Bitcoin Forum

Hello members

I have been a collector of Physical Bitcoins since 2014. I have already redeemed several Titan BTC coins. However I am having issues with a SILVER TITAN BTC 2013. Saddly, I have sent several emails to guardians@titanbtc.com but have not received any reply.

When I provide all the requireds fields in the redemption page, it shows an error message saying the data is invalid. I already peeled the security hologram and have the 2FA key, the coin id and I am the original buyer/owner of the coin so it is registered and associated to my email and name.

The coin in reference has a wrong balance in the blockchain, since it is a 1 BTC coin and the correspondent addresss shows a balance of 2BTC.

I think there are other titan btc owners that have faced similar problems/issues with their coins. Since The regular contact channels are not working, Im trying this forum to try to contact the Titan BTC CEO or someone who is able to help me to fix this issue.

I would appreciate all the info and insight you provide.

Sincerely,

Gerardo Mogollon
DrBitcoinVE

Sorry to hear that bro. Did you try PM thru his profile here? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=112605

I see you also sent an email...did you fill out the form here>> https://www.titanbtc.com/contact/

Hmm.

This is the type of thing that would give me nightmares and why I would never deal with a coin that required some form of third party good faith.

Perhaps making noise on Twitter and r/Bitcoin might get more possibility of a response from Titian than here, though you'll come across more actual experiences in this section.  

Also maybe ask here - https://www.cryptodechange.com as the Titan guy says he was working with them so perhaps they'll have the right contact details.

Thank you! Yes you are right. Counterparty risk is very important when dealing with physical bitcoins. I have made several coins by myself in my own paper wallet addresses with zero issues, and had no problem when I redeemed the PRIVATE KEY versions of the Titan Bitcoin I had. The problem is with the 2FA version which relies on them to complete the redemption.

I will follow your advice about making noise in twitter. I have about 10K subscribers in my youtube channel so I will try that too.

Thanks in advance,

Gerardo

Good luck. I tried to figure out if I could redeem a 2fa coin that was registered to someone else but never received any reply from them, not even when I private messaged them here a day after they were active.

The plot thickens.....  ::)

Provide proof with pictures (username and current date required) so we can appropriately red tag this. OP could possibly be referring to another coin if he had bought more than one. Sale looks to have been private and not done publicly on this board.

What's the story behind this then? Was it sold to you with him guaranteeing to transfer the 2FA across? Do you think he's trying to redeem it? I don't see how that's possible without the coin in his hand.

You seem like an extremely, er, scam-focused member. You literally don't post about anything else.

I hope you used escrow for this.

I can't say this is getting any clearer. All I can tell is that Titan isn't responding to anyone. I presume you transfer across the  2FA control by responding from the original emali address registered. Sounds messy and unsafe even with escrows and stuff.

Side topic: dont understand the point of 2fa physical coins.  Not only do you have to lay trust in the manufacturer and his/her handling of the keys but with the 2fa version you have to rely on them not disappearing/dying to ever sweep the coin.  Not a risk I would personally take with the 2fa version.  That being said sounds like no one has access to the required email that's needed here.  So the OP was not the original owner and he got scammed, then sold it to picotklasa and scammed that user therefore just passing on the scam?  Honestly I'm confused at what is going on

OP says his coin shows 2BTC loaded. If the accuser can show the same pub address with 2BTC loaded we can tell if it is the same coin or not.

Yeah at some point someone must have added a coin its definately not "wrong balance in the blockchain" :)

Hi All,

There's a scam accusation thread that I responded to, but just wanted to follow up here as well.

The coin in question has been redeemed for the rightful owner.  Pichotklasa is attempting a fishing scam and trying to claim ownership of a coin that he does not have possession of.

As a refresher, Titan Bitcoins were originally offered in 2 flavors:

1. Private key - in which the BTC private key was included underneath the hologram

2. 2-Factor-Authenticated - in which user's registered ownership on Titan's website and an additional ownership is required before redemption of the coin's BTC value

The coin in question was a 2FA coin.  We discontinued offering 2FA coins after a year or two, partly because it created an incentive for scammers like Pichotklasa to try to impersonate actual coin owners.

