Bitcoin Forum

Reporting my experience with SynOps from www.bitfiservices.com. SynOps has failed to deliver the BTC he promised and is now not responding to the correspondence I am sending him. This exchange took place on the bitcoin-otc my handle there is dose1one. This is an alert for others who may be planning on doing business with this person.

Wow. I remember loaning him BTC1 a good while back with no issues, and on BTCJam he's always appeared reputable.

Don't believe he is too reputable on BTCJam at the moment.

http://bitcoin-otc.com/ratingsfilter.php?notes=SynOps

That is all I am late on is BTCjam loans. I refuse to accept loans anymore.

The loans werent locked into Mtgoxusd, as that feature wasnt available.

Basically you can find my responses here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=161273.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=154566.0

https://btcjam.com/users/788

44.61 BTC in late payments

338.90 left to pay

Also want to address the issue of where my coins are?

Whoever loans Bitcoins to people and doesn't tie repayment to a "normal" currency is just asking for trouble.

I surely wish they had that option looking back on it...they didnt add that feature until last month.
 There are a few that are trying to work out paying...I even know a user here/and they are on otc, that invested in my loans, and I invested in his...he is late and so am I ..but we both strive for the community to react in a decent manner and so people know that only those who scam are running away..I AM NOT RUNNING, I INTEND TO PAY, AND I INTEND TO ALWAYS UPDATE ANY THREAD BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION (I Dont actively search or troll forums...too busy working.)

Here are my BTCjam Stats:
Payments
Past payments by you:   166   Past payments to you:   263
Payments to be made:   186   Payments to be received:   389

Receivables
Received
฿37.5214
Late 1-30 days
฿1.6141
Late 31-120 days
฿30.9284
Default
฿8.8201
Pending
฿13.4061

Payables
Paid
฿234.3123
Late 1-30 days
฿44.6132
Late 31-120 days
฿0.0000
Collection Pending
฿0.0000
Pending
฿254.7732

As you can see I have not even gone past 30 days late on my loans, I am actually even AHEAD in payments on some loans...Also you can see that I have paid almost 50% of my loans....

Also to state the obvious BTC was worth between $8-$14 for most of those loans..... BTC now is in the $90s...do the math...of course many would get behind...but Im still paying...EVEN WITH INTEREST!!!

I don't understand why people borrow BTC if they actually want cash...   ???

Borrow the cash from your friends or family!

Just so this thread doesn't get off topic this is regarding a currency exchange not a loan. SynOps has been in contact and states it is a simple misunderstanding and I should expect my payment shortly. I will update in a few hours.

SynOps' operation is indistiguishable from a ponzi, with revolving debt (newer loans (he likes to call them "investors") used to pay off previous loans).

he has negged me -10 for pointing this out, but I feel it's a fair warning, on top of his defaults.

http://192.168.0.99/otc/?SynOps (http://192.168.0.99/otc/?SynOps)
http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=synops (http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=synops)
http://pastebin.com/vsWS5pm6 (http://pastebin.com/vsWS5pm6)

always google your counter party, do a little due diligence.  (though these documents probably didn't exist at the time most people did business with him)

Update: So SynOps contacted me earlier via email and claims that the issue was all a big misunderstanding. He claims the Mt Gox never sent the money and he would correct the issue promptly. This was approx. 8 hours ago and SynOps who also somethimes goes by the handles BitFi, UnknownLogistic, Bitcoin-Exchange and Excite still hasn't lived up to his end of the deal.

this won't shock you but there have been a long string of excuses and failed promises from him to his other creditors in the past week.

Update: Message SynOps at his Gvoice number 804-404-3248 inquiry the status of payment. He states he was with his family at the time (Easter Holiday) but promised partial payment once he was near his PC to submit full payment today once he is at his office.

Well I checked my wallet this morning, but I don't see any additional funds......

So as today is a work day, according to SynOps I expect to see my funds by EOB today.

Update: Received an email from an Ally from BitFi Services stating the following;

Please take care if this customers order.
This is a URGENT matter, as their exchange is late

I am BCCing this to SynOps and Customer Service for you.

Also, FYI, this is not always SynOps, I am Ally I run admin when he is working.

