Bitcoin Forum

Looking to buy about 1000 bitcoins and pay with MoneyPaks.

Find me on Skype, username MsBitcoin.

Thanks :)

76k with moneypak?? whoaaa now..

Yeah I am trying to invest a little excess cash I have.  I gained a little notoriety back in 2011 as the person who got the first bitcoin tattoo.  You can see my pics here.

NSFW
https://i.imgur.com/7BEmn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DObMUGS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4J7rmCm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UmyDGSH.jpg

We all would have been better off not having seen that.  :-[

PS

Wax

Sold $300 worth of BTC to msbitcoin for moneypak. She sent first, no issues.

Sent 9 BTC for 900, transaction went fine!

A real asset to the Las Vegas btc community.

would work with again / transaction as smooth as can be

Left a PM.

Sent her the BTC for a trade, through no fault of her own she could not fulfill her end of the bargain and refunded my coin.

I find her actions on this trade extremely trustworthy, hope we can trade in the future.

Pm sent.

So we did wind up doing a trade later

She paid first this time. Very pleasant to do business with.

All you can eat under 1 bitcoin? is that what you were going for?

lol

 ;)

Anyone looking to sell bitcoins today hit me up.

Completed 5 trades successfully with MsBitcoin. Definitely trustworthy.

Online today and looking to buy.

I want to sell $150 worth but I got scammed last time I tried to trade........

use escrow i recommend johnk

ty :) I sent a PM, hopefully we can get something done.

To be clear I was not involved in the trade BitNinja is referring to.

Right, right. My mistake for being unclear.

pm sent

Hi im very interested

successful transaction +1

Still interested in buying a larger amount of BTC? I can come to you and exchange for your cash. PM me if you are interested; I am looking to sell 200-700BTC @90$ each.

I am on otc TigerGuy007, username MsBitcoin.

smooth transaction, hope to deal with msbitcoin again soon!

Heya hun,
  I'm in need of a $250 MP code. Will send a PM as well. Let me know a price, addy and when you are available. Off to work in an ~hour but will check in when I can there. Thanks in advance.

-Panda

Online and buying today if anyone is selling.

Bought a $300 MoneyPak with BTC from MsBitcoin. Went smooth. She sent first. No problem.

another smooth transaction! msbitcoin you are awesome!

Selling a couple coins, Pm me if interested.

I am online and buying today.  Hit me up!

I am online and buying :)

2 300 dollar mp's, deal was smooth as a nicely shaven .... well you get the idea

+1

I have a decent amount to sell, adding you.

just traded 40btc with MsBitcoin.. One of the most fastest transactions I ever done! thank you!

Traded 30 BTC so far with MsBitcoin. No issues, went fast and smooth.

I have 2 BTC for a moneypak

I am done buying for the day but will be back tomorrow.

Still looking to sell large amount for in person. I hate banks and MP

PM sent

Online and buying today.

I can do 106 right now.

Trading with her. Will post how it goes.

Traded for her moneypak. All smooth. Will trade again!

Done trading for today.  Will be back tomorrow.

Online and buying.

Traded $600 worth of BTCs for MoneyPaks. Everything went smoothly and quickly. Will be back for more :)

Hello, I have 1.5BTC for now I am trying to sell, sending PM

On a side note, I have not used my GDMP card for like  a year, I checked and i'm -11.90, they only charged me the monthly maintenance fee a few times and then stopped, do you know how they would consider your card "inactive" to not send the monthly maintenance fee?

Also, I thought it was funny how my balance was +5.30, then once the fees took me negative, it showed the negative balance, but did not have a negative sign, still had a + next to the number....very confusing -_-
here is what I mean.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/youngerprodigy/gdmp_zps4286cac6.png

 And in the picture, you can also see that my last maintenance fee was for 1/14/2013, then they stopped charging me the fee, which is why I am asking how they regulate the fees for that if anyone knows. thanks!!

Did a $1000 BTC transaction with the user. Would have done more but hit an unexpected load limit. Overall trusted and easier to work with. Will be back for more.

Done buying for a least a little bit today.  If you want to get in queue for a trade in the near future let me know.

Online and buying.

Got 3BTC for sale  ;D

Msbitcoin just cashed me out for a 1k mp. Yessss. Thx alot, it was well worth the pm tag.  Transaction went smooth as could.be. 
Honorable mention to Danny Hamilton for the extreme professional escrow.

