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Debt has been fully repaid and then some as of 7/19/2014.  Thank you BurtW and I hope that all is well with you Phinnaeus Gage aka ~Bruno Kucinskas.

Proof of repayment.

Payment from Burt W -

https://blockchain.info/tx/85ccd860bb65b9c0283b96afecd15d887a0c5d23272e95d50b592042ba1ce1c1

Additional payment received with public note "ROI on $2,800, with apologies." -

https://blockchain.info/tx/32cd9e5c707563ccf476296a4447ed90c0687aa3607e1469c46f58e2e35873a2

Was it a loan request? Is there a reference thread to read?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=557683.0

I purchased this miner from PG and when it arrived it was badly damaged. PG apologized profusely and promised to make everything right and filed a claim with UPS and Sandwich Parcel (the store that packaged and shipped item ). After fighting with UPS and Sandwich parcel for the last 2 months I was able to get claim approved but with PG  as the original shipper it had to be paid to him who would then have to reimburse me. I spoke to PG the day the claim was approved (6/10/2014) and he confirmed that all was well and once he received the check I would get my money back. On 6/16/2014 PG picked the check up from Sandwich parcel and promptly disappeared.

I call daily and have left multiple voice mails for PG since 6/16/2014 without a single reply from him, before the check was released to him he always answered or called back same day. I have PM's to back the majority of this, Sandwich Parcel can back the rest of what I have stated.

Maybe the Bitcoin Foundation has taken care of him?

With concrete galoshes?

That is the really sad part to me, he seemed to be a solid contributing (although a little over zealous at times) member of this community and plenty of people would have paid him more than this amount for him to dissappear and quit posting, maybe I should charge bfl, amt, etc for this service.

I will be filing criminal charges for fraud and theft on Mr Kucinskas tomorrow.

This is kind of shocking to me that he has gone silent for so long.

Someone else, somewhere on this forum, claimed that he was on holiday.

By the way, I noticed on his profile, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24792 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24792)


That is almost exactly three years (plus one day, two hours, 59 minutes and 41 seconds).  Coincidence?

To be honest.. some of his threads.. like the one where he was owed 1000+ BTC but couldnt find any sort of TXID......

I had also issues with USPS (I ordered a leather wallet from him). It never showed up, although it was sent (the post office in Belgium made a mistake).
After a long discussion with the company, they couldn't reimburse me and eventually, PG just sent a new wallet to me, for free (I only paid shipping). It is a great guy.

Don't know what happened, but he is certainly NOT a scammer. I hope that nothing bad happened to him.

I believe you would feel differently you were in my position. We will see what the authorities have to say, but I am very confident at this point that this is not just some kind of misunderstanding.

I'm half and half on this, but why would you ask where he is if... I dunno. He has the most posts on this forum? I'm sort of confused. Plus, he lives in Sandwich, IL. I know. I've been there.  ::)

I perfectly understand that you want your money back (or at least able to speak to him) but he is a public figure. Everybody knows his name and address. he even was on let's talk bitcoin speaking on charity Bitcoin 100

I would be VERY surprised if he somehow tried to scam someone.

I think something else is going on. Maybe he had a car accident or something. I really hope nothing bad happened to him.

He has the most posts on this forum, but has not logged in since picking up the insurance check for my damaged miner, seems very coincidental hence the questioning of where he is. I am very aware of his address and have contacted authorities in Sandwich, IL.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24792

I agree which is why I gave it so long before posting here or contacting authorities on the matter. I spoke to Bruno multiple times about more than Bitcoins and found it very hard to believe that he would scam me for 2800 dollars, but the timing of his disappearance with the release of the check for the insurance check are just too close to me to feel any other way at this point.

I would also be nervous if 2800 USD was at stake.

I also talked to him about other things. The deal was 6 months ago finalized. It was only 200 USd at stake, not 2800, but he seems a very friendly person.

I have now sent and email to the bitcoin 100 charity asking of they know what happened with him. But this is also not looking good:
http://bitcoin100.org/contact/

Maybe he has an illness or a depression and isolated himself. But that would not explain that he doesn't finish what he started and he would give you the money in that case.

I hope we will know something asap.

edit: got a response from bitcoin 100:

evidence?

I have posted link to thread where miner was auctioned off and details of the issues, what other proof would you like me to post?

