I think a high ranking, green trusted, DT2 member tried to scam me this past Thursday, but I don't really have definitive proof.

The Other Member (lets call him TOM,) sent me a PM asking me to connect with him on Telegram, which I did.  The discussion was about a prospective loan client who wanted a loan that TOM was unable to fill.  He asked if I could fill it, and since collateral was offered, I agreed to do so.  TOM started a discussion with the client, and then things got weird.  At some point it struck me that this might be a phishing attempt, but I continued along because I wasn't 100% sure (and I'm curious.)

TOM and the client wanted me to send the bitcoin to TOM's address first, which was to be followed by by the collateral being sent to me.  Then TOM was to forward the loan to the client.  This was a deal breaker for me, there was no way I was going to send first but I tried to appease the client by pointing him to  my lending thread, providing a PGP signed message including the collateral address, and message signed with the address holding the coin.  I even sent dust to the address TOM provided, to prove I had the coin.

About that address; I asked TOM to send me a signed message on the forum with the address to which I was supposed send the bitcoin.  He sent me an address on Telegram, ignoring my requests to send it through the forum and include a signed message.  The request for a signed message was made and ignored three times.  The address had never been used before, and of course no reference to that address was found in a google search.  Shortly after that I backed out.

I have exported the discussions from Telegram, but as you know these could easily be faked or modified which is why I say I don't have definitive proof.  Of course I did not modify them, and I have them stored in a way that may help some day.

Once I started getting uneasy about the scenario it occurred to me that TOM's account might have been hacked, and it was possible the hacker sent me the original PM.  There are no recent password changes on TOM's account, but hackers have been known to sneak into people's accounts, and send PMs to unsuspecting member phishing for a scam.  So I gave TOM the benefit of the doubt.  I sent my own PM to TOM, pretending that I lost his Telegram address, and asked that he resend it.  The next morning I found a reply from TOM confirming the same Telegram address with which I had the discussion the previous night.  This isn't to say that the account has not changed hands, or been hacked, but it does seem to confirm that whoever is in control of TOM's account is the same person I communicated with on Telegram Thursday.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a he-said/they-said drama by claiming some one is a potential scammer if I'm just being sensitive.  And I certainly don't want to ruin someone's reputation if I'm wrong.  But, most critically, If my hunch is right I don't want this guy scamming someone if I could do something about it.  There were a lot of red flags during the discussion, and it behooves us all the recognize them.


1) Don't trust someone's rank.
2) Don't go by trust scores, verify their ratings and reasons behind them.
3) Insist on critical information be sent here on the forum, where you can verify and prove the contact.
4) Insist on signed messages if you are to send first in any trade.
5) Just because someone appears trustworthy here, doesn't mean they will be outside the forum.

One of my favorite jobs was working R&D for an old American company; all the prints had both!  Legacy molds and dies, modern structures.  Meh, I've been doing the conversions in my head for 25 years now.  Besides, this is 'Merica, Jack!


And mics are for machinists.    That's when you start really confusing people, when you work with both systems, use the "microns" for metric, and "mics" for inches.


Thanks man, I might take you up on that.  If I do I'll redesign the coin with machining rather than molding in mind.

Hi Devawnm367,
Thanks for the request, approved and sent. 

Please pay back here: 348XXjbpXwg37JYd8knLnHRSMajLbteSbJ

TxId: f775bf6a5dafdcb040ff0f4586bf6e70bfd0dab6e1f23591e45dea52e35dffd5

Hi finaleshot2016,
Partial payment has been received, thank you.  Since you've made a payment, the amount owed will be reduced.  As of today, the principal and interest added up to 0.008746.  After this payment your outstanding balance is 0.003526.  If you pay back on the 23rd the amount due will be 0.003632.  

Thanks again, and have a great day.

Import private key: No transaction is generated.  All the coins are still in that address, but now you can manage them through Electrum.

Sweep private key: A transaction is created that sweeps all the currency from the key(s) into an address in your current wallet.

Like TryNinja said; If you have a wallet backed up by a seed phrase, and then import a key, that key is not backed up by the seed phrase.  The currency on those imported keys is not backed up by your seed phrase.  If you ever needed to restore your wallet from seed, you would have to import the key again to access it's contents.  If you sweep the key all the coins are moved to your current wallet, and therefor backed up by the seed.

