How safe is localbitcoins?

[buwaytress]

And that, my friend, is exactly why I say Localbitcoins is the safest way to sell or buy Bitcoin (for fiat). The escrow system holds coins and is released only when the seller confirms funds are received. You said it took you around 5 hours to resolve the dispute? That's quick in my opinion, judging from waiting times on other exchanges.

The only thing you shouldn't do on LBC is their offline exchange... you just never know who you're dealing with, and without escrow protection.

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[Immakillya]

Localbitcoins is not an exchange. It is just a tool to find people who are selling or want to buy bitcoin. Means, the site itself is not responsible if you were scammed by one of the user there. It's not really safe so you must have an escrow for extra security. Be careful of who you are dealing with because not all users at LBC are trusted. So it's important to get an escrow before trading. If you are from US. You can't use this service because the government stops all operations of LBC there.

[trilla666]

Localbitcoins is not an exchange. It is just a tool to find people who are selling or want to buy bitcoin. Means, the site itself is not responsible if you were scammed by one of the user there. It's not really safe so you must have an escrow for extra security. Be careful of who you are dealing with because not all users at LBC are trusted. So it's important to get an escrow before trading. If you are from US. You can't use this service because the government stops all operations of LBC there.

Im in the US and i use LBC exclusively... So that statement is not true at all. You cn most definitely use Local Bitcoins in the US.. In fact, I would highly recommend it if you know what you're doing.

[Agamemnus]

localbitcoins is extremely safe to use. They force you to use 2fa on your account and they use escrow during transactions to make it double safe.

[Anzylon]

No. Localbitcoins is legit and one of the oldest bitcoin p2p websites I know off.

Here what I think could have happened: You had a malware on your computer, which allowed a hacker to get access over your account and steal your coins by doing a fake trade with himself.

If that's the case, Localbitcoins can't do anything since Bitcoin transactions are irreversible. Which means that your coins are probably gone.

  I do care more of my account's security then I do for myself, I do daily scans, download and run files on vps , use hard to break passwords , two step authenticators so hacking is not an option , someone told me that it is not deducted but it is "reserved" and released once both sides accept the trade, so let's see , waiting for hours now , payment window was around 5 hours so it should close soon or ...

If it is about security then bitcoin security is more protected than other securities etc. As you talked about vps and scaning then it is quite great from you that you are doing that. By the way which vps are you using.

AWS - Amazon web services is the one I use

[goldade]

Local bitcoin is now an hub for people looking for ways to scam others of their resources and its not even encouraged for newbie to patronise there because the chances of one being scammed is higher than not being scammed. I would rather patronise individual sites to exchange to fiat than to give myself the headache of going through their entire process and at the end still fll in the hands of scammers.

[LeGaulois]

LocalBitcoin is safe and trusted but the people not so much if I can say. There are a lot of fraud there.

For example selling Bitcoin for Paypal then once sold, the buyer opens a dispute or chargeback with unauthorized account/transaction access. It is something common and that's why the sellers set a rate higher (20%) for Paypal sales. The same with bank transfers, there are a lot of people sending you bank transfer and then contact their bank with all kind of excuse.

[Anzylon]

Local bitcoin is now an hub for people looking for ways to scam others of their resources and its not even encouraged for newbie to patronise there because the chances of one being scammed is higher than not being scammed. I would rather patronise individual sites to exchange to fiat than to give myself the headache of going through their entire process and at the end still fll in the hands of scammers.

I agree but unfortunately I live in a partially independent country which limits my opportunities ... most of internet services are not available for my country for example I am not able to sell my bitcoins on any exchange like kraken which is a great alternative.

That's why I end up for localbitcoins 

[trilla666]

Local bitcoin is now an hub for people looking for ways to scam others of their resources and its not even encouraged for newbie to patronise there because the chances of one being scammed is higher than not being scammed. I would rather patronise individual sites to exchange to fiat than to give myself the headache of going through their entire process and at the end still fll in the hands of scammers.

I agree but unfortunately I live in a partially independent country which limits my opportunities ... most of internet services are not available for my country for example I am not able to sell my bitcoins on any exchange like kraken which is a great alternative.

That's why I end up for localbitcoins 

Couldnt you use a VPN to work around your countries limitations?

[Anzylon]

Local bitcoin is now an hub for people looking for ways to scam others of their resources and its not even encouraged for newbie to patronise there because the chances of one being scammed is higher than not being scammed. I would rather patronise individual sites to exchange to fiat than to give myself the headache of going through their entire process and at the end still fll in the hands of scammers.

