<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Is altering Blockchain Wallet possible even after all the securities?</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>The key thing to learn is that a scammer doesn't need to alter your wallet. They don't even need your wallet to exist, they can access money that was in a wallet that has even been deleted.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>The minute I fund the wallet, he took all the money out even after all the securities on my wallet. How is this possible?</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Bitcoin wallets don't contain any Bitcoin really. What they contain is a private-key that gives you the right to spend any Bitcoins that have been sent to a Bitcoin-address that is derived from that private-key.</p>

<p>The money is effectively stored in the blockchain, every "full-node" bitcoin wallet has their own full copy of the blockchain. Any wallet can spend money if they can prove they have the private-key for the bitcoin-address associated with the Bitcoin. </p>

<p>You can prove you own a private-key without disclosing it. That's the mathematical feature that makes Bitcoin possible.</p>

<hr>

<p>The wallet-password or two-factor authentication only protects access to your copy of a wallet. By earlier giving someone temporary access to your wallet, they can copy from the wallet the private keys (or seed-phrase/recovery-phrase) that they can use to create another copy of the wallet.</p>

<p>Even if you change the password on your wallet, that doesn't affect other copies of the wallet.</p>

<p>If you put money into your copy of the wallet, that money appears in all copies of the wallet which contain the same private key. It doen't even matter if the copy was created before or after you put the money into your wallet.</p>

<p>Any of those wallets can spend the money you put in there. Once one wallet has spent the money, it disappears from all other wallets too.</p>

<p>You may think that calling this thing a "wallet" is misleading since it really contains no money. I'd agree. The inventors of Bitcoin needed a familiar name for a thing that controls access to money, that was the best they could come up with.</p>

<p>Maybe it is best to think of a wallet as a combined key-holder and accounting-ledger viewer.</p>

<hr>

<p>So never share access to your wallet, even if it is empty at the time.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-15T19:50:18.990Z
2018-10-15T20:08:44.037Z
2018-10-15T20:08:44.037Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>A man named James Bryan posted an investment plan and took BTC from me. On the day of payout, he asked me to simply fund my Blockchain wallet to receive the money. The minute I fund the wallet, he took all the money out even after all the securities on my wallet. How is this possible? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-21T09:17:38.403Z
Did you allow 'James Bryan' to access your wallet, and then you changed the password afterwards? If so, you were scammed. The scammer logged in, and then copied your wallet seed phrase. With that phrase, they can recreate your wallet on another device, without any need to input your password. Do not EVER give your passwords, private keys, seed phrases, 2FA tokens, etc, to anybody you do not trust 100%. There is never any reason to do so, anyone asking for them is almost certainly attempting to scam you. Sorry for your losses.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-21T23:13:30.640Z
Additionally, the scammer may have added a watch-only address to the wallet, allowing you to see the deposited coins, but allowing him to withdraw them without any action on your part
Raghav Sood
<blockchain><fraud>
Is altering Blockchain Wallet possible even after all the securities?
Kushal Mehra
# Is altering Blockchain Wallet possible even after all the securities?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-21)

A man named James Bryan posted an investment plan and took BTC from me. On the day of payout, he asked me to simply fund my Blockchain wallet to receive the money. The minute I fund the wallet, he took all the money out even after all the securities on my wallet. How is this possible?

**Tags:** blockchain, fraud

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Did you allow 'James Bryan' to access your wallet, and then you changed the password afterwards? If so, you were scammed. The scammer logged in, and then copied your wallet seed phrase. With that phrase, they can recreate your wallet on another device, without any need to input your password. Do not EVER give your passwords, private keys, seed phrases, 2FA tokens, etc, to anybody you do not trust 100%. There is never any reason to do so, anyone asking for them is almost certainly attempting to scam you. Sorry for your losses.  
> **username_2**: Additionally, the scammer may have added a watch-only address to the wallet, allowing you to see the deposited coins, but allowing him to withdraw them without any action on your part  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-10-15. Score: 1

> **Is altering Blockchain Wallet possible even after all the securities?**

The key thing to learn is that a scammer doesn't need to alter your wallet. They don't even need your wallet to exist, they can access money that was in a wallet that has even been deleted.

> **The minute I fund the wallet, he took all the money out even after all the securities on my wallet. How is this possible?**

Bitcoin wallets don't contain any Bitcoin really. What they contain is a private-key that gives you the right to spend any Bitcoins that have been sent to a Bitcoin-address that is derived from that private-key.

The money is effectively stored in the blockchain, every "full-node" bitcoin wallet has their own full copy of the blockchain. Any wallet can spend money if they can prove they have the private-key for the bitcoin-address associated with the Bitcoin.

You can prove you own a private-key without disclosing it. That's the mathematical feature that makes Bitcoin possible.

---

The wallet-password or two-factor authentication only protects access to your copy of a wallet. By earlier giving someone temporary access to your wallet, they can copy from the wallet the private keys (or seed-phrase/recovery-phrase) that they can use to create another copy of the wallet.

Even if you change the password on your wallet, that doesn't affect other copies of the wallet.

If you put money into your copy of the wallet, that money appears in all copies of the wallet which contain the same private key. It doen't even matter if the copy was created before or after you put the money into your wallet.

Any of those wallets can spend the money you put in there. Once one wallet has spent the money, it disappears from all other wallets too.

You may think that calling this thing a "wallet" is misleading since it really contains no money. I'd agree. The inventors of Bitcoin needed a familiar name for a thing that controls access to money, that was the best they could come up with.

Maybe it is best to think of a wallet as a combined key-holder and accounting-ledger viewer.

---

So never share access to your wallet, even if it is empty at the time.


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