He is paying back the money because he does not want it to be public who he is.
He was interrupted on his previous path thanks to the watchful and vigil moderators. He is paying back the funds because it is the right thing to do.
Possibly because it could be reported to the police.
I'm sure everyone here would agree the lack of result that would get. We have verified his address, phone number, parents contact information and his age, and as a minor we are more interested in a corrective and supportive approach than simply joining an angry mob and kicking doors down.
There will be some people who do not collect their funds... and in the end the scammer wins.
I highly doubt this. As far as I can tell, there is only one individual who has yet to be paid and that individual will be paid back with interest per OP's agreement.
There are also times and forums where he does this but is not caught.... therefore even if he pays back everything when he gets caught, it will only encourage him to do it again.
At this point I'd say that that is highly unlikely considering our involvement in his life now. In any other case, you might be right though. It's hard to be sure as human beings are all different.
He has said he would not stop, do not buy into him being "sorry". He was caught red handed and he is making a deal now.
In that case, any unethical activity your parents had scolded you for when you were 13, we can safely assume you are still active in to this day? Please. It's clear you were unaware this situation is being watched so closely and I will not fault you for that. It is not necessary to be so broad and judgmental. Not everything is always as it appears.
If we were to make him pay back more money then he owes, this would be illegal (extortion) and there is good reasons for extortion being illegal.
No one is forcing OP to pay back more than he owes. He has chosen to do so as a sign of good faith, especially considering the religious and occupational nature of the victim (IBB). He will be paying back 6.35 BTC for a due amount of 5.8 BTC. I am sure that this will be acceptable, given the nature of the circumstances. There is no need to be greedy or overly aggressive.
However, in the long term, it would be better for the community to bear the cost (perhaps he will still give back to curry favour with the judge). It should be make public who he is and reported to the police, his place of employment or schooling if any, and his family and friends. Doing this would really make the risk reward on pulling scams bad. Helping to stop future scams will save a lot more money and help bitcoin out a lot more in the future I would argue.
You are obviously unaware of his age at the time of writing this. If you were aware of it and still wrote it this way, then I have to say that in all honesty, people like you are the problem with this world. If you hadn't known he was a minor, then no harm no foul. Going to the extreme and trying to ruin his life for 5.8 BTC will not be necessary. If you'd like to ruin someone's life, please help the Bitcoin police track down any of the 20 members of constant scammers on this forum and IRC who share the same proxies and scam roughly 1500 BTC per month from the community. They are often associated with "Foodstamp", who in reality doesn't even use Bitcoin but due to his less associations has been put as the scape goat by the uninformed and overly judgmental community itself. Again, shouting "string 'em up!" at the sight of anything suspicious does not help anyone.
It's an incentive problem like "tragedy of the commons", if we bore the cost of the future scams as much as we bore the cost of this guy's scams today, then it would be clear to do what I say.
I'm pretty confident whether or not the community is familair with your reference to the social dilemma "tragedy of the commons", no one will be doing what you say given the extenuating circumstances. I'm curious to see how you will respond to this now because I'd truly like to see some common sense and not more spraying of judgments now that you know the facts.
it may seem as though this is easy for me to say as I was not scammed in this incident, however I have been scammed 4 times in my life (half online half off), one of those times by my sister who I haven't spoken to since (7 years or so ago).
Ah yes. Who hasn't been scammed before? In fact... who hasn't scammed once in their lifetimes themselves? Although I am sorry for previous, completely unrelated losses, I ask that you now look at the facts and restate your opinion on the matter.
In any event, I will butt-out now because it is not maybe my place. But it is a suggestion.
then it would be clear to do what I say.
I'm not sure where you come from, but even I often have a problem with displaying the appropriate tone in my writing. From what I can see, you're hardly suggesting.
In summary, you're probably more or less right on about scammers in general, however in this particular instance you're mistaken. The OP is not only a minor but has no previous history of fraud as far as I have found. He also possesses an interest in making money, but clearly took a teenage approach to it and is thankful for our watchful mods for correcting him where he was wrong. I admit to having made the exact same mistake with eBay and Paypal when I was 13 as well. Children with too much time on their hands, a passion for computers, and an interest in making money can fall into traps like this quite easily.
Without going into unnecessary detail, we are in direct contact with OP, have both his, his parents and his school's contact information, verified, and are working with him to show him how to use his talents for honest business. Before anyone scoffs at this, I'd like you to take a good hard look at yourselves when you were 13 and tell me what you would or wouldn't have done if no one was around and you thought you could have gotten away with it? Please, no arguments about how you were perfect as a child. I won't be able to hold my lunch.
Considering the small amount in question (5.8 BTC) and OP's intention on returning it with interest (6.35 BTC), there is no need for a witch hunt or further persecution as far as I am concerned. If however further
evidence could be shown that he has done anything in addition to what he has already admitted, releasing his IP address will be the least of his concerns. He is being watched by white hat hackers with much free time on their hands.
I hope I have not offended you in any way and I hope that you and anyone else reading this will start seeing things for what they really are instead of trying so hard to fill in the blanks with fears and anxiety. Your comments are however much appreciated and you have in fact reminded me of why it was so hard to grow up when I was a teenager. Thank god that's all over.
1) I did not know his age. It was not made clear and I think it's an important fact to present. It seemed as though one guy found out his identity and that was that.
2) While many people are new to bitcoin as bitcoin is relatively new itself. I have for years been involved in an industry where scamming is very prevalent and in that field is it clear that deterrence is the only thing effective. Because of his age and your level of involvement, I completely agree with your stance. However, if he was an adult it would be an entirely different matter.
