Bitcoin Forum

On Dec 30th, 2019, protrader786 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2718720) started a merit and BTC giveaway (contest) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5213689.0), where participants were supposed only to state a prediction about BTC value on Jan 31st, 2020, 12:00pm GMT.

The prize was 1 merit and 0.001BTC for the closest prediction.

Curiously, at some point, OP locked the thread.

The winner should have been Bazlu (who has the latest post inside the topic), who predicted a value of 9690$ for 1BTC. But he never received his prize. I asked him if he received the BTC, as I could see myself he didn't get the merit.


Even more curiously, protrader786 was never online since Jan 23rd, thus it was impossible to send the merit or the BTC. Bazlu didn't even have the chance to tell him the BTC address.

Besides, Bazlu himself wasn't online anymore since Feb 3rd, thus even if protrader786 would have wanted to send him the BTC, he would have been unable to. But that's another story. He could send the merit though.

What stopped me from opening a flag on protrader786's profile is the fact that he was not online anymore, thus he may not be a scammer. Maybe something happened to him and he couldn't get online (illness etc.). Of course, locking his topic might be a sign of scam, but maybe he did it to avoid the spam after registration part was finished.

What do you think about this curious case, where both the winner and the organizer suddenly disappeared?

With the word "winner", do you mean @Bazlu ? He is still connected/online. Although I do not know how this will change the story.
Try to send him a PM message, notification may be activated with new messages and thus you may get more answers.
Since @protrader786 is not connected, it is better to give a neutral feedback to make sure that he did not intend to scam others when he decided to create the game.

The winner didn't take too much effort to bring this case to the community's attention because the reward amount for that contest is pretty low.

But we have to make something clear,when protrader786 locked that thread? Ater 15 Jan or earlier?

If he did that early then he mentioned then he might deserve a tag or its just a coincidence that he didn't come online even before the time he mentioned.

When I wrote the topic Bazlu appeared as last being online on Feb 3rd. I see now he was online again today...

About protrader, I don't know when he locked the topic, as I didn't visit it daily. I just remember that about the end of Jan I was thinking what is up with that contest, where I also participated, and I looked for it. And then I saw it's closed.

I waited for an update from OP but, apparently, nothing happened yet, although the contest ended 15 days ago.

I'd say: let it be! If the supposed winner doesn't bother to complain, there's no need to dig it up.

I'm thinking the same, LoyceV.

However, if protrader will attempt other contests (deals) in the future, people are now aware that he may go offline (exit scam? :) ) again. At least those reading this topic.

Scam can be defined as legal/illegal but the move from prptrader786 is unethical behavior. He didn't scam anyone here.
However, a neutral feedback better for this case so that jo one in future waste their time in his words.

For that, you can leave neutral feedback. It's not as harsh as negative, and still leaves a reference for people to read.

Thx for the tip. I just did it.

I come back on this topic, as protrader786 just contacted me to inform me that he was offline for a long period of time, thus he was unable to deliver the prizes at the stated deadline. Besides, he also asked me to remove my neutral feedback. He awarded the merit to the winner, but not also the 0.001 BTC, as now the winner (Bazlu) is offline since April. I announced him that as soon as he'll pay also the rest of the prize I'll remove my feedback.

Besides, he also reopened his topic. As soon as he manages to finish the payment to the winner, I'll remove my feedback.

Update: protrader786 just made the payment of 0.001BTC to Bazlu, the winner of the contest. I removed the previous feedback, as things are all solved now. I am glad he managed to prove his trustworthiness.

Time to close the topic.