One simple tip to avoid being scammed when buying BTC.

[smracer]

Make sure you always get the BTC address of the coins you are going to buy.

Every single time I sell coins I show my address and then I transfer a small amount of coins, usually .0010101 to the person buying my coins so that they can see that I am the owner of those coins.  Then I put them in escrow.

If you do not physically see the coins in the seller's address and confirm ownership then there is a high probability that you will get scammed.

ALSO ALWAYS USE ESCROW WHEN BUYING COINS!!!

Make sure the coins are in escrow before sending ANY payment!!!

There is no reason for anyone to ever hide their Bitcoin address.  They can always create a new Bitcoin address and move just the coins in there that they are selling.

[marcovaldo]

It does not prevent to get scammed.
And if you use an escrow, it does not really matter.


You do not get scammed if you deal with trusted people.

[RodeoX]

It does not prevent to get scammed.
And if you use an escrow, it does not really matter.


You do not get scammed if you deal with trusted people.

He still has some good advice in there. But cash attracts crooks.

[pheaonix]

you completely glossed over paypal man.

like, someone could gain reputation in under six months and start buying lots of btc over gox price and then yank it alllll back.

[smracer]

you completely glossed over paypal man.

like, someone could gain reputation in under six months and start buying lots of btc over gox price and then yank it alllll back.

How would you go about doing this?

Let's say I used my Business Paypal account and started buying $1000 worth of coins a day tied to my AMEX.  Do you really think if I charged back $180,000 on my AMEX 6 months later Paypal would just let it go?  I would be sued in big boy court and go to prison.

These people are using stolen paypal accounts.  That is why every single long weekend holiday they come out of the woodwork.  The scammers know that most likely people are on vacation or not checking their email/paypal account.  

There is no way that paypal is safe for buying or selling BTC.

All I am saying is that a good first line of defense is to say "Show me the coins".

[sublime5447]

Great advice. If someone says they dont want you to see how many coins are in their wallet ask them to send to a blockchain wallet. I would often insist on doing a micro transaction, what you want to know is does this person have any coins at all. Start with a 10 dollar trade. If they insist on larger amount odds are near 100 percent that its a scammer.