Bitcoin Forum

I sent a guy a down payment on a car. I use a program called Electrum. After I sent him the money I figured out I was being scammed. Do I have any recourse? Any way to recover my money?

I do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

I’m sorry for your loss and unfortunately you can’t recover your money back.

Since you’re dealing with bitcoin and not fiat or other coins that has a centralized body that can freeze the funds of an account at any point in time, bitcoin is decentralized. The only thing you can hope for right now is to pray that the scammer link the transaction to a wallet address that is tied to a public profile (that might reveal his identity) but I doubt that’s ever going to happen.

 If the transaction is confirmed, there's isn't much you can do to reverse or cancel the payment, but if you have more information about this individual, maybe you can take it to law enforcement.

Can you post the address/TXID?

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Bitcoin transaction. I assume the transaction has been confirmed yet; if so, there is no way to reverse or return it to you. Unfortunately, the funds are under the control of a scammer right now, and you lost them forever. Unless you know the receiver in real life, you can't take action against him. Even if you file a case with a legal authority, if Bitcoin is legal in your country, it will cost you more. Just make sure you know where you are sending funds next time to avoid being scammed.

I think this is what you are looking for - 7ff518aae3b8c95c530410aff6c37601c8a3cfda65cd960c3ad63a0551ac57a6

There's no way to reverse this transaction it has already had 454 confirmations. Only 0 confirmation can still be reversible.

How did you find this guy?
If you have more other info than wallet ID and transaction you can maybe still able to find that guy.
Like the full name or a plate number of the car if the guy gives you some pics of this car?

I don't think the guy actually owns the car but the plates on the car are New Jersey - 12845QQ and he gave me a name of Damon Eden

I would like think that you actually know the person you sent the coins to in real life because if you don't it's quite foolish to send someone that certain amount of Bitcoin for the purchase of a physical item like a car. Well like other have already said, if the transaction is already confirmed then its impossible to recover back your funds because Bitcoin transaction are irreversible when the transaction has been confirmed but if it hasn't been yet then you can simply cancel the transaction because the coins would have not been picked up by a miner yet who are the ones responsible for processing a transaction when it has been broadcasted.

Sorry to hear about this and I would really like to know how you were scammed. Bitcoin is not a centralized asset that can be frozen when a complaint like this is made. But If the scammer sends the Bitcoin to a centralized exchange you can alert the exchange with proves that the owner scammed you during a business transactions. The cases where exchanges normally step in and freeze a scammer Bitcoin are mostly stolen or hacked Bitcoin that were traced to the exchange. I don't if you will have any luck recovering your bitcoin but you can still give it a try.

So how did this actually happen?

Did you view the car in person or did you just do the transaction blindly after looking at
pictures of it?

and if so, why would you do that? sorry I'm finding it hard to understand how the
transaction went? how were you going to take ownership of the car?

I'm sorry it turned out like this for the OP but it really is a case of buyer beware

Sorry, but you can't get it back once it's been sent to the address he gave you. Unless the person who scammed you sends the bitcoin back to you, The question is, how did he catch the dude?

The story you gave is not very detailed, but as long as you were really scammed, there is usually nothing that the victims of the scammer recover, and the only thing you can do is accept and learn from the mistake you made in that matter. That transaction ID can't do anything either because it can only give you so much.

That's pretty bad if you didn't see him live on cam we can't able to trace if he provided a fake name and plate number but you still need to provide this to the police department or try to report the scammer on this link below then present all information that you mentioned here including the name and plate number they can maybe able to contact Damon Eden and trace who owns the plate number  "Jersey - 12845QQ".

- https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

You didn't think he owned the car, or you don't think now that he wasn't the owner? Maybe  he offered a cheap price and you got greedy, thought you could have a cheap car and simply sent him the coins.  I wonder how you managed to operate electrum if you don't even know Bitcoin is irreversible?

Never purchase from unknown sources when paying with Bitcoin.

It is not only when buying with bitcoin. Never purchase from unknown sources when paying with fiat as well. Scammers are still scamming people successfully in a way that fiat are sent to the scammer by the victims. There are many ways people can be scammed with fiat just like this in a way the fiat will not be traced to the scammer.

For the first one, the thread might not be in the right place because I think it's possible to move it.
As for the problems that occur for you, it cannot be returned anymore because when the transaction has been confirmed, indirectly it will not be able to return to you even though there is an address and tx because in the end this already belongs to someone else.
Well things like this often happen so you need to be careful in transactions and make this a lesson because in the end I think even though not all of them but most people must have felt the same way as you now.
Quite sorry about this but you have to let go of your money because it is difficult to get it back even if it is only 55 mBTC it is still a loss and very regrettable when it is lost just like that.

You lost your bitcoin forever except if you bring this case to police with good evidence for the trade as well as your trade partner, they can help you. But make sure that Bitcoin exchange is legally accepted in your nation. If it is illegal, not accepted yet in your nation, you will have trouble with police or police will not have reasons to help you.

Those ones are proofs of a transaction but if you don't know identity of that trade partner, those proofs are non sense.

Bitcoin transactions are irreversible so you sent your bitcoins, it means you lost it forever if sender won't send it back to you. Scammers surely don't send your bitcoins back to you.

Irreversible transactions (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Irreversible_Transactions).

