Urgent -Transaction stuck "missing block" - They will burn my BTC

[Sharlto]

I wonder if you could offer any advice please?

Earlier today, I withdrew 0.3 BTC from my exchange wallet, and deposited it elsewhere. The address I sent it to at Blockchain.com has received it, but is failing to process it properly due to a “missing block”, and cannot complete the transaction, meaning I cannot access the funds, and I’m being told that they will shortly burn my BTC…. obviously not what I want.

Blockchain.com is saying that to solve this, I must create a duplicate transaction (send ANOTHER 0.3 BTC) to repair the first transaction, and that once this is done, the first transaction will be sent back to my exchange wallet, and the second transaction will process properly.

My question is, does this sound plausible to you? I mean they are basically saying “you’re first 0.3 BTC didn’t work, try sending another 0.3. BTC…” This is a lot of money to me, I’m worried that I’m just going to lose another 0.3 BTC.

Is the problem they are describing a known one?

Does their solution sound like it is the right one?

I will paste the text from their email below:

-------------------------------

Our system has detected an error during your transaction mentioned in the email.

For you to understand what missing block means, let me explain how blockchain works.

Blockchain is a system of recording information. So, it's like a ledger system, where every data exchange has a spot in the log. More so, the data exchanges in the system are called transactions. Once the transaction is verified, it gets a place in the ledger system as a block (this is why it is called blockchain).

In the Bitcoin network, each peer maintains a full copy of the ledger (blockchain).

What will happen if a peer loses one of its blocks in the blockchain (e.g. another process on the peer accidentally wiped out the disk area that stores the block)?
For Bitcoin Core, the node maintains a database which has the locations of all blocks on disk. If a block is deleted, then it will notice that the location of a block either does not exist or contains garbage or invalid data. If it does notice that a block is missing (or something is corrupted), it will attempt to rebuild the database using the blocks stored on disk and then download the missing blocks from its peers.

However, blocks can actually be deleted after they have been verified and the local database has updated so that the node knows the block it has just deleted was a valid block. This is called pruning, and with pruning, old, historical blocks can be deleted as they aren't used for anything in normal node operation (except helping new nodes sync).

So how can we correct it, if the blockchain can not recover database of the transaction?

It is very simple, you need to try exactly the same transaction one more time, to exactly the same address, from exactly the same crypto exchange. Old transaction will take information from the new one. The old one will be returned to your crypto exchange and the new one will arrive at the recipient's address.

For more details please feel free to reply here.


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Any help here would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[1714791200]

1714791200

[1714791200]

1714791200

[1714791200]

1714791200

[1714791200]

1714791200

[1714791200]

1714791200

[mocacinno]

Sounds like BS to me...

When you first withdrew, did you get a transaction id? Could you share it? Could you share the address you were sending funds to? Do realise that sharing tx id's or addresses could decrease your privacy (but not your security)

A transaction is either confirmed (and ends up in a block, which is stored by thousands of full nodes), or it isn't confirmed... If your transaction was confirmed, but one node would have a corrupt block, it wouldn't mean anything for you... The transaction would still be part of that block, and it would still be stored on 99,99% of all nodes. nodes come and go... it has no impact on wether or not you funded an address...

By re-sending funds, you could basically lose both amounts...

Eventough i'm missing a lot of information here (like transaction id's and addresses), it sounds very suspicious to me...

My advice to you would be to not send the 0.3 BTC untill we figure out what's going on... IF you want us to help you out, we'll need a lot more info:

• which exchange were you withdrawing from
• where were you withdrawing to
• which address were you funding
• what was the tx id
• who exactly sent you that support e-mail?

Like i said before: divulging this information will decrease your privacy, but with the info you've given, it's impossible to actually determine what's going on...

[Poker Player]

Are you sure it is blockchain.com and not a phishing site, OP? It sounds quite like a phishing attempt to me.

Maybe apart from what mocacinno said, it would be better to take a screenshot instead of copying and pasting the text. See if the connection is secure.

[Sharlto]

Thank you for your replies.

I can provide the details you’ve mentioned, but wonder if I could message anyone privately about it?

I have noticed on the email thread I’m having with them that the email domain is different to the web domain, I have submitted a ticket with blockchain.com to verify that. Waiting to hear back.

Thank you.
S

[mocacinno]

Thank you for your replies.

