Bitcoin Forum

Someone from Dwolla just called me asking to verify my name and address.
Anyone else get a call? Think it has to do with the reversed transactions?

No call so far.  Be careful for phishers.

I think what has happend is that a few people were using Dwolla/Bitcoin to steal money.

These thieves would steal someone's bank account information, sign up for Dwolla, and then drain the account into bitcoin. Once the thieves had converted the stolen money into bitcoin the transactions could not be undone.

Dwolla is probably desperately trying to verify new accounts, to make sure that the account owners are aware that their bank account is linked to Dwolla. It seems like a futile effort.


And yes, I received a phone call from them several weeks ago. I think they are calling everyone. But be wary of scams !

Email I got after I complained about a slow withdraw.

"I can see a note on the account that Dwolla representatives attempted to contact you via phone to verify some account information to release the pending withdrawal. "

 Seems like this info is needed to finalize large transactions.

http://help.dwolla.com/customer/portal/articles/95650-i-received-a-voicemail-from-dwolla-to-verify-something-was-this-real-

If you search hard enough you will find posts about them calling people to verify accounts since the beginning

It dosen't have to do with reversed transactions.

Dwolla is in Africa right? Yeah, watch out for these kinds of scams they are very common.

I actually posted this in the TH thread about Dwolla but will repeat here since it is relevant.

I got one.. same questions.  I told the caller I couldn't verify their identity so they suggested I call back using the number on the site later.

I didn't ask If I refused what would happen to my account.  Never done any deposits to them and only used for payouts from TH and Gox.

Edit:  Number was from 515-422-xxxx which someone verified as in the same area as their office.
Edit2: My total volume with them has been < $500

Dwolla are probably scanning for hacked accounts.  We have been pushing Dwolla to be more proactive about this since we caught a couple of them trying to trade on Camp BX.

Thank you,
      - Keyur

I got a call several weeks ago when I was withdrawing $1200 to my bank account through them.  It's probably the whole "Know your customer" act/law/thing.  I believe they have to confirm the identity of anyone moving funds in amounts over $1000.

Yep, Dwolla is based in Africa....*facepalm* /sarcasm

Dwolla appears to be based somewhere near Des Moines, Iowa.  Their phone number is in the 515 area code.  When I called it (after hours), I got their voice mail, which indicates that they are open between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM "Central Time zone".  Jordan Lampe, their "Director of Communications", has a Twitter account that lists him as being in Des Moines, Iowa.  HOWEVER, their domain (dwolla.com) is registered through Domains by Proxy, GoDaddy's Whois Privacy service, which means that there is no way to verify a postal address or actual location for the domain doing business as Dwolla.  And with VOIP, phones in any area code can point to any phone in the world.  Although I think it's unlikely that they are not located in the U.S., they could theoretically be anywhere.  That's *really* cheesy for a financial company or any company that wants to build trust.  :(

I've been using Dwolla.  The whole Bitcoin economy is new, so I'm careful.  Nobody can drain an important bank account of significant sums through it because I opened a separate bank account to use with it and other Bitcoin-related businesses, and keep very little money in it.  I highly recommend that others take the same precaution, even if you end up paying a fee for use of the account.  You should NOT risk more money than you can afford to loose on Bitcoin til it has matured significantly.

So far, I've received no phone calls from Dwolla.  If I did, I would not verify any information except for my name, would hang up, and then would call them back on their published phone number on their web site and ask for the person who called me.  After reconnecting that way, *then* I would verify my account information.  Remember, you do not know who is calling you when somebody calls you unless you know them and can recognize their voice.

Watch Episodes:   28 and 31

.....about the whole Dwolla situation.

The Bitcoin Show

http://onlyonetv.com/category/topics/bitcoin/

I've had Dwolla call my GV #.  I assumed it was 99.9% legit because the return # they told me to call them back at was the same 515.280.1000 # on their website.

Cheers,
Kermee

Kermee -- did you call Dwolla back, however?  If you did, cool.  If not, you accepted as verification a bit of information that anybody could have found by looking at their web site.  In other words, it verified nothing at all.  You're probably still okay, but it pays to be a bit paranoid about financial matters. :-)

Sorry. I should of been clearer.

They left a VM saying to call them back, so yes, I called them back.  The call-back # was the same as the phone # on their site.  I assumed it was for verification purposes only. -- Worst case scenario is they know my 'Billing' PO Box address now which is what I have on my Dwolla account. ;)

Cheers,
Kermee

Ah.  Then you did call them back on a known-good phone number.  That's cool -- you did the right thing.

