Scam Victim in need of help!

[GullibleGirl16]

So yeah, I'm Gullible.

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest. I was told i needed to clear out my accounts as proof that they belong to me, then requested i deposit it into this bitcoin ATM machine to "Secure my funds" and then it will be sent back into my bank account once the issue was resolved. I should have known it was complete bullshit, and i knew deep down. But I didn't think, and in the heat of the moment, withdrew only $1k and I deposited the money into the bitcoin ATM.

BUT, and this is where i'm unsure and would like some expert advice from you guys, I don't think the scammer actually received my money.

The machine told me to take a picture of the screen once i deposited my money, and i'm going to assume there was some important information on it like a bitcoin address for the transaction? I clearly wasn't looking either, and just took a picture of the QR code and sent it to the scammer's phone number.

 SO, based on this, is the scammer able to receive my bitcoins without the bitcoin address?

Is there any possible way for me to retrieve the bitcoins without the address?

If so, is there a way to exchange my bitcoins back to normal currency?



Any information on this would be greatly appreciated!!

[Charles-Tim]

SO, based on this, is the scammer able to receive my bitcoins without the bitcoin address?

Do they send you bitcoin QR code or address to send to,? They would, because this is what you will use at the bitcoin atm for the payment, if you have sent the bitcoin to such address, that means your money/bitcoin has gone.

Is there any possible way for me to retrieve the bitcoins without the address?

It is not possible, you need to have a bitcoin address you will send the bitcoin to. And if the address you send to is owned by you and you have not send to the scammer addresses, then you are still safe but I think you have sent the bitcoin to scammer bitcoin address.

If so, is there a way to exchange my bitcoins back to normal currency?

Yes, if the bitcoin is in your wallet (not scammer wallet) check if the bitcoin atm is able to dispense cash, not all but there are some bitcoin atms that can dispense cash.

You can also trade the bitcoin for cash using exchanges, I like p2p exchnges for this, but be careful of scammers. I can suggest you localbitcoins.

The question is, while using the bitcoin atm, did you send the btc to the scammers by any bitcoin address or QR code given you? If yes, the money is gone.

It is one of the scam tricks, they can even use another tactics like telling you to buy giftcards and sending it to them, that is why some people will go to buy giftcards with panic not knowing all is a scam.

[coupable]

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest. I was told i needed to clear out my accounts as proof that they belong to me, then requested i deposit it into this bitcoin ATM machine to "Secure my funds" and then it will be sent back into my bank account once the issue was resolved. I should have known it was complete bullshit, and i knew deep down. But I didn't think, and in the heat of the moment, withdrew only $1k and I deposited the money into the bitcoin ATM.

Some confusing details in your details should be explained so we can response you:
What bitcoin ATM did you use?
By deposit your money into the ATM, the machine should ask you to provide an address. What address did you use? Is it an address given to you by the one who called you? If so, then your money has gone and what Charles-Tim told you above is right.
Maybe you can use the phone number of the scammer and ask the legal authorities to investigate the case, but it's not sure that you will get your money back.

[20kevin20]

My best guess is that you have either received a QR code for your phone to insert a Bitcoin address on some link or you have received a private key (paper wallet) from the ATM after the money has been inserted and the scammer sweeped your money as soon as you sent the picture to them. Is there a "Private Key" on that picture or do you not have it at all anymore? Do you have the receipt? (do not post it or send it anywhere, just asking for a confirmation)

If the scammer has redeemed your BTC, it's just gone. Best thing you can do is give the phone number and a copy of the chat logs, receipt or any other information you have to the police (or the FBI, maybe it's a case they're interested in).

Next time, be 1000x more careful and think about possible consequences of your actions. If the scammer told you even the SIN and told you to withdraw all your money and go deposit it in an ATM, chances are the scammer might even be a very bad actor planning to wait for you to arrive at the ATM with tons of money and do something much worse to you than inserting an address.

[jossiel]

I don't use much QR code in transactions but whenever someone shows you a QR code, his bitcoin address is in it and it's a "request payment". So if you scan that and you pay the asking amount, the scammer will actually receive the bitcoins you paid.

Sorry to say and sorry for your loss but there's no way to retrieve the money because bitcoin transactions are irreversible. This typical scam is common and once you have received a call from a stranger telling you this and that, you have to validate that to the officials in your local. Informing you that you have a warrant arrest can't be done on the phone, they'll send you a letter to inform you in a formal manner.

[mk4]

While I'm not 100% sure how the Bitcoin ATM you used works, after reading your explanation a few times, I think this is how it went:

1. You deposited $1000 in the Bitcoin ATM
2. The Bitcoin ATM then displayed a QR code of a wallet's private keys(you pretty much gave access to the money) for you to swipe to a wallet
3. You then took a picture of the QR code and sent it to the scammer, effectively giving him access to the wallet with the $1000 worth of bitcoin

If I got this right, unfortunately, your money is gone.

[davis196]

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest. I was told i needed to clear out my accounts as proof that they belong to me, then requested i deposit it into this bitcoin ATM machine to "Secure my funds" and then it will be sent back into my bank account once the issue was resolved.

