The Pharmacist scammed me

[sayrus54]

What happened

The Pharmacist, aka @ThePharmacist991 on Telegram, scammed me. I have contacted him about his post ( 0.005btc to PayPal). I sent a pm to him and he has contacted me on telegram. I have paid 30eur. 10% corrent fee ( I'll get 27eur then). Well, I paid, sent to him the screenshot of the payment and the BTC address. He asked to me to wait 5 mins and after 30mins more or less, he sent me a message here on the forum ( Sorry, you've got no trust score.  Thanks for the offer). I immediately said to him that we have already make the deal on telegram and he said: I don't use telegram.  Never did, never will.  Nice try. After this, he blocked me here on the forum. He said that it's impossible that someone is trying to be him and the fault is mine, because I tried to scam him lol
Anyway, here the proofs.

Pay attention guys Smiley


Scammers Profile Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418

Reference Link:
https://gofile.io/d/iBD3IE



Amount Scammed: 30€ ( -10% as fee = 27€)
Payment Method: Paypal to btc

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

If this was €30K or even €3k then there could be chance to get a bit suspecious but for €30 The Pharmacist will take risk to ruin everything is not just logical. Someone indeed used similar nick as him and took the advantages. In telegram there are scammers all over. It's your fault that you have not verified before sending the money. The pharmacist has nothing to do with it.

Sorry for your lose but take it as a lesson.

[Evilish]

I suggest posting screenshots directly on your thread. You can do so by uploading images to an online image host (such as imgur) and using the following bbcode to show them:

Code:

[img][/img]

Not many people here would wanna click on an unknown reference URL.

I do agree with BitcoinGirl.Club. Never trade off site, and if you do, make sure you verify identity of the person you're trading with.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The Pharmacist, aka @ThePharmacist991 on Telegram

That is definitely not me, and I don't see how to view whatever screenshots you took on that site.  

So let's get this straight:  I posted my Currency Exchange thread, then someone on telegram contacted you with that screen name?  

What about your initial message, PM'ed to me?:

Hi, still available 0.007 BTC? Can I buy a part of them ? Thanks

I replied to that PM very quickly if you recall (EDIT: I guess it wasn't that quickly, looking at the time), in which I said this:

Sorry, you've got no trust score.  Thanks for the offer.

Then you PM'ed me this:

Hi, we have already done on telegram...I'm waiting

Which I took to mean we'd already dealt with one another previously on telegram.  I might have misinterpreted that, but I certainly did not contact you about the 0.005BTC via telegram in between the above PMs.

Never trade off site, and if you do, make sure you verify identity of the person you're trading with.

And OP might not have known this, but I don't do deals off-site unless it's with a member I've PM'ed myself, and communications are always done using forum PMs anyway.  I don't use telegram or any other chat service thing.

Edit:  OP, I unblocked you from sending me PMs, but since you started this thread I'd much prefer to keep this a public matter. 

[Stedsm]

@OP, I believe The Pharmacist have got a reputation here for years and he'd not just ruin it for the sake of some bucks. TBH, if it's PayPal, why don't you report that transaction you've made to the scammer? Your funds will possibly be reverted if he didn't redeem them if you've used "Goods and Services" in your payment and you can claim that you didn't receive anything.

[DireWolfM14]

Please use the proper scam reporting format:

Code:

[b][color=black]What happened:: [/color][/b]

[b][color=black]Scammers Profile Link: [/color][/b]

[b][color=black]Reference Link: [/color][/b]
[b][color=black]Amount Scammed: [/color][/b]
[b][color=black]Payment Method: [/color][/b]
[b][color=black]Proof of Payment: [/color][/b]
[b][color=black]PM/Chat Logs: [/color][/b]
[b][color=black]Additional Notes: [/color][/b]

I've dealt with The Pharmacist before, but this is not email address that I've communicated with:



I also have gotten to know The Pharmacist as a contributing, and honest member of the forum who's unlikely to scam anyone.  I can say with certainty he wouldn't risk his reputation over 30€.

I found your Telegram ID by going through your post history.  My suspicion is that you posted this and a scammer promptly contacted you on Telegram impersonating The Pharmacist.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I've dealt with The Pharmacist before, and I know for a fact that's not his email address:



I also have gotten to know The Pharmacist as a contributing, and honest member of the forum who's unlikely to scam anyone.  I can say with certainty he wouldn't risk his reputation over 30€.

I appreciate that, and I'm definitely not out to scam anyone here.  Not for a small amount, not for a large amount, and certainly not on Christmas!

I get that anything can be forged, but that profile looks like it's straight out of Italy to me (unless that's OP's info; I really can't tell).  I also never ask for PayPal payment in euros; it's always USD, because that's where I live.

Lol, and I'm not as old as that guy in the profile pic.

[sayrus54]

Guys, as I said since the begin, also with the Pharmacist, someone has tried to be him. I'm not stupid and I see him reputation, for this I made less attention on telegram.. But ok, are 30eur lol xD

I just opened this post because The Pharmacist said me that was impossible who someone tried to be him. Anyway ,all ok

[TryNinja]

I just opened this post because The Pharmacist said me that was impossible who someone tried to be him. Anyway ,all ok

You should have titled it "The Pharmacist's impersonator scammed me" then.

