coinurl.com is no good

[Someone5]

This is the story of how CoinURL stole my bitcoins. It wasn't that much but a warning should be issued to the community so that it doesn't happen to more people.

Here's how it went down:

+ I put bitcoins into my account on CoinURL.
+ Something "strange" happens to that my bitcoins magically disappear with no trace.
+ The supports tries to be helpful but gives more and more bad news.
+ All of the sudden the guy that handles refunds can't be reached.
+ I'm adviced to wait (forever).

This is a common scam strategy that involves:

+ A friendly face (in order to avoid the customer from realizing that he has been scammed).
+ Waiting (eventually the customer gives up and thinks "it wasn't that much money anyway").

I will post my e-mail conversation with the support. Bear with me since it is a bit long (but not too long if you want to be avoid being put in a situation like this).

It all began after I made an account and made a deposit. The homepage stated that 0 confirmations were required, yet nothing shows up after waiting a long while. That's when I contact support...

(E-mails are unedited, except for changing my name and mail address.)

[Someone5]

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---------------------------------

Where's my bitcoins?

---------------------------------

Hello, I deposited 0.05 BTC to my account here on CoinURL yesterday.

I sent the bitcoins to this address:

18o4uzXXeGAXDrmGTGzxG6PwRts2PfCPhw

This was about 10 hours ago. It said on your withdrawal page that the address would be valid for 24 hours and that you required no confirmations, I would receive the bitcoins immediately in my account.

As of now the trasaction has had 79 confirmations but my account has not yet been credited with a balance of 0.05 BTC.

Please add 0.05 BTC to the balance of my CoinURL-account ("mikper") or return my bitcoins by sending 0.05 BTC to:

12xnudzjCd9Ju8z3djqUscJ5mbjRZyv7u1

---------------------------------

Re: Where's my bitcoins?

---------------------------------

Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>    Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 6:20 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Sorry about this, this whole last week has been nuts. 

Here's 0.1 BTC voucher for CoinURL:

ID: 51f5451aa3eeb432278541
Code: 0a466df8bdb3c4113ee5c3d216ae5c7c

Cheers!

--
Richard Vialoux
CoinURL.com: Internet Advertising

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 7:24 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Thanks a lot!

While we're talking, I plan on making a safe-for-work ad campaign for:

http://bfg.swfchan.com/?start

I trust this is okay? The reason I'm asking is because while swfchan itself contains adult material the page I plan to advertise for has no such material (even the ads are turned off on that page). So it should be alright to categorize it as being non-pornographic right? As you can see it is clean.

Btw, where do you set such content-related properties for the ads? I plan on making the ad interstitial but I see no such options to set it as SFW or NSFW?

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 8:16 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

So should I just create the campaign or what?

(Sorry but I expected a reply within a day again since that was the last amount of time I had to wait for a reply.)

---------------------------------

Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>    Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 11:56 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Sorry!  You can go ahead and create the campaign. 

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 12:44 AM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Fantastic, thanks

---------------------------------
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---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 3:50 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Do you think you could approve my interstitial ad campaign on coinurl.com? You said it would be okay via mail but it also need to be approved on the site, I don't mean to be a bother but I've been waiting one and a half days now. Thanks

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 11:21 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Where's my ad?

Now when I am logged in and go to https://coinurl.com/profile-ads.php I don't see my ad!

Both active and history is blank. My account still only has 0.1 BTC and not 0.15 BTC like it should have if my ad didn't run.

Since my ad didn't run (is not in history) and is no loger pending (is not in active) I draw the conclusion that you have decided not to run my ad after all, even though you said so during our email conversation.

Please refund my 0.5 BTC that I put into the ad campain that you have denied.

If you don't plan to allow me to advertise the BFG program at all on CoinURL I would like to withdraw all of my bitcoins from my account since they won't be used. If so, please send 0.15 BTC to this bitcoin address:

12xnudzjCd9Ju8z3djqUscJ5mbjRZyv7u1

Thanks.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 11:22 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

>Please refund my 0.5 BTC that I put into the ad campain that you have denied.

Correction: That should be 0.05 BTC, I missed typing one zero.

---------------------------------
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---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 1:42 AM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Are you ignoring me all of a sudden? Could you please respond to my previous e-mail?

