Bitcoin address scam lookup!

[yoyome]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.

Is there such a thing already???
If not, I really think there is a market for such a service.

Let's say you are being presented with ridiculous offers that not only sound too good to be true but are also shady as f**k.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to look that address up into a registry where other people have previously reported scams???

Not sure how feasible this would turn out to be, considering the amount of addresses generated every second... BUT... I don't think it could hurt either...
Most scammers are probably lazy and wouldn't think of switching addresses until such a service would become popular and/or adopted by bigger players (e.g exchanges)

That could really help a lot of gullible people who otherwise would fall prey to such scams.
I would personally use such a service if there was one

Let me know what you think...

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[ranochigo]

You can literally create a new address within seconds. Most of the scammers aren't that lazy to the extent which they would use the same address continuously. The service wouldn't be useful by any standard.

Coinbase do have this sort of tagging but its relating to the transactions inputs itself. I believe they filtered out coins which were related to major scams. It wasn't particularly useful either since most of the coins that we have circulating is already tainted anyway.

[Bit4UTeam]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.

Is there such a thing already???
If not, I really think there is a market for such a service.

Let's say you are being presented with ridiculous offers that not only sound too good to be true but are also shady as f**k.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to look that address up into a registry where other people have previously reported scams???

Not sure how feasible this would turn out to be, considering the amount of addresses generated every second... BUT... I don't think it could hurt either...
Most scammers are probably lazy and wouldn't think of switching addresses until such a service would become popular and/or adopted by bigger players (e.g exchanges)

That could really help a lot of gullible people who otherwise would fall prey to such scams.
I would personally use such a service if there was one

Let me know what you think...

I have never heard about such registries. Probable are there here any? I think it is a great idea, but the only thing is - what if you put a person as a scam  in the list and actually it was not his fault that something went wrong with the transaction, for example?

[yoyome]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.

Is there such a thing already???
If not, I really think there is a market for such a service.

Let's say you are being presented with ridiculous offers that not only sound too good to be true but are also shady as f**k.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to look that address up into a registry where other people have previously reported scams???

Not sure how feasible this would turn out to be, considering the amount of addresses generated every second... BUT... I don't think it could hurt either...
Most scammers are probably lazy and wouldn't think of switching addresses until such a service would become popular and/or adopted by bigger players (e.g exchanges)

That could really help a lot of gullible people who otherwise would fall prey to such scams.
I would personally use such a service if there was one

Let me know what you think...

I have never heard about such registries. Probable are there here any? I think it is a great idea, but the only thing is - what if you put a person as a scam  in the list and actually it was not his fault that something went wrong with the transaction, for example?

Don't think that would be a major problem... think domain names blacklisting. you could always hear their side of the story... but let's say you have 2000 complaints against them and 3 supporting them which would you choose?
De-listing someone that can prove nothing wrong was done would not be a problem...

[yoyome]

You can literally create a new address within seconds. Most of the scammers aren't that lazy to the extent which they would use the same address continuously. The service wouldn't be useful by any standard.

Coinbase do have this sort of tagging but its relating to the transactions inputs itself. I believe they filtered out coins which were related to major scams. It wasn't particularly useful either since most of the coins that we have circulating is already tainted anyway.

My point was, you could keep track of those tx and list them. If there's a big scam they would obviously try to scatter the purse in hundreds of other wallets... but... keep in mind you can still track every single one of them from the blockchain... sort of a guilty by association

I'm just freestyling here and bouncing ideas... no hatin' plz

[jseverson]

Something kind of like this already exists. There is a concept of tainted coins, which are basically coins that are being tracked from some shady deal. It's kind of possible to wash them clean by mixing them though.

I wouldn't be opposed to your idea, but some people may think that just because a certain address is not on the registry means they're not being scammed; basically giving people a false sense of security. That's also without taking into consideration the fact that it's unlikely for a scammer to reuse an address, because that just increases the possibility of them being pinpointed.

A registry of known scams (services, websites, etc.) would be far more useful in my opinion, and I'm sure something close to that exists, but most people can't even follow basic internet security guidelines, so lol.

[tachi641]

I hardly have heard of this before !!

