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1  Economy / Trading Discussion / Selling BTC via Venmo? Is this a scam? on: January 25, 2016, 10:52:02 PM
Long time lurker, first time poster.

I've been approached by someone who I'm a little suspicious of... wanted to lay things out here for everybody.

  • The Patriots lose yesterday, so I list my Super Bowl tickets on StubHub and Craigslist. On CL I mention that I'll take cash, cashier's check, PayPal, or Bitcoin.
  • Someone e-mails asking me to text them - saying that they're interested in buying them.
  • We have a quick conversation, agree that he would pay for the Super Bowl tickets over Venmo, which sounds fine to me.
  • He then asks about BTC - he asks if I have any to sell. I say that I've never sold anyone BTC before but I'd be willing to listen.
  • He says he'll pay 12.5% over market for them. I ask why. He says he's maxed out on Coinbase deposits and that (direct quote) "I'm currently in Albany and have little to no access to bitcoins. I'm maxed out on coinbase currently ($2500). But what i do is resell these coins over seas and make roughly 22.5% above spot. I always have customers which is why I can pay 12.5% and not have much risk on my hands if price falls"
  • I tell him that it will take some time to transfer BTC around to a wallet so that I could do that. While I'm waiting for those transfers, I find two articles: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1l1tfr/thoughts_on_venmo/ /1F2sktx]http://[Suspicious link removed]/1F2sktx
  • I share the Slate article with the buyer and express that I'm iffy on using Venmo for this transaction. He says it's all he can really use for something this size.
  • I ask him if he would be willing to share his driver's license, etc. before doing the deal - he says he would be happy to.

Looking for the opinions of the community on this one.

Questions:
  • Should I do the deal?
  • Do I really gain any protection by knowing his identity (via drivers license, making sure the SB tix shipping info matches, etc.)?
  • Is there any protection that I have since it sounds like the BTC are going Coinbase to Coinbase? I assume that it would be easy for him to just go ahead and transfer it away from his Coinbase as soon as he received them...

I'm no dummy - I know this sounds a little sketchy - but I'm having trouble moving these tickets and of course, would love to make 12.5% on the BTC deal.

Is there any way for me to do this deal with 99%/100% confidence? I will have his name, driver's license, phone number (we've been communicating via iMessage)...
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