More details here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1541352.new I just got off the phone with Paypal's fraud and security dept. I finally had a few minutes!

Straight up snakes!!  SHARE TO BEWARE!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1550025.msg15579608

I finally had the time to call Paypal. On the phone with them now.

Here's the scam and I wouldn't have thought it. There's always some risk but I thought, as with any normal Paypal transaction, that there's buyer protection. NOPE. I discussed with Paypal several issues this network of scammers is doing to skirt right by Paypal security. The problem does begin with the sheer lack of virtually any regulations for Paypal overseas and forget about verification requirements. You can get a Paypal account overseas in most countries as easy as a Gmail account!

Here's how they do it. There's no business. It's fairly large group of scammers, most not even from Germany (I found out a few are) that have setup a crap load of personal Paypal accounts and they process (friends and family) charges just like any other legitimate retail business. There's literally no way without reading the fine print during the process to know that your making a personal money transfer which of course is not a consumer protected purchase. The entire process was exactly the same. Like most other money transmitters, even on the Bitcoin Network, PLEASE make a clear and large point NOT TO SEND THIS PAYMENT if you don't KNOW the other person because you will have ZERO recourse! Granted that this is a big enough case that Paypal is eventually going after them and their bank accounts, but still. 

Maybe it's me, who knows, since I've never used Paypal for anything other than business transactions. I barely remembered they even offer an easy was to send money to family back in El Salvador; and certainly didn't notice any difference. I wasn't alone either the more the rep dug into them. It was recently escalated to their top security and fraud dept. Trouble is, just like every other multi-billion dollar multi-national they move about as fast as an elderly lady up to her waist in a tar pit.

Stuff like this would have lasted long back when Karim was watching the store!

The scammers network of accounts *@bitnake.com go to many different bank accounts and are each only used sparingly and most are forcibly closed. Seriously, Paypal can't figure out the gig here? They will soon stop signing up for Paypal accounts using their own domain, and try to continue the scam until the authorities can get the site offline.

Oh well, live and learn. My only concern is to get the message out to as much of the btc community as possible so not to discourage the newbies! It's a very exciting times for the greatest payment system in history!

Peace and Love

We take the btc industry reputation VERY serious for obvious reasons and preserving the confidence in this space is paramount. Thank God my partner just spent a little bit of money testing this new arrival out, but we are really motivated to bust this German scam company up before they're able to get any traction. Scammers: www.bitnake.com

We were also really motivated to find a trusted partner that made it seamless and easy to buy btc with Paypal. Well I knew I should have waited a couple days for our www.virwox.com verification. I'm sure we won't have any trouble with them. If anyone knows of a trustworthy partner that uses Paypal's services, please let us know just in case!

Here's the screwed up part that pissed me off. We've processed a crap load of charges and purchases through Paypal over the years and I've never friggen heard of anything like this! When we tried to JUST file a complaint in the Resolution Center I got this %!&#*@&# message.

"We're sorry, but this transaction cannot be disputed because it is not a purchase of goods or services. Please contact the recipient directly." Yours Truly, Paypal

Some-friggen-how this little p-o-s 30 day old website was able to set this up! I've haven't talk to Paypal yet but emailed them about this and mentioned that we'd love to go on this program, so I can continue to charge credit cards daily, yet be released from any consequence or commitment to actually fulfill anything! I haven't heard back other than their std autoresponse telling us to go to the Resolution Center and file a complaint. Nice. I guess this special merchant program that bitnake.com is able to use isn't that common.

Here's proof: http://www.onlineautomation.com/bitnakescam/

Of course we haven't heard a peep out of these jokers in nearly a week.

I'm shocked someone on these boards asked what's not fair, exactly. Woowa!

Where do I start? First, I LOVE that Carlin video. His most truthful 3 mins ever, and he was always pretty straight forward.

Real quick, the enormous amount of power Congress has now, thanks to the sleeping masses, that they wield around to the highest bidder...which of course are the gigantic multinationals and banks, (many of the same we bailed out to the tune of $17 TRILLION) that then use these laws and tools to crush and/or buy out their competition to create massive worldwide monopolies, legal now because they have the power and pull to control just enough of the judicial system as well...

