I was ripped off

[Mr-C]

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 do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

[Cantsay]

I’m sorry for your loss and unfortunately you can’t recover your money back.

Since you’re dealing with bitcoin and not fiat or other coins that has a centralized body that can freeze the funds of an account at any point in time, bitcoin is decentralized. The only thing you can hope for right now is to pray that the scammer link the transaction to a wallet address that is tied to a public profile (that might reveal his identity) but I doubt that’s ever going to happen.

[OmegaStarScream]

 If the transaction is confirmed, there's isn't much you can do to reverse or cancel the payment, but if you have more information about this individual, maybe you can take it to law enforcement.

Can you post the address/TXID?

[The Cryptovator]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Bitcoin transaction. I assume the transaction has been confirmed yet; if so, there is no way to reverse or return it to you. Unfortunately, the funds are under the control of a scammer right now, and you lost them forever. Unless you know the receiver in real life, you can't take action against him. Even if you file a case with a legal authority, if Bitcoin is legal in your country, it will cost you more. Just make sure you know where you are sending funds next time to avoid being scammed.

[Mr-C]

If the transaction is confirmed, there's isn't much you can do to reverse or cancel the payment, but if you have more information about this individual, maybe you can take it to law enforcement.

Can you post the address/TXID?

I think this is what you are looking for - 7ff518aae3b8c95c530410aff6c37601c8a3cfda65cd960c3ad63a0551ac57a6

[BitMaxz]

I think this is what you are looking for - 7ff518aae3b8c95c530410aff6c37601c8a3cfda65cd960c3ad63a0551ac57a6

There's no way to reverse this transaction it has already had 454 confirmations. Only 0 confirmation can still be reversible.

How did you find this guy?
If you have more other info than wallet ID and transaction you can maybe still able to find that guy.
Like the full name or a plate number of the car if the guy gives you some pics of this car?

[Mr-C]

I think this is what you are looking for - 7ff518aae3b8c95c530410aff6c37601c8a3cfda65cd960c3ad63a0551ac57a6

There's no way to reverse this transaction it has already had 454 confirmations. Only 0 confirmation can still be reversible.

How did you find this guy?
If you have more other info than wallet ID and transaction you can maybe still able to find that guy.
Like the full name or a plate number of the car if the guy gives you some pics of this car?

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

[Mr.suevie]

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 do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

I would like think that you actually know the person you sent the coins to in real life because if you don't it's quite foolish to send someone that certain amount of Bitcoin for the purchase of a physical item like a car. Well like other have already said, if the transaction is already confirmed then its impossible to recover back your funds because Bitcoin transaction are irreversible when the transaction has been confirmed but if it hasn't been yet then you can simply cancel the transaction because the coins would have not been picked up by a miner yet who are the ones responsible for processing a transaction when it has been broadcasted.

[sokani]

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 do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

Sorry to hear about this and I would really like to know how you were scammed. Bitcoin is not a centralized asset that can be frozen when a complaint like this is made. But If the scammer sends the Bitcoin to a centralized exchange you can alert the exchange with proves that the owner scammed you during a business transactions. The cases where exchanges normally step in and freeze a scammer Bitcoin are mostly stolen or hacked Bitcoin that were traced to the exchange. I don't if you will have any luck recovering your bitcoin but you can still give it a try.

[aoluain]

So how did this actually happen?

Did you view the car in person or did you just do the transaction blindly after looking at
pictures of it?

and if so, why would you do that? sorry I'm finding it hard to understand how the
transaction went? how were you going to take ownership of the car?

I'm sorry it turned out like this for the OP but it really is a case of buyer beware

[gunhell16]

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 do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Thankfully is was only 55.58663 mBTC

Sorry, but you can't get it back once it's been sent to the address he gave you. Unless the person who scammed you sends the bitcoin back to you, The question is, how did he catch the dude?

The story you gave is not very detailed, but as long as you were really scammed, there is usually nothing that the victims of the scammer recover, and the only thing you can do is accept and learn from the mistake you made in that matter. That transaction ID can't do anything either because it can only give you so much.

[BitMaxz]

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

That's pretty bad if you didn't see him live on cam we can't able to trace if he provided a fake name and plate number but you still need to provide this to the police department or try to report the scammer on this link below then present all information that you mentioned here including the name and plate number they can maybe able to contact Damon Eden and trace who owns the plate number  "Jersey - 12845QQ".

