PSA: Coinbase.com is a fraud

[accord01]

Coinbase.com is NOT an exchange, it is NOT a service... it is a company made for the SOLE purpose of being a front for their trading activities and using customer funds as a hedge for their bad trades.

I don't know where to begin when it comes to coinbase.com being dishonest in their practices, website, terms of service, and blog responses... all to defraud the customer.  For some of the customers that they defraud via the "high risk transaction" scheme, they actually recreate the original transactions and make it right.  For others (most likely the larger amounts they pocket), they simply never respond, leaving you hanging and burning.

They even give you back the money they steal from you SOME of the times, to make it look like they are not a total scam.  Other times, they pocket the money and simply stop responding to you or respond with this email:

I am extremely sorry for the confusion on this. I've taken further steps to review your account and at this point we've been able to get you whitelisted. Any future purchases you make from this point forward will not encounter this cancellation. Unfortunately, since the refund has already been sent out on these original purchases, I'm unable to push through or re-create the original transactions.

Again, I apologize for the frustration this has caused. If you need further assistance please let me know and I'll be happy to help!

What? You admit it was YOUR fault, but you can't give me back my money???  and you're sorry? and you'll be happy to help??? This does not compute!

They have stolen money from people who have previously done HUNDREDS of successful transactions by canceling orders and calling it a "high risk transaction".

They have also canceled bitcoin transfers WITHOUT notice or any record in the history.


Here is a small collection of threads showing how coinbase has profited off of customers by stealing their money via the high risk transaction scheme:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=339882.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145797.20


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=322631.msg3454765#msg3454765

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=322229.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321684.msg3450929#msg3450929

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328013.msg3531406#msg3531406

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328013.msg3526610#msg3526610

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=338172.msg3627572#msg3627572

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14195/did-i-just-get-defrauded-by-coinbase

Personally, coinbase canceled 3 orders of 15 bitcoins that has costed me over $6000.00 as of right now.  They simply stopped responding to my support ticket.  And the last email I got from them it said the following:

1) It was their mistake, and sorry for all the hassles such as holding your money in limbo for so long and the emotional hassles

2) You have been whitelisted

3) You won't be able to get your money back and the money that you should have made, we have already pocketed it (aka we are selling those bitcoins of yours for a MUCH higher price now).

4) But if you stay with us, we guarantee you won't be robbed again.  Thank you and come again.


Personally, I think it is VERY smart for them to give back what they have stolen in smaller transaction, such as .5 btc or 1 btc, and pocket the larger ones like mine... So they can say, "see, we made a mistake but we corrected it"  

Thanks for ruining people's lives, coinbase.com!  

One more thing, we, the customers aren't exactly helpless though.  Thank God for the land of the free.  I hope EVERYONE (not just the people that have been robbed) files a complaint with coinbase.com.  Sure it could be useful for those that have dodged the bullet, but a company like this CANNOT be good for digital currencies in the long run.

Here is the form, very simple to fill out:

http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company


And from what I've heard, they are quite capable of getting you something compensated.

Just fill out coinbase.com for the company or maybe fill out San Francisco for city.  Coinbase obviously doesn't supply an address or contact info.

Edit:

Here is just an example of how Olaf, there head spokesperson/support tells a lie with ease:

 it is unbelievable how he just casually makes a dishonest statement.

Trance,

Sorry for the confusion here. We use machine learning algorithms to prevent fraud and they're not always 100% accurate. If you feel you've had a transaction cancelled incorrectly send support an email. We regularly review transactions and push them through at the original purchase price upon request. I also wrote a bit about our fraud program in the fourth section here:

http://newsbtc.com/2013/11/07/coinbases-olaf-carlson-wee-answers-questions-users-technical-issues/

Hope that helps!

This is just a straight up lie, they don't regularly push transactions through at original purchase price upon request.  They didn't do it for me because the amount was so high.

From what i've known, none of the higher amts where they have ripped people off have they refunded.  Only small amts.

