Bitcoin Forum

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

The guy met the USDT seller on Telegram. What!!! Telegram that is full of scammers. He said he had no choice because the guy was the only one that reached out to him. The plan was to meet at a public mall but the USDT seller changed the location and he accepted. The new location is a car park where he was attacked.


Offline USDT sale abandoned after buyer gets punched in face (https://protos.com/offline-usdt-sale-abandoned-after-buyer-gets-punched-in-face/)

I usually don't advise any physical trading as it's very risky. A lot of people have lost their lives, meeting with unknown individuals for the sake of trading. Not just in crypto but other business purposes. If you wish to trade, do it on reputable platforms or exchanges where you have encrosws. Their service are very easy to use and I see no reason to meet up with a buyer or seller off line. As a Bitcoiner or crypto holder, you become a potential target for criminals... Let's try our best to avoid physical meets up.

This is a very dangerous thing to do most especially if you’re in a country where bitcoin or cryptocurrency is banned or restricted. I don’t know the condition that made the ZK guy to actually decide to do a physical P2P it might be that the country doesn’t support cryptocurrency which made it a bad choice. In as much as we frown at submitting KYC to centralized exchanges I think this is even worse than that.

This is same to people who exchange fiat currency physically, the risk is just too much, most of the time it leads to  theft attack at the home of the person or even kidnapping of either the trader or their family. The location change was Also another red flag

Why some people are trying so hard to protect their crypto activity from the government, they by themselves make the wrong move of even putting their lives at a greater risk, which could not only lead to them losing their asset but they could also get injured in the process.
 
The world is exposed right now, although some people are too lazy to run some research on their own and discover that there are many ways for them to trade P2P without even risking their lives.
 
I'm glad he was able to make it out to a safe location and have not also lost his bitcoin. At least one lesson should have been learnt: he can't just trust whomever they meet on the internet.

This is the exact thought I have, instead of risking my life entirely why not just give up your details to CEXs? although I'm saying this in my own position right now. I don't really how, where and what was the position of the victim that lead to trying to make a P2P transaction with a total stranger physically, it could be either legal issues or something else but if only there is no such thing then they is no need to risk once life trying to make transaction.

Generally physical trading is not advisable because it exposed you to a lot of risk that could be detrimental like having people tracing you down to your house which could end up being a huge robbery and even more.

Going for a physical trading without knowing the person you’re going to meet is very risky, why not have a middle man in trading like this, it will be much better and less risky to undertake. This thieves can go to any length to get what they want, they don’t mind killing the culprit, safety over everything should be your top priority in the crypto space. Having a middle man is the best just like how exchanges on p2p services on their serves as for us. 

We have come a long way to still be going for physical trading in this era of technology, the risk is too much and you shouldn’t resort to that as your last option when you want to trade. Your health is important and you should always be on the look out for possible scammers around you both physical and online, it’ll help mitigate loss in the crypto space.

A misquote about those preferred of physical trading of their bitcoins is an impulsion of them comparing the visibilities and feasibilities of people going in and coming out from the commercial banks without a threat of risks even when thefts are been aware that whoever involved within the premises of the banks is definitely there for financial transactions and yet they keep safe and unhurt by thefts so, they get it twisted that why should they fear or be so concious while dealing on physical trading of their coins.
Such persons eventually fails to get a reality fact about making themselves obvious with their bitcoin assets in the public is a sense that they're unable to understand that bitcoin is a digital gold which is very much attracted by individuals and thefts who knows Its worths and potentials.

Sadly, OOP did not follow the typical precautionary measures.

IMO, I would avoid trading such big amounts face to face esp with a person I don't know. There were other red flags as well such as finding a buyer on telegram and buyer changing the location to parking lot last minute lol I could smell assault from a mile. Then again, OOP is pretty young -- 19 years old.

The way that the venue changed from a public place to a suspicious place is already a red flag.
For the buyer that holds cash is already risky, If you have physical cash with you walking in a public place is already risky, you could use some mobile banking to transfer the funds once the deal is done.

