I was ripped off

[sunsilk]

Mate, you're paying a downpayment for a car through instructions by sending that guy with an electrum wallet? Is it your first time to buy a car or you didn't researched how to purchase and avail your very first car?

Transactions like this won't be honored by the dealer because most of them have their traditional method for payments.

We're sorry to tell you that Bitcoin transactions once sent are irreversible. The BTC you've sent to that guy is already on him and can only be recovered if he sends it back to you.

[DapanasFruit]

I could not understand why would you pay someone for a car via cryptocurrency without first maybe knowing his background and whereabouts...like does he has an office or outlet where you can go to demand for the car you paid fully or partially? Me...I would never deal with anyone online because you don't know the other end of the line how real he is...for all you know he can be based somewhere in Africa and you are just one of his many victims.

[Bananington]

We're sorry to tell you that Bitcoin transactions once sent are irreversible. The BTC you've sent to that guy is already on him and can only be recovered if he sends it back to you.

Exactly so is how the case proceeds. I don't know why the sudden discovery after the money has been sent already. Am very sure you, OP agreed to pay in installments until the payment for the car is complete, hence why you sent the first payments.
Even if as it stands, the guy is a scammer, the money is gone and can't be reversed, but if anything can be done with the i.d of the guy, please go ahead let justice be served.

The common practice for many car dealership is always clear and simple, and I don't think any legal car dealer or dealership would agree to accepting crypto currency as payments without stating and giving directions, possibly with an escrow account opened on the behalf, upon completion of payment.

[DabsPoorVersion]

I could not understand why would you pay someone for a car via cryptocurrency without first maybe knowing his background and whereabouts...like does he has an office or outlet where you can go to demand for the car you paid fully or partially? Me...I would never deal with anyone online because you don't know the other end of the line how real he is...for all you know he can be based somewhere in Africa and you are just one of his many victims.

If you would see the previous posts, OP stated that the scammer gave the information of the car, plate number to be exact that gave him the idea of the location of the car, and he also acquired the name but is not sure if it is the owner. But yeah, Op should not give a down payment. The information given is insufficient and a better thing to do in this kind of situation is to get to the location first and go there, check the car before giving money.

[sunsilk]

We're sorry to tell you that Bitcoin transactions once sent are irreversible. The BTC you've sent to that guy is already on him and can only be recovered if he sends it back to you.

Exactly so is how the case proceeds. I don't know why the sudden discovery after the money has been sent already. Am very sure you, OP agreed to pay in installments until the payment for the car is complete, hence why you sent the first payments.

It's likely that he doesn't know the procedure on how payments and installments come with the procedures of purchasing a car. A downpayment without having the receipt of the payment but only the TXID is already suspicious.

Even if as it stands, the guy is a scammer, the money is gone and can't be reversed, but if anything can be done with the i.d of the guy, please go ahead let justice be served.

Few to no chance of knowing who's the scammer since there are no information that are included on this transaction. But maybe OP can go back to the roots where he has met that guy.

@OP just as whateveryone is saying here, yo can post the TXID and maybe someone will show off from the address of the scammer.

[kryptqnick]

Others have already pointed out that this money is unfortunately irreversibly lost. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, there's nobody to change is back to the way it was before. But if a person gave someone a down payment in cash, it would be the same. With a bank transaction, the chances of actually convincing the bank to cancel a transaction of the ground of being scammed without going to court also seems highly unlikely to me, though. And the window when the bank hasn't actually sent the money yet isn't big, it's around a couple of days. So being ripped off is a very unfortunate situation, but it would be hard to navigate with fiat money as well, if we're being realistic.

[Russlenat]

Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, but in the case of a typical transaction, such as buying a car using a Bitcoin address, you would need to prove that the owner of the address you sent the funds to is the same person who scammed you. In this situation, there is a chance that your Bitcoin can be recovered, although it may not be in the form of Bitcoin if it has already been withdrawn or converted. Recovery is still possible with the assistance of the authorities.

What you should do is file a police report, provide them with all the details of the incident, and let them investigate to determine if there's enough evidence to identify and accuse a specific person. This is where your optimism for recovering the value you lost can come into play.

[LittleBitFunny]

I could not understand why would you pay someone for a car via cryptocurrency without first maybe knowing his background and whereabouts...like does he has an office or outlet where you can go to demand for the car you paid fully or partially? Me...I would never deal with anyone online because you don't know the other end of the line how real he is...for all you know he can be based somewhere in Africa and you are just one of his many victims.