I held escrow for the transaction between -Mk23- & MsBitcoin. They both kept in communication and delivered on each their halves of the deal without any issues.

Hi, I'm looking to sell .57btc for gdmp today. I'm pretty new here, but I have done a couple trades with DoctorBTC that are reflected on the bitcoin-otc WOT, and I'm currently logged in and registered there (IRC) now.

Just sold BTC to MsBitcoin for Moneypak and it was another flawless transaction.  I sent the BTC first without any worry of being scammed.  Thanks MsBitcoin!

I am online and buying bitcoins.

what price? and what size moneypaks you have?

Price is negotiable.  I currently have $500 MoneyPaks.

Let me put my bibs on.. done.. wow... mmm..mmhrmmm.. mmm...

hi #bitcoin-otc

I am going to give this a try and will report back!

Constantly selling to MsBitcoin. Solid communication, no issues so far, sold close to if not more than 100 BTC to her and her associates by now.

MsBitcoin - i sent you a couple messages on Skype - im trying to buy a moneypak from you...let me know.

mmm... didnt see that! whose pics are these?

That is miss bitcoin.

I am online and buying

bought $500 mp from op. sent first no problem. very professional, will buy again :)

I have about 20 BTC for sale.

Online and buying.

PM sent.

Working on a deal with MsB right now, will update shortly!

Edit: Completed transaction for $1,000 MP. Would definitely trade with again!

Thanks for the easy trade. I will be intouch

would like to trade about 2.67 btc for moneypaks, pm me if you are still trading. suggest a rate, btw

Have 12.37840065 btc on mtgox now, want you mp and new photo  ;)
write me on pm

I am having issues with several of the MoneyPaks you provided me. Please contact me on Skype so we can resolve this.

I have confirmed at least $3,000 in disputes over the phone with GreenDot for MoneyPaks provided to me by MsBitcoin. I was told specifically that someone called in and faxed them receipts of the MoneyPaks and is trying to claim them as theirs. The entire balance is locked and I have already had $500 removed. This only includes current balances on cards, there's potentially multiple thousands more that she is attempting to dispute.

I am trying to get this resolved, but it's not looking good right now. Proceed with extreme caution.

EDIT: She's standing by her honesty, and we're working to resolve this.

Have you ever heard of winlocker? Yeah ppl steal moneypaks. When I buy, i 100% always ask for receipt with my name on it.. and i'll even call the store to verify. Yeah def don't buy from her. She's also on skype ignoring me. DIdn't u find it quite coincidental that she only had 500 and 1k gdmp's?

dam this scares me cuz im thinkin of sell my coins asking for money packs wow im not sure now and I was just gonna start my ad too now idk

I just got back from being out all day.  I had been in contact with n4ru and to quote what I told him over Skype.

[8/29/2013 12:15:35 PM] Ms Bitcoin: I will definitely work with you if the problem is something i caused.

I buy a lot of bitcoins with MoneyPaks and also sell some bitcoins for MoneyPaks, bank deposits and other payment methods.  Not once has there been a problem with a transaction of mine where I did not make sure my trading partner wasn't 100% satisfied with the resolution.  For n4ru to contact me, have me tell him I would work with him to resolve his problem and then within 6 hours have him call me a liar and a scammer is totally uncalled for.  I am still hopeful that n4ru and I can resolve this amicably.

I am keeping in touch with MsBitcoin for the time being and still trying to resolve this. If things resolve I will retract any negative comments towards her, as for now she does seem to want to work with me towards resolving this, but as it stands, what I posted above is what has happened and I still have over $3,000 gone and GreenDot has very specifically said that somebody called in trying to dispute the money.

let everyone know how it turns but but if greendot is saying someone specifically called and is disputing them that can only leave one person who did it unless msbitcoin has someone else purchase these moneypacks for her  :-\

Wow, that sucks to hear. I'm really wondering what the outcome will be.  

I was wondering if it was all money on your card's that are frozen, or funds you loaded into pp.
  Also what about what you have spent, did that all bounce?

  I just checked my paypal and the funds I traded with her are still there (its not way in the negative).

 Edit 5 hours later-
Checked the funds of someone I loaded with one of her packs, just two days ago and its still there.

@ greendots-
As to wondering why she only had 500 and 1k, that's a dumb question imo, efficiency is the obvious answer.  Not some FBI moneypack virus bs.

How do you steal a mp?  you have to load it at the register.