I'm glad that the culprits are arrested, good work for the police authority.
Now this is the lesson for some people who aim to pay less but putting their money and life at risk.

What the heck?? Accepting to meet a vendor physically? Someone you met on telegram? How do people even reason out some times?

Look, I wouldn't dare to bypass the means of running P2P on centralized or decentralized platforms if need arises... There's no wisdom in breaking the anonymity only because you're trading on a huge worth of BTC., The moment you expose yourself, you become vulnerable to any attacks!!

This makes me recall a line from the APOCALYPSE movie of "red indians" when one soldier was bitten by a snake through the "guerilla run" and someone said -- "The omen is bad"
In this case, it'd be clear to anyone what they're up to.

Sometimes having a trusted escrow is difficult and you will just try some risks instead of doing nothing. If you read the Op very well, you will understand that the victim made some efforts to selling online but had no options. The only option available to him was the criminal and as such he decided to take the risk.

Sometimes you will need quick fiat but don't know how to go about it, especially countries where cryptocurrency is not legal. Not because we are together in this group and are exposed to information means everyone else is also exposed to information. Buying and selling of crypto is still an issue to some people.

I can have a trade with criminal if I don't know about my trade partner, but if I know he is a criminal, I will not put myself into risk by trading with a criminal.

Honestly, there are many ways, many platforms to trade Bitcoin to altcoins or to cash. I actually see no need to find criminals and trade with them and people usually are scammed or have trades with criminals because they look for "too good to be true" offers. It means they want too much profit and ignore all "normal" offers, then trade with "too good to be true" offers that often belong to criminals.

The ironic thing is that you're the one who failed to understand the Op statement.
You can see that the Op stated that the teen literally used the den of scammers (Telegram) to find a seller and then the scammer reached out to him and he literally thought it was legit like how, who still have financial dealings on Telegram
with unknown users.

Also the teen ZK had other options like buying from online exchanges but he only opt for this just to avoid trading fees, which almost cost him his money with the obvious bruises he received from these scammers which could also had cost him his life.

Except I know the person as a friend, knowing his/her house and some relatives then still ought not for this, from the fact that these guys might just act legit for small amounts or for time just to gain trust and then hit with their malicious intentions later on.

Those who are unfortunate to be in countries or regions where cryptocurrencies are totally banned, I guessed the best option would have been them using DEX like bisq to get this through VPN, if this would be feasible for them or maybe find forums like this and get a trusted online escrow for the job

Be it trading of crypto with a physical vendor like this case or negotiating a deal with someone online and then scheduling to meet the in person for the execution of the deal, thier are basic safety tips oke should never look down on if such a deal is to pull through. The first and most important part of the deal is that it's best you give a location the person is to come that you know you're at a better advantage should it be that the person has an bad intention. The disadvantage is that he will still suspect that you're about reaping him which will automatically bridge trust in the process of carrying out the transaction. In all forms of honesty, it's very deficult to pull out a successful de of this sort without getting attacked or even getting scammed. With alot of P2P channels that's available for one to carry out her transactions through, it's the highest form risk one should think of going into doing physical trading of your coin or USDT.

Op thanks for sharing this information so that people will learn about the risk or danger they could possibly brought upon themselves all because of trading there funds, I have also seen a similar situation from a friend who had some usdt on his wallet, so he joined a group on telegram that claims to normally buys usdt, so they showed him a higher rate at which they normally buys, so the moment the guy saw how big the rate is he did not hesitate to send the usdt and after releasing the usdt, immediately he send them transaction hash they deleted the telegram group and that was how he lost all his usdt because of greed.

Though the most risky one is the guy that went physical to initiate the transaction because he should even be very grateful to have made it out alive because there are people who engage on similar method of transaction and never return, actually I really blame that guy because even if he was that desperate to sell he should have considered his safety first by doing the transaction in a public place were there are somany people because it will be difficult to be attacked on the public were everybody is watching. However I believe this information should serve as a kind of lesson to those who desire to engage on such transaction in the future.

