For those of you that like trading bitcoin physically, learn the usual lesson

[sokani]

He also said he wanted to buy the USDT in person as it saved him trading fees.

What a lame reason for opting to trade USDT in person. He'd have lost everything because he was trying not to pay trading fees on exchange. For christ sake, safety always comes first. He's very lucky to have escaped with a swollen eye and I'm sure he won't dare try it again.

[Darker45]

He also said he wanted to buy the USDT in person as it saved him trading fees.

What a lame reason for opting to trade USDT in person. He'd have lost everything because he was trying not to pay trading fees on exchange. For christ sake, safety always comes first. He's very lucky to have escaped with a swollen eye and I'm sure he won't dare try it again.

Exactly! That was a $24,000 transaction, what was he thinking risking his safety just to save on fees? For goodness' sake! That's what he got for penny pinching. It's not like he'll be wasting a thousand for transaction fees anyway. And whatever fee he'll be paying, it's not even wasted. He's also paying for his and his funds' safety with it.

And why a carpark? Why did he even approve it? They're not swapping contrabands or whatever illegal. He wasn't into a cheap transaction either. This young man made terrible decisions.

[Mpamaegbu]

It's a bad idea going the way ZK, the buyer, went. He could've been killed for his money. It sounds crazy to me whenever I read that someone attempted having a physical crypto exchange. Honestly, it does. According to the article, ZK wanted to save transaction fee and that was why he embarked on such senseless pursuit. You've a government that allows you transact cryptos in peace and you don't want to give back to the bank? That's wickedness. He even had the guts to report the incident to the police. I wish my country would get to this point where fans of this industry will be allowed to execute transactions through the bank without restriction and accounts put on surveillance.

[Ojima-ojo]

The truth is that, I have never get involved in physical Bitcoin trading, and all my days I have always use excahges p2p to change my bitcoin at each point in time, and I am ok with that, between that also, I have a friend who leaves in another country, and he told me that it's via physical trading that he deals on all his virtual assets, and the only risk he mostly talked about is that he spends more since the rate is usually low compared to online p2p that there is market competitions.


Aside the low rate in selling, I think also that security is another challenge that those physical traders could also face, this is because since Bitcoin is not legal in such a country to allow online p2p it is risk on the side of the seller because he may likely be under attacks and Bitcoin or USDT stolen without any form of help fron the police since it illegal deals.

[moneystery]

making offline transactions is quite dangerous because we don't know what kind of person we will meet, whether he is a criminal or not. personally, every time i make an offline transaction, i usually do it in a crowded place and accompanied by at least 3 of my friends. it does seem excessive, but as a preventive measure, i prefer that.

[Kelward]

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

It is very dangerous to trade with a stranger you just met on social media. Telegram has proved to be the number one scam social media platform. Even if I want to engage in physical trading, it will be in a public place, maybe a bank, supermarket or popular restaurant. Depending on the amount I won't mind involving a third party. It will be difficult to be robbed in these public places since people are already present. Trading should also be done during the day and not late at night. Changing the location is a red flag that should have been considered by any trader. Physical P2P can easily expose the identity of traders, thereby exposing them to risk. This is why I would also prefer to exchange my coins in a reputable decentralized exchange. 

Bitcoin holders should be very careful, alert and vigilant when they are  doing physical p2p transactions with a total stranger because they don't know if the person has criminal intentions. If for any reason that a Bitcoin holder wants to trade Bitcoin with a stranger it must be in an open place where there are many people. I've heard a lot of stories about how people were robbed and injured in the process of physical p2p transactions. Also hodlers who let a lot of people to know that they're holding Bitcoin, they're also easy targets for attacks. Privacy matters a lot when it comes to holding Bitcoin because you're your own bank and criminals will like to steal your coins. If for any reason you lose your private keys and seed phrase, your coins can be lost forever.

[Odohu]

One of the key benefit of Bitcoin is the comfort and privacy it offers so anyone going against this time trade physically is not doing the right thing and this can expose him to all sort of security risks such as was the case described. Bitcoin does not need physical meeting because everything can be completed only just that some persons take because of KYC and transaction fees as excuse for physical trading ignoring the fact that the risk outweighs the cost they are trying to cut. Physical trading should be avoided at all cost.

