Potential scammer

[WorldWideBTC]

What happened:: A user on the forums posted in currency exchange that he was looking to sell 0.3 BTC for Western Union. He wanted to be contacted via PM or email. I emailed him regarding the transaction. I was initially suspicious (Western Union?), but tried to reassure myself through negotiation. What I found out didn't exactly soothe my concerns.

1: He was selling 0.3 BTC at $192. This is far below the average price.

2: We agreed to use PayPal. I thought this would be better than WU, because at least with this I have a means of resolving a scam. However, the user lives in Israel, and you cannot send a Gift payment to Israel from the USA. The user wanted me to send the funds, open a dispute, close the dispute, and then he would send the funds. This (like WU) would leave me with no way to get my funds back if he pulled a fast one.

3: He was willing to accept half of the payment, send half of the coins, then finish the transaction. He was NOT willing to send half of the coins, receive the full payment, and send the rest. No matter what we negotiated, all outcomes would result in me sending a non-refundable payment to Israel with nothing to show for it but his "word".

4: I told him that it would take later today (negotiations were entered this morning) for me to get to a WU counter. He said that would be fine, and he is "online 24/7". This was a bit suspicious.

5: After driving to the grocery store where I can send a WU wire, I took his personal information (which is....)
--------
Yarin Groiser
Phone: 0523011189
Hadera, Israel
--------

6: After receiving his wire information, I filled out the form, withdrew $200 from the ATM, and asked him to send half of the coins. He refused. I explained that this entire situation is extremely sketchy. At one point he told me "I can proof you via teamviewer" regarding his wallet balance (I assume). Another hallmark of a scammer.

7: At the end of it all, he refused to send even a portion of the coins first, but was more than happy to accept a portion of the payment first. To a scammer, getting $10, $20, or $90 for doing nothing but sending emails is all the same - it's a payday. I informed him of my concerns regarding the points I've outlined here, informed him that I would be making a scam accusation on the forums, and wished him the best of luck.


Scammers Profile Link: Unknown - the transaction thread is deleted.

Reference Link: This is the link to the now deleted thread. You can google $192 from these forums and see a portion of the OP.https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=389954.0
Amount Scammed: Attempted to scam me for $192 (or $96, depending on how you look at it)
Payment Method: Western Union (Or PayPal after opening and immediately closing a dispute)
Proof of Payment: No payment was made.
PM/Chat Logs: I can provide the emails sent back and forth.
Additional Notes: I don't have much to add. I tried to work with him to get a bit of protection for myself, but to no avail. His English (which wasn't great) remained consistent throughout the correspondence, so I ASSUME that it was just one person I was dealing with. I'm just posting this here so that if a newbie (or anyone) is approached by someone wanting a Western Union transaction to Israel, or if someone is asked to use the "method" of PayPal he suggested, they can be aware of my dealings with this person.

[Colin Miner]

Thanks for the 'heads up'

A really fishy smelling trail. Alarm bells ring all the way through.

The phone number looks like a cell phone number, OK so most people use a cell phone, but a land line is useful to cross check the owners name.



Yarin Groiser

Skype: yarin.g1
Username for bitcointalk.org: CodingSerivce
Birthday: 18 June 1990

see this post which looks relevant! https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=360920.0

[merred]

Do you have the url to the thread? Try google webcache!


oh here he is

[WorldWideBTC]

Do you have the url to the thread? Try google webcache!


oh here he is

I wanted to use a cached version of the thread, but I didn't see the normal dropdown option for caching I normally do in a google search.

[Colin Miner]

Do you have the url to the thread? Try google webcache!

Good Idea!


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=389954.0

[jesusweb]

Mail: mivhancoil@gmail.com

Same user: CodingSerivce /  MrBTC


Ref:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=400652.0  Post 1 and Reply 3, 4...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=384832.0;wap2
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=390184.msg4200861#msg4200861
...

[jimjam1210]

scammer beware 100% took .24btc from me also his ste for coin making is fake watch him watch mrbtc his other user fake guy

[gensen]

Confirm the Scammer scammed me from 0.1 BTC for making coins

[Tomatocage]

What happened:: A user on the forums posted in currency exchange that he was looking to sell 0.3 BTC for Western Union. He wanted to be contacted via PM or email. I emailed him regarding the transaction. I was initially suspicious (Western Union?), but tried to reassure myself through negotiation. What I found out didn't exactly soothe my concerns.

