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

[actudoran]

hi guys !

need a bit of help ! I think I've missed a few pages and am in a bit of a hurry ... so I PMd with my BTC address and the user name along with my two accounts I had in BTC Arbs ... in one I had cca 1.5 btc and got half back ( deal ) and in another I had 3.5 btc left in legacy by the time the site went down ... I don't know where to put myself on the list and what else should I do. Any help is appreciated !
Cheers!
Alex

[1714210056]

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[yonce]

What actually happened to btc arbs?

The site shut off and he scammed. Seems though someone located personal information from a user on this forum it seems so he is now doing some sort of tiny refund program to some bitcointalk members, which even if he pays everyone on the spreadsheet so far, he will still run off with hundreds of bitcoin while shutting up the people on this forum from taking action against him.

[Eljoshyo2]

Hi, I sent BTC-Arbs a PM with the amount, the Hash, the address I sent it to and the address I'd like to receive it to. I put my info on the spreadsheet (as Eljoshyo2). Did I do everything correctly to eventually get my btc back? Thanks!

[FreeJack2k2]

Whereas initially, he was making payments to people daily...that seems to have changed significantly over the past week or so and now we aren't seeing payment daily, but every couple of days.

My suspicion level is growing with every passing day.

[yonce]

Whereas initially, he was making payments to people daily...that seems to have changed significantly over the past week or so and now we aren't seeing payment daily, but every couple of days.

My suspicion level is growing with every passing day.

It should. You should be thinking fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

[brianbbad]

My suspicion level is growing with every passing day.

Right. I had over 6 BTC in my account, haven't received anything back at all. I think whoever found btc-arbs admin's personal info needs to share it with former btc-arbs members unless admin completes, signs, and emails some payment plans to those who haven't received refunds. This whole "not knowing when you might get a refund" thing is ridiculous.

[yonce]

My suspicion level is growing with every passing day.

Right. I had over 6 BTC in my account, haven't received anything back at all. I think whoever found btc-arbs admin's personal info needs to share it with former btc-arbs members unless admin completes, signs, and emails some payment plans to those who haven't received refunds. This whole "not knowing when you might get a refund" thing is ridiculous.

He's already paid off in full the couple people I was speaking to about the info on the admin they gathered.

[FreeJack2k2]

My suspicion level is growing with every passing day.

Right. I had over 6 BTC in my account, haven't received anything back at all. I think whoever found btc-arbs admin's personal info needs to share it with former btc-arbs members unless admin completes, signs, and emails some payment plans to those who haven't received refunds. This whole "not knowing when you might get a refund" thing is ridiculous.

There is quite a lot of information and sleuthing that has been done. If push comes to shove, we can all pool resources and initiate an official investigation that results in legal action. This would come with international wire fraud charges though, which would result in significant jail time...because based on the sleuthing thus far, it's believed that the culprits live in Malaysia. That being the case, it'd be a lot harder to see any restitution made to all of us, so I'm content to let him try and make good. But he isn't trying very hard. Also, he's apparently accessing Bitcointalk.org via the TOR network and still using anonymous e-mailers, so definitely still taking great pains to try and obscure his identity.

I would think the admin of BTC-Arbs would be HIGHLY motivated to avoid people digging deeper...but the lack of communication and the speed of payment thus far don't seem to indicate that level of urgency. Yonce is right, one of the people I know of who was responsible for uncovering a great deal of information was immediately paid in full.

[brianbbad]

If push comes to shove, we can all pool resources and initiate an official investigation that results in legal action.

Indeed, I still think that should be a last resort. If he can draft some reasonable payment plans (and actually abide by the terms therein), that would make everyone's life easier. I'm thinking the reason he hasn't paid back more people is that he has already spent (or gambled away?) some of the bitcoin; otherwise he would increase his scope and frequency of refunds, or at the very least he would have said how much BTC he has access to and how much BTC has been "stolen by hackers" (to build upon his narrative).

[FreeJack2k2]

Personally, I don't buy the hacked story at all. I mean...how can we be expected to believe that story, when they tried to feed us the "Ron James" story as a cover, to "reset" the scam?

