Bitcoin Forum

Long story in short. I believe some of you have read this story.  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5256818.0) I think it's quite important issue especially for newbies and this topic will serve as awareness.

I don't know how should I describe it since very long story. This type of scam story new for me. Its call triangle scam actually. Someone else on telegram would ask you send a btc address provided by him to a bitcointalk forum user in order to prove ownership. Don't do this, if someone ask something like that then write your own message like I am Coolcryptovator, I am talking on telegram with you and my telegram username is @Coolcryptovator. Simply sent someone else btc address to other bitcointalk user would led to cheat. Who know if that person who asked you he is dealing with other bitcointalk user and likely other user asked to scammer send btc address by forum PM to prove ownership? Perhaps he is using you to scam by sent his btc address. Hope you guys understand what I want to say.

Hm, interesting enough, well I'm not ready to listen to any PM on my telegram channel, scammers will do anything to scam anybody, I don't talk to strangers, the best way is to change your privacy settings in telegram app so that you won't receive PM from anybody unless you PM them first

So what you're saying is there's a scam trend where the scammer sends you an address to send to someone else. So that person attempts to impersonate you by doing this.

So if someone sent it to me and I sent it on the person it was sent to would expect to be dealing with me? Would uou not say something like "this address was sent to me via telegram by user @" with an optional (this isn't me you're dealing with but tbh this should be implied).

What he did wasn't really enough to avoid something as sending his user id in telegram doesn't prove anything or make the transaction legit it only proves the connection of the two accounts. It's not the same as having an escrow for your payment as they don't have that guarantee that you will have your money back when the other party will try to scam you. If you are a newbie trying to negotiate with someone else here in the forum I would suggest that you always try to use escrow when you are unsure with the other party.

I also read that story in the scam section and it is indeed new to me or I guess to all of us, there should be an additional information and the receiver should check why it is being sent I haven't encounter because I blocked all messages coming from telegram, telegram has full of imitation ans impersonation I prefer Facebook chat messenger than telegram.

I hate it when someone asks me to move on to another platform specifically for this reason. Moving around from one app/platform to another should be considered suspicious from the start imo. Might be more convenient to quickly write messages on a WhatsApp-like UI, but in the end even e-mail communication would be much more convenient if you want to have proof after the deal.

When and if you are moved from BTCTalk to another app by the other person you're dealing with, ask them to sign a message from an older address used here (or from the staked ones (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.0)). It's very, very likely that a trusted member had posted at least once an address here they could sign from.

Sending/receiving a PM with an address in it doesn't prove much besides the fact that you are under control of the said account. That doesn't necessarily prove you are the owner of it.

He is a newbie for real because he got victimized by an obvious untrustworthy member. Most probably he did not look on his trust ratings first before dealing with him. I just feel sad because he give his trust in exchange of betrayal. I can't believe that there people who have the guts to do bad against their fellow :(.  Fortunately he lost only a small amount of money.
I'm a little bit confused actually so please correct me if I'm wrong. So what are you trying to say is that if I gave my btc address on a particular telegram user (which is also a btctalk member) then he will use my own address for scamming people afterwards. Am I right? What a tricky modus but not smart IMO

It's very important to verify who are you dealing with and what are you going to do. This triangle scam is so ommon in real life, I have seen a few but it's new here in this forum. I have seen a lot of impersonator but never seen this case.
Make sure to PM in bitcointalk and share all the details what you are giving and what you are receiving. This will make sure you are not be deceiving.

I read this story. I did not also see this type of scam story in the past.  If the accusation was not created then maybe many of us will be scammed in this way. Though elmanchez has to pay for his mistake, the accusation is playing a good role to warn people about this type of scam. Atleast who read the story will not fall into this.

So my suggestions to all avoid making any deal without confirming through bitcointalk pm. Otherwise, you may be scammed but you can not understand how it has done.

Interesting story so thank you.
Briefly: Don't trade off-Escrow.

Using Escrow to trade on the forum is the best thing to avoid scammers.
Always being aware of any PMs from newbies and even from higher rank users, if they send PMs to ask for loan or secret trades.
Paying attention on their trust scores and trust feedbacks with their finished trades.
Using Escrow or not, one of simple and good way to save proofs of addresses is making a post on the forum, quote it, and archive it.

Recommended bitcointalk escrow services (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2439910.0)
Few Trusted Escrow Provider (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5047302.0)
[Guide] Best way to Archive Bitcointalk and other webpages (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224177)

This is also a common scam on Steam whereby the impostor links the victim to a legit user's inventory when his own is actually private.