I don't know how you was scammed but in a peer to peer trade, if you don't receive your payment, don't release (send) your bitcoin to your trade partner. You go first, you lose your bitcoin.

Use Escrow service can keep you safe.

Bitcoin is irreversible when it's already has at least a confirmation (read this thread for more (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5443953.0)), if the transaction not yet confirmed, the @OP can reverse the transaction since he's the sender.

@OP is the sender, not the receiver.

The trade is happen in real life, which person you can trust? there are so many scammers in real life regardless their reputation or titles, even a police can be bribed to scam.

Lately I noticed there are a lot of scams going on with used cars. Since cars are expensive now usually when a great deal pops up usually it gets sold right away.

However there are those that basically make fake ads, with great deals on a certain car and they create FOMO and basically usually buyer will send a deposit to hold the car and it’s usually a scam. You got to becareful out there.

Tough life and yet another lesson learned.  >:(

At least you just lost a down payment (I guess) and didn't send him the full amount.
That's the problem with people using bitcoin and other coins without knowing what they are doing. Sure it looks convenient and the scammer convinced you it's safe, but trading with somebody you don't know and going first is just as risky as sending the cash to a post box.

Once the transaction was confirmed there is not much you can do.
Sure you can go to the police and file a report and maybe the scammer was stupid enough to cash out the btc at an exchange where he did KYC, but I doubt it.
These people are professionals, who knows in which altcoin are what not your btc have already been exchanged or traded.

Well, next time you know better I guess. Sorry for your loss!

I'm sorry you lost, but I don't think there is anything you can do about it as long as the transaction is successful. In addition, the person is a scammer, and con artists always act with their knowledge. He might even give you a wallet that he isn't using all that much because the wallet will just be used once or even make it so that you can't even trace it anywhere. I believe this will also be the last time you give a bitcoin to a fraudster. Before engaging in any exchange, be sure to research the people you'll be working with because many online are not to be trusted.

I have seen someone scammed and they stole all his savings in his wallet, not even a single bitcoin is left there. If it is you, how will you feel? This thing tends to happen to newbies because some of them will not have experience sending someone who is capable of buying something with them. Therefore, we occasionally need to use caution online because there is always a high level of risk involved. However, if you exercise caution online, I don't think scammers will be able to take advantage of you as easily.

Mate, you're paying a downpayment for a car through instructions by sending that guy with an electrum wallet? Is it your first time to buy a car or you didn't researched how to purchase and avail your very first car?

Transactions like this won't be honored by the dealer because most of them have their traditional method for payments.

We're sorry to tell you that Bitcoin transactions once sent are irreversible. The BTC you've sent to that guy is already on him and can only be recovered if he sends it back to you.

I could not understand why would you pay someone for a car via cryptocurrency without first maybe knowing his background and whereabouts...like does he has an office or outlet where you can go to demand for the car you paid fully or partially? Me...I would never deal with anyone online because you don't know the other end of the line how real he is...for all you know he can be based somewhere in Africa and you are just one of his many victims.

Exactly so is how the case proceeds. I don't know why the sudden discovery after the money has been sent already. Am very sure you, OP agreed to pay in installments until the payment for the car is complete, hence why you sent the first payments.
Even if as it stands, the guy is a scammer, the money is gone and can't be reversed, but if anything can be done with the i.d of the guy, please go ahead let justice be served.

The common practice for many car dealership is always clear and simple, and I don't think any legal car dealer or dealership would agree to accepting crypto currency as payments without stating and giving directions, possibly with an escrow account opened on the behalf, upon completion of payment.

If you would see the previous posts, OP stated that the scammer gave the information of the car, plate number to be exact that gave him the idea of the location of the car, and he also acquired the name but is not sure if it is the owner. But yeah, Op should not give a down payment. The information given is insufficient and a better thing to do in this kind of situation is to get to the location first and go there, check the car before giving money.

It's likely that he doesn't know the procedure on how payments and installments come with the procedures of purchasing a car. A downpayment without having the receipt of the payment but only the TXID is already suspicious.

Few to no chance of knowing who's the scammer since there are no information that are included on this transaction. But maybe OP can go back to the roots where he has met that guy.

@OP just as whateveryone is saying here, yo can post the TXID and maybe someone will show off from the address of the scammer.

Others have already pointed out that this money is unfortunately irreversibly lost. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, there's nobody to change is back to the way it was before. But if a person gave someone a down payment in cash, it would be the same. With a bank transaction, the chances of actually convincing the bank to cancel a transaction of the ground of being scammed without going to court also seems highly unlikely to me, though. And the window when the bank hasn't actually sent the money yet isn't big, it's around a couple of days. So being ripped off is a very unfortunate situation, but it would be hard to navigate with fiat money as well, if we're being realistic.

Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, but in the case of a typical transaction, such as buying a car using a Bitcoin address, you would need to prove that the owner of the address you sent the funds to is the same person who scammed you. In this situation, there is a chance that your Bitcoin can be recovered, although it may not be in the form of Bitcoin if it has already been withdrawn or converted. Recovery is still possible with the assistance of the authorities.

What you should do is file a police report, provide them with all the details of the incident, and let them investigate to determine if there's enough evidence to identify and accuse a specific person. This is where your optimism for recovering the value you lost can come into play.

