Instawallet Problems - Was told Jav could help

[gundalf]

I'm new to bitcoins and a few other things so I'll try to keep this brief.  I purchased coins through BitInstant and sent them to my Instawallet URL.  At the time I was using the tor browser.  Once I paid for the bitcoins I saw them in my Instawallet and clicked over to another tab to start the process of moving them, when I clicked back the page was displaying that it had timed out and I couldn't get it to refresh.  I hit the new identity button in tor since that usually kick starts pages for some reason, and it killed tor, reopened it, and reopened my Instawallet. When my Instawallet came back up the coin count was zero.  When I set it up I had initially saved my URL and btc address (as advised), however when I contacted BitInstant about my transaction they told me that the blockchain info showed that my transaction had gone through and sent me a link.  

I checked out the blockchain info that they sent me and it seemed good, however every time I checked my Instawallet the btc count is zero. I noticed that the btc address that BitInstant provided me did not match what I had saved when I created my Instawallet.  My concern is that somehow (possibly through my own fault, I'm not sure) that a new Instawallet was created and that ended up being where my bitcoins were sent.  I have all of the information including the amount of bitcoins purchased, USD amount, and order information for BitInstant, ZipZap, and of course the btc address the funds were sent to as well as my original wallet I was trying to send them to.

I was told by a friend who visits these forums that Jav may be able to help if I can prove I'm legit and not trying to scam him to get into someone's wallet.  I'm pretty much at the end of my rope here trying to get my bitcoins out of Insatwallet and could use any help anyone could provide.  This is my first foray into using the currency as well as all of these providers and it's been a nightmare so far.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  

Thanks!

***Update:  Using blockchain I found that the bitcoins I had purchased that were sent to the wrong bitcoin address were transferred from that address 2 hours and 27 minutes later.  If I had made the mistake of accidentally creating a new Instawallet, then technically my funds would still be there. The fact that they were sent from BitInstant to the wrong bitcoin address shortly thereafter tells me that either someone at BitInstant or Instawallet took my funds, or one of those services was compromised somehow and the funds stolen.  I did a deep dive on my hard drive using a forensics program and there's no evidence that a different Instawallet was created by me at the time of my transaction.  All the evidence at point shows that I made my purchase, BitInstant sent my funds to the wrong bitcoin address, and my funds were then moved around after that.  I'm currently awaiting answers to my support requests from both BitInstant and Instawallet. Until I get some sort of resolution on this I would strongly recommend not using either service.  Additionally, I've scanned my computer for signs of compromise and they have turned up nothing, further suggesting the issue occurred on one of the provider's ends.

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[DeathAndTaxes]

My understanding is that your coins are lost.

Instawallet is free, anonymous and requires no signup.

The URL is the key to your wallet. If you lose it, nobody can be certain of which wallet is yours and the coins will remain unclaimed.

Instawallet is designed for responsible use only:

Properly backup your Instawallet address or key before receiving coins.
Only share your bitcoin address, NOT the wallet URL or key, with the public.
Be aware of who may have access to your browser's history or cache.
Never trust shared computers such as the ones found in internet cafes.
Please consider yourself warned: If you lose wallet's key or URL, your Bitcoins are lost, no matter the circumstances.

[gundalf]

That is my fear as well, however I was hoping as the person who purchased the bitcoins and sent them to Instawallet the creator of the service might be able to help me since I have all of the information surrounding the order itself.  I realize in most cases it's lost but if it were your money you'd exhaust every possible avenue to getting it back too.  I would hate to think my coin purchase, for no other reason that not knowing a URL due to an unknown error, could be sitting unused in a random Instawallet.

[Stephen Gornick]

I'm new to bitcoins and a few other things so I'll try to keep this brief.  I purchased coins through BitInstant and sent them to my Instawallet URL.

You mean you had the coins sent to the Bitcoin address tied to an Instawallet URL?   BitInstant doesn't have any provisioin to send to an "Instawallet URL".

I had initially saved my URL and btc address (as advised),

So you are saying that today you do not know the Instawallet URL which has that Bitcoin address associated with it?

I noticed that the btc address that BitInstant provided me did not match what I had saved when I created my Instawallet.

BitInstant does not provide to you a BTC address.  You provide to BitInstant a BTC address.  

My concern is that somehow (possibly through my own fault, I'm not sure) that a new Instawallet was created and that ended up being where my bitcoins were sent.

Sounds more like you sent them to an old Instawallet and now you are looking at the new one, which never has had bitcoins sent.

