Bitcoin Forum

THIS IS RESOLVED. STR4WM4N HAS TAKEN RESPONSIBLITY FOR HIS HACKED ACCOUNT, AND REPAID MY LOSS IN FULL. PLEASE REVISE YOUR FEEDBACK IF YOU HAVE LEFT A NEGATIVE ON HIS PROFILE

So, here we are. The first time I have been scammed on this forum. str4wm4n had advertised the fact that he had a Casascius Bearer Bar for sale in the Collectibles section (see reference). I PM'd him and we agreed on 0.85 BTC for the bar, with postage by Next Day Special Delivery. He advised me he was in the UK. Some evidence now shows that he is in the USA when you check his posting history. He attempted to get me to part with more BTC by saying he had 4 of these bearer bars for sale. I advise that once I received the one I had already paid for, that I would be in touch and make a deal for the remaining 3 bars. I sent him 0.85 BTC, and then an additional 0.01 BTC for Next Day Delivery. After stalling several times when a tracking number was requested, but not given, I started to get suspicious. More info in proper format below.

What happened: Legendary user str4wm4n scammed me out of 0.86 BTC for a Casascius Bearer Bar

Scammers Profile Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=19284

Reference Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1702683.msg17078389#msg17078389

Amount Scammed: 0.86 BTC

Payment Method: Bitcoin

Proof of Payment: https://blockchain.info/tx/a4950499e494b4caa7e91a4d6616162455cedac590bbacead5c0616b0b4abdfb

https://blockchain.info/tx/45642d79abb8dac0bdaf8e542deb03dc7d02df663ec227aed4089dd099f21332

PM/Chat Logs:











He did not reply after that.

Additional Notes: Looking through this posting history shows some similar instances of items not being shipped:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=444760.msg5369106#msg5369106



That's it for now. I will add more info as and when I have some. He has been tagged by myself and a fellow DT2 member. If any other DT members wish to tag him, please do. He is glowing red now, which should prevent anyone falling for his crap.

str4wm4n... pay back the 0.86 BTC that I have paid you for this Casascius Bearer Bar. It is pretty clear I am not going to get what I paid for.

Please don't give me the "You should have used escrow" stuff. I know I should. My fault. The Legendary account and dark green trust made me believe I was safe. I was wrong.

Thanks,

Zepher


Edit: Pictures of the "bearer bar"

https://postimg.org/image/i5rpaoorv/

https://postimg.org/image/btck0ulpn/

Watching.

Looks like credible accusation. Painted him in red + tweeted: https://twitter.com/bulgar1an/status/806203530310721536

you are not new to it.

He was also trying to scam me a several hours ago.
He wanted to sell me few gold bars for around spot price.

Right after we agreed about the deal he asked me to send him the funds, when I asked about using an escrow(fees on me) he refused.

After refusing he offered me a pretty weird offer, that I will send him 25% of the payment and then he will deliver the package, and after getting it I will pay him the rest, which made it pretty obvious that he is scamming, why should he agree to trust me on a 1100USD, but not agree to use an escrow.

He was trying to scam me for about 1500$.

Sorry about your lose, you should always use escrow for large amounts.

Appreciate it, thanks.


Glad you didn't get stung man.


As above, glad you didn't get stung either. I left him a neg and then noticed you did the same shortly after. If my neg helped you to NOT get scammed in any way, then that's something at least.

---

He won't be doing this again. That account is ruined. FU str4wm4n. Dicks like you should rot in hell.
I don't believe this is the original account owner, as the original owner back in 2013 was giving out 1 BTC bounties for doing (relatively) simple math problems. This account was sold (or hacked and managed carefully for an exit scam). You chose the wrong target buddy. Account seems to now be abandoned. Good. He wont be scamming anyone else under that account, at the very least.

