Seed Phrase Theft

Date	Event	Description
April 18th, 2021 9:19:21 AM MDT	Posted To Reddit	Incident was shared on Reddit.
April 18th, 2021 9:47:51 AM MDT	Asking How To Get Address	Category_Thin requests how he can get the ethereum address.
April 18th, 2021 9:50:21 AM MDT	Frustration Expressed	Category_Thin expressed frustration that he still hasn't received an answer to how he can get his ethereum address.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $447,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

Category_Thin posted about his situation to Reddit. There was overall skepticism of Category_Thin's claim. He attempted to assure them that his loss was real.

I had nearly 200ETH that I held from 2018- I wrote down in my notes. I kept the notes in the jewelry cabinet- someone broke in last night and took everything in the whole cabinet. Stupid me of not keeping the phrases extra. Yikes. The jewels are covered by our insurance but not my coins lllloooollll. Just thought to share to enlighten your days. Life moves on- my wife doesn’t know so this will be my own pain. Fak.

Community Skepticism

The community was generally skeptical of Category_Thin's claims of what had happened.

You seem fairly ok having just lost almost half a million dollars dude.

Press X to doubt :)

Such a lousy attempt at moon farming.

Sounds like someone is trying a new “my boat sank”.

Lose 200 Eth and you have the balls to "Lolll"... I smell a [fake] story

Community Support

There were a few people who provided support.

that really sucks. Hopefully the rest of us can learn from your mistake and keep the seed phrases secured in more than one place

that hurts my gut just thinking about it. Sorry dude.

You don’t have the wallet open on computer I assume.. could just transfer it ASAP ofc if you do

Requests For Blockchain Address

Category_Thin was asked to provide his ethereum address. Unfortunately, he appeared unsure of how to determine the address.

Uh i just joined to post this guys lol. You guy can call BS or not but its true and it happened. If it makes you feel better I am def[initely] not calm. How do I get the ETH address when I can’t login? Serious question here.

Here I am expecting a legit answer for a solution but i guess too high expectation

There is no indication that he received any assistance to find the address. It appears that the post has since been deleted.

Ultimate Outcome

There is no indication that Category_Thin was able to recover any of his money. He ultimately ended up millions of dollars in debt due in large part to a gambling addiction and as of April 2023 was heavily investigating the bankruptcy process..

Total Amount Recovered

There is no indication that Category_Thin was able to recover any of his money.

Ongoing Developments

We have reached out to Category_Thin to see what avenues he has explored for recovery, if any, however there has so far been no response. There is no indication that he has sought any investigation into his lost funds.

Individual Prevention Policies

Ensure that more than one copy of your seed phrase is kept, and that each copy is in a distinct location. For example, you may keep a backup copy in a bank vault. A common scheme is to split the 24 word seed phrase into 3 sets of 16 words each, such that any two of the sets are needed to unlock the wallet.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Never take for granted the limited knowledge of users of your service and their tendency to skip past provided information. It is recommended to design a simple tutorial and quiz for new users which explains the basics of seed phrases, strong password generation, secure two-factor authentication, common fraud schemes, how ponzi schemes work, as well as other risks which are unique to the cryptocurrency space. This tutorial and quiz should ensure their understanding and be a standard part of the sign-up or download process which is difficult or impossible to skip.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

Create a standard tutorial and quiz for all new cryptocurrency participants, which is required to be completed once per participant. This tutorial and quiz should cover the basics of proper seed phrase protection, strong password generation, secure two-factor authentication, common fraud schemes, how to detect and guard against phishing attacks, how ponzi schemes work, as well as other risks which are unique to the cryptocurrency space.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.