[avp2306]

It is very dangerous to trade with a stranger you just met on social media. Telegram has proved to be the number one scam social media platform. Even if I want to engage in physical trading, it will be in a public place, maybe a bank, supermarket or popular restaurant. Depending on the amount I won't mind involving a third party. It will be difficult to be robbed in these public places since people are already present. Trading should also be done during the day and not late at night. Changing the location is a red flag that should have been considered by any trader. Physical P2P can easily expose the identity of traders, thereby exposing them to risk. This is why I would also prefer to exchange my coins in a reputable decentralized exchange. 

Bitcoin holders should be very careful, alert and vigilant when they are  doing physical p2p transactions with a total stranger because they don't know if the person has criminal intentions. If for any reason that a Bitcoin holder wants to trade Bitcoin with a stranger it must be in an open place where there are many people. I've heard a lot of stories about how people were robbed and injured in the process of physical p2p transactions. Also hodlers who let a lot of people to know that they're holding Bitcoin, they're also easy targets for attacks. Privacy matters a lot when it comes to holding Bitcoin because you're your own bank and criminals will like to steal your coins. If for any reason you lose your private keys and seed phrase, your coins can be lost forever.

I don't see any point doing  p2p transaction now while the fact is we can buy bitcoin anywhere. There's lot of platform now allow fiat to bitcoin transaction so with these development happened they don't need to deal with random people then take the risk then hope that they don't  deal with crazy guy which intention is to scam people.

Also as long as you know how to deal with your bitcoins for sure you can avoid those dangers you mentioned here. We always need to be vigilant and be silent regarding on our bitcoin holding since there's no need to flaunt it publicly and if we are secretive on each things we do for sure we are totally safe from any harm.

Lots of ways to be safe and we just need to know and acknowledge those risk so that we can easily determine what is good and bad for us.

[knowngunman]

This is a very dangerous thing to do most especially if you’re in a country where bitcoin or cryptocurrency is banned or restricted. I don’t know the condition that made the ZK guy to actually decide to do a physical P2P it might be that the country doesn’t support cryptocurrency which made it a bad choice. In as much as we frown at submitting KYC to centralized exchanges I think this is even worse than that.

The incident happened in Singapore and I don't think cryptocurrency is banned or neither restricted. The victim was just reckless for making such mistake. It's insane to have a transaction of such amount with a total stranger without a recommendation from a trusted person. To make it worse, they met on telegram that's widely believed as a scammers den. Safety should always come first when making any transaction offline, changing location after initial agreement should raise a concern thou.

I don't see any point doing  p2p transaction now while the fact is we can buy bitcoin anywhere. There's lot of platform now allow fiat to bitcoin transaction so with these development happened they don't need to deal with random people then take the risk then hope that they don't  deal with crazy guy which intention is to scam people.

It's all the same by the way but the transaction is not about bitcoin, it's tether USDT. Most platforms that supports fiat to crypto transactions are mostly KYCed and that's why some people prefer P2P. Although, I don't think that's the case with the victim involved in the story and moreover, there are few platforms that offer such services without requesting for KYC.

[Zlantann]

He also said he wanted to buy the USDT in person as it saved him trading fees.

What a lame reason for opting to trade USDT in person. He'd have lost everything because he was trying not to pay trading fees on exchange. For christ sake, safety always comes first. He's very lucky to have escaped with a swollen eye and I'm sure he won't dare try it again.

The excuse is not acceptable. Risking your life because you want to save a few dollars is not worth it. I was thinking that his country placed restrictions on crypto trade or he wanted to avoid centralized platforms because of privacy. But seeing that it was because the trader was the only one available and due to the need to save transaction fees, I see it as an unnecessary risk. My country placed high tax on trading crypto but I prefer to use them than trade with a random person on Telegram. I also think he was lucky that they were not armed with handguns. The case would have turned more violent or even fatal  

And why a carpark? Why did he even approve it? They're not swapping contrabands or whatever illegal. He wasn't into a cheap transaction either. This young man made terrible decisions.

Maybe the victim has something he was hiding or the attackers chose the location. He had to run to the nearest mall to get help, which meant trading it inside the mall would have been safer. He has learned his lesson the hard way. If you are not willing to deal with me in a public place, forget about the transaction.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Well from the changing off locations on a peer to peer is quite suspicious. Also thats a parking and the place isnt ideal and scary too for doing transaction and anything could happened now thats what happened.

Many users are comfortable on dealing with these kind which they should be wary especially some arent all trusted. We are talking about crypto asset and some are just interested on whats on your purse.

[GiftedMAN]

Sadly, OOP did not follow the typical precautionary measures.

