Has my brother been scammed?

[badgerboy66]

Hi

I'm a complete novice and have had no dealings with bit coins whatsoever.

However, I've joined this forum to try to gain some understanding on how things work with wallets etc.

In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes) reasons cannot access his coins/money. I have read some of the threads on here and a few of the discussions have raised alarm bells with me as he has mentioned some of the malware/hacks particularly the Ctrl C, Ctrl V issue.

I'm not sure what wallet/s he has or who he is dealing with blockchainwise but I believe he has access via a laptop using Windows. He seems to use the correct terminology when talking about things, in relation to what I've read on here and other sites, but I've not seen anything legitimate about the transactions need to recover his coins. I've not actually seen his laptop or how he accesses his wallet.

So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.

Is 'Overturn' a genuine thing? Does this sound like a typical scam?

Is there a way of sorting this out?

I'd be really grateful of your help/opinions.

Thank you

[1715025625]

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[1715025625]

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[1715025625]

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[mocacinno]

If he has to pay money to get access to money that's actually his, it's a scam.

Never pay btc to somebody to "release" btc you already own, if somebody asked you to do this in a fiat setting, you'd call them a scammer and call the police in a heartbeat, but it seems like new users dealing with crypto get blindsighted by lack of technical knowledge and/or plain greed, and they get scammed by scammers that use tricks that wouldn't work if you were taking about USD or EUR...

Your brother should have received the funds in a desktop or hardware wallet OF HIS CHOICE, never trust an online wallet or exchange to hold your funds, but that's all hindsight now.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

Your brother is obviously not in control of his funds (i.e. no private keys), and therefore is in the hands of a third-party who does. Being that the basis, having to provide 6K to retrieve is BTC sounds like a complete scam, and I’ve read multiple cases where people are asked to provide further funds to retrieve what they’ve got, all being scams whereby you end-up losing it all.

In any case, and just in case, he should read the contractual terms of where he invested in BTCs, since it does not sound like a wallet per se, but rather more an alleged investment firm of some sort (that may give him access to see a virtual balance, be it real or fake). Certainly do not provide any more funds, and try to dig into the full extent of where he bought those BTCs (i.e. search for the company name, post it here, etc.).

[badgerboy66]

I really appreciate your prompt replies - thank you 

I'm going to try to get hold of his laptop and account/wallet information tomorrow... no doubt I'll be back with lots more questions.

At least my gut feeling about this seems to be right. Just need to convince my brain washed (or desperate!) brother.

Thanks again

[Lucius]

In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes)
Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back.

Only if we consider what you post above, I don't think your brother was buying BTC (unless he spent a considerable amount of money) in last 6 months. It's a shame he didn't get informed before he went to invest, crypto world is full of scammers who are just waiting for people like your brother.

What can be done now is to expose potential fraudsters so that others do not become victim, or try to report to the police if payments have been made through a bank or any other traceable method.

[mk4]

At least my gut feeling about this seems to be right. Just need to convince my brain washed (or desperate!) brother.

Show your brother point #2 on this article[1], point #2 on this article[2], and the last point on this article[3]. Tell him that this kind of scam isn't new and is quite common.

[1] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/bitcoin-scams-14640202
[2] https://coinsutra.com/cryptocurrency-scams/
[3] https://cryptosec.info/scams/

[badgerboy66]

Thanks Lucius - yep he's in this for thousands...reckons he has 2 wallets with over £30k in each. I need to get the full story from his computer....

Thanks mk4 for the links. That's really useful reading.

Cheers

[badgerboy66]

I have a couple of questions regarding wallets which will, no doubt, confirm my ignorance...

Once I've chosen a wallet, what happens? Do I have to put money in it to be able to purchase coins? Do I have to 'activate' a wallet by paying money in?
Do I have to put money in to cover transaction fees? Do I have to link the wallet to a specific exchange or is that done depending on which wallet is used?

I'm trying to establish, in my own mind, exactly what the process is. Is there a step by step idiots guide to this? I want to try to understand so that I can identify the BS that is being fed to my brother.

Any info will be gratefully received.

Thanks

[mocacinno]

I have a couple of questions regarding wallets which will, no doubt, confirm my ignorance...

Once I've chosen a wallet, what happens? Do I have to put money in it to be able to purchase coins? Do I have to 'activate' a wallet by paying money in?
Do I have to put money in to cover transaction fees? Do I have to link the wallet to a specific exchange or is that done depending on which wallet is used?

I'm trying to establish, in my own mind, exactly what the process is. Is there a step by step idiots guide to this? I want to try to understand so that I can identify the BS that is being fed to my brother.

Any info will be gratefully received.

Thanks

I'm writing from my phone, so it'll be brief:
A wallet is not an exchange. You use an exchange to convert fiat money to bitcoin.
A decent wallet is created to manage bitcoin, it doesn't care about fiat money (although some wallets work together with an exchange, so it looks like the exchange is part of your wallet)

There are plenty of free wallets, the only wallets you want to pay for are hardware Wallets like trezor or ledger.

So
Fiat => exchange => bitcoin => decent wallet

If you spend funds using your wallet, the wallet will create a transaction, and it'll include a miners fee...

You don't activate wallets, off course you won't be able to send funds if you haven't funded an address belonging to your wallet.

I'd love to write a full walkthrough, but not from my phone.

[AdolfinWolf]

I have a couple of questions regarding wallets which will, no doubt, confirm my ignorance...

Once I've chosen a wallet, what happens? Do I have to put money in it to be able to purchase coins? Do I have to 'activate' a wallet by paying money in?

