Fake Escrow Scam (impersonating Bitcointalk member)

[jbdee]

Hi,
Someone tried to scam me using a fake account, impersonating shasan (Bitcointalk member that has an escrow service) and impersonating a localcoinswap trader.

The scammer has the ID @Adv3ntur0us in his bio but this is NOT his real telegram ID, he's impersonating Adv3ntur0us from LocalCoinSwap
He contacted me directly on Telegram saying he cannot login on Bitcointalk, and asked to buy ETH with XMR or BTC, saying we should use shasan escrow service or localcoinswap.
We finally decided to use shasan escrow service, so he opened a group chat a COPY of shasan telegram account with same name, same photo, no ID at first then he created the ID sashan32 (which is NOT the real one, the real one is shasan32, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1883627).

He first sent me a video of his wallet 0x8cd9f5d939a7c376436fd961a0ef15bca8ac3176 on his phone, supposed to be on ETH with 75k USDT, but in fact the wallet is empty. I don't know if he really owns this wallet.
And for the escrow deal, they asked me to send the funds to 0xB54562D87E53505348949C9E51c203d6465E3C0A, so for this one I'm sure the scammers own this wallet, the transactions show withdrawals from OKX and MEXC, if someone knows how I can report those scammers to these websites please let me know.

I have a voice note of the scammer:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/08fve8b2bim3mhxb24584/record-scammer-telegram-5-february-2025.aac?rlkey=igja5xnqm0082d67bmnbogswo&st=fqbioayl&dl=1

And here is the screenshot of his telegram but he probably already deleted his account...


If someone shows you a wallet with big balances, always go check on the blockchain if it's true, and if you want to verify he owns it, ask him to sign a message with his wallet and verify it.
Stay safe and always double check addresses and Telegram ID (or other social IDs).

EDIT:
As  Hazink pointed it out, this is the same scammer as in the topic: Awareness of fake impersonation

Here is the page to report stolen funds transferred to a MEXC account:
https://www.mexc.com/support/requests/report

I've reported the scam and the wallets addresses to MEXC:
TDabETSNoQzV3JcXQjuLyN19dTa7baaWxJ
TRESNhy3ETk4Wye4L88RnDwjsUVrm67We9
0xB54562D87E53505348949C9E51c203d6465E3C0A

MEXC replied:

Regarding the issue you reported, if you got scammed or fraud. please contact your local judicial authorities promptly to file a report. Inform the authorities to submit a law enforcement request ticket via the following link. Once we receive the law enforcement request, we will process it as soon as possible.

Law Enforcement Ticket Application Link: https://www.mexc.com/support/requests/legal

Alternate Link: https://www.mexc.co/support/requests/legal

1. Once the judicial agency submits the document, please provide the judicial agency's email address so that the relevant departments can further follow up on your case.

2. Judicial authorities are required to submit law enforcement orders within 48 hours. Failure to do so within the specified time frame will result in the platform lifting restrictions on the reported account.

3. Please note that all requests MUST be submitted in English or accompanied by a certified English translation.

As I didn't get scammed, I can't report it to my authorities (it'll be useless).
So if someone got scammed by this guy, please report it again to MEXC and follow their instructions.

[Hazink]

That scammer in question has scammed people here in this forum, even ranked members. In fact, an awareness of his impersonation was created by AB de Royse777 here. Awareness of fake impersonation for the impersonator to know the person, like minerjones, bittawm, and others, means the person will be a member of this forum to know exactly the profiles to impersonate. This is the reason why most people don’t like using Telegram because of too much of such type of scam that happens around the Telegram community.

[minerjones]

NO ESCROW ON TELEGRAM.... how many times do I have to say this?!?!?!?!?

[acroman08]

would you mind reuploading the images you shared on "https://www.talkimg.com/" so people do not get a surprise download when they click the link you shared? thanks!

[BitMaxz]

Be careful dealing in Telegram; there are lots of scammers on this platform, and they can easily manipulate it and use the same name that looks legit.
That's why I don't like to answer who directly PMs on Telegram because most of them are scammers.
Before you deal with someone, always make sure to ask it here on the forum, including signing a message, to make sure you are dealing with the real one, not the impostor.

Recently, I heard AB de Royse777 with the same case, so don't deal too much in telegram if you receive some direct messages, even if it's your friend, since impostors can easily use the same name. I'm glad that you didn't fall for this scam attempt.

[jbdee]

NO ESCROW ON TELEGRAM.... how many times do I have to say this?!?!?!?!?

