Key to Solving the 60,000 BTC Money Laundering Case: A Photo of a Handwritten Password

[BlockBeats] On December 3, Caijing Magazine revealed a detail—Qian Zhimin, who absconded with 60,000 BTC, had an encrypted wallet hidden in the laptop he took with him.

UK police searched through his phone, computer, and USB drives, and finally found a photo on one of the USB drives. The photo showed the torn-out pages from Qian Zhimin’s notebook. Coincidentally, those pages were densely filled with the boot password for the black laptop, along with several sets of mnemonic phrases, in a format like “number+love” combinations. There were even hints for the numbers written next to them.

It was thanks to these handwritten notes that the police were able to recover that batch of bitcoin. Sometimes, even the most advanced technology can’t beat a boss who’s in the habit of writing down passwords by hand.

BTC-3.14%
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GamefiGreenievip
· 14h ago
Handwriting the password is really something else. This guy probably just "sold himself out," haha.
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SatoshiHeirvip
· 12-03 12:15
It should be pointed out that this case perfectly demonstrates a paradox long overlooked by technological utopians—undoubtedly, the reliability of cryptography is often defeated by the most primitive laziness in human nature. Those few slips of paper belonging to Qian Zhimin are, in essence, a concrete embodiment of the "human factor" that Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper never anticipated.
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SigmaValidatorvip
· 12-03 12:12
Haha, this guy is really unbelievable. 60,000 BTC gone just like that, and he wrote down the password, took a photo, and stored it on a USB drive? He even dared to put the password notebook into the computer. He really needs to brush up on his security awareness. No matter how strong the blockchain is, there are always weak links—like this handwritten paper slip. That’s why self-protection comes down to habits. No matter how smart you are, writing it down gives more peace of mind. The absurdity of this case is all in the details—using the mnemonic phrase as a notebook. No matter how good the tech is, it still falls to these rookie mistakes. Incredible. Human error is always the biggest vulnerability—no doubt about it. A single photo can change a person’s fate. How ironic.
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MEVictimvip
· 12-03 12:10
Haha, this guy is really something. 60,000 BTC got messed up just because he didn't delete a photo properly.
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TradFiRefugeevip
· 12-03 12:04
Haha, this guy is unbelievable. 60,000 BTC lost just because a piece of paper wasn't burned completely. No matter how good your tech skills are, it's all for nothing.
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ZKProofstervip
· 12-03 12:00
honestly, writing passwords down is absolutely unhinged. like you're literally creating a physical attack vector... but then again, that's exactly what got this guy caught. technically speaking, this is what happens when operational security goes out the window. no amount of cryptographic primitives matter if you're leaving breadcrumbs everywhere, right?
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gm_or_ngmivip
· 12-03 11:49
LOL, this guy literally handwrote his password, took a photo of it, and stored it on a USB drive. He's a textbook example of asking for trouble.
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degenonymousvip
· 12-03 11:47
Haha, this guy is unbelievable. Using a password like numbers + "love" is just way too casual, and he even handwrote a backup. Isn't that basically handing clues to the police himself?
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