I'm turning my pain of getting $180k (1.7 BTC +10ETH) stolen into advocacy. I hope sharing my story keeps more people safe, and I hope more scam victims share theirs too. Informally, about 30% of the people who responded to my earlier posts on IG and Twitter, have also been victims of scams. Silence only protects the criminals who did this to us, and the Big Tech that allows these scam accounts on their platforms. Let me also be clear about language: "scam" and "hacking" are too polite. These attacks are crimes, carried out by criminals, and massive criminal networks. Victims don’t “lose” money, the money is stolen and the victims have been robbed. I’ve worked in crypto for five years. I knew the scams to look out for. I stayed informed and even ran quarterly security education sessions at my job. It still happened to me. Sharing publicly has actually helped me process my grief faster. And it's already made a real difference. Two professional friends reached out to tell me that my story made them stop to double verify and not get on a suspicious call, that would had lead to downloading malware. Two people who may still have their savings because I’m saying the “embarrassing” part out loud and publicly. This is a texture of grief I've never felt before. Sometimes I can laugh at the absurdity. Sometimes the tears come from out of nowhere, like when I’m cooking dinner. Most nights I wake up at 4am replaying the sequence of events over and over. I'll be honest about how dark it got. This was the first time in my life I thought through what other people's lives would look like if I wasn't here. Who would find my body. What would happen to my dog. I know I'm not the only person who's gone to that place after having their life savings stolen, and that's exactly why I'm talking about it. (Meta just begrudgingly settled a major lawsuit related to teens completing suicide because of sextortion scams). I've been proud my whole adult life of being a financially independent woman who can take care of herself. It was the thing I pointed to when I needed proof that I was going to be okay. For the first time ever, I wished someone would just rescue me. That losing $180,000 wouldn't matter because someone else could save the day. That someone would just hold me and tell me we'd figure it out together. It’s no big deal. The DPRK was behind my attack. North Korea. The stolen funds apparently go toward weapons programs and ballistic missiles. I still can't believe this isn't treated as a bigger national security issue, or that governments aren't pressuring Big Tech to clean up their platforms. And what's both infuriating and terrifying on these Big Tech platforms is how many "fund recovery services" reached out after I posted. Those are scams too, asking you to pay a bounty to get your stolen money back. Vultures circling the leftovers at every opportunity. Big Tech is not here to keep us safe. It's our responsibility to keep each other safe by sharing our stories so fewer people become victims of these life changing crimes. Maybe our combined voices will be loud enough for Big Tech to actually listen. I doubt it, but it's worth shouting. What's also painful to know is that the people on the other side of these crimes are often victims themselves, trapped by human trafficking, imprisoned, and beaten if they don't meet quotas or try to escape. The cruelty runs deep on every side. I want to thank @SEAL_911 for helping me trace my funds, walking me through what happened, and helping me understand the bigger picture. When I had nothing but panic and unanswered questions, they shed the light during the darkness. It's a free service, and it gave me answers when I was lost. I do believe in a higher power, and I'm trying to find the silver linings. I'm grateful for my health. I'm grateful for every single person who reached out, shared my story, or just sat with me in the heaviness of it. I'm grateful for my dog, who doesn't know anything happened and sleeps soundly through the night. All that support is something no one can steal. And it turns out, it's worth more than $180,000. With that said, if any of ya’ll know any BTC or ETH fairies, wizards, or angels, please send them my wallet address. BTC bc1qyuw032j2ff5crqa22jrrq0ffedh56my0mhvyrj ETH 0x9572164032c59cEDa84546A2a15FEFD3d1C85815 SOL 4Hxdj6qcbgCCWqh7sdDdv3pa4zEfzh3Xi2entp2PtHsp giveth.io/project/dprk-stole…

I want to share what happened to me, because I'm still in shock and I want to prevent from happening to others. Two weeks ago, an old friend reached out to catch up through @telegram I said yes. I've been job hunting, I miss my professional friends, and honestly, hearing from someone I hadn't talked to in a while felt good. We got on a video call. My mic glitched partway through, so I installed the update it asked for. I didn't think twice. It was my friend's face. My friend's voice. The conversation was normal. Nothing about it felt wrong. That update was malware. I was temporarily trading on a hot wallet @MetaMask . (I know, idiot move). While we talked, it was quietly draining everything I owned. 1.7 BTC. 10 ETH. Around $180,000. Gone before I even knew to be afraid. That money wasn't just numbers to me. It was five years of discipline, of saying no to things so I could say yes to my future. It was the down payment on a house. It was the freedom to retire early, or at least feel some sense of security. I used to tell people I was financially independent. I was proud of that. It was proof I could take care of myself. Now I open my wallet and see zero, and I feel something I've never let myself feel before: helpless. Defeated. Destitute. I'm unemployed right now too, actively interviewing, trying to hold it together while I process losing my savings and rebuild a career at the same time. Some days I feel stupid for trusting someone I've known for years. Most days I just feel numb, replaying what happened over and over. I'm sharing this publicly for another reason too. This wasn't a random phishing email or an obvious scam. It was a deepfake, real-time, on a video call, with a face and voice I'd known for years. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone, and I don't want the embarrassment of admitting that to stop me from warning other people. If a "friend" ever asks you to install something mid-call, especially anything framed as fixing audio or video, stop and verify through a separate channel first, a text, a call to a number you already had, another social media platform, anything outside that same conversation. Don't do it in the moment, no matter how real it looks or sounds. Now, here’s the hard part for me. I’m not asking because I think I'm owed anything. I'm asking because I don't know what else to do, and because I know there are people out there who understand how fast something like this can happen to anyone, no matter how careful you think you are. If you can give anything, it matters more than you know. If you can't, please share this. Someone reading it might warn someone else, or reach someone who can help. Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for however you're able to show up for me. And please reach out to me if you’re able to help.