Well, I agree with most posts here and believe me, people in all walks of life are running scams. Even PayPal is a contributor to these. I made a mistake of trusting a guy in person to pay me PayPal for BTC. He paid and on my account it said HOLD by PayPal. So I told the guy I wasn't sending his BTC and he said "Hold on, let me call them."
He got on the phone, called PayPal, talked for 30 seconds and said "Okay, they are going to release it." Within a minute the hold was lifted and so I sent his btc and all was great.
Four days ago, I get a notice and the entire $575 pulled from my account. PayPal claims the customer filed a "Unauthorized Transaction."
I've been so upset writing PayPal and calling them and they will not budge because they say I was providing a service (what the story was of course, if you say btc... bye bye account) and that I am not protected under their rules. I keep shouting that the customer is claiming unauthorized and I SAW HIM CALL YOU AND YOU RELEASED THE MONEY or I would never have performed the service. PayPal is the one who "allowed" the unauthorized transaction and I am even saying, "So Paypal, you're admitting to allowing an unauthorized individual to call you and release this mans money to me?" And then they took it back leaving PayPal (who made a wrong here or is allowing blatant lies) to get off with no loss. Allowed the scammer to make out with a bitcoin and the owner of the account (whether it was the scammer or not) to be unharmed and me as the person out $600.
This is the kind of bullshit that makes me sick. Everyone knows me as the Michael Moriarty hater and many have probably seen
http://antilyze.com and
http://scamfindr.com because I am trying to do something about this. I also have a campaign at Indiegogo at
http://igg.me/at/noscam which I may nee to re-activate but the fact of the matter is that bitcoin is inviting a new type of scam and I agree with the person who said that the problem is anonymity. I believe in anonymity like everyone else here. If I want to send my sister in San Francisco $1000 it is absolutely NOBODY's business. That transaction should be anonymous. The problem is, that a few companies and sites (oh maybe coinchimp.com, bitplastic.com, bitspeculate.com, bitlaunder.com) and many others have lured customers in by promoting and talking about their belief in anonymity and facts are facts... if the owner of a business will not give you their info, they are doing something illegal and they will steal from you.
So, here is my clear-cut guide to using bitcoin.
DO NOT PAY ANYONE FOR ANYTHING UNLESS YOU TRUST THAT PERSON 100% or YOU AGREE TO NOT CRY WHEN YOU ARE STOLEN FROM. I promise you that I will never lose another bitcoin and we can get to a spot eventually when everyone can say this. My website at
http://ubbbk.com accepts bitcoin but all of my info is very public. These are the things you need to check into prior to spending bitcoin anywhere!
Is the business listed elsewhere?
Have you searched google adding "SCAM" behind the term. ie, bitplastic scam
Have you tried the phone number for the business. (Michael Moriarty claims, "I don't use phones" - well duh cause you fucking steal")
Have you emailed support and got a timely response?
Have you verified the physical address?
Have you asked for identification details of the owner?
If they refuse to give you their details (which is their right) I believe you need to not use that business and post on FB or G+ the reason you did not (your right)
By doing these things, the businesses that are legit are the ones who will survive.