Crypto P2P Scam

[5thFear]

I read a story, on this very forum, of a Pakistani Guy, who was picked up by authorities for trading in crypto. I also had gone through such a time where i almost landed in trouble. So let me share my story so that you guys can avoid such mistakes.

Note: Pakistan, don't allows banks to do crypto related transactions, so its P2P.

It was around August 2020, i posted buying/selling ads on a few trading exchanges. And in that i also posted my contact Number(mistake 1). A person(probably Nigerian) contacted me from an international number using watsapp on my cell and asked me that he wanted to trade with me and that he has some kind of business, and that his team would send me payments and i would have to pay him in bitcoin/ethereum against that payments.
I without much investigation, agreed to work with him, as i was just considering my commissions. As it was decided 10%, which is quiet good for me so i didn't wanted to investigate his line of work.

People used to submit money in my account, and then sent him the receipts, he then watsapp me those receipts and i believing that as he has the receipt, that guy who has sent money actually works with him. So it was good for me.

Soon, i start getting payments in PKR rupees from all over Pakistan, and i kept sending bitcoin to this guy. But i got suspicious and started to worry as i wasn't much aware of his busines but kept doing it for around 2 weeks.

But will all this, i discussed it with my brother, and he told me to stop doing this Bitcoin stuff as he is not much aware of it and also not interested.

Anyway, i told this guy that i dont want to work, and i asked him about his business and some other details.. Things starting heating up between us.
The next day, i got a call from a person, and he said that he is going to FIA as he sent money in my account(which he had) and that my other partner who had a deal to send IPHONES to him against the payment(that he sent in my account) is now not receiving his calls and not responding. He said that me and that guy are a scam and we both have done fraud and that he is going to take me to courts. I talked to Nigerian guy and asked him to send me the Bitcoin back so that i can refund that guy and avoid going behind the bars but he replied that its ur and his matter. Do whatever you want..

What actually happened was, This Nigerian guy, was doing online scams, making people believe that he'll send cheap products. So people when talked to him, he gave them the banking accounts of their local countries, of people like me. through which, he got the payments and never sent any thing to the people he promised. And it was between me and the people who sent payments to my accounts to deal with each other.

The victims were,
1. the people who by greed believed in him as the products he showcased were pretty cheap. And
2. Crypto traders like me, who by greed and better trading profits, didn't investigated much. and started paying him for the money received from third person.

Suggestion: Don't do trade for 3rd person. Only send bitcoin to the person who send you payment in your account.

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[bL4nkcode]

Yeah, it always start on greed, you could avoid such problem if you just think the red flags when someone called you out of nowhere and start doing business without doing research of how the business works, you could go to jail sooner or later, probably maybe for money laundering and some scam made by your partner if the one who called you is serious of reporting the scam.

[Zilon]

I understand you were out for business but you didn't take your time to investigate how genuine your clients are you just fell for the high interest rate and this has been one of the ways scammers get to their victims the trying appealing to your greed and once you fall for it you become a victim. I guess you are wiser and a
Smarter now although it could happen to anybody.

[kro55]

Making transaction via P2P with an unknown person is really risky. First of all, you should pick a reputed trader for doing such a transaction.

A year ago I've made a P2P transaction on Paxful, the buyer sent me the money through bank payment. I also released the funds to his account. but after a few hours, I've checked my bank account and wondered seeing that the money I have gotten has gone; Immediately I've contacted the bank and they told me the sender reported within 72 hours that he had made a wrong payment that's why the money reversed to the sender's account. The bank asked me to provide the details about our transactions but I didn't have anything to show.

Before making a p2p transaction, counterparty's portfolio & feedback needs to be thoroughly checked.

[hugeblack]

Your story reminds us of the need not to trust peer-to-peer transactions, even if those transactions involve parties sending their personal identity, since the country you are in is different from the rest of the countries and therefore problems may arise when you want to withdraw currencies and so on.

