Bitcoin Forum

i have been scammed by someone who lives in another country "Bolivia" and bolivia has banned bitcoin !
so the question is can i sew that person who lives in that country for stealing my bitcoins ? (it's around 2 btc and were worth 35.000$ at that time) if yes so what's the procedure ? and how much does it cost , will i end up spending more money in the case than im actually getting from this ? and since bitcoin is banned in bolivia is it even going to recognize bitcoin stealing as a crime ?
how is it going to work exactly, and how long it will possibly takes ? i have a full time job and can't stay away for more than 1 month

need help from lawyers (if there are any) or anyone else that knows something about law. im located in the US by the way.

35,000$ is a whole lot of money though. I am not a lawyer, but I can offer some insight which can be further supported by the lawyers there or regulatory agencies. I have seen the regulatory agencies of my country arrest someone for fraud based on petition written against him by someone in another country that was taken up. If the regulatory agency in USA can recognise btc, you can look at that option. Report to them, then they take it from there.

Trying to sue him in his host country can be serious because their laws does not recognise bitcoin and getting a lawyer that even understand the way that works might cost you more than that considering that they might not even take it serious since you are not domiciled there and not every country have respect for the rule of law or justice system at the same percentage like the US.

Your best bet is to take the first option in my opinion.

Highly unlikely you will find recourse or a positive resolution in the courts of Bolivia. With bitcoin being banned in Bolivia, neither the criminal justice system nor the civil courts will recognize your claim and complaint. And because the country has no functional laws governing bitcoins as a tangible or intangible form of asset, property laws will not apply to your case. In the absence of recognition by both the courts and the police, you will probably see your case stagnate in a lawyer's office. Nobody will act on it as there is no case in the first place. For a case of theft or fraud to be valid, you need to have had something stolen from you or you must substantiate that you have been defrauded. It has to be something with a recognizably material and valid value. By that, you can't put forth a claim, for example, of cocaine having been stolen as, yes, it does have value but it is not one the courts will recognize as valid.

Having said that, the authorities will want to know what you lost. When you drop the B word, that's probably where the case ends.

Then there's the thief or scammer who will pull all strings in his native country to stop you on your tracks. Bitcoin's illegality in Bolivia will be one of his strongest defense strategies. If he is intelligent, he might also invoke domestic laws on the issue of jurisdiction and authority of local courts to prosecute him for a crime which has little domestic relevance. In the rare event that you manage to convince the authorities to prosecute, I'm certain it will be a very long process.

It's an entirely different story if the scammer is an American citizen. If he is, the US has laws making certain felonies committed by Americans overseas eligible for prosecution in a US court.

You won't get any lawyers advising you here, as there are simply too many questions to ask before you can start to formulate an answer. One thing though, did you pay for $35,000 worth of bitcoin that this person stole or did you buy it much cheaper and lost it when the value had risen? I would say that a local is probably well protected in places like Bolivia, where paying off the right people could stop investigations, but you should still try and report it to the police. Ask for a case number, if that exists.