What is it and how do they work?
When a user forgets their password to a Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet, they have several options to recover their password and access the funds.
One is to try hard and retry every possible hint or past password in their memory.
Another approach is to use tools like BTCRECOVER or HASHCAT to try to go through variations of their password and find it using types or combinations.
As a last resort, a crypto user can contact a Wallet Recovery Services company who will for a cut of the wallet value run a professional approach to recover the funds.
So how does it really work? First you need to do some research.
Which Wallet Recovery Services are legit?
A few points to check;
- Do they have a registered company or is it a garage operation?
- Do they have a media presence in Magazines?
- Do they attend conferences?
- Do they have any speaking slots?
- Do they only charge AFTER recovery is successful?
- Are the founders doxxed?
- Have they any recommendations from crypto influencers?
What deal a Wallet Recovery Services offer?
The industry standard from a Wallet Recovery Service is 20% of recovered funds, taken from the recovered wallet. If there is no recovery, then you will not be charged.
If an individual or a Wallet Recovery Service offers arebelow the market fee, then you should be suspicious. Some individuals or services offer a very low fee, but then again, are you sure they will not run away with your funds?
There are many horrible stories on Reddit and Twitter where a ‘friend’ recommends someone who then after a recovery suddenly disappears.
There are also people on various forums advertising their recovery service without any webpage, only a whatsapp phone number or a Telegram fake account.
Do the Wallet Recover Service offer a phone or video call?
This is usually a deal breaker. If you talk to an ‘anonymous’ service that does not offer to talk to you on the phone or through a live video feed, then you should reconsider.
Some services does not offer any type of contact except of an email address, but then again, they could easily disappear.
Is there any funky info on their Bio?
If you look for a Wallet Recovery Services that you will hand over a backup of your crypto, would you trust them if they worked for an government agency in their past?
Or if you see the website registered in 2018 but they claim to offer their services 2013, does that sound fishy?
Do they only offer crypto recovery services or do they also claim to offer paid scam recoveries?
There is also a huge amount of plagiarism or fake AI articles. If a company claims to open hundreds of wallets, but the article seems copy pasted from an earlier article, you should be suspicious they just stole the whole concept and have very little experience.
You should also reconsider if a company has several hundred articles written (most likely AI). The usually do not know what they are doing.
Are the founders programmers or did they only work in finance as consultants for one of the big four?
There are many so called ‘experts’ in the Wallet Recovery Services business, but many are scammers or finance guys turning recovery experts. You should look at the person behind the person, i.e. do they have a Github commit page? Are they programmers? Have they been around during both bull and bear markets?
Many dodgy services turn up during bull runs, only to disappear when the market slumps or crash.
Is there a company behind the Wallet Recovery Services?
Are you dealing with a professional service, always check if they have registered a company behind the service. If there is only a fancy webpage offering nearly a 100% success rate, then you should be cautious.
A legit service should be registered in a transparent jurisdiction like Europe, Singapore or US. If the company is registered with hidden owners then that should be a red flag.
Are you offered a contract from the Wallet Recovery Services?
A short disclaimer in the mail, is a no no. You should always ask for a contract which states the various scenarios and risks.
The contract should also be legally binding and it should state where and how a dispute is solved.
If the contract does not look solid, then just walk away.
Media coverage, does the company have any articles written about them?
A very quick look at major sites, should give you a glimpse if the Wallet Recovery Services you contacted is written about.
A good source is https://news.bitcoin.com or https://cointelegraph.com
Those are the two most famous and well established crypto currency news papers.
If a Wallet Recovery Services company has no written articles about them in major crypto news papers, then that is a red flag.
Are their social media account active?
You should consider checking https://x.com (twitter) or https://linkedin.com to see if there are valid and recent posts.
If you see a 5 year old social post like “tweet” then you should consider the company not very trustable.
You should also check in their history chats if there are any happy or unhappy clients.
CONCLUSION!
A Wallet Recovery Services company should have most of those checklists above included in their profile. Be careful who you contact and send info to.
This article was written by KeychainX — Wallet Recovery Services which has been active in the crypto space since 2017 and helped hundreds of clients worldwide.
If you would like to read some more of our articles check https://keychainx.medium.com or visit our website https://keychainx.io
You can also send us an email to: keychainx@protonmail.com or contact us through telegram @keychainx