No funds were loaded into PayPal.
Part of what I spent is being disputed as well.
You don't steal a MP, you load it, give the number out, then call in and give the receipt/photos of the MP. I did not receive the receipt from MsBitcoin as I have done many transactions with her, so I could not have started a dispute myself. It had to have been her or someone on her end. This could be someone scamming her and it ended up affecting me. There is one other report on localBTC via her/her partner's account of an identical situation currently happening.

Spoke to MsBitcoin again. She is standing by her honesty and we will hopefully come to a resolution by Tuesday, regardless of how that may be. Will update if she makes this right.

Interesting. I have traded with him/her once/twice and had no issues at all. I'll be watching what happens here.

1k BTC? what are you going to do with all that money??? give it away? :D 

I just had the same thing happen to me. I got a brand new Account Now reload card and bought one single 500 dollar money pack from Miss Bitcoin last week, and today the card is frozen 'unauthorized usage'

that's the only thing I loaded so there's no other possibility

don't buy from her until this situation is cleared up. This is the 3rd card that got frozen due to money pack. the first was from two buyers on localbitcoins,  user 'bestseller' was apparently doing funky charge backs and other people have also gotten their cards frozen after doing trades with him

The only reason why I went with Miss Bitcion is the good reviews she had on this thread up until now

So no more money packs for me. From now on I only do cash in person trades. The only safe thing left as far as i'm concerned

these problems with money packs are happening more and more compared to 6 months ago  

https://localbitcoins.com/forums/#!/fraud#i-got-scammed-by-bestseller

if anyone is selling bitcoin and wants REAL moneypaks i am here to serve. looking to buy around 3 bt

Let us know the outcome either way

So are you saying you bought one from bestseller? & bestseller is msbitcoin?

Looking at the bestseller scam thread, that user does not sound at all like msbitcoin.
Reads like a Asian with broken English.

So clarify you bought from msbitcoin on this forum? Or bestseller?
You sent first? Or escrow?
Why is there no feedback either way from/to anyone...

Do you have other green dot cards, they use your social & there are limits..

  Did you screw with your identity info?  Seems probable from a lot of what I've read ppl are doing with pp and greendot.  Think false info would freeze your funds? I kinda do.

Msbitcoin, I am wondering if you have anything to add?

sorry, no bestselller was a different moneypack seller on localbitcoins and that caused a previous card to be frozen. I just used that as an example of it becoming more common these days

as for Ms Bitcoin I traded with her last week via skype for 500 dollar money pack, no escrow was used, and it worked fine . It took two tries possibly because of technical browser issues, but it did load fine

Then I cashed 200 of that at ATM three days later and now it's frozen. The card is frozen. I'm out 300 dollars

The only other possibility in this case is if Account Now froze the card simply because I withdrew 200 dollars. That doesn't sound right, because when I log into the website now I can't see my account and instead a dispute page pops up

I traded with Ms Bitcoin after reading this thread. She had a good rep until  few days ago, and that's the only reason why I did it, but I did it via Skype, no escrow. the card loaded fine. the problem came a week later

Ok, I've updated her trust with a cautionary warning. Hopefully this issue can be rectified so that I can remove the flag. Please keep us updated, MsBitcoin! Thanks!

Looking at her otc feedback check out the guy with -135, his feedback just went south Recently, in the last couple weeks.

 It appears he stole ALOT of moneypacks from a lot of people being formerly a well trusted member.

Tryptus- was the name I believe

otc is slow to react, unlike here.

mods/admins finally realized there was too much scum so they let us police each other by putting "nono" signs on each other.

I have something to say,... you are both f@#$ed, What a shocker the cam girl turned out to be a scammer.  ::)

If this Is the case (is looking more and more like a scam) I can't help but say I told you so

So after how many days did you come to know? Will be watching closely what happens. This has the potential to become a CNN telecast of American scams or American scumbags.

the problem with moneypacks is it can take two weeks before you know if it's legit, even if the card loads perfect at first because whoever bought the card can make a claim a week later

It doesn't seem much different than paypal or any other charge back scheme

In this case it took a little over a week. i think 9 days. Also, I was on skype for 24 hours and Ms Bitcoin signed on a  few minutes ago, didn't answer my question, and then signed off

And also, I lost 270 dollars, but I already cashed 200 of it so I lost a little more than half. Most of the trades for bitcoin I do is for cash, either in person or by mail. It turns out that cash is the safest way, from my experience

