Bitcoin Forum

When selling in Great Britain, it seems there are plenty of shady replies, e.g. people

- do not send the requested paper written "I .... am buying Bitcoins from ....."
- do not send the requested photo / ID etc

even if the buying conditions clearly call for it. Instead they seem to

- send only some documents
- send very blurry impossible to read passport


What is going on with that?


Looking from other side, advanced traders, at least in UK, seem to all require a photo with all this at once:

- you
- your passport or such
- your credit card
- message saying that you buy BTC and that you know what you're doing

Why everyone require this, what scams happen in other case?

If the payment is national bank transfer, then a normal charge back (paypal style) should not be an issue, no?
Is this about stolen credit cards or what?

Even if, then is it responsibility of the seller of bitcoins to refund victim of credit card being stolen, or is this cost taken on by customer's bank or what happens?

Any common scams that can happen, or other tips how to avoid being scammed?

It's about MITM (man in the middle) scams where a scammer defrauds someone (for example, a fictitious car or phone or diamond ring or whatever on Craigslist, Locanto, Backpages and other sites) and instructs that victim to pay to your bank account. The victim thinks it is the scammer's bank account while you (selling bitcoins) think the payment is from the buyer's account (who happens to be the scammer).

This explains the ID and other requirements in an effort to thwart this scam. Asking the victim to provide all those pictures (including the card linked to the bank account and a note that specifically references the purpose of the payment, among others) helps keep these scam at a minimum. It will not stop the scam completely since there are intelligent fraudsters out there who might instruct their naive victims to provide all their ID, card information and even that payment reference.