This seems very dangerous, losing money is not a problem, but getting injured or suffering chronic damage is, so you should be careful when you want to conduct P2P transactions, it is preferable to be in a place with cameras and to be in an open area so that you can determine who is following you. I live in a country that is considered safe, but during my experience traveling to many countries, I found that sometimes it is risky to pass through the streets without being prepared for a fight.

I do not know what the excuse of the seller would be to have changed the meetup place from the public mall to a car park that the buyer would accept just like that. He is 19 years old but I think someone that is that rich should have the wisdom to have seen something not appropriate about the deal. Any change of plan by someone that you do not know should trigger a red flag.

It is very dangerous to trade with a stranger you just met on social media. Telegram has proved to be the number one scam social media platform. Even if I want to engage in physical trading, it will be in a public place, maybe a bank, supermarket or popular restaurant. Depending on the amount I won't mind involving a third party. It will be difficult to be robbed in these public places since people are already present. Trading should also be done during the day and not late at night. Changing the location is a red flag that should have been considered by any trader. Physical P2P can easily expose the identity of traders, thereby exposing them to risk. This is why I would also prefer to exchange my coins in a reputable decentralized exchange. 

I wouldn't dare to trade even in busy public, eye-to-eye with a stranger. It's simply too dangerous. Even when the trade goes smoothly, no issues, no violence. You don't know if your trading partner has someone else then following you. So many things can go wrong and I don't think it's worth the risks involved.

If you ever do such a trade:

• always in public places with enough other people, preferably with surveillance cameras
• change your appearance, wear glasses if you don't have them normally, put on a fake beard or a wig or whatever changes your look drastically
• negotiate safe rules; if your trading partner asks for deviation, cancel the trade, it's a red flag
• allow enough time for at least two or more confirmations of the trade's coin transaction; mandatory to negotiate
• have a strong friend who watches you from a safe distance without being discovered and who can intervene if trade situation goes out of control; it's totally possible that your trading partner does the same, he even can outnumber you -- this uncertainty alone is enough reason for me to not endanger me, my strong friend(s), regardless of a public situation -- other people aren't necessarily heroes

There are many more safer ways to trade, avoid eye-to-eye trades with strangers!

With the way of how thing have developed to this extent, someone is being lured by a scammer to physical p2p and got attacked, i will blame the seller, because before you can engaged on a p2p with someone by any physical means, make sure you you make use of an accredited escrow service provider, except if the buyer is someone you are used to already, but for meeting with someone for the first time on a social media and agreeing to sell to that person on a particular location is nothing than taking a personal risk.

What a lame reason for opting to trade USDT in person. He'd have lost everything because he was trying not to pay trading fees on exchange. For christ sake, safety always comes first. He's very lucky to have escaped with a swollen eye and I'm sure he won't dare try it again.

Exactly! That was a $24,000 transaction, what was he thinking risking his safety just to save on fees? For goodness' sake! That's what he got for penny pinching. It's not like he'll be wasting a thousand for transaction fees anyway. And whatever fee he'll be paying, it's not even wasted. He's also paying for his and his funds' safety with it.

And why a carpark? Why did he even approve it? They're not swapping contrabands or whatever illegal. He wasn't into a cheap transaction either. This young man made terrible decisions.

It's a bad idea going the way ZK, the buyer, went. He could've been killed for his money. It sounds crazy to me whenever I read that someone attempted having a physical crypto exchange. Honestly, it does. According to the article, ZK wanted to save transaction fee and that was why he embarked on such senseless pursuit. You've a government that allows you transact cryptos in peace and you don't want to give back to the bank? That's wickedness. He even had the guts to report the incident to the police. I wish my country would get to this point where fans of this industry will be allowed to execute transactions through the bank without restriction and accounts put on surveillance.

The truth is that, I have never get involved in physical Bitcoin trading, and all my days I have always use excahges p2p to change my bitcoin at each point in time, and I am ok with that, between that also, I have a friend who leaves in another country, and he told me that it's via physical trading that he deals on all his virtual assets, and the only risk he mostly talked about is that he spends more since the rate is usually low compared to online p2p that there is market competitions.