No, I'm pretty convinced Yonce is right, this was a ponzi scheme and the reporting was completely false...they lost peoples' confidence heading into April and a lot of people started withdrawing, which forced their hand as they no longer had the funds to repay people. I think the culprits are connected to other HYIP scams and what is happening here on Bitcointalk is an effort to placate the vocal minority. You haven't seen BTC-Arbs.com come back online, have you? There's a reason for that...and it isn't that it's somehow been under constant DDOS attack for the last three weeks. They have fewer mouths to feed, now...just the noisemakers on this forum. But they aren't doing a very good job of placating us, right now.

[previous]

I have only browsed this thread, but from what I gather so far:

the BTC ARBS admins only offered to pay back the stolen BTCs AFTER some users managed to gather some information about their real identities. They now claim they were hacked and are now trying in good faith to get us all our money back. The timing could of course be a coincidence.

I am having a hard time believing this due to the extremely shady practice of legacy accounts and those infinitesimal transfers that were done every other day. That was clearly done in order to buy some time and gather more funds. I suspect the same practice now. They'll pay off the most vocal critics and especially the ones that found their personal information, meanwhile figuring out how to stay off the radar.

So btc-arbs should come forward with a clear payment plan. I am 99% they don't have all the BTCs that were invested with them, so some people will not receive everything. Ideally, we all get the same percentage of what we invested. But this process should be transparent and we should all be aware of it.

[gise87]

It been again two days since we heard anything and since the last payments have been made.
I'm started my own investigation too since I am losing patiance and might as well do something while I wait.

A questions from my side: is BTC-Arbs affiliated with Speedcoin?

It seems they used multiple companies and services to cover their traces but there are definitely traces. It seems they used one or more of these:
- ShinJiru.com (which accept bitcoin payments)
- Piradius.net
- Countermail.com
- Enom.com
- Whoisguard (via namecheap?)

I can't really place that HUNGSHI CORP and JENNIFER HUNGSHI

[BTC-Arbs]

The speculation in this forum is crazy. It seems that every time I visit I need to explain again the situations. Here we go again:

1. BTC-Arbs was hacked. Coins were stolen. Deposit addresses were changed. Some of the coins in the system weren't even received by BTC-Arbs.

2. You ask why the website isn't online. There are two reasons for this. First, the hackers completely destroyed the server and changed all the information on it. Second, there were multiple DDOS attacks that took the server offline.

3. You ask why I don't refund everyone immediately. The answer is that I do not have all of the coins in the accounts. If I did, I would. The remaining coins are being used to generate profits that are being used to pay everyone. Regular refunds are being made. A general refund plan is in place. Smaller investors are being paid their full balances. Larger investors are being paid partial payments until they are fully refunded. Investors with unreasonable demands or complaints are moved further back in the queue. Users who cooperate with the refund process are paid first.

4. Anyone who sends threats, especially those of violence, will forfeit their full balance.

5. Everyone will be refunded as soon as possible.

Today's batch of refunds will be sent in approximately one half of an hour.

[gise87]

The speculation in this forum is crazy. It seems that every time I visit I need to explain again the situations. Here we go again:

1. BTC-Arbs was hacked. Coins were stolen. Deposit addresses were changed. Some of the coins in the system weren't even received by BTC-Arbs.

2. You ask why the website isn't online. There are two reasons for this. First, the hackers completely destroyed the server and changed all the information on it. Second, there were multiple DDOS attacks that took the server offline.

3. You ask why I don't refund everyone immediately. The answer is that I do not have all of the coins in the accounts. If I did, I would. The remaining coins are being used to generate profits that are being used to pay everyone. Regular refunds are being made. A general refund plan is in place. Smaller investors are being paid their full balances. Larger investors are being paid partial payments until they are fully refunded. Investors with unreasonable demands or complaints are moved further back in the queue. Users who cooperate with the refund process are paid first.

4. Anyone who sends threats, especially those of violence, will forfeit their full balance.

5. Everyone will be refunded as soon as possible.

Today's batch of refunds will be sent in approximately one half of an hour.

Hi admin, it would really help if we could get any insight, if you like and need any help I would really be glad to help as I already created and maintaining the google spreadsheet. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help

[tom14cat14]

I think we need to give him time to refund. It takes time to make enough profit back.

