A Guide to Secure Overseas Travel for Crypto Enthusiasts: Stay Low-Key and Prepare Security Measures
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
A Guide to Secure Overseas Travel for Crypto Enthusiasts: Stay Low-Key and Prepare Security Measures
Must-read for high-net-worth crypto bros.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWhy are robberies targeting and exploiting Web3 becoming more frequent?
Just this week at the Ethereum meetup in Brussels, Belgium, @EthCC, nearly 10 people were robbed...
We've compiled a Crypto Security Travel Guide.
A must-read for high-net-worth crypto bros.
Crimes targeting your money generally fall into two categories:
(1) Pre-meditated, targeted attacks;
(2) Opportunistic crimes—someone sees an opportunity and acts.
The key is to minimize these two risks before and during travel.
【Listen to your embassy!】
Before traveling abroad, it's recommended to obtain relevant information and travel advisories through China's Consular Service website, "Consular Express," or the Chinese embassy/consulate in the local area. Save emergency contact numbers in advance—don't wait until an emergency arises. The embassy can also provide local emergency numbers, such as police and foreigner assistance hotlines.
【DYOR—research local safety info, don’t hand yourself over on a silver platter】
1. Check the latest security situation. Use official websites, news reports, and traveler forums to understand the safety dynamics of your destination. If there are armed protests or conflicts, simply don’t go.
2. Study crime rate maps. Kidnappings, thefts, violent crimes—here are two recommended websites for checking crime data: Smart Traveler and GeoSure.
3. Plan your itinerary in advance. Choose hotels with 24-hour security, take safe routes when going out for leisure or attending events, and stay aware of your surroundings. Passing through unsafe areas—especially at night—greatly increases the risk of encountering random crimes.
P.S. Nowadays, organizers of various crypto events already try their best to consider safety when selecting venues. The recent robbery incidents in Brussels occurred outside the event venues. Surely no project team would choose to hold a conference in northern Myanmar? If you’re lured somewhere under various pretexts—say, to Southeast Asia for gray-market profits—I suggest searching related cases on Zhihu… the stories are horrifying. Don’t fall for scams.
【Bro, please stay low-key】
Wealthy people usually keep their travel plans secret. Newly rich individuals often love flaunting their success on Twitter, which isn’t necessarily bad. But beware—criminal organizations are active on Twitter too. For example, this guy was victimized by someone he knew.
Ask yourself: how much BTC are you willing to lose at most? 0.1, 1, or even 100? Don’t show off more than that amount—because it could make you a target for premeditated crime. This kind of thing can even happen among close acquaintances. Unless required for work, stay low-key and avoid tempting others to go after your passwords or private keys. Ideally, be as mysterious as “Satoshi Nakamoto” and return to crypto’s original essence of anonymity.
Dress modestly and discreetly too—avoid wearing cryptocurrency-themed clothing. Usually only big KOLs and whales get exchange-branded merchandise; people wearing project merch are typically team members or VCs. Cool-looking? Might cost you your life. Wearing crypto logos all over while traveling is practically like writing “Come rob my coins” on your forehead.
【Consider buying insurance and hiring security services】
Insurance can help recover some losses if something happens. Having armed security personnel nearby significantly boosts your sense of safety—it’s not easy to rob someone under armed guard. If you have a decent amount of wealth, this investment is worthwhile. You can even split costs with friends. Some embassies may offer recommendations. Brother Sun even has his own security team—thinking of attacking him offline solo? Highly unlikely.
【Only bring essential funds】
The goal here is to reduce your “risk exposure”—you probably don’t want to go through another “zero-to-hero” journey, right? If most of your assets are on exchanges, don’t bring related devices overseas. Just leave your cold wallet at home. If you must bring sensitive devices like computers or phones, store them securely in a high-end hotel with safes and surveillance.
【Set up a decoy wallet—cut your losses to save your life!】
When criminals know you hold cryptocurrency, the importance of having multiple fallback options becomes clear. It’s recommended to use backup exchange accounts and hardware wallets when traveling, loaded only with amounts you can afford to lose—your life comes first.
If you're bringing your primary hardware wallet (brands like OneKey, for example), use this powerful feature—set up a Passphrase and hidden wallet—to store your real treasure deep within.
This passphrase acts as an “additional password” beyond your recovery phrase, enabling a separate series of hidden wallet addresses distinct from those generated directly by the seed phrase. That way, you can store your true assets in the hidden wallet while leaving only a small “decoy” amount in the standard wallet. The passphrase can be any content—numbers, words, or even full sentences.
—Of course, if you publicly flaunt your on-chain holdings across the internet, and someone holds you hostage, you’ll likely be drained completely. So better avoid doing that unless you truly need to showcase your wealth and don’t mind being targeted—with top-tier security measures fully in place.
By now, you’ve covered most preventive, protective, and life-saving measures. Minor thefts shouldn’t cause significant damage. However, for kidnappings, the best you can do is avoid and prevent. In places like Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, where kidnapping-for-ransom has become an industrialized criminal enterprise (as quoted in the first tweet), recent reports indicate that Chinese citizens face extreme danger—often losing both lives and fortunes.
【Final tip】
If you’ve recently hit A9+ in this market cycle, and your “northern Myanmar friend” starts asking whether you made money from crypto trading, please recite the following text verbatim:
Jokes aside, this matter is deadly serious. We hope none of you ever encounter offline crypto crimes—stay as safe as possible through maximum prevention.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@OneKeyCN
