Got a bitcoin offer which i am considering

[caffinated]

Hi,
Found this guy on the forums advertising that he would be keen to hire people to sell bitcoins wholesale for a bitcoin mining company, thought it was a job ad and went in for more info. Turns out I have to buy 100 bitcoins and then sell them myself. He would be offering 20% discount off the market rate and even offered to take 50% of the payment first and 50% later. This is where i started having doubts... He then gave me a website which when a whois was done was created last month and yet the website claimed to be having computing power with most big mining companies which seems strange... Digging around the site i found it was still under construction and seemed to have been copy pasted hastily as there were blank buttons and links at some areas. They were not very visible but they were there...

If his offer is legit its a great deal but the amount I'd have to put up first is going to be huge and if he runs away I do not think I will have much means to recover...

What is your advise on how i should start off with this party and stay safe? I was considering possibly escrow but theres a bunch of people complaining bout the escrows as well and the amount is going to be huge in terms of transaction fees alone.
I am pretty new to bitcoins but have successfully bought and sold bitcoins so far totally <5,000 USD so this would be a huge jump.

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[Qartada]

This is extremely strange.  It's hard to underestimate how many scams there are related to Bitcoin - potentially a majority will be less sophisticated scams like this one which are actually pretty easy to avoid.

There's no decent reason why this would be legit.

[BTCforJoe]

First of all, you did the right thing by asking here in these forums.

Second, run. run. RUN from this "opportunity". Anytime you have a site that was created recently that has misinformation, or a lack of information on it, it was done unprofessionally, and obviously launched before any kind of QA was done on it. This screams "scam"; it was enough for YOU to question it.

Always go with your gut. Offers that are "too good to be true" generally are, especially when it comes to online transactions.

If you really are considering this, don't dismiss the option of using an escrow. There are many here on the forums that are extremely reputable. If he doesn't even entertain the thought of using an escrow, walk away from the deal. Sorry, man, but anyone that won't consider an escrow for 50% of 100BTC ($91,145 at the time of this post) is a fucking criminal in my book. There's a reason why escrows are STILL widely used to this day. Until you can comfortably engage the seller in a trusting relationship after several deals, you shouldn't even think about the possibility of not employing an escrow service.

If it was THESE forums that the user reached out to you on, check his reputation here. Do a search for his name. If there aren't any results, my best advice is to tell you to walk away.

Either way, this forum can be your biggest asset, and be weary of the following masses of sig spammers that are going to tell you that he's a scammer and to walk away, or relay the same repetitive information over and over again lol

Always follow your gut, but just know this, moving forward: it is extremely simple to get fucked in cryptocurrency. Transactions are pretty much final, and although you may be protected by your fiat currency institution (bank or credit card company), once he uses that currency to buy bitcoins, you're fucked.

Takeaway from this post? If you're seriously considering this deal, then seriously consider using an escrow service, and kill the deal immediately if he won't entertain the thought of it. The minuscule (or non-existent) fees of the escrows are NOTHING compared to the risk of getting royally fucked.

Read here for more information about escrow services offered on Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=855778.0

I believe the Big 3 are all still active, but that post may be a bit outdated. @Zazarb is another extremely reputable escrow here on the forums, along with the Big 3:
(Reputation Thread) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=831382.0
(Zazarb's profile) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=369212

[Velkro]

This is extremely strange.  It's hard to underestimate how many scams there are related to Bitcoin - potentially a majority will be less sophisticated scams like this one which are actually pretty easy to avoid.

There's no decent reason why this would be legit.

This, but through OP description, its 100% scam.
Don't get involved in complicated schemes because bitcoin is easy, so if someone creating complicated scheme its for scamming people, no other reason.

[caffinated]

thank you very much Velkro, Qartada & BTCforjoe, especially BTCforjoe for your extremely detailed and helpful reply.
I was about to jump on it when I saw another email from him saying try from a smaller qty but now I'll just skip it.
and yea he did refuse for escrow but claimed to have lost 500 btc on escrow...

