A UK man named Ping Fai Yuen is in the High Court right now accusing his estranged wife and her sister of stealing his life savings in Bitcoin. According to the claim, they installed a hidden CCTV camera in the house during divorce talks back in 2023 and captured him entering or reviewing his 24-word seed phrase.
No malware, no phishing, just a regular camera watching while he handled his Trezor hardware wallet recovery info. The funds were later moved to 71 different addresses.
The court has allowed the case to move forward, noting the evidence looks strong enough to proceed to trial. Bitcoin’s price volatility is actually working in the claimant’s favor here because the judge wants the assets frozen quickly.
This is a straight reminder that self-custody isn’t only about picking the right wallet or avoiding shady links. It’s also about making sure nobody in your physical space can quietly watch you set up or back up that seed phrase. A lot of people already use a 25th-word passphrase or keep a decoy set of words for exactly this kind of risk.
Anyone else changed how they store their recovery info after hearing stories like this?
