Beware of Coins-E - they are stealing coins from the users

[sumantso]

Update: Seems like the exchange is running on autopilot. I would suggest you to withdraw all your funds.
Update 2: They are under 'new' management. Still not got my PXC back. Tread with caution

I am creating this thread as a last recourse since the exchange is ignoring any communication from us and also to warn others of the potential pitfall of keeping the money there.

Last Friday (6th Sept) I withdrew 12k PXCs from Coins-E to my Cryptsy account. When those coins failed to arrive, I sent their support a mail and received a fairly quick reply saying they are looking into it. Over the weekend I mailed again asking for the status and finally got a mail on Monday saying their withdrawl has been processed. When I asked them for the transaction ID, they sent me this - bf282a81bca400ff7e71a9960eda6b4a4bf35aeffa5f704fb403bf9f8c2b4167

As you can check for yourself, this doesn't show up on the blockchain. When I asked them to show the transaction on the blockchain, I again got the reply
 'Hi,
Sorry for the trouble caused. Our technical team will soon fix the issue. Your support and patience is highly appreciated.'

These all happened on Monday, 9th September. 2 days later they posted here saying 'Coins-E is working on the PXC problem, it seems their was a forced update the company wasn't told about.. rest assured you can still send your coins if your on the original chain.'

However, they outright lied, as MaGNet replied immediately pointing out they were indeed informed well in advance https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3128647#msg3128647

In the meantime, of course, they continued to ignore any communication from us. I understand they may have some problems and need time to fix; but they could at least inform us of that. The total silence on their part has made me nervous and unfortunately it looks like they just stole all the money. I withdrew the remaining PXCs to the same address (http://explorer.phenixcoin.com/a/PiKzgFoHJd), so clearly their client is working fine.

After they ignored all my mails and PMs I went to their chat and found a resident chat box camper (coin-rider) who kept vouching for the exchange and its support. I requested him to mail the exchange on my behalf and he duly obliged. But (surprise, surprise) still no response.

Users affected besides me:
Scooby903 lost almost 10k PXCs https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3123707#msg3123707
gica_contra lost 7 bucks worth of PXCs https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3105158#msg3105158
ByeByeCoins who can be found in Coins-E chatbox says he lost 2.1k PXCs besides 65 TRC
BitJohn says a lot of other users and other coins are also affected  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3139576#msg3139576

If you are also affected please post here; so that we can tally the total amount owed to us by Coins-E. I will keep bumping this thread until Coins-E gives us a valid response. If you are aware of the issues and get irritated by the constant bumpings, then I apologise in advance. I also appreciate the effort put in by BitJohn to resolve this issue; he even went to their chat to get a response.

Original thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3102829#msg3102829
Scam accusation thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=293661.0

It sucks to lose such a huge amount - don't repeat my mistake. Their is no dearth of exchanges to choose from.

EDIT: Received a reply from them on Sept 15:

Hi,
Sorry for the delayed response. You could check your wallet now. The issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.


--
Thank you
Coins-e Support team

Of course, nothing actually came into the wallet. I checked the block explorer and still 12k PXC doesn't show up on it (http://explorer.phenixcoin.com/a/PiKzgFoHJd). I don't understand whether they are really really dumb or just trolling me

Would have been easier if they just told me they stole my coins. At least I won't have any hopes then (not that I have much anyways).

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[Pmalek]

No surprise there... They are JUNK!

Hope they will be fair and return coins they took. Credibility is easily lost, and priceless...

[mullick]

Same thing will happen with lebowski. They have likely been operating on a forked chain for about 20,000 Blocks or about 25% of the blockchain. They wont answer any attempts to contact

[sumantso]

It sounds worse than I thought. Byebyecoins reckons the exchange is just running on its own after the developer left. So once all the forked LBWs are sold and BTC withdrawn there may not be enough funds to reimburse all. Withdraw ASAP.

[jdebunt]

i never liked this exchange tbh, always looked very dodgy to me...:>

[Scooby903]

It sounds worse than I thought. Byebyecoins reckons the exchange is just running on its own after the developer left. So once all the forked LBWs are sold and BTC withdrawn there may not be enough funds to reimburse all. Withdraw ASAP.

I was not aware of the dev leaving...makes my faith that things will get resolved a little shaky 

[Oldminer]

Hmmm....just tried to withdraw 7K of valuecoins but get an 'invalid address' error. Created a brand new receive address and get the same error. Alarm bells ringing....

[Scooby903]

Just withdrew my BTC with no issues so far...shows as pending on Cryptsy

[sumantso]

Just withdrew my BTC with no issues so far...shows as pending on Cryptsy

Congrats.

I had withdrawn whatever little was left. Lost at least a quarter BTC in the mess. Sucks

[jpp1975]

just an fyi, no matter how many e-mails you get from customer service, if your account is all the sudden missing coins your probably not going to get them back. also, had the same issue with their chat, all I heard was how good of an exchange they are, how no one has ever been ripped off, ect.  ect. deposited btc, showed up in transactions and not my account, said they fixed it, over a month ago and never did get the btc I deposited.

[Carra23]

i never liked this exchange tbh, always looked very dodgy to me...:>

You must be kidding. The owner said its the best alt exchange

[Scooby903]

Got my BTC, but still no PXC 

[Hullabaloo]

Here's the chains I actually managed to withdraw on, use at your own risk:
Worked for me:
BQC, IFC, RED, WDC

Did not work:
ORB

Not expected to work but did not try:
SBC


edit: Switched WDC to worked, I just looked in the wrong place for the deposit.
Good luck & see you in a better trollbox everyone

[atavacron]

KGC did not work but IFC did.

Thanks for the tip Hullabaloo.

[sumantso]

just an fyi, no matter how many e-mails you get from customer service, if your account is all the sudden missing coins your probably not going to get them back. also, had the same issue with their chat, all I heard was how good of an exchange they are, how no one has ever been ripped off, ect.  ect. deposited btc, showed up in transactions and not my account, said they fixed it, over a month ago and never did get the btc I deposited.

That sucks. Hoping this thread will prevent others from losing their money. Learnt the hard way myself.

[Stinky_Pete]

Got everything out except CGB. Thanks for the tip.

[Oldminer]

Still no response from Support 24 hours after I emailed them.

They did however respond to another question re listing a new coin lol

Edit: They just replied asking me to try again, saying they will process the withdrawal manually if it doesnt work.

[Snail2]

Well, Coins-e is a good idea but they need a bit more effort, to keep things up to date.

[sumantso]

Well, Coins-e is a good idea but they need a bit more effort, to keep things up to date.

A bit more effort to give back the coins that are due, more like.

There is a very good chance just stealing our coins. Why keep silent otherwise?

[sumantso]

Still no response from Support 24 hours after I emailed them.

They did however respond to another question re listing a new coin lol

Edit: They just replied asking me to try again, saying they will process the withdrawal manually if it doesnt work.

Good luck, hope it works out for you.

10 days past and still my 12k PXCs are lost. Have a bad feeling they just stole our coins