He who have ears let him hear

[Looper_U]

Stop buying BTC from random people, we got centralised and decentralized exchanges for this, the reason why I'm saying this is because someone bought BTC from a scammer in my country and the scammer was apprehended somehow and the BTC he sold to this person was scammed from one Jonathan in the U.S, the buyer was arrested as well thinking they are in this together, it takes weeks before more proves where gathered to prove that the buyer don't know anything about it.

Instead direct your friends to binance or other exchanges to buy coins cos you don't know what your friends are doing behind the close door.

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[RapTarX]

Well, this is risky as hell to get yourself in trouble but when you don’t have a lot of ways, what can you do? Maybe the buyer didn’t want to go through the hassle it had to take for depositing money into the exchange and avoid withdrawal fee. Or what about the buyer wanted to buy BTC without any info shared with CEX? There can be a lot of alternatives why anyone would avoid buying BTC from exchanges.
This is exactly the reason we should be more cautious; ensure more privacy. You have coin mixer for that to leave trace. Wondering why didn’t the scammer do that LOL.

[Magicalking]

One good reason why people choose not to buy crypto from centralised exchanges is to ensure their privacy. Centralised exchanges require kyc for p2p traders. The buyer received the Bitcoin in a CEX I think that's why the police got to him

[condoras]

Stop buying BTC from random people, we got centralised and decentralized exchanges for this, the reason why I'm saying this is because someone bought BTC from a scammer in my country and the scammer was apprehended somehow and the BTC he sold to this person was scammed from one Jonathan in the U.S, the buyer was arrested as well thinking they are in this together, it takes weeks before more proves where gathered to prove that the buyer don't know anything about it.

Instead direct your friends to binance or other exchanges to buy coins cos you don't know what your friends are doing behind the close door.

Even if this is the case and everything is how you say it, theoretically (but more difficult due to the KYC?) the same thing can happen if the scammer uses an exchange to sell them. Authorities will accuse the exchange because someone sold through them stolen BTC. Or not?

[hugeblack]

If you have a way to buy bitcoin legally and proof of payment using one of the central platforms in your country, then the best option is.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are easy to track so you may end up with a problem buying from random people although using a good mixing service will be enough to solve such a problem.

When I talk about the currency mixing service, I do not mean services like coinjoin because it may lead you to more problems.

[bitmover]

Stop buying BTC from random people, we got centralised and decentralized exchanges for this, the reason why I'm saying this is because someone bought BTC from a scammer in my country and the scammer was apprehended somehow and the BTC he sold to this person was scammed from one Jonathan in the U.S, the buyer was arrested as well thinking they are in this together, it takes weeks before more proves where gathered to prove that the buyer don't know anything about it.

Instead direct your friends to binance or other exchanges to buy coins cos you don't know what your friends are doing behind the close door.

It is a good option to be able to buy bitcoin from centralized or decentralized exchanges, specially if we want to sell/buy to random people.

However, the most amazing about bitcoin protocol is that we are allowed to sell p2p, without any intermediary. Ofc it is dangerous to sell to a random person, because he may be a scammer. But we can sell to people we know.

Being able to sell to p2p to people we know, or we just met, is amazing. There are more honest than dishonest people in this world, and being able to decide to who we can sell/buy is amazing. We cannot do that with tradicional financial assets, like stocks. We have to use exchanges.

I think a random person in the internet is more suspicious and more likely to be a scammer than someone that you just met in your real life, as there a lot of scammers hiding behind the computer.

[Coyster]

Stop buying BTC from random people,

Who even buys Bitcoin from a random person they do not know and cannot get hold of, you can only do that when you're transacting on an exchange, if you're not going through an exchange, you'll have to somewhat know the person or must have met them on a platform, like bitcointalk for example and such person must have an untainted reputation before you can go on and buy Bitcoin from him/her.

The thing is, if you do not have a trusted buyer or seller outside an exchange, it's much better you carry out your transaction on an exchange, but it's going to come at the price of your privacy.

[bL4nkcode]

You could somehow put some source(s) of the news if it's available on your country's media outlet's website, coz the way of how the scam happens is confusing to us who just read your statement.

While there are lots of pros of buying/selling to p2p but the cons are still there since the money/fiat used to buy can be reverse depends on what method they use but the bitcoin/crypto sent cannot be reverse. That's why its more safety to buy/sell to the one you knew.

But buying/selling on cex, has more pros too in terms of ease of use and convenience, but in return you need to give you personal information which is kinda cons too.

[boyptc]

There are those that are fine to do real life and meet up trades. There's no way to stop that.

As for those, they have reasons for it like they are not really on the technology and they just want someone to help them purchase who actually owns it.

But true to that when someone wants to buy, there are the exchanges.

