Find Trendon Shavers in person thread... [BTCST, BTS&T, pirateat40]

[PPT-PR]

I think that was tried.

No one wants to throw away any more money then they already have.

This.  Recently I did a poll of several of the PPT operators and some of their larger customers and there was not one single person willing to put in one additional bitcent of new money toward recovery.  Almost all of them replied that they would happily pay a percentage of whatever is recovered to whoever recovers it.

The thinking is that there is really no way to recover whatever is left anyway so why throw good money after bad.

What does anyone have, really, in the way of proof of debt or contract?  A typical direct customer or PPT operator has two Bitcoins addresses:  a deposit address and a withdrawal address.  The difference between the two amounts is the "amount owed" (writing off all the bogus interest accumulated).

Now two somewhat arbitrary Bitcoin addresses, and the difference between them does not constitute much of a contract or collectible debt in the real world.

[1715427689]

1715427689

[1715427689]

1715427689

[BCB]

Trendon know that all along.  It was all part of his con.

[BCB]

The next day The Bangkok guy pings me again.

[10/26/2012 11:28:04 AM] BangkokGuy: Buddy!
[10/26/2012 11:28:10 AM] BangkokGuy: You are in luck
[10/26/2012 11:28:19 AM] BangkokGuy: I just spoke to our friend, spent the last hour or so speaking to him infact
[10/26/2012 11:28:35 AM] BangkokGuy: and I have lots of information that should hopefully help you
 [10/26/2012 11:30:05 AM] BCB: talk to me
 [10/26/2012 11:30:17 AM] BangkokGuy: Ok, so first thing
[10/26/2012 11:30:21 AM] BangkokGuy: Is that I know where he is staying
[10/26/2012 11:30:28 AM] BCB: where
[10/26/2012 11:30:32 AM] BangkokGuy: It's called the xxxxxxxx Hotel
[10/26/2012 11:30:59 AM] BangkokGuy: Also
[10/26/2012 11:31:07 AM] BangkokGuy: I asked him how he kept track of it all, the whole fraud
[10/26/2012 11:31:25 AM] BangkokGuy: and he said he had software and all that, didn't go into too much detail
[10/26/2012 11:31:40 AM] BangkokGuy: I didn't want to ask him tons of questions like that
[10/26/2012 11:31:54 AM] BangkokGuy: But I did ask him how he covered his tracks
[10/26/2012 11:32:16 AM] BangkokGuy: and he said he threw the laptop he used, the entire thing, into the Chao Phraya
[10/26/2012 11:32:32 AM] BangkokGuy: Which is the river here
 [10/26/2012 11:33:30 AM] BangkokGuy: He told me where, it was at the XXXXXX Hotel
[10/26/2012 11:33:40 AM] BangkokGuy: That was where he stayed the first few nights he was here he said
 [10/26/2012 11:34:06 AM] BangkokGuy: I asked him if he had friends in Bangkok
[10/26/2012 11:34:22 AM] BangkokGuy: He said he knew a few people but there wasn't a good opportunity to ask more about that
 [10/26/2012 11:35:09 AM] BangkokGuy: And the good news for you I suppose is that he is planning to stay in Bangkok for at least XXXXXX, he was talking about renting somewhere to stay
[10/26/2012 11:35:29 AM] BangkokGuy: He opened a safety deposit box today too
[10/26/2012 11:35:44 AM] BCB: where
[10/26/2012 11:35:49 AM] BangkokGuy: He didn't say
[10/26/2012 11:36:19 AM] BangkokGuy: And he said
[10/26/2012 11:36:20 AM] BangkokGuy: His plan
[10/26/2012 11:36:22 AM] BangkokGuy: Oh shit yeah
[10/26/2012 11:36:28 AM] BangkokGuy: He has money in Bitcoin still
[10/26/2012 11:36:34 AM] BangkokGuy: Half a million dollars worth he said
[10/26/2012 11:36:47 AM] BangkokGuy: But he thinks the price will crash so he wants it all out and in cash
[10/26/2012 11:37:21 AM] BangkokGuy: He said Bitcoin is like pass the parcel for idiots, except the last person who is holding the coins gets fucked over badly
[10/26/2012 11:38:04 AM] BangkokGuy: He has associates who are going to actually Fed Ex him the cash for Bitcoin
[10/26/2012 11:38:05 AM] BangkokGuy: That's why he needs a place to live
[10/26/2012 11:38:25 AM] BangkokGuy: Because he's going to get the cash trickling into him
[10/26/2012 11:39:18 AM] BangkokGuy: Another thing, he has a false British passport he said he paid 6000 british pounds for
[10/26/2012 11:39:56 AM] BangkokGuy: And the other thing is that he went to Zurich before he came here. I actually got into a good conversation with him about how he travelled here, and he gave me details
[10/26/2012 11:40:06 AM] BangkokGuy: So he said he flew from Dallas to xxxxx and then to Zurich on xxxx
[10/26/2012 11:40:26 AM] BangkokGuy: and then he said he flew xxxxxx to Bangkok
[10/26/2012 11:40:44 AM] BangkokGuy: First class all the way
[10/26/2012 11:40:56 AM] BCB: on the british passport
[10/26/2012 11:41:42 AM] BangkokGuy: Well, he didn't say specifically, but he did say he could travel on the British passport. It's not like, a fake someone knocked up, it's real and registered, a real fake
[10/26/2012 11:41:47 AM] BangkokGuy: If you get me
[10/26/2012 11:42:01 AM] BangkokGuy: Like a super expensive fake, not like a fake id someone just printed
 [10/26/2012 11:42:34 AM] BangkokGuy: But he said it was the first thing that went into his deposit box today
 [10/26/2012 11:43:30 AM] BangkokGuy: He went home
[10/26/2012 11:43:36 AM] BangkokGuy: Back to his hotel
