btc-arbs.com - Update: dead HYIP, Refund progress: BTC-arbs still doing refunds

[sunny1]

I have a couple friends actively looking for this fellow now.... not gonna be pretty. Better hope your info is not visible anywhere.

large transactions in the paper trail recently..

http://blockchain.info/address/16R14EH4v8A9GPXkAAP8gcMFBA8oxA8nbY

btc is not as anonymous as one would like to think, each day we break down those barriers.. and we are coming for you now.

BRING BACK THE SITE AND RETURN THE FUNDS OR PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.

You have been warned.


UPDATE : there are more than one person(s) being investigated now...

He will not care about your threats and rest assured, your 'friends' will not find him! Wanna bet???

[1714266711]

1714266711

[1714266711]

1714266711

[1714266711]

1714266711

[1714266711]

1714266711

[atc1]

So,this is down for good? Or..what's the situation? I've seen two HYIP's go down in the last month,but afaik,this is not a HYIP,just a regular arb. Is there any contact with the owner at all cuz from the look of it he is absconding.

[yonce]

So,this is down for good? Or..what's the situation? I've seen two HYIP's go down in the last month,but afaik,this is not a HYIP,just a regular arb. Is there any contact with the owner at all cuz from the look of it he is absconding.

This unfortunately was a poor quality HYIP that took a bunch of money with them. It's not coming back. Short lived, but could have had a lot of promise.

[hongo]

BTC-ARBS SCAMMER: I am talking to you. I am investigating you and I have a experienced team. I have some interesting information about you. We will find you and you will pay with whatever you have.

[RickyCardero]

I was one of the investors that sent them a payment using a bank wire, and I also invested with other fiat methods. I've been working to track them down and have found the following information.

There are two names that I keep finding associated with accounts:

Shawn Tunt
Manfred Berger

Location: The IP addresses associated with emails that I have received are almost always in Munich, Germany. Another IP of theirs is in Bulgaria.

The bank account in Florida is a different name and after contacting them it looks like they were a pansy or fall guy.

The bank account in Hong Kong belongs to a payment processing service and is likely another intermediary.

Associated email addresses:

Bitcoin1@gmail.com
shawn@safe-mail.net

I was able to get into out of one of the exchanges that accepted Perfect Money from them. Apparently a payment was sent to a Russian name in Munich, but the exchange refuses to give the name. I am trying to get that information and will post it when I do.
 
The Bitcoin addresses that keep appearing in this thread almost certainly belong to a mixing service or a major exchange. There's no way this site took that many coins. My analysis puts the total figure closer to 750 coins.

If anyone would like to share info or collaborate on this, send me a PM.

[yonce]

I was one of the investors that sent them a payment using a bank wire, and I also invested with other fiat methods. I've been working to track them down and have found the following information.

There are two names that I keep finding associated with accounts:

Shawn Tunt
Manfred Berger

Location: The IP addresses associated with emails that I have received are almost always in Munich, Germany. Another IP of theirs is in Bulgaria.

The bank account in Florida is a different name and after contacting them it looks like they were a pansy or fall guy.

The bank account in Hong Kong belongs to a payment processing service and is likely another intermediary.

Associated email addresses:

Bitcoin1@gmail.com
shawn@safe-mail.net

I was able to get into out of one of the exchanges that accepted Perfect Money from them. Apparently a payment was sent to a Russian name in Munich, but the exchange refuses to give the name. I am trying to get that information and will post it when I do.
 
The Bitcoin addresses that keep appearing in this thread almost certainly belong to a mixing service or a major exchange. There's no way this site took that many coins. My analysis puts the total figure closer to 750 coins.

If anyone would like to share info or collaborate on this, send me a PM.

You actually got in touch with the person who owns the florida bank account? They paid him to accept funds? I was thinking around 1000 coins they took which is super impressive for a HYIP barely online for 2-3 months.

[FreeJack2k2]

Keep digging, guys! If we can track these clowns down, maybe we can send someone to "encourage" them to return our money.

[sunny1]

I was one of the investors that sent them a payment using a bank wire, and I also invested with other fiat methods. I've been working to track them down and have found the following information.

There are two names that I keep finding associated with accounts:

Shawn Tunt
Manfred Berger

Location: The IP addresses associated with emails that I have received are almost always in Munich, Germany. Another IP of theirs is in Bulgaria.

The bank account in Florida is a different name and after contacting them it looks like they were a pansy or fall guy.