Thanks
Ally@BitFi

Not sure the need to BCC anyone, but from what I can see from the email it was only addressed to myself. So if anyone was contacted or if anything will come from this, we will see once I arrive at home this evening.

UnknownLogistic, Bitcoin-Exchange and Excite

Those arent my names, unknownlostic ay have been a gamertag a long time ago, but I dont remember being a member anywhere with that name...and CERTAINLY I AM NOT Bitcoin-Exchange or Excite.

Oh, and I do NOT accept loans from crod sourcing. An I have only taken 1 for about 1 bitoin last week, paying back today!

If loans are needed its usually to cover funds I dont have available in my account, of which i get a loan and usually pay it back within a day or two WITH INTEREST!

But I am refraining from loans. Sales and exchanges is our focus

Update:

Possible Resolution....

Hello and I have good and bad news.

Good news is we can still do the exchange.

Bad news was we only lock in the price for 4 hours from confirmation, which expired around 4pm on the day of your order. So we would have to 1. Redo the math and send according to current rate,  or, 2. Refund you via moneypak (less moneypak cost), or cash/money order sent in mail (less shipping cost).

Ally

Will keep everyone posted

While I would like to hear his side of the story in case there is anything mitigating or of value there, my current conclusions are this:

he's either a scammer or incompetent.  neither of which are good for doing business.

I'm gonna throw out a few facts of the current circumstances:

• he negs people who raise issues with the way his business dealings are going. I maintain the the questions or negs on his #bitcoin-otc WoT are legitimate, but his retaliatory negs are not.
• he consistently has people strung along waiting for payment. he consistently gives them stories (half-truths?) to explain the delays, meanwhile they get next to nothing in return
• he is still actively trading, or attempting to rather than fulfill his obligations
• either out of ignorance or ill intent he misrepresents his status.  he said today that he is not in default, just late on payments.  it was pointed out to him that this is the very definition of "default"; he still tried to brush it off
• he maintains that his business is legit and registered as a LLC in his state, but has not or can not provide support for this claim.  when pressed for it, more excuses and stories come out.  the blame is always on someone else or some convenient mistake that allegedy happened

this is a very disturbing series of events.  but it is a very consistent series of events that has not shaken me from my concern that, intended or not, his operation is indistinguishable from a ponzi and he's stuck in a position that he can not recover from unless he finds more "investors" to scheme from.

I would LOVE to be wrong about this. I would LOVE for SynOps to demonstrate any claims to contradict this.  (and no, making late payments does not excuse the fact that you defaulted in the first place.  "making good" weeks or months late does not take away from the fact that people should be wary of doing any business with you)

Update from Ally from BitFi:

3.04 is your total.

Locked in for an extended 12 hours.

Expect Payment by 5pm EST.

Please do reply with your address so I don't have to go back and search.

So at 5PM EST I should know if this will continue another day or not. Request has been made for the blockchain or any other information confirming the coins have been sent.

Just did a seen over on bitcoin-otc for SynOps

15:41 <freenode> gribbleSynOps was last seen in #bitcoin-otc 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 6 seconds ago: * SynOps Selling 3.5 BTC for moneypak reload code

SynOps If you have 3.5 BTC available, I expect those coins to be deposited to my wallet today.

Yet another update;

I will get your 3.04 BTC to you this evening.

I have extended hours today since I was not available some of the day,
so Ill be available from now until 10pm.

The latest we send Bitcoins is 9pm usually, so you will have them by
then.

I have to take a trip to the office and pickup my yubikey and ill send
them over. I would have my wife send from the app, but the app still is
not working even after I updated it.

Thanks


And the Fiasco continues........

Update: Looks like SynOps came through

The transaction is under way, for your information, the transaction ID
is:
c5085efeeadf1e57d6cdd74d0978e5a7021685652aa2794349f126dcc568c630

Thank you
---
WWW.BitFiServices.COM/Home
Bitfi Services
Fredericksburg, VA
GVoice: 804-404-3248

Haven't had a chance to check and verify, but did want to update to be fair to SynOps. Will update again once I return from work.

Update:

Received 3.04 BTC after threaten to release .docx on SynOps on these forums. I am not really sure if SynOps was scamming me or actually planning to pay me. Only SynOps truly knows the answer to that question but regardless the exchange was unsettling and more trouble then it was worth.