At least if you get ripped off in a person to person trade for cash, you'll know right away, but I've never been ripped off in a cash trade. Cash in mail is also faster than moneypack because that only takes 3 days and all you have to check for is counterfeit and escrow works fine

But moneypack can take 2 weeks and then you get a big surprise when your card is frozen. I suppose the only way you could make moneypacks safer is to have an escrow for it, but you'd have to hold an escrow for 2 weeks or longer to be sure nobody's going to come back and file claims on that moneypack

Lucky for me I don't do that many moneypack trades anymore. It would not surprise me if this becomes a big issue. It used to be that companies did moneypacks but those are gone now, and Koukan exchange isn't doing much these days either and that was about the last I saw that did NOT have problems with moneypacks. But now the government is tightening the noose, everything left over seems to be scammers

so it's ironic that the safest way is now cash, paper money. I've had less problems with paper money trades for bitcoin than any other method, and THAT seems to be getting more common. I see more listing for it now, and of course Wired magazine basically said that in a recent article

So you cashed out $200 of Moneypaks using a stolen credit card and now they have your name and IP address, etc.  I would be pretty excited about that.

heh...no the card was not stolen..it was applied for nice and proper...the moneypack was the problem, not the card. the card issuer, Account Now, froze the card after the money pack was loaded, then a week later some kind of dispute happened with the moneypack

In other words, it was not my fault the card was frozen. it was the person who sold me the moneypack for bitcoin, then made a claim against it a week later. I still have that conversion on skype to prove it

If you load 4 or more cards or load >$1000 in a week, with moneypaks bought outside the state you registered the card with, it'll get frozen automatically within a week or two for unusual activity. You will then be banned by greendot.

yeah, that happened with the first card like 6 month ago which was actually a Greendot card. However they actually let me withdraw the rest of the funds I bought with moneypack at the time. Greendot just wouldn't let me load anymore moneypacks, so now it can't be used anymore.

I figured it would have something to do with the zip code that was entered. But in this case with Ms bitcoin it wasn't over a thousand nor multiple cards..Just one single card and 500

In some cases, you load  money pack number at the greendot site for an outside card(account now), then you enter your own zip code. That's what i did here. But I'm getting a dispute page instead of my account now, but it's possible it could be just out of state

If that's true that it is now impossible to buy moneypacks unless it's bought locally, then moneypack is screwed anyway as a means for trading bitcoin

You might as well do cash trades, then go buy your own money pack locally if you really want that. As far as I'm concerned there isn't much reason to even use money packs unless it's for things to buy online, and if you want to do that, just get a  gift card at Gyft...why bother with moneypack?

this is untrue. moneypak is fine if it is done right. to do the chargeback you need the receipt. you simply send an image of the burnt receipt after the trade is done. bam, trustless, easy trades.

anyway, if anyone wants some real moneypaks for their bitcoin, i would like to buy. everything will be done fast, safely and securely. let me know when you get tired of waiting, worrying and getting scammed.

I'm not going to get scammed. I will do cash trades on localbitcoins. I know that works

yeah after a couple of days of negotiating and who knows how far of a drive. you know, after wasting some more time on a couple flakes that change their minds. depends on how much your time is worth to you.

Why do you say you got 200$ out, then say when you loaded the pack the card was frozen...?

Also where's the other 30$?

i got 200 dollars out before it was frozen. the other 30 dollars was fees. fees at the atm, fees at the card company

that's another reason why it's not worth it, even if it did work

well she hasnt commented yet on any of this another telling sign

Any updates?

I doubt it.  This looks like your typical carded moneypak scam.  All these poor people fall for it every time and send their BTC and then they get their names/addresses tied to a stolen CC purchase.  Sad.

actually its more of a case where someone purchased the moneypaks then called and filed a dispute to get the money back you cant buy a moneypak with a credit card only cash or a pin based debit card purchase

I never knew what her game was, but it always seemed very odd to buy 76k in btc with money pak. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Who knows she may have just sold some second hand MP cards, but I bet she always planed on cutting and running or maybe she realized that BTC wasn't the best investment after all. At any rate it looks clear she is not going to be able or willing to cover the loses. Sorry guys. It is more about who you are dealing with than anything, you have to consider the source. I would recommend only dealing with people who have a proven track record of doing what they say and only doing small transactions with people who don't. Anonymity is bullshit!! Crooks and criminals are the only people who require secrecy (with rare exceptions) If someone wants to buy from you get their Fing name! that way if they screw you they wont get others and they will only get you once!  