The bank account in Hong Kong belongs to a payment processing service and is likely another intermediary.

Associated email addresses:

Bitcoin1@gmail.com
shawn@safe-mail.net

I was able to get into out of one of the exchanges that accepted Perfect Money from them. Apparently a payment was sent to a Russian name in Munich, but the exchange refuses to give the name. I am trying to get that information and will post it when I do.
 
The Bitcoin addresses that keep appearing in this thread almost certainly belong to a mixing service or a major exchange. There's no way this site took that many coins. My analysis puts the total figure closer to 750 coins.

If anyone would like to share info or collaborate on this, send me a PM.

What is the payment processing service in Hong Kong? I've got some friends there, maybe they can find something out.

[hongo]

RickyCardero: so we have a clue. We may not be able to force the exchange to give that information but justice can. If we go through legal justice channels they can get this information. Maybe someone in Munich can go to the police and report this fraud with this clue so they can investigate.

[hongo]

This may interest us:

"MeetPays against fraud

Dear MeetPays friend,
It's clear that many people use the Internet to steal data from other people, forge documents and impersonate identities among many other illegal acts.
MeetPays want to eliminate or minimize such actions.
Buy with credit card of another person, documents forgery and use of false identification is pursued by all governments, in some cases leads to prison sentences.
To prosecute and punish these actions, MeetPays offers 1 bitcoin to people who give us real data about people who engage in these illegal acts in order to bring them to justice in every country and advertise their identity.
The reward is 1 bitcoin by each scammer and to that effect it is necessary to ask info to Meetpays. This verified information will be use for the location of these fakers.

Thanks and best regards,
MeetPays team."

[BTC-Arbs]

The Whole Story - From BTC-Arbs ADMIN

I am aware that this post may fall upon deaf ears, given the mob mentality that seems to have developed as a fallout from BTC-Arbs, however I am here with the ultimate goal of resolving the issues that currently face everyone involved. Before I get into my future plans I feel it is necessary to share a bit of background information on BTC-Arbs.

Scam Allegations

BTC Arbs was not created to be a scam, and was never intended to rip off investors. Bitcoin arbitrage is possible and many Bitcoin users have realized this and have started arbitrage trading on their own. Bitcoin arbitrage trading took place and earnings were made. Anyone who has ever looked at bitcoinaverage dot com can confirm this. The prices vary greatly from exchange to exchange, and there are always variations on the price. Even today, you can buy Bitcoin on BTCE for $556 and then sell it immediately on Bitstamp for $572. That produces a 2.7% profit, which is closer to 2% after exchange fees and transfer costs.

BTC-Arbs was not created to scam users.

Hacking

In early April, the BTC Arbs website was hacked. Numerous members can corroborate this fact. Many accounts were accessed and large amounts of Bitcoin were withdrawn. When this first started occurring, we were under the impression that it was due to users who had failed to secure their accounts with 2-factor authentication and who had been infected with a virus. It then became apparent that the website was not secure and the issue was impacting hundreds of accounts. HUNDREDS of Bitcoins were paid out that should not have been. To make matters worse, our incoming Bitcoin addresses were changed and hackers stole all of the incoming coins. When we tried to fix the issue, we just kept getting hacked over and over. Finally the problem was solved, but it was too late.

After the hacking, the plan was to use profits to re-liquidate the program, however people continued to withdraw, which ultimately lead to the overall failure and "reset". This can be referred to as a run on the bank.

100,000 Bitcoin Address

Those who believe that the 100,000 Bitcoin address belongs to BTC-Arbs are crazy. The total value of ALL BTC-Arbs accounts is more or less 500 Bitcoins. We weren't some billion dollar scam. The average user had less than 1 Bitcoin in their account. There are only 7 users with balances over 20 Bitcoins. There were less than 1000 accounts with Bitcoins in them.

Re-Incarnation

Upon resetting the program, the plan was to pay back all users using future profits. The plan was going well and members of Bitcoin Talk can attest that withdrawals were being paid and that many users had begun receiving a good portion of their investments back. The plan was going well until angry users decided to:
- Hack the website further
- Initiate a prolonged DDOS attack against the server
- File a trademark complaint for the domain (WTF???)
- Freeze fiat accounts (preventing refunds)

Apology

I am VERY VERY VERY SORRY that the outcome of BTC-Arbs was what it was. I had dreams of running the first large and legitimate Bitcoin Arbitrage investment company that could have one day competed with banks and other global investment institutions. Instead, my dreams were destroyed and I now receive threats on a daily basis.