---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 12:33 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Hello, I'm Matt, an employee of CoinUrl, sorry I haven't responded to your previous emails, it is because I am not that qualified to handle payments. I will try and get a hold of Richard, however, he is very busy, to the point that no one can get in contact with him. Please bare with us whilst we try and fix your problem.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 1:54 PM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

Hello Matt, I've gotten a response from Richard. Thanks for reaching him for me

---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 1:56 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Not a problem, hope to talk to you in the near future.

---------------------------------
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---------------------------------

Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 7:07 AM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Hey Mikael!

I have no idea what happened there.  99.99% chance the developer denied it.  Since I am so extremely busy (and I'm not ignoring anyone, I just unfortunately work full time so I only have a couple hours per day to work on the site) I have some employees who work for me.  I have a full time developer who is a real life saver, he is extremely knowledgeable and is continually tweaking performance and adding new features, as well as the main admin for the site.  I have recently hired another mod who is starting to work on the site to approve ads and answer emails, but he is still very fresh.  It just gets to the point where I can't possibly return all these emails, but the site is doing well enough to hire help so that's the initiative I am taking. 

I personally have no problem with any ad campaign that doesn't have malware and doesn't break our frame.  The site originally was set up with filters to allow these sorts of adult material to be advertised yet filtered out for users who don't want it, and I think it works great.  However my developer is strongly against it..  I agree with him that we should be as family friendly as possible but at the same time, there is a massive market for these grey market areas so my plan is to set up a clone of CoinURL on a different domain (which I've already started to set up) that is going to be my "anything goes" ad marketplace. 

I've looked at the page you linked me to (http://bfg.swfchan.com/?start) and I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.  Maybe it's still pending?  I wouldn't fret about if it takes awhile to get set up with CoinURL right now, as we continue to grow we will keep adding services and staff to accommodate everyone.  I don't even mind about the Bitcoin amount, I will happily refund your balance AND give you the credit for your initial campaign to try it out simply to have another advertiser on board.  If *everyone* used CoinURL to the fullest we would be untouchable, but unfortunately we have an excess amount of publishers and a lacking of advertisers so when people make campaigns, there is so much traffic that it eats their balances away and they are forced to bid lower and lower to make it last, all the while getting a fantastic deal for the traffic, it is discouraging to our publishers when they see they get like 1 penny for their clicks.  But, such is life.  We are doing our best. 

Let me know what you want to do, if you contact me when you have your ad pending and I approve it right then, and it's approved, you can add to the balance at any time to keep it topped up without needing to get it approved again, so it is permanent unless you change it's URL.  If there are variations to the URLs you want to advertise, submit a few of them so you have them all approved and you can leave them paused for later.  The thing I like about your page is that it doesn't contain any visuals that someone would find offensive right off the bat. 

Talk to you soon!
- Richard

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 1:53 PM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Okay, thanks for the response.

At the moment I would like to have my 0.15 BTC refunded and sent to this address:

12xnudzjCd9Ju8z3djqUscJ5mbjRZyv7u1

I will give CoinURL a chance again later, but for now I feel it's best to wait until things become more stable. If you can, please tell me the URL of that CoinURL clone that you are setting up so I can check it out when it's finished.

Thank you

---------------------------------

Five days later

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 12:28 AM
To: Richard Vialoux <info@coinurl.com>

Hello!

It's been five days now, I know that you are busy but I would like you to finish our business so I (and you) can move on.

As I stated in my previous mail, please send 0.15 BTC to this address:

12xnudzjCd9Ju8z3djqUscJ5mbjRZyv7u1

Thank you

---------------------------------
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---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 12:31 AM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

Hello!

I don't want to be a bother but could you get a hold of Richard again for me? I've been waiting for a email reply from him for five days now. I know he's busy but after this there shouldn't be necessary for me to contact again.

Thanks mate

---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 6:18 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

Sure, I'll try my best, like you, I've been trying to get a hold of him for a while. I'll get right on it, and on behalf of CoinUrl, I sincerely apologize about what has happened and I hope that this won't happen again.