[danneu]

"I am extremely sorry for the confusion on this. I've taken further steps to review your account and at this point we've been able to get you whitelisted. Any future purchases you make from this point forward will not encounter this cancellation. Unfortunately, since the refund has already been sent out on these original purchases, I'm unable to push through or re-create the original transactions.

Again, I apologize for the frustration this has caused. If you need further assistance please let me know and I'll be happy to help!"





What? You admit it was YOUR fault, but you can't give me back my money???  and you're sorry? and you'll be happy to help??? This does not compute!

The Coinbase email says that they refunded you. Are you saying they actually didn't?

[accord01]

"I am extremely sorry for the confusion on this. I've taken further steps to review your account and at this point we've been able to get you whitelisted. Any future purchases you make from this point forward will not encounter this cancellation. Unfortunately, since the refund has already been sent out on these original purchases, I'm unable to push through or re-create the original transactions.

Again, I apologize for the frustration this has caused. If you need further assistance please let me know and I'll be happy to help!"





What? You admit it was YOUR fault, but you can't give me back my money???  and you're sorry? and you'll be happy to help??? This does not compute!

The Coinbase email says that they refunded you. Are you saying they actually didn't?

Read the whole post and the other threads.

[danneu]

I did.

The term "fraud" is so overloaded and conflated in the posts that I can't tell if "they stole my money" is lamenting legitimate fraud or the differential value of btc since their refunded purchase.

[accord01]

I did.

The term "fraud" is so overloaded and conflated in the posts that I can't tell if "they stole my money" is lamenting legitimate fraud or the differential value of btc since their refunded purchase.

The term fraud means taking money from someone via deception...

this is a good post explaining how coinbase defrauds:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328013.msg3531406#msg3531406

[xan_The_Dragon]

maybe this should be moved to scam thread?

[malaimult]

it's a sort of scam... it's a sort of using peoples money to buy and sell bitcoin....
i will complete that complaint since i'm in the same boat as you are

[Edward50]

What other exchanges would you recommend to use to buy bitcoins?

[Mort432]

...isn't this basically what banks do in today's world?
The only difference is that Coinbase is doing it on a smaller, riskier scale.
If your local bank lost all your money (Greece) then the general answer is the same; Tough shite. The world we live in.

[malaimult]

i'm curious about the instant buy option. If you buy 10 btc and they credit your coinbase in minutes do they cancel your bank transactions even if they gave you 10 btc first?

[Edward50]

Remember to setup instant buy you have to have made a transaction and have waited 30 days.

[malaimult]

Remember to setup instant buy you have to have made a transaction and have waited 30 days.

i'm 1 year old. try it before the option for instant buy and all worked ok. but now since the credit card option i didn't. will have to apply with the coinbase rules and update a credit card on file.

[501]

I've bought from Coinbase 5 times and have had no issues whatsoever. Most recent 2 trades were in terms of huge volatility (bought in at $570 and price was $750+ when the coins were delivered to me).

If you're having problems with them just use the instant buy and there's no way those orders can be cancelled.

[manuel]

Unconfirmed but I heard they are somehow connected to the goldman sachs!

[malaimult]

I've bought from Coinbase 5 times and have had no issues whatsoever. Most recent 2 trades were in terms of huge volatility (bought in at $570 and price was $750+ when the coins were delivered to me).

If you're having problems with them just use the instant buy and there's no way those orders can be cancelled.

i have the instant buy enabled now. They cancel the transaction from beginning.  i don;t know what is wrong with them. i have 1 year with them, almost 100k in bitcoins bought with them and they cancel every thing i do. They gave me a response about some algorithms etc. I read somewhere here that i need to be whitelisted. Anyway f**k them.

[501]

I've bought from Coinbase 5 times and have had no issues whatsoever. Most recent 2 trades were in terms of huge volatility (bought in at $570 and price was $750+ when the coins were delivered to me).

If you're having problems with them just use the instant buy and there's no way those orders can be cancelled.

i have the instant buy enabled now. They cancel the transaction from beginning.  i don;t know what is wrong with them. i have 1 year with them, almost 100k in bitcoins bought with them and they cancel every thing i do. They gave me a response about some algorithms etc. I read somewhere here that i need to be whitelisted. Anyway f**k them.

