Maybe... 600x increase !!

but in this case the scammer would have to handle the money and is traceable to his paypal. I'd assume the reason MITM is done is to be practically untraceable, especially as BTC is anonymous

ill take that as a compliment ^^
It's not my site but the dev was giving me 10% of his income to promote it so i thought I may aswel

[Mods if this is in the wrong place please move it appropriately, if it is in the right place please delete this text ^^]

There has been an increase in Man In The Middle attacks (herein known as MITM) which are sorely affecting multiple users - both the buyer, seller and also new comers to #Bitcoin-OTC. The attacks seem to go as such:
Buyer = buyer of btc, Seller = seller of btc
Fakebuyer = scammer buying and Fakeseller = scammer selling

SCAMMER creates two IRC accounts on #bitcoin-otc
Fakebuyer and Fakeseller both belong to SCAMMER

---

1--Fakebuyer arrives on IRC looking to buy coins at a great, above the market rate. Seller falls in to the trap.
2--Fakeseller arrives, looking to sell at a great below market rate. Buyer will likely fall in to the trap.
3--Fakeseller comes to a deal with Buyer; Fakebuyer comes to a deal with Seller .
4--Seller will give Fakebuyer the Paypal address to send payment to. Fakeseller will give this PP address to Buyer, who sends payment to that PP address
5--Seller receives the money believing it is from Fakebuyer. So releases the bitcoins to Fakebuyer.
6--SCAMMER logs both Fakeseller and Fakebuyer from IRC. His work is done and he has effectively stolen and laundered money in to bitcoin.
....later...
7--Buyer realises he has been scammed and issues a charge back on Seller, thinking it is Fakeseller.
8--Seller sees this and thinks that Buyer is a scammer.
9--End of story, Buyer and Seller think each other are scammers when in fact the scammer hit them both, they should then go to the #bitcoin-court to resolve the issue infront of the tribunal.

---

Both events 1,2 occur concurrently. So the thing to look out for is someone is buying at a great rate while another is selling at a great rate. Both users will likely be unrated although there may be hijacked usernames. Use ;;getrating and ;;ident to check.
Remember - if the price is too good, it is probably a scam. If they are a seller and selling below BTC Exchange rates then chances are it is a scam.
If the trade doesn't feel right, use an escrow service such as clear coin or ask a trusted member of -otc to act as escrow. Or do not trade with the person at all. There are other buyers and sellers and exchanges such as MtGox, BCM, Britcoin ...

Here are some logs of real scams:
A Fakebuyer -- http://pastebin.com/JTnDZxdZ
If you have any more logs or think I should add anything to this post let me know.

a)  As LobsterMan said, ;;ident and ;;getrating are not necessarily good indicators. Checking the ;;trust rating _{(I have no idea what this is btw)} and getting an email from the Paypal address you are buying from / selling to may also help.
b)  Be wary if you're being stalled for no reason by the buyer or seller
c)  Never EVER send Bitcoin first. It is a one way payment and can not be charged back. It is best to receive payment first or simply not to use Paypal at all.


Bitraider,
_{RaidinYoBits since 2011
Donate: 1H8dJCwrvKQN2eBztuR9L26sssEE8YeqZr}

http://botcoin.com

How does it work??
Everyone choses a number between 1 and 10 million (0.5btc/number) when signing up, a random number is generated and the person who chose the number closest to the generated number wins! If two or more people are at the same distance from the number or hit the number exactly, the jackpot will be split amongst them. Every day the server is reset and you may start all over again! The server locks down, finds the winner(s), and resets at 3 AM (GMT).

The jackpot will scale with the number of users who have signed up and sent the 0.5btc. It scales immediately.

For more info and to contact the creator visit http://botcoin.com  or ask "picci" in IRC.
_{(If picci isn't online, speak to me [bitraider] and i will tell him to log in)}

Jackpot at time of writing: 1.2BTC

does that hosts change work, realnowhereman?
because i have muchlots tied up in britcoin