Familia Sandoval – A New Designer and Stolen Bitcoin

In October of 2020 Familia Sandoval submitted an application for a grant to start a business making clothing. At the time of the request, the resources were not available, and several other families were in line waiting for full review and assistance with their applications. In December, two months later, Operation Family Freedom was able to assist Familia Sandoval in acquiring materials to start building an inventory that she could sell to build up a new business. Operation Family Freedom also helped acquire the tools needed for Familia Sandoval to be successful.

It was during the time that Operation Family Freedom was working with various connections inside Venezuela to facilitate Familia Sandoval’s efforts that we had to learn a hard lesson. We always take extra precautions when trying to obtain resources or transfer money to help with the grants. However, there have been two small occasions that we have been robbed. A close review after the fact showed that a third party hacked into the communication chain with one of the transactions intended to help this family, and they managed to take $200 worth of Bitcoin that was intended to help cover sewing tools. It increased our precautions and shed further light on our need to protect the families we work with. Fortunately, no one was harmed, and the loss was relatively minor, but it was a good learning lesson and a reminder to always be cautious. Since this incident, extra precautions have been implemented to further prevent anything similar from occurring again.