I contacted the real shasan on his post and on his real Telegram to verify first (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5475140.msg65029321#msg65029321), I knew it was a scam but I played along to get as much as information I could.
The funny part is that he said I was the scammer before insulting me and deleting the whole group chat, he lost his patience as I was not falling for the scam 

So far I can see we have few of his wallets addresses, they all link to MEXC, we need to contact someone there that can freeze the funds.
Also we have the voice record, maybe it can help to identify him

would you mind reuploading the images you shared on "https://www.talkimg.com/" so people do not get a surprise download when they click the link you shared? thanks!

Done and I updated in the main post 

[albon]

The scammer telegram ID is @Adv3ntur0us.
He contacted me directly on Telegram saying he cannot login on Bitcointalk, and asked to buy ETH with XMR or BTC, saying we should use shasan escrow service or localcoinswap.
We finally decided to use shasan escrow service, so he opened a group chat a COPY of shasan telegram account with same name, same photo, no ID at first then he created the ID sashan32 (which is NOT the real one, the real one is shasan32, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1883627).

This is not the scammer's username; instead, it is the official username of the expert trader Adv3ntur0us on [LocalCoinSwap], who has conducted a total of 221 trades with a total volume of $108,529.00 USD. All the scammer did was place this trader's username in his bio to make it appear as if it were his own, but that is not the case.



This scammer claimed to have this large amount in his wallet because he was impersonating this trader, but the fool forgot that blockchain data is publicly visible!  

In any case, it’s good that you, OP, didn’t fall victim to this scam. It’s clear from the scammer’s wallet addresses that after successfully stealing from someone, he transfers the stolen assets to exchanges; I hope that the affected users track him down and report him to have the funds frozen.

[DPHOR]

NO ESCROW ON TELEGRAM.... how many times do I have to say this?!?!?!?!?

Whatever business that moves out from the forum to other places are likely to be scam attempts therefore while we deal with such people we should be extremely careful because they can impersonate a reputation person by changing their telegram username. I think there was time someone sent me private message on my telegram saying all sort of nonsense I know his intentions was to scam me but I never pay attention to what he was blabbing, the next action I took was to block him.

[yahoo62278]

Same guy contacted me and sent these messages

> Adv3ntur0us:
Hi mate

> Adv3ntur0us:
Do you sell/swap crypto?

> Adv3ntur0us:
I need btc

His handle is @maiImancrypto on my message. I just ignore this shit.

If you did not post you are looking for a crypto trade and someone randomly messages you, just block them immediately. If you did seek a crypto trade, pm the user you plan on using as an escrow here on bitcointalk. Wait for their reply and proceed according to the messages you receive here. Do not do anything on telegram until you verify you are speaking with the actual person you messaged on the forum. Have them verify they messaged you on telegram.

[freedomgo]

These scammers are ruthless, no mercy at all! Shasan has already been scammed multiple times through his lending service, and now they’re even using his name to run an escrow scam. 

Good thing you’re sharp, OP! You caught the mistake "sashan32" instead of his real forum name. That small detail might have saved you and others from falling for it. Great job for sharing!

[jbdee]

Here is the page to report stolen funds transferred to a MEXC account:
https://www.mexc.com/support/requests/report

I've reported the scam and the wallets addresses to MEXC:
TDabETSNoQzV3JcXQjuLyN19dTa7baaWxJ
TRESNhy3ETk4Wye4L88RnDwjsUVrm67We9
0xB54562D87E53505348949C9E51c203d6465E3C0A

@albon:
Thanks for the info, I updated the main post.

@DPHOR & @yahoo62278 & @freedomgo:
Even tho it might be a waste of time, we should play along to get more info about them, then post the info publicly so we can help others identify them and report them, hopefully we can get the funds frozen on the centralized exchanges.

[shasan]

Impersonating on telegram is too much easy as on telegram if anyone searches on the username of a user then the search result shows the result which includes on name as well as username. In this case, no one can take advantage if the user checks the username properly instead of the name of the user. And I suggest not to make any financial deal via telegram.

[Crypto Library]

Same guy contacted me and sent these messages

> Adv3ntur0us:
Hi mate

> Adv3ntur0us:
Do you sell/swap crypto?

> Adv3ntur0us:
I need btc

His handle is @maiImancrypto on my message. I just ignore this shit.

If you did not post you are looking for a crypto trade and someone randomly messages you, just block them immediately. If you did seek a crypto trade, pm the user you plan on using as an escrow here on bitcointalk. Wait for their reply and proceed according to the messages you receive here. Do not do anything on telegram until you verify you are speaking with the actual person you messaged on the forum. Have them verify they messaged you on telegram.