If you use a real bitcoin wallet- often we refer to "real" wallets as wallets where you have control over your private keys, and the answer is NO. you download it for free (it's ALL open sourced software), and then you either buy Bitcoin on an exchange, and transfer it to your wallet, or work for it some other way.

"Real" bitcoin wallets are free, open source, and never deal with real money (dollars). On some web wallets there is an integration with the fiat payment system, (Blockchain.com). But with the context of your story, i don't think this is related.

Do I have to put money in to cover transaction fees? Do I have to link the wallet to a specific exchange or is that done depending on which wallet is used?

Bitcoin itself is used to cover transaction fees. I have yet to hear from a wallet that needs to be linked to a specific exchange. (Perhaps this is the case with Binance's BEP protocol, but that's completely unrelated i'm pretty sure.)

I'm trying to establish, in my own mind, exactly what the process is. Is there a step by step idiots guide to this? I want to try to understand so that I can identify the BS that is being fed to my brother.

You download software from Electrum / Bitcoin core, or compile it yourself.
Then, launch the wallet, generate an adress, and then you send bitcoin to it.
(The bitcoin is usually bought from an exchange such as Coinbase.com, or perhaps a P2P transaction with a site such as LocalBitcoins.)

Once the transaction is confirmed, no one but you has control over where and how it goes to its next destination.

So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.

I give it a 0.001% chance it's actually legit. No reputable business or wallet conducts business like that.

[badgerboy66]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.

I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits 

A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too

Apparently he has had emails giving addresses for the transactions/confirmations on the blockchain... which is obviously just to try to make things look legit.

Thanks

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

Bad news: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.coin-bits.com

I recall seeing the same modus operandi on a post by another person some months ago. The review were similar to those I’ve linked, and I believe they used a different name back then. These scammers follow the same satanical ritual, and then they move on to a different corporate name and reiterate the process on to new potential victims.

[AdolfinWolf]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.

I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits  

A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too

Thanks

Do you mean https://coinsbit.io/ ?

Or https://www.coin-bits.co/#/
Or https://coinbitsapp.com/


The app seems like a copy of Wirex. Not sure how legit it is. Or if above coinbits are even related. Their designs look similar though.

Certainly the latter link of the two(second link overall, https://www.coin-bits.co/#/) seems sketchy and does have some negative reviews lingering around on the internet.

FYI i don't know any of these businesses, and they all look the same to me: Sketchy.

[nakamura12]

Any sites that ask for money before he/she can get the funds is actually a scam method. It is better that your brother should use recommended wallets or popular wallets where you don't need money to get your funds. This kind of method is already on all over the internet related to crypto.

[badgerboy66]

I'm sure it was originally coin-bits.com but that site doesn't open now. Looks like they've moved over to coin-bits.co! Good job that doesn't look suspicious. Plus their Account Types page is empty!

So, I've managed to remote into my brother's pc. I've seen emails that appear to show the status of transactions but they look very simple. I've also seen one that shows addresses for 2 wallets - one showing the correct address with the other showing the same address with an extra character on the end. Apparently bitcoins were supposed to be sent to the first one but ended up going to the one with the extra character - my brother thinks he did this by accident but it could have been the Ctrl C, Ctrl V hack? (maybe?) So, these bitcoins are in limbo (a wallet address owned by nobody) and he needs to pay this 'overturn' to access them... I was going to show screenshots but I cant add pictures. Is this possible somehow? Just wanted to get an idea if these emails look legit/typical.

Thanks

[hosseinimr93]

I've seen emails that appear to show the status of transactions but they look very simple. I've also seen one that shows addresses for 2 wallets - one showing the correct address with the other showing the same address with an extra character on the end. Apparently bitcoins were supposed to be sent to the first one but ended up going to the one with the extra character - my brother thinks he did this by accident but it could have been the Ctrl C, Ctrl V hack?

If the difference of that address with the correct address is only in an extra character, I don't think that's related to a clipboard hijacking malware. It's impossible for the hacker to create such address.

I was going to show screenshots but I cant add pictures. Is this possible somehow? Just wanted to get an idea if these emails look legit/typical.

Upload the image in https://imgur.com/ and share the link here.

(Click on "New post" on top of the page.)

[Velkro]

If he has to pay money to get access to money that's actually his, it's a scam.

Yeah its a scam.
But i feel im missing some key story elements.
Make sure you are in control of your funds, read article or two about bitcoin and fix your brother problems if its even possible (fake exchange or smth).

[badgerboy66]

Thanks hosseinimr93 for your help  

So, here's 2 emails that he received, not for the same transaction...

https://imgur.com/xxi0L2T

https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc

Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!

It looks like he has 4.8 bitcoins that he can't access, because of the wrong address, as per the above image. Then another 6.1 bitcoins are in a suspended account for some reason! What an idiot!

He's now got someone acting as his 'friend' telling him he can get his coins out....as I mentioned previously.

Thanks

[badgerboy66]

Yeah its a scam.
But i feel im missing some key story elements.
Make sure you are in control of your funds, read article or two about bitcoin and fix your brother problems if its even possible (fake exchange or smth).
[/quote]

I've spent a hour this evening looking at his computer and talking to him and I still don't understand what has happened. He definitely didn't set up a wallet himself so I think he's been scammed ever since he started. I've been reading up on things for the last 2 days (actually seems very interesting) and nothing fits in with what should happen. Think he's been royally screwed over!

[Velkro]

https://imgur.com/xxi0L2T

https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc

Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!

Not at all. Never saw anything close to that.
Ask him if he actually spend money that he suposedly have frozen (over 4 BTC)?
I mean its around $32000 (well not in this moment because of market crash but around), he should know where he send money transfers to.