But on this forum, shouldn't it be easier to see through? Besides checking the trust, just send a PM to verify.

You have a point sir glad that there is a discussion like this here, if there is none and we tried to research we are not aware of it and might fall into such scheme, I seldom chatted with unknown people in telegram unless there is a verification here in Bitcointalk, and we can also check the trust history of the guy we are dealing with.

Can someone explain to me what the account owner is talking about?
Do you mean to use fake Telegram ID similar to Bitcoin acount of a trusted person and then to ask you to send money to that account?
I don't answer the mail that comes to me from anyone on Telegram, they are scammers or want to get the money, either way I'm the loser.

I hope you recovered your money.

In my opinion it is better to stay away from Telegram. There are more scammers on Telegram than on any other social media apps. If you still want to stay there then never respond to any queries as most of the time those contacting you are either planning to scam you or sell you some shit schemes.

This will be the first time I'm reading about this. Can't believe elmanchez fell for it and the scammers want to destroy this user's reputation because of greed. I'll advise user's not to conclude their deal on telegram and rather use forum PM. And if asked for verification, they should rather sign a message from a staked address on the forum. That should be enough.

The type of scam format running on telegram is much. You'll be receiving different pm of investment from all angles. If you are the type that is greedy, you're likely to fall for their unsolicited trap. 

Fraudsters are on telegram than any other social media platforms. Telegram has been their easiest platform of carrying out their fraudulent act of adding members easily on a particular group and propose a business investment strategies with concept of making profits if you invest with them.

Warning: not all pm's or group's on telegram you must answer to

These types of scam attempts aren't new.  Someone tried to defraud me in one of these attempts last November by pretending to be Condoras.  Luckily I didn't fall for it because like 20kevin20 suggested above, I insisted on a signed message, which I never received, of course.


I can't stress the importance of signed messages enough.  Whether it's a staked bitcoin address or a PGP messages, I always insist on it when dealing with some one new.  I'll be relaxed about it if someone asks me to send funds to an address we've used in the past, but if, for example, a borrower asks me to send funds to an address I've never used before I insist on a signed message.

I'm not sure if this would have helped elmanches avoid the trouble he recently found himself in.  His mistake was asking one person he was dealing with to send funds to another person he was dealing with.  By doing that he eliminated any control he had over the situation.

Scams aren't exclusive to Telegram, 99% of all unsolicited messages with some sort of earning opportunities are scams regardless of the platform, unless it's related to your profession and you expect to receive them (e.g. you have announced your service in the past). You can't run away from scams, you need to develop understanding of how they work so that you will never get scammed even by new and sophisticated types.

You're right, mate! Scams happen everywhere and it does not happen on Telegram alone. Even on Facebook Messenger, there are scams. I'm saying this based on experience. I thought I was already careful but it turns out that no matter how careful you are, a scam will always be a scam.


Understanding of how they work is really necessary. Because of my desire to earn money, I even lost. This saying is really true, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

Too much greed puts us at a disadvantage The higher the income the greater the loss Therefore if you start with a little at first the chances of losing are less Usually OP does not work everywhere. But the above discussions are very good for getting various information about many great scams.

Then the next triangle scam will be the scammer trying to get in between you and the escrow.

Just be a bit paranoid, and thoroughly check everything instead of just trusting it'll be okay. Don't assume anyone is who they say they are.

The scammer can win over your confidence through smaller transactions between you and them being successful, building a mansion of trust by doing that, but that trust will collapse when the scammer gets into your head that he's not ingenuine and you go in with a larger amount, like in this (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5243142.msg54288803#msg54288803) case. Research on who you're communicating with, than testing them with small amounts.

Test with small amount is not really effective since they will used that as their fish pole to you since for sure scammers will pay you up until you get convinced to deposit more unto them, we already see that on many cases especially on ponzi schemes platforms that's why there are so many people get scam by them. The most effective way really here is research and do not tempt to invest on hyips or anything offers a huge return.

After readin the scam accusation thread, I became really paranoid whenever someone contacts me via PMs and think twice before replying to him :D
However, I believe elmanchez (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2553198) could easilly avoid falling for this scam by being more cautious and requesting more proofs to make sure he is talking tothe same person on both platforms and ask why he have to send a random address to a random member. it doesn't make sense and had to see it as a big red flag!