Trust must be based on the fact that the other party will not harm you, because this will lead to him losing a lot of money and not trusting unknown people on the Internet.

Sorry for your loss.

[coupable]

Sorry for your loss Bro .
I was in the same situation last year when i have worked as paiement escrow for people exchanging digital products, until i received stolen money from a stolen postal card. Fortunetly, it wasn't a big money. Many were arrested and i told the police that i sold him Diamonds for free-fire game and didn't ask him if he owns the card from where he sent the money and that i can return them if there is a problem. It finished by re-send the money back. A loss but better than jail .
P2P transactions doesn't mean that it's safe if you deal with unknown people from here and there .

[Upgrade00]

If you are going to enter into financial dealings with a complete stranger on the internet, without much investigations, then you're almost certain to be scammed.
View eerything as a scam until proven otherwise, this would create the need to prove it to not be, before you can get involved.

Suggestion: Don't do trade for 3rd person. Only send bitcoin to the person who send you payment in your account.

Also, always use a trusted escrow when you do not trust the other party

A person(probably Nigerian) contacted me from an international number using watsapp on my cell

Is there any particular reason you think this person is a Nigerian? You sounded unsure here, but went on to call them by that nationality about 3 more times.

[CryptoBuds]

Making transaction via P2P with an unknown person is really risky. First of all, you should pick a reputed trader for doing such a transaction.
A year ago I've made a P2P transaction on Paxful, the buyer sent me the money through bank payment. I also released the funds to his account. but after a few hours, I've checked my bank account and wondered seeing that the money I have gotten has gone; Immediately I've contacted the bank and they told me the sender reported within 72 hours that he had made a wrong payment that's why the money reversed to the sender's account. The bank asked me to provide the details about our transactions but I didn't have anything to show.
Before making a p2p transaction, counterparty's portfolio & feedback needs to be thoroughly checked.

Really very pathetic, It's normal for newcomers to make mistakes.
I think you should ask for some screenshots of sending funds to your account from the buyer. if you were able to take some screenshots from the buyer before releasing your products then you could use those photos as payment proof. If you could show the proof of payment, the bank would be obliged to give you a refund.

[Twinkledoe]

Making transaction via P2P with an unknown person is really risky. First of all, you should pick a reputed trader for doing such a transaction.
A year ago I've made a P2P transaction on Paxful, the buyer sent me the money through bank payment. I also released the funds to his account. but after a few hours, I've checked my bank account and wondered seeing that the money I have gotten has gone; Immediately I've contacted the bank and they told me the sender reported within 72 hours that he had made a wrong payment that's why the money reversed to the sender's account. The bank asked me to provide the details about our transactions but I didn't have anything to show.
Before making a p2p transaction, counterparty's portfolio & feedback needs to be thoroughly checked.

Really very pathetic, It's normal for newcomers to make mistakes.
I think you should ask for some screenshots of sending funds to your account from the buyer. if you were able to take some screenshots from the buyer before releasing your products then you could use those photos as payment proof. If you could show the proof of payment, the bank would be obliged to give you a refund.

Yes, he should be asking for screenshots as it is the right thing to do to make sure the other end is respecting the the deal. But let us admit that most p2p are really based on trust. Sometimes, there will be a scammer who will screw you for nothing. That is why, for p2p platform, I only trust binance p2p. I feel more secure with my funds. But for other p2p services, better do your own research before being attracted by good rates.

[adzino]

If I understood correctly, you wanted to sell your bitcoins and then this guy agreed to give you a markup of 10% for your bitcoins. Then you started receiving money from different people, right? You should have stopped as soon as you realized this. Criminals try to trick people into scamming others through this way. I have also heard people get scammed when selling bitcoins. They usually receive receive money on their bank. They send the coins and later they get to know that the money has been transferred from a stolen bank account. The transaction gets reversed leaving the victim with no bitcoins or the money. Stop trading with random "unverified" people. Even if they are verified, you should still be very careful. Don't forget, people can buy verified accounts or IDs for getting verified.