I have all of the information including the amount of bitcoins purchased, USD amount, and order information for BitInstant, ZipZap, and of course the btc address the funds were sent to as well as my original wallet I was trying to send them to.

There is a 1:1 relationship between the bitcoin address and the Instawallet URL.  

If you have an Instawallet URL with a Bitcoin Address and then another Bitcoin Address, and you only use Instawallet, then you likely got that other address from another Instawallet.

I'm pretty much at the end of my rope here trying to get my bitcoins out of Insatwallet and could use any help anyone could provide.

Instawallet is essentially a "bearer code".  Knowledge of the code is what gives access to spend the funds.  Therefore, the only method that allows this system to work is to never reveal the URL to anyone, no matter the circumstances.  If they made exceptions, there would be exploits of those exceptions that would ultimately result in innocent people losing their  coins.

Instawallet makes it pretty clear to not lose the URL:

Properly backup your Instawallet address or key before receiving coins.

Please consider yourself warned: If you lose wallet's key or URL, your Bitcoins are lost, no matter the circumstances.

[gundalf]

I'm new to bitcoins and a few other things so I'll try to keep this brief.  I purchased coins through BitInstant and sent them to my Instawallet URL.

You mean you had the coins sent to the Bitcoin address tied to an Instawallet URL?   BitInstant doesn't have any provisioin to send to an "Instawallet URL".

BitInstant allows you to send to a bitcoin address, which in this instance Instawallet provided. 

I had initially saved my URL and btc address (as advised),

So you are saying that today you do not know the Instawallet URL which has that Bitcoin address associated with it?

Since the bitcoin address that BitInstant provided to me when I spoke with their support is different to that which is linked to my Instwallet, I'm assuming a different Instawallet may have been used, hence the difference Instawallet URL.

I noticed that the btc address that BitInstant provided me did not match what I had saved when I created my Instawallet.

BitInstant does not provide to you a BTC address.  You provide to BitInstant a BTC address.  

BitInstant provided me, as part of their support, with the BTC address that was used when I placed my order. The actual BTC address was provided by Instawallet.

My concern is that somehow (possibly through my own fault, I'm not sure) that a new Instawallet was created and that ended up being where my bitcoins were sent.

Sounds more like you sent them to an old Instawallet and now you are looking at the new one, which never has had bitcoins sent.

More like I may have somehow created a second Instawallet and used that by accident.  All I know for certain is that I thought I used the Instawallet information I had saved, and BitInstant proved to me that a different BTC address was used than what I thought.  This leads me to conclude another Instawallet may have been used in error.

I have all of the information including the amount of bitcoins purchased, USD amount, and order information for BitInstant, ZipZap, and of course the btc address the funds were sent to as well as my original wallet I was trying to send them to.

There is a 1:1 relationship between the bitcoin address and the Instawallet URL.  

If you have an Instawallet URL with a Bitcoin Address and then another Bitcoin Address, and you only use Instawallet, then you likely got that other address from another Instawallet.

I was sending the bitcoins from BitInstant (after payment), to my Instawallet, and then I had planned to transfer them to another online retailer.  I'm hung up finding the wallet that they were deposited into.

I'm pretty much at the end of my rope here trying to get my bitcoins out of Insatwallet and could use any help anyone could provide.

Instawallet is essentially a "bearer code".  Knowledge of the code is what gives access to spend the funds.  Therefore, the only method that allows this system to work is to never reveal the URL to anyone, no matter the circumstances.  If they made exceptions, there would be exploits of those exceptions that would ultimately result in innocent people losing their  coins.

Instawallet makes it pretty clear to not lose the URL:

Properly backup your Instawallet address or key before receiving coins.

Please consider yourself warned: If you lose wallet's key or URL, your Bitcoins are lost, no matter the circumstances.

Again, I'm aware of what's stated on the website.  I had heard that Jav can assist people who experienced errors in the site retrieve their coins, provided they're legitimate.  Since I'm legitimate and prepared to share all of my order knowledge, I was hoping for some assistance if it's possible.  Thanks.

[gundalf]

Still no updates from the support requests to BitInstant and Instawallet.  I'll post any updates if any are provided.

[Stephen Gornick]

I had heard that Jav can assist people who experienced errors in the site retrieve their coins, provided they're legitimate.

If you weren't aware, nearly a year ago Paymium acquired or took over Instawallet from Jav.

I am happy that Instawallet has found a new home and that I can entrust it into the hands of such a capable team.