How Steve Wozniak Lost His $74,000 Bitcoin Investment because of a Scam

Bitcoin is very “in” right now and it is just everywhere. Both ordinary individuals and business moguls have invested in bitcoin, including the Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak.  But just like common people who fall victims to fraud, Wozniak is no exception as he announced to the public recently how he got scammed and lost his bitcoins that have a projected value of $74,000.  Even a safe and protected technology such as bitcoin appears to can still be infiltrated by scammers, and Wozniak learned this detail the hard way. And with the cryptocurrency technology being able to protect the data of buyers, such as the person or people who scammed Wozniak, getting scammed through it means that there is a small probability that you will be able to get your money back.

HOW A TECH WIZ GOT SCAMMED

Wozniak recently took part as a speaker in Economic Times of India’s Global Business Summit held in New Delhi, and it was there that he explained how the scam happened.  According to the tech wiz, someone tricked him by buying some of the his bitcoins using a credit card for the purchase.  However, upon the completion of the transfer of his bitcoin, a cancellation of the credit card charge was made – so Wozniak lost his bitcoins with no payment in exchange. If you are wondering how Wozniak was not able to track whoever scammed him when he is obviously a wizard when it comes to technology, well, as he explained during the summit – although bitcoin has a solid protection through the blockchain technology that recognizes who has bitcoins, fraud is still possible, as in his case.  He further said that the number of bitcoins stolen from him were seven.  He cannot track who scammed him because the credit card used for the purchase was a stolen one.  So, unless authorities can identify who stole that credit card, Wozniak will never know who scammed him.

HE DECIDED TO LIQUIDATE HIS BITCOIN INVESTMENTS

It was just in the middle of January of this year when Wozniak spoke in the Nordic Business Forum in Sweden and discussed how he got into his bitcoin investment and why he decided to dispose of them.  The co-founder of Apple narrated that he came to a decision to sell his bitcoins because he noticed that he constantly followed the ups and downs of the market of cryptocurrency, and he did not like that.  Wozniak said that one of the things that keep him happy is to not having to worry about things, so he went ahead and sold most of his bitcoins, and just left a few for experimental purposes. His main reason for buying bitcoins is to try out the new payment technology, and when its value dramatically increased quickly he also wanted to get rid of them at the same speed, he did not want to become that person that kept relentless watch and just care about the numbers.

WHY DID HE INVEST IN BITCOIN?

Wozniak narrated to CNBC last year that his interest in bitcoin started when it was only worth $70 for each coin, he tried to buy some online but could not back then because a ‘special bank account’ needed to be set-up first at a ‘special bank’ (even a multi-millionaire is not exempted to this bitcoin rule back then).  Ultimately he was able to purchase some when the price was at $700 for each coin.  Nevertheless Wozniak’s interest in bitcoin was not because he saw it as an investment platform, but because he wanted to see how it can perform as replacement for cash and credit cards during travel.

Although Wozniak was scammed with $74,000 of bitcoins, there is no need to feel sorry for him because the tech wiz liquidated most of his bitcoin investments just recently when the market is at $10,000+ per bitcoin when he bought them for just $700 each, so his earnings is a lot greater than his losses (well, that is aside from the fact that his net worth is at $100,000). And despite being a victim of a bitcoin scam he is still a supporter of the crypto technology because it is something that the government cannot manipulate, he was quoted as saying crypto technology as being “mathematical, pure, and cannot be tainted”.