Last comment from me on this anyway. I did what I set out to do - destroy this scammer and the account. Its done.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Zeph this sucks sorry to see this happen.  One thing i dont discount though is the original owner of the account (if it was sold) is an ass.  He/she allowed for this to happen.  I wish like hell account sales could be banned here....would clean this rot right up.  Hope this shows other hero/leg members dont be offened if you get asked to use escrow, just accept the fact thats the sad reality we live in on the forum....this place needs to get cleaned up or it will soon disappear.

You got that right,  my man. 

And I got hosed for 0.3btc earlier this year by a light green-trusted member.  I lent without collateral and learned my lesson good.  Fuck account sales.

He contacted me for 90eth@market price, I had an issue and couldn't follow through, but we agreed on using SebastianJu's escrow service.

Keeping an eye on this, couldn't he have been hacked ?

I think this is a bought account, but it was done probably months ago (if not more). And the reason for the purchase was one and only: scam. I'm not sure if a research on that would help and that is why I haven't bothered myself.

Deffo brought account from a scammer

Going to post where he posted 12HooZ9bhW5TxH4y1RCnGKT63cy1Xs8oWA . He edits half-an-hour before dealing with Zepher.

https://i.imgur.com/LpGR6Yc.png

Edit Time: December 04, 2016, 01:30:26 AM (archive: http://archive.is/tbi6f#selection-7139.15-7139.49)


He quotes the same post in same thread later

https://i.imgur.com/xlRY1Tk.png
 
Edit Time: December 04, 2016, 01:32:28 AM (archive: http://archive.is/BDxqU#selection-2743.16-2743.50)


Question is how I am sure that he edited the address only and not the content? Then check this :


Someone quoted his post just below with original address: 1K6VqufBesJPvdHXuZD2tyWqJrJXxyYqTt that he posted: http://archive.is/RhsBj#selection-2983.6-2983.40

---

No it was not IMO. I think its the same str4wm4n.

Proof: I went on checking every post and every transaction he made but none of them lead to anything. Most of altcoin/bitcoin address were either used as tipping/donation address.

Anyway searching for str4wm4n in all the saved pages of seclog.php on archive.is leads nothing. That means he didn't changed any passes if we check.

Reference(archive of seclog.php): http://archive.is/http://bitcointalk.org/seclog.php (thanks to one who maintains archiving seclog)

That means he didn't changed pass between 7 JUN 2015 - 4 DEC 2016 . (There are some gaps so there might still some chances. But if you ask me,then I think it was still on the possession of the same holder judging on the posting history)


OK so the main part comes

If the account hasn't changed its owner this year then following users might be able to give some more info:

https://i.imgur.com/YXMhOtW.jpg

Anduck (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=31931)
MnemonicInsomnia (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=926903)

---

Hope it provided some help

Thanks for looking into it. A few points:
- I've contacted Anduck immediately after zepher posted this thread, they are pretty sure the account changed hands based on recent posts/language.
- The original owner isn't hard to locate (we got a good idea where he is) and str4wm4n isn't the most generic nick either, especially when used several times on different sites/boards.
- If this account was indeed either hacked or bought, it was probably for a long time now and the user waited an unusual time for their "exit scam".

Appreciate the help, Avirunes, really :)
I know exactly who the original account holder is, down to the name and DOB. I am not doxing anyone though.
This account was sold/hacked, and managed carefully for the exit scam as Lutpin has pointed out.

Appreciate everything guys. Consider this "resolved", as I ain't going to see a Satoshi from str4wm4n.

Cheers

Hey..

This is the real str4wm4n.

I have not logged in for a while and see my account was hacked and used to scam Zepher.

I have changed my password ( It was my fault for originally using a weak password.)

I am willing to payback the 0.86 in order to restore my account trust...

Hi str4wm4n,

Okay, thanks for the PM and posting in the thread here. I need to do something, but will edit this post shortly.

Thanks

Edit: Okay, paying me back the 0.86 BTC would be appreciated, thank you.

I would like it sent to my forum profile address, which is the same address I used to pay the hacker of your account.