[Darker45]

I'm afraid there is actually no difference at all. The scammer could have sent the BTC to Binance or other exchanges to sell. BTC in Binance and other centralized and decentralized exchanges are not guaranteed to be clean. There is no way we could tell whether the BTC we are buying from centralized and decentralized exchanges are stolen or not unless we are buying virgin coins.

Ideally, transactions should be P2P to avoid third parties.

[pakhitheboss]

Scammers are everywhere, you need to be cautious before and do the right thing as per the law in your country. Ideally anyone who is interested in buying Bitcoin should buy it from a reputable exchange but if your friend is selling you Bitcoin you would always believe in your friend. In my opinion that individual who bought the Bitcoin is not a fault. It is just a bad luck that he bought it from a scammer.

[tranthidung]

Ideally, transactions should be P2P to avoid third parties.

Peer to peer marketplaces are third parties that provide Escrow services for safety of both buyers and sellers.

• Most of P2P marketplaces are centralized, with KYC requirements.
• A true decentralized P2P marketplace I know of is bisq.network. Disadvantage is trading volume is low.
• Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless. Choose either privacy or convenience with trading volume.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Stop buying BTC from random people, we got centralised and decentralized exchanges for this, the reason why I'm saying this is because someone bought BTC from a scammer in my country and the scammer was apprehended somehow and the BTC he sold to this person was scammed from one Jonathan in the U.S, the buyer was arrested as well thinking they are in this together, it takes weeks before more proves where gathered to prove that the buyer don't know anything about it.

Thats a nice tip. But I doubt everyone will just buy bitcoin randomly, thats should be their risk as well. Also if I were the buyer, I am gonna check first the seller legitimacy and if he didnt have any transaction worth suspicious.  You are right, that there are centralized exchanges. But sometime buyers protect also themselves thats why choosing peer to peer method, however its also a risk if they encountered similar case like you shared.

[Looper_U]

Well, this is risky as hell to get yourself in trouble but when you don’t have a lot of ways, what can you do? Maybe the buyer didn’t want to go through the hassle it had to take for depositing money into the exchange and avoid withdrawal fee. Or what about the buyer wanted to buy BTC without any info shared with CEX? There can be a lot of alternatives why anyone would avoid buying BTC from exchanges.
This is exactly the reason we should be more cautious; ensure more privacy. You have coin mixer for that to leave trace. Wondering why didn’t the scammer do that LOL.

This is not a good excuse for the seller, how much can an exchange charge for withdrawal? Roughly 1$ to 5$ for converting to Fiat, I think the seller knew that he can be caught if he used exchange because of KYC verification, he intentionally sell it locally

[HardCore12V]

This is a good advice, I have people around me that always want to use my binance account to sell coins but I don't allow it because they are into frauds as well and I don't want my image to get tarnished, binance exchange have my KYC and also BVN, if anything goes wrong I will be hold responsible

[Jazmin Leslie]

Every time I make a deposit, I trade at a merchant that I often trade, so the risk will be smaller, and there has been no bad money in about a year or two. It is recommended to choose a familiar merchant.

[Looper_U]

Ideally, transactions should be P2P to avoid third parties.

Peer to peer marketplaces are third parties that provide Escrow services for safety of both buyers and sellers.

• Most of P2P marketplaces are centralized, with KYC requirements.
• A true decentralized P2P marketplace I know of is bisq.network. Disadvantage is trading volume is low.
• Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless. Choose either privacy or convenience with trading volume.

You are right that Dex are the perfect place to trade coins without leaving behind any trace but not all fraudsters knew this, if one has nothing to hide anyways there isn't any reason to hide how you transact crypto

[CrossroadBTC]

Buying through Dex platforms is just like buying from anyone but in a more secured way, both the buyer and the seller made a big mistake there if they both know their way to crypto exchanges why not just sell on exchange instead? I haven't heard about getting tracked through Dex exchange it's always centralised exchanges

[lovesmayfamilis]

Probably the OP means that the bought bitcoins were considered, as they call it, "dirty"
Today, there is a lot of information about what "dirty bitcoins" are and how not to get caught buying such coins. Probably already from the name, it is clear that they include bitcoins, which were involved in any fraudulent activities, and all those who have anything to do with them are taken into account by the investigation services.
As for the exchanges, if suspected, they have the right to freeze funds. The verification is well done by Chainalysis, which has the Chainalysis KYT product. With its help, the past of cryptocurrencies is revealed. But it is unfair to blame a "bona fide purchaser" who has nothing to do with criminal activity.

[Masplanc]

Instead direct your friends to binance or other exchanges to buy coins cos you don't know what your friends are doing behind the close door.

Peer to peer exchange is best way to sell or buy Bitcoin. Exchange can be done there with no issues or stories. Selling to a buyer which you don't know or trace if anything happens is risky