Bitcoin Forum

This is a stickup — of your virtual cash!

Two armed bandits robbed a Crown Heights man of $1,100 in bitcoins on the street last week, police said.
The 28-year-old victim had arranged through a Craigslist ad to meet with a man who purportedly wanted to buy his online currency May 27, sources said.

After the pair met up at Troy Avenue and Crown Street, the supposed would-be buyer asked the victim to come to his car, a silver Honda, to seal the deal, sources said.

But once inside, a second man in the back seat pulled a gun on the victim, demanding that he transfer the bitcoins to the two men.

The creeps also stole the victim’s cell phone before fleeing.

Police said they’re looking for two men — one of whom is believed to be 19 years old — as well as a woman, whose involvement in the mugging is unclear.


http://nypost.com/2015/06/05/nyc-man-robbed-at-gunpoint-for-his-bitcoins/




----------------------------------------------------------------
Trust no one.

therefore any transaction involving cash or bitcoin transactions It should be done in a public area

It will be safer if we just do online transaction. This news be warning sign to us when do transaction in public. The other way in making transaction is do it in crowded place like cafe, market, etc. Be careful guys.

There are some people who wouldn't like to link their bank details to the trade by doing an online transaction. If they want to do it in person, best thing is to do it in a public place.

Yeah and they will be robbed like in the news. But if they do transaction in less bitcoin development country, it will be safer since not many people have known about bitcoin and will do crime on that.

1100$ in bitcoins?
that wasnt worth it lol

Both the potential buyer and the seller were idiots. The seller could have refused the demand and asked them to come over to a public area. The thieves on the other hand, risk at least 10 years in jail for armed robbery (it doesn't matter whether Bitcoin is classified as a commodity or as a currency by the NYC). 10 years in prison for just $1,100?

It is hard to do but easy to speculate. When we are in danger, it is hard to think about all possible solutions. Most of us will probably do what they say because it is easy.

people risk 10years for 1100$
cruel world!

This was always my thought when looking at a BTC ATM map.

What a shame crime has now reached so much sophistication. My sister was telling me the other day that through Craigslist there is so much crime including battering peeps in their own homes. One lady was murdered through craigslist. I wouldn't do any transaction unless it is online but even then you got to be careful of all the hackers and scammers.

That's the best way to prevent any crimes like that to happen again. So, what do you think if the punishment just 1 week? The robbers will say "come on we rob him/her, at least we will be sentenced just for a week".

He lost much more than $1,100.


In total, he lost some $12,000. In addition to this, he lost his credit card, as well as his Samsung mobile phone. Don't ask me why he was carrying that much cash with him at that point of time. Honestly I don't know.  >:(

Drugs addict, i believe this 2 bandits need money for drugs.They never think about 10 years in prison for their crime, they only think how to get money fast and easy.

Drug addicts desperate for money normally don't show this type of sophistication. In this case, these two goons worked out a well-planned operation, and managed to convince the victim to do trade with them. They also selected their victim wisely. They chose someone who is inexperienced, and less likely to report the crime to the cops. Also, they knew that it is difficult to prove the theft of Btcoins.

the whole thing sounds like a drug deal ~ maybe the deal went bad somehow and they split with his coins? who knows anything is possible! :)  +where did he get the bitcoins to begin with? Being an underground currency dealer is a tough job! ~ Especially in NYC ! lol ;)

I don't know. The Craiglist ad dealt with the sale of Bitcoins, and not the sale of any sort of drugs. If he was dealing in drugs, I really doubt whether the victim would have gone to the cops to launch the complaint.

And regarding the source of the Bitcoins, don't be so negative. He might have purchased them in 2011 or 2012, when the exchange rates were really low, or he might have mined them himself.

i actually had a similar experience back in 2013 ~ ya if you are going to do street deals use common sense! :D  noobs

That didn't work out so well since he reported it to the cops.

Are the robbers your family members? Not a cruel world for the victim?

Not worth it for BTC5 ($1100)?!?!

Where are all the "to the moon" people declaring that BTC5 will be worth $5,000,000 in 10 years...just about the time these guys will be getting out of jail (if they get caught).

I hope they do catch the guy but it's stupid to meet some stranger to sell your BTC, there are much easier ways to do it!

