Credit Card Fraudsters Steal Apple Co-Founder’s Seven Bitcoins

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, speaking at the Global Business Summit 2018 in New Delhi, revealed that he was defrauded by credit card fraudsters costing him seven bitcoins. Recently, the technology entrepreneur mentioned that he had sold all his bitcoins when the cryptocurrency reached the $20,000 milestone in December.

The Rip-Off Story

As for the stolen bitcoin, Wozniak did not make clear if the fraud occurred while selling off his gains or a different time. However, his earlier statements regarding selling his holdings indicate that all went smoothly at that time.

Interestingly, the fraudsters employed a relatively old trick: They used a stolen credit card to swipe the bitcoins from the tech wiz. At the current price, the seven stolen tokens would be worth about $77,000. Nevertheless, the tech veteran is still a bitcoin and blockchain technology proponent. He explained his stance in the following:

“Bitcoins to me was a currency that was not manipulated by the governments. It is mathematical, it is pure, it can’t be altered.”

Concerning Wozniak’s stolen bitcoins, scamsters tricked the tech veteran by first paying him for his seven bitcoins using a credit card and then canceled the payment once they received bitcoins on their digital wallets.

It seems the scammers took advantage of the digital ledger technology, used by cryptocurrencies, that only takes a minute to process and has no regulators such as banks.

The revolutionary blockchain technology records all transaction on a public ledger, but it is impossible to identify who owns that particular wallet.

The Silicon Valley legend stated, “The blockchain identifies who has bitcoins [but that] doesn’t mean there can’t be fraud though. I had seven bitcoins stolen from me through fraud. Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card, and they canceled the credit card payment. It was that easy! And it was from a stolen credit card number so you can never get it back.”

Wozniak’s Silly Mistake

However, the reason for the success of fraud may be a human error on the victim’s side. According to the technology entrepreneur, attackers canceled the credit payment, but it is unknown why he transferred the bitcoins before earning confirmation of payment.

In the past, Wozniak had mentioned that he only bought cryptocurrencies “out of curiosity” and not to get rich. However, recently the technology entrepreneur sold all his bitcoins due to the wild fluctuations in its price.

However, he points that he still owns one bitcoin, which is enough to satiate his curiosity. The loss bitcoins may not sting the Apple co-founder, however, as his net worth is upwards of $100 million.