In this case, Pichotklasa went so far as to setup a fake telegram account to chat with the coin owner and attempt to mislead the coin owner, as well as emailing the owner directly and impersonating myself and fabricating additional Titan Mint employees.

Ultimately I was able to communicate with the actual owner and verify both their identity and that they currently owned the coin in question, and the value was redeemed as intended. 

We have humans in the loop for redeeming these 2FA coins and we are careful to ensure that BTC is never transferred to malicious bad actors like Pichotklasa.  Email is best for resolving any security questions.  guardians@titanbtc.com.

So it seems the old chestnut about the louder someone is about something the more likely they embody it still stands firm.

I guess no one else will ever know what the story is here, not that it got any clearer at any point. Still glad I don't have a coin that requires a third party.

The coin in question had a redemption hold on it because of the double funding.  OP did indeed email us and we missed it until he emailed again.  We've communicated in the past with OP via email, but in this case he was concerned and posted here which is fine.  We all need to be vigilant when ti comes to Bitcoin related companies doing unexpected stuff.

I think Gerardo (drbitcoinve) may have lost access to his forum account in the course of the phishing exploits that were perpetrated, but if he's still around he can confirm that his coin was redeemed successfully and that we've resolved his issue.

Theres such a thing as a bitcoin blockchain that provides proof of transactions when you purchase something from somebody. Let's see your txid with a signed message from the address you paid from. Aswell, this is a perfect and prime example of why ESCROW should be used.

Edit to add: TitanBTC has many many loaded coins worth 10s of if not 100s of thousands of dollars in the hands of collectors. Their due diligence on something like this is a little more complex than you may think, theres a lot at stake if they make a mistake.

Cash in hand but you never received the physical coin itself? Also particular coin has been stated to have had a second bitcoin loaded onto it and in your previous post you state you want your one bitcoin. Things just do not add up here. You would have been able to check the public address and see it had two bitcoin on it which OP and TitanBTC both have confirmed in one way or another. Did you think this was a 50% off deal?

We understand that you're frustrated that your theft didn't pan out as you hoped, but come on now...

You physically paid cash, in hand, to someone in a different country?  At this point, I think we know you're in Russia...so...How did that occur?  How did the cash travel from Russia to Peru?

TitanBTC or anybody else around reading, can you post a picture of a Titan coin with a semi-peeled hologram?

There are tamper proof holograms on almost every single physical bitcoin collectible out there, if you are meeting with someone and see the usual "honeycomb" pattern then you should not be buying the coin as the private key has been compromised.

Pinky swears and promises don't count for shit in the bitcoin world.

Also TitanBTC can you confirm that with the information displayed on your 2fa coins that the buyer would have been able to confirm that this coin was indeed funded with an additional bitcoin through a block explorer. (I am unfamiliar with your 2fa coins)

You flew internationally to another continent with cash in hand.  Gave thousands of dollars to a stranger in cash and left without the coin.....that's the story?  And did you know there was 2btc on the coin when you bought it?

This is getting cringy  ::)

Greets Hank

A whole lot of finger pointing.... USE ESCROW and this wouldn’t even be an issue.  

.....and you handed someone cash with only promises.  You almost deserve it, if that’s the case.

p.s.  I have a bridge for sale.... only 5BTC and it can be yours.  Please pay first to an address I PM you and I promise the bridge will be yours.  ::)

In a person to person trade you do not hand over cash and walk away without first moving the bitcoin to an address that you yourself control the private key for. I am very sorry if you are indeed sincere here but you did this to yourself. Consider using a bitcoin exchange or localbitcoins if you want to buy bitcoin with cash.
Judging by TitanBTC's response I don't think we are getting the full story. You didn't even check the public address to see if the coin was funded(and in this case overfunded)
It appears there is a "Verify Value" and code on the hologram of TitanBTC coins that you didn't take the time to load up the website and use.

I still haven’t seen the coin.....

This doesn't add up.



1) There was no physical coin transferred to you, right?
2) How was the coin ownership transferred to you?

Did you have TitanBTC confirm to you that the transfer is complete?

