URGENT & BEWARE: Sophisticated Telegram Scammers

[yogg]

I will never discuss the sale of Collectibles on Telegram or any other messaging client outside the forum. Beware of scammers.

But what happens if your forum account gets hacked?

If the forum account gets hacked, then most likely the hacker will prevent the original user to access it any further.
So, they can change the password, and they can change the email address.

However, these events are recorded in the forum seclog and an orange notice will appear on the user's Trust page.



(There is another different notice if the email has been changed.)

Then, the original owner can retrieve the account by providing the Staff with a message signed by a BTC address that was used on the forum by the user.

Usually, I do not send any address unless it's signed by 1yogg7RkwrSsh1UNi5jw3oUALHBaP4KrX.

[blucepheus]

I will never discuss the sale of Collectibles on Telegram or any other messaging client outside the forum. Beware of scammers.

But what happens if your forum account gets hacked?

Then, the original owner can retrieve the account by providing the Staff with a message signed by a BTC address that was used on the forum by the user.

Usually, I do not send any address unless it's signed by 1yogg7RkwrSsh1UNi5jw3oUALHBaP4KrX.

Where does the BTC address need to be posted in order to qualify for the signing?

[Mbitr]

Where does the BTC address need to be posted in order to qualify for the signing?

There’s a few threads out there , this is probably the main one

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.11280

One day I’ll get round to doing it too 

[slimzak]

Very well written. Thanks for raising awareness!
Z

[HardyGoodsLtd]

That makes sense, people who deal with me know I do not trade anywhere away from the forum (when I am selling on the forum), and I only use forum trusted escrows, I have had such contact asking for telegram contact, and I just ignore from that point, thank you for making this more public and hopefully saving someone some BTC.

[blucepheus]

@Mods, can we pin this as a one-stop discussion about scams targeting members of the forum?

For now, it's Telegram... tomorrow, it may be something else and it'd be good for everyone to have awareness.

[owlcatz]

@Mods, can we pin this as a one-stop discussion about scams targeting members of the forum?

For now, it's Telegram... tomorrow, it may be something else and it'd be good for everyone to have awareness.

Did you PM the mods? They are listed above in the top header.... Good idea, thanks!

[blucepheus]

@Mods, can we pin this as a one-stop discussion about scams targeting members of the forum?

For now, it's Telegram... tomorrow, it may be something else and it'd be good for everyone to have awareness.

Did you PM the mods? They are listed above in the top header.... Good idea, thanks!

Sure did -- haven't heard back yet, but it does seem to make sense.

[blucepheus]

Has anyone observed a shift in tactics on the part of the scammers? Are members still receiving reach outs via Telegram?

Changing my Telegram username to something non-guessable resulted in a complete drop-off in communications for me.

[owlcatz]

Has anyone observed a shift in tactics on the part of the scammers? Are members still receiving reach outs via Telegram?

Changing my Telegram username to something non-guessable resulted in a complete drop-off in communications for me.

Not really here... Had one impersonator of a dev for a channel I'm in DM me yesterday, but just blocked and reported him... Just another day in telegramville here I guess.

I'd like to add - I HAVE done some deals on Telegram with newbie members - mostly people from off forum just interested in one certain thing and can't PM me enough on here and are not willing to buy copper membership for a few PM's... Long story short, have met some really cool other people in the space that way, and also some people who just buy one thing then disappear. Never any problems though. And yes, I always ensure its' the same person I'm speaking with from here obviously, otherwise no deal.

[Evilish]

This really grinds my gears, especially after seeing someone getting ripped off in the recent charity auction.

Moral of the story is to not deal on Telegram/Discord or likes unless you know the person and have verified their identity on forum.

Here's a pro-tip to verify someone's identity if you really must deal on Telegram or other channels: Ask them to sign a message using their Bitcoin address or PGP key and send it to you both here on forum as well as Telegram (or whatever other chat or email tool you're using). Make sure that they mention all terms of deal and their telegram handle / email address or whatever other identifier they contacted you with. And ensure that whichever address or pgp they are signing with is a public one and they have staked it here on forum in one way or the other. And don't just trust, verify the message too once they send it to you.

We have got all the tools at our disposal.. stop being lazy and use them.

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

[blucepheus]

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

I think that is probably the safest route.

Agreed on the pin — mods must be busy as I haven’t been able to get their attention.

[ChiBitCTy]

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

I think that is probably the safest route.

Agreed on the pin — mods must be busy as I haven’t been able to get their attention.

Did you post this in Meta? If not, that’s what you need to do.

