In my view, what happened with Lan Zhanfei was bound to happen sooner or later. This is why, for the past few years, I’ve always reminded everyone to keep a low profile when traveling and to pay attention to protecting your personal privacy ( including your appearance, full name, passport, itinerary, and address ). When abroad, be especially cautious of strangers, especially fellow countrymen you’re not familiar with.

Many friends who have lived in China in peaceful times often underestimate the dangers and poor security overseas. You should know that even in Australia, a country known for its safety, the police 👮🏻‍♀️ solve cases at a shockingly low rate.

Let alone a country like South Africa 🇿🇦, where the homicide and crime rates are extremely high—there’s a high probability his money 💰 is gone for good. Talking to a few friends today, we all felt that it’s already lucky he got out alive; his ancestors must have been watching over him so he didn’t get into the wrong taxi.

Hiring bodyguards and such is an exaggeration and not practical for most of us. Here are a few everyday tips that are actually useful:

1. Never reveal your travel plans or hotel information. I heard from a friend about someone staying at a high-end hotel in Paris ( who was targeted and robbed, with the hotel front desk and staff involved. Never assume a big hotel means it’s safe.

2. Keep your personal phone number and email separate from your crypto work number and email. You can’t avoid sharing your work contacts, but use your personal ones when booking travel to avoid being tracked if your work info is leaked.

There’s no need to chase after merch or perks from some projects or small exchanges—be prepared for the possibility that your info could leak.

3. It’s hard not to show off when you’ve made money, but when posting photos or sharing your life on social media, always wait until you’ve left that place, especially if there’s a location tag.

With the power of AI now, the photos you share can reveal even more information. I’ll give two random examples.

I expected that night scenes could be analyzed, but even a bonfire picture I posted could be used to figure out which café I was at in the desert. That’s a bit scary, because I thought there were almost no clues.

4. Don’t carry your wallet or phone when you go out, and always let someone reliable know where you’re going. Never go to a second location with people you’re not familiar with—these are all old pieces of advice.

But ultimately, the best way is still not to show off your wealth. Fame brings trouble; if someone targets you and sets up a long-term social engineering trap, it’s really hard to defend against.

Keep a low profile when you should. Bragging about making a few million here and there might just make you seem like a fatter pig in the eyes of those with bad intentions.

Finally, I hope everyone stays safe. Keep Safe.