[Scam Alert] Mt Gox

[zackron]

This is an alert to anyone considering to make use of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange.  You will loose any money you submit to them. 

Like many others, I was lured into thinking that Mt. Gox would be a safe exchange to go with since it's been around so long, and is considered one of the largest exchanges on the net.  Unfortunately, now that it is under new management, they have adapted a new policy to scam and defraud potential bitcoin investors by hiding behind the protection of the Japanese banking system. 

Mt. Gox will happily accept any amount of real money you wish to send them, as well as any amount of BitCoins.... They will also be happy to allow you to withdraw BitCoins. However, if you attempt to withdraw real money, even if you have gone through the process of 'validating' both yourself and your bank, they will refuse to honor that request. 

On the withdraw page, they have a notice that says that there might be a 'slight' delay in withdraws as they are having to manually preform the withdraws while they look for a new banking partner.  However, I have been waiting over 75 days for them to get around to 'manually' process my request, and I still wait, while Mt. Gox still keeps my funds.  Not only that, but after doing a little digging around, it appears that not a single person has managed to withdraw a single real currency cent from Mt. Gox since August 1st. 

I have had many correspondences with the support staff of Mt. Gox on this matter, and they continue to assure me that I will soon get my money.  I've advised them several times that they should change or remove the withdraw option on their page until they are willing to honor withdraw requests again, but they apparently do not wish to do this, as they wish to continue to make people think that they will be able to get their money.

It's very sad to see such a reputable company fall to the lure of scamming and defrauding the BitCoin community.  I guess the high commission amounts they were getting was not good enough.  Either way, I strongly suggest that everyone stay as far away from Mt. Gox as possible.  but don't just take my word for it, do some forum and google searches.  See what other people have to say about the mass scamming that Mt. Gox is currently preforming.

[1715286298]

1715286298

[tvbcof]

...
Mt. Gox will happily accept any amount of real money you wish to send them, as well as any amount of BitCoins.... They will also be happy to allow you to withdraw BitCoins. However, if you attempt to withdraw real money, even if you have gone through the process of 'validating' both yourself and your bank, they will refuse to honor that request.  
...

Maybe, maybe not.  Might be worth keeping an eye on this thread:

  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=313343.0

and scanning for recent complaints.

I think it is fair to say that sometimes Mt. Gox will fuck with people who they believe (often correctly) are criminals of some sort.  It could be that the person or persons victimized by this policy are a minority.  OTOH, another similar thread indicates that a similar policy went into place at Bitstamp the other day, so if this is true and widespread, the two largest exchanges are now holding customers BTC hostage using an identity theft kit as the ransom.  I am just about 99% sure that the individual who pitched a bitch about it on Bitstamp is 100% non-criminal.

Caution is advised.  If this requirement for high quality identity docs for any withdrawals of any type is now SOP, and if the exchanges doing this are allowing any inflow of value without first 'verifying', then that is IMO simply setting the table for extortion.  None of these jack-ass exchanges have ever been clear about their policies in their FAQs, and I've studies them extensively because I value my identity documents very highly and identity theft would be an expensive hassle to me.  Plus these flakey fucking exchanges get hacked and lose data every other day it seems.  Probably every day and they don't even know it.

 - edit:

Not to be so lazy, here is the similar complaint about Bitstamp.  Or one of them:

  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=309270.0

It's especially droll that these guys used Facebook as some sort of a supposed communications channel and didn't send e-mail about this hardly trivial change.  Facebook?  In Bitcoin-land?!?  I would not touch Facebook with a 10 foot pole, and a fair number of my geeky and privacy conscious friends do not either.

[Jabbatheslutt]

Mtgox has been doing some shady things recently...

[Shallow]

Mtgox's future is uncertain but I highly doubt they would jeopardise the entire operation for 1 user

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Mtgox has been doing some shady things recently...

Pretty much since mark took over.

Jed: I will be selling Mr Gox and moving on to other things.
1: I'm interested.
2: I'm interested.
3: I'm interested.
4: I'm interested.
5: I'm interested.
6: I'm interested.
7: I'm interested.
8: I'm interested.
Jed: I've made my decision. I'm selling it to Mark.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8: Who's Mark?

[Tomatocage]

Mtgox has been doing some shady things recently...

If you think they're bad, you should see most of their users.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Mtgox has been doing some shady things recently...

If you think they're bad, you should see most of their users.

If you think their users are bad, you should see their user's parents.

[cshelswell]

+1 on the don't use mtgox - i had a crap experience with them. There's much better places to trade!

[miffman]

There's so much going on with Gox right now...just find some other exchanges or use the forum if you want to trade BTC

[xypos]

There's so much going on with Gox right now...just find some other exchanges or use the forum if you want to trade BTC

I would have said that a couple of months ago lol.
Is anyone still using mt gox now?

[BCEmporium]

The old Magic The Gathering Online eXchange (MtGox) remains the same.
Do you still use the term "Goxed" around? Because it looks like you're being "Goxed".

From the Urban dictionary:
 1. goxed
Being effectively fooled and/or trolled repeatedly. Derived from the "temporary" closure of the Bitcoin exchange site MtGox in June 2011, and the repeated delays in reopening for trading.
The MtGox opening has been delayed another 24 hours... we've been goxed AGAIN!

1) When someone flakes on you several times in a row.

2) When a deadline you're waiting for continuously gets pushed back.
You: Where are my bitcoins!
Mark: HEE HEE HEE! I've owned you!
Kevin Day: You've been Goxed!