Aside the low rate in selling, I think also that security is another challenge that those physical traders could also face, this is because since Bitcoin is not legal in such a country to allow online p2p it is risk on the side of the seller because he may likely be under attacks and Bitcoin or USDT stolen without any form of help fron the police since it illegal deals.

making offline transactions is quite dangerous because we don't know what kind of person we will meet, whether he is a criminal or not. personally, every time i make an offline transaction, i usually do it in a crowded place and accompanied by at least 3 of my friends. it does seem excessive, but as a preventive measure, i prefer that.

Bitcoin holders should be very careful, alert and vigilant when they are  doing physical p2p transactions with a total stranger because they don't know if the person has criminal intentions. If for any reason that a Bitcoin holder wants to trade Bitcoin with a stranger it must be in an open place where there are many people. I've heard a lot of stories about how people were robbed and injured in the process of physical p2p transactions. Also hodlers who let a lot of people to know that they're holding Bitcoin, they're also easy targets for attacks. Privacy matters a lot when it comes to holding Bitcoin because you're your own bank and criminals will like to steal your coins. If for any reason you lose your private keys and seed phrase, your coins can be lost forever.

One of the key benefit of Bitcoin is the comfort and privacy it offers so anyone going against this time trade physically is not doing the right thing and this can expose him to all sort of security risks such as was the case described. Bitcoin does not need physical meeting because everything can be completed only just that some persons take because of KYC and transaction fees as excuse for physical trading ignoring the fact that the risk outweighs the cost they are trying to cut. Physical trading should be avoided at all cost.

I don't see any point doing  p2p transaction now while the fact is we can buy bitcoin anywhere. There's lot of platform now allow fiat to bitcoin transaction so with these development happened they don't need to deal with random people then take the risk then hope that they don't  deal with crazy guy which intention is to scam people.

Also as long as you know how to deal with your bitcoins for sure you can avoid those dangers you mentioned here. We always need to be vigilant and be silent regarding on our bitcoin holding since there's no need to flaunt it publicly and if we are secretive on each things we do for sure we are totally safe from any harm.

Lots of ways to be safe and we just need to know and acknowledge those risk so that we can easily determine what is good and bad for us.

The incident happened in Singapore and I don't think cryptocurrency is banned or neither restricted. The victim was just reckless for making such mistake. It's insane to have a transaction of such amount with a total stranger without a recommendation from a trusted person. To make it worse, they met on telegram that's widely believed as a scammers den. Safety should always come first when making any transaction offline, changing location after initial agreement should raise a concern thou.


It's all the same by the way but the transaction is not about bitcoin, it's tether USDT. Most platforms that supports fiat to crypto transactions are mostly KYCed and that's why some people prefer P2P. Although, I don't think that's the case with the victim involved in the story and moreover, there are few platforms that offer such services without requesting for KYC.

The excuse is not acceptable. Risking your life because you want to save a few dollars is not worth it. I was thinking that his country placed restrictions on crypto trade or he wanted to avoid centralized platforms because of privacy. But seeing that it was because the trader was the only one available and due to the need to save transaction fees, I see it as an unnecessary risk. My country placed high tax on trading crypto but I prefer to use them than trade with a random person on Telegram. I also think he was lucky that they were not armed with handguns. The case would have turned more violent or even fatal  


Maybe the victim has something he was hiding or the attackers chose the location. He had to run to the nearest mall to get help, which meant trading it inside the mall would have been safer. He has learned his lesson the hard way. If you are not willing to deal with me in a public place, forget about the transaction.

Well from the changing off locations on a peer to peer is quite suspicious. Also thats a parking and the place isnt ideal and scary too for doing transaction and anything could happened now thats what happened.

Many users are comfortable on dealing with these kind which they should be wary especially some arent all trusted. We are talking about crypto asset and some are just interested on whats on your purse.

No amount should make you to accept doing a physical trading because Imho it is too dangerous and you could be abducted after having a successful trading with the person you know. Regardless of the amount involved, you may be fortunate to trade with someone you know the person may have other things in mind but he will decide to make you build trust in him so that you wouldn't be scared to stop trading with him but when you less expected he may do some dangerous things to you as a result of you trusting him.