I can provide the details you’ve mentioned, but wonder if I could message anyone privately about it?

I have noticed on the email thread I’m having with them that the email domain is different to the web domain, I have submitted a ticket with blockchain.com to verify that. Waiting to hear back.

Thank you.
S

Hi, depending on whether or not you trust me, you can always send me a PM with your e-mail address, or with transaction id's and addresses... You can even encrypt your message using my gpg public key...
I will not be offended if you don't trust me tough, it's an anonymous forum filled with anonymous people, it's normal if you don't trust others

[Sharlto]

Thank you Mocacinno, I have PMed you.

[mocacinno]

Thank you Mocacinno, I have PMed you.

I have received OP's PM, and i have verified the transaction id and address that needed to be funded were indeed an existing, confirmed transaction that indeed funded the correct address with the correct amount...

It all points to the OP being scammed for 0.3 BTC, and the scammer is now trying to get an other 0.3 BTC from the OP by pretending the first transaction got stuck somehow (eventough the evidence showed to me by the OP in PM clearly shows a confirmed transaction).

My advice to the OP (in PM) was to maybe get law enforcement involved... 0.3 BTC is a big amount...
He could also try to follow the stolen funds using sites like https://www.walletexplorer.com/ in case the scammer is dumb enough not to mix his stolen loot...

[Sharlto]

Thanks for looking into this Mocacinno, it’s help me decide what to do (and not to do).

I will see about tracking them down and involving law enforcement.

Thanks again.

[NotATether]

You probably read mocacinno's reply already but let me clarify that there is no such thing as a missing block.

Missing block implies that a block that has already been written to a node's copy of the blockchain has been overwritten by blocks inside a longer chain tip than the one the node was working on. Since this implies that the block was part of a smaller and hence invalid chain tip, the transactions inside it would not be confirmed to begin with and will stay in the sending addresses. Hence it is not possible for there to be a missing block in Bitcoin.

I have received OP's PM, and i have verified the transaction id and address that needed to be funded were indeed an existing, confirmed transaction that indeed funded the correct address with the correct amount...

It all points to the OP being scammed for 0.3 BTC, and the scammer is now trying to get an other 0.3 BTC from the OP by pretending the first transaction got stuck somehow (eventough the evidence showed to me by the OP in PM clearly shows a confirmed transaction).

My advice to the OP (in PM) was to maybe get law enforcement involved... 0.3 BTC is a big amount...
He could also try to follow the stolen funds using sites like https://www.walletexplorer.com/ in case the scammer is dumb enough not to mix his stolen loot...

Was the scamming exchange blockchain.com (or a blockchain.com impostor)?

[mocacinno]

--snip--

Was the scamming exchange blockchain.com (or a blockchain.com impostor)?

Given the information i got from the OP, i'm strongly under the impression the op was using a real (non scamming) exchange as a wallet (witch isn't a good idear when talking about opsec) and a fake blockchain.com's address he was funding.
I'm not under the impression it was the real blockchain.com company that was defrauding the OP, but i'm pretty sure he was defrauded nonetheless.

This being said, i did not get 100% conclusive proof of said impression, since i got a lot of information from the OP, but not everything... In the end, it doesn't really matter, he was defrauded by a scammer and there's not much we can do (except maybe helping him trace outputs in the odd chance the scammer is stupid enough to try to exchange those funds on a KYC exchange without anonymising)

[BlackHatCoiner]

Sounds like BS to me...

To clarify;

The bullshit, nonsensical and scamming-ly yelling part is this:

It is very simple, you need to try exactly the same transaction one more time, to exactly the same address, from exactly the same crypto exchange. Old transaction will take information from the new one. The old one will be returned to your crypto exchange and the new one will arrive at the recipient's address.

Whoever sent this to you was hoping (or was aware) that you'd no idea what you're reading. They, firstly, told you to send 0.3 BTC again while you had already sent them before; a transaction which can be verified if you look up a block explorer. They, then, started explaining to you how block chain works falsely (pruning isn't what they've written). Now they repeat to re-send the 0.3 BTC.

Well, don't. Would you mind looking if it's a phishing email? If you're on Gmail click on the email details and check the mailed-by. It's most likely not from blockchain.com.

[Poker Player]

--snip--

Was the scamming exchange blockchain.com (or a blockchain.com impostor)?