I real police officer or government official would never tell you to do such thing.They will most likely issue some court order to block your bank accounts and directly visit your home to arrest you,instead of calling you on the phone,saying that they will arrest you.This is some really stupid and nasty scam and your Bitcoins are most likely gone forever,OP.
You should call the real police and give them the phone number of the scammer.
There's nothing else you could do.They might track the scammer using his phone number.

[Slow death]

So yeah, I'm Gullible.

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest.

in what country do you live? I'm sorry if I'm being rude to you, I'm going to talk a little bit about how things work in my poor country.
In my country:

1 - Only the justice officer calls the person if the person is late in the trial, in the case of the judge sending an arrest warrant, or notice to appear in court the justice officer goes to the person's house to leave notification and asks the person sign the notification

2 - My country's police don't call anyone, they go to the person's house to leave the notification for the person to go to the police to provide clarification

Do you think the government would have time to call to alert you that you are being investigated? how would that person clean your alleged criminal record and how would you be sure that this unknown person would clean your alleged criminal record?

I think you should have talked to the people close to you for advice, you should never make decisions alone when faced with situations like these because we panic and make decisions without thinking

I was told i needed to clear out my accounts as proof that they belong to me, then requested i deposit it into this bitcoin ATM machine to "Secure my funds" and then it will be sent back into my bank account once the issue was resolved.

you should have already realized that it was a coup, the government through the courts notifies the person by means of a justice officer who arrives at your house informing you that there is a lawsuit against you and that will be judged on day X, only after the judged the Bank close your account if you are found guilty or the bank notifies you via SMS, email and phone call that your account has been closed for Z reasons and that you should go to the bank for more information.

I should have known it was complete bullshit, and i knew deep down. But I didn't think, and in the heat of the moment, withdrew only $1k and I deposited the money into the bitcoin ATM.

I already went through something similar and at the time I almost had a heart attack, but I was calm for a few minutes and then responds to the scammer. after that i went through several similar situations and with the experience i got from the first case i already knew how to deal with this type of situations, but i always recommend looking for other people's opinions before responding to the scammer

SO, based on this, is the scammer able to receive my bitcoins without the bitcoin address?

Is there any possible way for me to retrieve the bitcoins without the address?

If so, is there a way to exchange my bitcoins back to normal currency?



Any information on this would be greatly appreciated!!

the scammer got your $ 1000 and you have no way of recovering that money

But if you have a scammer's phone number you can go to the police for them to check the phone number belongs to who

[btc_angela]

I'm sorry, but bitcoin transactions are irreversible, thus if you gave the scammer your private key then it is gone by now. As far as tracing the phone number, they could have been using a disposable SIM card, so probably it is also hard to trace or identify the person behind that phone number.

[CryptoSaint777]

No, you cannot recover your funds. You cannot deposit bitcoin into a bitcoin ATM, you are only able to send bitcoin to a specific address. When you purchase bitcoin with cash at a kiosk, it provides the private keys required to spend the bitcoin. It sounds like you sent the scammer a picture of the private key, which gives them the bitcoin.

They have already sent them to another address by now, so you can imagine it as impossible to recover. A private key is a 256 bit string of characters.

here is what a private key looks like:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

here is what a bitcoin address looks like:

12c6DSiU4Rq3P4ZxziKxzrL5LmMBrzjrJX

A bitcoin address can be searched for using a block explorer, this will tell you detailed information about the transactions and current balance of any address.

You should be careful to never share your private keys with anyone.

Sorry for your loss.

[Akiko]

Did you send the money using qr code ? In that case you can't have it back you already send the bitcoin to her address using the qr  code they give to you.

How come did you fall for a simple trick they give without even providing that they really have the warrant .

For another questions for currency exchange we have already different local exchange it is depend on what country you are belong , just tell us first from which country you want to convert your bitcoin?

[Darker45]

SO, based on this, is the scammer able to receive my bitcoins without the bitcoin address?

Is there any possible way for me to retrieve the bitcoins without the address?

If so, is there a way to exchange my bitcoins back to normal currency?

A QR code may be used in lieu of the typical Bitcoin address with numbers and letters.

The way I see it, the scammer has already scanned the code as the receiver of the Bitcoin in the corresponding amount of the fiat that you deposited. In which case, your money is gone.

If you wish, you may report everything to the local police, provide them with all the details, and wait for them to take your case. Meanwhile, you have learned a precious lesson the hard way.

[Lucius]

~snip~

If you had at least first asked a question like this, on any crypto forum, or if you had called your tax office or police, this would not have happened to you. Such frauds have become quite common, and countries such as Canada and Australia are most often mentioned, where victims have been persuaded to pay taxes via BTC using crypto ATM.

What you actually did was buy a BTC worth $1000, and that code you mention is actually an address where your BTC is transferred. There is a difference in the way you get to the purchased BTC, in the way that your ATM issues a paper receipt with a QR code, which you can then scan with your crypto wallet in order to control your coins. In case you already have a crypto wallet, you scan the QR code of your existing address to which the ATM sends you BTC.