The case of the 19 years old is a very big error because from the explanation of the op, the boy is supposed to have understood that going alone to meet someone who wants to trade with such amount of money could be dangerous and he would have made some extra safety measures by having someone go with him to the place, he's lucky he was not killed as the result of the punches.

There are people who have had very bad experience with online vendors who sell products for business, and the experience was so bad that these people even after they started investing in Cryptocurrency still carry that phobia for online business transactions. People like this will easily accept offers to meet physically to a trade their Bitcoin because they may consider it safer since they will be able to see one on one the person who they're about to do business with, and because of this mindset, many of people like this fall victims which is very unfortunate. If you must trade Bitcoin physically make sure it is someone who you already have a relationship with even before you started investing in Bitcoin, not someone entirely new that you met online.

Why would anyone do that in the first place, first thing first, there are centralized exchanges you can sell your Bitcoin to get USDT instead of looking for a physical merchant. However if the person has been selling his Bitcoin physically to a merchant and he notices that there is a change in location from the initial agreed location, his instinct would have told him that something suspicious will happen. He was even lucky for trying to outrun his attackers because if they had caught him, they definitely would have collected everything he was carrying. the whole idea of meeting physically was ill conceived and shouldn't be encouraged.

I agree that such trade is very risky even leads to death but USDT is not the main cause or ultimate ending of trade. If you are not able to use your bitcoin or USDT directly for purchases at stores, merchants, you will need to cash it out. Trade USDT to Cash and use cash at stores, merchants can be only ultimate payment method for many people.

The luck stays on his side this time but it hardly comes in future or supports him many extra times.

A hard lesson learned but the person must learned it by heart and won't repeat this risky trading style again.

This kind of incident do happen often that is why we need to be very careful how we transact our cryptocurrency. Normally if trust is involved, we don't have to trade crypto in physical because this could lead to an attack if the place is nothing safe enough. It is good we get an escrow rather than going to meet client to trade cryptocurrency. Their are lots of people that have lost their lives because of making the mistake of trading with gangsters without knowing what they are capable of doing physically. Making use of escrow is a good option or rather going to exchange to trade the coin to another coin or better still fiat currency. I think the newbies would have learn from this kind of mistakes.

These are silly mistakes that ought not to have happened. It is best one avoids physical meeting to sell or buy crypto than to expose your identity. These days transactions of such nature are very risky because you do not know who you are going to meet and once your identity is exposed, you never can tell  the next move of your deal partner if they would trail you to your living house or not because. You never can tell who they must have sent to go before them to watch you and monitor your movement and you just can not tell their intentions. This is the reason why one needs to be careful when engaging in such activity. Make sure you choose a public place where people can see you but can not be able to get what you are doing if your country law is against crypto. Be careful and stay safe while dealing on physical p2p.

If I am converting my coin into my local currency, then I will make use of a reputable exchange and make use of their p2p so that the exchange will serve as a third party, and in case things go wrong, then the exchange will be able to intervene, but contacting someone on Telegram or any social media and requesting to meet physically just to make a transaction is really risky, and anything can happen even if it’s in a public space.
 
I have seen different people being robbed in public spaces, and they do drive away without being caught, so don’t think because it’s a public space anything won’t happen. When money is involved, then expect anything from anyone, so we just have to be very careful, and I won’t really tell anyone to involve themselves in transactions like this because your life is at risk. You might not even be attacked at the spot, but you might be followed and attacked where they know is silent.

For most of the time I came to know about cryptocurrency and first got in touch with the telegram platform, I was very sceptical about the social media platform because it was already at that known as a place for scammers. It occurred to me that I already knew much about the place before even engaging in the platform fully. If not for the first hand knowledge I had, I know I would have been scammed several times in that platform. Knowledge is key and if you’re able to get the knowledge before engaging, it’ll save you from a lot of things including losing money to scammers or even self mistakes. There are a lot of accessible informations online that will guide you and not to fall to scam before realising there mistakes.