If you would see the previous posts, OP stated that the scammer gave the information of the car, plate number to be exact that gave him the idea of the location of the car, and he also acquired the name but is not sure if it is the owner. But yeah, Op should not give a down payment. The information given is insufficient and a better thing to do in this kind of situation is to get to the location first and go there, check the car before giving money.

If OP already has information about that car such as the license plate number, he just needs to report to the police and they will easily find out the owner's information of that car. And if he saved the conversation between the two, he would have full proof that he was a victim of fraud and just need to report to the police, everything would be easier to resolve. Unless bitcoin is not legal in his country, then he should consider it a rather expensive lesson to trust others so easily. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.

[Questat]

I sent a guy a down payment on a car. I use a program called Electrum. After I sent him the money I figured out I was being scammed. Do I have any recourse? Any way to recover my money?

I don't want to say this but what you gonna do for now is to move on as you can no longer take back.
What happens to you serves a lesson not only for you but for everyone, especially for newcomers. This is all about TRUST and most of the time we get scammed by someone we think can be trusted even though we just met online in just a few days. I'm not against it but if we talk about money and investment, we should be cautious in dealing with them. That is why I suggest seeking advice from those people we trusted the most when dealing like this.

[NotATether]

I could not understand why would you pay someone for a car via cryptocurrency without first maybe knowing his background and whereabouts...like does he has an office or outlet where you can go to demand for the car you paid fully or partially? Me...I would never deal with anyone online because you don't know the other end of the line how real he is...for all you know he can be based somewhere in Africa and you are just one of his many victims.

If you would see the previous posts, OP stated that the scammer gave the information of the car, plate number to be exact that gave him the idea of the location of the car, and he also acquired the name but is not sure if it is the owner. But yeah, Op should not give a down payment. The information given is insufficient and a better thing to do in this kind of situation is to get to the location first and go there, check the car before giving money.

So this was all done P2P?

I would never do a P2P transaction for an asset as expensive as a car (not even with cryptocurrency), and I'm pretty sure most people here wouldn't either.

At the minimum, you have to meet the person you're about to send the transaction to and the car must also be there, in addition to the car key - although in that case a down payment sounds more strange to ask for, since the owner would have no way to evict the buyer if they default on the full amount (I am not talking about OP) since said person can just speed off to a different place and change the license plate.

[Z-tight]

I sent a guy a down payment on a car. I use a program called Electrum. After I sent him the money I figured out I was being scammed. Do I have any recourse? Any way to recover my money?

Since you said you sent the coins to 'a guy', then you didn't buy it from a company or from an official car dealer, but probably from someone who wanted to sell off their personal car. In that case, you should know the person and must have seen the car you wanted to buy, so if the person is located anywhere near you, report to your local police and narrate this incident. But if you met a stranger online and you wanted to purchase a car from them using BTC, then that is a strange behaviour and there is no way you can get your money back.

[Latviand]

Others have already pointed out that this money is unfortunately irreversibly lost. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, there's nobody to change is back to the way it was before. But if a person gave someone a down payment in cash, it would be the same. With a bank transaction, the chances of actually convincing the bank to cancel a transaction of the ground of being scammed without going to court also seems highly unlikely to me, though. And the window when the bank hasn't actually sent the money yet isn't big, it's around a couple of days. So being ripped off is a very unfortunate situation, but it would be hard to navigate with fiat money as well, if we're being realistic.

If you have the necessary information to back up your claim that you are getting scammed, the bank will definitely consider freezing the scammers account or even help you and law enforcement to track down the scammer which is one of the few selling points of doing bank transactions for something like this. I wouldn't say that it's difficult to navigate fiat money, the problem is financial literacy isn't a thing for many people so they don't know a lot about money even though they're adults, just ask your local financial advisor about different financial questions you've got, pretty sure they're going to help you.

I feel bad for what happened to OP but at the same time a bit appalled that OP trusted someone online especially when it involves money. Plus points for OP though for not being bothered too much from getting ripped off.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

I don't think the guy actually owns the car but the plates on the car are New Jersey <...

I can tell you live in the United States, because we have a lot of people from poor countries on the forum for whom 55.58663 mBTC is a lot of money.

Curious also that I have looked at the transaction in blockchair and it marks the scammer's address as change address. I guess because it is the most common scenario. Anyway, as they have already told you, there is nothing you can do but report him to the authorities.

[lombok]

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

I don't think the guy actually owns the car but the plates on the car are New Jersey <...

I can tell you live in the United States, because we have a lot of people from poor countries on the forum for whom 55.58663 mBTC is a lot of money.

Curious also that I have looked at the transaction in blockchair and it marks the scammer's address as change address. I guess because it is the most common scenario. Anyway, as they have already told you, there is nothing you can do but report him to the authorities.