[kolloh]

thank you very much Velkro, Qartada & BTCforjoe, especially BTCforjoe for your extremely detailed and helpful reply.
I was about to jump on it when I saw another email from him saying try from a smaller qty but now I'll just skip it.
and yea he did refuse for escrow but claimed to have lost 500 btc on escrow...

Refusing a known trusted escrow is definitely red flag that this is a scam. You should definitely avoid this as it is not likely to end well.

[hase0278]

thank you very much Velkro, Qartada & BTCforjoe, especially BTCforjoe for your extremely detailed and helpful reply.
I was about to jump on it when I saw another email from him saying try from a smaller qty but now I'll just skip it.
and yea he did refuse for escrow but claimed to have lost 500 btc on escrow...

Refusing a known trusted escrow is definitely red flag that this is a scam. You should definitely avoid this as it is not likely to end well.

Yeah its better to not buy from him. If you really want to buy bitcoin that bad, wait for a dip then buy or you can buy now instead of buying discounted bitcoins from him who is sure to be a scammer. It is wiser if you would cut off contact with him now, and not to ever contact him again because it is useless. Loosing 500 btc on escrow seems exaggerated unless the escrow he used is not trusted.

[caffinated]

I am no longer considering working with him but this question is just for my own knowledge.
He just sent me another email (no responses from me since last request for escrow) on an address to verify the bitcoin activity, which shows there is almost no activity but does hold the btc hes saying.
Now my question is... when i saw blockchain.info i was able to see a map for his transactions, but the originating transaction which is 39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP i cant seem to see the visual map button, why is this the case?
This seems to be a very active wallet from https://blockchain.info/address/39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP
but doing a search on it does not come up with much info.
101,000 btc wowee

[kolloh]

I am no longer considering working with him but this question is just for my own knowledge.
He just sent me another email (no responses from me since last request for escrow) on an address to verify the bitcoin activity, which shows there is almost no activity but does hold the btc hes saying.
Now my question is... when i saw blockchain.info i was able to see a map for his transactions, but the originating transaction which is 39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP i cant seem to see the visual map button, why is this the case?
This seems to be a very active wallet from https://blockchain.info/address/39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP
but doing a search on it does not come up with much info.
101,000 btc wowee

Anyone can link a wallet with lots of bitcoins in it but that doesn't prove that they own the address. They would need to provide a signed message with the private key of that address which you would be able to verify to show that they control that address. They wouldn't be able to sign a message with that address if they didn't have access to the private key.

Not sure about the visual map button, that is a feature unique to blockchain.info and perhaps it doesn't show up for all addresses.

[tiggytomb]

Good advice from everyone on this, there are far too many questions and just sending an address is something anyone can do if you find one with a lot of bitcoin.

I think you would be extremely sad if you went ahead with this before coming here which was a great move, this forum has a lot of experienced users that have seen it all.

[iamTom123]

I am 200% sure that he is just another run-of-mill scammer promising great returns which upon inspection can really be doubtful. Yes, the best thing to do is run away from him so that you can save your money. I am sure this would not be the first time you can encounter an offer like this and am sure you already learned your lessons well without losing any money. Many scammers are right now utilizing Bitcoin and maybe other altcoins because unlike  Paypal it would be impossible to file any complaint in Bitcoin and there is no possibility of a refund.

[btcdiggingmaster]

I am no longer considering working with him but this question is just for my own knowledge.
He just sent me another email (no responses from me since last request for escrow) on an address to verify the bitcoin activity, which shows there is almost no activity but does hold the btc hes saying.
Now my question is... when i saw blockchain.info i was able to see a map for his transactions, but the originating transaction which is 39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP i cant seem to see the visual map button, why is this the case?
This seems to be a very active wallet from https://blockchain.info/address/39XoQbLUvm9gb9fZ1MrtW8gRzkRZhSiFGP
but doing a search on it does not come up with much info.
101,000 btc wowee

So many people have right to see that people have many bitcoins in their wallet, so maybe he is providing those details to you. So better ask him for escrow because if he really had the money means he won't bother about escrow fees. Don't fall into his tricks because only people who want to scam will do all these.