[Desmong]

Making transaction via P2P with an unknown person is really risky. First of all, you should pick a reputed trader for doing such a transaction.

A year ago I've made a P2P transaction on Paxful, the buyer sent me the money through bank payment. I also released the funds to his account. but after a few hours, I've checked my bank account and wondered seeing that the money I have gotten has gone; Immediately I've contacted the bank and they told me the sender reported within 72 hours that he had made a wrong payment that's why the money reversed to the sender's account. The bank asked me to provide the details about our transactions but I didn't have anything to show.

Before making a p2p transaction, counterparty's portfolio & feedback needs to be thoroughly checked.

Well it depends on the type of transaction you made and the bank. Most bank from my region would give sometime to confirm whether it was truly a mistake made by the sender or not. You should have reported the transaction although it might be hard to recover but still necessary especially if it involves large amount of money. We all have to be very careful about who we are running transactions with doing peer to peer network.

[apur688]

What? Really? I think p2p is scam is only in a some platforms, not all. I've tried P2P, like in binance, Hotbit, etc, and so far so good.
May be you can make a research first before investing in P2P, because the risk is too high in P2P, but the return is good too, so think about it

[5thFear]

A person(probably Nigerian) contacted me from an international number using watsapp on my cell

Is there any particular reason you think this person is a Nigerian? You sounded unsure here, but went on to call them by that nationality about 3 more times.

He used an international number, which was of Nigeria. Not only that, his accent was exactly like someone from Nigeria as i have seen a few youtube videos of nigerian people talking in English,. Also when we first talked, he told me that he is from Nigeria and that there is no proper banking system and because of that the crypto trading has been used.

[5thFear]

If I understood correctly, you wanted to sell your bitcoins and then this guy agreed to give you a markup of 10% for your bitcoins. Then you started receiving money from different people, right? You should have stopped as soon as you realized this. Criminals try to trick people into scamming others through this way. I have also heard people get scammed when selling bitcoins. They usually receive receive money on their bank. They send the coins and later they get to know that the money has been transferred from a stolen bank account. The transaction gets reversed leaving the victim with no bitcoins or the money. Stop trading with random "unverified" people. Even if they are verified, you should still be very careful. Don't forget, people can buy verified accounts or IDs for getting verified.

Thats right. I was getting money in my bank from 3rd person and i was sending bitcoin to him against that money. Later those people who sent money in my account started contacting me and threatning me once they didn't receive their products which this scammer promised to deliver.

I have quit p2p trading after that. Don't do it for business or making profits anymore.

[Dhoe]

crypto p2p scams, caused by greed, and tempted by the lure of fantastic interest rates, On P2P platforms with escrow services, such as Binance P2P, this scenario can be prevented, because sellers and buyers will commit crypto p2p scams, usually out of greed, and are tempted by the lure of fantastic interest rates, know each other's details before proceeding with the transaction. However, this can be more difficult to counter if the cheater has manipulated you emotionally into believing everything he or she says. Ultimately, you should abandon financial transactions like this when things start to get a little suspicious.

[amishmanish]

Crypto p2p scams are one thing that you can avoid by not dealing with people you don't have reason to trust. Yet, in case of crypto transactions, there is always this fear of being linked to tainted transactions. Due to the traceability of transactions, it can be assumed that law authorities will continue to follow the dated method of "Follow the money".

A lot of times, proceeds from hacking etc go through exchanges, mixers, betting websites etc. Those may eventually end up as some sort of legitimate proceeds into the wallet of an unsuspecting consumer. As KYC becomes the norm, it becomes pretty easy to link names with those transactions and hold that as evidence. In most non-western countries, or even western ones, law enforcement can sometimes use any little evidence to take action as proof of their effectiveness.