The change of location was already a red flag and should have looked into that and not gone and meet the person physically. The crypto space has now grown night we have a lot of trusted third party platforms that can make you engage in this type of transactions seamlessly and not having to put your life at risk. This should be a lesson to many that will have same thought. Nothing is more important to life, so it should be valued by all means. Meeting privately was even not suppose to be considered, if he’s going to meet them in private, he should have gone with someone and not just alone. This type of cases is rare though, maybe because people already know the risk behind it, so they go for the other platforms that offer such services.

It is good to know that he did not lose the money. As someone attacked him, he was able to run to a public place and asked for help. He was lucky that the money was not stolen from him. Which means the attack was not also planned properly. If the attack was planned properly, likely he would have been kidnapped or so.  Nothing was stolen from him but just a warning that we should not trade crypto physically as it is dangerous.

According to the report they agreed to meet in an open place but the buyer changed the location at the last minute. That alone should tell him that the buyer was up to something and to discontinue the trade but he went ahead. One thing I've come to realize about greedy people is that sometimes it messes with their brain and cause them to make decisions that could cause them more lost and pain. Spending just a few cents in trading fees on CEX would have averted this ugly occurrence but he choosed money over his own personal safety. He's indeed very lucky that he didn't receive a bullet or knife in the stomach.

First of all, be too greedy; and secondly they are vulnerable to sweet and convincing words of their trade partners. We know scammers have many traps to convince potential victims and if it's your first time exposing with a scammer, and you are a naive person, you will believe in their words.

So it is like step by step scamming method and only people who are careful, disciplined and sharp in thinking can avoid it at beginning and are able exit it in the middle if they fell to the trap for opening a deal with scammer. I mean it's best if you can avoid scam trap initially but if you can not, you still have a second chance. If you are sharp, with one or two changes requested by your trade partner, it's red flag and you must be logical enough to exit the trade. Choose safety first, and you can try with other trade partners.

Hmm, this is the first time ever I've heard some people trade Bitcoin physically, are they making regular deals physically, TBH I did send a couple of times Bitcoin for regular shopping in the market as the seller was willing to be paid by Bitcoin and I was out of cash, and it was a risk I knew. But those who are making up deals regularly physically are really brave in that they are not afraid someone can kidnap them or anything is possible.

Tip number use dummy wallets, as I did some transactions but there not many funds in those wallets so it really reduces the risks if the other one is not a blockchain analyst haha.

I will only go to meetup if it's OTC or it's a crowded place or outside the police station. I know that it might be odd for some but that's a way to protect myself just in case something like this happens. For the victim going into the car park and when there's a last-minute change that's a red flag already, that action was noticed and it's a place where sketchy deals happen. I think that the seller was too confident that the guy was willing and that's why it's always better to be with someone to watch out for this kind of deal if someone out there was still doing these physical trades. But because we've got platforms where we can do P2P trades, it's better to stick to those platforms and don't go outside for personal safety.

Back in the day, Local Bitcoins was one of the few options we had for buying or selling Bitcoin. In-person trades used to be very common. It always worried me that somebody shady could be on the other side of the trade so I never opted to do in-person trades, but the temptation was always there especially when exchanges started forcing KYC. With all the options we have today, it’s hard to believe people are still meeting up to do person to person trades. I imagine it is more common in countries where people can’t use centralized exchanges for various reasons.

 If I were the dude, the moment the vendor decided to change locations would have sent alarm bells ringing in my head and no matter how desperate I needed the funds, accepting to do business with someone I don't have prior relationship with and just met on telegram won't even be an option I'd be willing to consider.
Seriously, doing such physical transactions is like putting a target on your back and make you vulnerable to any form of attack and the guy was lucky to have escaped with his life intact, some do not get this chance.

Are people still doing this? I am surprised, because the last time I did such was in 2015 when there weren't many exchanges that supported crypto to fiat conversation, now I won't dare do such, even if people I knew very well ask this of me I will direct them to an exchange where they can trade their Bitcoin, I will never buy from them or sell to them physically.

