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This story I am about to write about is a very crazy and mindblowing one. I never thought I would be telling the story here since it isn't mine, but I guess this is where the topic has brought us now. This incident happened to my elder brother, so I know the details and how the whole thing transpired. Till today, I am always still baffled at the whole situation and you will soon understand why.
My brother went into web3 several months back, I can't say the exact timeframe but I am certain it is over a year now. He was into NFTS majorly where he would support projects, get their NFTs and mint them when the time is right. He was so dedicated and hardworking, I would even help him in ways I could with some of the tasks they always ask them to do and all that. He was just starting so he used to do collaborations with his friends or people in his NFT circle.
Collaborating with someone meant that he would hustle to get the NFT, the other person would fund the minting fee and when the NFT is sold, they both share the rewards at a percentage they both agree with. My brother was doing this because he couldn't afford the minting fees at those periods. However, after every transaction, he always make sure that the other person deletes his keys from their laptop.
I went to visit my brother in school and on this faithful day, my brother won an NFT that was worth 2 ethereum. The funny thing was that he won it in a giveaway and he didnt have to do much. My brother was so happy on this day, he rushed into the room sound so so excited. When he told me about it, I was so happy for him and was thanking God on his behalf. That was his first big win ever and he couldn't have been more excited about it. He told only few of his friends about it and they were very happy for him as well. He was glad he would not have to do collaborations again, that he would save the money for that and also attend to other things.
We started making some plans and we were both so excited about this win. The next day, my brother went out to drop his former phone for the person that wanted to help him sell it and on his way, the worst thing ever happened. He called me that someone had hacked his account and stole his NFT that he just won. He was acting all strong and told me that he was coming home soon. I had already broke down in tears at home because the whole thing was just so sad. I cannot even explain what I felt at that particular moment, all our happiness just vanished like that.
When my brother got back and we were lamenting about the whole thing and wondering who the hacker might be, he was still acting all strong and positive. He made some calls and I was busy trying to track the accounts that the hacker interacted with but all I got were just deadends. When my brother called my mom to inform her about the matter, he got really emotional and that was when he let everything out. I think the last time I saw him cry that much was when we were still young. Man was so down and I was as well, I just tried to confort him in the little ways I could.
I encouraged him to get back on his feet and all of that, but it was a very sad moment anyways. Imagine the plans he had and the joy he felt when he got that NFT, and then boom! someone just snatched it all away. One thing we were just so sure of was that it was someone close to him, who knew he had the NFT. However, it was hard to point a finger because all these people that knew has been so good to him and seemed trustworthy. They were even trying to help him catch the culprit and all of that, it was very confusing.
To cut the long story short, I encouraged my brother to keep moving and that he would definitely have another big win soon. He was very strong and decided to continue his grinds, but the story does not end here.
Why?? Because my brother later found the culprit after three months plus!
My brother called me that morning that he had found the culprit and when he told me the person, I could not believe it. He then sent me this well documented PDF to my whatsapp which contain how he tracked the account down. Unknown to me, my brother had been working on it since and he did a very thorough investigation all by himself. I was so proud of him, I am not going to lie. He traced all the wallet addresses that the account interacted with and fortunately, the culprit has pasted one of the addresses on twitter for a giveaway before. That was how he was caught red handed!
The person the culprit turned out to be is the saddest part of this story. He turned out to be the very good friend of mine that I introduced to my brother to help him in the world of web3. This guy is actually a pro in web3 and he gets airdrops from time to time, he trades as well and he was meant to be one of my brother's mentors. He is doing really well for himself and why he did what he did is something I still do not understand till today. I was so so dissapointed and sad, I couldnt even look him in the eye when we went to his house to confront him. Oh yesss, my brother travelled down to my school and we went to his hostel.
My brother's initial plan was to go along with police but we went with his friends and our cousins, we were 6 altogether. The guy did not even deny it, he was just apologizing and damn, I was very dissapointed because he pained me that he did that to my brother. He didnt even consider me, he probably thought my brother was a novice and he would never find out. I think they had one collaboration together and he didnt delete my brother's details as he ought to. Honestly, I cannot tell it all in this post, it would get so long.
But then, you must be wondering if my brother got his money back.
Yes!, he definitely did. He told him to return it in ethereum rate and he collected his money to the last dollar.
This event taught me again that nobody can be trusted in this life and also when it comes to money, people can get really really greedy. Top of it all, guard your keys safely and transact with people carefully.
Thanks for reading ❤️
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