I see some Mr Robots in this discussion who can also play their game ..go get em lol

[WhyFhy]

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

I think that is probably the safest route.

Agreed on the pin — mods must be busy as I haven’t been able to get their attention.

Did you post this in Meta? If not, that’s what you need to do.

I see some Mr Robots in this discussion who can also play their game ..go get em lol

I also stated on page one this should be pinned in hardware section too, possibly digital goods.

[ChiBitCTy]

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

I think that is probably the safest route.

Agreed on the pin — mods must be busy as I haven’t been able to get their attention.

Did you post this in Meta? If not, that’s what you need to do.

I see some Mr Robots in this discussion who can also play their game ..go get em lol

I also stated on page one this should be pinned in hardware section too, possibly digital goods.

I posted about this in a similarly related thread in Meta. Asked Hilarious if he thinks it should be pinned. Maybe needs its own post though as mods may not see it.

[blucepheus]

Or just deal here on forum, build trust, and then move on to Telegram/Discord once the trust is built.

This thread needs to be stickied too.

I think that is probably the safest route.

Agreed on the pin — mods must be busy as I haven’t been able to get their attention.

Did you post this in Meta? If not, that’s what you need to do.

I see some Mr Robots in this discussion who can also play their game ..go get em lol

I also stated on page one this should be pinned in hardware section too, possibly digital goods.

I posted about this in a similarly related thread in Meta. Asked Hilarious if he thinks it should be pinned. Maybe needs its own post though as mods may not see it.

Just posted it in Meta: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323874.0

I believe we need an ongoing thread that highlights the latest scams targeting our members, whether it be this one or a new one.

[Agrawas]

Definitely a SCAM --- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323029.0

Was contacted by the user(Jay9577) on Telegram to ship the coin right away since he needs funds urgently. I asked him to message me back on the forum with a phrase which he did that proves it is the same person here and on the Telegram. I insisted on using the Escrow or shipping first. He agreed to use MJ eventually to which I send a message to him and MJ. Never heard back on forum messages but few mins later received a message on Telegram from so called minerjones to provide escrow service(Well please be careful guys, I got little confused to this part but later realized the person hid the userID which could have been anything but the screen name was showing exactly as minerjones.

PLEASE PLEASE Do not finalize anything with anyone off forum unless u have chatted with them before and are 100% sure it's the right person that you are making the deal with.

[WhyFhy]

Definitely a SCAM --- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323029.0

Was contacted by the user(Jay9577) on Telegram to ship the coin right away since he needs funds urgently. I asked him to message me back on the forum with a phrase which he did that proves it is the same person here and on the Telegram. I insisted on using the Escrow or shipping first. He agreed to use MJ eventually to which I send a message to him and MJ. Never heard back on forum messages but few mins later received a message on Telegram from so called minerjones to provide escrow service(Well please be careful guys, I got little confused to this part but later realized the person hid the userID which could have been anything but the screen name was showing exactly as minerjones.

PLEASE PLEASE Do not finalize anything with anyone off forum unless u have chatted with them before and are 100% sure it's the right person that you are making the deal with.

idk about telegram but discord you can enable dev mode and see accurate user ID, it never changes even when people change tags

[blucepheus]

Definitely a SCAM --- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323029.0

Was contacted by the user(Jay9577) on Telegram to ship the coin right away since he needs funds urgently. I asked him to message me back on the forum with a phrase which he did that proves it is the same person here and on the Telegram. I insisted on using the Escrow or shipping first. He agreed to use MJ eventually to which I send a message to him and MJ. Never heard back on forum messages but few mins later received a message on Telegram from so called minerjones to provide escrow service(Well please be careful guys, I got little confused to this part but later realized the person hid the userID which could have been anything but the screen name was showing exactly as minerjones.

PLEASE PLEASE Do not finalize anything with anyone off forum unless u have chatted with them before and are 100% sure it's the right person that you are making the deal with.

They are very advanced and will, like in your case, pull in an imposter escrow.

Be careful with asking them to PM you a phrase -- I had a scammer convince the person they were posing as to send me the phrase under false pretense.

It's best to not respond to Telegram messages regarding collectibles, or immediately request they "move the conversation to PM."

[blucepheus]

I've noticed a ton of classified listings for Bitcointalk accounts with high statuses (merit / trust). For example:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5284137.0

I'm guessing many of these accounts that are for sale are old, hacked accounts with few if any recent legitimate contributions.

Based on this fact alone:

DO NOT assume just because a PM is from a seemingly-trusted account that they can truly be trusted.

I perceive someone's trust based on the quality and frequency of their contributions to the forum, and recent sale history/trust given by members I recognize.