And now, for my final trick. Watch as I make 201.7 Bitcoins...disappear!   

M-of-N escrow. No single party. Even heavily trusted members, escrowers can drop the ball with single party escrow.

Multiple trusted parties with a majority vote allowing release of funds.

Yes, it is based on the same story. The person in the article was me.

The press reached out to me after seeing the police report filed. 
The reason I spoke with them was precisely so that the article would not be yet another cautionary tale against the perils and dangers of Bitcoin.

I wanted to be clear that the scamming occurred because of a trust-based error on my part, not because Bitcoin itself is inherently evil.

Things continue to move forward.
I understand why no-one else has publicly filed.

I filed in the UK. I was told they wouldn't move forward until I filed in the states.
I did that last week.

Of course, then the press catches wind of the story.
The whole process is like being dragged through the mud for a few miles.
I talked to them rather than saying 'no comment' - the last thing Bitcoin needs is another cautionary tale about the dangers of Bitcoin.

But it's moving forward.

Thanks to so many of you, I have all the data than I need.
I've got the legal entities involved.

Projects, David Williamson, will face justice.

As I understand it, the length of his sentencing will be determined in part on how much of the funds he defrauded he is able to return.

At this point, if and when I hit standstills, I will throw out-of-pocket money at this, in the form of private investigators and lawyers.

There was another user, jakedeez, I have been watching him as he goes after gonefishing.  I wouldn't mind having his help, the guy knows what sorts of things need to be done.

I hope you understand why I'm not posting tons of information publicly. Rest assured you'll all get an update once endgame has been reached. In the interim, you can continue to contact me privately if you were directly involved or have more information to share.

My experiences with gonefishing510 have been similar to nightowlace's.
I have not been scammed from him.
However, in trying to work out terms, he subtlely changed terms such that I would have lost out, had I not double checked history.
We finally came to a deal which involved him flying out to me.  I cleared my schedule for the weekend, and he cancelled.
I asked that we speak on the phone, which he was unwilling to do.

Once again, no concrete scams, but a lot of things that set off alarm bells.  Seeing at least two others voice concern, I felt I should share mine as well.

This crap is lose-lose. If he's an honest guy, then I just alienated someone I've helped out in the casascius market for the last few months (informationally speaking). If he's a scammer, well, then that's just more sign that trying to trade here is just too risky.

All this scam crap has me sick.

I filed a fraud report on Projects last Friday. So far, I have only received the automated "we have received your message".
When I asked them whether I should also contact the police, they told me it would be redundant based on the NFIB being part of the City of London police.

That said, I would be thrilled to find out other efforts were also underway to find this guy.
It seems he is either a very smart or a very stupid criminal, given how much real life information he has made available. If it represents his true identity, it seems like he should already be in jail.

Ideas I have seen generated include:
-lawyers
-one individual offered to convert his stolen 10 BTC into a gift if Projects returned the rest
-private investigators (I was given a URL for a PI in his town)

escrow.ms seems to be centralizing/leading the charge going forward (thank you!!!).

100% agreed. When I evaluated Mastercoin, it beat the competition for the following reasons:
-Internal support within the Bitcoin community.
-Massive funding advantage.
-The right features, done the right way.

In my view, the problem called out above overrides all those reasons, and puts the entire project at risk.
In the months since I have been invested, I have found myself less motivated and enthused day by day. That has nothing to do with the benefits above, and everything to do with the toxic culture permeating the project.  Projects do not, cannot succeed amidst such dysfunction.

I hope this is deemed an acceptable mastur-necro-bump.

Having two sets of the Beta BitBills (1/5/10/20 in each set), I figure it is time to defecate or dethrone. I sent the creator a message at support@bitbills.com and am awaiting an answer. I'll share anything I find out here.

Thanks, BCB.

I don't really want to rack up thousands in legal fees to chase money I probably won't get back anyway - I'm more interested in seeing the guy go to jail.
I'm sure that when people see "201.7 BTC" they assume I'm stinkin' rich. The reality is, I just bought in early, I've never cashed out any of my Bitcoin holdings, so thousands of dollars at this stage would still seriously impact my already-in-deficit budget.

I should at the very least explore the path, see what kind of costs are involved.  I'll think more on this over the weekend. I'll probably take this advice once I have a clearer head.

Truly - thanks to everyone for the advice and information. It's next to impossible to define and move forward on a path when you can't think straight.

BCB,

I live in Wisconsin, USA.

I've got enough preliminary information that I intend to file a fraud report today.

Where I see a UK-based person being far more effective is in attempts to actually locate the individual, perhaps be a resource to answer recurrent questions by the police, should they take the case, etc.

Someone in the last day mentioned a Florida address.  We don't know whether that information was part of the long con, or if he got in over his head, and shared some incriminating evidence about his escape plan.

If anyone has specific addresses, phone numbers, etc that are US-based, that may be a chaseable trail that I can provide to the authorities when I complete that form later today.

I spoke online with http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-a-fraud-including-online-crime today. She suggested I file there, as she implied this was fraud-based.
I will take pretty much all the advice you shared above, ffs. I have a few phone numbers for police contacts now, so I'll try a few of those today after getting the Skype credit and getting off work.

