Crypto P2P Scam

[5thFear]

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.

The people who were sending me cash in my bank were the people who don't know about cryptos. They only understand banking so he made them send money to me through bank and i had to send bitcoin to that scammer.

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[yazher]

Well, about greed, I can tell you it's just some kind of thing we need to cut out from ourselves. Just like you, I was kinda experiencing where I can double my capital in a day but I decided to wait until I nearly lose it all. I invested in an NFT game where you can spend some decent amount of money but you can actually get an ROI for 3-10 days depends on the mystery box you bought. I got lucky and the NFT I got is worth 3 times my capital but I thought of doubling it up to 10 folds but the problem is, NFT games change their platform after 1-2 weeks of playing. I ended up selling it just enough to cover my investment. If I have just known that it would happen, I would have sold it as soon as I get it.

[btcinmylife]

Of course the money must be kept in one's own pocket.

[SFR10]

where i almost landed in trouble.
~Snipped~
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..

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.

You forgot to mention how it ended? Did you refund them from your own pocket or something else happened?

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

Unfortunately, it's not that hard to fake those ^{[depending on the platform, it might be harder in some, but not impossible]} + such accounts are being sold ^{[from time to time]} on this forum ^{[apart from other places]}.

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

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,.

It takes less than a dollar to register a WhatsApp account with a number from Nigeria or another country ^{[for the most part]} and in regards to his accent, with some practice, most of us could "easily" imitate their accent!
^{- FYI: I'm not Nigerian and I'm trying to only lay out some of the possibilities.}

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.

Seems like the perfect excuse to me ^{[I could be wrong]}!

[DarkDays]

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.

What a scammy scheme to say the least.

Thanks for sharing the story - quite scary, I'm positive it will help others avoid similar traps.

There were a few points that you could have become suspicious about but maybe didn't think it at the time, right?
1. Guy did not explain what his business was - your mistake for not asking about it
2. You was getting fiat which is traceable while sending him BTC equivalent (non-traceable)

Without the details, these two alone is a big no no - so regardless of the circumstance if the two, especially the second point is part of your collaboration/business than don't go that path.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

The people who were sending me cash in my bank were the people who don't know about cryptos. They only understand banking so he made them send money to me through bank and i had to send bitcoin to that scammer.

You should've been able to prevent that thing from happening, I mean you should've known that in the first place and you should've warned them that there are a lot of risks involved in it and that they'll have to be really careful with how they do things.

[davis196]

This story reminds me of a story to happened to me 2 years ago(the summer of 2019).
I guy from China contacted me and offered to send money to my PayPal and I will send them Bitcoins in exchange.He was selling sports clothing and equipment,which was manufactured in China.
Everything seemed really sketchy,so I refused.The idea of getting paid via a refundable payment method like PayPal and sending him non-refundable Bitcoins seemed really suspicious.
I don't remember what kind of commission he was offering to me.
I'm surprised that such scams still exist.I guess that there will always be naive people around the world.

 

[5thFear]

You forgot to mention how it ended? Did you refund them from your own pocket or something else happened?

I paid them out of my own pocket. They allowed me to refund partially and not the whole amount as they realized that i myself was also the victim.

[Maidak]

I guy from China contacted me and offered to send money to my PayPal and I will send them Bitcoins in exchange.He was selling sports clothing and equipment,which was manufactured in China.
Everything seemed really sketchy,so I refused.The idea of getting paid via a refundable payment method like PayPal and sending him non-refundable Bitcoins seemed really suspicious.
I don't remember what kind of commission he was offering to me.

Did he want to make an upfront payment or he asked you to send him first? A random guy can't offer like this way, maybe that guy following your activity some days/months and confirmed that you are a bitcoiners. Most often they are used social media platforms to catch new fish. You are blessed that you could refuse him but not everyone can do that, Most of the time new comers are fallen into this kind of scam. The scammer offers a lucrative interest and People are attracted to that and fall prey to the trap.

[tygeade]

For anyone who doesn't understand the long story, let me summarize it for you.

Basically, this is how it goes, I know all this because I have been tricked into something similar in the past.

1- A guy Alex, from Country X contacts local residents of Country Y.
2- Alex pretends to be a native of Country Y and offer local residents cheap products via telegram and other means
3- Local buyers agree and since Alex is requesting payment in a local bank account, they don't hesitate too much.
4- Now Alex contacts a BTC seller Juan, at a P2P platform and asks for their bank account to make the payment.
5- Alex times the deal such that he asks local residents to pay Juan and Juan believes that Alex made the payment.

That's it, Alex gets BTC and cannot be tracked while Juan and locals will fight among themselves.