So instant buy isn't working for you either?

That's strange. I did not need to be whitelisted.

[Malooka]

Here is the form, very simple to fill out:

http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company


And from what I've heard, they are quite capable of getting you something compensated.

Just fill out coinbase.com for the company or maybe fill out San Francisco for city.  Coinbase obviously doesn't supply an address or contact info.

For bitcoin to be healthy, companies like coinbase.com needs to be weeded out.

I filled out the form, and got a form letter in the mail.  Not holding my breath on them to help me out.

And what sort of company is located in San Francisco, yet has a mailing address in Oregon?  It just screams "scam."

http://coinbasefraud.com

[ataulf]

Is this only true for traders or for anyone with btc held on their service?

[Ridicuss]

Is this only true for traders or for anyone with btc held on their service?

I hope I dont run into the same problems as above.

My experience with coinbase has been positive. I have moved about 75K in trasactions with them. Buy instantly as well as selling on an almost daily basis. I sell my mining coin on a daily bases to show income for tax puposes. I have been doing about 600 a day when btc is over 900.

So far the only problem I have had was before I had instant buy enabled.. I had an order in to buy but had to wait, during that time I moved money to a different account and when coinbase went to withdraw it was NSF transaction cancelled, not their fault at all.

If I start having issues with them in the future I will post back here.

[malaimult]

Is this only true for traders or for anyone with btc held on their service?

I hope I dont run into the same problems as above.

My experience with coinbase has been positive. I have moved about 75K in trasactions with them. Buy instantly as well as selling on an almost daily basis. I sell my mining coin on a daily bases to show income for tax puposes. I have been doing about 600 a day when btc is over 900.

So far the only problem I have had was before I had instant buy enabled.. I had an order in to buy but had to wait, during that time I moved money to a different account and when coinbase went to withdraw it was NSF transaction cancelled, not their fault at all.

If I start having issues with them in the future I will post back here.

so far my experience with them was the same. But i made a purchase before coinbase reached 1000 and they canceled in the last minutes since i bought @ 230 and they had to pay triple, and they canceled my purchase.  it has been past 5 weeks and every transaction i do with them is canceled. Once they have your account on the block side it's very hard the get it back.

[accord01]

Still haven't gotten a response from coinbase, and it has been well over 2 months. 

[accord01]

Below is where you need to go to file complaints against coinbase.com, they have defrauded many people of money. The need to give us our bitcoins or money back (with interest)! No one answers the cellphone attached to coinbase’s sec filing and the voicemail is full. I tried calling it 100 times in a day, someone kept turning it off and back on, so they received the calls.

Coinbase.com has committed many counts of fraud and complaints need to be filed or they will just continue to commit fraud. Here is the definition of fraud, let the legal system be the judge:
1
a :  deceit, trickery; specifically :  intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right
b :  an act of deceiving or misrepresenting :  trick
2
a :  a person who is not what he or she pretends to be :  impostor; also :  one who defrauds :  cheat
b :  one that is not what it seems or is represented to be
"Fraud." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fraud>.

File Complaints if you have been defrauded by coinbase.com!!
Company information:
COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: Coinbase Inc.
CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0001576711
IRS NUMBER: 455293997
STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE
FISCAL YEAR END: 1231
FILING VALUES:
FORM TYPE: D
SEC ACT: 1933 Act
SEC FILE NUMBER: 021-196380
FILM NUMBER: 13837179
BUSINESS ADDRESS:
STREET 1: 1 BLUXOME STREET, APT. 410
CITY: SAN FRANCISCO
STATE: CA
ZIP: 94107
BUSINESS PHONE: 415-843-1515
SEC complaint center:
http://www.sec.gov/complaint/select.shtml
FBI IC3 (Internet Complaints):
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
California Attorney General:
http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company
San Francisco District Attorney:
http://www.sfdistrictattorney.org/index.aspx?page=7

Here is how you can file complaint with coinbase.