If OP already has information about that car such as the license plate number, he just needs to report to the police and they will easily find out the owner's information of that car. And if he saved the conversation between the two, he would have full proof that he was a victim of fraud and just need to report to the police, everything would be easier to resolve. Unless bitcoin is not legal in his country, then he should consider it a rather expensive lesson to trust others so easily. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.

I don't want to say this but what you gonna do for now is to move on as you can no longer take back.
What happens to you serves a lesson not only for you but for everyone, especially for newcomers. This is all about TRUST and most of the time we get scammed by someone we think can be trusted even though we just met online in just a few days. I'm not against it but if we talk about money and investment, we should be cautious in dealing with them. That is why I suggest seeking advice from those people we trusted the most when dealing like this.

So this was all done P2P?

I would never do a P2P transaction for an asset as expensive as a car (not even with cryptocurrency), and I'm pretty sure most people here wouldn't either.

At the minimum, you have to meet the person you're about to send the transaction to and the car must also be there, in addition to the car key - although in that case a down payment sounds more strange to ask for, since the owner would have no way to evict the buyer if they default on the full amount (I am not talking about OP) since said person can just speed off to a different place and change the license plate.

Since you said you sent the coins to 'a guy', then you didn't buy it from a company or from an official car dealer, but probably from someone who wanted to sell off their personal car. In that case, you should know the person and must have seen the car you wanted to buy, so if the person is located anywhere near you, report to your local police and narrate this incident. But if you met a stranger online and you wanted to purchase a car from them using BTC, then that is a strange behaviour and there is no way you can get your money back.

If you have the necessary information to back up your claim that you are getting scammed, the bank will definitely consider freezing the scammers account or even help you and law enforcement to track down the scammer which is one of the few selling points of doing bank transactions for something like this. I wouldn't say that it's difficult to navigate fiat money, the problem is financial literacy isn't a thing for many people so they don't know a lot about money even though they're adults, just ask your local financial advisor about different financial questions you've got, pretty sure they're going to help you.

I feel bad for what happened to OP but at the same time a bit appalled that OP trusted someone online especially when it involves money. Plus points for OP though for not being bothered too much from getting ripped off.

I can tell you live in the United States, because we have a lot of people from poor countries on the forum for whom 55.58663 mBTC is a lot of money.

Curious also that I have looked at the transaction in blockchair and it marks the scammer's address as change address. I guess because it is the most common scenario. Anyway, as they have already told you, there is nothing you can do but report him to the authorities.

It seems that it is not possible to return funds that have been transferred via BTC. The only way is to meet the person in person and ask him to send BTC back.

Well, maybe reporting it to the authorities by including evidence and telling the chronology could help.

---

A little advice for the OP, don't make crypto transactions if you really don't trust someone. Because if you have already made a transaction, the transaction cannot be returned unilaterally.

I think he has zero chances to meet that person. And if the scammer has been a little careful, even the police won't find him. Another thing is that this is the only thing the OP can do, to report it. I would do that if I were him.

Yes, reporting it to he authorities should be the first thing to do. But OP is not sure if the scammer is the same person as the real owner of the car. It is possible that the identity of the car owner was used to sell the car at a reasonable price, ask fo the money, and scam the people.

Yes, it's P2P, however, through online transaction. As I understand the statement of OP, he sent the payment and then realized that he was scammed. If only OP did see the car physically before paying, he must've avoided being scammed.

Can we just try to think a little, don't trust people we just met in cyberspace, without knowing their true origins, There are many modes of fraud outside this forum, a thousand ways for fraudsters to catch their predators which can be caught via cyberspace, there are also many out there who understand Bitcoin transactions or other types of crypto, Without them coming and studying here, the internet/Google has become a hotbed of information for all kinds of actions that can be exploited by fraudsters, so be careful when it comes to digital currency.

Question....!
* How can you trust people for car buying and selling transactions, you can easily send Bitcoin to that person. without thinking even a little negative things.
* As far as I know, before we make a down payment to purchase a car, we have to fill out a form first and fill in our personal data, then the down payment is paid at the car location/showroom.
* What's the story? You trusted that person, without asking them anything, like the address and so on, you easily sent Bitcoin to that person, were you hypnotized.

OP, if you want your money back, look for that person, to be held accountable for his actions because he has cheated you of 55 mBTC. Because you know the person outside the forum, not here.

It breaks my heart to hear about your loss. When you use  Bitcoin, transactions are meant to be permanent. This is an important part of their open nature. Even though Electrum is a trustworthy program, it cant undo or cancel deals that have already been confirmed. Once you send the money, it's usually gone for good.

You can tell the police about the scam, though, since you have the wallet ID and the transaction ID (if your government does support the people). Because Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous, it is tricky to track down and get back stolen money. However, police have been able to do it in some cases. Make sure you keep all of the paperwork and proof of the deal. Even if the chances arent great, its important to speak out against such sneaky behavior. Please take this as a serious warning to always check twice and be careful when you're shopping online

I am sorry for the sad incident that happened to you.
Once the transaction is confirmed, there is nothing you can do anymore, the Bitcoin has officially changed hands. I don't know what was going through your mind at that time that made it so easy to trust other people by sending them Bitcoin that was supposed to be used for a down payment on a car.
You can carry out an investigation to track down the man's whereabouts, but if you don't know him directly or the people closest to the man, you have to say goodbye to the Bitcoin you sent to the man.