Do you think he is away for the world cup? The world cup ends today, so he could be back in a few days...

If he is in a foreign country, he might be reluctant to answer a roaming call. Have you tried texting him (sms)? Ask him to text a simple message back, like a return date or something.

He is from America.  Not sure where people fail to see that.

In a community where scamming is as common as dirt, it's nice to see that users give other users the benefit of the doubt. But it seems very coincidental that the user disappeared right after he received and cashed the check.

OP, you're way more patient than I would be in your circumstances. Hope everything works out for you.

So ... photos of the 'damage', pics of the 'claim' form, 'emails' or w/e evidence from Sandwich Parcel lol. Did the cheque get paid?

Wow, a new intriguing theory: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=150803.msg7841818#msg7841818 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=150803.msg7841818#msg7841818)

I didn't quite understand what that forum post was trying to say? could you explain? I really thought PG was a honest man and a pretty trusted member of the community and normally tried to help people get their money back from scammers. Especially against BFL.

they are saying the guy in the other thread is PG.

It's PG's new account, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=349097 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=349097), he quickly left this one btw, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=346288 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=346288)

What makes you say so? The style of the posts looks quite different to me. 

And how does one "quickly" leave an account?

look at his first posts and work your way up, see who are his subjects, you'll get it. Or not.

Come on, make an academic guess.

User @Phinnaeus_Gage had >20000 posts (in fact he was by far the most prolific poster in this whole forum).  Could you be more specific, please?  :P

Of late, PG was poking into the life of Brock Pierce and the people conencted to him.  That is hardly a peculiar interest, given that BP is now at the helm of the Bitcoin Foundation.  (In fact, I am puzzled by the community's lack of interest about BP's career and connection.) I saw one post of @Gleb_Gamow  on that topic.  Is that the evidence you are referring to?

I don't see the reason why PG would abandon his old account and post under new ones.

Because he took my 2800 dollars and does not want to give it up, if he continued to post under his old account he would have to answer here for his actions but by creating a new account he can continue on his rants and not be disturbed by people calling him a scammers and thief.

Some of us publicly resigned from the foundation on their forums over this nomination.

Wow, I almost bid on that.

Very mysterious.

Indeed, and you deserve much applause and respect for that.  But generally that seems to have been ignored.

Actually I was not thinking to his past troubles with the law, which one could even pretend that are no longer relevant.  Methinks that bitcoiners should worry about his creation and management of IGE, that cornered the game money market, and the way he got "elected" to the board of drectors (is he president?) of the Bitcoin Foundation -- even though his previous activity in the bitcoin scene seems to have been very small. Will he try to do with bitcoin what he did with game money?  Is Realcoin the first step in that direction?

This is him.
Usage of the "TBC" acronym (I don't know what it means, which is why I searched for it on the forums - it's rarely used, and by him.)
Usage of a space in the username, which is also rare; most people are trained to use no spaces in usernames as they are often refused.
I don't know or care about the guy, but anyone connected to Thermos or BFL is highly suspicious in my book. He's both.

I've been reluctant to chime in here since all I can offer is my personal opinion and some anecdotes but I sincerely doubt Bruno Kucinskas aka Phinnaeus Gage has recently posted here under another account. The previous instances of sock puppet use were due to temporary bans and he didn't try very hard to mask his identity. I do see why one might think theses other, more recent accounts may be him but, if so, he is doing a much better job of obfuscating who he really is.

Regarding the original scam accusation, PG has several times left me hanging, expecting responses to PMs that never materialized. Each time, it seemed to be simple absent mindedness on his part since they were only informal discussions without much, if any, BTC at stake and he did respond when prodded. In this case, I believe the likeliest explanation is that he forgot about this before he went offline (remember when he claimed to have forgotten where he hid a large amount of money in his house?). This is still inexcusable and I don't fault the OP at all for taking actions to retrieve what is rightfully his. I don't think it's necessary to attribute his disappearance to some convoluted scheme, however.

How would this explain his sudden refusal to accept a phone call from me or return a voice mail when less than a week before (before insurance claim was paid) he always answered or returned calls same day.

I'm nearly 100% certain that his disappearance had nothing to do with the OP's ~$2800, or whatever.