[ranochigo]

My point was, you could keep track of those tx and list them. If there's a big scam they would obviously try to scatter the purse in hundreds of other wallets... but... keep in mind you can still track every single one of them from the blockchain... sort of a guilty by association

I'm just freestyling here and bouncing ideas... no hatin' plz

Of course you can. It's called blockchain analysis and it can be made harder through the use of mixers and the linkage may very well be inaccurate. You do realise the cost of moving coins right? Who in the right mind, trying to scam individuals would use them?

Okay, if I were to start scamming people, do you think I'll give them a new address or an address that is associated to my other scams?

I'm not hating, I'm just questioning the rationale.

[yoyome]

Of course you can. It's called blockchain analysis and it can be made harder through the use of mixers and the linkage may very well be inaccurate. You do realise the cost of moving coins right? Who in the right mind, trying to scam individuals would use them?

Not sure how mixers work from a technical perspective. My take is that no matter how many different addresses you bounced it through it can still be tracked.
Lets say you have a flagged address and you unload into 47 additional ones... out of those, each gets bounced into 369 more... you can still keep track of those and link them to the initial one that was flagged.
Then, let's say they start to converge to coinbase or any other exchange that employs this scam lookup service and they either block your funds or reject your transfer...

Sure it would take a lot of work and dedication and probably become very costly.
It would have to be community based since otherwise, being run by a corp could lead to mal intent or just plain misinformation for pure corporate greed/profits and/or undermining competition.

I'm sure it could still be tricked, abused, circumvented... but at least it might catch a chunk of scams that otherwise might not be caught.
Yeah, it would probably end up being a game of cat and mouse like any other tech related service... think of OS/Network security, antivirus industry etc...
But it could have its own niche and it might just work to block/flag scams, even if it's on a modest scale.
More people contributing to it, would undeniably fine tune the service for future applications.
Of course, I'm speaking here hypothetically and the service would need to be constantly updated and most importantly become popular and adopted by big players, but I wouldn't say that it would "not be useful by ANY standards".

Okay, if I were to start scamming people, do you think I'll give them a new address or an address that is associated to my other scams?

I'm not hating, I'm just questioning the rationale.

Fair enough...

On the other hand... Let's say you start your scam website and/or craigslist ad... and start spreading your 10-20 payment addresses.
First day you get 3 people that buy in > they send you their btc > you cut any contact with them > they get antsy > start looking for ways to fight back.
They stumble upon this service and flag your 3 addresses that are also linked to your website CL ad(title) or w/e the initial source was.
Next day, someone that is more research savvy stumbles upon your ad and starts digging.
Again, going back to how popular this service would become they could spot it in an instant.

Indeed this does not mean that by flagging addresses the scam gets shut down in and of itself...
There are already multiple websites/discussion forums that question the validity of sellers or service providers that seem shady.
What I'm trying to argue here is that it could add an extra layer of help to an already challenged sector of the industry.

Bottom line... I would dedicate a small portion of my time to contributing to such a project.
Would I try to develop/run this as a business for a profit? Probably not.
But I would be open to contributing with anything I could 5-10 min a day every other 7th week if such a project were to be started.

my 2c

[cybersofts]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.

Is there such a thing already???
If not, I really think there is a market for such a service.

Let's say you are being presented with ridiculous offers that not only sound too good to be true but are also shady as f**k.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to look that address up into a registry where other people have previously reported scams???

Not sure how feasible this would turn out to be, considering the amount of addresses generated every second... BUT... I don't think it could hurt either...
Most scammers are probably lazy and wouldn't think of switching addresses until such a service would become popular and/or adopted by bigger players (e.g exchanges)

That could really help a lot of gullible people who otherwise would fall prey to such scams.
I would personally use such a service if there was one

Let me know what you think...

That's basically useless because a scammer can create hundreds of bitcoin addresses in few minutes and renew them everyday.

[ranochigo]

Not sure how mixers work from a technical perspective. My take is that no matter how many different addresses you bounced it through it can still be tracked.
Lets say you have a flagged address and you unload into 47 additional ones... out of those, each gets bounced into 369 more... you can still keep track of those and link them to the initial one that was flagged.
Then, let's say they start to converge to coinbase or any other exchange that employs this scam lookup service and they either block your funds or reject your transfer...

Mixers breaks the linkage completely. Take for example the one in my signature. They operate through tor and keeps no logs. If any scammer were to use it, they can be anonymous and break the linkage of coins at the same time. The coins that you are tracking may go to other innocent people.