Sorry about your loss, this is another example of people who make use of cryptocurrency for dubious purpose. Sometimes when you want to purchase something for someone online, never accept to pay them with bitcoins especially when they are people or individuals you have not done business with before, and just meeting for the first time.

Ask for bank details, so you can always confirm the identity and name of the person provided with the name on the account, this will make things easier to trace in such cases.

You were scammed. forget any personal detail that was given to you, it is fake, or the identity of another person.

Maybe you learned something from all this, and maybe you got a very cheap life lesson, considering that the amount doesn't seem to be a problem for you. So in the future, if something is not clear to you, first come to the forum and ask - and if you had done that, you wouldn't be talking about this now.

Furthermore, I hope you learned not to buy something you haven't seen, and that from complete strangers who also ask you to pay with Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a great thing, but only for those who know how it works - and that scammer of yours is obviously very well acquainted with what you still haven't learned.

Sorry for your loss, but if it has been confirmed on the network you can no longer recover your loss. But would you mind sharing how you lost your money? because this is the first time for me to hear of someone losing bitcoins on a down payment for a car purchase.

Bitcoin transaction are irreversible. Once the transaction is confirmed on the blockchain you can never get it back. So it is always good to check the transaction and verify everything before sending any Bitcoin. The internet is a scary place if you don't know how to navigate it. If you have never met a person place to face or if it's a company you need to make sure that they are reputable and what you are doing with the transaction is legit.
I got the part of down payment. But it should have confirmed it first or meet face to face and pay all at once after getting the product.
There isn't much that you can do about this as the transaction has already been confirmed. Maybe you should just leave it and focus on never making the same mistake again. Double or triple check everything before making any transaction with Bitcoin. Mistake is a process of learning. So take it as a lesson and move on.

You really for ripped off buddy and you can't do anything because Bitcoin transactions are irreversible. Electrum is that wallet that people use to deposit their Bitcoin or send those Bitcoin to someone else and all the transactions of Bitcoin are irreversible whether send via Electrum or any other wallet. That type of scams are common these days and on this forum we always warn Bitcoin users from such kind of scams in order to promote awareness to the users so they can be careful with their transactions.

Even if you have the wallet address of the scammer or the transaction ID (TXID), it will still not be possible for you to regain your Bitcoin if he/she has used a wallet like Electrum. Most Bitcoin users and unfortunately scammers know about such wallet software and they don't really store their Bitcoin on addresses that exchange provide. It'll be almost impossible for you to get your money back. I'm sorry for you loss buddy! Next time be careful when sending Bitcoin to anyone because once the transaction got confirmations then there is no way tor reverse it.

I am sorry for your loss and there is no way you can reverse this transaction, even if you have the address and transaction ID there is nothing anyone can do, this amount isn't even big enough to contact CZ for help, maybe to freeze the fund or something, I hope you learn because it looks like your complete fault.

Sorry to say but I want to know how you meet this person, how can you decide to pay for a car when you haven't meet the seller before? Who introduced you to him? How did you guys get in touch? You should have feel suspicious when he ask to get paid in BTC I believe.

Is this person running a website? If yes I think you should share the link so that we can try alerting others from falling into the same trap as you, Electrum is a bitcoin wallet just like the rest and they don't always have a way to refund a sent transaction, unless it's not confirmed yet, now it's already too late, next time make sure you do deals with genuine business men. Always do your research and ask questions before sending money to anyone.

Payment made with bitcoin are irreversible and you should just believe that has been dashed out through your mistake, if it were to be in fiat currency, they can make reversals if you have enough evidence to lodge this at the bank.


There's nothing that can be done than viewing the money from afar and having nothing the do about it, sure, it can be tracked and seen but when you don't have the access to the wallet keys, you can't have the coins back.

Once the transaction is confirmed, there is no way to reverse it. No matter which wallet you use, what amount you send. Sad to see that you got scammed. It’s always advised to be extra careful when you are dealing with money. Haven’t you checked the car physically before sending the down payment? You should have noted the details of the car along with the owner for any emergencies. Nevertheless, now you have learnt a lesson, and from your mistake others will also learn. Wishing you best of luck to recover these losses soon.

wow that kindda huge amount. However, I am sorry for your loss. But I think you could be a victim of a bigger scam if you buy a more expensive car. So now you console yourself with this thought. Because once the confirmation is done, there is nothing that can be done with Bitcoin address or transaction ID.
Moreover, how did you do this trade? I mean through which source? Is bitcoin illegal or legal in your country? If Bitcoin is legal in your country then you can take legal action through these sources.
The car is not supposed to be ordered just by looking at the picture and if it is a second hand car, then of course people check the car carefully and then buy it. However, before doing this type of transaction, you must be careful. If you have a reliable source, you can pay up front, moreover, you should use a good escrow service provider to do this type of transaction. Anyway, nothing can be done now, but I hope you will be careful in the future.

I am very sorry to hear about this.
We need to be extra careful when dealing with strangers online especially when they have no physical address and cryptocurrency is involved.

Deep down I sincerely hope you are able to track him down and get justice. I hope he pays for this crime he has committed.