[Potato Chips]

@OP, if your country is on the stricter side, consider minimizing any cryptocurrency footprint that could be linked back to you as much as possible, some ways are:

1. avoid KYC - https://kycnot.me/ or trade in this forum
2. use coinjoin/mixers - 2021 List Bitcoin Mixers Bitcoin Tumblers Websites
3. switch to privacy respecting services - awesome privacy

As always, dyor before using anything.

[MusaMohamed]

P2P trades are fully of scammers.

You can avoid them if you pick old and trusted users to trade with. They don't have good offers for you like new accounts. Be aware that new accounts will try to show off with too good offers.

If you want too good offers, pick one from new user and mostly scammer.

If you don't obsess with too good offer, you are fine by choosing old and trusted users with good trading and feedback history.

[Ararbermas]

There are more frauds in the internet so don't ever believe what someone's offering to you even they show some proof because nowadays people can really used fake evidence just to convince their traget., unless if they're the only one who make transactions to your account and they will provide more information then it's not a problem.. But if they ask you to do it first without any reference that can tell the truth , well it's a big mistake even they offer you a big commission don't ever make a decision because that's how the way they can blind people around the internet.. So be aware always for your safety..

[Rengga Jati]

Valuable experience for later should be.
I have heard about this kind of P2P scam happened to many people.

Well, actually P2P transactions will be safer when we are using the trusted and reputable platforms such as Binance and other platforms.
And if we are going to do such P2P without that kind of platform, why don't you use such an escrow?
But ensure that you are using trusted and reputable escrow service. In this forum, there are several trusted and reputable escrow services that have been popular. Well, yeah, it may need you to spend a fee for that escrow, but if the amount is big enough, it will decrease the risks, and commonly they have trusted parties here.

[Kaylana]

You should be glad you didn't get too bad and ended up safe. This lesson is enough to remind us not to act as an intermediary. The middleman has the obligation to urge the normal conduct of the transaction. Neither the buyer nor the seller is known or trusted by you, which is very dangerous.

[Kittygalore]

For this reason, we should not easily trust anyone because people we do not know can deceive us in the transaction process, because people we do not know, we cannot find evidence for such a process or people who have deceived us all this time, because they do not with evidence it is very difficult to get our bitcoins back

Don't trust anyone especially online, they can remotely hurt you without suffering any consequences. That's my general rule of thumb, and so far it's working great for me and I haven't been scammed yet and I like to keep it that way. There's some ways you can get the bitcoins back but it's going to be difficult though.

[5thFear]

You should be glad you didn't get too bad and ended up safe. This lesson is enough to remind us not to act as an intermediary. The middleman has the obligation to urge the normal conduct of the transaction. Neither the buyer nor the seller is known or trusted by you, which is very dangerous.

Well, i am very thankful to Allah as i know that it could have gone much worse. Had the authorities got involved, then they would have ripped me of my money(cash) and all the cryptocurrencies, and also i could had stayed behind bars for a few years.

[molsewid]

There are more frauds in the internet so don't ever believe what someone's offering to you even they show some proof because nowadays people can really used fake evidence just to convince their traget., unless if they're the only one who make transactions to your account and they will provide more information then it's not a problem.. But if they ask you to do it first without any reference that can tell the truth , well it's a big mistake even they offer you a big commission don't ever make a decision because that's how the way they can blind people around the internet.. So be aware always for your safety..

Scammers online grown in number because this is where they can find their victim with just sending or showing a proof of their legitimacy which turns out they are only grabbed it on other people's profile so it is our sole responsibility to ourselves to know deeply who you transacted. SO far, I haven't experience same cases like being scammed in my P2P transaction which I have done on Binance which I do hope I wouldn't experience it because the asset that I've been transacting is definitely my hard earned profit.

[hichamito37]

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.

I admit what you are saying is true it always starts with greed and now P2P has quite serious problems in recent i read some news about P2P exchange and it caused them a lot of trouble The risk of legal prosecution is very high if you are not careful in dealing with the person who makes the transaction with you.

[KaliLinux]

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.

  I am sorry to say, but your story sounds bogus to me. First, you dint provide the WhatsApp number the so-called (Nigerian Guy) was calling you with cos you must have had the number right? and how did you even conclude that he is a Nigerian? You said you were getting payments in PKR rupees from all over Pakistan,, and you also said " he gave them the banking accounts of their local countries, of people like me. through which, he got the payments" are you a Nigerian too? Also, you never provided the Bitcoin wallet address you sent all the Bitcoins.
At least you did agree that you were greedy in this whole shady business you both were involved in because even you know the percentage he was given you was high and you decided to roll with it. I hope you did learn your lesson.

I have been dealing with p2p a long time and I know you cannot place a sell order if you don't have the number of crypto assets for that amount and once the buyer has made payments and confirmed, crypto assets are released. I think investors should consider the type of exchange they deal with.