In this case, you seem to have sent your private key to the fraudster, but to be sure, download Electrum (https://electrum.org/#download) and scan the code to import your private key by following this tutorial - > https://bitcoinelectrum.com/importing-your-private-keys-into-electrum/

[harizen]

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest.

They claimed you were issued a Warrant of Arrest without notifying you of what happened beforehand, you should be thought of that as suspicious. If there's an investigation, they should meet you personally to talk about these things and not just thru the exchange of email or calls. And besides, they can't issue that right away. There's a due process for that. In here, something very fishy.

There is no person who can help you here. Talk to the authorities and state your problem with the scam attempt. That's the obvious thing to think first for let's says you receive a Warrant of Arrest since you want to clean your name. They can give you advice on what to do so that they can cooperate with the Bitcoin ATM operator too.

Should be served as a lesson now.

[palle11]

So yeah, I'm Gullible.

I should have known it was complete bullshit, and i knew deep down.

Sometimes our mind try to guide us but we want to disbelieve and go contrary. Also, when we act in a haste, we might get it wrong.
They say delay is dangerous but not in all cases. In this issue, if you had paused, delayed to hear your inner self, perhaps we might have escaped from this confusion and scam. However, is a lesson that have averted bigger future scam.

[Oasisman]

 SO, based on this, is the scammer able to receive my bitcoins without the bitcoin address?

Yes he received the Bitcoin, and yes it didn't have the address because I assume you don't have a Bitcoin wallet and so the ATM generated a QR code as your private keys and paper wallet at the same time, for you to be able to get full access to your funds after you deposited $1,000 into the ATM. So, literally you gave him your Bitcoin wallet.

Is there any possible way for me to retrieve the bitcoins without the address?

If the scammer claimed the Bitcoin inside the paper wallet you sent (which was most probably the case), then there's no other way to retrieve your money.
AFAIK, paper wallet usually isn't stored in the blockchain, so it remains unrecorded in the blockchain unless If your Bitcoin was moved into an online wallet. Or maybe the scammer just withdrawn your funds immediately from another ATM.

If so, is there a way to exchange my bitcoins back to normal currency?

Im sorry, but no. The moment you sent the code to the scammer, the probability for him not to take away your funds is very little to none at this very moment.

[Arkann]

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest.

They claimed you were issued a Warrant of Arrest without notifying you of what happened beforehand, you should be thought of that as suspicious. If there's an investigation, they should meet you personally to talk about these things and not just thru the exchange of email or calls. And besides, they can't issue that right away. There's a due process for that. In here, something very fishy.

There is no person who can help you here. Talk to the authorities and state your problem with the scam attempt. That's the obvious thing to think first for let's says you receive a Warrant of Arrest since you want to clean your name. They can give you advice on what to do so that they can cooperate with the Bitcoin ATM operator too.

Should be served as a lesson now.

The fact is that the current situation may be ordinary fraud against this person. perhaps bringing the frightened person to a certain condition, they will try to take possession of his means. The government cannot operate over the telephone, as the affected person describes. There are rules and regulations for investigative management. law enforcement agencies initially institute criminal proceedings and investigate. in the process, a person may be interrogated in relation to this criminal proceeding, but if no one has done this, then the person may be officially suspected of committing a crime and personally handed him the documents, and arrest may be possible. But no one will call or send specific letters. therefore, I believe that this situation needs to be Studied, and there is nothing to fear if a person is innocent.

[Yamifoud]

Got a call from someone claiming they're from the government telling me there's fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering investigations under my name using my SIN. Told me there's a warrant for my arrest. I was told i needed to clear out my accounts as proof that they belong to me, then requested i deposit it into this bitcoin ATM machine to "Secure my funds" and then it will be sent back into my bank account once the issue was resolved. I should have known it was complete bullshit, and i knew deep down. But I didn't think, and in the heat of the moment, withdrew only $1k and I deposited the money into the bitcoin ATM.

You have been framed up by these scammers but you can still settle this accusation if you can prove something reliable into that matter. Authorities will take you down if you don't cooperate with them.

Even though you can escape from this trouble but it was unfortunate to tell you that you can't recover anymore your deposit's as it is totally in the good hands who've been put you into (mostly) in jail because of that skillful trick by scammers.

There is something behind that code and that is how you've been fooled. This is a good example that using QR codes in sending isn't advisable than rather to completely copy the address shown when we click show BTC address to know if you are actually sending the right one.

[Maus0728]

That is not how bitcoin ATM works! bitcoin ATM will scan the QR code of the receiving address of the user and let the buyer insert their paper money in which it will show automatically the inserted amount of papermoney and the equivalent amount of bitcoin to be sent to your bitcoin wallet.

Is that a legit bitcoin ATM in the first place? Showing the "private key" from the screen of the ATM is weird! The only time when ATM will show a QR code is when you are going to sell your bitcoin. 

[daneal stev]

Fraud similar to this process has spread a lot these days and it is unfortunate what happened to you and frankly you will not be able to retrieve anything from the money that I sent to the pranksters but you can file a complaint against this person if the number is real and I hope attention and take caution from people and from unknown numbers Identity and source