"Not sure how a technology can, itself, "pretend" anything given that it's not conscious. However, to your wider point: yes, many Bitcoin boosters did talk about its ability to make transactions untraceable, without caveating that to say "as long as you take a lot of other precautions". The author of this article is correct to point out that if you believed that, as many people did, this case should be a wake-up call." - Ian Betteridge