Thanks to KelticFox for his/her support in this matter and providing an easier resolution.

Fiasco over. Finally

User SynOps claims no transaction between the two of us.

A few day ago I made arrangements with him for the sale of $5k+ of greendot for his BTC.

After accepting showing up late to our designated meeting time, he took the first card number, unloaded it, and then claimed that mtgox was down so he couldn't send my btc right now.

After bugging him for a few hours, he finally sent half of the BTC he owed me.

Its now been days, multiple messages, and he has not sent the remainder. He owes me around 2BTC.

I recently rated him -1 on OTC-ratings to request that he get in touch with me to finish processing the greendots he'd arranged to process. He failed to contact me and rated me negative in return, claiming no transaction had ever taken place.

So his rating of -1 is false under his own account as according to him there was no transaction.

At this point i have given him a -10, full scammer status. He is not replying to PMs, has not made any attempt to rectify the situation, and overall should not (cannot) be trusted or depended upon as a reliable member of this community.

can't believe you let him leave..
if it was me.... he woulda been staying at my house for a few days/weeks till mtgox was 'back up' again

kinda sucks what happened to you :(

Just received a message from him on IRC, so it looks like he's around right now.

Logs....

Here is the PM where we do the transaction and he fails to provide the full payment: http://pastebin.ca/2353712

Another PM, where he claims he'll soon have the coins he owes me from the 1st card and will be ready to process more soon: http://pastebin.ca/2353713


Message From Him just now:

View is Loading…
[09:13] <SynOps>    i exchange moneypaks!
[09:18] <joesmoe>    yes i know
[09:18] SynOps is away (SLEEPING: Open at 7am til 9pm Tuesday. www.bitfiservices.com)
[09:18] <joesmoe>    i sent you the code for one and you sent me half the BTC.
[09:18] SynOps is away (SLEEPING: Open at 7am til 9pm Tuesday. www.bitfiservices.com)
[09:20] <SynOps>    When?
[09:21] <SynOps>    let me check my logs
[09:22] <SynOps>    only reviews say you never dealt with me and I never dealth with you.
[09:22] <SynOps>    Id be happy to fix something if there was an issue, admin@bitfiservices.com

Bad Rating from him, given today:

[04:59] <+gribble>    New rating | SynOps > -1 > joesmoe | never have done business with, most likely turned you down, as I am allowed to chose whom I do business with. I am sorry you have a grudge.

No transaction took place today (or ever according to him).

And a few e-mail just incase anybody actually thinks I didn't do a transaction with SynOps as he claims (see his rating on bitcoin-ots-ratings of me as well as his PM to me today that I posted earlier, where he c laims we've never done business, he gets to chose who he does business with and didn't chose me....

<edit>
I was going to attach them here but it won't let me attach PDF's. If anybody would like a copy of the multiple e-mails between SynOps and I confirming that we would be doing business, what exact time we would be meeting, etc (and that he was late) just PM me and i'll send them over.

I tried to contact SynOps multiple times, by PM on here and by email asking for an update, and he has refused to reply. I offered to take payment in BTC or USD, and even offered to accept part-payment instead of the full amount.

And a message for SynOps if you read this - When other people were calling you a scammer because you were late in paying, I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and asked you to give me an update on when I would receive my money. But as you refused to reply to that email, and appear to be giving negative feedback towards people who just ask you for their money back, you have now lost that.

FOR BTCJAM USERS:

Email me at btcjam@bitfiservices.com

My idea of creating an IRC chat room , basically failed, only a handful showed up, happily that many ideas were exchanged though.

FOR USERS CLAIMING WE OWE YOU BTC OR A REFUND:

Email me at customerservice@bitfiservices.com

Im also available on IRC on #bitcoin-otc.

My website will be back up within a day or two.

Although would it have been that bad for you to have simply said "Oh yea, it was an OTC Loan (or other)" then you guys could have proceeded to the next step.

Why are you asking people to contact you when you refuse to respond to them when they do SynOps? I emailed you 4 days ago, saying that I would be willing to write off part of the loan, and would accept payment in either USD or BTC. You chose not to answer that email.

Anyone can go through a rough patch in business, but there's 2 things SynOps is doing that make me think he is a scammer:

1. He doesn't keep in contact (He keeps inviting people to email him, and talk to him on IRC, but when I tried contacting him he just ignored me).

