How did people fall for this Pirate scam?

[jjshabadoo]

Of course greed is the easy answer, but seriously, people who are intelligent enough to build and maintain mining rigs fall for the oldest trick in the book?

This is why people with poor business models like BFL can thrive in this environment. Obviously this community has a heavy dose of greedy folks.

It's simply a shame because I believe the point of bitcoin was to escape greed to a large degree, yet here we are...

Just a shame really.

[1714169415]

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[1714169415]

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[FreeMoney]

I don't think greed is a good answer. I really wanted to keep my coins safe because I'm greedy so I didn't invest.

[FreeMoney]

It's simply a shame because I believe the point of bitcoin was to escape greed to a large degree, yet here we are...

Why did you think that?

[fcmatt]

I think bitcoin is the first investment many have ever attempted. Did they all have IRAs? 401ks? A small business? Buy and sell precious metals, antiques, or anything?

Somehow i doubt it. Easy come, easy go. Good lessons being learned via bitcoin really.

[myrkul]

Lack of wisdom. Perhaps inexperience. Greed played a part, but if you don't let logic guide your greed, rather than the other way around, you're going to have a bad time.

Or as my dad is fond of saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

[evolve]

The same way they fell for the one before, and the same way they'll fall for the next one: greed, inability to learn from the past, and lack of self-awareness.

[julz]

Like many scams - the 'social' aspect played a huge part I believe.
Scammers & sociopaths tend to be friendly likeable people, and in this case he's made sure to really 'connect' with the community and build a buzz of discussion and enthusiasm - a long with a little 'intrigue' about exactly what his secret sauce is.

People felt they 'knew' pirate.  He's 'one of us' sort of thing.

The ad-hoc web of trust can be a great tool for business networking - but also a dangerous thing.   (Which has always made me somewhat suspicious of Ripple ever being practical!)

[Etlase2]

If something's too good to be true, it must be true.

[Littleshop]

Look in the securities section, there is a lender that offers 1% a DAY.  Each day he posts his 1% payout.  It is a very effective way to market a scam because each time I see it bumped with a new payout I think I could have had that payout.  It makes me want to invest.

Luckily something tells me the moment I invest it will pop and I will loose all of my coins so I don't.  Others do though and that is how the ponzi scam works.

I am not saying this one is a Ponzi or a scam.....but please think for yourself. 

[Hunterbunter]

I think inexperience and a lack of self awareness explains it satisfactorily.

There might be a small "nerd excitement" factor...which is that nerds get really excited about things causing bad judgement - "How can another nerd rip me off??"

I still don't even know if this was a scam, and not just poor investing. Wasn't pirate active forex as well? That shits dead easy to lose everything on, and the more desperate or stressed a person is the more likely they'll take risks they wouldn't normally.

[Dalkore]

Like many scams - the 'social' aspect played a huge part I believe.
Scammers & sociopaths tend to be friendly likeable people, and in this case he's made sure to really 'connect' with the community and build a buzz of discussion and enthusiasm - a long with a little 'intrigue' about exactly what his secret sauce is.

People felt they 'knew' pirate.  He's 'one of us' sort of thing.

The ad-hoc web of trust can be a great tool for business networking - but also a dangerous thing.   (Which has always made me somewhat suspicious of Ripple ever being practical!)

+1   This is spot on.

[Brunic]

I know people always look to find some easy answer to explain complex situations (it's greed! it's a scam! they are scammers!), but no, there's no easy answer to all this. Here's my complex answer:

Why did I trusted pirate? Mmmm, let's see....

-One of the best rated on Bitcoin-OTC
-He's the owner of a service that has probably access to more hashpower than the biggest BTC pools around here.
-Was easily identifiable, more easily than 98% of the people around here
-The probable business model of BTCST is in some topic around here, and is not some crazy dream. It can certainly be made and copied. Search for it though, i'm sick of discussing it.
-Some big guys around here trusted him
-It was common knowledge that it wasn't going to last forever. I'm still looking for the quote (maybe it was on IRC), but I remember pirate said that it could maybe last for a couple of months into 2013.

Yeah, you can make a fixation on the "ohmygod7%aweek", but you're missing the big picture. The 7% rate was the top one, most people had 5% and pirate himself said that he averaged 5.98% at one point. It's still big, but compare on the lending forum, where you see that the average loaning rate is around 3%-4%/week, pirate is not really far off the reality of the current lending market in Bitcoin.

I made an exhaustive research on that topic, and all those elements convinced me to go in. Still, I was well aware of the risks. The risks were:
-Coins are 100% controlled by somebody else (pirate), so he can run away with them.
-He can screw up his business and not being able to pay back
-PPT operator also control the coins at a certain point, and can also steal them.

GPUMax is also THE thing that convinced me pirate could be the real deal and why I took the plunge with BTCST. GPUMax laundering money? Dude, you must be lacking imagination or something. GPUMax can be so much more profitable than a simple laundering machine, I really don't see the point of building all this to "launder" a couple of coins each day. I'm still hoping that this BTCST fiasco don't affect GPUMax.

So, here you go, the "insider" information of somebody who "fall" for that. I'm not looking to justify anything, only to explain the other side of the medal for the OP. I made my move, I take my responsibilities and that's all.

[Grinder]

Look in the securities section, there is a lender that offers 1% a DAY.  Each day he posts his 1% payout.  It is a very effective way to market a scam because each time I see it bumped with a new payout I think I could have had that payout.  It makes me want to invest.

There are lots of offers there that are probably scams, but this one is particularly fascinating because it follows the Currin Trading story even closer than pirate did.

