Scammed....am I stuck?

[mavencoin]

So I guess I just got scammed. I had remembered I hade a little of bitcoin held at localbitcoins.com I hade .057 that i bought in 2016 it was basically like $6990 they told me to remove it I had to open a wallet with Electurm so I did. I then transferred the partial coin and ended up with $101 USD.

Here is the transaction ID: 4c3e920e62b2fd4a2f7abcb337652d1c1e5c9082cfc3316ba7fbcb36bcc483df

How does this happen. What could I have done wrong when I followed all their directions?

I am assuming there is nothing I can do about this correct?

[Potato Chips]

Yeah, the transaction has 640 confirmations at the moment, and that's pretty much final. Sorry for your loss, OP.

One possibility is because maybe the directions were from scammers themselves? could you still pull up where you got the conversation?— upload the screenshot in https://www.talkimg.com/

[mavencoin]

Yes the site the partial coin was in is, which is now closing down is: https://localbitcoins.com/

The site they gave me with the instructions to withdraw was: https://localbitcoins.com/guides/how-to-withdraw

And here is the emails from their support team: https://app.screencast.com/FQogFlWhMPQEO

What a shame people do this. I still don't understand how they can steal it unless it is an inside job from that website that is closing that had my coins but again...what do you do or recourse do you have?

I guess I can be glad it was only $6900 USD but still very disappointing.

[coupable]

Who told you to move your bitcoin? And when they asked you to install Electrum wallet, did they gave you an address to transfer the bitcoin or asked you for a receiving address from the wallet you installed? I can't understand your point.
Please share a screenshot of the conversation.

Edit: localbitcoins shut down since months. How did you get in contact with them in July 17th 2025?
I can't read full conversation from shared video with my mobile.

[mavencoin]

Yes i took them out because they are closing down. And yes here is the form on their webpage that shows I had to enter my wallet address.

See video image here: https://app.screencast.com/Psq8Z8q30gp2T

[Potato Chips]

Yes the site the partial coin was in is, which is now closing down is: https://localbitcoins.com/

The site they gave me with the instructions to withdraw was: https://localbitcoins.com/guides/how-to-withdraw

And here is the emails from their support team: https://app.screencast.com/FQogFlWhMPQEO

What a shame people do this. I still don't understand how they can steal it unless it is an inside job from that website that is closing that had my coins but again...what do you do or recourse do you have?

I guess I can be glad it was only $6900 USD but still very disappointing.

Hmm. I don't see anything wrong from this. All the links are valid as well—assuming you used those. And you don't see this particular address in you electrum receiving addresses, correct? because it's where the .057 went— bc1qkxj7nrgqfevrznfg2huu85p08kdt344qc7qq5d. If you do though, check if your wallet is properly synced.

If the address in question cannot be found, my next theory would be a malware or something? Localbitcoins is reputable so I can't imagine them scamming..

[Ambatman]

Yes the site the partial coin was in is, which is now closing down is: https://localbitcoins.com/

The site they gave me with the instructions to withdraw was: https://localbitcoins.com/guides/how-to-withdraw

ahhhh
I knew there was something wrong when you said they gave a guide.
You downloaded the wrong electrum
It was a phishing scam

Code:

https://electrum.org/#download

The above is theirs
Below is the official website
https://electrum.org/

So sorry for your loss
Localbitcoin shutdown 2023, I thought everybody would have withdrawn their funds by now.

[mavencoin]

Hum are you sure? I was able to login to localbitcoins.com you can still login and all this support and instructions was coming from inside the site after being logged in. The other thing is if you go to https://electrum.org/ which is the correct site and then click on their download link it actually is: https://electrum.org/#download

So I am missing how they got me on a fishing scam. I could just totally be missing it. But see what I am saying about the electrum official site?

[Potato Chips]

Hum are you sure? I was able to login to localbitcoins.com you can still login and all this support and instructions was coming from inside the site after being logged in. The other thing is if you go to https://electrum.org/ which is the correct site and then click on their download link it actually is: https://electrum.org/#download

So I am missing how they got me on a fishing scam. I could just totally be missing it. But see what I am saying about the electrum official site?

No it's not a phishing website. electrum.org is the official domain/website, and the latter just redirects to a particular web page of the website in question.

But while we're on topic, could you try to verify if you downloaded the official release? see: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

Aside from getting the wallet from the official domain, we do this verification just to be extra sure.

[Su-asa]

I don't bother to check the transaction ID anymore because I guess the first comment have said it all. You ca not recover your crypto assets immediately the transactions have been confirmed and the funny thing is that it's not just about one configuration but multiple confirmations. So actually yuu just need to start over again but this time be more careful and don't listen to anyone you don't know.

[mavencoin]

I dont understand how when I follow the instructions of what is suppose to be a legit site then I still get scammed. Here is the version of the wallet I downloaded:

Version 4.6.0

Electrum's focus is speed, with low resource usage and simplifying Bitcoin. You do not need to perform regular backups, because your wallet can be recovered from a secret phrase that you can memorize or write on paper. Startup times are instant because it operates in conjunction with high-performance servers that handle the most complicated parts of the Bitcoin system.