[10/26/2012 11:43:45 AM] BangkokGuy: He said he was going to order room service and then call it a night
 [10/26/2012 11:45:14 AM] BangkokGuy: Yeah, got lucky there, I showed up at the bar and he was on the bar stool chatting to the bar girl
[10/26/2012 11:45:45 AM] BangkokGuy: I got out of work early for it and lucky I did too
[10/26/2012 11:46:02 AM] BangkokGuy: So what now? He said specifically he'd be back to the bar
[10/26/2012 11:46:08 AM] BangkokGuy: But I dunno when
 [10/26/2012 11:47:35 AM] BCB: but it may be more complicated than that
[10/26/2012 11:47:59 AM] BangkokGuy: Well he did say he wasn't worried about getting caught because of the grey legal status of Bitcoin
[10/26/2012 11:48:26 AM] BCB: yes that is the issue
[10/26/2012 11:48:46 AM] BangkokGuy: Shit so that is true? I figured like, you steal $5m you go to jail
[10/26/2012 11:48:52 AM] BangkokGuy: I thought was just being cocky
[10/26/2012 11:50:07 AM] BCB: nope no country has made any kind of legal ruling on bitcoin yet
[10/26/2012 11:50:25 AM] BangkokGuy: Wow
[10/26/2012 11:50:34 AM] BangkokGuy: So it's the perfect crime
 [10/26/2012 11:52:02 AM] BCB: the problem is the bitcoin world is very tightlipped and anonymous
[10/26/2012 11:52:37 AM] BCB: so the guys he stole from are reluctant to go to the authorities because bringing trendon down might bring him down
[10/26/2012 11:52:46 AM] BangkokGuy: Jeez
[10/26/2012 11:52:54 AM] BCB: and the fact that he has all this money in bitcoin
[10/26/2012 11:53:01 AM] BCB: you can't sue someone for bitcon
 [10/26/2012 11:53:25 AM] BangkokGuy: Well he is saying that he won't for long
[10/26/2012 11:53:34 AM] BangkokGuy: He's trying to get it cash ASAP he said
[10/26/2012 11:54:29 AM] BangkokGuy: But yeah, you can't sue someone for platinum bars in a safe in Zurich under an assumed name either
[10/26/2012 11:54:40 AM] BangkokGuy: I didn't think it was a suing thing though. I thought it was a jail time thing
[10/26/2012 11:55:19 AM] BCB: well that is where we are
 [10/26/2012 11:56:55 AM] BangkokGuy: Thai government will only extradite people if what they have done is also a crime in Thailand
[10/26/2012 11:57:10 AM] BangkokGuy: I might be wrong on that but I know that's how a lot of countries operate
[10/26/2012 11:57:37 AM] BangkokGuy: I never mentioned before because stealing $5m is definitely a crime here, but yeah, it might be a little trickier
[ [10/26/2012 11:58:24 AM] BCB: I'm not a laywer
[10/26/2012 12:02:12 PM] BangkokGuy: It's such a shitty situation. Who'd have thought it would be so easy to steal millions and then get away with it
[10/26/2012 12:12:07 PM] BCB: what about other computers
[10/26/2012 12:12:16 PM] BCB: did he say anything about what he's using now
[10/26/2012 12:12:28 PM] BangkokGuy: No, no mention
 [10/26/2012 12:13:07 PM] BangkokGuy: I go to that bar like 3 times a week
[10/26/2012 12:13:14 PM] BangkokGuy: When I want a drink after work
[10/26/2012 12:13:15 PM] BangkokGuy: It's open late
 [10/26/2012 12:15:05 PM] BangkokGuy: I'll keep you updated
[10/26/2012 12:15:36 PM] BCB: thanks
 [10/26/2012 12:16:53 PM] BCB: remeembetr he has an ego
[10/26/2012 12:17:00 PM] BCB: and he love to brag
[10/26/2012 12:17:11 PM] BCB: he'll tell you all about it
[10/26/2012 12:17:16 PM] BangkokGuy: Yeah he does love to brag
[10/26/2012 12:18:08 PM] BangkokGuy: Alright
 [10/26/2012 12:22:45 PM] BangkokGuy: Speak soon
 [10/26/2012 12:22:47 PM] BCB: hey
[10/26/2012 12:22:52 PM] BangkokGuy: ?
[10/26/2012 12:23:13 PM] BCB: one more question
[10/26/2012 12:23:20 PM] BangkokGuy: Please go on
 [10/26/2012 12:23:50 PM] BCB: what did he bring in to the country with him do you know
[10/26/2012 12:23:59 PM] BCB: or what did he put in the saftey deposti box
[10/26/2012 12:24:13 PM] BangkokGuy: I told you about the polish debit cards right?
[10/26/2012 12:24:14 PM] BangkokGuy: He had a ton of those
[10/26/2012 12:24:19 PM] BangkokGuy: Plus travellers cheques
[10/26/2012 12:24:50 PM] BCB: any idea how much he was carrying
[10/26/2012 12:24:56 PM] BCB: in total
[10/26/2012 12:25:03 PM] BangkokGuy: Well
[10/26/2012 12:25:10 PM] BangkokGuy: He said there were 1500 euros on each debit card
[10/26/2012 12:25:21 PM] BangkokGuy: and I saw probably 6-7 of them in his wallett
[10/26/2012 12:25:26 PM] BangkokGuy: And he said he had more
[10/26/2012 12:25:39 PM] BangkokGuy: Travellers cheques, no idea
[10/26/2012 12:25:53 PM] BangkokGuy: I mean he has been staying at fancy hotels though so I figure he has a lot of money with him
[10/26/2012 12:26:04 PM] BangkokGuy: That xxxxxx is like $500 a night US
[10/26/2012 12:26:28 PM] BangkokGuy: The one he is staying in now, the xxxxxx, that is a 5 star hotel too
[10/26/2012 12:27:28 PM] BCB: in his bragging did he say how much money he had in total from the scam
[10/26/2012 12:28:09 PM] BangkokGuy: He just said he was a millionaire but he said he had $1m cash in Dallas plus gold
[10/26/2012 12:28:32 PM] BCB: so he left 1m in dallas in addition to what he has with him?
[10/26/2012 12:28:34 PM] BangkokGuy: and "a lot" of Swiss Francs in Zurich, plus platinum
[10/26/2012 12:28:49 PM] BangkokGuy: Plus what he has with him, plus half a million in Bitcoin
 [10/26/2012 12:29:03 PM] BCB: this is all very helpful
[10/26/2012 12:29:40 PM] BangkokGuy: My pleasure