2. Others are reporting that he gives out negative feedback towards people just because they are asking for what he already owes them. If someone gives SynOps bad feedback for a justifiable reason i.e late payment, not keeping people updated, etc, he gives them negative feedback out of revenge. Would an honest business try to discourage people giving honest feedback by threatening a "tit for tat" negative feedback, or would they take the feedback on board, and improve their service?

On IRC again a few minutes ago. Still no 1.4BTC that he owes me (almost a week now).

I think you mean whoever BORROWS bitcoins and doesn't tie repayment to a "normal" currency is just asking for trouble. This guy owes some serious money to some serious people using a currency that is exploding in value (at least until a few hours ago) at a fairly large interest rate.

If i were him I'd either get out of debt as soon as possible, or get out of town as soon as possible. I personally know one of the people he borrowed from, and they don't fuck around. They intentionally loaned bitcoin while the price was low, expecting people to default. Assuming that the value of bitcoin would go way up later.


a 25$ loan with interest is now a 2500$ loan with interest.

Who is "we"

There is no plural people that owe refunds buddy, only YOU.

witnessed

I confirm everything Kelticfox has posted about my situation.

Basically there was an initial misunderstanding about no operating system being loaded on the laptop so I decided to discount the price and help him get one loaded successfully (which excuse after excuse consumed much time - in the logs).  Fast forward to a couple days ago and I discovered that was all bullshit and he had successfully loaded Windows 8 on the Toughbook and was trying to sell it on bitmit.

I am sure its the same Toughbook because the picture he used to list it is from and ebay auction I linked him to (in the logs), it states there is no usb door cover (in the logs), and there is no optical drive (in the logs).

He has again today (2013.04.12) said he's shipping the package back, I'm just waiting on the tracking number.  But this is 3 days past the time he last said he was shipping it out, so we'll see.

I'll keep this thread updated with progress.

If you have the time here are the logs: http://pastebin.com/SyL0FMnS (http://pastebin.com/SyL0FMnS) - god this has been a waste of my time.

Some updates...

Email from SynOps:



My reply:


His reply back:


The tracking number gives me the following result when entered:


So still just waiting for something to happen -- and as I stated multiple times to him, I really need tracking so I can plan my pick-up.

Yea its all in the logs, I had no problem with him selling it to a friend like he said he was going to do...but he never mentioned bitmit, and I never agreed to wait for him to sell it -- line 356 says it all.

Again - all this is just more noise, the thing I care about is the fact he got an Operating System loaded on the machine (and yes selling it on bitmit behind my back pissed me off too), which is the basis for this whole situation.  There are too many storylines and lies, I just want the laptop back and move on.

I have an email in with him asking about the tracking number result so we'll see...

I have contacted everyone who has emailed me! I dont skip over any emails.

I have not been giving negative feedback back...i did out of haste one past week, but reverted it because morally it was wrong and stupid.

JUST SOLD SOME NOTES TO WEENFAN WHOM HELD INVESTMENTS IN MY LOANS, ALSO MADE A PAYMENT ON INVENTORY 4.

I keep my word and am working with BTCjam users to get payments fixed...

As for OTC'ers your being handled too.

Ive posted my business info here before, and I filed my taxes in January, no issues and even got a refund!

As for the those phone numbers, one 1 is mine..the first one. Google Voice.

Addresses and my phsyical appearance,  cool...guess its easy to get when i gave you my ID, KelticFox, doesnt take much to get info off of my ID!

Crimes, PSH, I was 18 and 19 (almost 10 years ago), stupid young kid straight out of high school doing stupid kid shit...those are all petty shit...and that Cap 1, that was written off and took 3 years to get off because of Identity Theft.

Family...yea wifes name is half wrong, sons name is surely wrong.

I didnt know I had a myspace, lol, guess 3-4 years can make you forget about old social media sites.

But non of that matters...what will that info do for any of you? Come and threaten me? Try to make me paranoid like Aethero (thinking he is being followed everywhere he goes and people running him off the road....).

As I told Keltic, I dont middle man ANYTHING. You can easily see my ratings on bitmit are almost all amazon codes...which I PURCHASED...everything on BitMit i purchase with my own funds to accumulate btc to pay loans and have a small income to keep this business going.