Given the information i got from the OP, i'm strongly under the impression the op was using a real (non scamming) exchange as a wallet (witch isn't a good idear when talking about opsec) and a fake blockchain.com's address he was funding.
I'm not under the impression it was the real blockchain.com company that was defrauding the OP, but i'm pretty sure he was defrauded nonetheless.

This being said, i did not get 100% conclusive proof of said impression, since i got a lot of information from the OP, but not everything... In the end, it doesn't really matter, he was defrauded by a scammer and there's not much we can do (except maybe helping him trace outputs in the odd chance the scammer is stupid enough to try to exchange those funds on a KYC exchange without anonymising)

I don't know if it will be the same case of the OP, but Royse777 talked a month ago about a fake blockchain.com:

Real or fake blockchain dot com

We will have to see if more cases like this one come up.

[AB de Royse777]

For you to understand what missing block means, let me explain how blockchain works.

Blockchain is a system of recording information. So, it's like a ledger system, where every data exchange has a spot in the log. More so, the data exchanges in the system are called transactions. Once the transaction is verified, it gets a place in the ledger system as a block (this is why it is called blockchain).

In the Bitcoin network, each peer maintains a full copy of the ledger (blockchain).

What will happen if a peer loses one of its blocks in the blockchain (e.g. another process on the peer accidentally wiped out the disk area that stores the block)?
For Bitcoin Core, the node maintains a database which has the locations of all blocks on disk. If a block is deleted, then it will notice that the location of a block either does not exist or contains garbage or invalid data. If it does notice that a block is missing (or something is corrupted), it will attempt to rebuild the database using the blocks stored on disk and then download the missing blocks from its peers.

However, blocks can actually be deleted after they have been verified and the local database has updated so that the node knows the block it has just deleted was a valid block. This is called pruning, and with pruning, old, historical blocks can be deleted as they aren't used for anything in normal node operation (except helping new nodes sync).

So how can we correct it, if the blockchain can not recover database of the transaction?

It is very simple, you need to try exactly the same transaction one more time, to exactly the same address, from exactly the same crypto exchange. Old transaction will take information from the new one. The old one will be returned to your crypto exchange and the new one will arrive at the recipient's address.

For more details please feel free to reply here.

The moment I saw this explanation, I was in an impression that it's a scam attempt. It's a BS theory which works when someone is not much experienced in crypto industry. Sorry OP for your loss and good work mocacinno to confirm it and saving OP's 0.3 BTC.

Evan at $43,440 rate 0.3BTC is a lot of money.

[Sharlto]

Sounds like BS to me...

To clarify;

The bullshit, nonsensical and scamming-ly yelling part is this:

It is very simple, you need to try exactly the same transaction one more time, to exactly the same address, from exactly the same crypto exchange. Old transaction will take information from the new one. The old one will be returned to your crypto exchange and the new one will arrive at the recipient's address.

Whoever sent this to you was hoping (or was aware) that you'd no idea what you're reading. They, firstly, told you to send 0.3 BTC again while you had already sent them before; a transaction which can be verified if you look up a block explorer. They, then, started explaining to you how block chain works falsely (pruning isn't what they've written). Now they repeat to re-send the 0.3 BTC.

Well, don't. Would you mind looking if it's a phishing email? If you're on Gmail click on the email details and check the mailed-by. It's most likely not from blockchain.com.

Yes, the email domain is different from the website domain. Email domain is @ltdblockchain.com, website is blockchain.com. So maybe phishing.

When I search for my transaction ID using the search function on blockchain.com, my deposit shows up, and also shows that it has left the wallet I deposited my 0.3BTC into, into and out of several other wallets, until it gets to a wallet where there are so many transactions that I lose it.

I emailed the phishy representative about this today:

————

Hello,

I’ve been looking at the transaction trail of my 0.3BTC deposit on the Blockchain.com search function, I can see my deposit has left the wallet I deposited it to, and been moved into and out of several other wallets, until it is mixed in with a lot of other transactions in another wallet… what is going on?? If my initial deposit failed, why is it able to move into and out of all these wallets?

I would like to see clear evidence that my initial transaction failed, I want to see detailed systemic screenshots, describing errors in detail please.

Regards,
————

The reply I got was:

————

If I understand correctly, your question is why your 0.3BTC transaction was moved to different wallets.

