In recent years, cryptocurrency investors have faced many unpleasant events such as losing access to their funds, misplacing their hard drive without backup, thefts, and hacks.
Just a few days ago, hackers hit MyEtherWallet and users lost over $150,000 worth of Ether from their account. This time around, one cryptocurrency enthusiast in Switzerland lost his shopping bag which contained his hardware wallet, and it may not be returned to him.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts should always take the necessary precautions when securing their digital assets. Using a hardware wallet to store our digital wealth is a lot safer than using web wallets or exchangers. But the hardware wallet needs to be kept safe, which is a more challenging task than some people may imagine.
According to reports, a resident of Lucerne, Switzerland keeps his Ledger hardware wallet in a bank through the year. He takes out the wallet from the bank vault twice a year to carry out some transactions. But unfortunately, this time, things didn’t go as planned. He kept his Nano Hardware wallet in a shopping bag, and it was either stolen from his car, or he dropped it at one the shops he visited.
As it stands, no one can tell the current location of the shopping bag or if it will ever be returned to the owner. Although, the person currently in possession of the bag may not know the value of the Ledger hardware or how it works. Other contents of the bag include a KeepKey hardware wallet and a notebook.
Recovering the wallet which contains 800,000 Swiss francs (approximately $815,000) is of utmost importance to the owner. He even promised to give a 40,000 Swiss francs reward to whoever returns the wallet to him within the coming weeks. The victim filed a complaint with the police, and they are searching for the missing bag and wallet with little hope of finding it soon.
The bright side of this unfortunate story is that only the owner of a Ledger Nano wallet can access the funds on the device. But if they do not control the device, the funds cannot be spent. It could have been that the owner of the bag left it in one of the stores he had visited without knowing it or perhaps it was just a random theft and not related to cryptocurrency.
For now, we will have to wait and see what happens next. Losing a cryptocurrency hardware wallet with funds in it is not pleasant. However, the victim does not face any immediate threat because the thief may not be able to use the wallet without knowing the passcode or recovery options linked to the device. Although, just the pin and the recovery seed won’t help the rightful owner without the Ledger hardware wallet.