the first automated bitcoin trading tool - legit stuff ?

[farfiman]

I would suggest that if (big if), everyone here constitutes the largest investment in bitscalper, and we sum our total investment (hoping to approximate the purported 1000 BTC received thus far), then decide on a chronologically near date to minimize risk exposure and execute a test. That test would be to all simultaneously withdraw the entire investment on a specific date to see if bitscalper can comply with the request.

The nearby date should be such that it exceeds the withdrawal fee by a large multiple... say 5 times, and see if you get your money back. If everybody posts this withdrawal date so that a maximum of persons can see it, and a majority of investors withdraw on that date, you might be able to semi-verify the validity or legitimacy of their claims. This could prove that firstly they are using arbitrage, and second they are capable of paying.

They could get caught sideways in a trade (too long/short the commodity), but they shouldn't go bust. Call it crowd sourced participation.

The other option is to use an escrow service or trusted agent, give him the money then have him do the deposit and withdrawal (he could even withdraw on an unknown but proximal date to not "show his hand"). I'm sure we could find someone here we could trust. That way we can create one huge wave instead of in-the-noise random ripple effects.

They owners of the service are reading this the same as all of us. The profits so far according to them are around 80-90 btc so basically thats all they would need (- the 1.75% fee) to allow the complete withdraw of all funds....

You could wait till they have a much bigger investment and declared profit but then it just might be too late.....

[Ente]

You cant prove they (or any service) are legit, only that they are legit at this very moment. You cant profe they are dishonest, only proving it afterwards for the time been.
If total scam: Pay in 5% of the invested money per day, and even this 5% exists only in the "books". Wait until 1k, or 10k, or whatever Bitcoins flew in.
But then.. MtGox charges a lot less than 1.75% and still didnt run away with our money. Sure, they would have a problem liquidating 90% of the tradet volume on other exchanges then.. ;-)

So, in short: You cant prove or disprove they (or anyone) are legit or a scam. Even if we knew their "real" names and contactdata we would have to trust that, and that it would be of any use in the case of a scam. And this is the problem with *any* business where you send money first.

Ente

[drakahn]

"Server error! Please contact the admin." that was quick

[farfiman]

"Server error! Please contact the admin." that was quick

Maybe and maybe not... If i was going to dissapear i would just shut the site down...

[Ente]

"Server error! Please contact the admin." that was quick

Interestingly, this comes no matter what you enter as credentials.. So either the website has a problem, or the ser-database is gone altogether..

Ente

[farfiman]

"Server error! Please contact the admin." that was quick

Interestingly, this comes no matter what you enter as credentials.. So either the website has a problem, or the ser-database is gone altogether..

Ente

from the other bitscalper thread:

I'm guessing their bitcoin client is crashed, see:

http://bitcoinmedia.com/merchant-developer-tutorial/

<?php
    require_once('jsonRPCClient.php');
    $bitcoin = new jsonRPCClient('http://username:password@127.0.0.1:8332/');
    # now check for appropriate funds in user account
    try {
        $username = ...
        if(isset($_SESSION['sendaddress']))
            $sendaddress = $_SESSION['sendaddress'];
        else {
            $sendaddress = $bitcoin->getnewaddress($username);
            $_SESSION['sendaddress'] = $sendaddress;
        }
        $balance = $bitcoin->getbalance($username);
    }
    catch (Exception $e) {
        die("<p>Server error! Please contact the admin.<p>");
    }

[John (John K.)]

"Server error! Please contact the admin." that was quick

Interestingly, this comes no matter what you enter as credentials.. So either the website has a problem, or the ser-database is gone altogether..

Ente

The server still authenticates the user, as you can test by inputing your real id + pass (it'll give you a hash in your browser url), whereas a fake id+pass gives none. I'm suspecting their bitcoin client has indeed crashed.

[John (John K.)]

It's working now  

edit: its down again  

edit2: the whole site is down zzz

[drakahn]

Error 2002 : Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)

SQL = []

Array (

• => Array ( [file] => /var/www/p/app/database.php [line] => 7 [function] => db_report_error [args] => Array (
• => ) ) [1] => Array ( [file] => /var/www/p/index.php [line] => 3 [function] => db_connect [args] => Array ( ) ) )

[BTC-engineer]

right now it's working again.
I guess they have worked or are still working on the servers.

[bitscalper]

The server did not reboot properly and missed to spawn vital processes. It is fixed and working now. The issue DID NOT affect your actual profits.
Apologize sincerely for the issue.

[drakahn]

back in now

[Ente]

(Sorry for doubleposting on both topics https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57406.0 and https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57422.)

TL;DR: There are clear facts that Bitscalper is not what they try to tell us, I say scam!

Here are my findings:

I "joined" 10.01.2012 by sending 10BTC. By now I have 11.547BTC. 1% average per day. Doesnt sound impossible to do, huh?

