That vacation turned into a nightmare. I connected my laptop to the hotel’s password-free Wi-Fi, planning to handle work during a break with my family. After three days, my wallet was emptied. No suspicious links, no malicious signatures, everything looked normal.

After hours of investigation and consulting experts, the truth surfaced — hotel network, a negligence, and a series of security mistakes.

Like most crypto professionals, I always carry my laptop when I go out. My wife repeatedly advised me to put work aside and rest properly, and I should have listened. Connecting to hotel Wi-Fi is simple; once you log in on the verification page, you’re online. It seemed low risk.

The critical mistake started here. In an unsafe public network environment, I discussed cryptocurrency with a friend. This conversation was intercepted by a man-in-the-middle attack. The attacker injected malicious code and forged an authorization request interface. I clicked authorize without fully verifying, granting permission to my wallet.

At the time, I didn’t notice anything unusual. It wasn’t until a few days later, when I logged into my wallet, that I found my assets had been transferred out. The cold reality: a loss of about $5,000.

The most ironic part is, I didn’t make a direct transfer or input my private key. It was that authorization operation that became the key to Pandora’s box. Once the attacker gained permission, they could manipulate my assets at will.

Three lessons are etched in my mind: First, avoid discussing sensitive information on public networks; second, always enable VPN when connecting to hotspots; third, verify any authorization requests repeatedly, don’t rush. One click could cost thousands of dollars.