If this business fails or im banned, nobody ends up happy....except those who dont have a stake in my loans...


....as for anything else, Sales of items, and Exchanges...Flawless...(I did read 1 person claims I owe them btc---once I saw Skype---I remembered whom it was---ill take care of them asap).

I sold all my stakes in synops back to him at the original BTC rate of $15 which means I got my USD value back plus the interest I and alot sooner. Alot of people took out bitcoin loans and were naive .. this also goes for the lenders who funded those .. at the current price some of these loans which were for simple purposes like buying lasers or paying off $500 to paypal become nightmares .. BTCjam did not have the mtgoxusd currency option at the time. I don't think any of us though we were shorting BTC but $100 at the time sounded like pure fiction. I have made it more affordable for synops to make his payments and maybe other's should try to go after the usd value also. I think the rate at the time of some of his later listing was $25..

I would just like to confirm at this stage that SynOps is lying here. I have checked my emails, and at the time of me writing this post, he has STILL refused to reply to the email I sent him on April 6th. I also checked my BTCJam account, and he has not paid anything into that.

Being late in paying back a loan isn't what annoys me SynOps. It can happen, especially with the recent price rise. What is alarming me (and makes me believe that you are a scammer) is that you refused to reply to my email asking you when I could expect repayment. And even worse, you treat me like a piece of dirt by trying to lie to the forum, claiming that you have replied to me when you haven't. What have I done to deserve that - Ask for you to pay me back 1.5 BTC of the 1.9 BTC you owe me? You keep arguing that you aren't a scammer - But you refused to reply to me when I contacted you, and now you have been caught trying to lie your way out of it by claiming that you had replied. If someone who had borrowed from you was doing this, wouldn't you be suspicious?

I will continue checking my emails and update this thread in a few days if he is still refusing to reply to my attempts at contacting him.

EDIT: Wanting to inform people that I made a mistake with the calculations, and provide corrected figures. SynOps owes me just over 1.7 and not 1.9. I am reducing the amount I asked for down 0.2 BTC, so I am now asking for 1.3 out of 1.7 instead of 1.5

Still owe's me a couple coins too.

Deny's that I've ever done business with him. See earlier post of mine where I provide IRClogs, emails, etc to prove that he did do "business" with me.

Two more days go by.....still no updated tracking number.

UPDATE:  I just saw SynOps in #bitcoin-otc and asked for my tracking number and he said he'd email it soon.  Then about 45 min later I got an auto message from USPS with a legit tracking number.

FYI:

https://i.imgur.com/JzJ4V18.png

Obvious scammer is obvious.

I am willing to accept 1.0 BTC now, and will accept payment to my address. I have already emailed SynOps about this, and am posting this here as confirmation.

I am trying to be as reasonable as I can. I want to make a profit, but at the same time I am willing to make an allowance because of the recent price rise. I feel the need to keep updating this thread to let people know about SynOps. Yes, he keeps making new posts in which he claims he is paying back what he owes, but this is what is actually happening:

I finally got in contact with him and offered to let him pay back 1.3 btc out of 1.7. He said to make a note on BTCJam. I did, and waited for a bit then contacted him when he didn't buy them. He told me I was the third person in a queue, and he had 5 payments to make before he got to mine. I then offered to make it just 1.0 out of 1.7. I told him that BTCJam wouldn't let me make new notes without linking a paypal account, and that I wasn't going to do that and he should just make the payment direct to my bitcoin address (the one in my sig).

To SynOps - Either pay me what you owe me, or stop making posts on here claiming that you are paying people back. If you keep making those kinds of posts, I will post in whatever thread it is in letting people know that you still haven't paid me. I'm sorry, but if you are refusing to pay back the BTC i loaned you, you shouldn't be going around telling people that you are paying everyone back. I am writing off 0.7 of the 1.7 you owe me because of the price rise, but I do want 1 BTC back.

I will post here letting people know if he does pay, and you will be able to verify it by checking transactions to my signature address.

Be happy if he pays you a cent. That's more than I expect.

I received an email from SynOps saying that he will only pay me through BTCJam notes. That's very convenient - He refused to buy the notes when I issued them, and now when I take them down (ironically, to change the cost allowing him to pay back EVEN LESS of what he owes) he is suddenly willing to pay. BTCJam want me to link my paypal account now, but I don't trust them. SynOps has likely seized on this as an excuse to delay paying me.