And the reason why I think it's unlikely is that I'm not a big shot on this forum, and nobody has ever tried to impersonate me before (to my knowledge).

I'm pretty sure the scammer would change his telegram's name to impersonate anyone he finds selling/buying anything. If someone publicly says he wants to buy something from me, chances are that a @TryNinja553 will appear somewhere contacting him. That's why you should always ask the user to confirm the details through PM or publicly.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I just opened this post because The Pharmacist said me that was impossible who someone tried to be him. Anyway ,all ok

I didn't say it was impossible, just highly unlikely in this post in my selling thread.  And the reason why I think it's unlikely is that I'm not a big shot on this forum, and nobody has ever tried to impersonate me before (to my knowledge).  But after reading all of this, I guess the unlikely event apparently did happen.

And yes, I did suggest that OP start up a thread here so that we could air everything out in public.  Sorry you got scammed, bro.  Just be careful next time, regardless of who you're dealing with.

[marlboroza]

Guys, as I said since the begin, also with the Pharmacist, someone has tried to be him.
[...]
I just opened this post because The Pharmacist said me that was impossible who someone tried to be him

No, you didn't. You accused The Pharmacist, take a look:

Scammers Profile Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418

How about changing that?

I'm not stupid

I usually say: "how hard can it be to ask for signed message???" Go here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.0 and ask whoever you deal with to sign it to make sure you are dealing with the right person. Sometimes I really feel like signed message "works" for bitcointalk only.

[suchmoon]

Again with the fucking telegram. Stop making this forum the world police. You got scammed on telegram - report it to telegram's default trust or whatever.

[LoyceV]

The Pharmacist, aka @ThePharmacist991 on Telegram, scammed me.

I took the liberty to fix this for you.

I have contacted him about his post ( 0.005btc to PayPal). I sent a pm to him and he has contacted me on telegram

Telegram is a scammer's paradise. I've seen this happen many times, and as long as gullible people keep falling for it, scammers will keep doing it. You made a big mistake here:

Hi, I sent a pm to you
Thanks

Not only is this low-value post in violation of the forum rules, you also made it very easy for any imposter to contact you on Telegram with the knowledge you're trying to trade with The Pharmacist.

Anyway, here the proofs.

No, it doesn't prove anything. Screenshots don't mean anything, especially when coming from Telegram.

[OgNasty]

Hi, I sent a pm to you
Thanks

This post seems to have been your mistake. It allowed someone to know you were expecting to be contacted by someone with that name to do a trade for BTC/PayPal. How they knew to contact you on telegram is a bit of a mystery, but I’m guessing it was someone close enough to you to have communicated on telegram and knew you had posted to make a trade for PayPal.

Since it seems that you were the sender of PayPal, all you have to do is contact them and do a chargeback for fraud. No harm done. Someone would have to be an idiot to try and scam PayPal considering it’s ease to have refunded.

[magneto]

The Pharmacist is legit. I've dealt with him for Paypal on numerous occasions for higher amounts and never had any trouble.

It is your responsibility to confirm whether or not the person you're talking to on TG is real or not. Anyone can imitate a forum member on that platform.

[aioc]

Lesson learned for everyone transacting for the first time to always send pm first and verify the telegram account if you want to transact via telegram but I really don't want and will not recommend to use telegram, Facebook is much better or personal messages here in Bitcointalk is a great way, Pharmacist is not the only one other reputable member of this forum are impersonated to scam newbies.

[Stedsm]

Again with the fucking telegram. Stop making this forum the world police. You got scammed on telegram - report it to telegram's default trust or whatever.

I guess they've got nothing like that over there.  
There are many scams taking place over there and people simply change their username and even names and scam another victim (yet, there's a way they can be checked with their first ever name put on their profile but who gives a fuck, oh well!).
There's nobody over there to help, except the report button but even that's worthless because it doesn't take you more than a phone number to create a new account and start doing your job again.

[NotATether]

Again with the fucking telegram. Stop making this forum the world police. You got scammed on telegram - report it to telegram's default trust or whatever.

And this folks is why I require people who want to do business with me on Telegram to PM me on bitcointalk for my handle first. It prevents scammers from impersonating me using my likeness (hint: it's not @NotATether!)

[suchmoon]

I’m guessing it was someone close enough to you

OP had posted their telegram nick here on Bitcointalk multiples times.

[Quickseller]

Amount Scammed: 30€ ( -10% as fee = 27€)

I hope 30 Euros is not a lot of money for you. You should take this as a lesson to be sure you are talking to the right person when you are making a trade.

You can try contacting PayPal to see if the payment can be reversed.

Based on the available evidence, I don't think TP is involved besides sending a '~no thanks' PM to you. I would also be surprised if anyone would be willing to accept PayPal from a new user with no reputation, due to the high risk of accepting PayPal.