[btclemming]

The speculation in this forum is crazy. It seems that every time I visit I need to explain again the situations. Here we go again:

1. BTC-Arbs was hacked. Coins were stolen. Deposit addresses were changed. Some of the coins in the system weren't even received by BTC-Arbs.

2. You ask why the website isn't online. There are two reasons for this. First, the hackers completely destroyed the server and changed all the information on it. Second, there were multiple DDOS attacks that took the server offline.

3. You ask why I don't refund everyone immediately. The answer is that I do not have all of the coins in the accounts. If I did, I would. The remaining coins are being used to generate profits that are being used to pay everyone. Regular refunds are being made. A general refund plan is in place. Smaller investors are being paid their full balances. Larger investors are being paid partial payments until they are fully refunded. Investors with unreasonable demands or complaints are moved further back in the queue. Users who cooperate with the refund process are paid first.

4. Anyone who sends threats, especially those of violence, will forfeit their full balance.

5. Everyone will be refunded as soon as possible.

Today's batch of refunds will be sent in approximately one half of an hour.

Btc-arbs,
I have the biggest amount of the sheet in your hands (30.6) btc and have received nothing back yet since the shutdown... I would like to be cooperative and patient but that does not help.
Please apply what you say : "Larger investors are being paid partial payments until they are fully refunded. ".
I am not... Until now.
That being said, thanks to communicate and trying to refund.

[BTC-Arbs]

Refunds sent today

3 full refunds from PMs
3 full refunds from email

If you have already sent an email or PM do not send it again. Once is enough. You will not receive a reply until you are paid. Sending multiple emails is making everything more confusing.

[previous]

I have only browsed this thread, but from what I gather so far:

the BTC ARBS admins only offered to pay back the stolen BTCs AFTER some users managed to gather some information about their real identities. They now claim they were hacked and are now trying in good faith to get us all our money back. The timing could of course be a coincidence.

I am having a hard time believing this due to the extremely shady practice of legacy accounts and those infinitesimal transfers that were done every other day. That was clearly done in order to buy some time and gather more funds. I suspect the same practice now. They'll pay off the most vocal critics and especially the ones that found their personal information, meanwhile figuring out how to stay off the radar.

So btc-arbs should come forward with a clear payment plan. I am 99% they don't have all the BTCs that were invested with them, so some people will not receive everything. Ideally, we all get the same percentage of what we invested. But this process should be transparent and we should all be aware of it.

I don't know if it had anything to do with the previous message I posted, but I just got all of my (small) investment back (0.3 BTC)

So complaining may just work

In any case, everything I said earlier still stands.

[brianbbad]

The speculation in this forum is crazy. It seems that every time I visit I need to explain again the situations. Here we go again:

1. BTC-Arbs was hacked. Coins were stolen. Deposit addresses were changed. Some of the coins in the system weren't even received by BTC-Arbs.

2. You ask why the website isn't online. There are two reasons for this. First, the hackers completely destroyed the server and changed all the information on it. Second, there were multiple DDOS attacks that took the server offline.

3. You ask why I don't refund everyone immediately. The answer is that I do not have all of the coins in the accounts. If I did, I would. The remaining coins are being used to generate profits that are being used to pay everyone. Regular refunds are being made. A general refund plan is in place. Smaller investors are being paid their full balances. Larger investors are being paid partial payments until they are fully refunded. Investors with unreasonable demands or complaints are moved further back in the queue. Users who cooperate with the refund process are paid first.

4. Anyone who sends threats, especially those of violence, will forfeit their full balance.

5. Everyone will be refunded as soon as possible.

Today's batch of refunds will be sent in approximately one half of an hour.

The speculation is crazy because we are all being fed bits and pieces of info. It would have been nice if you could have sent a PM to each of the members on the spreadsheet explaining everything in detail, so that people don't have to sift through this thread (now 122 pages long) to find pertinent info. If Qwiner could keep updating the original post, that would also be very helpful to all of us.
I don't think I've said anything threatening or confusing in this thread, other than saying legal action should be taken as a last resort, so hopefully nothing I've said has been interpreted as such.
I'm glad you're doing the right thing by paying people back, but I don't think it's weird for the people such as myself who haven't received refunds to continue being suspicious.

[ral_miramar]

BTC Arrbs: Thank you to move forward ... to my still not touched me ... still waiting ... in my case, send, which can
Thanks.