Bybit P2P Exchange Scam Modus

[Wapfika]

This happened to me 2 weeks ago when I'm trying to convert my USDT to my local currency using the Bybit P2P exchange.


The scammer lists his buying order on Bybit at an average price and not the typical scammer that uses too good to be true price. His profile trust rating has a 100% success rate but with only 10 transactions. I'm worried about the low transaction count but his trust rating convince me to give this buyer a shot. At first he was very active saying he is online when I place my order. Until he messages that he already sent the payment. As shown on the image below.



I also received a message coming from a Gcash number that I indeed received the payment. I'm not sure how this happened that time but as reading in our local discussion about this subject. I find out that this is an SMS spoofing and they can fake a text message as if they are a real wallet message.



But because I'm not 100% convinced about this user since the start and I'm always checking my wallet balance to verify, I find out that there's no balance entered on my wallet. This time I asked him to provide a screenshot in the Bybit chat which he become inactive already. I immediately request an appeal to make sure that the scammer will not get my crypto. This is very hassle because I submit documents of my transaction history for that day and a screen record of my wallet showing that I didn't receive the money.




I get my crypto back after a total of 5hrs of waiting which is a totally chaotic experience because I was supposed to use the money to purchase an important item that was on sale at that time which I missed due to this shitty scammer.


Lesson learned: Always check your balance directly on the wallet you are using and never trust an SMS notification. Avoid dealing with a user that has a low completed transaction despite they have a high trust rating because some of them are just farming trust through completing small orders until they have an established trust score

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[Zaguru12]

Had a very similar experience In binance last week. The buyer showed me a transaction receipt from his end but I am always such person that checks his account balance first before confirming payment. Infact the buyer insisted the there was network issue from my bank and when I requested for my bank transaction history nothing of such transaction was initiated or even left pending on my account so I had to report to binance support and it took me more than 24 hours luckily I didn’t release my coins throughout the entire time so the buyer had to cancel my order.

First thing his not to look just at the rating of the buyer but Also his purchasing power. The number of transactions he has involved in Plays a big role. And do not be swayed to believe just any of them.

[Nwada001]

It was obvious that at the time the user went offline, he or she was actually looking for fabricated evidence to convince you that payment was sent. The vendor was never aware that you are smarter than he thinks.

Even users with higher rating and successful number of trade can still scammers. They can trade within them self just to increase successful trade number.

Most of the P2P exchanges have those scammers lined up looking for victims; I usually use Binance. That's why we are always advised to login to our mobile banking apps and confirm our payment if what the sender claims to have sent is the same as what is on your account. If not, proof of payment is not enough to convince anyone that payment was actually made.

[pixie85]

I get my crypto back after a total of 5hrs of waiting which is a totally chaotic experience because I was supposed to use the money to purchase an important item that was on sale at that time which I missed due to this shitty scammer.

Was that your only money at the time? Most people would simply buy that item on sale using the rest of their cryptocurrency, or of they were really in need, fiat money.
Was the transaction so big and the item so expensive that you missed the purchase because of that little scam attempt, or were you rather more preoccupied and worried and forgot to buy that thing that you wanted?

Lesson learned: Always check your balance directly on the wallet you are using and never trust an SMS notification. Avoid dealing with a user that has a low completed transaction despite they have a high trust rating because some of them are just farming trust through completing small orders until they have an established trust score

That's also true in the fiat world where people send you fake paypal messages, or try to be the middle man for a transaction to steal the money before it's received by the seller.
First red flag is usually the thing you knew - the offer was too good to be true, but still went on with it.
That's how people fall into these traps.

[Potato Chips]

I also received a message coming from a Gcash number that I indeed received the payment. I'm not sure how this happened that time but as reading in our local discussion about this subject. I find out that this is an SMS spoofing and they can fake a text message as if they are a real wallet message.

They probably used application to person messaging services which allows you to edit the sender ID to whatever you want. Since the phishing text also has the same "GCash" sender ID, it will be nestled along legitimate messages from actual GCash which can be a bit tricky for unsuspecting users. Same thing happened with singapore postal service years ago, see: https://mothership.sg/2019/03/scammers-phishing-links-singpost/

But good job on making it a habit to check your balance on your app! Some tips from hodlhodl apply in general so I recommend this reading as well, see: https://medium.com/hodl-hodl/trading-security-guide-2f35c20e58f4

[boyptc]

I think that SMS poofing can be done by anyone or any scammer can easily pay for the software that can send text messages and they can name it with anything that they can just as the Gcash.

