Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

I was just wondering: I am planning to buy something of a person online using Bitcoins, but what if he doesn't send me my item?
To me, a Bitcoins-dummy, a Bitcoin wallet seems like some sort of anonymous bank account because you can just fill in a fake name etc.
Now what if I buy something of this person, and he doesn't send the item to me, how can I report him or how can I know who he is? Is there a way I can use his BT address to see who he is?
I'm just very cautious as I don't want to be scammed.

Thank you very much,

Regards

Yes, lots of scammers use bitcoin.  Lots of scammers also use US dollars, Euros, and Mexican Pesos.  Scammers will use anything that has value to scam people.  It is important for you to protect yourself from being scammed.

If you buy something from someone and you don't have a way to identify that person, then you need to be VERY careful to be certain that they aren't just going to run off with your money.

It is not generally possible to use a bitcoin address to see who someone is unless that person has been careless and used that same bitcoin address elsewhere while revealing their identity.

If you are planning on making the purchase from another bitcointalk.org user, then there are many well trusted members of this forum that have built up a significant reputation for trustworthy and reliable behavior.  Several of these highly trusted members provide an "escrow" service to protect users engaged in transactions with untrusted and untrustworthy individuals.

You can contact any of the escrow providers, and they assist in the transaction.  You will send the bitcoins to the trusted escrow provider, this way the seller knows that you can't simply disappear with the product without paying.  Then the seller will send the product to you.  Once you confirm that you have received the product, you will inform the escrow provider so that they can release the bitcoins to the seller.

By choosing an escrow provider that you and the seller both trust, you can each feel more confident that the transaction will be safe.  A good escrow provider will assist you in identifying potential issues in the transaction.

You can find a ranked list of trusted escrow providers here from the forum here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=276897.0

All transactions are irreversible and there is no personal information attached to Bitcoin addresses.

And yes, there are lots of scammers in bitcoin world, there is a section about scam accusations, and if the users don't send the item to you, will be hard have your bitcoins back.

So use escrow and buy only from trusted sellers

Thank you, I really like the 'middle man' idea!

But make sure that the 'middle man' escrow is real and not the same person

You have "DannyHamilton" one of most reliable and trusty escrow service provider here on this forum

Oh, they do, 24 7.

There is not a single scammer on bitcointalk, only honest and friendly guys!

(Sarcasm off: DON'T TRUST ANYONE THAT HAS NOT MORE TO LOSE THAN THE THING YOU SEND HIM!)

So after all there is nothing one can do against scammers but use middle mans? Is there anyway to rather surely identify these kinda sites / shops , services whatever? I was thinking of using one myself but im too afraid of the possible consequences :/

The best way when using sites is to google feedback for those sites. If there are NO postings on bitcointalk about it, or very controversial feedback, then stay cautious and avoid such firms.

If dealing with persons, don't trust anyone and try to minimize your losses in case of theft (sending in tranches and using escorw)

My suggestion is to insist that the seller use a trusted escrow. You can find people who provide escrow services right here on the forum. The idea is to use a third-party person who can hold the Bitcoin until the item is in your hands.

If this were to happen then you would be out of your money. It is a best practice to only trade with trusted people (people who have done many trades in the past). If you find a deal from someone who is not trusted it would be advisable to use some kind of escrow to protect both you and the seller.

There are a couple of threads that have lists of trusted members who are capable of providing escrow services.

You avoid this the same way you avoid it if you have FIAT currency, establish that the trader is trustworthy and if so proceed with the trade, if you can't deem the person trustworthy then you both have to agree to use an escrow.

A seller accepting paypal is just as likely to suspect you of wanting to refund/scam him as much as you suspect him of scamming you via bitcoins.

If there is something of value be it money or some other property there will be scammers it is not something which can be stopped unfortunately.

It is much harder to spot scammers with bitcoin then it is scammers with cash fiat. The reason behind this is because bitcoin is much newer and there are a lot of people who are not familiar with bitcoin nor do they 100% understand how it works, so when a scammer says that something specific will happen, the "target" will usually believe them. With cash on the other hand, more or less everyone knows how cash works 100% so it is very difficult for someone to trick a "target" into giving them cash.

Scammers most certainly do use bitcoins. If they know they can get hold of something that is very valuable they will attempt to scam you to get what they want. The best way to be is to be very cautious and anyone you are really unsure of stay away from as any kind of scamming will end up in you losing out with no way of getting anything back.

Yes they do, scammers use whatever they can.

Yeah they do, i recommend using an escrow when purchasing anything expensive or if you think the seller could be a scammer.

I wouldn't admit this, but the crypto world is full of scammers of all types.
Don't trust anyone even if he is an hero member with thousands of posts and a positive trust,
use always the services provided by escrows.

sadly scammers are every where and will not be avoided sadly so we can't say Bitcoin is scammers money because they exist everywhere.

Use an escrow service. You send your BTC to that person, and he only forwards them to the seller if the items reached you in perfect condition. There are many trusted escrow services available that operate for free or a small tip. If you release the funds by yourself, the escrow doesn't even have to decide in case of a problem.

It's very difficult. Purely from knowing their BTC address, there is effectively no way of telling who they are, if the address hasn't been used before and that use can be connected to a certain person! You could try to follow where the funds are going, but if they go into a mixer... good luck!
Yeah, using an escrow seems like the best solution for this!

Scammers use dollars? Scammers use euro? scammers use any gold? Scammers gonna scam. They are going to use whatever medium they have to get gains with minimal efforts, and if they don't get caugh well, they won.

Yeah you can't charge them back. It's like cash. You have to trust the other party. Or you need to use such an escrow-thingy service. They decide who gets the BTC in case of a dispute. I've never used one of those before, though. I tend to only do business with people I know for years. It's safer and also more fun.

I would say scammers wants steal your Bitcoins

My general advice is to not make *any* transactions with BTC until you are genuinely confident (not over-confident) that you know how to use it and that you understand generally how the protocol works.  There's simply too much margin for user error.

Yep, keep hold of your money, trade in very small amounts if you have to, don't believe anyone or anything..

I think another good point is to only deal with other who are trusted by the community and can independently verify any statement they make. If they are not trusted and/or if you are not able to verify something then they are almost certainly scamming you.

Yup scammers use bitcoin.
To prevent yourself from getting scammed, you should use escrow whenever possible and be careful with too good to be true deals. :)

i am planning to gamble using bitcoins. now I am a bit scared to do that. hope this community will help me to distinguish..

Why are you scared? If you're safe and no what you're doing you'll be fine.

scared because of scammers, companies which can all of a sudden disappear with my money. ;D but i think after some investigation (because now i'm totally green concerning bitcoin ones) i won't have problems. i see there is a gambling section which i hope helpful :)

Just google the name of the casino or site you're dealing with. There are pretty big sites available, that are rather safe. If you want to play Dice try PrimeDice (see signature), they're a long running site and have just launched a new re-design. The operator "Stunna" is a well known guy around here. I highly doubt he'll disappear!

i started google and there are plenty of sites with similar names ;D  thanks for your suggestions. wil strart with it today.

RULE NUMBER 1 always use escrow guys!!