Sounds like you learned a lesson - don't buy 2fa coins from others. Regardless if you got scammed or the scammer. Just deal with the loss and move on. :P

Can you post a screenshot of that confirmation email? Blank all the private info. Also check extremely well the sender address of that email. Preferably show us the actual e-mail source (with blanked private info).

This would help you, because right now there's no evidence. TitanBTC claims that they did not transfer the coin to you. Prove us that they did..?

Sent to mod, this should not be taking up space in collectibles.  This belongs in scam accusations.  Please move, thank you.

When you make a scam accusation, you should be able to show some evidence... You're claiming that TitanBTC scammed you and now you can't even prove that the coin 2FA ownership was transferred to you? If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate showing up some evidence to back my claims!

Can you please post what those “infos” are specifically?

I don’t care about the actual (private) information - I am curious on what type of data you’re referring to specifically.

Did you receive anything from the actual coin during your in person transaction ?

Thanks!

When did that transfer occur? (date)

@Pichotklasa, If you've truly been wronged and we have somehow made a mistake, please file a report with your local police department including all evidence of your purchase and your travel to and from Peru, as well as any communication you had with the seller prior to and after making the purchase. 

I have multiple employees in Russia, and one in Ukraine, and I will have them communicate with your local authorities to verify the police report is complete and the evidence that was provided is authenticated.

Once that police report is verified, we will consider the option that we redeemed the coin's value to the wrong party and transfer the BTC value of that coin to you once we've determined that we made an error.

If you're in agreement with this process, then please confirm here that you will be working with us (Titan Mint) directly to resolve this issue.  No further discussion will be entertained with you in this forum until you've agreed to involve law enforcement.  If you've honestly been defrauded, then reporting that theft to the police.  Putting them in touch with us is the next step.

@everyone else...

We're not infallible, but the evidence in this instance points pretty overwhelmingly to the rightful owner of the coin.  Much of this evidence involves sensitive info which I am not authorized to share here, but they include verifiable transcripts and un-modified screenshots of the Social engineering activity as well as photos and videos of the coin, hologram, and redemption code. 

That evidence, combined with the timing of the communications and our IP logs indicate that Pichotklasa
1. Saw the coin owner's post here in the forum
2. Obtained the coin owner's personal info
3. Impersonated Titan employees to gain the coin owner's trust
4. Used that trust to obtain the coin's redemption info
5. Changed the coin's registration email using that information
6. Posted this thread Claiming to be the rightful owner

Ultimately, with these particular coins, Titan Mint is the arbiter of ownership.  Our system and the 2FA product itself was designed to automate that arbitration as much as possible.  It's an expensive burden but one we take very seriously. 

If anyone has issues with our determination of ownership, they are welcome to contact us at guardians@titanbtc.com and we will respond as soon as possible.  We'll work with all parties involved to find the best solution.

I want to thank Tim Fillmore for being so helpful in the solution of this issue.

The member Pichotklasa is a fraudster. He contacted me through telegram by impersonating Titan BTC Security Staff. He then manipulated the headers of the Security Team email and sent several emails to my personal address to try to impersonate the Security Staff. At first, I agreed to follow his instructions but there were several things that seemed weird to me, like contact through Telegram a few minutes after my post here, and diferent headers in the emails I received from him and from Titan Bitcoin. After I provided him with some vital information about the coin, I received a couple of emails from Guardians@titanbtc.com and directly from Tim Fillmore, warning me that there was no one from TITAN contacting me through Telegram.

This member, Pichotklasa, is an impostor. He is now claiming that I sold the coin to him which is completely false. He does not have any proof of such a transaction. I have never sold any of my coins to anybody. His only proof is that he made me change the email and password of my coin in the TitanBTC site. That is all. I repeat I HAVE NEVER SOLD a coin to him.

Since TitanBTC has dealt with these kind of treats in the past, Mr. Fillmore explained that this person was trying to scam me and then, he asked me to proof that I was the REAL OWNER of the coin. I provided proof of purchase from dec 2015 and provided two videos that the impostor asked me to proceed with the coin redemption I was asking for. In those videos, the impostor asked me to delete all the emails I received from Titan and he also asked me to destroy the security hologram of the coin. I have those videos and have given them to Titan Security Staff.

