criminal offer via pm

[snipie]

I think it would be better if you make a screenshot of the pm with the name of the user on it for reference.

My fear is entrapment from a government operative. Its why I reported it.

It is also why I posted here.

That's exactly what I thought of first. This kind of messages have two sources, a newbie scammer writing stories about Nigerian princes, or what's written above which is very bad and requires to stay vigilant.

[logfiles]

They offered me recycled banknotes LOL

The same user as the one who sent philipma1957 that Private message?

You mean this might be a sting operation? Why are you so scared if this is just a PM that has nothing to do with you?

The "As who is to say who sent it" was understandable, but imo, that's a half-baked offer to assume it's an entrapment from the government. Nobody in their right senses would buy that except a dumb, potential criminal that is desperately willing to go behind bars.

You have no idea what the those three letter agencies in the US are capable of when they are after something or someone. Let's start here;
1. IRS Poses as Bitcoin Trader ‘Mr Coins’ in $180,000 Sting
2. FBI Crypto Operation Shatters Fraud With Fake Tokens in 2026

[Sandra_hakeem]

You mean this might be a sting operation? Why are you so scared if this is just a PM that has nothing to do with you?

The "As who is to say who sent it" was understandable, but imo, that's a half-baked offer to assume it's an entrapment from the government. Nobody in their right senses would buy that except a dumb, potential criminal that is desperately willing to go behind bars.

You have no idea what the those three letter agencies in the US are capable of when they are after something or someone. Let's start here;
1. IRS Poses as Bitcoin Trader ‘Mr Coins’ in $180,000 Sting
2. FBI Crypto Operation Shatters Fraud With Fake Tokens in 2026

I'm not falling for such a cheap trap; even if it gets more complex, the more confused I am, the more likely you will not get any feedback from me. That's like getting caught in a trap made out of plastic---- it's one of the reasons why I said the only exception is if I'm a potential criminal, which I'm not.

It's always good to stay blessed, contented, true and even when no one else is watching, not even the IRS, not even your pet at home, stay legit.

[MoparMiningLLC]

My fear is entrapment from a government operative. Its why I reported it.

It is also why I posted here.

this would be my guess too. feds trying to see who here that is "trusted" but then is willing to be "dirty" as well.

[NotATether]

My fear is entrapment from a government operative. Its why I reported it.

It is also why I posted here.

This is extremely dangerous.

We seem to have a (corrupt) fed browsing these forums!

For the record: I received no such PM

I did get a scammer attempting to message me on Telegram yesterday or something (they wrote: "Hi, do you have a few minutes for a chat?"), but I just blocked them and marked it as spam.

It could also have been a BitMart scammer, since my X and Telegram are public now

[LoyceV]

My fear is entrapment from a government operative. Its why I reported it.

Occam's razor: isn't it much more likely someone is either trying to scam you, or wants to use you as a money mule for his criminal money?

[Nathrixxx]

Snipped

I wouldn't be surprised sseing something like this, scammers will always make their way forward to advance on their prey regardless of what it takes as long as they set you as a target, possibly they know your worth or have a clue about what you are up to and wanted to test your stand from being greedy, anyone that follows up which such unrealistic deal will end up being a victim to this scammer.

[Smartvirus]

I provide: The local infrastructure (secure premises in the North of Italy) to store and circulate the cash, ensuring anonymity and security.

So you give them your bitcoin, they give you dirty cash, and you don't even get to hold on to the dirty cash?

It all sounds like money laundering to me.
That a secure location to ensure an anonymity and probably local security or rogue agents would be used. So if anything goes wrong, you’re both feet’s in and can’t connect any dots. It’s just off.

This can only be the result of the continued dismantling of the banking network by the Italian Police, which was used by the Italian mafia in cleaning their dirty money from drug trafficking amongst other activities involved in the organized crime world and they are looking for means to have another up to replace the formal.

Good thing Philipma isn’t exactly a newbie or one that is moved by greed.
Like they say, if it feels or sounds suspicious, you’re much better not getting involved.

[philipma1957]

Yeah as for blocking newbie pm's I prefer getting them. as sometimes you get legit good ones.

and sometimes you get ones like this which allow me to warn people.

[dkbit98]

I would just report message to moderators, they will deal with this guy.
Back in the days I received similar messages with different ''offers'', or they asked me to click some phishing link to hack my account.
One of the reasons for stopping use of telegram was because I received crap like this very often.

PS
I would personally not give negative feedback to someone who just asked me for something that is currently not legal.

[katanic97]

In my country this would be money laundering. Since the forum PM won't be leaked ro US government this wouldn't be any problem unless you actually would have engage. Also it was good that you informed and raised a question, so in future you can avoid any suspicious activity from law department.

In my country this is the clear violation and money laundering. Even the regular trades are considered not legal. I'm don't know what it refers to a dirty money, is he offering to send counterfeit bills?

Not just in your country, this is considered money laundering and a violation of the law in almost every country. I think he is offering to send money that has already been in circulation, so it would be used again. Honestly, i haven't read something like this in a long time.People are willing to do all sorts of things these days...

[philipma1957]

My fear is entrapment from a government operative. Its why I reported it.

Occam's razor: isn't it much more likely someone is either trying to scam you, or wants to use you as a money mule for his criminal money?

Will to me it is not likely to be a criminal or a scammer  more likely to be a recruiter of some sort.

But I grew up in an old school Italian american neighborhood. Lots of government intrigue happened to a lot of people I grew up with.

I had many friends jailed due to government plots.

At dkbit98

I considered just reporting it and nothing else.

I then decided to

report it
Post about it
And give a neg

More out of protecting myself than anything else.

[logfiles]

I'm not falling for such a cheap trap; even if it gets more complex, the more confused I am, the more likely you will not get any feedback from me. That's like getting caught in a trap made out of plastic---- it's one of the reasons why I said the only exception is if I'm a potential criminal, which I'm not.

It's always good to stay blessed, contented, true and even when no one else is watching, not even the IRS, not even your pet at home, stay legit.

You are not falling for such a "cheap trap" but someone else would. We are all different and just like I would say that I have never been plainly scammed online, someone else has been scammed and not just once but several times.

I am just trying to give you the reason why OP decided to post about this. He wants to come off completely clean.

[joker_josue]

This scam happening here? Unbelievable. It already happened in Europe some time ago.

It used to be common to receive emails of this kind. Things have calmed down now, but someone decided to try the same tactic in a different way.

It used to be a "Prince of Nigeria" who had money frozen, and these transactions helped to unfreeze it. 
Unfortunately, some people fell for the scam.

[alegotardo]

I haven't heard of such business model before, does such a business actually exist or it was a made up story to scam.

Another question is; why did he choose you for the business? i am curious if they have sent such a message to other big names of the forum.

Money laundering!
He wants help to buy Bitcoins with illicit money, move it between wallets, exchanges, mixers, or others to create more anonymity, and then after all this... converting it back into fiat, or even paying for something using Bitcoin or even buying something directly with Bitcoin.

We can not know the details without “accepting the offer”, but I agree with you that there is a good chance of it is a scam.

I think that after a moderator was caught here doing something wrong, now they think that any user with a higher reputation here would be willing to do anything to make easy money in the wrong way.

[khatarnak]

I'm not a fake or a scammer, I recently discovered this site.

Strong opening for a first day on Bitcointalk