This address is: 1VAULTPU7XXsB5h6pb6VdZE7ZxKHCxmVb

If you can repay the 0.86 BTC to that address, and post the tx here for everyone to see, that would be great.

Secondly, to verify you are the original account holder, I would like you to sign a message from an old address.

In this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1249010.msg14022858#msg14022858 - you have an address that has been quoted. The address is: 1K6VqufBesJPvdHXuZD2tyWqJrJXxyYqTt. Do you still have access to this address so you can sign a message from it?

Thanks.

Really upset about this. Let's get it taken care of ASAP

I haven't been feeling too great about this either. I have edited my post above, and sent you another PM.

Cheers

Should be home from work within an hour and I'll check if I have that privkey.

Okay, no problem. If you can repay the amount I was scammed, and also sign a message (I will look for some more addresses in the meantime, so you can sign any one of them), then I will remove the neg rating and ask other DT users to do the same.

Thanks

Zepher and I have sorted out this entire debacle.

If you have left me negative trust please be so kind as to remove it.

Thanks and sorry for wasting everyone's time.

I've learned an expensive lesson in password security.

Here's the transaction of 0.86 to Zepher's address for all to see:

https://blockchain.info/address/1VAULTPU7XXsB5h6pb6VdZE7ZxKHCxmVb

Good job mate, and sorry for the loss, but you are now a real stand up guy IMO

Cheers, neg removed. ;)

It's nice to see one of these with a happy end for a change. If only more would work out like this.
I'm glad you managed to get your damage done repaid, zepher.
Also, big respect to str4wm4n for standing up to what happened and covering the losses.

I can confirm that this has been resolved to my satisfaction.

str4wm4n provided evidence to me that he was the account holder at the time when he purchased a Casascius Coin from Anduck. I am happy that the account is back in the hands of its legit owner.

str4wm4n repaid my full loss of 0.86 BTC out of his own pocket, which is an awesome thing to do - thank you.

I would appreciate it if the people who left str4wm4n a negative rating could please remove it, or at the minimum revise to a neutral - as this scam accusation is no longer valid.

I feel str4wm4n did an extremely stand up thing, and I respect him for it - at the same time, let this be a lesson to everyone else, SECURE YOUR ACCOUNT.

Should your account be compromised due to neglect on your part, people will hold you responsible for any damage done.

This is over, and I am 100% satisfied with the result. Thanks again str4wm4n :)

@Lutpin and owlcatz - thanks for your help guys, much appreciated.

Again, to anyone else that has left a neg rating, please remove it - it is no longer necessary.

Thanks,
Zepher

Negative trust removed. Its great to have some people resolved scam accusations like this. I respect this man and you're such a nice guy indeed for covering those lost funds.

I think the real lesson / take away here to EVERYONE with an account with ANY amount of trust is that you MUST have a REALLY GOOD password on your account . I used lastpass generator for example, 20+random chars... So... yeah... Good luck scammers! :P

Either way, stay safe, and read about yahoo's failures... :P  Cheers!

Negative feedback removed. Kudos to str4wm4n for paying about his mistake.

Nice to see this happy ending - doesn't happen much at all around here.

Big thanks to str4wm4n as well for paying him back fully, even though it is only partially his fault.

Unfortunately, ahmedjadoon here hasn't done the same and is still making up excuses: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1695711.msg17157457#msg17157457 even though he said here that he was doubling his money with ICN:


::)

This whole scenario looks very strange and one of several scams might have been run, along with the small chance that you were genuinely hacked. He may have sold the account to a scammer and been able to get it back by contacting the staff, or tried to run an exit scam and had second thoughts. Can any staff member confirm that they helped str4wm4n, because I don't understand how you got the account back otherwise? It looks like there was many other targets intended but not achieved.

The hacker did not change my password and my email account was not compromised and no staff member helped me.

I can only guess the reason the password wasn't changed was to not spook the forum's security log.