With this post, I want to let it very clear that:

1. I did not sell the coin in question. I have been the Owner since the date of purchase and I have the coin physically here with me.
2. This member, Pichotklasa, attempted to steal the coin's value by impersonating Titan and now he could be trying to redeem the coin with this scam story of the sold coin, which is completely false.
3. We both, TitanBTC and myself resolved the issue to my complete satisfaction, once I provided proof of ownership, proof of purchase and proof of identity.

DrBitcoinVE

FWIW this makes far more sense than Pichotklasa's story of his trip from Ukraine to Peru with bags of cash and his refusal to provide trade-related e-mails or even to tell us the date of the trade.

I have to agree with suchmoon on this one 😎

Thanks!

Pardon my hyperbole. Still, it's not a huge task to provide the date of the trade and messages that initiated the trade. It's pretty much a standard procedure for reporting a scam. I don't particularly care about your sensitive information - you can blank that out in any supporting proof you post here. Your continuing refusal to answer these and other very basic questions paints you as scammer.

I think it is obvious that this impostor cant provide proof of ownership nor proof of purchase because there was never a sell transaction involved.

I think it is stupid to claim that anyone bought a physical Bitcoin without having the coin physically with him. That is an obvious fact that shows the fraudster invented all this story. It would be very interesting if the impostor can provide:

1. Proof of communications with myself about his intention to buy the coin
2. Proof of payment
3. Stamps in his passport to proof he traveled as he says.

He cant provide anything because that story is totally FALSE. The only scammer here is Pichotklasa. I have proof of everything I posted. I have the emails received yesterday from him and from TITANBTC, I have videos in which he asked me to delete all the emails received from Titan BTC with the proper proof of purchase directly from the Titan Website, back in 2015. I also have a video in which he instructed me to destroy the hologram of the coin. Even more important, I have the coin with me, I think this is his weakest point... how can he justifies that he bought a physical bitcoin but he has not the coin with him... it sounds simply stupid.

The world is full of oportunistic people trying to scam honest people. Thanks God common sense and truth always win.

I hope this is enough to clarify any misunderstanding to the rest of the honest members of this forum.

DrBitcoinVE

A discussion requires two parties. I have provided all the needed info to clarify what happened here. I thank Tim Fillmore for his outstanding handling of this intent of scam. I confirm the procedures to validate the ownership of the coin are just perfect and worked perfectly in this ocassion.

I consider this issue FINISHED and SOLVED.

DrBitcoinVE

drbitcoinve I have one last question.
this picture, was it suggested to you to be done by Pichotklasa or was it for a TitanBTC fake representative over telegram.

https://i.imgur.com/qdAcH5bh.jpg

if you could provide some sort of chat log for proof even better.

All the communication happened face to face? You just flew to Peru and randomly approached some dude there and wanted to buy his Titan 1 BTC 2fa coin?

Just hush, you locked your thread after dodging all of the questions because " hOw CaN fOrUm MeMbERs dO AnYTHiNg To HeLp yOu"

Now I seen drbitcoinve come back and I want to see if these questions can be answered by him. Sick of your walls of text that don't explain anything. Even if you were scammed its getting harder and harder to even give a shit about you.

Ok your supposed trip had other activities, that's fine. But how DID you meet that person? Who initiated the contact and how? You said it was a week ago, so New Year's day?

Again, the more you obfuscate such basic details with walls of text the more you look like a scammer, if there's still any doubt on that.

Pichotklasa is welcome to release any PMs I had with him. 

I told him that I would pay him to come forward with the truth.  I did so in the hopes that he would reveal some aspects of real life identity so that I can evaluate bringing criminal charges against him.

If you, the forum members would like me to continue responding here, please PM me.  I'm happy to answer all questions at your request, but i'm afraid we're legitimizing a criminal's attempt at perpetrating a fraud by continuing to engage.

I have a 2012/2013 Titan that I need help redeeming. I have emailed Titan through the website form but no response for several weeks. Please PM me!

No reply from support email for over 2 months, no reply from TitanBTC here (PM) for 3 weeks, and no reply to this thread. I'm pretty ready to call them scammers by now.