It looks like this guys  was already famous he is also sending me messages.
I myself wanted to ignore it at first, but I replied to do some digging, and now that I'm back on the forum, I see that it's already gone viral.
Now he is hiding his name on telegram.  And just now when I give him this thread link he just block me lol.

[marbet85]

Same guy contacted me and sent these messages

> Adv3ntur0us:
Hi mate

> Adv3ntur0us:
Do you sell/swap crypto?

> Adv3ntur0us:
I need btc

His handle is @maiImancrypto on my message. I just ignore this shit.

If you did not post you are looking for a crypto trade and someone randomly messages you, just block them immediately. If you did seek a crypto trade, pm the user you plan on using as an escrow here on bitcointalk. Wait for their reply and proceed according to the messages you receive here. Do not do anything on telegram until you verify you are speaking with the actual person you messaged on the forum. Have them verify they messaged you on telegram.

It looks like this guys  was already famous he is also sending me messages.
I myself wanted to ignore it at first, but I replied to do some digging, and now that I'm back on the forum, I see that it's already gone viral.
Now he is hiding his name on telegram.  And just now when I give him this thread link he just block me lol.

Ye, he sent many messages, 10 days also for me what I upload with previous thread 

[shasan]

t looks like this guys  was already famous he is also sending me messages.
I myself wanted to ignore it at first, but I replied to do some digging, and now that I'm back on the forum, I see that it's already gone viral.
Now he is hiding his name on telegram.  And just now when I give him this thread link he just block me lol.

I think the main source of income of this person is scamming. The scam is being caused by a fake trade or escrow service or something like that. On 27th January the person tried to use me as escrow but later came to trade instead of taking me as escrow. At that time Royese as escrow. And created a group with me and royese (the fake account of royese but the same name and same profile photo) I opened the message of royese then came to know that it was fake as we had the previous discussion. Then I told the person to scammer (to scam you must have to be oversmart) the person blocked me and deleted the chat. I had not posted here as the conversation was deleted and there is no benefit as impersonating is a common fact.

[aioc]

Recently, I heard AB de Royse777 with the same case, so don't deal too much in telegram if you receive some direct messages, even if it's your friend, since impostors can easily use the same name. I'm glad that you didn't fall for this scam attempt.

You have to verify it first on another platform where you usually communicate; they targeted highly reputable members and the scheme is well planned, If you are new to this scheme, you will fall victim, This is the reason I discard Telegram and prefer other social media platforms, so I can verify through video call if its a close friends
Telegram can easily manipulate username configuration, so you need to have good eyes for details.

[shasan]

You have to verify it first on another platform where you usually communicate; they targeted highly reputable members and the scheme is well planned, If you are new to this scheme, you will fall victim, This is the reason I discard Telegram and prefer other social media platforms, so I can verify through video call if its a close friends
Telegram can easily manipulate username configuration, so you need to have good eyes for details.

I think before dealing with anyone the financial information must be shared via the bitcointalk forum instead of telegram. The Telegram conversation can be done only for the purpose of fast communication. Other than that there is no use of the telegram in our life. So, to avoid scams via telegram there is no other alternative except to avoid transactions via telegram.

[jbdee]

MEXC replied and asked me to report it to my local authorities, but I haven't been scammed so it's pointless for my case, but if anyone has been scammed, please read the main post I put the details how to report correctly the scammer and get his funds frozen on MEXC.

[albon]

MEXC replied and asked me to report it to my local authorities, but I haven't been scammed so it's pointless for my case, but if anyone has been scammed, please read the main post I put the details how to report correctly the scammer and get his funds frozen on MEXC.

Thank you for your attempt. They will take the complaints of those who have been scammed seriously but not others who have not.

If my memory serves me right, I believe that what1005 was scammed by the same scammer who impersonates well-known escrow providers on the forum via Telegram. He was scammed 17 days ago.

I’m not sure if he can still report it to MEXC now and if they can help him or if the time limit has passed and the scammer has already managed to cash out the funds!

@what1005, have you tried contacting MEXC? Were you able to file a report with the local authorities, or did you ignore the matter?

[Lafu]

MEXC replied and asked me to report it to my local authorities, but I haven't been scammed so it's pointless for my case, but if anyone has been scammed, please read the main post I put the details how to report correctly the scammer and get his funds frozen on MEXC.

Mostly the funds or the Account only gets frozen if there is an official Request from the public prosecutor or the police from the victim from that country the victim are living.
Without that the chances are mostly zero that there will be something happen with that Account on the Exchange , even there will be sended some evidence from normal Users and people.
I got that a lot of times where we have found some Accounts from the Hackers here on the Forum on different Exchanges and i have sended Emails and all to them.
The law is mostly the end here and they get away.