Man Lost Rs 525.7 Crore Worth Of Bitcoin Because A Cleaner Threw His Access Codes Away

Dhir Acharya - Dec 02, 2020

We all lose money somehow, at some point, but you must be very unlucky to lose more than Rs 493 crore (over £50 million), like this man.

We all lose money somehow, at some point, but you must be very unlucky to lose more than Rs 493 crore (over £50 million). And this unfortunate incident happened to an Irish drug dealer as his access codes to the Bitcoin fortune were removed by a cleaner.

Clifton Collins owned 6000 Bitcoin by growing cannabis and selling it. In recent years, the man witnessed a significant increase in this crypto fortune when Bitcoin stock grew rapidly. Earlier this year, his fortune was reported to be worth Rs 525.7 crore (€53.3 million), and Collines make sure his fortune could not be found easily.

He split the total amount into 12 wallets then hid the access codes to those accounts on scraps of paper in a fishing rod’s metal cap in his house. Though the hiding place is quite traditional, it proved highly effective, even much more than he could imagine.

A cleaner who cleared out his house had no idea how important the rod was when she tossed it in the trash. However, even if the woman didn’t throw his codes away, he wouldn’t likely get anywhere near the money anyway. Collins is now serving a 5-year sentence in prison after his arrest in 2017.

The trouble is now on the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau as they took over the wallets but cannot access the biggest haul in the past 25 years of their history.

bitcoin — He tried to hide the accounts from being found

After Collin’s arrest, his house was broken into and some of his associates were aware of the accounts, but the police believed that the rod was really cleared out but the accident. There haven’t been any activities on the accounts for years and those working at the dump where the inmate’s possessions were taken said they saw fishing gear with other discarded items. The waste from this dump is sent for burning and the missing access codes might have turned into ash by now.

The Irish Times reported that Collins has accepted the loss of his fortune, considering this a punishment for his stupidity.