I hope other people who get calls from Dwolla (or their bank or credit card accounts) do the same.  Unfortunately phishers and others involved in financial fraud don't just send fake emails from your bank these days.  They also make phone calls.  So, unless you can verify the voice of the person who called you, best to call them back, and *ALWAYS* obtain the call back number from public information.  Don't just call the number that they give you.

They're in a hacker space, Foundry Coworking (http://foundrycoworking.com/), at 1312 Locust St, Des Moines, Iowa. So says the Iowa state corporation registry. If there's a problem, that's where you send the process server or collection agency.

Bitcoin oriented companies remain rather low-rent. Dwolla is in a low-cost hacker space. Mt. Gox used to be Magic, the Gathering Online Exchange. "Global Standard Bank" put up fake pictures of their supposed premises and got caught. Of the ones outside major countries, Tradehill is in Chile, and Liberty Reserve is in Costa Rica. All these outfits have potential liabilities in 7 figures if they screw up, and no indication that they have the financial strength to deal with them.

Agreed.  None of the financial firms operating in Bitcoin space has much cushion if they screw up.  You could sue them if they cost you a ton of money, but there would likely be nothing to collect, just a bankruptcy.  That's why people shouldn't put more into this than they can afford to loose.  It's a risk.  IMHO taking risks is part of life, however; the trick is to think first and choose your risks intelligently.

I have refused to answer any questions to "confirm my identity" on the phone.  They invited me to call their COO.  Hah! The COO wants to deal with a $2 total fees account personally?  I refused to have any verbal contact or to give them any information that they did not already have.  I demanded all communication be in writing.

Because I don't trust dwolla since I read about them trying to scam tradehill.

They responded by "freezing" my "pending" transactions.  Their site said I had "0 pending" transactions.  But the last ACH withdrawal made 3 days before the phone call has yet to be credited to my bank account.  Anyway, I will give it a few more business days, then try written correspondence, then seek civil and criminal penalties.  I figure it will be worth it since I can get costs and if I'm lucky treble damages, punitive damages, or restitution.  It would be a class action if they are doing this to lots of people.

This from a company that has moved less than $10k dollars for me and has taken less than $2 in fees from me.  They already lost all their profit on me after the first phone call required a follow-up email.  And they want to play hardball without so much as a professional written correspondence.  Pfft, I'm done with them. 

I don't trust dwolla.  I'm guessing it's run by a handful of kids with little business or legal experience trying to play bigshot and not realizing the civil and criminal trouble they are walking into.  Blindly walking to their own doom, arrogant and foolish.

Class actions only benefit the lawyers.  Usually the plaintiffs get pennies on the dollar.  A series of individual small lawsuits would do a lot more damage to them.

Jesus christ, security is more important than your whiney demands. You are really complaining that you transferred around $10K with only $2 in fees???? Thats amazing, you will never come across such a deal again. Well worth any hassle of extra verification steps to avoid fraud.

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28314.msg359567#msg359567

already a thread like this

WOW. Well of course they froze your account and I suspect it will remain that way until you verify your account. Have fun!

I understand your position.  Just remember the issue is primarily between Dwolla and TH at the moment.  No need to put your own account 'in jeopardy' by being difficult with Dwolla since at this point, they haven't 'screwed' you over.

If they call, just ask if you would be allowed to call them back at the voice number listed on their webpage in order to verify your account/identity.  That's it.  They're not going to ask for more information than they already have of you when you signed up.  (They just verified my name, address and phone #).  Once that's done, make sure you've cleared your account of any funds, etc. *AND THEN* at that point you can be vocal by ceasing to use Dwolla.

Dwolla at this point is playing 'catch-up' with verifying users before large ACH transfers to limit their liability for reversals due to fraud.  I think they're learning pretty quickly what they need to do in order to reduce this.  Of course, this doesn't excuse them from changing the ToS on TH (or for the rest of the users & business merchants for that matter) without prior notification and doing it retroactively, but they're trying to do some much needed due diligence now.

Cheers,
Kermee

It's just so frustrating that the Dwolla CEO (? for all I know) called me on the phone to ask for my personal information.  It was a shock, since I thought everyone knew that phishing phone calls happened that way.  So I had this shock that the Dwolla kids are noobs on security and privacy issues.  Then I e-mailed them to report the phishing scam.  Their response was to freeze my account.  What a way to say thanks!  That's what sent me into attack mode.