A UK resident named Ping Fai Yuen stored his Bitcoin on a Trezor hardware wallet. He lost access to his funds after his wife installed surveillance cameras inside their home and recorded him entering the seed phrase.
According to case materials, the theft occurred on August 21, 2023. On that day, 2323 BTC were withdrawn from Yuen’s address and then split across 71 wallets. Since then, the funds have not moved.
At the time of the incident, the amount was estimated at around $60 M, while at current prices it is approximately $172 M.
How The Wife Gained Access To The Wallet
Yuen used a Trezor device and kept his private keys offline. However, the 24-word seed phrase remained the only way to restore access. The cameras installed in the house captured him entering this phrase, making it possible to restore the wallet on another device and execute transactions without physical access to the original hardware.
Court documents state that the transactions were made without the owner’s consent, and the subsequent distribution of funds made tracking significantly more difficult.
Conflict And Criminal Case
According to the case, Yuen’s daughter had warned him about possible actions from her mother. After that, he installed audio recording devices in the house, trying to gather evidence.
When Yuen discovered the loss of funds, a conflict broke out between the spouses, during which he was charged with assault. In 2024, he pleaded guilty.
Later, police searched the wife’s property and found hardware wallets and recorded seed phrases.