ChangeNow.io (Evercode Lab) - Scam. Illegally holding of 100 BCH (11 bitcoins).

[matej krkic]

I think they will refund the OP within a day or two maximum. This whole incident has been a massive PR disaster for changenow because they did not expect somebody would challenge them in the way the OP did by paying for adverts to explain what happened and by using the forum.

I see you are the only one capable of constructive dialogue. Well, I agree with you. But imagine that I, or someone else, will launch such a campaign against another little-known exchange, without betraying any facts other than his story. What we know:
- he makes an exchange for $ 70,000, while, as he says, without taking it seriously
- for some reason (we do not know, it's an internal algorithm), the transaction is blocked
- this person, fearing (LOL), sends the first picture (WTF?!)
- the exchange requires real documents and video communication to understand who this person is (agree that getting fake ID causes certain thoughts)
- for some reason (I do not believe in fear for my own life, it's stupid), this person refuses video communication
- He starts a campaign against the exchange, accusing ChangeNow of "fraud".

Now the question: what is fraud? Sending fake ID is not cheating? So the scammer accuses of fraud, spreading information, usually not mentioning what caused the problem - FAKE ID and his "frivolity".

Do you understand me? This is absurd, we did not see this transaction! That is, the exchange could generally deny this operation, but they recognize this, try to solve the problem, but as I see, OP wants to return the coins, remaining unknown. I think this is wrong.

Imagine, in place of ChangeNow, any known exchange in a similar situation. What could write all here on the forum, if in this situation was Binance?

And the last thing. I've seen so many times about ChangeNow that I'm ready to poke my eyes out. I admit, I do not like the methods of ni23457, and I do not understand why the majority of the participants of the forum support OP. Nobody but a few people is aware that this problem is the fault of both sides.

Let me humor you. I'll bite.

You are right about both sides being at fault. However, the fact remains that only the OP has lost something. Changenow can get away with their mistakes + $70.000. If they had handled this better it would never have come to this, which leads me and many others to think this is selective scamming.

Changenow mistakes
1) They claimed to be anonymous and unlimited, hence attracting the OPs business.
2) They never warned the OP, before depositing his coins, that the transaction had been flagged and they would require KYC. This would have prevented this mess. Unless, it is standard practice in crypto, to trap peoples coins then demand KYC. I know gambling websites love doing this.
3) Upon the OPs refusal to cooperate, they should have reported the matter to the appropriate regulatory bodies, if they suspected him of any malfeasance. Or simply returned the coins to the same address.
4) This is most important for me. How can a business that hides behind a shell company in Belize demand KYC? These cowardly fuckers deleted their information from their whitepaper. Who does that? All for $70K? If they are legitimate, they wouldn't be hiding behind Polina's skirts. Are these men you wanna entrust your coins and personal information to? These same people threatened the OP? It's all here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5007142.msg45176576#msg45176576

You keep banging on about his wallets and addresses. He is not obligated to share them with you. Imagine strangers asking to see your bank accounts or physical wallets, how will you feel? Luckily, the exchange isn't denying they received the coins, making this point irrelevant.

OPs mistake:
1) Sending that much to this little known exchange without doing his due diligence
2) Sending the 1st ID. He should have refused and stood his ground.

About his response and spreading the word about this scam. How do you expect him to deal with it? For one he is never going to send them his ID. So what do you suggest? Please don't say KYC, cos we all know that he won't. He is doing what he feels is necessary to retrieve his property. You may not like his tactics, but IMO he hasn't done anything wrong drawing attention to this issue. At the end of the day, if Changenow isn't a scam, they will be a better exchange for it.

Dear ni23457, why don’t you mention again that you’ve sent fake ID 2 times?

[1715178686]

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[1715178686]

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[TryNinja]

Dear ni23457, why don’t you mention again that you’ve sent fake ID 2 times?

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

I never sent fake IDs. I sent the JPG files by email. This is not a document in any country.

And of course no one will ever forget about this

As I said earlier this was my first letter


And this was my second letter



~snip~

[Polina_ChangeNOW]

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

We can assure you that he didn't send those documents as a joke or mock. In his earlier posts the OP claimed that he was "embarassed", which is why he sent us fake documents not only once but twice.

For the record: he didn't send us pictures of Trump or Putin, there was just a scan of some random passport and a selfie with a different face and a different ID.
We would like to share the documents he sent us, but it would be very unprofessional of us.

[JollyGood]

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

We can assure you that he didn't send those documents as a joke or mock. In his earlier posts the OP claimed that he was "embarassed", which is why he sent us fake documents not only once but twice.

For the record: he didn't send us pictures of Trump or Putin, there was just a scan of some random passport and a selfie with a different face and a different ID.
We would like to share the documents he sent us, but it would be very unprofessional of us.