You're talking about a guy who has a long history of hunting down the type of people that do what you are accusing him of, and exposing them. A guy who has made no effort to disguise his personal identity or motivations. He has also been entrusted with far more money than that by other forum members and moderators, and made many indications that his own personal dealings involve far greater sums of money. His frequent posting on these forums demonstrate that being a member on bitcointalk is a big part of his daily life. His forum identity alone could be sold for more than $2800. He's a smart dude, and there's no way that all of his effort over the course of the last few years was so that he might capitalize on one person's trust in a minor transaction (relatively speaking) and then abandoning it all. I can see how it makes sense to the victim, but there's just no way.

I'm sincerely hoping he's on vacation, because the alternative explanations are not good.

I agree with pretty much everything you have wrote which is the reason that I have been so patient on this, at this point I feel there is really no other valid reason for this other than he is ripping me off.

You wrote "his sudden refusal to accept a phone call from me", but a more accurate description of the facts  may be "no one is answering the phone at his home,".  Is that so?

He's put his info out there waayyy tooo many times to count for this to NOT be something else like a personal emergency.  I wish someone could verify his health/well being.  IIRC he was not a young guy (no offense PG) and he could be in the hospital somewhere.  I wish we had some local BTC folks out within the Sandwich IL area to confirm if he's in a hospital or at least okay.   

That is correct, although it is a cell phone and not a home phone. I do believe that the timing points toward fraud, but do admit that there is a possibility that PG has not purposely detained my funds which is the reason that I did not call him out as a scammer in the op.  I posted in this section of the forum as it seemed to be a section that he frequented and did seem to fit the subject matter better than other sections of this site.  

On another note, the "period" at the end of my last comment was meant to be a "." and not the word period,  I was using voice to text on my phone for that post. I will edit now to reflect this and I believe it changes the harshness of the message slightly.

I feel like somebody as well know as PG was in this and other communities most likely would have been reported somewhere if this were related to a health or other personal emergency. Regardless this has been turned over to authorities who will most certainly report back quickly if this ends up being health or other personal emergency related. I will update thread with any new developments as they happen (as legally allowed).

Tell you what, I am so certain that PG is not a scammer that I will personally back him on this.

I know you have been very patient.  Let's wait for a few more days.  I really would like someone to go check on him.  I fear something may have happened to him.

If this does not shake out in a couple more weeks (exact time TBD) I will pay the amount in BTC or cash directly to you and get the money back from him when he comes around.

We can work out the details by PM.  I will need to see all the personal communications etc. before I pay you - and that is kind of a hassle - so lets wait a bit more, see if someone can check on him, etc.

But you will get paid.

Edit:  sounds like you have sent someone (LE) to check on him so let's see what happens there.

Anyone live near him?

I have contacted his local police and spoke to a detective in Sandwich, IL who was going to confirm that PG was who and lived where he claimed, I have not filed any sort of charges yet and would be willing to discuss your offer in pm before doing so if you truly wish to.

I have no problems providing any communication between PG and myself relating to this matter.

Do you think that he knew that it was you calling? (E. g. because you had called him from the same phone before.)  Have you tried calling him from a phone that he cannot recognize as yours?

Has anyone else tried to call him?

If he is not answering *any* calls, then other explanations seem much more likely.

I have always called from the same number, one he definitely knows is mine as he would answer with my name whenever I called. I have also left multiple voice messages asking him to update me on the situation.

I'm really starting to fear we will have a RIP thread soon  :'(

I hope he will post something in the next few days...

He didn't ditch this forum over $3,000.

Please do let us know if you hear anything from him.

I liked that guy and I regret ever being rude to him.

Hard to truly stick up for anyone in the cryptocurrency world, but I feel confident in saying this is not like Bruno. I have done several transactions with him and worked with him on the charities he runs. Scamming is the antithesis of his actions, imo. I am sure it will all get resolved soon. I believe I have his current number, I will try giving him a call tomorrow to find out if he is ok.

Hang in there, OP.

Is it possible he likes the attention of being missing ?
some people are like that. some of you are getting abit carried away.
people live lives, maybe he has stuff going on. albeit not like him.

just wait for a few more days i really hope that he is ok
can someone send me a pm of his number hen i will try to call him right now to check if he will answer the phone

I have talked to him.  He is OK.  He is not at home right now.  He admitted that he does owe the money and appologized for ignoring you.

