Bitinka exchange is a scam!!!!

[surferjoe]

Hello,

this is to warn users not to deposit fiat or crypto to the the Latin Ameriacan  exchange Bitinka under any cirucumstances or you may not be able to ever withdraw it.....

Over the past month this has been my experience with using Bitinka:

1.First I get an email from Bitinka on 27th February saying that Fiat withdrawals will soon be  disabled  for the coming weeks whilst "they implement a change to their withrawal processor" (and still are of course)but that you can still deposit Fiat and you can deposit and withdraw crypto. I got a little bit suspicious when I note the email sent to notify me of this was about 38 mins before the suspension of fiat withdrawal due to start…..Hmmmm

2. Then when  I try and buy some XRP and withdraw it, it doesn't work and I get a message saying:
“we inform you that xrp withdrawals are disabled temporary on our platform”

3. I have no choice but to sell them back again into my Euros and I make a loss on that because of the large spreads.

4. So I think well no problem,  I'll buy some bitcoin and I'll withdraw that. I mean out of all the crypto currencies they have on there you MUST be able to withdraw bitcoin surely.
After all in the email it said only fiat  you cannot withdraw, cryptos are fine so you must be able to withdraw BTC afterall it is the biggest, must just be  a problem with just xrp as they say, hopefully at least..

So,  I try and go through the process of withdrawing a  small amount of BTC as a tester and this time I get a message saying it is “on hold” I cancel it several times and start again but after many hours it is always the same.
This stays this way for over 24hrs I look on their website it says if any problems with withdrawing last longer than 24 hours to contact them so I contact them.

They get back to me and say the following excuse:

“Dear user,

we inform you that your withdrawal has not been due to a problem with the node of the platform, once solved we will be informing you. Thank you for your understanding.”

Now I start getting angry and threaten to start alerting media/social media etc if they do not let me withdraw btc immediatley OR if they try and block my account.(which they have done to other users I since found out)

and....next time I log in  they have blocked my account!
A message appears on the screen saying
"Dear user we inform you that your account is blocked"

Since then I have contacted them via Twitter, DM on Twitter, email their facebook page and the answer is always the same ie
"we will be in contact soon" or something similar , or better still an reply to my email saying "please reply to the new support ticket"which of course I cannot because I cannot log in to view said support ticket, which they know full well as they are the ones who blocked my account and is the reason why I have contacted them and so on and so on.

I have taken sreenshots along the way and have evidence of the entire process. I was thinking of putting them all in here on this post but could not figure out how to attach them, maybe if someone wants to help I can put them on here, or I can email you them if you want to see it all, let me know.

So, I have approx 2000 euros sitting in my account which I cannot access, at least at the moment unless they dramatically change their tune somehow,  And I am not the only one apparently. (I can provide more links os other users similar experiences)

So please DO NOT deposit any money or crypto with this exhange or you will not be able to withdraw it if you do.

Strange thing is how legitimate they  make themselves look, I mean the exchange itself works fine, you can buy and sell on there, they have great fiat pairings, which is what attracted me in 1st place, and they send you informative emails about all things crypto etc. So why on earth on they even bothering to scam people when they could just go ahead and...you know run a successful exchange and make loads of money/be successful.

And  here is the cherry on the cake, get this,
Roger Benites CEO and co founder of Bitinka exchange is this weekend Saturday 6th April and Sunday 7th April  appearing as a speaker at the Teamz  Blockchain Summit in Tokyo and guess what is the title of his talk?
You are not going to believe this it is called:

"Fighting Hackers: How to Protect Users Funds"
see the following link and in the "overview" if you scroll down you will see Roger Benites featuring as a speaker with said talk
[urhttps://summit.teamz.co.jp]

Oh the irony!

Well if anyone has some creative ideas of how I might get this sorted out somehow please reply,

I know one thing for sure, I will never give up till I die on getting my funds back, this for me is alot of money, I am unable to work as I have a chronic medial condtion so it's not like I can just forget about it and move on.

Tim

[bL4nkcode]

By searching bitinka on google you will stumbled this bitcointalk threads, all are complaining and scammed with the exchange

Bitinka Exchange do not withdraw money for 3 weeks
Exchange BITINKA (ESTAFA=FRAUDE=SCAM=FRAUD)
Exchange BITINKA: es ESTAFA!!!
BTC sent and confirmed but did not arrive on BitINKA

So, I wonder how you find this exchange besides its shady behavior.

[BitMaxz]

Bitinka exchange is not listed on coingeko and never heard this exchange before. According to archive.org it was developed in Peru and it's connected to bitinka.pe it's not a well-known exchange site and maybe they are the 2nd owner of the site. Because there are some parts on archive.org is change to blank or redirect to bitinka.pe.

I don't trust this too shady exchange site because the domain doesn't have Registrant Contact it means that they are hiding something so possible they are scam.

[Potato Chips]

Well...

Services usually hate it every time their reputation gets shot, so try linking this thread the next time you talk to their support, you should also add that you'll give continuous updates here.

Second is, uhhh this should be your last resort and should think if it is worth doing. The thing is, you're not the only one who is experiencing this so if you can gather a group of ppl who wants to file a class action lawsuit, then go. And bitinka is not exactly anonymous 'cause from what I've seen they attend various conferences so the teams' face is in public (check their sns)

[pushups44]

I suggest investors avoid second and third-tier exchanges and stick to ones with the most solid reputations. Besides outright scams, hacks are very common in the industry.

[Mr.Ease]

my question is this... Why are you depositing 2 G's into an exchange called Bitinka 

Never even heard of this garbage exchange before. How did you find out about it?