@Polina_ChangeNOW

If you did share the documents it would also be in breach of any known norm of privacy that would lead to a hefty fine or your website being shut down. The fact you said you would like to share the documents but will not because you did not want to be seen as unprofessional (instead of the fear of doing something illegal), sadly reinforces the widely held views that your business is not fit and proper. Please prove us all wrong by kindly refunding the OP.

Speaking of privacy, why are there no GDPR options on your website when so many of your customers reside within the EU?

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation in European Union law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. These laws provide obligations of Right of Access and the Right to Erasure. These laws also covers obligations of collecting customer consent. GDPR laws affect all websites (including changenow) that have users that are citizens from within the European Union regardless of those websites and their business owners being based in or out of the European Union. So whether your business is based or registered in Belize or Netherlands or anywhere else is irrelevant, you have to abide by GDPR laws because European Union residents are accessing the changenow wesbite.

[ni23457]

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

We can assure you that he didn't send those documents as a joke or mock. In his earlier posts the OP claimed that he was "embarassed", which is why he sent us fake documents not only once but twice.

I can send any JPG files to you. I can tell you anything. All this depends solely on my mood.

I can do all this because YOU ARE NOBODY. You are a bunch of pathetic people who work illegally in your country and steal other people's money (not only mine). I just do not consider you for people. You are something like dirt under my feet.

It's just my attitude to these "people". Therefore, there can be no talk of any cooperation. They must return the coins and close the exchanger.

[OpenCryptoSystem]

All this screaming not needed
Chamgenow will return his coins back.
I know it will be like this

[matej krkic]

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

We can assure you that he didn't send those documents as a joke or mock. In his earlier posts the OP claimed that he was "embarassed", which is why he sent us fake documents not only once but twice.

I can send any JPG files to you. I can tell you anything. All this will depend solely on my mood.

I can do all this because YOU ARE NOBODY. You are a bunch of pathetic people who work illegally in their country and steal other people's money (not only mine). I just do not consider you for people. You are something like dirt under my feet.

It's just my attitude to these "people". Therefore, there can be no talk of any cooperation. They must return the coins and close the exchanger.

So what about 2 attempts of submitting fake ID? How can you comment on this?

And why are your trying to hide this info? You've mentioned that you've sent putin's/tramp's photo but this is a lie as we see. Why do you lie to us?

[ni23457]

he sent us fake documents

   
And why do you mislead people? I did not send any documents to you, I sent JPG files to you. There is no country in the world where the jpg image would be a document.

If you do not like what I sent, it does not mean that I'm bad. It shows my attitude towards you. YOU ARE NOBODY FOR ME. You Russian citizens grabbed my money without any legitimate reason so you are fucking bandits. That's my attitude.

[cruso]

No, our Belize office is our legal address which is necessary for company registration. A legal address signifies the fact that the company has been legitimately registered, and all is well.
Our Amsterdam address is our postal address where you can direct any official claims you might have by mail.

Thanks again. To summarize what you succinctly posted, you don't have an office you operate from. What you provided us is your registration and mailing addresses. Posting these addresses, when you knew what I was asking from you was different, is an attempt to obfuscate and confuse readers.

Our team's main interest is developing great and convenient blockchain products and crypto services in peace, and publicity has never been in the scope of our work. Despite all that, we respect all the rules of the crypto world, and, when we were obligated to implement the KYC procedure, we did so without hesitation. If publishing all the info about our founders and team members becomes mandatory, we will happily oblige.
There are people in our team who are in the public eye most of the time (me, for example, since this is my job as a marketing associate), but the rest of our team members are entitled to their privacy. Actually, I don't think there are that many blockchain complanies all of whose team members are out in the open. We certainly aren't one of those.

Simply put, nobody knows who the members of your your team are. Except the team itself and your partners? So you are anonymous, with no known address, apart from your mailing and registration addresses. And nobody knows who your team members are. So you could be money launderers or criminals for all we know, if we judge you using the same standards you are using to judge the op.

Replying to the bolded part; I read somewhere that your whitepaper had the names and profiles of your team members listed before the current shenanigans started. Why did you delete them, if they were fine publishing them before?

What I see, and I am sure many others do too, is a company trying its utmost to stay hidden. You cannot have your cake and eat it. If you want the community to trust you, and for your company to grow, you have to operate in a transparent manner. Your behavior is sufficient reason for the op to give you the runaround concerning KYC.

I suggest you find an arbiter to help resolve the issues between yourself and the op. There is nothing gained rehashing old arguments. Good luck.

[matej krkic]

he sent us fake documents

   
I did not send any documents to you, I sent JPG files to you. There is no country in the world where the jpg image would be a document.

This is definitely the biggest bullshit I've ever heard 
Thank you, you've made my day

[User44a]

@Polina_ChangeNOW

Many thanks for the post and your clarifications. I hope you will implement some of those changes as soon as possible and I wish you success in your business.