He will likely say that he needs to do it through BTCJam in order to prove that I really am owed btc from him. But he has basically admitted in emails that he has seen the notes already (by saying they were in a queue, it implies he has seen them). If he denies this, I have email logs plus screenshots of those emails. So he knows he owes me 1.7 BTC. So there is no reason he cannot pay directly to the address in my signature.

He also seemed to be annoyed at me for posting negative feedback of Bitfiservices. Well SynOps - The thing is YOU forced me into doing so when you refused to pay back what you owe me. I tried, I really did, I gave you plenty of chance to pay it back, I even offered to accept only a percentage of what you owe, but your constant refusal forced me into this. Knowing that you are refusing to pay back what you owe me, I simply cannot let you make posts claiming that you pay back your debts without letting other people know what the truth is. Don't act annoyed that negative reviews harm your business SynOps - If you refuse to pay back what you owe people, but claim that you are paying people back, I have to say something - I don't want to see other people get conned.

I have said I am willing to take 1 BTC. I have given him a little over 14 hours to pay this to the address in my signature. If he doesn't, I will take this as a confession that he is a scammer and never intends to pay me back. But that will mean whenever I hear the name Bitfiservices, or see him online anywhere (not just on this forum) claiming to be legit, I will be making posts and contacting admins, members etc and informing them that he refuses to pay back what he owes. And I am happy to give them email logs and screenshots to prove this is the case.

just another dude in over his head .. :)

Although I am now in possession of a "real" tracking number, the package still has not been mailed.


So the label was created April 17, 2013 but has not yet found its way to the post office.

I emailed SynOps saying that if he insists on paying back through BTCJam, then he could do it by just repaying the loan - I'm not going issuing new notes on BTCJam, as it wants me to link up my PayPal account to the site, which I am reluctant to do.

SynOps you have no more excuses now. You have been able to pay me back through BTCJam at any time, and you are now basically refusing to do this (by first giving me bullshit excuses as to why you can't pay right now, then by just ignoring my emails altogether).

It's good he has a scammer tag, this will maybe hinder his ability to scam other people out of bitcoins. I was maybe a bit more optimistic than most that he would pay back, but the fat lady is well and truly singing now - SynOps is a scammer, and if you invest, you will probably never see your bitcoin again, and he'll try making you out to be the bad guy for just asking back what he already owes you.

I PM'ed SynOps here asking him to buy up the notes I issued on BTCJam from two of his loans that he has not paid yet. But he has not responded or bought the notes. I believe that I have issued the notes at a very reasonable price and in total it would be less than one bitcoin. So, SynOps, I am again writing to you, please purchase the notes I have issued.

I doubt you'll ever see that bitcoin. He told me to issue notes, then when I did he suddenly couldn't pay them because they were in a "queue" - I was the 3rd person in the queue, and he had a total of 5 notes to buy before he bought mine supposedly.

Update:



USPS still says:

Neg ratings due to haters? Wow. I cannot believe this dude turned out like this. I had done business with him a few times, and am pretty much disgusted by his actions. Changed my ratings for him on OTC. This is shameful and pathetic.

I have bought almost every note that has been issued. I have bought about 15 and about 9 left.

I also plan on starting to start paying the installments on btcjam.

The website is a bit better,not great, but more informative and not too ridiculous, please do contact me for any issues.

www.bitfiservices.com


I do apologize for how things became, but I do assure everyone things will be put in the right spot and I will continue working, whether it is here once I am done or some other venture. Ive had 2 successful ones , 1 still going, and this one, this was a total different world/culture/way of investing and trading and making money and apologize if anyone feels I abused you or the community, there was 0 intent in that.

Thanks

I don't think anyone is being like this just because you fell behind SynOps, it's more that we feel that you are misleading and not being honest with us. You paid an installment late on btcjam before but I wasn't concerned, because it was only like a day or a few days late, and you informed us about the late payment on twitter so I felt like I was kept up to date.

Still nothing, no response back from SynOps and no package - tracking number is still:

Agreed, contact the local police department and explain that you feel you have been a victim of fraud, in regards to goods obtained by deception.

