SCAMMER: Cablepair (Tom) from BTCFPGA.com/bitcoinasic.net

[creativex]

While I do enjoy a good witch hunt, the one user to contact me about freezing funds provided a user ID which has absolutely nothing tying it to Tom/bASIC.  The account is almost 2 years old, which predates the first FPGA sales he ever made, and heavily predates ASIC offerings.

The email and username do not have anything resembling something Tom/cablepair has ever used on the forums.  Unless there is proof that the user is mining with stolen hardware, there is very little I can do aside from blocking the account from continuing to mine.  I'm not the internet police, and all it would accomplish is freezing a FEW coins, which I am in no position to distribute to any party, nor do I want to be.

Real stand upish of you to look into this at all, particularly so quickly. Much appreciated. Anything that can be done to make Tom less comfortable is a win at this point.

[MPOE-PR]

While I do enjoy a good witch hunt, the one user to contact me about freezing funds provided a user ID which has absolutely nothing tying it to Tom/bASIC.  The account is almost 2 years old, which predates the first FPGA sales he ever made, and heavily predates ASIC offerings.

The email and username do not have anything resembling something Tom/cablepair has ever used on the forums.  Unless there is proof that the user is mining with stolen hardware, there is very little I can do aside from blocking the account from continuing to mine.  I'm not the internet police, and all it would accomplish is freezing a FEW coins, which I am in no position to distribute to any party, nor do I want to be.

Real stand upish of you to look into this at all, particularly so quickly. Much appreciated. Anything that can be done to make Tom less comfortable is a win at this point.

That may be true, but on the other hand you really can't go around inconveniencing random third parties just because you gave some coins to a scammer.

[creativex]

True that, that's why Mr. Teal's evidence is important as is the importance of ensuring that the IP being used to mine is originating from NY state. Tom is as I understand it, a family man, and is not likely able to uproot on short notice and relocate out of state.

What are the odds that someone with a sizable mining footprint is using the same login Tom used in the past on BTCGuild from a NY IP that isn't Tom? Infinitesimally small? 

[Fjordbit]

if tom is still mining on btc guild cant we contact eleuthria and have him put a freeze on his account and any coins he mines have him put into a account to be used to pay us back lol.

There really isn't much point. I would expect that he, like most miners, has regular disbursements to his own addresses, and once he realizes the funds are frozen, he'll just make a new account or switch pools entirely.

[repentance]

There really isn't much point. I would expect that he, like most miners, has regular disbursements to his own addresses, and once he realizes the funds are frozen, he'll just make a new account or switch pools entirely.

The minute any Bitcoin business starts freezing coins we're back to the whole "taint" argument, and all its implications. Even simply refusing to do business with known scammers only works in an environment where proof of identity is required.

Taking possession of earnings for distribution to someone else is dodgy legal ground (you need some kind of court or statutory authority to do it in the real world) and I doubt any Bitcoin businesses want the potential headaches.

[creativex]

I disagree. While I don't think the action should be taken lightly there are instances in which confirmed scammers should be taken to task by anyone with the ability to do so. If it's possible to confirm that it's indeed Tom mining on that account I'd seize it and return the proceeds to those he stole from were it up to me.

...but then I'd delete Giga's BFL orders as well.

[repentance]

I disagree. While I don't think the action should be taken lightly there are instances in which confirmed scammers should be taken to task by anyone with the ability to do so. If it's possible to confirm that it's indeed Tom mining on that account I'd seize it and return the proceeds to those he stole from were it up to me.

...but then I'd delete Giga's BFL orders as well.

I don't disagree with the sentiment.  I just think that if you have a business which is toddling along very nicely and where you're not attracting any undue attention then you need to make a risk/reward assessment before you decide to play vigilante. 

The amount which would be available for return to Tom's customers would likely be very small but the pools would be with-holding those funds from Tom and redistributing them without any legal authority (your employer can't just give your wages to a creditor because they don't like the fact that you haven't paid your bills - they need legal authority in the form of a garnishee order to do it).

You also have the issue of how a pool is meant to validate claims.  Without access to Dave's list of those who are still owed refunds, there is no way to verify that those who claim they are owed refunds by Tom are legitimate.

I have no issue with services black-balling known scammers and refusing to do business with them - it's just problematic to enforce given the large number of services which allow their customers to remain anonymous.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Tom is effectively "judgement-proof" and has no significant assets beyond whatever is sitting in his BTC wallets - and we really have no idea of how many wallets he has or their addresses.  Unless he has BTC-related accounts which are tied to his real life identity, denying him access to those accounts through civil law means is going to be difficult (law enforcement has far more options in this respect).

I think it's wise to remember that at least one criminal complaint has been filed in respect of Tom's activities and more will likely follow.  The scope of those investigations may well extend to his earnings from mining pools, so it's in the interest of pool operators to maintain "clean hands" at this point.

[CurbsideProphet]

I actually recommended a disabled guy with a limited government social income to use some of his last savings to buy 3 units from this guy.

I hope you're joking.

[Herodes]

Ironically, I came into this community right when a Tom took a lot of people's money. I left and came back right when another Tom is doing the same thing.

Funnily, 'Tom' in my language means 'empty'.

[agath]

I received the refund.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=143667.msg1523200#msg1523200

[greyhawk]

I received the refund.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=143667.msg1523200#msg1523200

agath: Registered January 24, 2013, 12:00:12 PM

cablepair: Last Active/Banned:  January 23, 2013, 06:16:33 AM

I hear it's really easy to receive refunds if one just asks oneself to refund oneself. I also just gave myself a million euro. In 10 euro notes.

[MPOE-PR]

I received the refund.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=143667.msg1523200#msg1523200

agath: Registered January 24, 2013, 12:00:12 PM

cablepair: Last Active/Banned:  January 23, 2013, 06:16:33 AM

I hear it's really easy to receive refunds if one just asks oneself to refund oneself. I also just gave myself a million euro. In 10 euro notes.

Good catch there.

[agath]

Good catch there.

You only catch the dust. Please turn back to your porn exchange and don't talk about things you don't even know.

[MPOE-PR]

Good catch there.

You only catch the dust. Please turn back to your porn exchange and don't talk about things you don't even know.

Who shot who in the what now?

[RHA]

I received the refund.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=143667.msg1523200#msg1523200

Post a screenshot of that. Remove your name and your account number, but leave Tom's intact. It won't prove much, but it can be useful for legal action.

[Fjordbit]

I actually recommended a disabled guy with a limited government social income to use some of his last savings to buy 3 units from this guy.

I hope you're joking.

Unfortunately and embarrassingly, I am not.

[creativex]

I actually recommended a disabled guy with a limited government social income to use some of his last savings to buy 3 units from this guy.

I hope you're joking.

Unfortunately and embarrassingly, I am not.

Guy said he bought nothing. Good thing.

[Fjordbit]

Guy said he bought nothing. Good thing.

Yeah, I was pretty relieved about that. Tom is still a piece of shit.

[CurbsideProphet]

I actually recommended a disabled guy with a limited government social income to use some of his last savings to buy 3 units from this guy.

I hope you're joking.

Unfortunately and embarrassingly, I am not.

After reading through that, I wouldn't beat yourself up over it.  You actually spelled out the downsides for him as well, mentioning that the future is highly speculative, declining returns due to difficulty changes, etc.  In the end, it was good to see he didn't get scammed but I don't think you misled him any.

[tnkflx]

I have received a refund on Feb 13th of BTC 138. I initially invested BTC 372,2799.

So I guess Tom's still a scammer, but at least he has a lot more money now after all the refunds are done...