Fake alert during p2p trade

[Oshosondy]

I read not long ago how some people were scammed during p2p trade, this can happen when someone is trading directly with another person or when using decentralized p2p exchange, it can also happen when a trader use centralized exchange. What I have noticed is that the fault is from the trader that are scammed.

The last I read was about a trader that wanted to sell bitcoin, he did not know he is making a deal with a scammer, the trader created the trade, the scammer accepted it and message the seller that he has sent money, the seller received an alert from his bank and he released the bitcoin from escrow.

It was the next day when the seller knew he has been scammed when he wanted to withdraw money, no money received, he went to bank, the bank customer care told him it was a fake alert that there is nothing they can do to help that the name on the message only resembles the name of their bank and the text message resemble the style the bank use to send message to their customers, but not from them, but only amount received was on the text message, total balance was not included, that look suspicious.

There will be many people that would have been scam just like this, check your balance after receiving money from a seller, do not believe in text messages, it can be fake.

[BIT-BENDER]

How did the scammer get to know the phone number of the person, was it given away or did the scammer research on the bank account details. I have heard of such scams, but I think on binance app with all the requirements, in verification, a scam can/maybe traced and tracked down.
I only do peer2peer with someone I have something on atleast and not to a total stranger, -no matter how good the stranger rate is- this is not the safest but it one that has worked for me.

[Oshosondy]

How did the scammer get to know the phone number of the person, was it given away or did the scammer research on the bank account details. I have heard of such scams, but I think on binance app with all the requirements, in verification, a scam can/maybe traced and tracked down.

I only read about this, I do not know how it happened exactly, if sim swap can be possible, this one also is possible. I do not think it will be the fault of the exchange or may be the fault of the exchange too during data breach, I believe the scammers may have informants in those banks working together to scam people.

[FloridaKid]

This is a made up story, probably you thinking it's possible? Because I was once asked of this question by someone in my country, the fact is if you are been sent money either alert or not you have to check your account balance, yes fake alerts have no power to really affects your bank account balance that's all

[Beparanf]

How come that the trader received fake alert from his bank did not check his account online personally, There's no way that a transaction will be reverse if the money really went thru on his account. Its already 2021 and everybody can check there bank balance online so how the heck he fall for the fake alert scam modus?

[Oshosondy]

If you read it from web page which can be accessed publicly, it'd be great if you can share the link.

It was through email, I have check it, no link was included, I will look if I can get a link to it, it is about ways scammers can scam people, I do not think it is about what happened in reality but about what can result to scam on p2p exchanges, but I am not sure, I only said this because i did not see any link that can prove it.

[Muenalo]

Thanks so much for sharing this vital information.. Because some exchange do display the seller's details to the buyer which includes name, bank, and even phone number, which might have been how the buyer got to know the phone number to create fake alert.

But once again.  Thanks for this advise, because from now hence forth, I will be very careful with alerts received and ensure that balance is BOLDLY WRITTEN.

[GreatArkansas]

This is becoming a common problem these days on P2P trading, not even on a decentralized platform.
Even on Binance P2P trading, this kind of scams already happened especially using e-wallets as a mode of payment, since most e-wallets are sending you a message once you received payments to your account.
So scammers, may copy the format or style of the message and use some SMS provided when doing a P2P transaction.

That's why recently, Binance put some warning text on checking first the account balance itself before confirming the payment in P2P Binance because relying on just an SMS message is very risky.

[Findingnemo]

Well, its completely the trader's ignorance since the p2p exchange gives you an warning everytime before you release your btc like "please make sure you received your money" no matter what kind of the payment mode you asked for.. Therefore you should never release btc before checking your bank balance personally, not via the notification alert.

What can we do to save ourselves while trading on p2p sites like LBC, Paxful,etc?

Since I am an active trader on LBC and I can give you some guidance to avoid the scammers and how to tackle if we get scammed.

1. Never choose the advertisement from a trader
      a) who is having less number of completed trades
      b) who created account in the recent times
      c) who didn't verify their identity
      d) who does have more nagative feedback in the recent months
      e) who is not active for a while

2. Always go for the safest payment options which is bank transfers which is better when we compare it with PayPal and other online payment modes and less likely to be charged back.

3. Always get the payment receipt from the person who made deposit or transfer to your account and make sure the tx id or any identify number matches with the transaction your received..So you can use it for legal purposes if they opted for chargeback after the trade completed.

[sheenshane]

I have some questions about your story and how the scammer totally compromised the account of the seller even though they're using P2P exchange which is purely decentralized and that decentralized exchange platform can act as an escrow between the seller and the buyer.

Whatever it is, we should be vigilant every time when we have a transaction through the internet and dealing with unknown people.  However, those making transactions with someone else that you didn't know are very risky.

This is the most we careful upon dealing trading using fiat outside, it could be a chargeback and possible fiat transaction could be reverse by requesting chargeback by the owner.   Unlike using Bitcoin and other altcoins, it has a very fast transaction and it was shown publicly broadcast from the network.  At least you can wait until 3 confirmation process.

[Desmong]

Well this same thing has been happening quite a while now. Scammers uses fake alert to scam people that are not scrupulous about transactions they're making online.

[Findingnemo]

I have some questions about your story and how the scammer totally compromised the account of the seller even though they're using P2P exchange which is purely decentralized and that decentralized exchange platform can act as an escrow between the seller and the buyer.

No, you understood the thing wrong, the one who wants to scam is not hacking anyone's bank account or LBC account, the trader himself is the scammer not the hacker. When doing trading on LBC or similar sites the trader will ask bank details, mobile number linked with the bank account so they simply send a message from tools which loos just similar like what kind of alert we get when our bank account is credited but its just a notification trick to scam you and only people who doesn't even bother checking their bank accounts after such alerts will fall for this.

[magneto]

Yeah. LBC/paxful are dark places if you don't protect your rights a trader actively.

Assume that everyone on there is going against you. I've had people with 500+ trades, with immensely positive feedbacks try to scam me before. Even other sellers who have actively ads may scam you (as they have tried on me).

Reputation means very little when the accounts on these p2p platforms are actively traded for hundreds of bucks on the regular. Identity theft is also rife. Always use escrow no matter who the trader is - and make sure that you confirm with whatever payment processor you're using that you've actually received the funds. Don't believe in third party or SMS notifs.

[Potato Chips]

The tricky thing about SMS spoofing is when scammers are able to use the same sender ID of a legitimate service, and making their malicious SMS placed within the authentic ones.

Take a look at singpost (postal service in singapore) phishing incident years ago (article source)



Lesson is to don't put absolute trust on anything and always triple check.