That's the problem with taint analysis. Big exchanges who blocks funds which are tainted are often frowned upon. There is no surefire way of linking addresses to a single identity. It is impossible to know if the funds came from the scammer or from another person who merely bought the coins off him. Coinbase did this and yeah, people who weren't associated with the fraud got dragged into it too. It isn't fair to crack down on potential scammers at the expense of legit users.

On the other hand... Let's say you start your scam website and/or craigslist ad... and start spreading your 10-20 payment addresses.
First day you get 3 people that buy in > they send you their btc > you cut any contact with them > they get antsy > start looking for ways to fight back.
They stumble upon this service and flag your 3 addresses that are also linked to your website CL ad(title) or w/e the initial source was.
Next day, someone that is more research savvy stumbles upon your ad and starts digging.
Again, going back to how popular this service would become they could spot it in an instant.

Indeed this does not mean that by flagging addresses the scam gets shut down in and of itself...
There are already multiple websites/discussion forums that question the validity of sellers or service providers that seem shady.
What I'm trying to argue here is that it could add an extra layer of help to an already challenged sector of the industry.

I believe you contact the person first and then you pay them isn't it? You wouldn't know you got scammed until you send the funds and by then, its too late. Blockchain analysis isn't instant and no one would do it for free, unless they were affected. Doing so won't stop the scam and if they are smart, you wouldn't even be able to trace them.

[bitfools]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.


Let me know what you think...

This is exactly how it all ends, say I run my home-rolled block-chain parser, and collect all pristine coin address, then I NARC to the black-list authoriity's, I say that these 'addresses' are used for child-porn, BINGO now I can lock down any address/coin I want,...

This is how it always ends, the "ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS"

But as soon as you black-list btc addresses, then it will be misused

Besides you think GOV doesn't already do this? They have done it with silk road, ... there are dozens of companys that trace BTC addresses, and know all that is linked back to 'dark-web' transactions, GOV isnt' stupid every state in the USA is looking for 'tax evaders', and wants to prove that those $10Million USD are in their jurisdiction, what better way for GOV to fuck HODLER's than to MARK accounts 'as' BAD, and then hold them as BAD until the idiot gives 90% to GOv.

Shit like this is how they will force HODLER cold-storage coins into the system, ...

All going according to plan,

Lastly, how could a 'pristine' never used coin, but used for CP? It couldn't logically as by defn, it was never used, but then nobody said that FEAR&GREED was going to be logical.

[bitfools]

I have tried, but will try again

There are 3 types of BTC

1.) Pristine blocks, never used, clean for virgin these are worth +10X of FMV, this is the shit that CHINESE miners sell to MAFIA

2.) Normal BTC's that you buy for $100 on your credit card from exchange, these are used BTC's

3.) STOLEN BTC, scammed BTC's, BTC involved in CRIME; Gov already knows they keep a list of all these coins, they have 20% of FMV cuz they're hot, but there are buyers, there are always buyers

To say that BTC type # should be in a database is a joke, its been done, its just that its a LEXIS-NEXUS service available to GOV & RICH ppl who are willing to pay for this info.

[Suptiele]

you can open more than one wallet and have 1000 address. in fact Scammers have more than 1 address.
easy use wallets like blockchain.info make one wallet have more than 10 address.
it is better to lookup IP more than address, you can track small cookies or contact support team they will help you recvoer your funds
If you do not make sure that the program and wallet that generates addresses is reliable, you will lose your currencies because scammers are stalking them.

[neerajmittal]

Mixers breaks the linkage completely. Take for example the one in my signature. They operate through tor and keeps no logs. If any scammer were to use it, they can be anonymous and break the linkage of coins at the same time. The coins that you Of course you can. It's called blockchain analysis and it can be made harder through the use of mixers and the linkage may very well be inaccurate. You do realise the cost of moving coins right? Who in the right mind, trying to scam individuals would use them.Okay, if I were to start scamming people, do you think I'll give them a new address or an address that is associated to my other scams.I'm not hating, I'm just questioning the rationale.e tracking may go to other innocent people.

[Velkro]

While browsing through the local craigslist ads, I realized there might be a need for a centralized database where people could report addresses that are involved in or associated with scams.

Its not possible. Someone make transaction from this address. What then? Its still scam involved address? Or someone else bought that bitcoin and he have no idea where it come from? Or bitcoin from scam involvd address tumbled it/sold it to exchange. What then? Its noble idea but with no chance to success, its same as you would mark $ bills that were involved in crime