Regarding the OP who has his funds frozen, it is about time you returned the funds to him using the same address you received them from. What confirmation are you waiting for and from who?

Our legal team is dealing with this case right now and we're waiting for a resolution from them.

So your legal team is deciding if you can keep steal the $70.000 that isn't yours??

There is not a single law preventing you from sending the money back to OP unless you are absolutely certain they were involved in a crime. In that case they would have to be turned over to the agency investigating that particular crime and not held by you.

[biehany]

just looking for sensation. just return the BCH funds to the original address. the problem is finished.

[JollyGood]

He said he only sent some obvious fake files as a joke/mock. If that's true, I would say it's pretty obvious that he wasn't seriously trying to get verified with fake ID's.

We can assure you that he didn't send those documents as a joke or mock. In his earlier posts the OP claimed that he was "embarassed", which is why he sent us fake documents not only once but twice.

For the record: he didn't send us pictures of Trump or Putin, there was just a scan of some random passport and a selfie with a different face and a different ID.
We would like to share the documents he sent us, but it would be very unprofessional of us.

@Polina_ChangeNOW

If you did share the documents it would also be in breach of any known norm of privacy that would lead to a hefty fine or your website being shut down. The fact you said you would like to share the documents but will not because you did not want to be seen as unprofessional (instead of the fear of doing something illegal), sadly reinforces the widely held views that your business is not fit and proper. Please prove us all wrong by kindly refunding the OP.

Speaking of privacy, why are there no GDPR options on your website when so many of your customers reside within the EU?

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation in European Union law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. These laws provide obligations of Right of Access and the Right to Erasure. These laws also covers obligations of collecting customer consent. GDPR laws affect all websites (including changenow) that have users that are citizens from within the European Union regardless of those websites and their business owners being based in or out of the European Union. So whether your business is based or registered in Belize or Netherlands or anywhere else is irrelevant, you have to abide by GDPR laws because European Union residents are accessing the changenow website.

Please reply

[Vizefog]

If you check the profile each of his shills you'll find lots of interesting facts (for example that he can be connected to voyagerapp scam scheme).

I also drew attention to it. This person needs publicity, he thinks this will force the exchange to return him coins without ID. This is silly! If I were the owner of the exchange, I would have found out who this ni23457 was and would have court him for damaging the company's image. This person does not understand what he is doing. The madman!

[JollyGood]

@Polina_ChangeNOW

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4619534.msg45668863#msg45668863

Please reply

[Crashing]

I don't know them. But they look like a very small exchange under threat by the russian authorities. And 70000 usds are a lot of money for a small exchange already burned by this scam. Since the OP has personal details from them he can try use that, but we all know how things work on Russia. OP you have all my sympathy but say goodbye to your money.

Lol, new farmed acc.

Ni23457, could you please buy better accs? We don’t believe you

My account is from 2014, scammer.

[Polina_ChangeNOW]

@Polina_ChangeNOW

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4619534.msg45668863#msg45668863

Please reply

You're absolutely right - we don't have any right to share the files that the OP has sent. We respect the law, as we have stated multiple times.
As for the refund - we will refund the OP as soon as we have legal grounds for that. We really hope that this situation is resolved as soon as possible.

About the GDPR: it's a part of global improvement package that we are implementing. It's a work in progress, and we are introducing changes as they come.
In our public statement we have mentioned that in just a year we have grown from a tiny service into a relatively big project. We are collaborating with legal specialists and advisors in order to keep up with all requirements of the market and to be compliant with all the necessary things. Unfortunately, some implements take some time to get up and running, more than we'd like to. In any case, we are trying to do everything in our power to become the most transparent, convenient, and understandable service on the market and we are eternally grateful for all the constructive comments you've given us.

[OpenCryptoSystem]

I know he will be refunded 100%.
I can predict this outcome for sure.
I know they will do this.

[User44a]

As for the refund - we will refund the OP as soon as we have legal grounds for that. We really hope that this situation is resolved as soon as possible.

There is not a single law preventing you from sending the money back to OP unless you are absolutely certain they were involved in a crime. In that case they would have to be turned over to the agency investigating that particular crime and not held by you.
What legal grounds are you talking about? @Polina_ChangeNOW

[matej krkic]

I don't know them. But they look like a very small exchange under threat by the russian authorities. And 70000 usds are a lot of money for a small exchange already burned by this scam. Since the OP has personal details from them he can try use that, but we all know how things work on Russia. OP you have all my sympathy but say goodbye to your money.

Lol, new farmed acc.

Ni23457, could you please buy better accs? We don’t believe you

My account is from 2014, scammer.

It was bought this year, it’s clearly understandable from the posts history.
Seems that ni23457 (or someone from his scamteam) was also blocked by freewallet. I think they have also marked his coins as suspicious.
It’s too hard to launder stolen money now, isn’t it?