How I almost got scammed

[mr.relax]

Hi, the scammer deleted his thread, so I make a new one.

Yesterday the user biznsher https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2679005 offered here in this marketplace to exchange huge amounts of xrp, he wanted btc and proposed an extraordinaire good rate and even going first.
So I contacted him on telegram (user @Bit2Money)
In telegram he insisted in using escrow localbitcoins or localethereum and refused forumescrow.
So I created a tradeoffer a localethereum at the rate of 790xrp/eth.
His username at localethereum is also "biznsher".
As my max for the first trade was 5.8 ETH, he agreed on telegram to send even more, exactly 5007XRP what is a very good rate.
So i funded escrow there and he wrote on localethereum, that he sends 5,007 XRP.
You notice, that looks very similar to 5.007xrp , but is 1000 times less.
I didnt notice that.
Then he sent to my wallet and pressed for immideate release ETH from escrow.
I noticed 5.007 XRP coming in.
Just his rush made me look twice...wow, I almost released all ETH for 5,007XRP....
This bastard would have made 1000Euros!
At least he cancelled the trade at localethereum.
Afterwards he deleted his offer and now the whole thread.

So guys, take care, here at Bitcointalk/Economy/Marketplace are almost only scammers trying their luck.
But this scam was really new to me....

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

So a dot (.) was the line in between you and your 1000 Euro lose. The scammers always has their own creative way to try their luck. If only they could use it to do something good for the community.

[LoyceV]

Hi, the scammer deleted his thread, so I make a new one.

Here's a copy of his post: http://loyce.club/archive/posts/5242/52426205.html

So i funded escrow there and he wrote on localethereum, that he sends 5,007 XRP.
You notice, that looks very similar to 5.007xrp , but is 1000 times less.

It's really about time planet earth agrees on what to use as a decimal sign!

[starkovblue]

Hi, the scammer deleted his thread, so I make a new one.

Yesterday the user biznsher https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2679005 offered here in this marketplace to exchange huge amounts of xrp, he wanted btc and proposed an extraordinaire good rate and even going first.
So I contacted him on telegram (user @Bit2Money)
In telegram he insisted in using escrow localbitcoins or localethereum and refused forumescrow.
So I created a tradeoffer a localethereum at the rate of 790xrp/eth.
His username at localethereum is also "biznsher".
As my max for the first trade was 5.8 ETH, he agreed on telegram to send even more, exactly 5007XRP what is a very good rate.
So i funded escrow there and he wrote on localethereum, that he sends 5,007 XRP.
You notice, that looks very similar to 5.007xrp , but is 1000 times less.
I didnt notice that.
Then he sent to my wallet and pressed for immideate release ETH from escrow.
I noticed 5.007 XRP coming in.
Just his rush made me look twice...wow, I almost released all ETH for 5,007XRP....
This bastard would have made 1000Euros!
At least he cancelled the trade at localethereum.
Afterwards he deleted his offer and now the whole thread.

So guys, take care, here at Bitcointalk/Economy/Marketplace are almost only scammers trying their luck.
But this scam was really new to me....

This forum has guarantors that have been working for a very long time. Through them you can conduct transactions safely.
On other sites a lot of cheating.
I, too, have fallen for such a hoax and am now much more careful.

[carter34]

So I contacted him on telegram

I tell you something, and that thing is your mistake above.

I ask you a question : If you don't show interest by contacting him, would he had introduced other aspects of his scam to make you feel is real with insisting on escrow?

You see, scammers are very smart at what they do. They see their prey like dog and introduces the dog food as bone which they know the dog would like and shake the tail   

If we don't try to stretch for something extraordinary, we might not be falling prey. I don't want something extra ordinary because a price is always hidden in it that you may not know of.

[dessyhodin97]

wow,you really were lucky

[Artemis3]

Hi, the scammer deleted his thread, so I make a new one.

Yesterday the user biznsher https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2679005 offered here in this marketplace to exchange huge amounts of xrp, he wanted btc and proposed an extraordinaire good rate and even going first.
So I contacted him on telegram (user @Bit2Money)
In telegram he insisted in using escrow localbitcoins or localethereum and refused forumescrow.
So I created a tradeoffer a localethereum at the rate of 790xrp/eth.
His username at localethereum is also "biznsher".
As my max for the first trade was 5.8 ETH, he agreed on telegram to send even more, exactly 5007XRP what is a very good rate.
So i funded escrow there and he wrote on localethereum, that he sends 5,007 XRP.
You notice, that looks very similar to 5.007xrp , but is 1000 times less.
I didnt notice that.
Then he sent to my wallet and pressed for immideate release ETH from escrow.
I noticed 5.007 XRP coming in.
Just his rush made me look twice...wow, I almost released all ETH for 5,007XRP....
This bastard would have made 1000Euros!
At least he cancelled the trade at localethereum.
Afterwards he deleted his offer and now the whole thread.

