Ivan Bianco, a Brazilian-based YouTuber specializing in blockchain gaming who runs the Fraternidade Crypto channel, reportedly had nearly $60,000 worth of cryptocurrencies and a stash of NFTs stolen this week after accidentally leaking the seed phrases during a live stream of his crypto wallets.
During the stream, Bianco opened a document that revealed his seed phrases, a move that allowed unknown individuals to take control of his wallets and allegedly steal his money. Fraternidade Crypto has around 34,000 subscribers on YouTube since 2017 and over 2.2 million views of all videos.
In a subsequent live stream, Bianco was seen crying and explaining to viewers what had happened. He said he tried to create a new wallet when he realized he had revealed his seed phrases, but the cryptocurrency from two wallets was already stolen within minutes.
⚠️ Youtuber Ivan recently took care of a block of notes with his private key.
Autocustódia is just an extremely user-friendly solution. Guard your seeds and you don’t need to use a computer or local file to easily access them. Perder todas as criptos é bem mais… pic.twitter.com/AxPsgQ7LWu
— Guilherme Rennó (@RennoGuil) August 30, 2023
Bianco shared the address of the Polygon wallet that stole about 86,600 MATIC, which was worth about $50,800 at the time of the theft. According to the streamer, another 3.35 ETH ($5,750) of his stolen funds are still stuck in someone else’s wallet on Arbitrum. Other, smaller amounts of crypto were also allegedly stolen from other users.
Bianco confirmed via email to Decrypt that he lost tokens totaling around $60,000 along with NFT’s. Protos reported that Bianco filed a police report after losing the funds. In an email to Decrypt, the YouTuber confirmed that he spoke to the police.
“Police don’t understand much about this, so I think it’s going to take some time,” Bianco told Decrypt. “I have to look for it myself together with the community.”
After the funds were stolen, Bianco said an unidentified man contacted him on Discord. They met over the phone and Bianco claimed the person said he stole the YouTuber’s cryptocurrency and regretted his actions.
“He said, ‘I screwed up here, I know what I did was bad,’ and he just hung up and left,” Bianco reportedly said after the incident.
After the call, the wallet that stole most of the money returned the 86,600 MATIC to Bianco. Bianco confirmed to Decrypt that he was returned approximately $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency. Some of Bianco’s fans reportedly questioned the legitimacy of the events, but Bianco denied those claims.
“I did nothing to restore it. “The guy wanted to return it for some reason,” Bianco said.
The YouTuber seems to have learned the identity of the thief – but does not want to reveal the information.
“I’m not going to say his name because the guy gave it back and there’s no reason for me to screw him even though what he did was wrong,” Bianco said.
As for other individuals who have allegedly stolen small amounts of cryptocurrency from his wallet, Bianco told Decrypt that they are “being tracked and located.” Going forward, the streamer hopes the videos of the incident “can serve as a warning to everyone not to repeat his mistake.”
Source : decrypt.co