Moving Forward

I have created a plan to help us move forward. I would appreciate everyone's help in fulfilling it. If you have any suggestions on how to improve my plan please tell me.

The Plan
1 - I have some Bitcoins left and I am still doing arbitrage with them.
2 - I want nothing more than to repay everyone. This won't be instant, but I want to do my best.
3 - I will continue paying refunds to everyone who lost money. In the interest of fairness, I think it is reasonable that until everyone is repaid their initial investments, that everyone only request the amount that was lost, not including profits.
4 - Please send your username, amount lost, Bitcoin address, username here (optional), details of your deposits, and any other information you can think of to btcarbsrefunds@safe-mail.net or by PM here.
5 - I will be using this thread to keep track of everything that I do, including refunds.

BTC Arbs is NOT a scam. It was a failed investment that is now trying to make good on past promises.

[RickyCardero]

The Whole Story - From BTC-Arbs ADMIN

I am aware that this post may fall upon deaf ears, given the mob mentality that seems to have developed as a fallout from BTC-Arbs, however I am here with the ultimate goal of resolving the issues that currently face everyone involved. Before I get into my future plans I feel it is necessary to share a bit of background information on BTC-Arbs.

Scam Allegations

BTC Arbs was not created to be a scam, and was never intended to rip off investors. Bitcoin arbitrage is possible and many Bitcoin users have realized this and have started arbitrage trading on their own. Bitcoin arbitrage trading took place and earnings were made. Anyone who has ever looked at bitcoinaverage dot com can confirm this. The prices vary greatly from exchange to exchange, and there are always variations on the price. Even today, you can buy Bitcoin on BTCE for $556 and then sell it immediately on Bitstamp for $572. That produces a 2.7% profit, which is closer to 2% after exchange fees and transfer costs.

BTC-Arbs was not created to scam users.

Hacking

In early April, the BTC Arbs website was hacked. Numerous members can corroborate this fact. Many accounts were accessed and large amounts of Bitcoin were withdrawn. When this first started occurring, we were under the impression that it was due to users who had failed to secure their accounts with 2-factor authentication and who had been infected with a virus. It then became apparent that the website was not secure and the issue was impacting hundreds of accounts. HUNDREDS of Bitcoins were paid out that should not have been. To make matters worse, our incoming Bitcoin addresses were changed and hackers stole all of the incoming coins. When we tried to fix the issue, we just kept getting hacked over and over. Finally the problem was solved, but it was too late.

After the hacking, the plan was to use profits to re-liquidate the program, however people continued to withdraw, which ultimately lead to the overall failure and "reset". This can be referred to as a run on the bank.

100,000 Bitcoin Address

Those who believe that the 100,000 Bitcoin address belongs to BTC-Arbs are crazy. The total value of ALL BTC-Arbs accounts is more or less 500 Bitcoins. We weren't some billion dollar scam. The average user had less than 1 Bitcoin in their account. There are only 7 users with balances over 20 Bitcoins. There were less than 1000 accounts with Bitcoins in them.

Re-Incarnation

Upon resetting the program, the plan was to pay back all users using future profits. The plan was going well and members of Bitcoin Talk can attest that withdrawals were being paid and that many users had begun receiving a good portion of their investments back. The plan was going well until angry users decided to:
- Hack the website further
- Initiate a prolonged DDOS attack against the server
- File a trademark complaint for the domain (WTF???)
- Freeze fiat accounts (preventing refunds)

Apology

I am VERY VERY VERY SORRY that the outcome of BTC-Arbs was what it was. I had dreams of running the first large and legitimate Bitcoin Arbitrage investment company that could have one day competed with banks and other global investment institutions. Instead, my dreams were destroyed and I now receive threats on a daily basis.

Moving Forward

I have created a plan to help us move forward. I would appreciate everyone's help in fulfilling it. If you have any suggestions on how to improve my plan please tell me.

The Plan
1 - I have some Bitcoins left and I am still doing arbitrage with them.
2 - I want nothing more than to repay everyone. This won't be instant, but I want to do my best.
3 - I will continue paying refunds to everyone who lost money. In the interest of fairness, I think it is reasonable that until everyone is repaid their initial investments, that everyone only request the amount that was lost, not including profits.
4 - Please send your username, amount lost, Bitcoin address, username here (optional), details of your deposits, and any other information you can think of to btcarbsrefunds@safe-mail.net or by PM here.
5 - I will be using this thread to keep track of everything that I do, including refunds.