[dillweed]

True. It happened to me.


I wish Bill Still and Kolin would publicly condemn their business practices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65V6rJnoN4

MtGox is worse. At least, I got my money back. MtGox's victims aren't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9hQGNYxoI

[DPoS]

Never had much issues with coinbase...   a few times they cancelled when they had growing pains but they white listed me now and I get instants with no issues.

You may have some snobby bank that is screwing you over by not playing nice with coinbase.

[analytics]

Same boat.  

15 buy transactions since around December 16th.   13 have been canceled due to obvious false positive "fraud" alerts.  3 of these were canceled in the last hour the BTC was to finally be delivered to me after 1 week, at a profit of around ~8K.  In those 3 cases, they had already taken my money from my bank and held it for around 6 days (weekend).  When they canceled, it took another 5-6 days to get my money back (so cash was locked up for nearly two weeks and I had a paper 8K profit loss to their gain just from those 3 transactions).   For all transactions canceled, my paper loss tracks to around 13K.

2 sell transactions, prior to any canceled transactions went through.  Money did transfer to my bank.

Extremely poor customer service response time. They're a startup, but handling customer service this way is a sure shot to failure.  Just extremely poor and canned unpersonalized bullshit responses.  Customer service is always hard for a startup at scale, and they need to be careful about their funds (veer towards a higher false positive detection rate but catch more real fraud).  But their algorithm is so obviously poor or they are hedging customer assets, in which case you case they are guaranteed doomed.   What merchant would use a service with such poor customer service and failure rates.  The backlash will be huge, and you will see better businesses pop up quickly as a result (with far more experience, especially backend).  I just don't seem them improving in time and growing engineering talent fast enough to compete.

I switched to Bitstamp and now also trying CampBX.   I've been so aggravated by Coinbase.  It's clear there is a real market for improved services here, and I like that opportunity.  
    

[DPoS]

were you level 2 whitelisted?

doesn't matter anymore, they put everyone in the slowboat now and have plenty time to frontrun the market to get the prices they need

[BitApparel]

Coinbase has sent a letter to state of California.  What do they say?  Same old bs

[Olaf (Coinbase)]

Hello, Olaf from Coinbase here.

I just saw this thread. I'm extremely sorry for the trouble people here experienced using our site! I believe some of these problems stemmed from our slow customer support during the November/December time frame. We were swamped with the 10-fold price increase. We now have a much larger team - I want to address any outstanding problems. Please let us know!

PM me or email support@coinbase.com - I want to work out any issues anyone is encountering.

Again, I'm sorry for any problems that occurred during the price run up. Let us know what we can do.

[QuantumQrack]

Hello, Olaf from Coinbase here.

I just saw this thread. I'm extremely sorry for the trouble people here experienced using our site! I believe some of these problems stemmed from our slow customer support during the November/December time frame. We were swamped with the 10-fold price increase. We now have a much larger team - I want to address any outstanding problems. Please let us know!

PM me or email support@coinbase.com - I want to work out any issues anyone is encountering.

Again, I'm sorry for any problems that occurred during the price run up. Let us know what we can do.

^^this guy is one useless fuck.

[moriartybitcoin]

CoinBase isn't a PURE SCAM but more like a Ponzi scheme like MtGox.  Also, CoinBase reports all of your Bitcoin holdings to the IRS, FinCEN and probably the NSA as well.  They are plugged into the government because their Venture Capital funding partners demand 'compliance.'

If you buy and sell Bitcoins with CoinBase, the IRS will know about it.  And one day you may receive a knock on the door.

For a truly ANONYMOUS way to buy and sell Bitcoins, use https://CoinChimp.com ... FAST, SECURE, PRIVATE and NOT a ponzi!

[budafuko]

i wish i read all this before today. its only 76 bucks but i really cant afford to lose it... o well i guess its gone. coinbase is down.. will it stay down? who knows

[swogerino]

CoinBase isn't a PURE SCAM but more like a Ponzi scheme like MtGox.  Also, CoinBase reports all of your Bitcoin holdings to the IRS, FinCEN and probably the NSA as well.  They are plugged into the government because their Venture Capital funding partners demand 'compliance.'