PG and I are working on a deal to get the debt paid.

Stand by.

thank you for looking into this and giving an update for me. I truly hope that everything is okay with him, I really just want this to be settled and do not wish anything bad on anyone.

good to know that he is still kicking  :)

great news :)

I liked PG and I found him amusing and useful.

However, to be honest this makes him sound like a scammer, though perhaps he is now reconsidering walking away with the money.

Unless there is a very good excuse (hospitalization, for example), it is sad to see a reputable member pull the take-the-money-and-disappear routine.

Just got off the phone with him and this will all be taken care of in the next day or so.

Hard to imagine someone fleeing his home and risk being chased by the police for 2800 dollars.   Unless more instances turn up, I don't think it is reasonable to call him a scammer.

BTW, he once told us that his business is to buy old barn wood and sell it to decorators and other people who wnat a 'rustic' look.

I don't know about fleeing his home, but he clearly did cut off contact from the guy to whom he owed the money (and did indeed risk being chased by the police because supposedly a complaint was filed with the police), until contacted by another third party and apparently convinced to pay the money.

So whether it is hard to imagine or not, it happened (if OP is to be believed).

But as I said I don't rule out other possibilities such as being in the hospital or something along those lines.

BurtW has been in contact with Phinnaues Gage (Bruno Kucinskas) and has brokered a deal where BurtW will pay me 4.53821656 BTC ($2850 @ $628 per BTC) to the address 1Lo3F2oD8hoh5Bs8tHPmfkZnWuZtW2Jrvz which I control.  Once 4.53821656 BTC has been received at address 1Lo3F2oD8hoh5Bs8tHPmfkZnWuZtW2Jrvz I will consider the debt from Bruno Kucinskas (PG) to be paid in full to me.    

My partner spoke with PG in person at the Chicago BTC Conference, hes still alive folks

Done:

https://blockchain.info/tx/85ccd860bb65b9c0283b96afecd15d887a0c5d23272e95d50b592042ba1ce1c1

so whats cracking with him no longer hanging around in here? moving on? loading up on some more badass stories? ;D

Thank you BurtW.  I have received the payment,  this debt is now paid in full to me.

So, he is well... Why isn't he the one who is paying back OP and offer some sort of reason why he has disappeared? That will help to clear his name. He has a reputation to uphold here.

Where is the mining equipment?

I have always had the miner but it is badly damaged and does not work.

It appears that PG has sent me an additional 0.20783344 BTC to the address listed above with the note "ROI on $2,800, with apologies.".  This was not necessary as it was not part of the agreement made with BurtW for repayment of this debt but it is appreciated for the hassle of everything. 

For what it is worth I found PG to be a very genuine and likable guy when he was speaking to me,  I do not know what happened to cause this particular situation but I have no hard feeling and really hope that everything is OK with PG.

Seems like without BurtW ringing things might not of ended so positively. I'm sure everyone is like he's just busy blah blah blah.. but the fact is he owed someone money and that should of been his priority. We don't need a huge review of where he was, what he was doing.. but yeah he should at least apologize to OP privately.

This does seem to be the first questionable thing he's done that I can remember since I have been here.. so everyone makes mistakes.. Move along, nothing to see here I guess :p

He did apologize by sending the extra BTC.  Knowing his vast posting history I expect he will eventually post on the subject.  I do not justify his ignoring the debt in the past but this weekend he is very busy at the Bitcoin conference.  We shall see.

I can confirm that Bruno is attending the Chicago conference (I haven't seen him yet today but spent time with him yesterday). He admitted to me that the fault was all his and he is very embarrassed by it all. I also am sure he will eventually return to the forum in his usual capacity and I glad BurtW was able to help bring this situation to a satisfactory end. The details are none of my business, no matter how entertaining they might be.

I know it has already been worked out, but I just wanted to say this is a very bold statement right here. It shows a lot of trust in the guy. After you confirm he is still ok, then it would make a bit more sense to offer this, however you took all liabilities and wasn't even sure if he was dead on the streets or not.

Glad everything worked out in the end, and I'm also curious to know the story behind this disappearance.

Rumor has it that he didn't attend the conference today because he's slightly under the weather due to something he ate (most likely, given the symptoms). Rumor also has it that he had lunch yesterday with edd and Rassah, leaving early to go home, but stopping at a polish deli to stock up on sausages, et al. perhaps upon eating such added to his/my discomfort.