We have at least one physical address for shipment and some bank accounts, so presumably he will be findable.

I'm not too sure how to say this, but uhhh, I'm not sure I'm the best person to be pushing this forward. Right now all I want to do is lie down in a hole somewhere for a few weeks, or spew venom at the world.

Going forward...I'll share everything I did, once it is done. Presumably that will give others a clear path forward, to be able to stack their claims on. I would guess I'll have some contact information or a case number that I can give others via PM once things get moving forward.  If I don't reply to a PM and it's been a few days, please re-send, there's a very good chance I'll miss things right now.

I'll post again when I know more. It might be a few days. (I won't be cross-posting or taking any other actions other than those that are absolutely necessary. I try to live a pretty drama free life, and already had two crises on my plate before this one got added. I have neither time nor emotional room for any additional effort other than those absolutely necessary at this point. I would encourage anyone else interested in cross-posting, or getting the word out to do so.)

A huge, huge thanks to everyone that provided me with information up to this point to help move things forward.

gingpark,

he supplied me with likely-fake tracking numbers as well. They show as having been sent on 12/10 and arriving on 12/27, and sent on 12/12 and arriving on 12/19. Obviously, neither were sent to me. I ascribed it to shipping delays or errors amidst the holiday season, and completely bought his victim story.

An update on where things stand:

Thanks to the efforts of so many on this thread, I've compiled:
-Name
-Address
-Phone number
-Bank account data used in a fraudulent transaction tying to his identity
-Two emails

-ffssixtynine has sent an initial email putting me in contact with a lawyer.
-I have the phone number for Scotland Yard.

I don't currently have a means to call internationally. KCMining sent me some calling card information, and I'll work tomorrow on getting my iPhone configured to be able to use that, then will call and at least begin that process of informing the police.

I contacted Projects at both emails, left a text on his phone number, and left a 1 minute voicemail today after signing up for some international plan that had 2 minutes included free. I let him know we are rolling forward full steam ahead at this point, and requested he return the coins.

Ideally, we would have someone that lives in the UK spearheading this.  KCMining expressed a willingness to do this, but is currently stuck in the US.

Legal pursuit, foreign calls, and police interactions are all new things to me, so please bear with me. I don't hold out much hope of recovering mine or others' funds. If we engage on the legal route, I expect it would lead to either up-front fees or a significant cut of funds recovered.  At this point, it is more about justice, and I remain highly interested in pursuing this matter on the legal front.

I'm open to suggestions from others, and very willing to hand off any efforts to any other motivated parties.

At this point, thanks to the help of many of you, I have a name, address, and accounts used in the thefts.
As ffssixtynine mentioned, he's given me the name of a lawyer.

I'm willing to contact the police ASAP, I'm unsure of:
-Whether I should first wait to speak with the lawyer ffs has put me in touch with (I assume I should not wait), and
-Their phone number, and protocol. (I've never had to call police before in my own nation, much less in Scotland!)

If anyone cares to chime in on these subjects, or more helpfully, PM me the phone number of the Scotland police (bobbies? See - I'm gonna look like a foreigner tool talking to them!), I'd be grateful.

It's not much, but one of my trusted contacts that lives in the UK has offered to put us in touch with a good lawyer, and suggested we gather up the bank account information and contact the police as soon as possible.  He is currently on vacation, and I want to respect his identity, but best case, he'll post here with information/offers soon.

(And yes, he has probably fled, but if we have bank account information, we know his identity, and we should have a good chance of finding him.  Enough that it's worth the effort, and contacting authorities, anyway.)

TL; DR - He has scammed me out of 201.7 BTC.

Oh, God no. This is supremely embarassing to admit - I neeeeever make mistakes like this. Except this time.  He has wiped out over a year of trading and collectible work, done at the expense of my family, in one fell swoop.

12/9 - 84 BTC
12/10 - 63.334 BTC
12/11 - 54.366 BTC

He claimed to need funds urgently to buy some mining gear, and sold me some casascius coins he was otherwise going to have to open for face value.
Normally I would never, ever, ever send first. But like so many of you, his long and strong reputation persuaded me otherwise.

I agreed to keep the matter private until there was clear resolution. He gave me tracking numbers. I got nervous when the first updated to be listed as 'Arrived' yet I did not receive it. Then the second.  I held out hope that the intermediate shipping company had received it and there was a shipping delay due to the holidays.

I've got all the PM correspondence, as well as the correspondence by emails when we shifted to that.

On 12/27, when I asked for details about his follow-up with RoyalMail, he went silent.

The email address he used to communicate with me: projectsbtc@fastmail.co.uk
His claimed name: David Williamson

Wachtwoord, are you coordinating this effort? If not, is someone else?  I'm happy to provide any and all communications if they can help.

It looks like I should begin with filing another SCAM report here. Anyone with more information, please shoot me a PM.

I had some sells around 0.5, but after seeing www.Doge-Dice.com come up this morning, I moved 'em up to 1.00.

It now holds 5% of all the Doge out there. Unreal.

I'll get in on that action too. $576 isn't going to crack itself.

When did hell freeze over???

I'll buy 10M for 1.6, Scrappy. First transaction was so great, let's do another.
Awooooooooo!