1: He was selling 0.3 BTC at $192. This is far below the average price.

2: We agreed to use PayPal. I thought this would be better than WU, because at least with this I have a means of resolving a scam. However, the user lives in Israel, and you cannot send a Gift payment to Israel from the USA. The user wanted me to send the funds, open a dispute, close the dispute, and then he would send the funds. This (like WU) would leave me with no way to get my funds back if he pulled a fast one.

3: He was willing to accept half of the payment, send half of the coins, then finish the transaction. He was NOT willing to send half of the coins, receive the full payment, and send the rest. No matter what we negotiated, all outcomes would result in me sending a non-refundable payment to Israel with nothing to show for it but his "word".

4: I told him that it would take later today (negotiations were entered this morning) for me to get to a WU counter. He said that would be fine, and he is "online 24/7". This was a bit suspicious.

5: After driving to the grocery store where I can send a WU wire, I took his personal information (which is....)
--------
Yarin Groiser
Phone: 0523011189
Hadera, Israel
--------

6: After receiving his wire information, I filled out the form, withdrew $200 from the ATM, and asked him to send half of the coins. He refused. I explained that this entire situation is extremely sketchy. At one point he told me "I can proof you via teamviewer" regarding his wallet balance (I assume). Another hallmark of a scammer.

7: At the end of it all, he refused to send even a portion of the coins first, but was more than happy to accept a portion of the payment first. To a scammer, getting $10, $20, or $90 for doing nothing but sending emails is all the same - it's a payday. I informed him of my concerns regarding the points I've outlined here, informed him that I would be making a scam accusation on the forums, and wished him the best of luck.


Scammers Profile Link: Unknown - the transaction thread is deleted.

Reference Link: This is the link to the now deleted thread. You can google $192 from these forums and see a portion of the OP.https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=389954.0
Amount Scammed: Attempted to scam me for $192 (or $96, depending on how you look at it)
Payment Method: Western Union (Or PayPal after opening and immediately closing a dispute)
Proof of Payment: No payment was made.
PM/Chat Logs: I can provide the emails sent back and forth.
Additional Notes: I don't have much to add. I tried to work with him to get a bit of protection for myself, but to no avail. His English (which wasn't great) remained consistent throughout the correspondence, so I ASSUME that it was just one person I was dealing with. I'm just posting this here so that if a newbie (or anyone) is approached by someone wanting a Western Union transaction to Israel, or if someone is asked to use the "method" of PayPal he suggested, they can be aware of my dealings with this person.

All that and you didn't mention his user name?

[WorldWideBTC]

The thread was deleted shortly after I e-mailed him, and I didn't use PMing (so I didn't remember his username).

But you're right. I should have updated this thread after I received a bogus negative feedback score from him.

Anyway. Cat is out of the bag now. He's tried to scam other people, and currently has a thread open in the currency exchange trying to scam even MORE people.

[Tomatocage]

The thread was deleted shortly after I e-mailed him, and I didn't use PMing (so I didn't remember his username).

But you're right. I should have updated this thread after I received a bogus negative feedback score from him.

Anyway. Cat is out of the bag now. He's tried to scam other people, and currently has a thread open in the currency exchange trying to scam even MORE people.

Ok, and could you be so kind as to provide us a link and a username this time? I'm trying really hard, but I'm failing to read your mind.

[WorldWideBTC]

The thread was deleted shortly after I e-mailed him, and I didn't use PMing (so I didn't remember his username).

But you're right. I should have updated this thread after I received a bogus negative feedback score from him.

Anyway. Cat is out of the bag now. He's tried to scam other people, and currently has a thread open in the currency exchange trying to scam even MORE people.

Ok, and could you be so kind as to provide us a link and a username this time? I'm trying really hard, but I'm failing to read your mind.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=166650

Username: CodingSerivce

The new thread I mentioned has been deleted. The post I made warning others about the user (and linking this scam accusation thread) doesn't show in my post history.

