Bitcoin Forum

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

be careful on lbc

That's why you always do the trade in daylight in a public place where there are lots of witnesses. The more people around, the less likely this happens.

It was craigslist. Not that you shouldn't be careful anywhere, anyway. And why is it that people tell children, "Don't get in cars with strangers" but adults do it easily when money is on the line?

It looks really similar to a fake news posted somewhere last year. That not few people took as real until proven false

According to the cops, the robbery was not Bitcoin-related. The robbers were after his fiat cash and the credit cards. He was forced to give his credit card PIN number to the robbers, and might have already lost tens of thousands of USD. I just hope that the perpetrators will be arrested soon and removed from the general population.

Why would anyone publish such a fake article?

I hope this is not the setting of a precedent.

The first thing that comes into my mind is why the victim willingly follows the robber into the car. If you've read further there is a woman involved so my suspicion is probably the guy thought it was harmless in way to get into a car with a woman before realizing it was a trap. Moral of the story, there is no such thing as free lunch.  ;D

I remember a story about a deal in front of the louvre paris france (it hardly gets more public) in broad daylight and they still tried to run with the phone. I have to be careful everywhere and regardless of the light situation, probably good to bring a broad-shouldered friend. Just in case.

People need to be careful with their coins just as much as cash. It's also probably much more likely you would get robbed of your cash rather than btc.


I get free lunch all the time. Moral of the story is people need to weigh up the likelihood of getting conned or the dangers of the situation.

this is really bad it's bad but humans will be humans  :'(

Why would a person willingly go inside someone's car just to seal a deal? They could've probably go to a place where there are people so as to ensure each party's safety. Also, I think this is a fake news aiming to put the silk road issue. Because what does this sentence do to the topic of the article?

Well having a crowd/public area doesn't stop anyone from committing a crime. It just makes it less likely they'll get away - so they have less reason to go through with it. That being said, in an extremely crowded place like the Lourve stealing from someone and rushing into the throng of people is actually a more efficient means of getting away (you blend in) whereas in a less crowded location like a cafe people might actually be able to purse the thief.

That's why I never do F2F on LBC, You practically go to meet a stranger having a computer/or a pocket full of cash. and even if you do that Having the trade in any place other than a bank, a full park, a busy restaurant or a  busy street is crazy IMO. I recall reading a story about something like this happening to one of this forum members too, but he escaped without losing the bitcoins.

btw the "this is a stickup of your virtual cash!" intro to topic isn't accurate, it's virtual cash but can be converted to real cash easily, it's like saying that stealing a creditcard is someone robbing plastic or a cheque thief being picking up pieces of paper...

Not sure if this story is fake, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it is true...

People should be more careful, as Bitcoin is the new target for theifs

Media are hyping this up just because it's Bitcoin

How many people get held a gun point every week to withdraw cash from an ATM?

Its the same thing, you divulge you have wealth of some form, you're at just as much risk of getting mugged no matter the asset.

Bitcoin exchanging sounds like a good business for banks and check cashing establishments to get involved in as on-the-spot escrow providers.

I think you're referring to the previous, similar case (also happened in NY):


http://www.cnbc.com/id/102737187

That's all pretty confusing. Katz claims to be robbed out of BTC, while police say his case is not bitcoin-related (?).

*edit*>> all your shitcoin are belong to katz :D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

Shouldn't that be "All your coin are belong to us"

Sorry......

The media is deffinitely corrupted. These things happen quite often with different things being sold. I actually know a local case where a person went to buy a phone, he was beaten and his money taken.

I'm going to disregard the possibility of this news being fake. You're definitely right about this. According to the FBI: Nationwide in 2010, there were an estimated 367,832 robberies; so what makes this one so special?
Nothing. This just shows us that even robbers are finding interest in Bitcoin.


We definitely need to make people aware of this. Going alone to meet a stranger is very dangerous.

Katz lost the following, in addition to getting stabbed:

1. Bitcoin worth some $8,500
2. Fiat cash in US Dollar worth some $3,500
3. His new Samsung mobile phone
4. His credit cards.

As we can see here, the most valuable item was the Bitcoins. Can't understand why the cops announced that his case was not "bitcoin-related".