1) I sent 10 BTC https://blockexplorer.com/address/14PAmBAdgjpuPgNi7jYZuUsQpAuxZoeMHv, but they didnt move at all since five days! So they are giving me 1.55 BTC just for nothing? If they dont need my funds to speculate and make 1% a day, why do they pay me that 1%?
Thats a KO for me.

For completeness, here come other, more indicative clues:

2) The user "bitscalper" is new on Bitcointalk. Noone creates such a project without having been seen on the forums before! Let me guess, "oh, our country is so dangerous, we dont want SWAT to kick in our doors". You are at such high risk that you never even mentioned the country's name?

3) The counter "all scalped BTC" and my personal stats get updated a few times a day, but then in pretty large increments. Often these two numbers dont change at the same time. You want to tell me you can dump almost 3k BTC on different, i.e. small exchanges, to take advantage of a few percent arbitrage, without totally flooding that small exchange, and make a few percent gain even after fees? And furthermore, you do this one, two, three times a day, and not several hundred times a day?

4) I won't even begin with the more subtle, but still obvious signs like never stating any surname, not even in mails, using buzzwords whereever possible, seeming to be oh-so open, pleased, grateful for any input, which will make its way to the page quickly. I recognize this "Yes, yes, thank you!" style from the bazaar, immediately before paying three times the regular price.


All in all: If it seems too good to be true, it mostly is. To compare with the Aricie bot (3% loss, then a max of 3‰ plus) and my own trading (a fat loss), this is too obvious too good. I pull out nao.


Lets collect some data, shall we? And to put this in perspective: They received 2814+ BTC by now.


Receiving adress from Bitscalper:                                  Amount:
14PAmBAdgjpuPgNi7jYZuUsQpAuxZoeMHv                 10 BTC

[bitscalper]

(Sorry for doubleposting on both topics https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57406.0 and https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57422.)

TL;DR: There are clear facts that Bitscalper is not what they try to tell us, I say scam!

Here are my findings:

I "joined" 10.01.2012 by sending 10BTC. By now I have 11.547BTC. 1% average per day. Doesnt sound impossible to do, huh?

1) I sent 10 BTC https://blockexplorer.com/address/14PAmBAdgjpuPgNi7jYZuUsQpAuxZoeMHv, but they didnt move at all since five days! So they are giving me 1.55 BTC just for nothing? If they dont need my funds to speculate and make 1% a day, why do they pay me that 1%?
Thats a KO for me.

For completeness, here come other, more indicative clues:

2) The user "bitscalper" is new on Bitcointalk. Noone creates such a project without having been seen on the forums before! Let me guess, "oh, our country is so dangerous, we dont want SWAT to kick in our doors". You are at such high risk that you never even mentioned the country's name?

3) The counter "all scalped BTC" and my personal stats get updated a few times a day, but then in pretty large increments. Often these two numbers dont change at the same time. You want to tell me you can dump almost 3k BTC on different, i.e. small exchanges, to take advantage of a few percent arbitrage, without totally flooding that small exchange, and make a few percent gain even after fees? And furthermore, you do this one, two, three times a day, and not several hundred times a day?

4) I won't even begin with the more subtle, but still obvious signs like never stating any surname, not even in mails, using buzzwords whereever possible, seeming to be oh-so open, pleased, grateful for any input, which will make its way to the page quickly. I recognize this "Yes, yes, thank you!" style from the bazaar, immediately before paying three times the regular price.


All in all: If it seems too good to be true, it mostly is. To compare with the Aricie bot (3% loss, then a max of 3‰ plus) and my own trading (a fat loss), this is too obvious too good. I pull out nao.


Lets collect some data, shall we? And to put this in perspective: They received 2814+ BTC by now.


Receiving adress from Bitscalper:                                  Amount:
14PAmBAdgjpuPgNi7jYZuUsQpAuxZoeMHv                 10 BTC

Ente,

All of your concerns about our need for anonymity are legitimate. The other issues you describe, not moving your funds for example, are due to how the system works and not signs of a scam, as you put them.

[BTC-engineer]

Bitscalper, could you please describe a little bit more how your system is working when you do not have to move the bitcoins which were transferred to you?
I'm sure that this fact worry a lot of people. Most don't understand how you can make bitcoins through arbitraging and other strategies without moving them.
 

[bitscalper]

Bitscalper, could you please describe a little bit more how your system is working when you do not have to move the bitcoins which were transferred to you?
I'm sure that this fact worry a lot of people. Most don't understand how you can make bitcoins through arbitraging and other strategies without moving them.
 

I of course do not mean we do not move bitcoins. I just mean that the address he is tracking is just one of the temporary addresses generated under his account. The bitcoins are moved from the main wallet which you do not know the address for.

[grue]

did anyone successfully withdraw yet?

[M4v3R]

I did, and I know several people who did too.

[bitscalper]

did anyone successfully withdraw yet?

Please see http://bitscalper.com/p/disclosure

[DeaDTerra]

did anyone successfully withdraw yet?

I did withdraw a small amount of 5.8 BTC, which I am happy with as I only put in 5 BTC and got 5.8 out.

//DeaDTerra