Another useful tip is that kindly ensure that a trusted friend knows about these types of transactions. They would have been able to spot a foul play and prevented this sad news. Remember this next time.

It's good to know you're already taking this in good faith and have adjusted to move on, not withstanding that the amount involved isn't that small. It's close to $1,500 at the current worth.

People do pay for stuff online to have items delivered to them at their door post. That's not really an issue and I want to believe OP isn't new to that. The only issue I've with what OP did was sending payment in a rush (scammers count on the hastiness/rush of their victims and so will hurry them up) without waiting for the car to be delivered to them first since it wasn't from an auto company.

Shouldn't the buyer verify the information first, meet the person, check the documents, and verify it to the transportation office?  If @OP just paid for the car without validating the information then the possibility of a scam will likely happen.  It is a sad thing that the payment is irreversible and the guy happily runs away with the scammed money. But in case, Bitcoin is not illegal in your country and is somehow acknowledged by the government as a mode of payment, then he can file a case against this guy if it happens that he got the guy's information.

I’m sorry about your lost mate but unfortunately you can’t recover such loss and this is one major reason I always preach and encourage the use of escrow at all times irrespective of how much you’re transacting because  those bloody criminals aren’t concerned about what happens to their victims afterwards provided that they get what they’re looking for which is simply the money and I’m glad you were able to contact the forum and I’m pretty sure that you already learnt from this incidence and always prefer to  go with an escrow,irrespective of the amount you’re trading.

The type of payment doesn't matter, neither does the product they wanted to purchase, what matters here is that if you send your funds to strangers who come to you online that they want to sell something, then you are very likely to lose that money. Op already said they sent money to someone who wanted to sell a car, and after sending the money they realized it was a scam, it is a very strange behaviour from op, sending money to a stranger who wants to sell you a car, unbelievable!

You can consider those satoshi as spent on a life lesson. Read carefully all the good answers in this thread and you won't make the same mistake again. And probably you should also study a little more about bitcoin and how it works, it's going to help you a lot in the future. Anyway I would never send cryptos to a stranger as downpayment for a deal. If it was a dealer with a written contract then it would be a different story.

Look at the TXID you provided,

Your Address: bc1q2xwwket3txcxvqa5fecutez2p55qvfcpne4p6np40wq3x5uw5x0s2g9c9e

The scammer's Segwit address: bc1qurffa50xg6j47kgtfggerh3yhmc8gdy0e4drrw

Fraudster's Binance address: 1AN5soiGR9V87BrWxGdLyLBwvZXh1Ptn34

https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/tx/7ff518aae3b8c95c530410aff6c37601c8a3cfda65cd960c3ad63a0551ac57a6

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/10/18/R7mDd.png

The scammer has sent him to the Binance hot wallet, and that is his last place.

This is a valuable lesson not to be too trusting with people you just met.
At least make transactions with people you know and where the business is located.

The main thing is to know that they were going to scam you anyway, if you had paid with Fiat, don't think you would have been saved. It is the typical case that regardless of the payment method you use, your bad habits will give you these results.

"Once Upon a Time..." by the vehicle's license plate and a name.

As you can see, with that from the point of view of what bitcoin means we can't do anything, but with the Txs, you can see that someone above provided you with the transaction information.

Make the report, it may not mean anything for your particular case, but you may be providing information from someone who even has this modus operandi and then before several complaints and the amount increases, a deeper investigation may proceed.

---

Sorry for your loss. The money you had sent out is already considered total loss as long it had been confirmed. On what kind of transaction you are making with other people?
Why you havent really that able to realize that making some downpayment for purchasing a car? If this thing done through online and having no signing of documents involved then its definitely a scam.
There's no way that you could really be able to get  some easy deal with purchasing some car without having those paper works even though the payment is through online means or methods
but in speaking about legality or legitimacy of such transaction then it would really be that much preferred on doing it physically or in person. Buying and selling cars doesnt really come on a simple
agreement or something that verbal and then agreed on the amount which you would be paying then its already done which it isnt something like that.

The amount isnt really that too big though so its still a good call that you had noticed something and find out on being a scam. This is a some lesson learned for you
that never ever trust someone and do make out some immediate sending out money into random people not unless you do make out some face to face transactions.

Did you find this add on Facebook?

Was this 1967 Chevrolet Nova SS PROJECT for $15000?
How did you contact the seller?

Did you use messenger?

Usually there's some trace the police could follow.
If he told you he was the owner of the car and scammed you, that's a matter for the police, pretty much like if you gave him cash and he bailed.

I'm so very sorry for this loss, one thing about bitcoin is that one's you send a transaction it is something you can withdraw back or try to get back your fund back. Bitcoin is not like the banking system when you report an account to get freeze, that is why people needs to be very careful when making transaction in bitcoin because when a transaction is sent their is nothing that can be done to get back the money back.

 When dealing in bitcoin with strangers you have to be very sure before you send or confirm the transaction so that you won't have any regret after you might have done with transaction.

The good thing is that  taufik123 had traced the transaction where the possible true identity of the scammer can be identified since the BTC was sent to a Binance account.  If @OP wanted to pursue the case and wanted the scammer apprehended he can then ask a the court for an order so that Binance will disclose the owner of the stated address.  