...As the rapidly disappearing middle classes pick up the largest U.S. debt and interest check in history, often forced to use credit just to pay bills and make ends meet, with 2/3rds of the country living paycheck to paycheck if they're lucky and 1/2 the country needing some sort of gov't welfare because the job market is as bad as 1978, record numbers of low paying, part-time and temp jobs...on and on...while the elitist thieves siphon more and more wealth from the populace since the Great Depression of the 30's. The system is nearly broke beyond repair, and don't get me started on the credit default swaps and derivative contracts. I think we'll all find out soon, they went too far, got too greedy, and everyday I thank God for Bitcoin/bitcoin.

I've been in the MMO, Affiliate, and Direct Selling Industry since 1999. I've primarily offered leads, lead generation, and software. "Selling picks and shovels to the miners," is the only way to guarantee online profits. Offering cost-effective solutions and being very helpful to your clients is the only way to do it long-term. We've helped 1000's worldwide make more money online. We've always been hamstrung by the products and services our clients offer, and that has held back too many of them over the years.

This is why we are now engaged with a company (the owners I've known for years and trust) that will soon re-launch the very first "all-bitcoin" direct selling business, focusing on the tools and platform everyone needs to make money, long-term, online. As you can surmise, bitcoin opens the Direct Selling industry, and all markets for that matter, to every corner of the globe for the first time in history, excluding only Iceland and Vietnam with mixed messages from China, Russia, and Thailand.

It's not for everyone, yet can be a tremendous way, following ours and the company's lead, to earn bitcoin in your spare time. Some will be able to earn a lot of bitcoin, simply sharing the Bitcoin phenomenon (with individuals and businesses), providing a complete step-by-step educational platform as well as security strategy updates.

The base of this business is a 'world-class' marketing platform complete with an 'authority' blog, customizable landing pages, autoresponders, contact management, and more to sell anything 'legal' that you want as well as inherently and automatically promoting the platform itself on your behalf. Unlike the Internet Majors of today that built their profits on the back of our online communities, paying them nothing for their referrals, this is a way to get paid bitcoin simply sharing and promoting the benefits bitcoin/Bitcoin brings the world. This is something most of us do daily, already, and it in itself builds the Bitcoin ecosystem, its usage, and businesses accepting bitcoin; whether they join or not, although any business can benefit from a single online marketing platform to build their prospect base and profits.

The main idea was to incentivize or reward the average Bitcoin Enthusiast (new or seasoned) whether they have a lot of capital to invest or not, simply sharing the Bitcoin Revolution with the masses. One of the biggest regrets of the everyday 'middle class' (if there hardly is any longer) Bitcoin Newbie is that they do not have much or any liquid savings to invest in what they often see as the most important technology since the dawn of the Internet Protocols.

We, especially in the West, are in an utter mess and pissed, and we're not alone. What have we come to? Only recently, it seems the elitist controlled mainstream media are finally revealing at least 'part' of the truth, that the Great Depression is far from over, and real trouble ahead is very possible.

I mean, come on! Two-thirds of U.S. households living paycheck to paycheck, half of them receiving some government assistance, 1 in 5 getting food stamps (It was 1 in 50 in the '70's), 49.7 million living in poverty (an all-time high), 40% making less than $20k/year (thanks Walmart and your highest % of employees on welfare), the lowest savings per family since the '30's, on and on...

Then the explosion of part-time jobs (Forbes reporting 77-97% of all new jobs are PT, depending on the timeframe), temp jobs (nearing 3% of the total, up 50%), and millions giving up and leaving the workfarce!  The participation rate, a much more important measure, decreased to 63.2 percent, to a record 91.8 million Americans,  the lowest since August 1978! And, it's not the aging population, because it's dropping on nearly every demographic.

The Bureau says 7.6% unemployment!! Ah...right.