With the situation in my country right now anyone can turn into a criminal because of massive hunger in the country, once they detect an opportunity to steal they will do it, there are several cases of people robbing them by those who are supposed to deliver some purchased item to them, imagine if it is something as valuable as Bitcoin.

Today there are so many ways to trade Bitcoin or USDT for fiat or something else, even our most used social media app called Telegram has made it very easy with peer to peer trade, you don't have to meet anyone face to face to trade your crypto, it is a very stupid idea.

The devil that you know is better than the angel you don't know is a say in my country. Strangers shoukd not be trusted whenever it comes to crypto dealings. I only use physical p2p to sell my coins if it is someone that i already knkw and not a stranger. Telegram is full of scammers and different kind of people including arm robbers, which is one of the main reason why any deal on telegram with a strnger shoukd be a red flag. Iyvis better to use CEx and pass through KYC to save you from physical attacks or use DEx for anonymity.

This is not advisable at all. It’s too dangerous to trade USDT physically; many people think they will be scammed if they do it online; they don’t know that is the best way to do it. Although all this is ignorance sometimes, and they don’t learn or ask which method is the best way to sell your crypto asset. Apart from being attacked, physical trading can also make someone get expensed, and his privacy will not be there any more.

Anyone he sells out his USDT to physically know that he is holding either bitcoin or one of these things, which is bad. Furthermore, where he found out this person who claimed to be a seller and later scammed him is full of scammers. I’m scared of telegram. I believe he has learnt his lesson now. 


 Exactly. I think he was desperate to change the money to fiats, and at this point he think there is no other option than this. Although he really messed up by trusting someone online, they don’t do that anymore. Things like this were done when there were not many exchanges to easily swap cryptocurrencies to our local currency.

At this age where we have got many exchanges out there that are really legitimate and reputable, I don't expect we still be waiting to trade coins physically whereby we know the possible dangers we can face with such, most of the exchanges out there are even making it easy such that navigation their platforms needed o much education and via their p2p you can get money paid directly in to your local bank account after trading.

Using physical traders is a very risky thing to do and shouldn't even cross ones mind, there are too many ways out there to sell of your crypto for you to take such risk, there are apps too that buy a d sell, casinos where you can take your crypto there, wager it and later convert to your local currency on the casino then withdraw to your local bank account, so many others way to explore are available too.

It's so unbelievable that the same internet the seller met with someone who he wants to sell his USDT to is the same internet he could have used and find someone in any of the CEX p2p and transact with. I don't know why people like to learn things the hard way, the essence of P2P is to ensure we transact any amount of FIAT we wish to collect from our portfolio.

Yet a lot of people are still doing things the old way now he has not lost only his money but has sustained injuries that will make him spend money on treatment. Anyone lazy should be prepared to risk himself. I don't think it is even an option for someone to claim they are lazy to learn how to trade p2p in their convenience.

I guess its lose the essence with the use of the cryptocurrency, I've seen a thread like this before and I forgot who created but most people recommend to make a transaction with the place with has a lot of people and of course security to make sure that the transaction will become smoothly we are trying to save the both party ends if you will meet to sell your bitcoin physically. Just wondering and its 2024 and we know tons of exchange right now offering with the direct transfer with the banks, and even with the e-wallet so why not that the case he decide to use that instead selling his bitcoin physically.

This incident is a classic example of why cryptocurrencies aren't for beginners and those who don't have enough knowledge and understanding about finances and financial management should stay away from such things. But then again, such naive people will always get scammed even if they are not in crypto. If someone can believe a guy he met over the internet and goes to the location he asks him to come then you can imagine how childish and naive the person can be.

A person in the modern era should understand that there is no need for them to make such deals when there are better options available for them online. If the amount is large, you should try more to keep it a secret from people so that no one knows that you have that much money on you because that could become an issue for you.

What happened was only because the guy was too naive to understand the intentions of the buyer, what can be said, he was only 19, after all.

Face to face trading was relatively prevalent in the era of LocalBitcoins a few years ago, but although I know that there are alternatives to that platform, it is no longer as common as it once was, mainly because of the multiple options available now that weren't possible before.