Just read it and that's what I noticed. I'm leanin' toward there not being a police report on record for the supposed incident, with NYP gamblin' that nobody will check, and if somebody did and found nothing, NYP would then claim that the info was from an unnamed source. Meanwhile, they garnered eyeballs for their rag via the coy ploy, the likes that's in vogue to gain readership.

of course, negativity is the main criteria for the media in this country. the news stations here cant even make a calm report on the status of ebola in the US, what makes you think they can make an informative report on bitcoin, which they probably know next to nothing about besides that it was used to buy drugs on silk road

For me this is a reason to just use exchanges online for selling my bitcoins.. Luckily in the Netherlands there are plenty services that provide easy buying and selling of bitcoin without any wait time. It costs a couple % though.

the BurtW or Ross U. robberies are much more troubling, this was just a self employed robber - the organized criminals are much worse  ;)

i'm from the netherlands as well. i use bitonic for buying and selling. when you buy, you only pay €0.50 bank fee. for selling it cost you around 1 or so %.

Economically and potentially physically suicidal to trade BTC in NYC, if you don't go through metal detectors with armed security at all access points (ie courthouses). Or just violate "gun control", because violent criminals give zero fucks and have all the guns they want at all times everywhere else.

Regardless of almost anything you're trading, it should take place in a crowded place during daylight to minimize risk.

Umm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

what part of anonymous transactions are you confused about? ^ satoshi laughs! :-)

We are normally cautious when we are trading for the first time with someone. But if we are dealing with some person, who has been doing trade for a long time with us, then sometimes we ignore the negative consequences, and get somewhat relaxed. Normal people tend to trust strangers after a few nice deals. And conmen are quick to exploit this trust.

Bitcoin is not anonymous by design.

they think that doing it in real life is less anonymous, but they forgot about all the risk that this can lead

at least if you want to really trade in real life, do it with a very good friend and none else

This is not the first robbery of bitcoin in NYC. There's a documented instance that happened last year and there's a thread about it in this forum. Anyway, the theft of bitcoin is rarely newsworthy, we all know that pure nature of the currency lends it to being a target for theft. Is it news if someone claimed "I was robbed, someone took my cash!"? No. Unless the volume is in the tens of Millions.

I think a better take on this is that if the NY Post is writing articles about bitcoin, bitcoin is becoming more mainstream. People in NY aren't going to be turned off of bitcoin due to the theft, they're going to be intrigued thinking "maybe this bitcoin is something I need to have!"

the loss of anonymity and the potential danger is what you risk for selling at a higher price; imo the tradeoff is definitely not worth it, id much rather use an exchange.

sure ! tell that to all my friends who were using it back in 2012! it worked well for anonymous payments then ...did something change? * ? :\ hmmmmm

The other news were fake? Where is the proof that shows that was a fake?
I've considered sometimes using localbitcoins but im so paranoid about meeting IRL, who knows who is at the other end lol.

My question is why is he selling his bitcoin? Coinbase has a wallet to transfer btc automatically into your own currency = into your bank acct the next day. Also he can get a xbit card.

Am I missing something here? Why would you need to sell your bitcoin to someone in person?


I've read some of the scams on localbitcoins where people show up with fake checks, threaten someone or worse and it always seems to be some sketchy meet up situation.

The crowded space is not because they feel other people will step in to help you, it is more of a disincentive from someone trying to rob you as there will be more witnesses later who can describe the thief and corroborate the victims story to police. While it is true some purse/phone snatcher type may attempt this anyway, they rely more on speed and not standing around conversing with someone for any length of time.

Anyway, this type of exchange might be best to take place at the police station, bank or somewhere with lots of cameras (and people). In any event I don't think getting into a car in a dark ally with stranger is wise under any circumstances, Bitcoin related or otherwise.

It probably was not Bitcoin related in the sense that they were not specifically out to acquire Bitcoins. I am sure they exchanged them for cash at the first chance they got so it was more of a crime about acquiring fiat. They could have held up someone selling PM's, or an expensive watch, etc. and the crime wouldn't be a watch related crime, it is just a robbery of items of value that can be easily converted into cash.

Witnesses? Ha. Unless multiple witnesses are filming you and the perp in HD up close and/or they're armed (in the criminals' utopia of NYC, law-abiding civilians can't be, which is why this robbery was utterly predictable), all criminals safely assume they can get away with anything in public and if they're lucky, have someone else convicted in their stead.


Almost all private CCTV cameras don't have sufficient resolution, focus, and zoom for facial recognition, and even if they did, would not guarantee a cop appears instantly to stop the crime, so criminals can safely give no fucks.

You may be safest in a police station, but even then, you might get arrested for "money laundering" or some other victimless, bullshit, non-actual "crime".

I think the news is fake because btc is very safe...
so the only reason that he lost his btc by robbers is that he tell his btc address and password to robbers and they have forced may be to tell.......
so make your wallet safe and secured by public and even family friends......