IMO, I would avoid trading such big amounts face to face esp with a person I don't know. There were other red flags as well such as finding a buyer on telegram and buyer changing the location to parking lot last minute lol I could smell assault from a mile. Then again, OOP is pretty young -- 19 years old.

No amount should make you to accept doing a physical trading because Imho it is too dangerous and you could be abducted after having a successful trading with the person you know. Regardless of the amount involved, you may be fortunate to trade with someone you know the person may have other things in mind but he will decide to make you build trust in him so that you wouldn't be scared to stop trading with him but when you less expected he may do some dangerous things to you as a result of you trusting him.

The case of the 19 years old is a very big error because from the explanation of the op, the boy is supposed to have understood that going alone to meet someone who wants to trade with such amount of money could be dangerous and he would have made some extra safety measures by having someone go with him to the place, he's lucky he was not killed as the result of the punches.

[Stepstowealth]

No amount should make you to accept doing a physical trading because Imho it is too dangerous and you could be abducted after having a successful trading with the person you know.

There are people who have had very bad experience with online vendors who sell products for business, and the experience was so bad that these people even after they started investing in Cryptocurrency still carry that phobia for online business transactions. People like this will easily accept offers to meet physically to a trade their Bitcoin because they may consider it safer since they will be able to see one on one the person who they're about to do business with, and because of this mindset, many of people like this fall victims which is very unfortunate. If you must trade Bitcoin physically make sure it is someone who you already have a relationship with even before you started investing in Bitcoin, not someone entirely new that you met online.

[Spaceman1000$]

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

The guy met the USDT seller on Telegram. What!!! Telegram that is full of scammers. He said he had no choice because the guy was the only one that reached out to him. The plan was to meet at a public mall but the USDT seller changed the location and he accepted. The new location is a car park where he was attacked.

Mothership reports that the teenager, known only as ‘ZK,’ was attacked by the men after meeting the crypto seller in a car park on August 29.

As the deal was going down, ZK claimed that the men, looking like “regular pedestrians,” passed by before one of them punched him across his left cheek.

Afraid that the men were trying to steal his cash, ZK says he bolted to the nearest mall and shouted for help. They allegedly chased after him, but ZK says he managed to outrun them and report the incident to police.

Offline USDT sale abandoned after buyer gets punched in face

Why would anyone do that in the first place, first thing first, there are centralized exchanges you can sell your Bitcoin to get USDT instead of looking for a physical merchant. However if the person has been selling his Bitcoin physically to a merchant and he notices that there is a change in location from the initial agreed location, his instinct would have told him that something suspicious will happen. He was even lucky for trying to outrun his attackers because if they had caught him, they definitely would have collected everything he was carrying. the whole idea of meeting physically was ill conceived and shouldn't be encouraged.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Why would anyone do that in the first place, first thing first, there are centralized exchanges you can sell your Bitcoin to get USDT instead of looking for a physical merchant.

I agree that such trade is very risky even leads to death but USDT is not the main cause or ultimate ending of trade. If you are not able to use your bitcoin or USDT directly for purchases at stores, merchants, you will need to cash it out. Trade USDT to Cash and use cash at stores, merchants can be only ultimate payment method for many people.

However if the person has been selling his Bitcoin physically to a merchant and he notices that there is a change in location from the initial agreed location, his instinct would have told him that something suspicious will happen. He was even lucky for trying to outrun his attackers because if they had caught him, they definitely would have collected everything he was carrying. the whole idea of meeting physically was ill conceived and shouldn't be encouraged.

The luck stays on his side this time but it hardly comes in future or supports him many extra times.

A hard lesson learned but the person must learned it by heart and won't repeat this risky trading style again.

[Wakate]

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

The guy met the USDT seller on Telegram. What!!! Telegram that is full of scammers. He said he had no choice because the guy was the only one that reached out to him. The plan was to meet at a public mall but the USDT seller changed the location and he accepted. The new location is a car park where he was attacked.

Mothership reports that the teenager, known only as ‘ZK,’ was attacked by the men after meeting the crypto seller in a car park on August 29.

As the deal was going down, ZK claimed that the men, looking like “regular pedestrians,” passed by before one of them punched him across his left cheek.

Afraid that the men were trying to steal his cash, ZK says he bolted to the nearest mall and shouted for help. They allegedly chased after him, but ZK says he managed to outrun them and report the incident to police.