If you buy and sell Bitcoins with CoinBase, the IRS will know about it.  And one day you may receive a knock on the door.

For a truly ANONYMOUS way to buy and sell Bitcoins, use https://CoinChimp.com ... FAST, SECURE, PRIVATE and NOT a ponzi!

This!:
 CoinChimp is part of the Bitcoin Network, a product line of 50+ Bitcoin websites, many of which are still in development or beta mode. The Bitcoin Network is owned by Dr. Michael Moriarty

Connect with Dr. Michael Moriarty

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/MoriartyBitcoin

LinkedIN: https://LinkedIn.com/in/MoriartyBitcoin

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101827081558986297957/

Gmail: Moriarty.Bitcoin (at) gmail [support requests will be ignored. Please use the support email]

[budafuko]

i won't be investing any more bitcoin till coinbase is straightened out if that ever happens. maybe ill gamble  with you then but if not.. coinbase stole all my gambling money.. i had a feeling to send it to electrum too but did i? nooo

[GXHPP]

i won't be investing any more bitcoin till coinbase is straightened out if that ever happens. maybe ill gamble  with you then but if not.. coinbase stole all my gambling money.. i had a feeling to send it to electrum too but did i? nooo

Your account would get locked if you use it directly with a gambling site, been warning people on gambling site chats for a while and people still use coinbase directly, did they confiscate the BTC's in the account?

[Fortify]

I've only ever used Coinbase to hold some bitcoin, but never had any problems with them. They have two step authentication with a text to a phone number, so their security seems decent enough. I don't think they have any reason to run a fraud, they can make enough money off legitimate fees and they are quite well known.

[chemicalanarchy]

I had over $11k in coinbase which I'd gotten as it nearly doubled in the month since I bought @ $900.  I sent 1 BTC to my blockchain wallet on May 11 2017 and then sent back to coinbase on May 15 as 'the spread' was $50 different so why not make $50 for doing nothing.  My INSTANT send sat there as pending and the next day I got 'coinbase has decided your account should be closed for violations of 'the agreement''  TOTAL BS!  Now it gets good as I only got 5.54 BTC OUT when I had to 'close out' to an external wallet on May 17th 2017.  The send back from BLOCKCHAIN on the 15th WAS STOLEN netting the scamming coinbase 1BTC or $1700 offa my ass for some rule breaking they never named as I was ONLY sending coinbase to MYSELF.  You sure as shit can believe they NEVER answered a single email to their bullshit 'support' email as to what the 'violation' was.  These guys are scammers so DO NOT store BTC in coinbase or you will be sorry!

[Doctor.Strange]

Coinbase is shit fraud site, do not stock your btc there.

[Zocadas]

Hello, Olaf from Coinbase here.

I just saw this thread. I'm extremely sorry for the trouble people here experienced using our site! I believe some of these problems stemmed from our slow customer support during the November/December time frame. We were swamped with the 10-fold price increase. We now have a much larger team - I want to address any outstanding problems. Please let us know!

PM me or email support@coinbase.com - I want to work out any issues anyone is encountering.

Again, I'm sorry for any problems that occurred during the price run up. Let us know what we can do.

Hi, i know it is a few months back, but you disabled your support email but still have this on your service emails for your custoners. The new system doesnt allow new tickets. Is it overloaded or don't you want to support anymore?

[Nooblife]

I wanted to buy Litecoin today.  I have cash finally showing up in the USD wallet at Coinbase.  8 Calendar days to complete this.  Money was gone Day 1 at my bank.

Bittrex Price: USD$97.65/97.99

Coinbase price: USD$101.50   plus an additional USD$15.16.

Just not even worth the hassle any more here.  If they could allow transfer of fiat then maybe

12/6/2017   11:45AM EST.    Just so there is no room for CB to swing an answer one way or another.