It might be more costly but it will possibly prevent future scam done by this person.

The trouble of chasing this scammer may not be worth as it is not big money.
However, that is true, this will serve as a good lesson to the OP not to trust strangers over the net.
If you want to be sure of your transactions, better deal with reliable platforms or better yet, pay it physically and see what's in it for you.
In today's world, so much fraud has been happening over cyberspace and you are the one responsible not to be victimized with such.

This is one reason why some people are afraid to use online transactions and BTC, especially when it is already a huge amount. Although we can trace the wallet where we send our money and point out who is the owner of that wallet is hard to prove. It is a big mistake and it was hard to take your money back, maybe you consider it lost money already. You are not just a victim of a scam but also, a victim of trusting someone who can't be trusted as well. Maybe if you make DP in front of that person, I don't think he could run away with the money.

It may not seem like a lot of money to you, but to some people, it is very valuable.
If the OP wants to develop this fraud case, she can actually report it to the authorities.

But the problem is, will this get a good response from the authorities?
Because if only one case like this is not followed by many reports of fraud on the same person or method, they do not process cases properly.
It takes several other victims to make the process faster and investigate immediately.

You can choose a trusted escrow that is widely available on this forum, or use a recommended online shopping platform escrow.
There are actually many safer payment methods for sellers and buyers.

Many types of scams like this will eventually harm the victim and they continue to change identities and start scamming other victims.
In fact, they are also organized and have a group.

Bad and sad at the same time,  but you have to move on while still trying to recover your money which at this point is near impossible since the transaction os already confirmed and coins arrived at the scammer's wallet this is what we have to know before making a transactions,  I advise you that it do best you first of all make some research about the car to know whether or not he truly own the car or he just snap a random plat number and sent to you.

But to be honest with you, you did not do well because how can you send someone you don't know or haven't met before such an amount,  or deposits,  when you have not even had a physical inspection on the car to see if it did meet the value or verify it documents to be sure you are not buying an accident car or even buy a stolen car.

So it is better to make such purchases directly from the car stands that have a registered company and have some good reputations in the car dealing business.

Whenever you read stories like this I feel it is important to remember that it wasn’t some failure of a protocol or software bug that lead to this rip off occurring. It was just a standard run of the mill scammer that happened to find a victim willing to send funds online in a non-reversible fashion. Let his mistake be your education.

Too many questions yet OP doesn't seem like to be online again. And again, when it comes to transaction like this, since this is a physical item that needs a thorough check with a mechanic engineer, highly recommended is to do the transaction offline, at least the other person is there when transferring money online.

Do you mean you want to buy a car now? You gave a downpayment via bitcoin using your Electrum wallet account even though you don't have the car you want to buy yet. If I said this correctly, I think you did it wrong.

Why didn't you pay when you actually took the car? The way I said that this is more safe than the one you sent the down payment right away, you moved a little wrong here in my assessment of you. The wallet ID and txid can't do anything for you to recover what you sent him.

hopefully you are in good condition, the bitcoin you sent for the down payment of the purchase was with someone you know, or the transaction was made face to face? if you know the information of the fraudster, either his home, office he works / photo identity before deciding? you can try to report to the authorities and the money and investment protection agency in your country, I am sure every country has protection.

However, if to ask for your bitcoin back by withdrawing or canceling from the blockchain it is not possible for this decentralized transaction, because there is no managing body / organization that validates the manual to continue, cancel and control an action in bitcoin.

I just found a transaction that I think is this big, I have transacted with than 50$ and I feel this is really amazing with fast transactions. decentralization is the future.

Let's also see that the victim is also to blame. Remember,  there's no scammer if there is to be scamming, as he says he doesn't have any information about the recipient, and even if he does, there's no way to trace who's the owner of that address. That's why there are so many scammers out there because they know that some people can be easily fooled. I'm not victim-blaming here, but that's the fact: before sending money or your asset, you have the responsibility to assess first if the person with whom you're in a transaction is legitimate and trustworthy. You should conduct an assessment and also ask for proof or anything else that could identify the legitimacy of the person. This will serve as his lesson, but what about the others? We should spread awareness about this matter, especially about cryptocurrency-related transactions.

This is a transaction that OP should have met in person to discuss and transact on the spot, but it is difficult to understand why OP could transact online with a stranger that he did not know before. I don't mean to be suspicious but OP's story is unbelievable, I guess OP is investing or buying and selling bitcoin more than he is buying a car. But unfortunately, as soon as he entered the market, he immediately encountered a scammer. Everyone will make mistakes when starting their career and that is also considered a lesson for him.

You are not telling the complete story here because how did it happened that a random Guy was just received Bitcoin from you like that?

Looks like you are just asking to take that Bitcoin back or you wanted to take that bitcoin for all that matter or reason .

though it has been said completely from above , that you are rigged and nothing you can do to take it back , maybe Unless if you have contract that he did not follow so the police may interfere .

A guy? Who is this "GUY" that you're saying? Where did you know this guy? Online? If yes, then... I guess you learned a lesson from there.

You sent a stranger almost $1500 hoping that you will get your dream car, but that dream became a pain for you because you got scammed. There isn't any way to recover your money. A transaction is only reversible if it has 0 confirmation still. It doesn't matter if you have the wallet address of the scammer or the transaction ID of the transfer. Unless you can track the scammer thru it's past transaction on his wallet address, there's no way that you can at least know who it is.

