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A bitcoin trader opened a blockchain wallet for me and then sent me my profit but it is non-spendable. I know they can no longer get into my account because I changed the password and I have two-step verification. I don't have the private key. How can I get the private key?

Patricia
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  • If you don't have the private key, you don't own the funds. Why do you say it is non-spendable, was it added as a watch-only address? If so you were scammed. – JBaczuk Jan 15 '19 at 21:44
  • As said, this was very likely a scam. The trader sent you nothing, but gave you credentials for a wallet that contains no money. – Claris Jan 16 '19 at 00:31

1 Answers1

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I'm sorry to say this is a common scam, I'll give some more info below:

A bitcoin trader opened a blockchain wallet for me and then sent me my profit but it is non-spendable.

That is called a 'watch-only' address in your wallet, meaning you can only watch it, but not spend the coins held by it. The Bitcoin blockchain is an open database, so anybody can watch any address they want to.

I know they can no longer get into my account because I changed the password and I have two-step verification.

From this, it sounds like the scammer had access to your account in the past. If this is true, then your account is 100% compromised, there is no way to make it secure again. Make a new wallet, move all funds to it, and do no ever use that account again.

The reason you MUST abandon that wallet is that while logged in, the scammer likely copied down your wallet's mnemonic seed phrase (a series of 12 or 24 words). With that seed phrase, they can recreate your wallet on a different device, or using different software. The seed phrase is the current industry standard for making a wallet backup, it is used to derive your bitcoin private keys and addresses. The password/2FA are just used to unlock your 'blockchain.info' account (which has used that seed phrase to create your wallet), so if you put the same seed phrase into a different device, it will recreate your wallet, without needing a password (since blockchain.info isn't involved at all).

For this reason, it doesn't matter if you change the password, or the 2FA. Once the scammer has your seed phrase, any funds sent to that wallet will also be under their control.

I don't have the private key. How can I get the private key?

You cannot. The only way, would be to find the person who does own that private key, and ask them for it (but they probably won't give it to you). The scammer is likely trying to 'sell you the private key', or 'unlock it', or some other nonsense. That is the scam, so please beware and do not send any more BTC to them.

In the future, do NOT EVER give your wallet details, login, passphrase, seed phrase, 2FA, private keys, etc, to anyone that you do not trust 100%. If you ignore this warning, you are much more likely to have your bitcoins stolen.

chytrik
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