Forbes is closer, when it shocked America laying out a 14.3% unemployment rate. How can the U.S. Government publish a number half of that? Simple, the tens of millions that have given up hope are NOT counted as unemployed; and they certainly are not considering that 60% of the jobs lost since the  start of the Great Recession were mid-range paying jobs, and since then 58% of the new jobs are low-paying jobs!

Even CNN is finally reporting 'subpar' recovery and job market being much weaker than economists' had thought. It's thought now the next downturn is on its way before we were close to a recovery!

Where are our jobs and our middle-classes? That's a rhetorical question, of course.

See this recent NY Times article, "The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World."

Then we have this hanging over our heads and generations to come...

“We have $128 trillion worth of total unfunded liabilities and the total net worth of our
country is $94 trillion and we have another $17 trillion worth of debt.” – Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Oct. 2013

Throw in the credit default swaps and complex derivative contracts that characterize today's finance in the biggest con game in the history of the world, and we're sitting on top of a time bomb the size of 100 Hiroshimas.

Want another reason our buddy, Warren Buffet, is anti-bitcoin?...other than he admittedly, rarely invests in tech stocks because he has a hard time understanding that world. He's sold his soul to the banksters ponzi con game. I guess get while the get-ins good, eh Buff?

This is after Buffett warns about this investment 'time bomb!' "Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction!" The rapidly growing trade in derivatives poses a "mega-catastrophic risk" for the economy... comments in his famous and plain-spoken "annual letter to shareholders", excerpts published by Fortune magazine.

Hey, so what if it can potentially ruin the global economy, and hundreds of millions across the globe....as long as your family, and your shareholders are taken care of in the short-term. Oh how far you've came from your ideals and principals that made you potentially one of the greatest investors in history.

Just msg me if you want to know more, when they're ready.

Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom!

Mark Wittkowski
ProjectFreedomBlog.com (coming soon)
--If you can't tell, I've been working on some content. I normally don't post this much! 100's of pages of review, research and history is going online beginning, literally, tomorrow.

...There's no doubt, and we shouldn't lose sight of the 'technical' challenges still ahead of us. Continuing to share ideas and introducing solutions and options is what it's all about. Actually referencing community, this could end up being the most incredible "community" project in human history. God bless, open source. And hey, no one knew how to maneuver windows, or browse the web, and send/rec email, etc. either. Hell, I was self-taught and ended up building a small software company out of my basement. Of course I hired my programmers, but had to learn quick what 1's and 0's at that time could do, and what they couldn't. Today...oh my.

I'm afraid what's being missed here by the (I assume younger) Xenophobe crowd is that the bitcoin community is a VERY important and a unique guild and blend of the social and in your face technology. It's not like logging into FB, uploading some pics, and sending an invite...though it will be in the near future. In the meantime let's not burn bridges, turn community away. Our rapidly growing community is going to need assistance and many will, well, use the Internet to get more knowledge; imagine that.

Just be open, be kind, and help if you can. I know that's a lot to ask from some folks, and I know some others won't deserve it. One simple rule has served me well since I was a boy, (not that I don't go off a bit - once in a while - when an impact is needed:) simply treat others how you 'really' want to be treated. Fair enough?

You bet. I made a few last minute changes.

Hey, every 'little' bit helps.

Wow. I've been involved with bitcoin for almost a year now, have several thousands of hours invested, and owned my own businesses for the last 18 years, after leaving a corp marketing gig in the mid-90s. I've not spent a lot of time on this site, but I have found it valuable for industry news, info, and personal views. Let me say, if you epitomize the sr members here though, it's no damn wonder people in this thread feel the way they do! You are looking at this completely @55 backwards. I don't mean to single you out either, this really is meant for a larger sect.

Obviously you, and many others here, have no idea what an adoption rate entails, or all the socioeconomic factors that have to come together in the market to actually be a success, let alone with a brand new technology (Internet Protocol) that is in many ways, creating a whole new market. I think it might be best that you post less, in circumstances like this.   Or you can continue cutting your nose away to spite your face, a tiny little bit at a time.