Overall, just forget about it. I will say it again. Learning really is very expensive. Just a few weeks ago I saw somebody lost I think 6-digit amount because he got scammed. Now another one got scammed in a different way. I hope you learned from this one. :)

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Wait. Did really this happen to you OP? I mean how in the hell you gave that amount to a random stranger? Kindly share it here. :)

This is the painful way to learn ,

- First to never trust strangers(as how you mentioned whom you trusted)

- Second to Never Send crypto when you are not so sure because it is not reversible .

- Third is to tell true story , because it seems to us that you are not telling if not all truth here.

Like you mate, upon reading the thread? i am not convinced that what he said is correct(at least some part are story telling)

Things like this are common because most of their victims listen to their nonsense and take their bait about their good-to-be-true offers. Well, the only good thing about this story as you said is to learn from them because they really exist in this world and they are willing to use every trick in the book just to fool their victims. Thankfully, as he said, it's just a small amount, and looks like he can afford to lose it.

This is an ugly experience that people can experience in the crypto world and so sorry that you happened to fall victim to it.
I will urge you to move on and take it as a lesson, become more cautious of the people you deal with online, and never put total confidence and trust in the people you meet online.

The chance that you would recover these funds is tiny, as it will even tend to cost you more stress in trying to recover it, and it could be more possible if the scammer used an exchange wallet to run the shit or receive the fund, which I do think the scammer will be most stupid at doing that.

This can be avoidable if they made the payment to the right venue where they can meet up and sign the documents legally. But if they made the transaction online and tell that later on he can get the unit he bought from that guy then this is totally risky condition. Now he understand why we need to be aware about this scamming happened and his unfortunate experience maybe a learning experience to him also to other that they should never believe to anyone especially if there's money involve in the discussion.

This is harsh incident but since it really happen then there's nothing he can do with that money lose for side of OP and he should be more careful next time if he want to deal something with his crypto balance or even with fiat he have.

For transactions involving money, especially cryptocurrency that can change quickly and cant be reversed, its important to do p2p and have legal proof to back up the deal. Many people still do risky things online without having solid guarantees. Thats not just a mistake; its a clear disregard for the widespread nature of online fraud today.

Speaking from experience, its simple: being careful is the most important thing. Nevertheless, as well-informed Internet users, isnt it our shared duty to keep pointing out the risks? Assemble the tools we need to tell the difference between real and fake deals. OP's loss isnt just a personal tragedy; its an important reminder of how bad it is to overlook safety issues. Dealing digitally requires not only being aware of security issues but also working hard to fix them all the time.

Some people seem to be victims of those who make blind transactions, and they get to trust someone easily. I believe that was just the OP's mistake. He got an advertisement for a product that someone wants to sell online. He liked the product online without even any doubt, and he quickly got convinced since the plate number of the car was visible.
 
After all, the plate number can be used to track the car, forgetting the fact that someone can just go anywhere and snap any car they want and paste it online without any proper verification. If the seller is truly the owner, anyone can just get scammed if they are not careful enough. I have seen cases like that mostly on the internet more often.

There is no chance that your funds will get back once you send to the other address, can you elaborate more what happened with your conversation?. Actually, you can report this guy if you meet him and seek for the number registered with your conversation its on the use of the sim registration now. Still it was a big lose man, try to file a case as possible so still possible to identify the master mind of this kind of scam.

OP made the mistake of trusting the seller so easily. That leaves him to make a rush decision on buying the car. Maybe after seeing the car in pictures, he got excited and immediately made a reservation for the car. There's a possibility that OP did this kind of transaction for the first time, specifically a car, that's why he sends a down payment without even checking the car physically. When purchasing a car or doing any other transaction, better to check the legitimacy of every information that needs to obtain prior to sending money to another party to avoid getting scammed.

As much as we want to help you or have that amount of money be returned to you (that's still more or less around 1500 bucks for Pete's sake) we can't really do much, nor can you. Bitcoin's decentralized so there's no governing body that would assist you when it comes to stuff like this. So you're pretty much paying your first expensive lesson in the crypto world and hopefully this opens your eyes to the dangers of belligerent crypto usage.

If you still have the wallet or the transaction ID I think you can report it to Electrum's devs and have them ban that user's account but that wouldn't guarantee that your funds will be returned to you. Let this be a lesson that whenever you're playing with crypto, that items you're buying with crypto should be given to you first before sending payments, if both hesitate to that setup, meetups are the way to go.

According to the OP, he doesn't have the wallet or transaction ID, and I think it's already too late for him, because even before he reports the scammer, they might have moved the asset to a different wallet or might have even converted it to Fiat. This is obviously a hard lesson we learn by trusting people online, mostly people that you have not met before or done any transactions with before. If the scammer was someone he knows, then he could possibly report the case to the police or the right authority, but it's unfortunate that he might not get back the money. I have also fallen victim to this kind of scam in the past, but in my case, it was not a car I was buying.

there are more benefits that make victims feel there is convenience and a suitable price for transactions,

If we prevent it by educating people around us, that's good bro because it will become a habit and remember even in passing.