Thanks, Matt.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 12:59 AM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

Cheers, I hope you get a hold of him soon

---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 7:21 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

All right, so Richard is busy but I have the back story of your complaint. So first off, you can't withdraw a gift voucher, unfortunately. What I would suggest is that you just use the voucher on a small ad campaign and we will get someone to approve it for you.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Matt.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 5:10 PM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

Okay, but what about the bitcoins that wasn't a gift voucher? Can you please refund them.

I sent 0.05 BTC to you. They didn't show up in my account. I contacted Richard, he put 0.05 BTC in my account and gave me 0.1 BTC for my trouble (but not really, since you can't withdraw a "gift voucher" apparently).

He said my site was OK to advertise via mail. I created a test campaign worth 0.05 BTC (leaving 0.1 BTC left in my account) and waited for it to be approved. After some days it disappeared with no trace, I didn't get a single visitor. The campaign also don't show up in history on my account. Meanwhile those 0.05 BTC disappeared without a trace and my account now only has 0.1 BTC instead of the 0.15 BTC it should have.

I try to clear up this mess by contacting you guys and I don't hear from you from several days, and now when I FINALLY do I get "sorry but we can't give you your money back" thrown in my face.

I can use the fake 0.1 BTC voucher to make an ad campaign later, but to be honest I don't expect much since last time I tried the ad campaign didn't even show up and you just reduced my account balance with 0.05 BTC.

But for now at least give me my original 0.05 BTC back? Those are the real bitcoins I did send to you in the first place that magically disappeared from my account balance after my ad campaign disappeared (I sent the 0.05 BTC to 18o4uzXXeGAXDrmGTGzxG6PwRts2PfCPhw if you want to look it up). Please. The return address is as follows:

12xnudzjCd9Ju8z3djqUscJ5mbjRZyv7u1

---------------------------------
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---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 5:14 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

I understand your empathy. Richard sent you the voucher as a condolence, he did it for everyone. It it commonly known that you cannot exchange gift vouchers for real money, that applies in all shops. As for the 0.05, I will see about getting that back. I myself don't get in contact with Richard all that much. Also, they are no "fake bitcoins" feel free to use them on a campaign. From what I heard from Richard, he said that you put up a campaign, but it was disapproved for some reason via one of the moderators. He then offered to personally approve an ad of your choice. I believe this offer still stands. Thanks for bearing with us. I will try and get this sorted as soon as possible for you.

Thanks,

Matt.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 1:32 AM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

If this is true my account should have 0.15 BTC, where 0.05 BTC is not from the voucher.

If the campaign was disapproved by a mod it should be in the "history", correct? That's logical. What would also be logical is to get the 0.05 BTC back into the account since it didn't get spent if the campaign was refused (but since the history is blank I guess your system bugged/glitched).

He may have offered to approve an ad of my choice, but he also said, and I quote: "I will happily refund your balance AND give you the credit for your initial campaign". I do wish to get refunded since at this time I don't feel CoinURL is stable enough for me.

I can't believe how hard you make it for me just to get back my measly 0.05 BTC. It's such a low amount that if it was me I would have sent it back immediately. Is this how you treat all of your customers? Something is wrong with your system and you're making me pay for it. Just refund the 0.05 BTC and be done with it please. The time it has taken is ridiculous already.

---------------------------------

Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>    Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 12:07 PM
To:Me <me@gmail.com>

As I have stated before, I am not in control of any of the money or refunds in CoinUrl, I only deal with complaints. I am trying my best to get hold of Richard as I have a thing or two to tell him so please bear with me.

Thanks, Matt.

---------------------------------

Me <me@gmail.com>    Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 12:16 AM
To: Matthew Boyd <admin@matt-boyd.co.uk>

That's not good enough. I've been waiting a long time now and are tired of waiting.

If what you say is true and you are an employee of CoinURL (and you are not really actually Richard or whatever his real name is) I warn you about your job. An employer that cant even take care of his customers won't be able to take care of his employees (meaning you won't get paid).

At this time I can only declare for sure that CoinURL is, in fact, a scam and people must be warned.

---------------------------------
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[QuantumKiwi]

Firstly, CoinURL is not a scam.

We have been using CoinURL for the last 12 months and its perfect for us, we make plenty of money via coinurl.

We also have had the same issue, with a deposit going missing.

As his developer is rebuilding the verification system related to the deposits function on their website, sometimes richard has to manually approve a payment or he gives you a voucher code.