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I can't imagine a guy even with a massive ego spilling so much information to some rouge in a bar. I feel somebody is being played here.

[nethead]

Me thinks that BankonkGuy is Trendon
And he isnt in Bankonk

If is there any way to check the ip's of the views on this thread, and if there are some from Thai, then its true, but i doubt it

[John (John K.)]

I can't imagine a guy even with a massive ego spilling so much information to some rouge in a bar. I feel somebody is being played here.

+1....

[legitnick]

Lets send the party van to hist door?

[repentance]

I can't imagine a guy even with a massive ego spilling so much information to some rouge in a bar. I feel somebody is being played here.

In a way I can.  You can be anyone you want to be on the SE Asian backpacker trail.  Everyone's going to assume that you're dribbling bullshit and no-one's likely to check up on your story.  Remember that one reason many criminals get caught is that they can't keep their mouths shut - if they think they've been especially clever then they want others to know about it (and coke fiends will run off at the mouth anyway - overconfidence and thinking that you're interesting and invincible is the nature of the beast).

What makes me suspicious, though, is that the amount of detail is almost overkill.  While criminals don't behave rationally, the details that both these contacts have provided seem to fit just a little bit too neatly with what the community itself wants to believe.  Yeah, it's certainly possible that Trendon is trying to do the whole "international man of mystery" thing, flying first class and staying at 5 star hotels, but people who try to create an aura of opulence around them generally go the whole hog and don't dress like a back-packer or hang out at back-packer drinking holes.