I agree but unfortunately I live in a partially independent country which limits my opportunities ... most of internet services are not available for my country for example I am not able to sell my bitcoins on any exchange like kraken which is a great alternative.

That's why I end up for localbitcoins 

Couldnt you use a VPN to work around your countries limitations?

I don't think VPN is helpful when withdrawing money from bank or getting it there 

[trilla666]

Local bitcoin is now an hub for people looking for ways to scam others of their resources and its not even encouraged for newbie to patronise there because the chances of one being scammed is higher than not being scammed. I would rather patronise individual sites to exchange to fiat than to give myself the headache of going through their entire process and at the end still fll in the hands of scammers.

I agree but unfortunately I live in a partially independent country which limits my opportunities ... most of internet services are not available for my country for example I am not able to sell my bitcoins on any exchange like kraken which is a great alternative.

That's why I end up for localbitcoins 

Couldnt you use a VPN to work around your countries limitations?

I don't think VPN is helpful when withdrawing money from bank or getting it there 

Sorry, i guess i misunderstood your problem... I see what youre saying now. That is tricky... however, it gives you an opportunity to stack your btc and not be tempted to pull out. You can always tether on an exchange if you think the market is going to dump. I personally dont really trust tether, but i think im just paranoid.

[buwaytress]

LocalBitcoin is safe and trusted but the people not so much if I can say. There are a lot of fraud there.

For example selling Bitcoin for Paypal then once sold, the buyer opens a dispute or chargeback with unauthorized account/transaction access. It is something common and that's why the sellers set a rate higher (20%) for Paypal sales. The same with bank transfers, there are a lot of people sending you bank transfer and then contact their bank with all kind of excuse.

That's unfortunately the nature of P2P. But I do find in my particular country anyway that the methods I use are extremely difficult to defraud. I always contact the trader first so if they don't provide a method of contact, I don't use them. Then, it has to be an online trade with escrow. Finally, the method of payment is usually online bank transfer. Once sent, yes they can still try and reverse the tx through the bank, but it happens with difficulty from their side.

Also, I do my sells in a few small batches with several trusted traders (those who have years of trades and high volume). It wouldn't make sense for them to sacrifice their feedback for a few hundred dollars. As a newbie, build up sells first so you have enough trust for people to want to take your buys.

[susila_bai]

LocalBitcoin is safe and trusted but the people not so much if I can say. There are a lot of fraud there.

For example selling Bitcoin for Paypal then once sold, the buyer opens a dispute or chargeback with unauthorized account/transaction access. It is something common and that's why the sellers set a rate higher (20%) for Paypal sales. The same with bank transfers, there are a lot of people sending you bank transfer and then contact their bank with all kind of excuse.

That's unfortunately the nature of P2P. But I do find in my particular country anyway that the methods I use are extremely difficult to defraud. I always contact the trader first so if they don't provide a method of contact, I don't use them. Then, it has to be an online trade with escrow. Finally, the method of payment is usually online bank transfer. Once sent, yes they can still try and reverse the tx through the bank, but it happens with difficulty from their side.

Also, I do my sells in a few small batches with several trusted traders (those who have years of trades and high volume). It wouldn't make sense for them to sacrifice their feedback for a few hundred dollars. As a newbie, build up sells first so you have enough trust for people to want to take your buys.

That is why you must trade with the users who have trades done more then 1000 times , even i am selling my bitcoins for more then 2 yrs in local bitcoins but i have taken full precautions. But even i dont tell that it is safe but i first talk with the user before trading in localbitcoins exchange.

[bitcoinmaniac52]

Anyone who reads this I can guarantee LocalBitcoins is safe because I did a trade there and it went perfect!

[razzbee]

Wow, this is the first time I hearing this about local bitcoin, I have used it several times myself for local BTC purchase and sales, everything went on smooth, check your pc or laptop for any kind of malware/virus, also be careful not falling a victim to phishing sites

[boyshx]

It's a good site to trade your coins at different price from different seller. Or you can be seller as well. However people will be scammer as you got the experience by yourself. This will be case everywhere you go, bad world is always there on the ass. However local bitcoin will take care of your coins by holding them before they will release to the buyer and won't do anything unless and until the payment is completed. Though you get scammed they will have all the details of scammer which is mandatory procedure and that's next step forward for your security.

[infinity33]

Anyone who reads this I can guarantee LocalBitcoins is safe because I did a trade there and it went perfect!

local bitcoin is safe i must agree with that also if you let scammers scam you then thats the thing that localbitcoin look not safe.