Bitcoin Forum

I have recently posted a WTS of an ICO coin. Here is the link to the thread - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5108840.msg49701072#msg49701072

An unknown person contacted me through telegram and told me he wants to buy these coins. Also, he told me that he will use escrow for this purpose. Then I told OK.
Then he told me we will go the top escrows. Then he told me to send a mail to him but as we know the top escrow has been online for many months but I sent a mail to him but no reply came to me. Then he told me to check out the spam mail section but I found a little change in e-mail address only due to G-mail security.

Here is the pic of conversation of us -

https://i.imgur.com/olaYOza.png


If you will see the mail in the desktop you will see it is similar to the top escrow address.


https://i.imgur.com/UT7gHPY.png


But if you see through your Gmail app in mobile You can easily tell the difference between both the mails.

https://i.imgur.com/RgWf2xy.png

Thanks for taking the time to report this... hopefully it might help others spot similar shenanigans... if it helps just one person avoid getting scammed, it will be worth it!

Actually, it was very hard for me to spot him as in my PC there was no sign of any mail change or anything all things were just fine but luckily I checked that mail on my Gmail too. SO, I think it might help the people around here.

Wow nice catch. I had to double check because I didn't see it there the first time..

This is the reason all users who're interested in using this forum for trade are advice to always carry out your transaction openly were everyone can see your chat (with exception to sensitive informations) don't use PM or go off forum always carryout all transactions and discussion via thread so in case there's a scam attempt experience users can warn you before you fall victim. TS {Thread starter} thanks for the information and i'm glad you didn't fall prey.

Can you possibly get that scammers profile so he can get red tagged as i notice he was trying to impersonate monbux (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=133846)

Warning sent out on his ANN thread:

Sorry, But I think he was smart enough to not to share his btt profile with me. He directly contacted me through telegram.

It's not really safe because there are scammer disguised and impersonate an escrow that will scam the seller and other possible case is the buyer may be planning a conspiracy to the disguised escrow. Any platform that can be use to contact someone can be use to plan something bad like telegram where someone PM me yesterday Feb. 17 at 12:17 AM askng if i'm a crypto trader and I replied NO to avoid furthera contact from this user which I think is planning to scam me. Impersonators can't be detected right away without further observation or investigation which lead to being scammed. I can send a telegram profile if he/she is the one who pm you on telegram.

Good thing you aren't get scammed. It is worth to mention for others newbie to take extra caution when you dealing with another person. A trusted escrow will negotiate in public space to make the transaction are verifiable except if you are already verified the user is the real account then you can process to the personal message. Make sure you verify the authenticity of the escrow service by verifying the signed message or PGP key.

Without even looking at the email address I would have been suspicious and all over that. There is a multitude of spelling and grammar issues in his mail, the ToS is horrible, and if that were the "#1 Escrow" service, their email would have looked a lot more professional than that. [This is usually always the very first thing I pick up on, anyone who has ever tried to scam me by pretending to be someone/something they weren't, end up blowing their cover due to numerous grammatical errors. A legit reputable business or even lone businessman would never let that slide)  Even if you notice just one error in a communication sent to you, like a word has a duplicated letter, stlll investigate. Generally, a business strives to be flawless, a scammer does not...

Strange though that it didn't warn you on your desktop, because I only use the webmail version and it always alerts me to suspicious things such as that.  (Unless you are using a 3rd-party mail client on your desktop and not Gmail, in that case, thank gosh for Gmail  👍🏻).

Regardless, great catch and good job to Google too!

Edit: I meant to also laugh at how perfect it is that the scammer's true address is monbux.bit'con'talk@gmail
lmao  😆😆

Do not contact with any escrow via telegram or mail. Use forum message first. Confirm before send fund to escrow. Every escrow service provider have own thread. So reply on his thread then he will provide details. So how will you confirm who is real owner of account?

1. Reply on escrow thread. Then send him PM so he will reply with details.
2. Ask to escrow for verify signature from his stake btc address before send fund. Because forum account could be hacked. So sign message is require before send fund to escrow.
3. Don't send fund if escrow unable to sign message from his BTC address. Choose another escrow.
4. Don't contact with escrow outside forum unless he didn't sign message.

I have made many deal with Darkstar_, I always ask for sign message if he change diposite address.

So be careful before use escrow.


FYI, monbux last active on August 27, 2018, 06:08:22 PM

Your mistake was asking users to contact you over Telegram.
Unfortunately that is an invitation for many to try and scam you. It is good that you noticed the difference in the email. If you didn't would you have gone through with sending your funds without contacting Monbux via the forum or the proper channels that he suggests in his thread?

monbux's escrow thread here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=631008.0) clearly states the process he will go through to act as an escrow:

It says communication will be via forum PMs, not via emails. It says he will ask for confirmation from all parties. It says he will provide a PGP signed message with instructions. None of these things were true in your case.

It's a good catch on the missing "i" form the email, but you should never have been in this position in the first place. 30 seconds spent reading the thread above would have alerted you to the fact this was a scam.

Thanks for bringing this kind of scammy activity into attention. This will help a couple of forum users from falling for such tricks... I usually don't take people who entirely use Telegram for business without me getting to know their bitcointalk profiles seriously.

It's so thoughtful of you to share this here.
I have also received email from an escrow services I never enquired about still surprised how they got my email address.
All I did was to trash the message immediately

The email you received from the scammer with his/her monbux.bitcontalk@gmail.com have a spelling error and grammar. Look at the spelling of seller which the scammer spell it as selleer. The scammers idea is to impersonate and use escrow services as some buyers or sellers want their transaction safe by using real escrow service.

Thanks for letting us know.
More escrows are abused by this method.
Dont let the buyer choose a escrow but let them pick one of your top 3 and you take care of the escrow contact part.

I have heard this type of scam very first time. No idea if somebody is already scammed by this method.
I will add this point in my guide that make user aware about  various prevalent scam (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2970157)

Seems like this discussion resurrected the owner of the escrow service by username monbux (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=133846/) the impersonator was trying to copy. He Is back online after several months of been offline. the last time he made a post before today was August 10, 2018 can someone head over to the thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=631008.msg49812895#msg49812895/) and verify the signature message he posted few hours ago. I'm not saying it isn't him but just trying to take precautions to prevent a case of account hacking since user positive feedback is very high.

Open a chat with me @GrumpyKitty; that way you will stay safe from all the usual nonsense (fake emails, fake TG accounts, etc.).

---

This method isn't new FYI.

Yep, he came online just to reply to your post after some time without any activity.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions and say that his account his hacked, though. His PGP signature seems to check out, and there isn't anything more than the fact that he has just been inactive for a while off the forum. It's just that since he's not as active scammers are more likely to take advantage and impersonate him.

The fact is that this isn't a particularly new scam, and I think it's been around for years. Spoofed emails are quite common, and usually Gmail filters them to the spam folder but this sometimes fails. It's a reason why signed messages are important to verify legitimacy of the person before you send any funds, especially with escrow.

That's the problem with showing other modes of contact outright, with these you will be targeted by a lot of people who will want to remain hidden from Bitcointalk. So maybe the next time you will sell something in the marketplace the best thing you can do is mention that you are only interested in talking via PM or if they want to get your TG they can ask it via PM. Rank restricting your trade is also helpful as people who may be using farmed accounts will try using their main account to contact you.