The reason for that is the reservation of your crypto funds, before you will be able to make a duplicate transaction the funds will be stored on different wallets to avoid sending them to burning address.

That, among what I've told you yesterday, is the reason why we charge customers for 2,000 GBP for address reservation. It requires us to use several different wallets and for each wallet we pay additional fee.

Kind Regards.

————

Totally ignored my request for proof.

I’m still not sure if the blockchain.com website I’m looking at, the one where I can see that my deposit arrived in the wallet, is real/legit or not. It seems ok to me… I submitted a support ticket to ask if they could verify my deposit, and if they had a representative by the name I had been told, using the @ltdblockchain email address, and if his communications were legitimate or not, but I have not heard back after two days. But then again, I’ve had terrible customer service from other exchanges too, so this fact alone doesn’t mean they are a scam site…. I think…

I mean, if my deposit is able to move around to different wallets, then SURELY it is/was a perfectly fine transaction in the first place, right?.. if not, it simply wouldn’t move around like that?…

Would my transaction ID show up on any search function on any exchange? Or would the wallet I deposited to only show up specifically on the exchange it belongs to, in this case blockchain.com?

[LoyceV]

I mean, if my deposit is able to move around to different wallets, then SURELY it is/was a perfectly fine transaction in the first place, right?.. if not, it simply wouldn’t move around like that?…

Your transaction was fine from a technical point of view. The address is owned by a scammer. You got scammed, and by the nature of Bitcoin, there's is no "undo".

Would my transaction ID show up on any search function on any exchange? Or would the wallet I deposited to only show up specifically on the exchange it belongs to, in this case blockchain.com?

All transactions show up on all block explorers. Try Blockchair.com for instance. Exchanges usually don't show other transactions.
My advice: before doing anything else Bitcoin related, make sure you understand what you're doing. Unfortunately, you were now an easy victim for scammers, and there are many more scammers out there.

[n0nce]

I don't understand what you were trying to do in the first place. Did you want to send the funds on your exchange to another exchange?
Why did you like to "deposited it elsewhere" in the first place?
And where did you try to deposit it to?
Such large amounts in general shouldn't reside on online wallets except for a short duration after purchasing..

[nc50lc]

Totally ignored my request for proof.
-snip-

You said you're looking for a way to track them and involve law enforcement, right.
Then I'd suggest you to keep your communication with the suspect by stalling with few of more of those "questions" and show it to the authorities.
Police may be able to get some leads if they are knowledgeable in crypto and if the scammer is dumb enough.

Yes, the email domain is different from the website domain. Email domain is @ltdblockchain.com, website is blockchain.com. So maybe phishing.

Yes it is phishing, blockchain.com's email should be from @blockchain.com or @<subdomain>.blockchain.com - with dot before the url.
(and the replies should be weeks to months apart :D)

[Sharlto]

I asked for systemic proof that my deposit failed, and this is what they sent. Any coders that can verify this?

https://ibb.co/wYnrcY8

[mocacinno]

I asked for systemic proof that my deposit failed, and this is what they sent. Any coders that can verify this?

https://ibb.co/wYnrcY8

This looks like smoke and mirrors... really... This looks like an ether contract, which has nothing to do with missing transactions on bitcoin's blockchain...

The thing is: it seems like every time this scammer sends you an answer, he makes sure he uses some defenitions, codes, contracts,... that might sound familiar if you're a bitcoin beginner. However, he uses everything out of context, just to confuse you completely.

Bottom line: your 0.3 BTC transaction went trough, that's final... The transaction has been confirmed... He is now using some random ether smart contract code that looks complex whilst still being semi human-readable to install some fear into you, in the hope you'll send him another 0.3 BTC

[BlackHatCoiner]

https://ibb.co/wYnrcY8

Alright, you need to hear this out:  You've been scammed. That's the end of the story. Harsh or not, this is what happened. There isn't such thing as a missing block, you can verify that the transaction is confirmed from a block explorer.

This guy continues discussing with you by the belief you'll be fooled to send another 0.3 BTC. Thus, he responded with a part from an unknown code trying to justify that you've done something wrong. Do you really believe that a multi-millionaire company would show you such thing as a response from their support?

Lesson learnt and you've paid 0.3 BTC for it. Do not repeat it and always create a thread here whenever you have queries about things you don't know.