How much money you've lost due to SCAMs?

[Hyperphrenia]

7 BTC so far, and I feel embarrassed 

1 BTC loss -- the now infamous StackCoin IPO scam where I was one of the victims.

6 BTC loss -- even more embarrassing.. I got greedy and decided to buy some newly released altcoin (name withheld) from a fellow bitcointalk members... We made a deal to trade 1 BTC for 1 mil at a time.. Then I got greedy after he promised to cut me a deal if I sent him all 6 BTC at once...

Well, I did.. And this guy disappeared right after I sent the payment.

How naive can I be? You ask? I'm gullible i suppose 

[Raxe.io]

A while ago scams were extremely rare, a huge amount of coins have come in. You really need to do alot of research. There is a large majority of players out there who are trying to further technological development in both services and coin development. Learn from your mistakes, everyone has lost money from bad investment.

[PhattyBanks]

the easiest way to not lose money is to not invest in IPOs, how many IPO coins actually came out worth more than the btc that was put in? Has there even been a single IPO coin worth it?

[backtrackit]

0 btc

[MisO69]

7 BTC so far, and I feel embarrassed 

1 BTC loss -- the now infamous StackCoin IPO scam where I was one of the victims.

6 BTC loss -- even more embarrassing.. I got greedy and decided to buy some newly released altcoin (name withheld) from a fellow bitcointalk members... We made a deal to trade 1 BTC for 1 mil at a time.. Then I got greedy after he promised to cut me a deal if I sent him all 6 BTC at once...

Well, I did.. And this guy disappeared right after I sent the payment.

How naive can I be? You ask? I'm gullible i suppose 

That was his giveaway. You just need to think about people's motives all of the time, every day in your life. This is a life lesson you learned its not just about investing. Everyone has motives and every human's primary motivation is self interest.

[Hyperphrenia]

A while ago scams were extremely rare, a huge amount of coins have come in. You really need to do alot of research. There is a large majority of players out there who are trying to further technological development in both services and coin development. Learn from your mistakes, everyone has lost money from bad investment.

Kind sir, thank you for the kind words *sob*  Thanks for not laughing at this noob. It kind of makes me feel better to know I'm prolly not the gullible fool I thought I was.

Anyways, as scams are becoming more and more frequent & sophisticated (as I've just witness in the Radix Foundation thread:https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=500209.0), I'd say that it's becoming rather difficult for a noob who's new to the altcoin scene to detect & tell a scam from the real thing. big SIGH* 

I think the prevalence of scams is what brought the price of altcoin down these days. 

[Hyperphrenia]

That was his giveaway. You just need to think about people's motives all of the time, every day in your life. This is a life lesson you learned its not just about investing. Everyone has motives and every human's primary motivation is self interest.

So true, and thanks for the advice. I'd say that I'm probably a very naive and trusting person by nature. It's rather easy to gain my trust and confidence even though this is the internet and people are protected by anonymity.

Case in point: I was trading with this guy from a certain eastern european country. After providing me with several tips (ie. showing me those secret onion sites where I can find the best deal on the web), I started to compliment this guy on how helpful and trustworthy he was. LOL... There were a lot of warning signs (ie. He gave me a tormail address and refused to give me his primary bitcointalk acct among other things). So we started trading 1 BTC - 1 MIL, and the first trade went smoothly. And then right after I agreed to his deal and sent him my precious BTCs, BANG!  His bitcointalk account got banned right away (I believe he did that on purpose although I have no clue how he did it).

So, I'm starting this thread to warn you my fellow noobs..    Next time if you run into the same guy, don't give him your BTCs like I did..  

the easiest way to not lose money is to not invest in IPOs, how many IPO coins actually came out worth more than the btc that was put in? Has there even been a single IPO coin worth it?

Yes, sir. NXT comes to mind... I think that's the real problem. A lot of people like myself who have missed the NXT boat don't really want to miss the next big thing.

That's part of the reason why IPO scams are so successful nowadays.

[templar77]

Always use escrow services.

[Hyperphrenia]

Always use escrow services.

Even escrow providers get played these days (the famous Anon comes to mind) Sigh..

It's really up to any individual to do his own due diligence before investing. But as I said, it's getting more and more difficult for a noob like me to do that since scams are becoming rather sophisticated (take Radix scam for instance), as most scammers seem to buy into the motto - you gotta spend money to make money.. lol.. Screenshots, nice web sites, even working demos are no guarantee that a project is legit.

Even those shitty scrypt coins can be considered scam in some sense (I also happen to be a victim of LeafCoin scam).. LOL

The future of altcoin is not bright, I'd say... 

[Hyperphrenia]

That was his giveaway. You just need to think about people's motives all of the time, every day in your life. This is a life lesson you learned its not just about investing. Everyone has motives and every human's primary motivation is self interest.

Hi Mis069,

I came back to say THANK YOU.  I know I need to change my way of thinking and I've decided to do that starting today. I guess I might appear to be overtly gullible because I really feel that this would be a sad world if people cannot trust each other. That's why I was always the one who sent the payment first. 

