[SCAM] titanicons.com - Deposits accepted, Withdrawls denied

[joehop67]

Was attempting to sell a domain name on an auction website when I was contacted by a buyer who wanted to use Bitcoin to purchase the domain. He suggested https://www.titanicons.com due their "Secure Deal" feature. I was wary, but the site looked relatively reputable. After signing up and going through the deal, I was surprised when 0.052 BTC (The sale price) was deposited into my account without any delay. Subsequently I released the domain to the buyer with the email: cheapmail22@protonmail.com

Upon recipt of the funds, I attempted to withdraw them only to recieve an error message telling me the only way to withdraw funds was through a "verified address" with verification being a prior deposit of 0.018 BTC (apparently). However, I was not told that this was the minimum deposit amount required to "unlock" the funds. As such, I made a subsequent deposit of 0.0108 BTC ($500 USD is the minimum deposit) which was the last of my liquid funds. The funds deposited successfully, however now I have ~$3000 of currency I am unable to withdraw and support is being extremely unhelpful.

Beware of this site.

[JeromeTash]

You got scammed old school style. I don't understand how you didn't know about this type of scam given that you have been in this forum for some years, but it's been going on for a long time now.

We have so many trusted escrows in this forum. You should have used them.

The site you just shared has several other clones, probably owned by the same scammer, like this cryptooptions.net, bitjux.com, eonxchange.com

[CaVO32]

I'm so sorry for the OP for being scammed. "Secure deal feature"? You should have checked the site first. The site is never heard of. No reviews from trustpilot. For sure, the sites involved are interconnected with each other and only one scammer is handling it. Too bad, the OP can't get his money back in this case. Even top exchanges like Binance doesn't require minimum deposit of $500. You should have doubt its motive. Expensive lesson learned by the OP.

[joehop67]

I'm so sorry for the OP for being scammed. "Secure deal feature"? You should have checked the site first. The site is never heard of. No reviews from trustpilot. For sure, the sites involved are interconnected with each other and only one scammer is handling it. Too bad, the OP can't get his money back in this case. Even top exchanges like Binance doesn't require minimum deposit of $500. You should have doubt its motive. Expensive lesson learned by the OP.

Definitely an expensive lesson to learn on my part. I wasn't under any kind of illusions that I'd be able to recover my money, I was just trying to make sure that this site has some kind of negative attention out there. Honestly it was definitely my own fault, I should have done more due dilligence but I got overexcited and ultimately, stupid.

So yeah, don't be like OP (Me), the "benefit of the doubt" usually ends up being the grave you dig yourself.

[noorman0]

My first impression didn't even see it was an exchange site, but a test site. I'm sorry for your losses.

By the way, what about your domain? At least you can salvage one of them, and only the domains I think can be reclaimed. Have you reported your case to the hosting provider? Also, if you did it on an auction site, don't they act as escrow as well?

[examplens]

Unfortunately, you can forget about your 0.0108 BTC, it's gone. 0.052 BTC on your account there never existed.
You can do something here, report this website/domain to their domain registrar Namecheap, and explain to them your case. they have insight into domain ownership, but unfortunately the maximum they can do is suspend the domain. however, it will also be something, because further fraud from there can be stopped.
Next, if your domain is really worth that money, ask your registrar domain back. Tell them that you are scammed, or your computer is hacked and try to get it back.

I have seen this model of fraud before, some freelancers ^{crypto noobs} were "paid" in this way. the basic object of fraud is some service or goods, not directly asking for money.

[ScamViruS]

This is an old scam strategy for scammers. Scammers have scammed many people using this technique and they are still doing it. The website does not look like a trading website in any way. This means that there is no way to get back the money you have deposited on this website. All you can do now is keep trying to get your domain back by contacting the provider from which you registered the domain.

There is a need to be very careful in online transactions, as it is often seen that even experienced people fall into the trap of these scammers.

[Kittygalore]

You just got scammed by the oldest scheme in the books of scams out there. This type of scams have been used by scam call centers to trick people into thinking that they have a lot of money in the bank and that the money that they have is a mistake on the company side and that they have to bring back the money through gift cards but in your case it's crypto.

[joehop67]

My first impression didn't even see it was an exchange site, but a test site. I'm sorry for your losses.

By the way, what about your domain? At least you can salvage one of them, and only the domains I think can be reclaimed. Have you reported your case to the hosting provider? Also, if you did it on an auction site, don't they act as escrow as well?

Yeah, honestly it looked like something someone set up based on some pre-purchased script (I think I've seen it on Codecanyon now that I think of it). Like I said, ultimately I got over excited, couldn't help but think of that large payday at the end of it all. Let me put it this way, Fishy means STOP when it comes to crypto transactions.

I didn't even think to contact the hosting provider, because I assumed the domain transfer was a totally done deal, but I'll be doing that shortly so hopefully they'll be able to help me out somehow! At the every least, this was only one of several domains I own that are purportedly rather valuable. Hopefully I can get it back, but if it can be suspended even, that'd be some kind of justice.

And yes, the auction site did definitely provide escrow services. But I was suckered in by the scammers claims of having problems moving money internationally. Looking back, I was seriously overlooking a myriad of red-flags, but again, all I could think about was the several thousand dollar payday I was getting at the end of it. Like I said, never, ever, EVER! give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Don't learn the hard way like I did, trust me.