Offline USDT sale abandoned after buyer gets punched in face

This kind of incident do happen often that is why we need to be very careful how we transact our cryptocurrency. Normally if trust is involved, we don't have to trade crypto in physical because this could lead to an attack if the place is nothing safe enough. It is good we get an escrow rather than going to meet client to trade cryptocurrency. Their are lots of people that have lost their lives because of making the mistake of trading with gangsters without knowing what they are capable of doing physically. Making use of escrow is a good option or rather going to exchange to trade the coin to another coin or better still fiat currency. I think the newbies would have learn from this kind of mistakes.

[DudeAtWork420]

These are silly mistakes that ought not to have happened. It is best one avoids physical meeting to sell or buy crypto than to expose your identity. These days transactions of such nature are very risky because you do not know who you are going to meet and once your identity is exposed, you never can tell  the next move of your deal partner if they would trail you to your living house or not because. You never can tell who they must have sent to go before them to watch you and monitor your movement and you just can not tell their intentions. This is the reason why one needs to be careful when engaging in such activity. Make sure you choose a public place where people can see you but can not be able to get what you are doing if your country law is against crypto. Be careful and stay safe while dealing on physical p2p.

[Stable090]

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

The guy met the USDT seller on Telegram. What!!! Telegram that is full of scammers. He said he had no choice because the guy was the only one that reached out to him. The plan was to meet at a public mall but the USDT seller changed the location and he accepted. The new location is a car park where he was attacked.

If I am converting my coin into my local currency, then I will make use of a reputable exchange and make use of their p2p so that the exchange will serve as a third party, and in case things go wrong, then the exchange will be able to intervene, but contacting someone on Telegram or any social media and requesting to meet physically just to make a transaction is really risky, and anything can happen even if it’s in a public space.
 
I have seen different people being robbed in public spaces, and they do drive away without being caught, so don’t think because it’s a public space anything won’t happen. When money is involved, then expect anything from anyone, so we just have to be very careful, and I won’t really tell anyone to involve themselves in transactions like this because your life is at risk. You might not even be attacked at the spot, but you might be followed and attacked where they know is silent.

[Asiska02]

This is not about bitcoin but USDT but it is a lesson for those people that like to trade their coins physically. Such people do not like themselves at all. It can lead to attack.

The guy met the USDT seller on Telegram. What!!! Telegram that is full of scammers. He said he had no choice because the guy was the only one that reached out to him. The plan was to meet at a public mall but the USDT seller changed the location and he accepted. The new location is a car park where he was attacked.

For most of the time I came to know about cryptocurrency and first got in touch with the telegram platform, I was very sceptical about the social media platform because it was already at that known as a place for scammers. It occurred to me that I already knew much about the place before even engaging in the platform fully. If not for the first hand knowledge I had, I know I would have been scammed several times in that platform. Knowledge is key and if you’re able to get the knowledge before engaging, it’ll save you from a lot of things including losing money to scammers or even self mistakes. There are a lot of accessible informations online that will guide you and not to fall to scam before realising there mistakes.

The change of location was already a red flag and should have looked into that and not gone and meet the person physically. The crypto space has now grown night we have a lot of trusted third party platforms that can make you engage in this type of transactions seamlessly and not having to put your life at risk. This should be a lesson to many that will have same thought. Nothing is more important to life, so it should be valued by all means. Meeting privately was even not suppose to be considered, if he’s going to meet them in private, he should have gone with someone and not just alone. This type of cases is rare though, maybe because people already know the risk behind it, so they go for the other platforms that offer such services.

[_act_]

He also said he wanted to buy the USDT in person as it saved him trading fees.

What a lame reason for opting to trade USDT in person. He'd have lost everything because he was trying not to pay trading fees on exchange. For christ sake, safety always comes first. He's very lucky to have escaped with a swollen eye and I'm sure he won't dare try it again.

Exactly! That was a $24,000 transaction, what was he thinking risking his safety just to save on fees? For goodness' sake! That's what he got for penny pinching. It's not like he'll be wasting a thousand for transaction fees anyway. And whatever fee he'll be paying, it's not even wasted. He's also paying for his and his funds' safety with it.

It is good to know that he did not lose the money. As someone attacked him, he was able to run to a public place and asked for help. He was lucky that the money was not stolen from him. Which means the attack was not also planned properly. If the attack was planned properly, likely he would have been kidnapped or so.  Nothing was stolen from him but just a warning that we should not trade crypto physically as it is dangerous.