How safe is localbitcoins?

[Anzylon]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this?

UPDATE :

During the trade buyer made a scam attempt where he marked as payment complete , meanwhile during the process of trade bitcoins are not actually deducted but "reserved" and held until the payment is complete OR the payment window ends(which can take hours).

It took me ~5 hours to get my bitcoins back , beware of scammers out there!

[TryNinja]

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.

[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 ...

[soham]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this? I am worried and already started to regret using locabitcoins ...

First of all Localbitcoins is not a exchange company, it is just a platform where people come together to have their funds exchanged. It's similar to a forum of like-minded people. I have been using their platform since a long time now and till date I haven't faced any issue. Usually I sell my bitcoins through their platform and receive fiat money in my local currency from any trader who is offering a good price. When a send a trade request to a trader, my funds go in to escrow and I usually receive the money in to my bank account within maximum 10 minutes.

I don't what went wrong for you. But I believe their support will be able to assist you within the due time. But I know a lot of people here will be supporting localbitcoin because it is really a fantastic platform with very less/no issues.

[Lanatsa]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this? I am worried and already started to regret using locabitcoins ...

First of all Localbitcoins is not a exchange company, it is just a platform where people come together to have their funds exchanged. It's similar to a forum of like-minded people. I have been using their platform since a long time now and till date I haven't faced any issue. Usually I sell my bitcoins through their platform and receive fiat money in my local currency from any trader who is offering a good price. When a send a trade request to a trader, my funds go in to escrow and I usually receive the money in to my bank account within maximum 10 minutes.

I don't what went wrong for you. But I believe their support will be able to assist you within the due time. But I know a lot of people here will be supporting localbitcoin because it is really a fantastic platform with very less/no issues.

Same experience on here too regarding on using localbitcoin.This is the fast way i do sell or buy bitcoin with other people it is somehow secured specially funds would really be escrowed which chance of getting scammed would really be lesser than not on using escrow when theres a transaction between other people.

[DaMut]

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 ...

this is ever happened to someone else before or me(also) and the problem do not come from localbitcoin but instead came from your PC/Laptop or yourself.
there are a lot of phising email whenever you try to log in to localbitcoin,
for example me right now,
i ever open up something from website or redirect my browser to other website when i try to loggin to my account.
after that in the next morning my account loggin by itself (so lucky because i never deposit my Bitcoin in there),
so far they are a legit company,but remember they are not an excanger but peer to peer(P2P) platform.
they did not sell anything or buy anything.

[xIIImaL]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this? I am worried and already started to regret using locabitcoins ...

You didn't check the incoming transaction norms before you sent the bitcoin from your primary wallet to lbc wallet. They use to adjust the deposit whenever the price fluctuates.
Is legit one of the exchange in the market place which been widely used by the many people. I use to exchange the bitcoin to fiat whenever I need a cash.

[erikalui]

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 ...

So is your money with the escrow or just pending till you accept the trade? LBC most probably won't help in this case as when users get scammed due to phishing attempts or get scammed, and you reported the case, they'll ban the scammer's account here. Hopefully you should get your money back if the trade as this is written in their terms:

When a buyer opens a trade with you, Bitcoin for the full amount of the trade is automatically taken from your wallet into escrow. Give the buyer payment instructions and guide the buyer through paying for the trade. You will receive email and SMS notifications when someone replies to your advertisement.
Once the buyer has paid and pressed the I have paid button you will receive a notification via e-mail, SMS and on the website that a trade has been paid for.
When you've confirmed that you have received the payment it's time for you to release the Bitcoins. This moves the Bitcoins from escrow to the buyers LocalBitcoins wallet.

I guess it's not a scam attempt as your trade has yet not been completed but the buyer was definitely a scammer.

[Drnice]

This is serious. I know very well that localbitcoins is a legit and a fast p2p website, I have not faced something like this before or maybe you did something that you can't say. There is an escrow that holds the coin and you must confirm the transaction before coins are released, so, I don't really get, look at it again and again.

[moataz_ansary]

Local bitcoin is trusted and secure
I used it several times and still 

[amaral1977]

Legit business. But take care of your money and only deal with very trusted buyers and sellers. And depending of your locations be aware of some problems that people are reporting, not with LBC itself but with the relationship with banks if you decide to user bank transfers for your transactions and deals.

[shursight]

No, here in my country is too easy to use localbitcoins, and the users who are buying and selling bitcoins are too fast, i remember that once i setup an sell order and in 10 minutes i had the money on my bank account. The only way you could get scammed is if you are a fool and you de-escrow the money to the buyer.

[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 ...

So is your money with the escrow or just pending till you accept the trade? LBC most probably won't help in this case as when users get scammed due to phishing attempts or get scammed, and you reported the case, they'll ban the scammer's account here. Hopefully you should get your money back if the trade as this is written in their terms:

When a buyer opens a trade with you, Bitcoin for the full amount of the trade is automatically taken from your wallet into escrow. Give the buyer payment instructions and guide the buyer through paying for the trade. You will receive email and SMS notifications when someone replies to your advertisement.
Once the buyer has paid and pressed the I have paid button you will receive a notification via e-mail, SMS and on the website that a trade has been paid for.
When you've confirmed that you have received the payment it's time for you to release the Bitcoins. This moves the Bitcoins from escrow to the buyers LocalBitcoins wallet.

I guess it's not a scam attempt as your trade has yet not been completed but the buyer was definitely a scammer.

Yes it was actually a scam attempt from buyer since he marked payment as complete without even waiting for my reply, I got my btc back , during the payment window which lasts around 300 min it was hold as "reserved".

[groko271]

localbitcoins is definitely not a scam site, but beware there are plenty of scammers there. I have not heard of this happening before though. Like you said they may be "reserved", hopefully this gets sorted out quickly for you.

[ChopChops]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this? I am worried and already started to regret using locabitcoins ...

If you gave them all the really info that you have not taken the money, they should be giving you the bitcoins back, they are not scam, users are scammers.

[k@suy]

Based on en my personal as I am using the system before, local bitcoin is legit and less hassle. This is before, the time when our country has no legit exchanges. Now, I seldom used it.

[mozillaspez]

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.

[moataz_ansary]

Localbitcoins is trusted
I use it several time and very safe , Secure and trusted

[trilla666]

Hi,

I am using localbitcoins for the first time , deposited some btc , created an ad for western union payments and left it open.
Few minutes later when I came , I noticed that 0,5 btc were deducted from my account, a random guy has left a message giving me his email and marked payment as complete, I started the dispute and did not release the bitcoins but they were already deducted.

I quickly wrote a message to support explaining the situation ,
can someone tell me if this is an usual thing there and what are the chances of getting scammed like this?

UPDATE :

During the trade buyer made a scam attempt where he marked as payment complete , meanwhile during the process of trade bitcoins are not actually deducted but "reserved" and held until the payment is complete OR the payment window ends(which can take hours).

It took me ~5 hours to get my bitcoins back , beware of scammers out there!

LBC is the only exchange that I consistently use to trade btc. I know it is totally legit, and follows all of the protocols that it has posted.

I am curious about their KYC / AML practices tho. I have added identification to facilitate smoother trades with peers, however I am unsure if LBC could ever be audited. Does anyone know? They are not located in the US - is this information correct?

thanks!

[BitcoinPC]

There is built in escrow, so you are fine. There are hundreds that have used it and we just did yesterday. I would trust a site from Bularia, operating out of a back alley before trusting anyone here, so localbitcoins is a fine choice.  The trust system on that site is 100% authentic and we can safely buy sell bitcoins there.