Just back off a bit and wait for a reply.

[favdesu]

so, they gave you a 0.1 voucher for your lost 0.05 btc if I got that right?

wtf is the big deal then?

[QuantumKiwi]

Also having a go at his employees, isn't the best idea either.

And just because richard isn't contactable, your claiming a scam....

Im going to make some popcorn when richard comes on and makes a reply.

[Bitcoin Scammer]

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

[DiamondCardz]

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

Did you read what the people above you said?

I disagree with the OP...

[greyhawk]

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

Did you read what the people above you said?

I disagree with the OP...

He never reads the threads. It's all about throwing people up on his absurd little website then getting payed to remove them again.

[DiamondCardz]

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

Did you read what the people above you said?

I disagree with the OP...

He never reads the threads. It's all about throwing people up on his absurd little website then getting payed to remove them again.

I've been thinking this too. No-one takes Bitcoin Scammer seriously unless they have an account age of less than 1 month.

[Bitcoin Scammer]

LMAO Get real dude!  Why bitch about something that you choose not to use. It's one site in the world sorry you have to see it's name when hanging out in the SCAMs and Accusations section. 

YEs, plenty of people take it seriously and actually use it.

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

Did you read what the people above you said?

I disagree with the OP...

He never reads the threads. It's all about throwing people up on his absurd little website then getting payed to remove them again.

I've been thinking this too. No-one takes Bitcoin Scammer seriously unless they have an account age of less than 1 month.

[Bitcoin Scammer]

It's non-profit and community driven. I run it for free out of my own time.  Love it when the few morons get on here and complain about a free site or complain when I asked a user more about their story.

[DiamondCardz]

Text logs aren't reliable proof.

[Bitcoin Scammer]

So don't use them, why is this even a conversation?

Are you that upset about an additional site on the web?

[ingrownpocket]

So... You lost 0.05 BTC, they gave you 0.10 BTC to compensate, and now you're asking for a 0.15 BTC refund. Awesome.

[Someone5]

Firstly, CoinURL is not a scam.

We have been using CoinURL for the last 12 months and its perfect for us, we make plenty of money via coinurl.

We also have had the same issue, with a deposit going missing.

As his developer is rebuilding the verification system related to the deposits function on their website, sometimes richard has to manually approve a payment or he gives you a voucher code.

Just back off a bit and wait for a reply.

I'm glad they haven't scammed you. That's another common scam strategy:

+ Don't scam anyone for a few months. Build a good reputation.
+ Slowly begin scamming a few, always less than half of the userbase.
+ Never scam the big players or the oldest active members.
+ When the small fish complain that they have been scammed, nobody will believe them because most people don't get scammed.
+ Sometimes they even have fake forums accounts to help put out any fire that threaten their good name. Good scammers make sure these forum accounts are old and active to add credibility.

Listen friend, I know there's a possibility that they aren't scams. To be honest I was very surprised over this bad behavior. They seemed very legit and was recommended to me in the first place. I was pleasantly surprised to get the voucher too, a nice gesture I thought.

The reason I am shouting scam is because I feel like they aren't taking this seriously enough.

Money goes missing from a customer's account and they can't get it back in WEEKS? Even such a low amount as 0.05 BTC? And then all of a sudden the guy in charge disappears?

Think about it for a minute, how professional is this? Would you like it to happen to you?

Maybe if they are getting accused for being scammers they will finally take it seriously. Because it is serious.

Even if they aren't scammers people will at least see that they aren't that good at solving problems. Caution is good when dealing with such people.

so, they gave you a 0.1 voucher for your lost 0.05 btc if I got that right?

wtf is the big deal then?

The big deal is that their system isn't reliable at the moment and I want out until later (I just want to withdraw and leave).

But I can't withdraw the voucher because it's not really my bitcoins, it's just a promise by them that I can make a campaign for 0.1 BTC. If they had really given me 0.1 BTC I should be able to withdraw them.

So, at the moment my account has 0.0 actual withdrawable BTC in it. I just want my original 0.05 BTC back that disappeared without a trace from my account balance.

Also having a go at his employees, isn't the best idea either.

And just because richard isn't contactable, your claiming a scam....

Im going to make some popcorn when richard comes on and makes a reply.