Wow that's insane. Anything to get money nowadays. People should be very careful to whom they're dealing with and they can now rob bitcoins and couldn't do anything about it after having it sent to the suspect's address. *sigh*

Yeah I guess in few years there will be more robbers with the improvement methods to rob anything what you have.

it's a bit cruel for both, because those criminals some times are forced to do bad things like that, for economic reasons, the only bad criminal are the government and their banks friends, which control everything and decide who will be poor and who not
also it goes by itself that the pressure caused by this, It is increasing the criminal activities in the world, and everything that is related to it, so again it could be a great conspiracy from banks, to devalue the bitcoin price

So now the time has come when people have stop robbing real cash, ornaments and now believe in robbing bitcoins? Now a thief will not ask me for my banking password but instead will ask me for my bitcoin wallet password. The buyer was so foolish to plan such a big theft for such a small amount and the seller was foolish to enter his car and sell bitcoins. The buyer was rich enough to own a car and he robbed $1100? What if the seller had nothing in his bitcoin wallet and had to be a cheat himself? 

Bad people existed way before the first tribe was invented, before any government or any banks... Bad people are part of our fabric.

The thieves were not after his Bitcoin. The potential seller lost some $8,500 in fiat cash, another $3,500 in Bitcoins, his Credit Card (and its PIN number), as well as his new Samsung mobile phone. The thieves were not idiots. They had planned this operation long back, and the indications are that they carefully screened their victim and selected some one who was the most vulnerable.

And where did you read about it? The article does not mention about it.

The seller of the bitcoins seems to have just cashed out some money from the bank as no common man would carry so much cash and the thieves would not know about it unless they have been following him for a long time. I doubt that they contacted him via craigslist then as they wouldn't contact an unknown person and be sure that the seller is the same person. Credit card can be cancelled too and if it's tracked the thieves can be easily traced.

Best hacking tutorial :)

Check this:

http://rt.com/usa/265411-bitcoin-robbery-man-nyc/

But seriously, Is the robbery of some $3,500 worth of Bitcoins that important, when compared to the robbery of coins worth some $120 million by the FBI from Ross Ullbricht?

And regarding the NYC robbery, evidence support the claim that the thieves were following the victim for quite some time. But still I don't know why he was carrying that much money with him at that point of time.

you are right , this is a planned out operation, these goons have looted from a guy as they were desperate for some cash to fuel their drug habits, however he could have been more secure by leaving no traces that he has bitcoins, even here there have been lot of phishing attempts on users who were alleged to have huge amount of bitcoins, so one thing be safe and keep your mouth shut about your own bitcoins.

The guy met somewhere random and got inside the car of the buyer? serious flaw bro :-\

Surprising to see such thuggish behavior coming from Bitcoiners - who have so far tended to be nerdier, intelligent types.

Bitcoiners, if they choose to make their living through dishonest means, could probably make better use of their skills by hacking computers and exchange wallets, operating botnets, setting up scamcoins and scam services, operating pump and dump schemes, and writing malware while remaining undetected rather than stealing a few thousand dollars via force and physical violence (which carries a much greater chance of getting caught as well).

Interestingly, it's not the first time something like this has happened too:

http://www.geek.com/news/bitcoin-is-being-stolen-at-gunpoint-in-new-york-1616264/

Bitcoin already has a reputation for being susceptible to digital theft. While the average hoodlum is probably not intelligent enough to understand Bitcoin, there are criminal organizations in the US such as the Mafia which have members who are both intelligent and not afraid to resort to physical violence to get what they want. If Bitcoin catches on, we might be seeing more of these cases (i.e. physical theft of coins) in the future.

He probably was a thug who knew how to use Bitcoin. All it takes is some knowledge about how to use a phone. I doubt if the robbers were sophisticated enough to be hackers.

Well usually people are mugged of their phones. Usually worth only $700 max :P

People are really desperate sometimes, when they can't get money to feed their drug habits. I have heard about armed robberies, in which as little as $25 was stolen. That said, the perpetrator is also risking a lot. He faces up to 10 years in jail, or can be killed if the victim is armed. Sometimes drugs make people ignorant of the pending risks.

Some people risk a big jail sentence for few dollars, people need to be more safe out there, scammers are getting cleverer and cleverer everyday, so be vigilant and don't fall for scammers and thieves.

No there's  differences between a regular robbery and a bitcoin robbery .I'm glad to hear they seller weren't injured

I'm always wary of local transactions for BTC.   You risk losing not only your BTC but also whatever you have the BTC stored on.   If I bring my laptop to a deal, what are the chances that doesn't get taken too. 

The robber could be visiting bitcointalk right now... Scary thought.

i agree but i must say i never thought it may come to this how foolish and greedy to rip someone off of bitcoins, i know they are valuable and all but this has gone too far

If you're gonna transact with anyone you met online, it's always best to do it in a public location with lots of eyes.