BTCMiners "Cloud Hashing" | $8.50 USD per GH/s!

[Nocturnal2112]

The website being exceedingly barren, and incomplete was something I for one thought about. But, my thinking at the time was that "hey this is a one-man-show, and the guy is a miner, not a web designer". Also, as I said in a previous post, the appearance of it all being run through a "Coinbase Merchant Account" kind of eased my mind a bit. Hopefully it requires more than an verified email for that. We'll see.

good thing i didnt invest on this thing when it first started!

the fact that his website wasn't updated at all is the first sign of red flag

[deroyale]

These FAKE cloud miners' are making off with LOTS of BTC...   What can be done to prosecute them? Who are the 'authorities' people are contacting?

I fell for this one (below) personally...  my loss is now exponentially greater (over $20k and counting). 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=179917.0

Can we form some sort of international 'task force' ourselves? We are - broadly speaking - intelligent individuals (regardless of the fact we were conned). If we work together we can accomplish anything.

Please provide links to the proper authorities/reporting agencies so that others can file complaints and/or reports. Have the admins on this site vowed to keep any and all information they have about these criminals secret? Are we able to subpoena the domain registration companies and forums that may have ANY information as to who or where these con-artists are?

[Nocturnal2112]

Well I just officially filed a complaint at: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx My understanding is that they will determine which agency has jurisdiction, and pass it along to them for investigation/prosecution.

[Nocturnal2112]

Anyone happen to already have an attorney on retainer that they can ask about anything else we can do without having to pay a "consultation" fee? I do not currently have one retained.

[madpoet]

I've got a buddy... let me ask.  Unfortunately he's only located in Ohio.

[Nocturnal2112]

 Doubt the location would much matter, we just need someone with a legal mind, that may have other ideas, or know to file complaints/charges somewhere else we have not thought of.
 
Actually upon thinking about it, there are several forums out there where lawyers/legal types hang out, and sometimes answer questions if we cannot come up with anything else.

I've got a buddy... let me ask.  Unfortunately he's only located in Ohio.

[Th3P]

Google doesnt give good results...  

http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/IN1443579/Douglas-Kyle-Gibson.html

http://www.bustedoffenders.com/indiana/lafayette/sex-offenders/douglas-kyle-gibson/1443579

Address came from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=329674.msg3746072#msg3746072

Possible phone number?

2417.   Lebanon   610 Baronne Street   Douglas Gibson   765-918-2146

To be clear, I have no evidence to suggest in anyway BTCMiners and the stated person are in effect the same person. This address came from the previous post (see above link) and some digging on Google against this address

[Nocturnal2112]

The name and address came from the email he sent to Agath, asking for a shipping price for some gear. It IS possible he gave a wrong name and address, but the IP used all through the chat logs supports him being in Indiana also. PreciousKF@c-76-16-138-211.hsd1.in.comcast.net

Also when the above is googled it comes back to this as one of the links: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEAQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fisp-finder.inetworktools.com%2Fen%2Fisp-registrar-finder%2Fisp%2Fbtcminers.net%2F&ei=3YKfUuCiHcuNkAec84FA&usg=AFQjCNH1Ba-fRdes1rEMsnXJSM5EMycI1g&sig2=PVsD7ur6fO-1hQIoAUGT_A

Wow just looked at the links. If that is true, and this is in fact him, it makes it really hard to hide, and surely brings a few new charges if he does not report where he is to authorities.

Google doesnt give good results...  

http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/IN1443579/Douglas-Kyle-Gibson.html

http://www.bustedoffenders.com/indiana/lafayette/sex-offenders/douglas-kyle-gibson/1443579

Address came from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=329674.msg3746072#msg3746072

To be clear, I have no evidence to suggest in anyway BTCMiners and the stated person are in effect the same person. This address came from the previous post (see above link)

[Nocturnal2112]

I received a response from Domains By Proxy. It seems they will not do anything as far as releasing the name. or cancelling his account until they receive a something from the authorities. They did however give me the name, and contact info for the hosting company being used, and said that we should contact them. It is:  

New Wave NetConnect, LLC

Fabozzi, Chris

+1-716-435-7305 [Call: +1-716-435-7305]  

chris@chicagovps.net

[madpoet]

I spoke with a lawyer yesterday.  He said the first thing he urges us to do it contact law enforcement in the local area and file a complaint.  Some places require you to file an official witnessed letter, some will take it over the phone.  I have not contacted his local police department yet myself but plan to tomorrow.  There are several civil suit actions we can also take but the very first thing we should do is pursue a criminal complaint for outright theft.