Speaking my mind is "having a go"? I don't really think I've treated this guy badly in my mails. All I've done is stated my dissatisfaction, I haven't "attacked" anyone in my mails.

I even warned him about his boss. If I couldn't get a hold of my employer I wouldn't feel safe, would you? Maybe this guy just hadn't thought about it and needed someone to say it.

Also, "just because"? If a major bank chief goes missing, along with some money, is that not a reason to think something might be wrong?

You eat as many popcorn as you like. I'd love to hear a reply from Richard as well.

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

You can put them there with a "warning" notice. It's not 100% sure they are sammers, it might just be that they treat some customers badly and that I finally do get my money back in a month or two.

So... You lost 0.05 BTC, they gave you 0.10 BTC to compensate, and now you're asking for a 0.15 BTC refund. Awesome.

No, you have misunderstood. Understandable since the mail conversations is pretty long, can't expect you to have read it all.

I sent 0.05 BTC to them, it didn't show up in my account. I mailed Richard and he credited my account with 0.05 BTC and also gave me a voucher for 0.1 BTC.

After I used the voucher my account had 0.15 BTC. I thought I had been given 0.1 BTC compensation for the trouble I had to go through mailing Richard, but it turns out that you can't actually withdraw a voucher (so he never gave me any bitcoins, just some credits to use on a campaign).

That's why I wanted to withdraw 0.15 BTC, because I thought I owned 0.15 BTC. After I learned that I wasn't really given 0.1 BTC I just want my original 0.05 BTC back. Seems fair, right? Since I didn't get anything for my 0.05 BTC I want them returned to me.

If I get any e-mail replies from them I will update the thread how things are progressing. As of now my latest mail hasn't been replied to (and of course I haven't gotten my refund either).

[GIANNAT]

Actually it would be the opposite of what you said..something like:
Build trust with small transaction and then catch the big fish.
I do not think a respectable site like Coinurl would scam for as low as 0.15XBT  so just be patient and give the poor Richard some time to resolve the situation  
Also you wanted to use their service and were give a 0.1XBT coupon so why not use it?

[QuantumKiwi]

Why even accuse of it being a scam when he has given you .1 credit to USE ON THE WEBSITE?

Are you serious man??

No one has been scammed, they gave you credit??

[QuantumKiwi]

It's non-profit and community driven. I run it for free out of my own time.  Love it when the few morons get on here and complain about a free site or complain when I asked a user more about their story.

Sorry but i've had a lot of people say your site is not credible enough.

Why?

Because you do not evaluate the case appropriately.

Also I do business with several businesses listed on your website, they are not scams.

If you actually read this thread properly you will see the guy got CREDITED. He did not get scammed.

The guy asked for his deposit to be processed and why wasn't it processed, so .1 was put through.

Vouchers cannot be withdrawn - Thats a bugger, but at the same time you have just doubled what you were going to put in - Who would complain about that?

Its not a scam at all, I have been using CoinURL for 12 months and it produces us a lot of money.

I don't know how you got  the idea that its even a scam in the first place OP.

[Bitcoin Scammer]

Couldn't agree more.

It's non-profit and community driven. I run it for free out of my own time.  Love it when the few morons get on here and complain about a free site or complain when I asked a user more about their story.

Sorry but i've had a lot of people say your site is not credible enough.

Why?

Because you do not evaluate the case appropriately.

Also I do business with several businesses listed on your website, they are not scams.

If you actually read this thread properly you will see the guy got CREDITED. He did not get scammed.

The guy asked for his deposit to be processed and why wasn't it processed, so .1 was put through.

Vouchers cannot be withdrawn - Thats a bugger, but at the same time you have just doubled what you were going to put in - Who would complain about that?

Its not a scam at all, I have been using CoinURL for 12 months and it produces us a lot of money.

I don't know how you got  the idea that its even a scam in the first place OP.

[MPOE-PR]

I'm going to throw these guys on bitcoinscammers.com  I encourage you to update us if this gets resolved

Did you read what the people above you said?

I disagree with the OP...

He never reads the threads. It's all about throwing people up on his absurd little website then getting payed to remove them again.

I've been thinking this too. No-one takes Bitcoin Scammer seriously unless they have an account age of less than 1 month.

Well that's 90% of "everyone" then.