A CRYOCURRENCY trader claims that they lost £900,000 worth of Bitcoin when they accidentally deleted a WhatsApp photo containing security passwords.
The anonymous Reddit user posted his conundrum on the Bitcoin subreddit as he pleaded with tech savvy individuals for advice on recovering the image in some shape or form.
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In the post, the user explained that a friend once gifted him 25 BTC in his wallet – accompanied by a recommendation to introduce “seed words” to protect his investment.
As a form of security, the trader claimed he tried to send the money to the friend as a means of back-up in the event that something went awry.
The pal immediately told him it was his responsibility and the user removed the photo from the app with the belief it was stored elsewhere.
However, fast forward to the present day and the user told Reddit how he had bought a new phone and had sought to back up roughly 6000 photos and videos from his old device.
And it was only after seeking the password filled image, the trader was shocked to find that it was not there.
“To my horror I think what I must have done when I deleted the picture from his phone i must have checked the options also “delete the media in this chat” and hence it removed it from my phone as well,” he wrote.
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“I have spent the past two days trawling through my old pics in the hope that I missed the picture but to no avail.”
The user went onto say that he is now seeking the help of both tech giants and the general public in a bid to retrieve his photo.
He continued: “If I contact WhatsApp will they be able to retrieve the picture I know the rough date and time, is there any chance they would have saved this file as before it left my phone and arrived at my friends it must have gone through the WhatsApp server.
“I also was wondering how do i contact them about it as if they do look and find it they may realise its 12 seed words.
“I know at this point never to store anything like this digitally but at the time this happened I had only been in the crypto world for a few hours.
“Any ideas please.”
Most Redditors responded with some harsh words of advice – issuing tips on how he should be more tech-savvy.
One user wrote: “You can run some recovery software for your phone, and hope you get it. WhatsApp cannot help you, and I wouldn’t trust them with this information even if they could.
“Take some time to learn the basics.”
Another cruelly added: “On the bright side, think of the experience he is gaining.”
The risks of buying with cryptocurrencies
Investing and making a purchase in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is risky:
Their value is highly volatile and City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority has warned investors should be prepared to lose all their money.
Investing in cryptocurrencies is not a guaranteed way to make money.
You should also think carefully about making purchases with a cryptocurrency.
For example, Bitcoin has had wild price fluctuations in recent months and the price can change on an almost hourly basis.
The price of a Bitcoin was at $40,258 on January 9, according to Coindesk, but fell to $34,214 just three days later.
That’s a 15% drop.
These price swings are risky for a business as you could sell an item for a Bitcoin at one price and the value may drop soon after, leaving you with less money from a sale.
Similarly, the price of Bitcoin has soared by more than 21% since the start of this week so it can be hard for a shopper to get an accurate idea of the price of an item if its value changes on a daily basis.
However, losing Bitcoin is a lot easier than you think.
Earlier this year, one man lost £275 million in Bitcoin after tossing out his hard drive.
One trader lost out on $2 million in Bitcoin when his crypto password was stolen last month.
The world’s richest Bitcoin trader lost $5 billion in one month after the Crypto bubble burst last month.