I am proud of the fact I am such an early adopter. I designed the litecoin logo and consider my reputation in the community very valuable.

str4wm4n, I think you are going to need to find an old, unedited post, with a bitcoin address you can sign, to prove you are indeed the original account holder.
I have no reason to believe otherwise, but some members may not remove their ratings without one.

I am glad to see it was sorted out.

Zepher is a good guy and it's a nice thing to know that he got his funds back.

I'll be removing the negative feedback once you can provide a signed message from an old address, as your hacker also tried to scam me for about 1600$.
Or once a forum admin can confirm that your account was hacked .
Liad.

I understand Liad.Services. I will be spending my weekend going through old wallet.dat files it seems

Thanks, Liad. I have looked through a lot of scam threads, and the original account owner returning and making good on what a third party did with his account is extremely uncommon.


Unfortunately so str4wm4n. This community has seen a lot of scammers recently, and therefore are wary of anything. This is quite an unusual case in all honesty, I genuinely did not expect to see that BTC ever again.

Quite a few members have removed their neg rating, but others will want a signed message to do this by the looks of it.

Once again, I thank you for doing the right thing and sending me the BTC that I got scammed out of. If you can locate an old bitcoin address that has been posted on the forum, unedited, that you can sign - then I am sure everyone else will remove the rating as well. I must stress that a neutral tag will remain on your account for the time being (which does not affect your rating at all) advising others of what happened, but also that you resolved it by doing something you really didn't need to do - paying me back.

Obviously I will keep this thread open until this is all cleared up.

Thanks :)

Glad to see it sorted out, neg removed.  

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
This message is at the request of Zepher and Liad.Services - 12/18/2016
I used 13Zq4k6EmMqbQWg7dqRDRGRCcnGfR6tuNu to send 1.01 BTC to 1Avi7zTVthSopYJUL4Efor619AtsgLJGBc
https://blockchain.info/tx/d2af594713d7074e5380bc526f6606ab08d519192853bcb49a413fb4e11e53a5
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
GwAzo45fxeN6NGVAUSkLBIat4b7SKlQ9eS0kKn6wF/UkHJEcT8U1IR0qrqFTLbURRAhA8ldH+4zXstiQjyrc2J0=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
This message is at the request of Zepher and Liad.Services - 12/18/2016
198UkipDFBqd8XFtFi4qZjASurqmWtqhL is my address from 1/23/2011
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
G5OPHdO0qL9xMzu1xyoKRcjsi1M0K6Jec1Ea8QMNYxLWUXRIHBTc2CqhfaBTeDWxD7J6mb04QTte/qDTNGMzA/Y=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Both messages verify as specified.


http://prntscr.com/dl4rgm (http://prntscr.com/dl4rgm)
http://prntscr.com/dl4rki (http://prntscr.com/dl4rki)

Confirmed, I have removed my feedback on str4wm4n's account.

As others have said, messages have been verified. I used coinig.

@str4wm4n, I have asked the remaining 3 people to remove/revise those ratings. You should have your account back in a "cleared" state soon :)

Thanks Zepher, looking forward to being back in the green again.
Take care.

This should be standard practice.  If your account gets "hacked", you are responsible for any damage done if you want it back.

Not a problem. Your account is now green again.

Once again, I appreciate you making good on the damage the hacker did. You take it easy, and remember to keep that password nice and strong :P


100% agreed Vod. Sadly, what has happened here is quite unusual (as I am sure you know yourself). Seeing the account owner repay damage done is quite uncommon. Most will just abandon the account. Thanks for removing the neg.

---

Right, there is no longer any point in this thread remaining open. I thank everyone for their help with this. This was not the outcome I anticipated, I must admit. A little faith in humanity has been restored.

Will be locking the thread. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to send me a PM.

Thanks!

Edit: I have had a request to leave the thread unlocked as there is still 2 untrusted feedbacks on str4wm4ns profile. If other users have a scam accusation against str4wm4n, then they need to open separate threads. This one has fulfilled its purpose.