While for the trust rating of that person where you've dealt with. That 10 transactions can even be only him, it's likely that it's also him that used others identities to verify his account there and make it look like genuine transactions for him to leave those few good trust rating.

Like you've mentioned, always check everything if money was sent to you actually and don't just rely on text messages as source of notification but check your wallet app if it really got the money.

[PX-Z]

I think that SMS poofing can be done by anyone or any scammer can easily pay for the software that can send text messages and they can name it with anything that they can just as the Gcash.

It can be, using some sms services at least services/shop not based in philippines, because most sms services based on ph are stricted on sms with sender id at least on my experience working on some sms api.

I have experienced this kind of scam attempt too, it was a p2p transaction coz im selling a digital card, and the buyer is using Gcash for payment. I received an sms of payment received from Gcash but it was on different sms thread/page not the usual thread/page when i'm receiving a Gcash related sms. And like what i usually do, checking the actual wallet if it reflect on my balance. And yeah, i never received it so and i told her that it wont work on me, just like that she blocks me eventually :ampt.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

This used to happen to me so much while using the Binance platform.

What would be so annoying would be the time wasted, and the appeal process would even take over 24 hours before I got my money back, but it looks like they tried to tighten their rules involving accounts that try to scam people. Maybe Bybit needs to do the same too.

[abel1337]

I've experienced this  fake SMS scam before on binance p2p and unfortunately this is still being done by scammers on bybit. Never trust anyone no matter how good they talk or how good their score are. After experiencing this kind of scam method, I stop trading on people who doesn't convince me with their ratings eben if they offer higher exchange offer to those rating who really stands out. This is avoidable even if you noticed it late as long as you haven't sent the money. Appeal button is always be your friend. Though it's a hassle given that there is some process to it. It's just better to avoid it and just sacrifice few penny gains than a big hassle.

[John Abraham]

Not only on Bybit P2P. You will find such scammers on every P2P exchange. I have faced a similar scam attempt twice. Yes, Twice. Luckily, I caught them, and I didn't get fooled. When I receive money in my Mobile banking account, I get an SMS and a notification from my mobile banking app. If I get an SMS but don't get a notification from my mobile banking app, I always check the app balance to ensure I receive the transaction. This is how I caught scammers twice.

I was able to report that scam to the platform, and it didn't take a long time like yours. It took me 30 minutes. Both times the buyer was banned. I suggest always trying to make deals with verified profiles and see how many trades they have completed and their success rate. Scare the scammer buyer by sending messages. Both times the buyer canceled the order from his side. So I asked the platform and pointed it out. I told them the buyer marked the order as paid and sent me fake SMS. If they paid, why did they cancel the order? Both times the platform heard me and banned those scammers.

[Bounty Inspectors]

Similar problem happened to me on Binance P2P Exchange.  I picked a mercen to sell BUSD which had a completion rate of 99% and completed 100+ trades.  After order he sent me a fake SMS stating that money has been added to my bank account.  And he marked paid option.  Then I released the BUSD. After some time when I checked the money the money was not actually added to my account.  When I contacted Binance Customer service they couldn't do anything either.  They said they permanently banned his account.

[Baofeng]

I have the same experienced with the OP and I share it in our local boards: {Babala}: Mag-ingat sa P2P trading.

In my case, I didn't get any SMS that I already got the money in my account. But the buyer insisted that she has send it already on my account and as if I'm the own who has problems and pressuring me to released the funds right away. And the thing is that she has the audacity to ask for the support because I didn't released any. But in the end she didn't give any proof that she sent me the funds so my order was cancelled and my funds back to my account in less than 24 hours. So yes, be very very careful dealing with anyone in P2P not just in Bybit, but also in Binance because I know someone who has been victimized as well. And as you can see, the message that you got is almost the same from what I got, maybe the same people?

Might as well be good if you can go to our local boards and post your experienced @OP?

* Another lesson learned is that if the buyer is offering too high, as compare to others, then most likely it's too good to be true.

* Also you can check the history as well to see how many trades that individual has done in the past, if it is less than 10, then the account is fairly new (which happens to me), so most likely going to pull a scam.

[ItsCrafty]

I am using Binance for P2P purpose and not faced any issued yet. I only deal with those buyer who has more than 100 trades done before and trust rate more than 95%. Bybit is not big exchange and their P2P rules will be not strict like Binance whuch lead to this kind if scams. OP are lucky and clever to identifying scam before sending payment.