[myrkul]

So, here you go, the "insider" information of somebody who "fall" for that. I'm not looking to justify anything, only to explain the other side of the medal for the OP. I made my move, I take my responsibilities and that's all.

Much respect for this, Brunic. We don't see eye to eye on everything, but I have to respect someone who accepts personal responsibility for his mistakes. You knew the risks, decided it was worth it, and when you got bit, you took it like a man. I hope you didn't lose too much.

[AndrewBUD]

He has access to all this hashing power because he was attracting greedy people that wanted more than the normal PPS rate....


I have been doing this for getting close to a year now and never thought for a second that I should sign up to his service...


The average loan is like 2.5% a week or so.... 10% monthly



Re: Ponzi....... What about 1 members deposited coins being paid out to GPUmax users? Sounds like a Ponzi to me.....

[Hunterbunter]

Re: Ponzi....... What about 1 members deposited coins being paid out to GPUmax users? Sounds like a Ponzi to me.....

There was a post pirate made somewhere, iirc, where he said GPUmax and BCST are "completely separate but share wallets for security". Take that as you will.

If they shared wallets, BCST coins would naturally go out to pay miners. The only thing is that someone found a proven hash that showed GPUMax coins were going to this address. There were some 40k coins in there I think...so I don't know if that's linked.

[unclescrooge]

I know people always look to find some easy answer to explain complex situations (it's greed! it's a scam! they are scammers!), but no, there's no easy answer to all this. Here's my complex answer:

Why did I trusted pirate? Mmmm, let's see....

-One of the best rated on Bitcoin-OTC
-He's the owner of a service that has probably access to more hashpower than the biggest BTC pools around here.
-Was easily identifiable, more easily than 98% of the people around here
-The probable business model of BTCST is in some topic around here, and is not some crazy dream. It can certainly be made and copied. Search for it though, i'm sick of discussing it.
-Some big guys around here trusted him
-It was common knowledge that it wasn't going to last forever. I'm still looking for the quote (maybe it was on IRC), but I remember pirate said that it could maybe last for a couple of months into 2013.

Yeah, you can make a fixation on the "ohmygod7%aweek", but you're missing the big picture. The 7% rate was the top one, most people had 5% and pirate himself said that he averaged 5.98% at one point. It's still big, but compare on the lending forum, where you see that the average loaning rate is around 3%-4%/week, pirate is not really far off the reality of the current lending market in Bitcoin.

I made an exhaustive research on that topic, and all those elements convinced me to go in. Still, I was well aware of the risks. The risks were:
-Coins are 100% controlled by somebody else (pirate), so he can run away with them.
-He can screw up his business and not being able to pay back
-PPT operator also control the coins at a certain point, and can also steal them.

A Ponzi? Nah, until pirate himself say it was a ponzi, I don't believe it. Why? I'm exploring the "pirate" business model as we speak, and I think it can be a really lucrative market in the current Bitcoin situation, more than a simple ponzi. Maybe pirate went for the ponzi, but I think he went for the money. There are more profitable business than a ponzi right now that can be developed.

GPUMax is also THE thing that convinced me pirate could be the real deal and why I took the plunge with BTCST. GPUMax laundering money? Dude, you must be lacking imagination or something. GPUMax can be so much more profitable than a simple laundering machine, I really don't see the point of building all this to "launder" a couple of coins each day. I'm still hoping that this BTCST fiasco don't affect GPUMax.

So, here you go, the "insider" information of somebody who "fall" for that. I'm not looking to justify anything, only to explain the other side of the medal for the OP. I made my move, I take my responsibilities and that's all.

+1 Brunic. It was not a ponzi, and Pirate wasn't a scammer.

But let them think they're just better than us weak greedy inexperienced people, if they feel better that way I'm happy

So yeah to answer the OP I'm just a greedy bastard too dumb to think.

[bitlane]

Re: Ponzi....... What about 1 members deposited coins being paid out to GPUmax users? Sounds like a Ponzi to me.....

There was a post pirate made somewhere, iirc, where he said GPUmax and BCST are "completely separate but share wallets for security". Take that as you will.

If they shared wallets, BCST coins would naturally go out to pay miners. The only thing is that someone found a proven hash that showed GPUMax coins were going to this address. There were some 40k coins in there I think...so I don't know if that's linked.

Organized Crime Syndicates often 'share' bank accounts and funnel illicitly obtained funds through legitimate businesses.

Nothing wrong with that, right ? Isn't THAT why the MOB NEVER seems to have property seized ?

Now that we have THAT out of the way........CONTINUE.

[myrkul]

So, here you go, the "insider" information of somebody who "fall" for that. I'm not looking to justify anything, only to explain the other side of the medal for the OP. I made my move, I take my responsibilities and that's all.

+1 Brunic. It was not a ponzi, and Pirate wasn't a scammer.

You have just as much proof of that as all the people screaming that it was. Whether Pirate attempts to make good or not will determine if he lands on the scammer list.

For myself, I'm not holding my breath.

[matthewh3]

Of course greed is the easy answer, but seriously, people who are intelligent enough to build and maintain mining rigs fall for the oldest trick in the book?

This is why people with poor business models like BFL can thrive in this environment. Obviously this community has a heavy dose of greedy folks.

It's simply a shame because I believe the point of bitcoin was to escape greed to a large degree, yet here we are...

Just a shame really.

So many people got involved because most of the major voices on this forum were supporting Pirate offer.  Anyone who tried to question the logic of it all got shouted down.