So guys, take care, here at Bitcointalk/Economy/Marketplace are almost only scammers trying their luck.
But this scam was really new to me....

Well this is like the "customary"/metric thing, the world is such a funny place with people not adhering to the same standard...

It is true that there are many countries where the decimals is denoted with a , not a .  I usually avoid using the cosmetic ones people sometimes use on every 3 digits (ie 1,000.00, i would just write 1000.00 or 1000). There is a recommendation that, if absolutely needed, people should use a space instead, such as: 1 000.00.

Do remember NASA messed up once a probe because of the metric/customary (ie. imperial) units thing. And if it happens to them...

This is one more reason to get rid of decimals, and the dreary mBTC unit. Japan is smart, they don't use cents at all. And of course many countries where their local fiats are above 100 per USD don't need to bother.

More absurd/incredible standard is different things i can imagine in the 21ist century: Electricity... Yeah, once upon a time it was even more varied, but the Euro zone at least converged into 230v, there was a time were many of those countries each used a slightly more or less (ie. 220v or 240v). But in any case several countries still use a range, essentially an US/EU split (115v/230v) with a myriad of plugs too. Oh and sheet paper size, you would thing the entire world used A4? Wrong, like the "customary units", America and a few other countries including mine, use their own sizes.

Anyway good call, i have seen it before in localbitcoins, laughing it off and not falling for it, but wondering whose poor victims would...

My country uses , for decimals, metric for measure, american paper sheet sizes and american electricity rules from the 60ies or so, ie. no ground pole, and "Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter" sockets is for wimp (or rich) americans. We here have our power plug next to the running water, you can literally open the faucet with one hand and plug your electric shaver with the other at the same time, in the (obviously) un-grounded socket.

Remember kids, in this country the electrical code won't save you as it does in yours... No hand holding!.

[mk4]

Quite a simple but witty way of scamming from him, but kudos for you for actually spotting that. Even though it might be obvious for a lot of people, I'm pretty sure also a lot of people can be tricked by this. See how a simple double-check saved you from losing so much money. If only everyone did what you did and spent just a few measly extra seconds by actually double-checking everything, there's a significant amount of people that wouldn't get scammed; and this applies both inside and outside of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

[virendarnagpal]

Oh my God. 
First of all I express my sympathy then I thank you for sharing without hesitation.  This sharing will give lessen to other members and they will be saved from cheaters.
This world is filled with cheaters who are always ready to cheat innocent people. 
But OK this is big lesson for you and us too.

[YuginKadoya]

Scammers are pretty much creative nowadays and it is all mind games for them if you would take their bait or now, But it is a good offer and thinking about what you can get from it, but at least you have avoid the unavoidable if you send those ETH that is, and it is good that you look back again so you can bust this scammer and take his 5.007 XRP that is only $ 1.27 USD but a least you can take something and busted the scammer pretty good, but I guess this experience had taken you a good learning and next time be cautious with who you are making a transaction with not just for newbie but with other ranks as well because I think scammers can be any rank here in the forum a more caution is likely needed.

[DdmrDdmr]

I archived an instance of the cached version on the thread, with the content displayed as it was at some point before it was deleted:
http://archive.fo/Oe5W7

The offer made on the scammer’s thread was this one:

Buying  ETH,   BTC   to  my Ripple  ( XRP  )

i give  good  rate  42,500  XRP for 1 btc  ,  i sent payment   first    or   using Escrow service

have more 500 000 XRP

telegram : <…>

The decimal separator is a bit of a bummer in international scenarios, being de dot and the coma used nearly half and half across the world (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator). Taking advantage of this fact is really low, and deleting the topic show clear intent.

[Pffrt]

This is a new one for me, never seen such scam trick. Bitcointalk is a great place for learning but for trading it has turned into a huge risky place. Once I had created WTS thread, scammer was asking me to choose his known escrow, lol, I mean self escrow with fake account.