It's difficult for me refer users to CodingSerivce's threads when they are nuked into oblivion. A user in the latest Currency Exchange thread CodingSerivce made (which is now gone) made a post (right after mine) saying that anyone doing business with him would receive negative reputation and/or be scammed.

To summarize -

1: I made this thread way back when, suspecting this user is a scammer.

2: This user left me bogus negative feedback (and went on a negative feedback spree afterward).

3: This user has been making new Currency Exchange threads trying to bait others into sending him PayPal payments. He (I'm assuming it's him doing it) deletes the threads when they reach "Critical scam mass" and creates a new thread (eventually).

*Edit*

Here's an old thread of his. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=418514.msg4543464#msg4543464

Same scam structure as always. His threads are almost always the same - He's "selling <x> BTC" for PayPal.

[crah]

meanwhile the gentleman in question is carring on with business; https://btcjam.com/listings/9836 (he did get a loan beforehand thought; https://btcjam.com/listings/9723).

some details from btcjam;

Credentials
    7 followers
    eBay: xcrypter
    Facebook account connected 822 Friends

Account Ages
    eBay: 3 months
    Verified PayPal account connected 6 months

[Colin Miner]

meanwhile the gentleman in question is carring on with business; https://btcjam.com/listings/9836 (he did get a loan beforehand thought; https://btcjam.com/listings/9723).

Nice find. Thanks for your detective work.

From his information on btcjam he my well have connections to the Givat Olga neighborhood, Hadera, Israel.

and email shonroza@gmail.com

[WorldWideBTC]

meanwhile the gentleman in question is carring on with business; https://btcjam.com/listings/9836 (he did get a loan beforehand thought; https://btcjam.com/listings/9723).

Nice find. Thanks for your detective work.

From his information on btcjam he my well have connections to the Givat Olga neighborhood, Hadera, Israel.

and email shonroza@gmail.com

Hello my friend!

I can get this person ,i have located his home location in Hadera ,Givat Olga ,Kadima 1

Also i'm living in Israel ..

Tomorrow im visiting some family in Givat Olga ..

i can come and visit him Smiley

How much does he owns you ? and will you pay me 50% for this?


Merry x-mas!

Received this PM shortly after making this thread way back when. I assumed it was the same guy trying to squeeze more BTC out of the situation.

[Colin Miner]

Received this PM shortly after making this thread way back when. I assumed it was the same guy trying to squeeze more BTC out of the situation.

Which account sent you the PM?

[WorldWideBTC]

Received this PM shortly after making this thread way back when. I assumed it was the same guy trying to squeeze more BTC out of the situation.

Which account sent you the PM?

Yeah that might be useful info, eh? My bad.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=205367

TheMaze

Has legit feedback from several people, but I don't know. Received a PM with the offer on Dec 31st, so my paranoia was still on.

[VtechX]

Hello guys. I found Yarin Groiser on BTCJam and your information has been helpful in tracking him down. Appreciate the help - I will be keeping tabs on this thread, and will most likely contribute the efforts of my own research by the weekend. I fully support your actions to get to the bottom of this.

[Tomatocage]

Hello guys. I found Yarin Groiser on BTCJam and your information has been helpful in tracking him down. Appreciate the help - I will be keeping tabs on this thread, and will most likely contribute the efforts of my own research by the weekend. I fully support your actions to get to the bottom of this.

Edit: Nevermind. Please post whatever you find.

[Colin Miner]

Received this PM shortly after making this thread way back when. I assumed it was the same guy trying to squeeze more BTC out of the situation.

Which account sent you the PM?

Yeah that might be useful info, eh? My bad.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=205367

TheMaze

Has legit feedback from several people, but I don't know. Received a PM with the offer on Dec 31st, so my paranoia was still on.

thanks, all that info builds the bigger picture. Don't be swayed by good feedback linked to a bad feedback account. Paranoia is good  

TheMaze is linked to BTCMAZE.COM and pako@btcmaze.com or pako[at]btcmaze.com unless themaze is trying to taint btcmaze.com or they fell out with each other?

SCAM WEBSITE DO NOT PLAY ON THIS WEBSITE

On a different note, I appreciate the anonymous BTC tip, thank you to whoever its due