But the reality is that it's a sad world we live in, and there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm the one who needs to change. I got that now. Lesson learned. 

The truth is I've got hurt & used a lot in real life too.. not just online.. by people I knew and thought i could trust. What u said really makes a whole lota sense, and I really wish someone had said something like this to me earlier.

It really got me thinking. So thanks. 

[Equate]

Scammers are everywhere , but you should have used reputed escrow before sending anyone 6 BTC .

[hilariousandco]

Zero lost, but I'm interested in which scamcoins you bought into and got scammed.

Always use escrow services.

Even escrow providers get played these days (the famous Anon comes to mind) Sigh..

John K is currently MIA with coins.

[Wesiematic]

Ok im very new in the cryptocommunity but what i can say after 3 months is:

Cryptoworld is not quite different from "Realworld" both are very scammy

and most just want the best from you: your money!

We have to look out for the exceptions, and for me i'm also ignoring most
of the Nonsense- and Shitcoins which appearing every week.
In most cases only a small group around the dev(s) are profiting from the
coins and soon this coins are gone.
Also this shitwaves of copy & paste coins scaring newbies and damaging
the reputation also of most of the other coins (especially for non-crypto
enthusiasts).
Avoid IPO's from Shitcoins, avoid Premined Coins (if there is no real idea
or concept) avoid whatever smells fishy

and keep smilling that is the best medicine
and of course never ever go all-in with something you are not sure about!

[OzDigger]

Hi Guys,

Yeap I feel the pain!   its hurting the crypto world badly and is stopping new people from getting getting into it.

Mining is my hobby so I started a website www.miningcryptocurrency.com.au to Help Aussies get into it as we are a bit behind, plus our power costs are high!  anyway I was sick of the online scammers and setup my site to help people do it as safe as possible and also ensure its done as ethical as possible.

These people are the lowest of scum as they are ripping off people who are trusting and trying to make a dollar so to loose $1000 is devastating!

I have also been ripped by Cryptorush as they in my opinion are misleading, they won't reply to emails!  and they are not clear about their website as what they are really saying is if you transfer in BTC or LTc we are keeping it!  the only way to get your money out is to trade it for alt coins but the alt coins are at least 33% to 50% higher to buy, so if you do and then transfer out when you sell you loose out!

Then I also seen they were selling off their hugh gpu mining rigs! I could not believe it that they had a hugh mining farm and running a exchange!  they can pump and dump, delay orders or make sure their coins are sold at higher prices etc, its so wrong.

If only we could unite world wide to have a central point for all facts to be listed clearly as a one stop place, it will make it so easy for us to review scammers etc, the forums are too spread out and watered down.

I even just got banned from the Australia coin forum as I kept asking to know who they are and if they are in Australia as they kept avoiding any questions, they banned me for abuse yet I did not abuse them or swear but they certainly attacked me,I only kept asking who they are, they also locked their forum on here and started another one instead of answering the questions so now they can edit and delete anyone who questions them by the looks, their website www.auscoins.org is also hidden so you can't see who or where its actually owned!  you have to pay extra for that! the weird part is they made the coin red/blue/white and that is not Australia at all.

[Acidyo]

3.75 btc here.

Someone just went offline with his account and never came back.

Shouldn't have switched without an escrow.

[MisO69]

That was his giveaway. You just need to think about people's motives all of the time, every day in your life. This is a life lesson you learned its not just about investing. Everyone has motives and every human's primary motivation is self interest.

Hi Mis069,

I came back to say THANK YOU.  I know I need to change my way of thinking and I've decided to do that starting today. I guess I might appear to be overtly gullible because I really feel that this would be a sad world if people cannot trust each other. That's why I was always the one who sent the payment first. 

But the reality is that it's a sad world we live in, and there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm the one who needs to change. I got that now. Lesson learned. 

The truth is I've got hurt & used a lot in real life too.. not just online.. by people I knew and thought i could trust. What u said really makes a whole lota sense, and I really wish someone had said something like this to me earlier.

It really got me thinking. So thanks. 

You are not alone my friend. I got burned hundreds of times before finally learning that people cannot be trusted. Its a sad world we live in.

[ilpirata79]

I have been robbed about 15k euro plus 31 bitcoins by mtgox.

Best regards,
ilpirata79

[Simpson93]

0BTC 

[tokyoghetto]

I lost 2 BTC in early November on a silver bullion deal gone sour. Dude never sent the silver after I sent the BTC. This was when BTC was trading at $200. A week later the price BTC exploded so that sucked even more.

I have lost another 1 BTC aprox. to scam pools and to exchanges like Cryptorush.

You really have to learn to shrug shit like this off, after all this is the wild west.

[anonuser777]

A while ago scams were extremely rare, a huge amount of coins have come in. You really need to do alot of research. There is a large majority of players out there who are trying to further technological development in both services and coin development. Learn from your mistakes, everyone has lost money from bad investment.

Scammers have always been around. Two years ago I tried to buy some bitcoins for $20 each, after the scammer posted an offer here. Sent payment by paypal and never got any bitcoins. No harm done though, as Paypal refunded me. It put me off bitcoin for two years though :/