There is no perfect payment system.

I just got off the phone with Account Now card people and they transferred me to the Moneypak people because that's why the card was frozen

The moneypak that was sold to me by Ms Bitcoin for bitcoin was in fact disputed after I loaded the moneypak. They said it would take 10 days to investigate the dispute and they'll get back to me on friday

so now we have a 2nd confirmation that the moneypaks sold were in fact disputed later. It was not because of loading too may cards or out of state shenanigans..The moneypak was actually disputed..As in, somebody called them up and reported the moneypak as being not kosher

How does this moneypak scam work?

So I can go to Wal-Mart with $1000 cash and buy a $1000 Moneypak right?  (+ fees)

Then I give the Moneypak number to someone in exchange for BTC.

Then I can call Moneypak and say someone stole my Moneypak number and they give me the money back?

Is this is what is going on?  Or are people brute forcing moneypak numbers or something?

thats exactly what they are doing

what I'm hoping for is if more people come forward that this happened to and actually call up moneypack related to their card getting frozen that they might get suspicious enough of the person doing the scam, not the victim

Because if it happens too many times with the same person disputing moneypacks, then they might go after that person instead of us victims

eventually they just might do it on their own with question like, how come this one person keeps getting moneypaks stolen again and again and it's involving different people around the country that are otherwise unconnected, except for this one person

In fact, I'm willing to bet that if they really went deep they'll find a relatively small number of people reporting a disproportionately large amount of moneypaks stolen

I was away for labor day weekend but will be working with n4ru to resolve this within the next 48 hours.

hopefully me too

Ms Bitcoin did offer to fix this situation, at least refunding the bitcoin of the portion (275) that's frozen on the card. She said somebody else is recalling the moneypaks and she'll try to fix that end of it

I guess we'll see

I have come to a resolution with MsBitcoin and she has regained my trust.

YES!   Msbitcoin you rock!   

Sucks that there were problems, but..

 Even after everyone's peanut gallery bs you came through.

Thank you for the followup. I'll remove my negative trust of her now :)

Shit I guess I will STFU.

Usually this is a double dip situation but it seems this is the exception, not the rule.

my issue with Ms Bitcoin has also been amicably resolved. thank you

I am back buying bitcoins today.

Stop posting false information, you can only cash 4 a day, 7 a week, 21 a month. I've cashed hundreds of mps from outside states, the trick is don't cash more than 1 in 20 minutes, that's how all my cards get blocked, they even tell you why it was blocked if you call them.

PM Sent.

I am online and buying bitcoins today.

Trade completed with msbitcoin.  Great to see her back on here trading!

*check back with me tomorrow if you are still buying.  I've got a deal that may fall through.

And consider leaving a post on my rep,page  ;) 

Thanks again!

Completed 3 money pack trades with msbitcoin tonite, including the post above this.

Everything went very smoothly, msbitcoin sent the codes promptly and i paid after each code. there have been no snags.

Right in the middle of four figures traded with ease.

Just traded 3k worth of bitcoins for MP..   Went smooth ;)  Thanks

Is there any way to convert these "moneypaks" to packs of money?

Yes

Ah Hah!  Well apparently YOU know how to convert these "moneypaks" into packs of money by your earlier response to my question.  So tell me then, how does one do this??

Getting a Paypal account is one way to do it  ;)

It is sounding more and more like there IS no way to convert moneypaks into cold, hard CASH!  Without first having to announce to the know-your-customer-we-are-anti-money-laundering people that you are receiving "moneypaks" for SOME service or product rendered.

Is that so?

You need a credit card that works with Moneypak or a bank account,as far as I know you can't just "cash" a MP at any store  ::)

https://www.moneypak.com/Home.aspx

Look it over & maybe call them for more info......................

A few options come immediately to mind, there may be additional methods.

Option 1. Get an account somewhere such as a prepaid debit card or paypal.  Load the value from the MoneyPak into the account.  Withdraw pack of money from the account.

Option 2. Find someone with a pack of money that wants to load a paypal account or prepaid debit card.  Offer the MoneyPak that you have in exchange for the pack of money that they have. They can then load the MoneyPak, and you can walk away with the pack of money.