It's extremely risky meeting with strangers to carry out such transactions, and especially with someone you met in Telegram :o Guys, remember that it is better to be safe than sorry. And if despair pushes you to do so, go with a friend if you can and do it in a place with protection, like a shopping mall or station, and close to a security guard, which will discourage them from attacking you if that was their plan.

It is very risky to even accept a proposal for physical trading, how can someone even tell me that we should meet and nothing is in between us and I will not think about it before meeting the person, that doesn't even sound well, as a bitcoin or crypto holder you have to know that you are holding something very important that many people are planning something to make sure they own what you have struggle to keep and make a better future.

I don't know about the other people but me I don't think I can do anything that concerns physical trading when I don't know someone, according to the story he met the USDT on Telegram, I can not meet someone on Telegram and believe him, because many scammers are in Telegram and that is where they will message you even if you don't message them, I will not accept anyone on a deal online and even try to meet each other, is either we do the deal online and if he or she didn't trust me and want us to meet in person that is the end of the deal.

Having a trade like this is very dangerous because you don't really know who you trading with and you can't even tell what their intentions are. Scammers are very smart and they know what they can do to get people easily, people needs to be fast in thinking and whatever trade or deal they plan to carry out, the first that needs to be consider is if the risk is worth it. I have come across similar stories like this whereby people falls victim of scammers trying to make physical trade with people they met online.

People must understand that online is the most dangerous place to meet people you don't know to make deal with them because most time it always end very bad. There are reputable p2p exchange where trading can be done without any stress. Doing a physical trade with total strangers is a big risk and not a good idea for anyone to consider.

What would it profit him that he was avoiding trading fees and lost his whole cash and possibly his life in the process. People make these unnecessary mistakes while being penny wise and pound foolish. He had cash and he carried it physically to the parking lot and bore such danger of the cash being snatched away from him, the changing of the venue at the last minute is the indication he needs to know that the deal was going in an unclear direction.

He would have insisted to have that transaction in the open, but desperation clouded his thoughts and he fell tot he cheap trick of the buyer and the arranged men. He is very lucky he is in an advanced country, else it wouldn't just end in a punch, he might as well have received a bullet or a funeral.
Sometimes, being too smart is rather more of a disadvantage than an advantage.

Most persons likes to learn the hard way, negligence and ignorant can actually lead to some one's death this should actually serve as learn to others, undoubtedly the Internet is not a friendly ground where you could trust anyone, a lot are really happening hence one should be able to conscious of our decisions and actions while attempting to transact business with someone you meet on the Internet, but yeah good enough he was able to make it away without losing his asset. Protecting our lives and our assets is very important because most of us even have some assets that our family members didn't have access to hence we should be over careful, as to this regards.

When it anything concerning telegram then that's something I would really prefer avoiding and by the way what does it cost you to actually get a well recognize exchange in terms of selling your coins and trading them also. I would rather trade on P2P on exchange than trade with someone I don't know physically as their are no regulations to it and one thing about humans is that they can be very greedy.

Trading P2P should be avoided at all costs especially when the other person is a stranger.
I would never like to meet a strangre in person for a P2P transaction.
If at all there comes a need to make a P2P transaction, I would rather do it with someone I already know.

Some people just don't take lessons from the experience of others. I have always been against this particular partner of selling, which is referred to as the F2F form of trade, because you never can really tell what's on the mind of the next person; it could be the seller who even has bad intentions or the buyer. It's just safer to sell online and get your cash transferred to you to whichever account you agree upon with the buyer. Just imagine trying to protect privacy and ending up getting yourself attacked.

On this particular issue of physical trading, I think the majority of the victims are mostly those who understands the implications of what they are doing but they choose to take risks just to prove what only them can explain, aside the lost of life that may occur as a result of the transaction some people end up not getting paid after the trade which is one of the things you can never get online if you make use of p2p because you must receive your pay before releasing your coins to the buyer. People should understand the value that is attached to privacy it saves a lot of inner stress and drama and it should be taking seriously to avoid casualties like we have heard and seen happen.