Wonder what people think about this kind of a scenario.

[cotton ball]

crypto p2p scams are basically due to our own fault, because we are too greedy and want to get a lot of profit, because we believe in their sweet promise, which promises to give you a bigger interest, without you knowing you are stuck with their sweet promise, without knowing it. you do research before you do your business, you should always be vigilant because crime is definitely everywhere, crime comes without us being invited, and crime takes opportunities when we are careless and emotional.. so be careful before investing..

[B-Bit]

Don't put too much trust in strangers you haven't met. When you are deceived, it is impossible to retrieve your money through the address. Maybe the identity of others is also fake. But even if you double-check, someone will be deceived.
We must be cautious before doing any transaction.
Don't believe other people's words easily.

[bitcub]

In the first place the reason why Bitcoin is created is to remove the middle man. Why need an escrow? You can just meetup with the person, and transact Bitcoin using your mobile aps.

I read a story, on this very forum, of a Pakistani Guy, who was picked up by authorities for trading in crypto. I also had gone through such a time where i almost landed in trouble. So let me share my story so that you guys can avoid such mistakes.

Note: Pakistan, don't allows banks to do crypto related transactions, so its P2P.

It was around August 2020, i posted buying/selling ads on a few trading exchanges. And in that i also posted my contact Number(mistake 1). A person(probably Nigerian) contacted me from an international number using watsapp on my cell and asked me that he wanted to trade with me and that he has some kind of business, and that his team would send me payments and i would have to pay him in bitcoin/ethereum against that payments.
I without much investigation, agreed to work with him, as i was just considering my commissions. As it was decided 10%, which is quiet good for me so i didn't wanted to investigate his line of work.

People used to submit money in my account, and then sent him the receipts, he then watsapp me those receipts and i believing that as he has the receipt, that guy who has sent money actually works with him. So it was good for me.

Soon, i start getting payments in PKR rupees from all over Pakistan, and i kept sending bitcoin to this guy. But i got suspicious and started to worry as i wasn't much aware of his busines but kept doing it for around 2 weeks.

But will all this, i discussed it with my brother, and he told me to stop doing this Bitcoin stuff as he is not much aware of it and also not interested.

Anyway, i told this guy that i dont want to work, and i asked him about his business and some other details.. Things starting heating up between us.
The next day, i got a call from a person, and he said that he is going to FIA as he sent money in my account(which he had) and that my other partner who had a deal to send IPHONES to him against the payment(that he sent in my account) is now not receiving his calls and not responding. He said that me and that guy are a scam and we both have done fraud and that he is going to take me to courts. I talked to Nigerian guy and asked him to send me the Bitcoin back so that i can refund that guy and avoid going behind the bars but he replied that its ur and his matter. Do whatever you want..

What actually happened was, This Nigerian guy, was doing online scams, making people believe that he'll send cheap products. So people when talked to him, he gave them the banking accounts of their local countries, of people like me. through which, he got the payments and never sent any thing to the people he promised. And it was between me and the people who sent payments to my accounts to deal with each other.

The victims were,
1. the people who by greed believed in him as the products he showcased were pretty cheap. And
2. Crypto traders like me, who by greed and better trading profits, didn't investigated much. and started paying him for the money received from third person.

Suggestion: Don't do trade for 3rd person. Only send bitcoin to the person who send you payment in your account.

[BlackHatCoiner]

In the first place the reason why Bitcoin is created is to remove the middle man. Why need an escrow? You can just meetup with the person, and transact Bitcoin using your mobile aps.

That's not why Bitcoin was created. It did, to prevent needing a financial institution to transact online. You can't state that a third party isn't needed once you want to purchase something, because it does. You can't trust a stranger in the internet for exchanging; someone has to make the first move and if that's you, the other can rip you off, if he wants.

Think it as cash, but facelessly. You don't know the person you're transacting, nor do you videotaping him to sue him later.