Pretending  ;) for a moment that this account is indeed owned by Bruno (don't tell theymos  ::)), he wishes to formally apologize to ccollectables for the misfortune, sans going into any details as to why such occurred. ccollectables can also keep the miner hoping that he's able to salvage any value from it, adding to the ~$132 sent to him. Ironically, he's now probably the only person who has successfully ROIed off purchasing an AMT miner.

Peace.

PS:


Embarrassment!

Hey bruno, why did you have to make a new account? Are you on temp ban or something? You've been posting from that account for almost a month too.

So, sausages was the reason for missing the conference. Dam them hotdogs.

It is good to see PG is alright and that this debt was taken care of.

Was there any reasoning for his absence?

Meaning what? The story as told is that an insurance claim was filed and paid out, but the money was kept instead of being handed over to the buyer. Is that what happened and if so why?

That's what happened. Why? To buy sausages.

$2800 worth of sausages is a lot of sausages.
some one work out how many pounds that is based on current sausage price ?

what is the ratio of sausage to bitcoin ?

I think this type of pricing information will be available in a year or two via a working, automated decentralized exchange.

You will be able to generate a SAUSAGE/BTC quote on the fly even if there are no current orders for that particular trade pair out there by combining your order with a bunch of pre-existing orders that involve either sausage or BTC.

My favorite example when talking about an automated asset exchange is being able to trade bacon for L.A. Lakers tickets.

Has anyone else been in touch with PG ?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=620267.0


:o
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=624279.0

Is it just me or does it seem like he was abruptly interrupted. ???

Wait gage came back and paid off his debt well that's good
I guess he is around neat not sure why he doesn't use his main though.

This user seems to be him, or someone similar and close:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=349097
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=349097;sa=showPosts

He has about 3-4 accounts if I am following other threads correctly and possibly more.
Whats this about throwing some chick off a building.... ?

I read the other thread.
Why are people scared of Brock ? He looks like a pussy. I am confused.

Bitcoin land is full of strange things these days, but Phinnaeus Gage scamming someone would be even more puzzling than fonzie turning bullish on bitcoin (what he did, or at least claims to have done)
What is it about the Riddler in that other thread?

the debt is already paid and the issue has already been done i think OP should lock or delete this thread now cause there is no point of people keep coming here talking about the same thing over and over again :D
cheers to burtw who sorted thing out

He built a billion-dollar company (IGE) by cornering the virtual videogame currency market.  In that time he built connections in China and other places.  He has long (and successful) experience fighting the law.  In just a few months he pushed his way from almost non-entity in botcoinland to to the board of directors of the Bitcoin Foundation. 

Methinks that those items in his CV make him a more formidable player than anyone else in the community, including Andreessen, Silbert and the Winke Bros.  His launching of heretical Realcoin, without a beep from the Foundation or the bitcoin media, may be a sign of things to come. If I were a bitcoiner, I would be worried.

I vote that the thread remains unlocked so that PG can have his say if/when he decides to.

Fyi.. the OP's $2800 is peanuts compared to this..

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587261.0

PG looks to have already had his say in this thread using one of his alternate accounts

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=349097

Bruno walks the Earth. ;D

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24792
Last Active:  July 19, 2014, 06:23:18 PM

Lock maybe. Delete no. The event happened. It is puzzling and not fully explained, but it shouldn't covered up in any case.

As mentioned in this very thread I talked to him on the phone and several people saw him at the Chicago conference.

"The reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated."

Hmm "embarrassment" wasn't as exciting an explanation I was hoping for...

Can we keep pretending Brock Pierce hired an army of goons/lawyers to harass our P.G., forcing him "to move underground and off-grid"?

I like that better, more drama, and we all know how much Bitcoiners love drama.

Months ago I paid a debt for Bruno (aka Phinnaeus Gage and Gleb Gamow) and took over his Phinnaeus Gage account as collateral for the loan.

That loan has now been paid in full so I will be transferring the Phinnaeus Gage account back to Bruno's control.

BurtW

I really admire your professionalism BurtW. I love people like you, I wish more people would speak in a professional tone and maintain a good integrity as you do.

BitcoinDistributor