It allows you to input private keys from another wallet and create a transaction to "sweep" all the bitcoin from those keys, and send them to your current wallet.

Hello Questat,
Thank you for choosing me as your lender.  Your request is approved and funded, the transaction hash is below.  The interest rate for your loan is 10% per month, the amount due is 0.011 on the 14th of December.

Please pay back to this address: 348XXjbpXwg37JYd8knLnHRSMajLbteSbJ

TxId: 8cb240feb8c05ecd76911ca017b8bc2df96081829c828a5ef74b0f2b3b6c1147

Thanks again,
DW

Great, convincing arguments.

A PDF print-out of the page will include the whole page, not just the part that's visible on the user's screen.  It's just an effort to get the all the pertinent information.

I'm not trying to create an illusion of safety, especially for the guy accepting PayPal.  Any one who does accept PayPal ought to know the risks, and I won't fail to remind them of the risks.  But I do think I can prevent a situation like this from happening.  



Thank you grammar nanny.  A friend of mine at work has had to take on that roll for all of my Validation Reports.  

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Why should you trust me?
You shouldn’t.  Scrutinize my reviews (the ones I'v received and the ones I've left for others,) read a bunch of my posts, and make up your own mind if I'm to be trusted or not.  I’m just a semi-anonymous figure on the internet, but after some scrutiny you may decide to allow me to help you trade safely.

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Why am I offering my service for free?
I don’t want to work for free, but I will if it keeps just one person from being scammed.  I want to help bring bitcoin to the mainstream, I want the forum to feel like a safe place for traders, sellers, and buyers, and I want to thwart scammers before they have a chance.  My service is free, so there’s no reason not to use an escrow provider, there’s no excuse to get scammed.  It may cost you an extra transaction fee and a little extra time to coordinate the deal, but I won’t charge you a satoshi.

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What services do I offer for free?
Any trade between two individuals.  Physical or digital goods, currency exchanges, whatever you can think of that’s legal.  The more I know about what you’re trading the safer you will be (in case arbitration is needed,) but I don’t really need to know what you’re trading.  I will not provide escrow services for Bitcointalk.org account sales, services banned by the forum administrators, or any cloud service accounts, credits, or invites.

Currency exchanges involving reversible, fiat-based payment services like (but not limited to,) PayPal will not be accepted due the high risk of charge-backs.

Escrow services for advertising campaigns, bounties, games and rounds, and other businesses are available for a nominal fee.

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Coins that I can escrow:
Bitcoin and any coin compatible with a Trezor Model T hardware wallet.
For more esoteric coins I can set up a software wallet on an offline machine, but fees will apply.

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How it works:
The two parties come to an agreement on price, delivery, inspection period, and any other logistics that may relate to the trade.  Once the particulars are settled, I am contacted by PM with both parties included in a group discussion.  I will provide a unique address or addresses for your trade.  All addresses will be signed with my PGP key.

Once I share the address(es) with the party the buyer will send the payment.  The buyer will then share the transaction ID with the me and the seller.  Once the payment has been made the seller will deliver the item.  Any information relative to delivery (i.e. tracking numbers) will be shared.  Once the buyer has received and inspected the item, the payment will be forwarded to the seller.

Transaction fees will be deducted from the amount sent to the final recipient.  I will not be accountable for transaction fees.  Transactions will be sent with minimal fees, unless I am instructed otherwise.

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Communications:
All official communication will be conducted here on the forum.  Communication for trades may be held here in this thread, or through personal messages.  I will not communicate with anyone regarding escrow services outside the forum, unless previously agreed upon.  If members are unable to communicate effectively due to PM restrictions, we may move the discussion to a third party app, such as Keybase or Telegram, but all official communications will be made here on the forum.

I will never contact you to solicit my services.  If someone approaches you claiming to be me and offering escrow services, they are trying to scam you.  Be wary of impostors.  