Two months ago my friend faced fake screenshot scammer in Binance P2P. The scammer was forcing friend to release payment quickly because he send screenshot which was same Iike real one. unfortunately my friends did not checked balance in bank accounts and released payment.

[acroman08]

this is why when it comes to Gcash I always ask for a screenshot of the money being sent instead of waiting to receive a message saying that I have received the money. there are too many scammers on Gcash and a lot of people get scammed on it because they rely too much on the authenticity of the message that was sent to them.

[notblox1]

This happened to me 2 weeks ago when I'm trying to convert my USDT to my local currency using the Bybit P2P exchange.

I never used Bybit P2P exchange but this is classic scam behavior, and maybe they are using some bots to help them with this.
Is there an option on Bybit to report users so they can get investigated and banned if they are abusing exchange and breaking some rules?
You can talk with Bybit support and see what they have to say about this.

[Saisher]

this is why when it comes to Gcash I always ask for a screenshot of the money being sent instead of waiting to receive a message saying that I have received the money. there are too many scammers on Gcash and a lot of people get scammed on it because they rely too much on the authenticity of the message that was sent to them.

Checking your balance is still the best but sending screenshots is also good because you can verify the information because you have your initial on the Gcash account but you should check if it's edited you know there was a time that Gcash screenshots were manipulated by scammers.
Gcash is very popular among Filipino users and many Gcash users do not know about SMS manipulation, even now there are reports of scammers wiping users' funds without these hackers gaining access to their cellphones, which is why I never store a big amount of money on GCASH.

[ScamViruS]

You're smart enough not to fall victim to a scam by sending funds to a scammer. The safest way is to check the balance without depending on the message. Such scams are common in P2P if you are not dealing with a reputable trader. Now you should report this user to Bybit so that he doesn't have the opportunity to do this kind of activity in the future and that no other crypto users fall victim to this scammer.

[boyptc]

I think that SMS poofing can be done by anyone or any scammer can easily pay for the software that can send text messages and they can name it with anything that they can just as the Gcash.

It can be, using some sms services at least services/shop not based in philippines, because most sms services based on ph are stricted on sms with sender id at least on my experience working on some sms api.

I have experienced this kind of scam attempt too, it was a p2p transaction coz im selling a digital card, and the buyer is using Gcash for payment. I received an sms of payment received from Gcash but it was on different sms thread/page not the usual thread/page when i'm receiving a Gcash related sms. And like what i usually do, checking the actual wallet if it reflect on my balance. And yeah, i never received it so and i told her that it wont work on me, just like that she blocks me eventually :ampt.

These scammers are doing it like a "nice try" attempt and if they succeed, they'll be celebrating what they've done to the other. And these scammers should be out of exchanges and reported if it's possible from these P2P markets of these exchanges.

this is why when it comes to Gcash I always ask for a screenshot of the money being sent instead of waiting to receive a message saying that I have received the money. there are too many scammers on Gcash and a lot of people get scammed on it because they rely too much on the authenticity of the message that was sent to them.

A screenshot can also be altered. So it should be both receiving a screenshot and as well as checking the app itself if you've the funds on your end.

[albon]

On all platforms that provide the P2P service, you find scammers, not only on Bybit. As for me, I encountered the same thing on Binance, but fortunately, I checked the application of the bank that this scammer claimed in a false message that he sent me the amount to be received on it, and it turned out that I did not receive anything on my bank wallet, so the SMS Spoofing service is really dangerous and scammers use it frequently to fake messages to be completely similar to real messages, so before each of us release the transaction in P2P on any exchange platform that he uses, he must verify that the money has already reached in his Payment methods such as a wallet or his bank account or applications or the like without relying entirely on these messages that he receives.

[coin-investor]

You're smart enough not to fall victim to a scam by sending funds to a scammer. The safest way is to check the balance without depending on the message. Such scams are common in P2P if you are not dealing with a reputable trader. Now you should report this user to Bybit so that he doesn't have the opportunity to do this kind of activity in the future and that no other crypto users fall victim to this scammer.

That can easily bust the scammer the balance in your wallet is proof that the funds have not or did not arrive the scammer is hoping that you're not looking in your wallet so he can make you believe that he sent the amount through SMS, so it's better that before you do any kind of transaction open your wallet and see if it arrives.
We have no problem trading Cryptocurrency because we have the block Explorer to rely on but when it comes to payment gateway having your wallet open is the best way to verify if the funds arrive.