Identity Thieves Steal ID Info From El Salvador’s Chivo Wallet

Identity thieves from El Salvador started stealing personal information from the country’s Bitcoin wallet Chivo. In today’s Bitcoin news we are learning more about it.

User Cynthia Gutierrez didn’t want to download the wallet at first but when she found out that Identity thieves are launching wallets associated with someone’s personal information, she downloaded the wallet to check. She entered her personal information but soon a screen showed up saying that her document number was already in the system and was associated with a wallet. She took a screenshot and asked for help, fearing that her data will be used for illicit purposes. Her case is one of the hundreds that Salvadorans reproted on social media and to local authorities since Bitcoin was established as a legal tender and Chivo was starting to be used in the country.

A human rights organization in El Salvador, Cristosal, recieved 755 notifications of people reporting identity theft with the Chivo Wallets as the director of the organization Rina Montti said. In most of the cases, the affected users tried to activate the wallets after they learned that many people reported their identities being stolen to download and use the wallet. The hackers had an incentive after president Nayib Bukele said that every person that will download the wallet will get $30 worth of Bitcoin provided by the administration of the president.

Bukele positioned his Central American country in the center of attention about the future of money and many criticized his decision to make Bitcoin a legal tender in the country. The president denied that BTC acceptance will be mandatory but the people of El Salvador were baffled by the discrepancy between what the president said and what the law stipulated later. The polls showed that 65% to 70% of the people opposed the adoption of Bitcoin and had protest marches on the streets. However, more than 2 million people downloaded the wallet as a part of the aggressive agenda that included BTC mining with the help of volcanic energy.

According to Chivo’s official website, opening an account requires entering a DUI number front and back and then performing facial recognition to check the identity of the registrant. However, many say that the system Is flawed. When a Salvadoran Youtuber Adam Flores, heard about the hacks, he remembered that his grandmother didn’t open her wallet so he decided to test it. Even though he only had a copy of her DUI, he tried and the application was accepted as valid. Flores was then asked for live face recognition but he took a photo of a poster from Sarah Connor from Terminator. The wallet then welcomed his grandmother and released $30.