It seems that it is not possible to return funds that have been transferred via BTC. The only way is to meet the person in person and ask him to send BTC back.

Well, maybe reporting it to the authorities by including evidence and telling the chronology could help.

A little advice for the OP, don't make crypto transactions if you really don't trust someone. Because if you have already made a transaction, the transaction cannot be returned unilaterally.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

The only way is to meet the person in person and ask him to send BTC back.

I think he has zero chances to meet that person. And if the scammer has been a little careful, even the police won't find him. Another thing is that this is the only thing the OP can do, to report it. I would do that if I were him.

[DabsPoorVersion]

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If OP already has information about that car such as the license plate number, he just needs to report to the police and they will easily find out the owner's information of that car. And if he saved the conversation between the two, he would have full proof that he was a victim of fraud and just need to report to the police, everything would be easier to resolve. Unless bitcoin is not legal in his country, then he should consider it a rather expensive lesson to trust others so easily. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.

Yes, reporting it to he authorities should be the first thing to do. But OP is not sure if the scammer is the same person as the real owner of the car. It is possible that the identity of the car owner was used to sell the car at a reasonable price, ask fo the money, and scam the people.

So this was all done P2P?

I would never do a P2P transaction for an asset as expensive as a car (not even with cryptocurrency), and I'm pretty sure most people here wouldn't either.

At the minimum, you have to meet the person you're about to send the transaction to and the car must also be there, in addition to the car key - although in that case a down payment sounds more strange to ask for, since the owner would have no way to evict the buyer if they default on the full amount (I am not talking about OP) since said person can just speed off to a different place and change the license plate.

Yes, it's P2P, however, through online transaction. As I understand the statement of OP, he sent the payment and then realized that he was scammed. If only OP did see the car physically before paying, he must've avoided being scammed.

[YOSHIE]

I sent a guy a down payment on a car. I use a program called Electrum. After I sent him the money I figured out I was being scammed. Do I have any recourse? Any way to recover my money?

Can we just try to think a little, don't trust people we just met in cyberspace, without knowing their true origins, There are many modes of fraud outside this forum, a thousand ways for fraudsters to catch their predators which can be caught via cyberspace, there are also many out there who understand Bitcoin transactions or other types of crypto, Without them coming and studying here, the internet/Google has become a hotbed of information for all kinds of actions that can be exploited by fraudsters, so be careful when it comes to digital currency.

Question....!
* How can you trust people for car buying and selling transactions, you can easily send Bitcoin to that person. without thinking even a little negative things.
* As far as I know, before we make a down payment to purchase a car, we have to fill out a form first and fill in our personal data, then the down payment is paid at the car location/showroom.
* What's the story? You trusted that person, without asking them anything, like the address and so on, you easily sent Bitcoin to that person, were you hypnotized.

OP, if you want your money back, look for that person, to be held accountable for his actions because he has cheated you of 55 mBTC. Because you know the person outside the forum, not here.

[Blitzboy]

It breaks my heart to hear about your loss. When you use  Bitcoin, transactions are meant to be permanent. This is an important part of their open nature. Even though Electrum is a trustworthy program, it cant undo or cancel deals that have already been confirmed. Once you send the money, it's usually gone for good.

You can tell the police about the scam, though, since you have the wallet ID and the transaction ID (if your government does support the people). Because Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous, it is tricky to track down and get back stolen money. However, police have been able to do it in some cases. Make sure you keep all of the paperwork and proof of the deal. Even if the chances arent great, its important to speak out against such sneaky behavior. Please take this as a serious warning to always check twice and be careful when you're shopping online

[Razmirraz]

I am sorry for the sad incident that happened to you.
Once the transaction is confirmed, there is nothing you can do anymore, the Bitcoin has officially changed hands. I don't know what was going through your mind at that time that made it so easy to trust other people by sending them Bitcoin that was supposed to be used for a down payment on a car.
You can carry out an investigation to track down the man's whereabouts, but if you don't know him directly or the people closest to the man, you have to say goodbye to the Bitcoin you sent to the man.

[Rruchi man]

Sorry about your loss, this is another example of people who make use of cryptocurrency for dubious purpose. Sometimes when you want to purchase something for someone online, never accept to pay them with bitcoins especially when they are people or individuals you have not done business with before, and just meeting for the first time.

Ask for bank details, so you can always confirm the identity and name of the person provided with the name on the account, this will make things easier to trace in such cases.

I don't think the guy actually owns the car but the plates on the car are New Jersey - 12845QQ and he gave me a name of Damon Eden

You were scammed. forget any personal detail that was given to you, it is fake, or the identity of another person.