[jhonjhon]

Scammers indeed are becoming very smart and creative as the time passes and though this forum is known and is regulated by the administrators but because scammers are becoming smarter they are able to invade the forum and makes offer that can attract possible victims.
I heard a lot of scam cases but this one is new to me, if you are a person who is not keen in every small details then you will surely be scammed, imagine with just one character a dot and a comma, someone might have lost a lot so it is important to be very cautious nowadays since scammers are everywhere.

[kryptqnick]

Wow, this is an interesting story. I  didn't know about such a way of scamming people (writing a thousand times smaller amount of coins which is truly easy to confuse). I probably would fall for the trick, because in my country we don't have this distinction of dots and commas, so it would be especially confusing to me. But a very nice rate (too good to be true) and a rushing person are good signs of something being wrong in the whole situation. So I am very glad you did not lose your money and also warned the community about the scammer. I hope DT2 members will put a red flag on the account as well, although the person is not likely to use it again anyway after this failure.

[peter0425]

Above everything always use Bitcointalk forum Escrow because I don’t see any reason why that scammer refuse having escrow here when the truth is if he really wants a legit trade there’s no other best escrow but here

You were very lucky because that was close to losing a thousand euros

Anyway again If the Offers are too good to be true make more precaution because the possibility of attempting scam are always there.

[hatshepsut93]

he wanted btc and proposed an extraordinaire good rate and even going first.

If something sounds too good, it's probably a scam. But even if it's a regular deal, you should always keep your guard up, Bitcoin makes scamming very easy and very lucrative, so the chance of getting scammed is very high. Scammers can be quite inventive, so it's important to always take time and verify every step of a deal.

Also, the scammer had a brand new account - that's a huge red flag on its own already, I personally would never deal with a newbie account without escrow.

[serjent05]

Good to know you are able to spot the intent to scam, the fact that he don't want to use reputable escrow in this forum is already a red flag.  Anyone who is a legit seller will agree to use escrow for the benefits of both party.  I wonder why you did not doubt him at the beginning.  You just got lucky in this trade since you had spotted  and double check his transaction, else your story will be the other way around.  Anyway, thank you for this post because this will alert unsuspecting buyers and traders in the marketplace board to take extra caution when dealing with non-reputable accounts especially newbie in this forum.

Also, the scammer had a brand new account - that's a huge red flag on its own already, I personally would never deal with a newbie account without escrow.

The refusal to use forum escrow and the brand new account used is already a major red flag.  Lucky OP did noticed the difference on the sent transction.

[Coyster]

Good to know you are able to spot the intent to scam, the fact that he don't want to use reputable escrow in this forum is already a red flag.

It obviously is and the deal should have come to an end at that time, all this sort of transactions are very delicate and whenever something looks suspicious, no matter how little, it's wise to stop the transaction and take a closer look at your perceived suspicion, if you're not convinced of its legitimacy, you quit, as long as you're still in control of your money.

For someone refusing to use the trusted escrow on the forum, just kind of reveals such persons interest, which is to scam his or her victim, we need to be more careful with all this or else pay for it by losing our funds to scammers.

[bitart]

Wow, this is an interesting story. I  didn't know about such a way of scamming people (writing a thousand times smaller amount of coins which is truly easy to confuse). I probably would fall for the trick, because in my country we don't have this distinction of dots and commas, so it would be especially confusing to me. But a very nice rate (too good to be true) and a rushing person are good signs of something being wrong in the whole situation. So I am very glad you did not lose your money and also warned the community about the scammer. I hope DT2 members will put a red flag on the account as well, although the person is not likely to use it again anyway after this failure.

He can use another account here, but the telegram and localbitcoin/ether username would match still, so I hope a lot of people will read this topic...
About decimals, from now on it will worth a question in the future to write down the numbers without decimal separators just to be on the safe side...
In my country, we put the , sign between e.g. USD and cents, but if we use the , sign, we don't use the . sign after, so this could raise a flag...
Anyway, scammers are becoming smarter and smarter (at least a part of them) as time goes on...

[jossiel]

That's why he refused to use a forum escrow, he had already planned it from the beginning that he's going to scam you. I also experienced this kind of scam but in just a game that I used to play before, putting a smaller amount and trying to trick me from comma to dot.

The refusal to use forum escrow and the brand new account used is already a major red flag.  Lucky OP did noticed the difference on the sent transction.

The guy made OP felt comfortable by telling going to go first. It should be a red flag if someone doesn't want to use a forum escrow, the fees that they charge aren't even that much.