Again, the only people who can check the details are the authorities - they can certainly check hotel registers for the period in question and match them up with immigration records but at this point even knowing for certain where Trendon is this very minute wouldn't be a whole lot of use.

[PPT-PR]

I can't imagine a guy even with a massive ego spilling so much information to some rouge in a bar. I feel somebody is being played here.

It does sound a lot like him (drunk, cocky, lots of information, bragging, living it up, buying rounds, etc.) but it is equally likely BangkokGuy is him just trolling us for fun (he did his share when he was around).

[CharlieContent]

I agree with repentance, but I don't really think that the level of detail is overkill, seems like he just told the story from beginning to end, leaving nothing of consequence out. That's usually how you tell a story. Especially a story where all eyes are on you in a bar over a few hours. I don't think he'd incriminate himself in his home town but being on the other side of the world he could.

It's the nature of the details that are suspicious. Is he really stashing platinum and swiss francs in a Swiss bank? I somehow doubt it. I could believe the box in Dallas but this whole international playboy stuff is like something out of a movie.

Also the private detective thing, I think that would be totally pointless. All a private detective could do is find his current location. And then what? Seems like it wouldn't help much. Didn't people have an address in Texas for him anyway? For all we know he could still be there.

[PPT-PR]

I agree with repentance, but I don't really think that the level of detail is overkill, seems like he just told the story from beginning to end, leaving nothing of consequence out. That's usually how you tell a story. Especially a story where all eyes are on you in a bar over a few hours. I don't think he'd incriminate himself in his home town but being on the other side of the world he could.

It's the nature of the details that are suspicious. Is he really stashing platinum and swiss francs in a Swiss bank? I somehow doubt it. I could believe the box in Dallas but this whole international playboy stuff is like something out of a movie.

Also the private detective thing, I think that would be totally pointless. All a private detective could do is find his current location. And then what? Seems like it wouldn't help much. Didn't people have an address in Texas for him anyway? For all we know he could still be there.

Assuming that BangkokGuy is not Trendon then the whole thing could be true.  Trendon told the story to the bar, a lot of it is true, but in true drunk/storytelling mode he embellished the story with a few pounds of bullshit (Swiss bank etc.) to make it more entertaining.  With that in mind I can believe that BangkokGuy may have met him.  That was a while back so it does not help us much now.  I sure wish Goat could have made it to the bar when he was there.

[CharlieContent]

Assuming that BangkokGuy is not Trendon then the whole thing could be true.  Trendon told the story to the bar, a lot of it is true, but in true drunk/storytelling mode he embellished the story with a few pounds of bullshit (Swiss bank etc.) to make it more entertaining.  With that in mind I can believe that BangkokGuy may have met him.  That was a while back so it does not help us much now.  I sure wish Goat could have made it to the bar when he was there.

That's a good point, Trendon could have been lying to the guy about some details. I never thought about that possibility.

[Turbor]

What a joke . This story is about as good as Trendons 1%.

[Listener]

I have been frequently watching the whole threads about this scam since August and just registered, because I could not hold still anymore on my chair!
People, that Bangkok-story is either from a troll or from Trendon/associates... I am 99 % positive (I am a scientist so I will not say 100 %):

• Imagine you had some drinks at a bar. Who the heck writes then in almost perfectly spelled English after some drinks (or did he enjoy only non-alcoholic beers )?
• I do not know, BCB, where you are living, but if you would live at the East coast, Bangkok would be 12 hours ahead, right? There is a gap inbetween the first conversation of 2 hours... pretending you live at the East coast, you messaged that guy after a 2 hour break at around 4:22 AM his time again (it would be even later, if your time was more towards the west coast). Who would come back to you within 40 seconds after you haven´t talked with each other for 2 hours, and that at late night??
• The whole story seems to be a bit too detailed and sry, for my European "taste buds", seems to be a bit too full of cliché Hollywood movie stereotypes. Bank account in Switzerland, then anonymous debit cards worth 1500 Euros each from Poland banks... btw, Poland has still the Zloty, not the Euro. Though I am not sure if Polish banks would sell debit cards in Euros. But if some of you have ever tried to transfer a bunch of dollars from the US to a country in Europe - it is not easy!  
  
