Bitcoin Forum

The newbie "BTCinvest" and his HYIP SCAM scheme is none other than "TheGambler" who is a known scammer. Here is his profile:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=152722

Here is the first thread by "BTCinvest", where I called it out as a scam and suggested if legit send 10 BTC to a legit escrow.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=584522.msg6394772#msg6394772

This user DID EXACTLY what TheGambler did when he scammed, he moved his topic to a local thread where NO ONE would see it. TheGambler guaranteed returns from dicing, an always -EV proposition and ran with ~1 BTC in peoples' monies. Ironically, the Gambler commented on BTCInvest's post and said "oh I'll def join this (here is his post on that topic which was unmoderated and BTCInvest locked and moved to local section):

"I'm reading through your site and no doubt it looks intriguing...
I might give the 1 week a shot with about .5BTC and see how I go maybe later tomorrow. I've seen your loans on bitbond so I already know your trust worthy there but hopefully you can prove the same here and with your site."

I am 99% sure, that BTCinvest is none other then the scammer "TheGambler". For one, whoever BTCinvest is, he guarantees returns that are impossible to occur even through arbitrage trading. A daily return of 35% is impossible, if possible we'd all be millionaires and inflation would be through the roof.

AVOID THEGAMBLER AND BTCINVEST.

You both logged off 30 minutes ago and got back on 10 minutes later just now. Coincidence? No.

Hmm, I spoke with him on Skype, and he does bring up good points.  I'm a bit skeptical of you to be honest :P (negative rating), but thanks for the warning!

Check YOUR trust rating. All of my negatives are air auccusations with ZERO proof. YOUR negative comments are 100% LEGIT AND VISIBLE SCAMS in threads. From offering huge interest rate returns to believing AND offering guaranteed dice returns AND THEN not paying anyone back their investments...so yeah CHECK YOUR TRUST RATING BUD.

A quick search tells us a few things. First, the phone number registered with btcinvest.com is also tied to over scam accusations.

Lets just use a quick network-tools search:

http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=express&host=btcinvest.com (http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=express&host=btcinvest.com)

Notice the phone number of 4252740657

Well, a google search brings up a few things. First, the trace route craps out in Washington state and returns blank responses. That is because the domain owner chose to have a private registration. But, the phone number is from Washington state.

Google search of the number:

https://www.google.com/search?q=4252740657&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs (https://www.google.com/search?q=4252740657&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs)

We find an SEO company on Ripoff Report with a very unhappy customer. The owner, "Todd", responds. Take note of his writing style. Samples can be compared and there are various online resources that will confirm if if writing samples are done by the same person. Link to RipOff Report:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/web-host-for-seo/bellevue-washington-98007/web-host-for-seo-webhostforseocom-by-todd-spears-total-junk-massive-amounts-of-downtim-391035 (http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/web-host-for-seo/bellevue-washington-98007/web-host-for-seo-webhostforseocom-by-todd-spears-total-junk-massive-amounts-of-downtim-391035)

The same phone number is also linked to other businesses in the Washington area.

**Caution** - On phone numbers registered with sites. Sometimes it is given as part of the identity protection and only goes back to the company registering the domain name and is not the number of the actual customer. For example, this one might be registered with protecteddomainservices.com. But if you are asking for people to invest, why are you protecting your identity and phone number?

Here is my train of thought. As a business owner, hasnt the owner of the number ever googled it? Furthermore, wouldnt the owner of btcinvest.com google it and immediately register a different number since this number was already tied to scam accusations? If we call the number listed, do we get the office of BTCInvest.com? If we dont, why not? What I find interesting is that when you pay for hosting (or domain registration) with a credit card, many times they ask you for the phone number that is associated with the card. Of course, they cant really tell if that is the number the credit card company has on file but most people dont know this and submit their number thinking it will ensure the transaction going through without error.

But it gets better. The reason why "Todd's" response to Ripoff report seems like the actual scammer (whether they are tied to btcinvest.com or not) is that he starts making references out of nowhere about Australia and blaming it on another company that is most likely (in his opinion) from that area. Well, thats odd. But it proves that someone has been googling that phone number! Because in the same google search a user complaining on WhoCallsMe.com gets a response in their complaint and the person getting scammed is from New Zealand. "Todd's" reference to the Australia is what we call in criminal profiling as the "just-off-the-mark admission". Sometimes a suspect will tell police a proximity of a crime scene, or nearly where key evidence may be found. Now, they arent really lucky in their guess. But as a snub to the people tracking them, they want to be able to tease them. Its a passive provocation; something they enjoy.

I guarantee it would only take a little bit of time investigating this, following a couple of simple leads, to find out who the user really is. Many times, even with google dorks (sometimes incorrectrly called "google hacks") you can get info about users that they never wouldve expected anyone to find. I've just finished an extensive investigation of an internet serial stalker/harasser and it took some time, but we were able to ID the person and link them to many user id's involved in various instances. So if anyone really wanted to find out who the person was, it wouldnt be hard at all.

As a matter of fact, just the observation of to two user names being online at the same times (and logging off at the same times or "taking turns") is a great start. The comparing of writing samples also helps. Agaion, there are a few sites taht have free algorithms that can confirm if its the same person and even tell you gender. But good luck to whomever takes this on.