Uses icons from the Icons8 icon pack (icons8.com).

I guess I will see what their response is from support when they get in tonight but sounds like its all over but the shouting.

[Dulen007]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. It feels really bad to think you had around $7k worth of Bitcoin and only ended up with $101.

From what I know, local BTC shut down, and there were many scammers pretending to help people withdraw their coins, asking them to use Electrum wallets with fake instructions. Sometimes, scammers trick people into connecting to fake Electrum servers or asking them to update Electrum and then steal the coins when you send them out.

Sadly, if the BTC has already left your wallet, there is  no way to get it back because Bitcoin transactions can’t be reversed.

For the future, it’s always safer to double check instructions from official websites and avoid anyone offering to help you recover your coins, as most of them are scammers.

Again, sorry this happened to you, and I hope you stay strong and safe moving forward.

[Alone055]

ahhhh
I knew there was something wrong when you said they gave a guide.
You downloaded the wrong electrum
It was a phishing scam

Code:

https://electrum.org/#download

The above is theirs
Below is the official website
https://electrum.org/

So sorry for your loss
Localbitcoin shutdown 2023, I thought everybody would have withdrawn their funds by now.

No, he wasn't phished because the guide is real and the link provided is actually the official link for downloading Electrum. I also checked the guide, thinking that it might be a phishing link, and he was probably guided to provide them with the seed phrase or something, but the guide didn't mention anything like that, and it's a genuine guide, providing correct information and how it can be done without him giving access to his wallet to anyone following the steps mentioned there.

Also, you are right that Localbitcoins was closed down in 2023, but they are still allowing their users to withdraw their funds if anyone has them on the platform:



So, I'm also confused how OP lost his funds, he probably have made a mistake when pasting the address, but in that case, how did he still receive $101?

[xLays]

I don't bother to check the transaction ID anymore because I guess the first comment have said it all. You ca not recover your crypto assets immediately the transactions have been confirmed and the funny thing is that it's not just about one configuration but multiple confirmations. So actually yuu just need to start over again but this time be more careful and don't listen to anyone you don't know.

Yes, it's like you're saying just accept the loss and what happened, then move on. What they're trying to do now is exactly the reason why this happened in the first place.

Hi OP, may I know where you're from because I think you're struggling to understand something here. Maybe you can post this in the local section of the forum. That way, someone from your area might be able to better guide and explain things to you.

For now, my question is: what is your Bitcoin address from your Electrum wallet? Do you know how to use Electrum?

Also, if someone asks you for your private key in PM please ignore them.

[Upgrade00]

Most likely scenario here is that your wallet is not synced fully yet or you entered the wrong address when performing the withdrawals. Checking none of the outputs from the txid you shared match the amount you say you received in your wallet. Did you have a balance before which is likely what you still have available in your wallet?

You do not need to perform regular backups, because your wallet can be recovered from a secret phrase that you can memorize or write on paper.

You should never memorize your secret phrase and you should test it intermittently, just to make sure.

[mavencoin]

No I did not have a balance before. I dont think I could have entered the wallet address wrong I cut and pasted it.

Here is video of the wallet now it 57 mBTC and somehow someone else got 23030 mBTC : https://app.screencast.com/YLFTEoojOO0DW

[Ambatman]

No I did not have a balance before. I dont think I could have entered the wallet address wrong I cut and pasted it.

Here is video of the wallet now it 57 mBTC and somehow someone else got 23030 mBTC : https://app.screencast.com/YLFTEoojOO0DW

it would be better if you can share the copied wallet address and try to copy it again.
There's a possibility that you may be affected by a keyboard malware.
Experienced before where your copied wallet address is different from the pasted
Hence why it's adviced to manually crosscheck.

The video is not playing on my end

No, he wasn't phished because the guide is real and the link provided is actually the official link for downloading Electrum.

Thanks. Now that you mentioned it, I realized that there's an / before the download.

[Stalker22]

I dont understand how when I follow the instructions of what is suppose to be a legit site then I still get scammed. Here is the version of the wallet I downloaded:
~

Theres nothing suspicious about those instructions. and it is highly doubtful LocalBitcoins would scam you. If they wanted your bitcoins, they could just take them without the need for a withdrawal process.

You still haven't confirmed if the Bitcoin address you provided to LocalBitcoins for withdrawal is the exact same address the transaction was sent to. We need to figure out what happened so you can prevent it from happening again. It is possible that you had malware on your computer that caused this.

[mavencoin]

This was the address I used to transfer the partial coin to: bc1q4kuz47hvm2cycmsfpy70qay282kzxfnua48ada

Does that help?

[Stalker22]

No I did not have a balance before. I dont think I could have entered the wallet address wrong I cut and pasted it.

Here is video of the wallet now it 57 mBTC and somehow someone else got 23030 mBTC : https://app.screencast.com/YLFTEoojOO0DW

This video shows all transaction outputs.  Only one output, 57 mBTC, goes to your Electrum address. The other outputs are unrelated withdrawals, likely batched by the sender.  23 BTC you mention went to their change address. This is normal; there is nothing to worry about.

How much did you expect from LocalBitcoins? How much did you request to withdraw?