Option 3. Find someone with bitcoins that wants to load a paypal account or prepaid debit card.  Offer the MoneyPak in exchange for the bitcoins.  Then exchange the bitcoins with someone else that has a pack of money and wants bitcoins.

You can make an ATM withdrawal after the moneypak code has been loaded to your prepaid debit card account.

Alrighty then, you all have been most helpful.  Such is the tenuous state of bitcoin that I am hard pressed to exchange them for real-world items, like cars and groceries.  Hopefully we will all look back on these times and laugh at the folly of it all.

Meantime, I am going to do a deep dive into prepaid debit cards and moneypaks and I will report back to you on what I find out.

Many thanks.

One observation: bitcoin is not liquid.  I have offered to buy a car with bitcoin in the Austin market.  I have had a localbitcoins ad up for almost a week now in the Austin market.  No one is contacting me.

Localbitcoins.com is disappointing.  I am attracted to localbitcoins because I want a smooth, anonymous cash transaction, and now that I've thought about it, I would be willing to give the buyer a good deal for this.  But the majority of action on localbitcoins seems to be among people buying and selling to nationwide customers and they're not offering very good deals.  For one thing, the transactions are not in cash, but in traceable, trackable ways that betray oneself to the antimoney-laundering-know-your-customer assholes.  (If I can do better by selling on an exchange, wiring to my bank, and paying tax then why wouldn't I?) 

Also, everyone is, for the most part, trying to scalp the other guy. In my opinion someone buying bitcoin for a moneypak should be paying full price and someone paying cash should get a discount but on localbitcoins the local deals are so silly I can't take them serious.  Why would I sell my bitcoin for $115? 

Sounds like localbitcoins is working well in a handful of cities, but it's broken in Austin.

Because it increases your liquidity and allows you to maintain your anonymity.  Seems like an obvious answer.

Hey MsBitcoin,I got 5.5BTC for sale,you interested ???  ;D

Like KOS said,  Moneypak will ban you, your SSN, for loading loads of moneypak. They say the limit is 4 a day, but you will be surprised to see their actual limits are much lower. I think their major issue is accounts which look like scams loading many cards from out of state.

Too steep of a discount for me.  But if they are getting this price more power to them.

i will give this a shot.. do you have $500 or lower?

I bought a $1000 MoneyPak code from MsBitcoin back on August 7th (see Post # 61 of this thread) and loaded it onto my Green Dot prepaid debit card.  I withdrew $400 of it at an ATM shortly afterwards without any issues and decided to leave the other $600 in my account until I needed it.  That $600 was removed from my account on August 24th with the annotation: "PIN DISPUTE RESOLUTION REVERSAL".  I informed MsBitcoin of this via PM and she informed me on October 21st that she would look into it and get back to me later that day.  I received another PM from her on October 23rd where she stated that "If the problem is on my end rest assured I will reimburse you."

After not hearing anything back from MsBitcoin for a few days, I called Green Dot to inquire about the missing funds.  They said that a claim was filed with them by the person that bought the MoneyPak and the $600 was returned to the purchaser after they investigated and were provided with sufficient proof of purchase.  They said there is nothing else they can do for me and that my next step would be to file a police report.  I informed MsBitcoin of this on October 31st via PM and asked her how she wants me to proceed.  She has yet to respond, so I plan to file a police report within the next few days and will post updates in this thread.

Below are links to screenshots that show the activity on this Green Dot prepaid debit card.  This was a brand new card when the MoneyPak was loaded and these three transactions are the only transactions to ever occur with this account.  Green Dot closed the account after removing the $600.

http://tinypic.com/r/1zgdqur/5
http://tinypic.com/r/iepa43/5

Edit:  This is the transaction for 9.6154 BTC that was used to purchase the MoneyPak code: http://blockchain.info/tx/84ad3f51a783db1f3bc6b675c730fc05a3ffedb40d8a0ee1c975c50014dcc08f

Called it.

i figured something smelled fishy about this when i first read it

That ink looked like it smelled fishy.

Anyway, I am looking into selling a few coins.

How could the $600 ripoff have been prevented?
Would a second transfer between two cards that one dude holds alleviate such circumstances?

I should have withdrawn the cash from an ATM sooner.

One option is to load the code and withdraw all of the cash from an ATM before you send the BTC.

I was pretty sure people were still interested in trading these even with some of the paypal issues.  Am I wrong: https://localbitcoins.com/ad/47183/cash-out-your-bitcoins-moneypak