This wonderful piece of technology, called blockchain technology, engineered and designed by Satoshi Nakamoto is going to radically change our lives in so many aspects. It's definitely not the final frontier for humanity, but it's a thing and in my personal opinion, for the times we're living, it's the thing.

There are probably thousands of cryptocurrencies out there and pretty much the same number of existing functional blockchains. I am perfectly aware that not all of them are decentralized blockchains and not too many have any real life use case, but most of them work and definitely all of them have non reversible transactions.

I just read a report from Times of Malta regarding a cryptocurrency fraud that's playing the role of a powerful lesson for every blockchain user or enthusiast. "A man described in court on Monday how his crypto wallet of $700,000 was reduced to zero within seconds of handing over his mobile phone to a man now charged with fraud."

Imagine seeing right before your eyes how $700,000 worth of cryptocurrency are wiped out of your wallet just because you're too dumb, or in other words too confident when it comes to trusting strangers. What exactly happened? I'll just crop the story out briefly from the report so you get an idea.

The 27-year old victim, Dillon Attard, took the witness stand to testify against Luke Milton, a 25-year old company director who is pleading not guilty to misappropriation and fraud, cryptocurrency theft, money laundering as well as various breaches of the Virtual Financial Assets Act

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I took the mobile back and saw that my wallet balance was zero. As reality seeped in, I just snatched the phone. My only thought was to secure my funds. You can never stop a blockchain transaction once sent."

That rookie mistake cost Attard 424,670.97 Unizen, which according to Times of Malta, at the moment of writing the report, the total amount of cryptocurrency was valued at around $700,000...

Almost one million worth of crypto wiped out of the guy's wallet and sent to a scammer for a $5,000 deal that was supposed to be done at a restaurant. I know, crypto is mobile, it's safe, reliable and fast, but you can never stop a blockchain transaction once sent...

While reading the news I was thinking, what did this man had in mind when gave in to trusting a total stranger to hand him his smartphone "filled with $700,000 worth of crypto", so the guy would transfer just $5,000 out of it to his account. What was in that man's head for doing that...?

I wouldn't even openly show my wallet to anyone. No one has ever seen my wallet on my smartphone, I can't even think of handing my phone to anyone, especially a stranger so he can transfer himself a x amount of crypto out of my wallet to his personal one. I can do that myself if I want to, don't need assistance for such basic task.

I guess the victim of this digital theft had the skills to do it as well, but karma stroke him and it's quite a powerful hit. Such situations are an alarm towards the potential of blockchain technology and why we should see it more as a sharp knife that handled with care can do miracles rather than a soft sponge...

I feel sorry for the guy, but he's clearly paying the price for his own stupidity in here. I wouldn't ever encourage theft, but trust has some boundaries and when going over the fence we might risk getting bruised. That's what Attard did on June 16, 2021. Sorry for him, but it is what it is. Next time be more careful...

Thanks for attention,
Adrian