But damn... 2 G's bro! For what? Some hot hot shitcoin?
Why didn't you go the Binance route? Or since you seem to like risky moves - 2 G's into Yobit sounds like a brilliant idea compared to putting it into a Brand New exchange with terrible spreads, no volume.

Anyways. I'm done giving you shit - but being involved in Bitcoin, one should know better than to stuff "Needed Moneys" into anything within this ecosystem.

Lesson learned. Sometimes they hurt... I have plenty of learning wounds over the past years 

[TravelMug]

Damn, 2000 Euro, that's a big amount to lose to these scammers. On your part is a expensive lessons to learn.

Someone already posted a link about other scam accusations against them so there's a small change that you can get your funds back. I'm sure you have learned your lessons here, just go and put your money in trusted and legitimate exchange in the future.

[Lanatsa]

Just always been wondering how these newbies do tend to end up on unknown exchangers if there are really some top rated ones? Or they just
simply ignore to use that google search thing. Even just typing " best crypto exchange 2019" you will really able to see those top rated exchange as of this moment.
Getting scammed nor experiencing any issue are less or to be completely avoided.

[BitHodler]

Just always been wondering how these newbies do tend to end up on unknown exchangers if there are really some top rated ones?

Chat groups and other social media platforms where people blatantly shill services. I have no idea why people waste their time there, but there are hundreds of thousands of them being vulnerable to con artists.

Another reason why people keep using brand new and unknown exchanges is because of the shit coins they have listed (mostly coins that other exchanges rightfully don't want to list).

I don't know much about Bitinka, but a few simple searches already yield enough complaints for me to avoid it. If I don't trust an exchange I simply skip it, too bad not everyone thinks like that in crypto.

[surferjoe]

Hi, 

thankyou for all your comments and thoughts, much appreciated.

@potatochips
I think I will try the 1st option you mention. I know the girl Sylvia a Peruvian who had similar problems that went on many months eventually did get her money back by alerting via social media, so I live in hope.
Anyway I am not giving up, ever, as I cannot work due to long term medial condition so its not like I can go and easily earn some more money and move on and forget about it. Thanks for your comments.

Just to reply to some of the other comments on this thread briefly:

I did do a google search etc at the start on bitinka and it all seem to be nothing but good about them, all crytpo websites mentioning them seem to be saying they are a good legit exchange with some very good fiat pairings(it was the fiat pairings that other exchanges did not that attracted me).
I did not see any of the negative reviews placed on bitcointalk by sylvia come up on my search, I wish I had!
Admittingly it wasn't my finest hour, I was too hasty, but I had no reason based on all info on bitinka by crypto sites that they aren't legit. That coupled with the fact that due to medical condition I can't think too clearly(foggy brain)and don't have much energy, so didn't research as long as I should have, ie I should have dug a bit deeper, in hindsight.
I did look on coinmarketcap and they were ranked alongside Bitstamp at the time for exchange volume(adjusted  volume now that is a different matter).
I originlly sent just 10 euros to check them out a bit and all seemed ok.

The main reason that I posted this thread is because I don't want others to do what I did, ie do a simple google search and see nothing but praise for them from many crypto websites

Unless of course this is all just one big mistake  that I am blocked out of my account and some day it will all resolve.

I live in hope...

[nikitoks]

Hey, @surferjoe !
Any updates or news to your post?

I have very similar situation right now.
This exchange can easily process your deposits, but have a lot of problems with your withdraws.

I initiated withdraw at May 30 2019 and failed.

So I created 2 tickets to support team:
  In first ticket they told "Due to the high demand of user's transactions, some of these have been delayed."
  In second one 12 days later they told: "that the technical area has presented inconvenience in the system nodes, the reason why your withdrawal has not been processed."

No one gives any time estimation. Teither in support nor social media.
Their answers look like formal polite writings with no real effort to solve the problem.
So still can't make any withdraw from this exchange.

So, I can't imagine working exchange with not working withdraws.
It seems this exchange doesn't have any real trading volume and real users. However you can find this exchange in top 50 by volume on coinmarketcap and others aggregators.
It's good if could make exclude this exchange from there.

[priktop]

I also have a similar situation. Waiting for 12.5 ETH since May 10th now. Been blocked after opening multiple tickets and they aren't responding via their social channels....

Great stuff.

[fratoshi]

Here is a new update of the situation.

There are many rumors that Bitinka workers have been leaking inside information on telegram groups about the exchange,
seems to be some big inside problem, many of their workforce have left and now they are facing insolvency,
https://www.criptonoticias.com/analisis-investigacion/exclusiva-comunicado-interno-revela-bitinka-enfrenta-problemas-economicos/

Their website https://www.bitinka.com/ is displaying this message

We ask all our users to take all the necessary precautions to avoid any unforeseen events

And is currently on maintenance

There is no official update on their twitter https://twitter.com/bitinka


Bitinka was ranked on the top 20 of coinmarketcap exchange by volume

https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitinka/

Also Coinmarketcap is issuing a warning

We have received reports that user withdrawals may be impeded. Please be careful with your funds.

Some of the Bitinka bank accounts got seized by authorities and many reports of lawsuit across south american countries
https://www.cryptoworldjournal.com/uncertainty-among-users-increases-because-of-bitinkas-fall-and-silence/
https://www.criptonoticias.com/gobierno/judicial/juzgado-decreto-embargo-contra-cuentas-bancarias-bitinka-argentina/

If you are an user of Bitinka my advice is to try to withdraw your coins as soon as the exchange is out of maintenance, (if it happens) most probably is an exit scam at this point.