- https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/

[digaran]

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

You didn't think he owned the car, or you don't think now that he wasn't the owner? Maybe  he offered a cheap price and you got greedy, thought you could have a cheap car and simply sent him the coins.  I wonder how you managed to operate electrum if you don't even know Bitcoin is irreversible?

Never purchase from unknown sources when paying with Bitcoin.

[Charles-Tim]

Never purchase from unknown sources when paying with Bitcoin.

It is not only when buying with bitcoin. Never purchase from unknown sources when paying with fiat as well. Scammers are still scamming people successfully in a way that fiat are sent to the scammer by the victims. There are many ways people can be scammed with fiat just like this in a way the fiat will not be traced to the scammer.

[red4slash]

For the first one, the thread might not be in the right place because I think it's possible to move it.
As for the problems that occur for you, it cannot be returned anymore because when the transaction has been confirmed, indirectly it will not be able to return to you even though there is an address and tx because in the end this already belongs to someone else.
Well things like this often happen so you need to be careful in transactions and make this a lesson because in the end I think even though not all of them but most people must have felt the same way as you now.
Quite sorry about this but you have to let go of your money because it is difficult to get it back even if it is only 55 mBTC it is still a loss and very regrettable when it is lost just like that.

[MusaMohamed]

Do I have any recourse? Any way to recover my money?

You lost your bitcoin forever except if you bring this case to police with good evidence for the trade as well as your trade partner, they can help you. But make sure that Bitcoin exchange is legally accepted in your nation. If it is illegal, not accepted yet in your nation, you will have trouble with police or police will not have reasons to help you.

I do have the guys wallet ID and the transaction ID.

Those ones are proofs of a transaction but if you don't know identity of that trade partner, those proofs are non sense.

Bitcoin transactions are irreversible so you sent your bitcoins, it means you lost it forever if sender won't send it back to you. Scammers surely don't send your bitcoins back to you.

Irreversible transactions.

I don't know how you was scammed but in a peer to peer trade, if you don't receive your payment, don't release (send) your bitcoin to your trade partner. You go first, you lose your bitcoin.

Use Escrow service can keep you safe.

[Helena Yu]

Bitcoin transactions are irreversible so you sent your bitcoins, it means you lost it forever if sender won't send it back to you. Scammers surely don't send your bitcoins back to you.

Bitcoin is irreversible when it's already has at least a confirmation (read this thread for more), if the transaction not yet confirmed, the @OP can reverse the transaction since he's the sender.

I don't know how you was scammed but in a peer to peer trade, if you don't receive your payment, don't release (send) your bitcoin to your trade partner. You go first, you lose your bitcoin.

Use Escrow service can keep you safe.

@OP is the sender, not the receiver.

The trade is happen in real life, which person you can trust? there are so many scammers in real life regardless their reputation or titles, even a police can be bribed to scam.

[adaseb]

Lately I noticed there are a lot of scams going on with used cars. Since cars are expensive now usually when a great deal pops up usually it gets sold right away.

However there are those that basically make fake ads, with great deals on a certain car and they create FOMO and basically usually buyer will send a deposit to hold the car and it’s usually a scam. You got to becareful out there.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Tough life and yet another lesson learned. 

At least you just lost a down payment (I guess) and didn't send him the full amount.
That's the problem with people using bitcoin and other coins without knowing what they are doing. Sure it looks convenient and the scammer convinced you it's safe, but trading with somebody you don't know and going first is just as risky as sending the cash to a post box.

Once the transaction was confirmed there is not much you can do.
Sure you can go to the police and file a report and maybe the scammer was stupid enough to cash out the btc at an exchange where he did KYC, but I doubt it.
These people are professionals, who knows in which altcoin are what not your btc have already been exchanged or traded.

Well, next time you know better I guess. Sorry for your loss!

[HajiBagi]

I'm sorry you lost, but I don't think there is anything you can do about it as long as the transaction is successful. In addition, the person is a scammer, and con artists always act with their knowledge. He might even give you a wallet that he isn't using all that much because the wallet will just be used once or even make it so that you can't even trace it anywhere. I believe this will also be the last time you give a bitcoin to a fraudster. Before engaging in any exchange, be sure to research the people you'll be working with because many online are not to be trusted.

I have seen someone scammed and they stole all his savings in his wallet, not even a single bitcoin is left there. If it is you, how will you feel? This thing tends to happen to newbies because some of them will not have experience sending someone who is capable of buying something with them. Therefore, we occasionally need to use caution online because there is always a high level of risk involved. However, if you exercise caution online, I don't think scammers will be able to take advantage of you as easily.