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How to Contact Me:

Reply to this thread

• Forum Personal Message
• @direwolfm14:matrix.org - Matrix.org
• direwolfm - Keybase.io

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Tips are accepted:
If you feel like I’ve helped you I won’t object to a contribution.
Tip Jar: bc1qedhu5ecajuw24a4h5x3xw3r6rs0f5w84sdptpc

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Request a signed message:
If I send you an escrow address make sure it's signed with my PGP Key.
Fingerprint: 7EA88068A66DFBCC7CACBBEBE2E0A3A7EAB3CEA5

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Disclaimers:

Addresses:

• All cryptocurrency addresses provided through this service, and their affiliated private keys are the sole property of DireWolfM14.
• Private keys will not be shared or disclosed.
• DireWolfM14 claims no ownership of funds held through the service provided.
• For the purposes of a trade between two individuals the following policy will be observed:
• • The eventual recipient of any funds held through this service is considered to be the sole owner of the funds for the duration of time the funds are held in the escrow address.
• For the purposes of loan collateral escrow the following policy will be observed:
• • The client who deposited the funds into the escrow address retains ownership of the funds unless proven to have defaulted on the loan.
• • If a lender can prove the borrower defaulted on a loan, the lender will be considered the sole owner of the funds for the duration of time the funds are held in the escrow address.
• Any forked or air-dropped currencies resulting from funds held through this service belong to the owner of the funds.
• A fee may be charged for retrieval and dispersal of forked or air-dropped currencies.

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Edits:

Here is my full submission.  Again, I'm not an artist, so I used my skills to provide something visual.







Drawing in PDF
PGP Signature for PDF File

bc1q2nwf4njwkpeuyycx5a95nj6mf8m45djdk863xs

I'm sorry you got scammed, I wish there was some way to help you fix your issue.  But, there's no way you can prove that Podgor is the same guy that scammed you.  Podgor did warn of scammers impersonating him on Telegram, I quoted one of those posts above.

As for the screenshots I posted; don't bother trusting them.  Search Telegram yourself.

This is probably the guy who blocked you:

Here's another impersonator:

Here's Podgor:

I've never dealt with Podgor, I have no affiliation with him, I don't recall ever interacting with him on the forum, and I don't buy or sell gift cards.  In other words I have no dog in this fight.

I searched Telegram for user "AmazonBaiance" (note the search bar,) and here's what I found:




I also searched for user "AmazonBalance" and found another user that goes by the name "AmazonBalances" with the same front page as the one above:

Podgor has posted that he is @AmazonBalance on Telegram.

[Archive]


But I also found this:

[Archive]

Are you sure you were dealing with the same guy?  It's hard to tell from the screenshots.

Freedom of speech is not only worth a high cost, as eddie13 has said, it also pays dividends.  If wasn't for the freedom of speech that trolls enjoy, it would be harder to identify what despicable people they are.

If you're talking about some one who may be blackmailing a member to remove support for a scam-flag, he'll get his in the end.  It's no secret what happened, and it's only a matter of time before his actions are exposed.   

Have you tried sending the OP a private message?  Who are the other two participants that haven't been paid?

This thread was a mess from the get go.  The OP was multi-posting and had a few posts deleted.  There was no particular order or coherent policy for selecting participants.

Must be nice to live such a lavish lifestyle on some one else's dime.  Maybe you need to stop pretending your so rich and live within your means.  You may even be able to save enough to keep your business afloat, and possibly retire some day.  Just a thought.

Technically speaking, scamming people isn't against the (non-existent) "forum rules" either, but I doubt DarkStar_ would allow a proven scammer to remain on this campaign, even if he still had more positive than negative reviews.



I'm not one of those who red-tagged bill gator's account, but I do count myself as one of those who have a zero-tolerance policy for account sales.  It's a fraud from the word "go."  Having said that, I really felt bad for bill when he was removed from this campaign.  I think it was the right move for the health of the campaign, advertisers need to be trusted to be effective.

@OP, I'm sorry for your loss.  You should create a flag as well, here's the link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;addflag=949547

Zerbis sent me a PM on the 9th asking for a 0.025BTC loan.  When I rejected his request for a no-collateral loan he offered some shitcoin as collateral.  His trade history made me consider it, although briefly.  I rejected his request due to his activity, and the only exchange that has buy orders for that shitcoin is Yobit.

Due to his lack of recent activity and the amount he was asking for, I felt there was a strong possibility he was gearing up for an exit scam.  I hope I'm wrong, and he'll be back to compensate you for your loss.

Kinky.

If you have property you're better off going to a bank.  Most lenders here aren't in Brazil, so going to go through all the procedures and expenses of securing your property for a loan is impractical.