• So our Bangkok friend tells on the 25th that he met Trendon "about" three nights ago... BCB then asks him, if he could find out more details. So four days after he met Trendon in the bar, he just goes again into this bar and meets Trendon again? Isn´t that a bit too much of a coincidence? Especially when he says how he probably has to work till 10 PM and then he writes BCB at around 11:28 PM? Seems like he can just walk into the bar and Trendon waits there, ready to give him any information!
• 25th and 26th of October, when the chat between the Bangkok guy and BCB happened... look back in this thread. That was the time, when people tried to find out more about Trendon / tried another enforced effort, to collect information about him. Could it be, that Trendon got cold feet around that time? Oh, must be total coincidence, that the chat happened at this time...  

I know, some of these points above alone are not that much of proof, that it was Trendon or a troll - but all together, it is quite obvious in my opinion!

[repentance]

I sure wish Goat could have made it to the bar when he was there.

Why?  I'm far from convinced that every single PPT operator didn't have a clue that Trendon was running a ponzi and intended to bail at some point.  Whether it's Thailand, New Zealand or some other country where a PPT operator is located that Trendon "turns up", the possibility that they're actively aiding and abetting him has to be considered.

[BCB]

Listener

I am in US Eastern Standard Time Zone. UTC−05:00.

There is one more chat coming...

[malevolent]

• Imagine you had some drinks at a bar. Who the heck writes then in almost perfectly spelled English after some drinks (or did he enjoy only non-alcoholic beers )?

I do

• The whole story seems to be a bit too detailed and sry, for my European "taste buds", seems to be a bit too full of cliché Hollywood movie stereotypes. Bank account in Switzerland, then anonymous debit cards worth 1500 Euros each from Poland banks... btw, Poland has still the Zloty, not the Euro. Though I am not sure if Polish banks would sell debit cards in Euros. But if some of you have ever tried to transfer a bunch of dollars from the US to a country in Europe - it is not easy!  
  

Poland has zloty but it's not a problem to get a card or a bank account in EUR/USD/etc. If two parties want to use a currency other than PLN they are free to do so (the law says so) and a lot of people used to take mortgage loans in CHF (...which they later came to regret after last year's appreciation). The anonymous prepaid cards have a 2500 Euro limit:
http://prepaid.bzwbk.pl/karty-walutowe/limity.html

• So our Bangkok friend tells on the 25th that he met Trendon "about" three nights ago... BCB then asks him, if he could find out more details. So four days after he met Trendon in the bar, he just goes again into this bar and meets Trendon again? Isn´t that a bit too much of a coincidence? Especially when he says how he probably has to work till 10 PM and then he writes BCB at around 11:28 PM? Seems like he can just walk into the bar and Trendon waits there, ready to give him any information!

Trendon might be spending most of his time in the bar. If he was drunk he could have mixed up the dates/time/etc.

I know, some of these points above alone are not that much of proof, that it was Trendon or a troll - but all together, it is quite obvious in my opinion!

Wouldn't be surprised myself if it was all a hoax. Wouldn't be the first one anyway... like that BitcoinExpress aka Danny Maddox guy if anyone still remembers him.

[CharlieContent]

• Imagine you had some drinks at a bar. Who the heck writes then in almost perfectly spelled English after some drinks (or did he enjoy only non-alcoholic beers )?

C'mon, this is dumb. Who loses their ability to spell after a few beers? I certainly don't and neither does anyone else that I know. I think it would take a pretty serious bout of drinking to damage spelling for most people. You'd need to be completely wasted.

I was on Silk Road earlier today and I decided to look in the non-drugs sections. You can buy both Polish anonymous debit cards, and a false British passport. Of course that proves nothing other than the fact that the guy you were speaking to has been on Silk Road, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[Justin00]

is the guy in the chat logs from Australia ?

and again... what are you going to do once you locate him ? It seems like you are putting all this effort into finding him.. but then yeah whats going to happen ? And lets say it turns out he is still in USA or wherever.. how many people who lost money are actually going to try take him to court (or do whatever you can do to try get the money back) ? Sure its fun to play online bounty hunter.... but yeah ?

[Listener]

• Imagine you had some drinks at a bar. Who the heck writes then in almost perfectly spelled English after some drinks (or did he enjoy only non-alcoholic beers )?

C'mon, this is dumb. Who loses their ability to spell after a few beers? I certainly don't and neither does anyone else that I know. I think it would take a pretty serious bout of drinking to damage spelling for most people. You'd need to be completely wasted.

You can think it is dumb, I think it is reasonable. You can not deny the effect of alcohol on your preciseness, etc.. 
If this was a email conversation, ok, then I could say he used spell correction or read his written text again - but this was a chat where you do write quite fast.

I have my doubts, given that it was at night at 4:20 AM and he came from a bar... fits more towards 3:20 PM in Texas...