This type of crime does occur because there is an opportunity and with soft selling from certain people (perpetrators), good speaking skills and listeners who get carried away, even though there is no intention sometimes people can take that gap, it's a bad character.

In my opinion, involve other people if interaction via telephone people who offer any type of sale to listen together, but if via social media do not hesitate to ask for help to argue with friends who can be trusted, at least it can minimize the possibility of what happens. and realize the false trust that the perpetrator gives.

Hopefully, with so many cases, people will be more careful and more aware of both sellers and buyers, especially over long distances, I'm sure there are more effective methods even though the distance is not close.

AFAIK once it is confirmed there is nothing that we could do to retrieve it back into our wallet.
If it could be retrieve then there wouldn't be any victim of scams in crypto, you aren't the only one that got scammed.
There are so many crypto users that got scammed but couldn't do anything about it specially on investment scheme's.

No, you can't recover the BTC.
The only thing you could do is to call the police and tell them about the scammer. Did you met the scammer in person? Do you know how the scammer looks like?
Another good thing you can do it so explain to the forum members the scam in detail. Where did you find the scammer and what is he offering?
Does he sell cars and asks for a down payment in BTC? Why would you send a down payment(in a currency, that cannot be refunded) for a car? Legit car sellers don't ask for such down payments.

To engage in an online business with Bitcoin that will be hard to recover is not too ideal. If you will use bitcoins for an online business, then use an escrow, that's a bit safer than direct transaction that can be lost forever. I think bitcoins is best as payment method in a face to face transaction or making payments for offers received. Next time, op should not trust anyone no matter how convincing they maybe , once you send them your coins , then they get you blocked.

You can recover your money back if the transaction is not successful, but if the transaction is successful, there is no way you can recover the money back because, the moment the person received the payment, he or she will quickly convert it to fiat to be able to withdraw them out without any challenges. Assume is a fiat transaction you did with he or she, I think it will be very easy for you to recover your money back through your bank and the person will be charged for fraudulent act which it can lead the person to prison. I feel your pain about the lost, but don't let it make you to give up on BTC than to take it as a lesson that will never repeat itself again in the future.

Electrum is a non-custodial wallet which relies on a network of independent servers. They can’t just arbitrarily ban a user.


The person who scammed you sent those funds to 1AN5soiGR9V87BrWxGdLyLBwvZXh1Ptn34 which belongs to Binance. That address receives deposits frequently so it is likely there are many more victims. Many of those deposits are coming from Paxful. I don’t know how helpful law enforcement might be but $1.5k is enough to be considered felony theft and there are enough breadcrumbs available that they could find him with enough effort and with cooperation from centralized exchanges.

If Electrum developers can do that then their wallet is no different than a custodial wallet. Furthermore, is there any guarantee that the OP's story is true, or for that amount of money, is it worth going to the Electrum developers when it is the OP's own fault? This solution is too impractical.


There is no way to solve even scams worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, let alone that small amount. Cryptocurrencies are still not strictly regulated in many countries and governments regularly advise people not to participate and if there are problems they cannot intervene. So I think it will be very difficult for OP to get his money back.

This is one of many risks when we participate in the market and we need to improve our knowledge to protect ourselves instead of thinking about the law.

Before making the payment, do you a kind of run a background check? Like know his house address or if he is not operating as a registered company? There should be some level of convincing information you ought to have before making payments because you cannot possibly send money to some random guys posing as the owner of some random vehicle on the street.

If you have some form of reliable information about him, I think you can get the police involve and they will be of immense help.

The idea of using escrow is a very good option if the transaction uses Bitcoin because there is no best cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin so the choice to use escrow is a very wise thing if we are very far from the person. But it would be different if someone just spent something at a shop or company that was willing to accept Bitcoin for payment, we could immediately carry out the transaction without having to think about using escrow if we were directly in the company or shop.

sorry for the loss of money you experienced, and make it a habit to only send bitcoins to trusted people or always use escrow for initial transactions, currently many workers commit fraud against consumers and their companies, the target is consumers who have large payment obligations, stay alert to everyone you meet, don't be fooled by those who claim to accept payments via bitcoin, they are  deceive you because your knowledge in bitcoin is still low, you must be able to refuse to make transactions with things you don't know at all.

too bad that you don't have any way to be able to return your missing money. but why don't you use escrow services from the start? especially for purchasing transactions like this, escrow is needed to keep the transactions that you can run smoothly because today there are many cases of fraud and using escrow services the best you can do to secure your transactions.

Their is one certain time we lifted scam campaign in forum in which it was written by poem format and after thread many people have to come against scam. I'm sorry for your loss because I don't think it's possible for you to recover the money, even if the money was sent through fiat banking system you won't have recovered it, except the recipient has not withdrawn the money yet.

Since you used ethereum network the funds will not be recovered but it can be traceable if the recipient send it to exchange directly or transfer the coins in the ethereum wallet to another ethereum wallet, but a process whereby its been transferred to mixer and it get mixed I don't think its possible for it to be traceable any longer, even when it been swamped to another coin...the thing is that let us be careful to our transactions because we have alot of scammers that want to take advantages of us.

Scammers is everywhere and they are growing wings everyday by day, so we need to understand and identify scammers when they come for our dm through their conversation, let us not be victim of scammers.