How can it possibly matter? Because of the power of leverage and geometric progression. We ALL matter at this point, so shape up!  I could care less what YOUR return has been on your btc, and when you got your so-called "free money."  What a ridiculous term btw. I for one, want to see Bitcoin gain 10% share of the Forex market and change the world forever. Capisce? And, if that happens with us all working 'together' you won't be so worried about who's got how many bitcoin and how many hours they've logged.

I mean, what the hell do you think the primary purpose of a forum is anyway? Here's a hint; it's not so you can see your words in public, show off to others that could care less about you, or an opportunity for you to be condescending towards someone else, while in some weird way make yourself feel better or empowered.

This goes for others here, that do the same thing.

There's no need to. They simply calculate (at least in this case) CPI based on how the government calculated inflation in 1990 and separately in 1980, after Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker had the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics change the way the calculated the CPI.

I can't speak for their calculations on middle 20% unemployment figures though. If someone can legitimize or justify how they get there, I'd love to hear!  

This week Forbes did have the balls to come out this week and say that the real unemployment rate is DOUBLE the official rate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, putting it over 14%!

One thing seems a lock. BTC will not be anywhere near worthless (and maybe not even then if it's the backbone of the new option) until there is a proven, viable, and widely used replacement. If not now, soon will be a very good buying opportunity. I'm sure China and unknown regulatory environment right now, is all that is providing this downward trend and soon the next buying opportunity.

Sorry I got so off topic! I replied to an older post, but came here to see this exact discussion!

I'm pretty educated about all this and been analyzing and buying btc since April 2013...

Any old-timers here have a specific take on what this will mean to the Bitcoin Ecosystem as a whole? Potential price manipulation like nearly all our markets, including metals of course, Forex, etc. could be a big problem, but I guess it could also be good for the buy/hold believers..

And, does this affect other exchanges around the world? I'm afraid to ask.

I agree. Don't forget their most powerful international "tool" the IMF with it's powerful lending/usury trap perfectly laid time and again for decades, around the world.

The thing I can't wrap my head around, as it goes so deep down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, is why is it being said that the powers-that-be are using their tools to now purposeful crash the dollar? I'm mean standing from here, it appears clearly that this, in fact, is the truth. I just can't wrap my brain around why...and it just can't be that they are trying to cause a complete societal collapse so they can put in place martial law and control everything about the human race, making it not really about money at all, but power and having/controlling everything. That is just so far-fetched and sick it borders on the supernatural and alien takeover plots from people I still think are just nuts!

And, I'm still one that will not write off the rumors around organizations like the Illuminati and the more realistic Bohemian Grove sickos. For what it's worth I've discovered recently that the Illuminati is the epitome of disinformation...as you watch this hand focusing on smoke and mirrors, we'll be busy over here stealing every bit of wealth from the mass we can, that we've been doing religiously since 1913, at least in the US. Since Alex Jones, the king of this exact tactic (as you'll notice NEVER shares exactly who the enemy is) but instead has his massive half-awake fan base distracted and chasing ghosts, while they spend every penny they can on preppers stuff and building a bomb shelter in the basement. lol Well it's not really funny, and yes, we ALL should be prepared for future catastrophes as they can come in many shapes and sizes. 

That said, and this what my business and our direct selling 'all-bitcoin' business launch soon is all about, every fully-awake person on the planet should be investing in assets, as much as possible not completely controlled by the central authorities. Eventually, and they know it, their grip on the metals markets will be over-powered by the people. Screw them if they think they can make it illegal again, we will continue to buy with BTC and keep it hidden away safe. We are focusing on bitcoin, gold/silver, land, and some non-perishable supplies, oh and we are starting to buy ammunition too. Just another usable long-term asset for JIC.

Peace!

First post after many months of browsing! Regardless this forum is a wealth of information for anyone interested in crypto!

Just my 2 cents, and I do agree with the restrictions. I'm sure this doesn't affect ddos attacks. One can push ecr's without any active server account, not to mention all users have limited access right away. Anyway, what kind of hacker would want to damage a site so in-line with our values and beliefs?