[Nocturnal2112]

 By "local" you mean his local authorities yes? In Lebanon IN.

For the record I sent an email to the hosting company too.

I spoke with a lawyer yesterday.  He said the first thing he urges us to do it contact law enforcement in the local area and file a complaint.  Some places require you to file an official witnessed letter, some will take it over the phone.  I have not contacted his local police department yet myself but plan to tomorrow.  There are several civil suit actions we can also take but the very first thing we should do is pursue a criminal complaint for outright theft.

[Nocturnal2112]

I just spoke with the Lebanon IN. Police dept. They said that the way it works is that I/we have to file the complaint locally, with MY/OUR local police dept., and they would then contact the police there in Lebanon IN.

I will be doing this once I close up the store for the day, in a couple hours.

[madpoet]

Thank you, beat me to it.  I will be doing the same.

FYI on the civil front we would need to have the vast majoirty of the group involved, or his lawyers could try and invoke "Failure to join" as a defense.  Basically saying not enough of us were agreeing it was a scam.  He also said potentially he could ask the court to let him represent us even though he doesn't have an Indiana law license.  He would need to petition for the right to as a one off.  But that's a ways down the road.  Let's start with the police reports.

[Th3P]

Thank you, beat me to it.  I will be doing the same.

FYI on the civil front we would need to have the vast majoirty of the group involved, or his lawyers could try and invoke "Failure to join" as a defense.  Basically saying not enough of us were agreeing it was a scam.  He also said potentially he could ask the court to let him represent us even though he doesn't have an Indiana law license.  He would need to petition for the right to as a one off.  But that's a ways down the road.  Let's start with the police reports.

Count me in, Slightly harder as I live in UK but more than happy to make calls/emails etc

[minifrij]

Count me in, Slightly harder as I live in UK but more than happy to make calls/emails etc

Same situation here. I am a bit limited on the phone calls but if you need any information, emails or anything just ask.

[Nocturnal2112]

Just got done doing some minor demolition, going to have to put this off until morning, not walking into a police station in my current need-a-shower condition...lol I'll probably end up having to explain the normal..."WTF is a Bitcoin?" for 45 minutes before getting to the actual complaint.

I just spoke with the Lebanon IN. Police dept. They said that the way it works is that I/we have to file the complaint locally, with MY/OUR local police dept., and they would then contact the police there in Lebanon IN.

I will be doing this once I close up the store for the day, in a couple hours.

[takagari]

Once something like this is likely a scam someone needs to edit the label/title..

If a noob comes and reads only the first page they may buy in. not everyone will read the 17 pages.

I was going to buy, luckily I read entire topics

[HotSwap]

Once something like this is likely a scam someone needs to edit the label/title..

If a noob comes and reads only the first page they may buy in. not everyone will read the 17 pages.

I was going to buy, luckily I read entire topics

I agree, I added my purchase to his trust and that put him to -5. Hopefully that will deter.

[mogrith]

We need to get the mods put a scammer flag on him. Turns the coins into red Xs and SCAMMER instead of Sr. Member

---EDIT---

Went to scammer board and made a new thread apart from the unpaid loan.

[Nocturnal2112]

Coinbase responded with a "we are overwhelmed with the volume of support emails, and have not been able to get to this one"... Or something to that effect. Replied back to that they needed to look into it still.

Tried to get by the police station today, but work was spread out such that I couldn't leave for a while. Going to try again tomorrow but may have to wait until Monday. Not sure if there will be detectives there on the weekend, and I was told specifically to insist on talking to one, even if someone else took the complaint.