BTC Arbs is NOT a scam. It was a failed investment that is now trying to make good on past promises.

Email sent. If I am refunded I will call off my pitbulls.

[FreeJack2k2]

I find it REALLY INTERESTING that we started getting close, and we immediately get this post attempting to get the dogs called off.

I have sent an e-mail. As one of those seven investors you claim had more than 20 bitcoin invested and a LONGTIME supporter and defender of the site, I was among those feeling MOST betrayed by the site.

I hope you really DO intend to make this right ("Ron," "Adam," or whoever you are), because this put a lot of us in a really tight spot.

My principal investment was 27 Bitcoin, with interest when the site shut down, I was owed 35.6 or so. I had not, contrary to what the admin has posted, received a "good portion" of my Bitcoin out of the legacy funds balance. I had received about 2.2 Bitcoin out of it.

[Vilepickle]

I've sent an email.  Assuming that's real, thank you for being honest and finally posting.

[BTC-Arbs]

I find it REALLY INTERESTING that we started getting close, and we immediately get this post attempting to get the dogs called off.

I have been trying to fix the issue behind the scenes, however the idiots who continue to DDOS the site aren't helping. I posted here after one of you guys contacted my daughter and threatened her.

Kevin, I have received your request. If we go off of total lost, you have been paid back approximately 10%. More coming.

Vilepickle, I have received your request.

[FreeJack2k2]

I find it REALLY INTERESTING that we started getting close, and we immediately get this post attempting to get the dogs called off.

I have been trying to fix the issue behind the scenes, however the idiots who continue to DDOS the site aren't helping. I posted here after one of you guys contacted my daughter and threatened her.

Kevin, I have received your request. If we go off of total lost, you have been paid back approximately 10%. More coming.

Vilepickle, I have received your request.

Of the over 37 bitcoin I had in legacy, I managed to pull out 2.2 bitcoin from the "trickle" payments before the site went down. if we are just talking about loss of principal, I had invested 27 bitcoin...so not to pick nits, but that looks more like 8%.

You will understand our skepticism that this ever would have happened if nobody had done any sleuthing, particularly after the comical fiction of Ron James and his nonexistent hedge fund / investment group. I'm sorry to hear someone made threats against your family, obviously not acceptable but I know guys have posted losses here that double mine, so the anger should be understandable.

The "we were hacked" story has been mulled over at length here. Highly implausible, considering that all deposits and withdrawals were processed manually...and not one user came here claiming that their funds had been withdrawn without authorization, that I have seen. Regardless, the withdrawals should not have made the enterprise so insolvent that I was only getting repaid .03 bitcoin per day, at the end. I also don't see any way that wallet addresses for incoming Bitcoin could be changed...it is not plausible because the site was not a wallet. I just find it way too convenient and the made up story of an acquisition by a nonexistent entity (this is the internet age, seriously) only casts doubt on every claim.

But as I said, I am glad you are now willing to make it right, regardless.

[thcst8]

email and PM sent

[dmz241]

Hopefull the guy pays you guys back. Maybe he is telling the truth or maybe he is scared of being threatened. I had nothing invested in the website but was thinking initially. What makes this guys response weird is that from what I read at their website they were a group of 7 people and now just one guy is replying that he will pay everyone back. I do think it was a scam but since the admin has been caught and is scared he has started paying people back. How much he pays back is yet to be seen. Hopefully you guys get back your stuff but whoever threatened his daughter should get information about this guy from him so you know how to track the admin down. And if he had planed this initially why didnt he come out and just say it in the beginning?

[WhatsBitcoin]

He knew he was bullshitting about the takeover and all. He is a liar. Seriously, someone do something. I have no sympathy whatsoever if someone actually hurt his daughter, cruel thing to say but seriously admin, you know what you do. It just so happens u got caught this time.

[dyask]

He knew he was bullshitting about the takeover and all. He is a liar. Seriously, someone do something. I have no sympathy whatsoever if someone actually hurt his daughter, cruel thing to say but seriously admin, you know what you do. It just so happens u got caught this time.

If your parent was involved in something that went very bad, would you want to be attacked for it?

If someone is doing these threats and/or DDOSing the site, please stop!   You aren't helping.   I'm sure we all want our BTC back, we should give the guy a chance.