Just wanted to add that SynOps is a confirmed scammer for low value #bitcoin-otc trades too. I sent him a Best Buy gift card for OTC on April 16, 2013. He strung me along with a number of excuses and still hasn't paid up. Once I confronted him on this, he became totally unresponsive to my e-mail and IRC communications.

I have re-issued my notes for SynOps to hopefully purchase this time. In total they end up being less than one full bitcoin so there should not no problem purchasing these. They were left for a week last time and expired, so hopefully SynOps will buy them this time.

SynOps is a scammer on Bitmit too, where he scammed me on $1,000 worth of MoneyPak along with the Best Buy $50 gift card.

I actually have one of the bestselling items on Bitmit so I decided to make a little billboard pointing people to this thread. Hope it helps people learn about SynOps before they deal with him.

https://i.imgur.com/pLJWEsTl.png

Still no contact from SynOps - and the tracking number is still pending.

Guess its time to chalk this up as a complete loss - at least people are aware of his shenanigans now.

no way

If SynOps has scammed you, please take a moment to report him to the relevant authorities. Since he has done this repeatedly and continues to do it, it is possible that he could be referred for investigation by the Virginia Attorney General, for example, if enough people complain.

If you feel that he has committed fraud against you, please file a complaint here:
-> http://www.ag.virginia.gov/CCSWeb/ReportCrime.aspx
-> http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
-> https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov

If he has committed mail fraud (i.e. any USPS mail was used to transfer money, property or gift cards that ended up in fraud), please file a complaint here:
-> https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx

SynOps's real name and address for reporting is:
James Boswell
117 East Omni Court
Ashland, VA 23005

Also does business as BitFiServices.com and HabJab Webmasters, LLC. As far as I can tell, the LLC is not a legally registered entity in any state.

Doesn't look good.

Synops has a few mixed reviews about him at bitmit.net


However, most of the feedback are from non-reputable members of bitmit and it looks like they were just ordering then cancelling, this may not be the case though.
One person ordered a few things from him and has left BAD feedback every single time, so it makes me wonder if he was a troll or Synops just screwed him over pretty bad the first time.

However, having said that there ARE reputable members which have left negative feedback and most say shipping late or 'stalling' like  some of you guys said here.

I don't know what to make of this personally, but I will be keeping a eye on this thread.

I am torn between thinking his intention was always to scam, or he started out legit then decided to scam people instead of being honest when the price hike caught us all by surprise. If it was the second, then he should have just been honest.

Honesty goes a long way with me. If I received a late payment, but absolutely no contact from the person about why it's late, or even letting me know that it's late, I would be very reluctant to loan to them again.

If I got an email in advance saying something like "sorry I can't pay you this week, I will pay it on monday instead because X Y and Z happened", I would probably feel confident to invest in that person again. At the very least, I'd feel a lot happier dealing with them than the first guy.

Exactly, life doesn't always work out the way we want it too.
So sometimes we may be late on payments/delivery, but a nice little message which takes 10 minutes to type up and proof read goes a long way.
People do feel more confident, I personally think he tried to start a legit business up.
But, like you said when the price shot up and took us ALL by surprise, he/she might of saw a opportunity to scam.
It seems he has been scamming in-between legit trades though, to make it look like maybe the buyer wasn't considerate.
Going back to the loans, yes he/she was late by the looks of it on a lot of payments, he/she did say earlier on in the thread that he/she is still paying back a loan, because of the sudden increase in bitcons value.

But, it does seem like he/she did purposely go out and scam others.

SynOps did end up paying me for my Best Buy gift card over 20 days later, after I complained many times and left a lot of negative feedback for him.

Regarding his Bitmit activity, he's selling a lot of low value items like $1 Amazon gift cards at a loss to pad his feedback and flush away the negative feedback from view. He selectively chooses which offers to fulfill and it seems he's definitely fulfilling the small orders that are meant to pad his feedback.

I ordered a $1,000 MoneyPak from him on Bitmit and he held onto my BTC for a week, stringing me along with excuses, and then finally canceled. I would not release escrow early for him, as it seems some other users on Bitmit have done. He's not to be trusted.

Still no laptop, heh.

Figured I'd update the thread for shits and giggles while I was on...

I had this guy listed on the suspected scammer list from the first day he got out of newbie jail ???