Scammed by Brawker.com $800

[geeney]

Hello,
Last week I joined brawker.com to buy some bitcoin. I purchased an $800 item for someone on the 8th January, his bitcoin went into escrow and he received his item on the 12th. He confirmed he received his item and the transaction closed.

However, the bitcoin remain in escrow. Both of us have been contacting Brawker about this and they claim it is a bug in their website that does not allow them to release the bitcoin to me. Despite admitting that their website is at fault, they refuse to take responsibility and to refund me my bitcoin. Brawker.com is either an elaborate scam that selectively targets new users or the staff there don't have a clue what they are doing.

So far the customer service has been atrocious. No apology has been made and despite acknowledging that it's their fault they claim no responsibility for the coins. Brawker is like a middleman who carries no responsibility, will not reply to your messages and who still takes a large fee based on their services (which in my case is 100%).

Brawker uses a multi-sig system so each transaction carries 3 keys (the buyer, the seller and Brawker) and only 2 keys are required to release funds. They claim that my key won't work despite me signing the transaction and getting a confirmation on my end. Even if this were true, they still hold the 2nd key which will release the bitcoin. So their whole story makes no sense. When I pointed out this fallacy in their explanation, they boasted about how they've processed 1,500 transactions and that I'm the only one who has failed (again not offering me bitcoin or compensation or even an apology). They are changing the goal posts in their argument and keep changing the topic with jargon such as "the issue could be hashes". Now they put the blame back on me and they are claiming that because I changed my password once, that I cannot get the bitcoin.

Even if this is an honest mistake by Brawker, they have not offered any refund and they are not helpful and they blame me for their fault. Brawker are acting very unprofessional. They are not offering my bitcoins. I am 1 week waiting for bitcoins which have already depleted in value massively.  

Do not use Brawker unless you want to be scammed.

[Clambooya]

Thanks for info. Will not use them

[geeney]

Thanks for info. Will not use them

They claimed that because I changed my password once in the past that I can no longer sign transactions unless I remember my old password. So after multiple tries again just now, I remembered my password and the signature has been confirmed on my end (again).

So now they have no more excuses. They claimed the fault was my own because I needed my old password to sign the transaction. Now I have done so. Let's see what lame excuse they pull out of their ass this time

[amaclin]

So now they have no more excuses.

Can you provide any other technical details?
Your address/public key/msig address/rawtx...
You must not publish or give to anybody your private key, but all other information can helps

[geeney]

So now they have no more excuses.

Can you provide any other technical details?
Your address/public key/msig address...
You must not publish or give to anybody your private key, but all other information can helps

Brawker do not disclose this information. I don't know any of the details because they won't give any. Everything operates behind closed doors at Brawker which is how it's easy for them to commit fraud.

[gmajoulet]

Hello,

Brawker developer here.

The service is not compromised.

You have not been scammed, we're still sending you emails, and you're not responding. For some reason, the signature provided by the other person didn't work. Not a big deal though, we're using 2-of-3 multisignature scripts, and there is still your key and ours.

For the record, we only hold one key, and it's impossible for us to get your escrowed bitcoins.

I asked you to sign the transaction, but you changed your password. I got your old encrypted password from a backup, and you signed the transaction 22 minutes ago. I sent the money as soon as you signed the transaction.

Your money has been sent as soon as you signed the transaction: https://blockchain.info/address/3QLLTb7ats3rjvmZDKxmjQ1Yk8W9W51xyv

Please edit your post.

Thanks,
Gabriel

[turvarya]

lol
So, it was resolved half an hour after he started complaining here?
Good job, Brawker
They obviously have a pretty fast support

[geeney]

Hello,

Brawker developer here.

The service is not compromised.

You have not been scammed, we're still sending you emails, and you're not responding. For some reason, the signature provided by the other person didn't work. Not a big deal though, we're using 2-of-3 multisignature scripts, and there is still your key and ours.

For the record, we only hold one key, and it's impossible for us to get your escrowed bitcoins.

I asked you to sign the transaction, but you changed your password. I got your old encrypted password from a backup, and you signed the transaction 22 minutes ago. I sent the money as soon as you signed the transaction.

Your money has been sent as soon as you signed the transaction: https://blockchain.info/address/3QLLTb7ats3rjvmZDKxmjQ1Yk8W9W51xyv

Please edit your post.

Thanks,
Gabriel

Hello,

Brawker developer here.

The service is not compromised.

You have not been scammed, we're still sending you emails, and you're not responding. For some reason, the signature provided by the other person didn't work. Not a big deal though, we're using 2-of-3 multisignature scripts, and there is still your key and ours.

For the record, we only hold one key, and it's impossible for us to get your escrowed bitcoins.

I asked you to sign the transaction, but you changed your password. I got your old encrypted password from a backup, and you signed the transaction 22 minutes ago. I sent the money as soon as you signed the transaction.

Your money has been sent as soon as you signed the transaction: https://blockchain.info/address/3QLLTb7ats3rjvmZDKxmjQ1Yk8W9W51xyv

Please edit your post.

Thanks,
Gabriel

One lie after another. Why would I be the one avoiding emails when it was my money?

Not a big deal? Maybe not for you pal. In the 5 days that it took you to sort your shit out my coins have depleted so much in value. Your attitude expressed to a customer is disgraceful. Everyone should notice that once again there has been no apology, even when publicly shamed Brawker are stubborn and too proud to admit a mistake. This is hardly professional coming from a member of staff!

I got advice from a friend that if I went public with your scam attempt/ security anomaly that you would be quick to release the coins. He was right. Less than 1 hour going public and you release the bitcoins, however 5 days of emails and you produce nothing.

Avoid Brawker.com because you have no assurance that your bitcoins are safe. If Brawker get more security issues they do not guarantee a refund. You should not trust a service that do not provide such assurances when they make mistakes. This is bad business and I would never recommend anyone uses them again until they update their policy in such situations.

[gmajoulet]

To be more accurate, the bitcoins have been sent to him 22 minutes after he followed the instructions sent from the support (which were to sign the transaction by typing his password).

There is nothing related to this post, the bitcoins have been released before I see the post.

The bitcoins have been released as soon as you answered to our support request.

Brawker do not disclose this information. I don't know any of the details because they won't give any. Everything operates behind closed doors at Brawker which is how it's easy for them to commit fraud.

This is 100% false. Everything is open and happens on the blockchain. From the beginning, you were able to see that your funds were being held in escrow, and didn't move.
We're not even able to access the funds without your help. This is why we needed you to sign the transaction before releasing the funds. You got the bitcoins as soon as you signed the transaction.

As a proof that we never got your bitcoins, here is the transaction address, with only the deposit and the release: https://blockchain.info/address/3QLLTb7ats3rjvmZDKxmjQ1Yk8W9W51xyv

Here is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xEYIqAuV8g

[geeney]

To be more accurate, the bitcoins have been sent to him 22 minutes after he followed the instructions sent from the support (which were to sign the transaction by typing his password).

There is nothing related to this post, the bitcoins have been released before I see the post.

The bitcoins have been released as soon as you answered to our support request.

Brawker do not disclose this information. I don't know any of the details because they won't give any. Everything operates behind closed doors at Brawker which is how it's easy for them to commit fraud.

This is 100% false. Everything is open and happens on the blockchain. From the beginning, you were able to see that your funds were being held in escrow, and didn't move.
We're not even able to access the funds without your help. This is why we needed you to sign the transaction before releasing the funds. You got the bitcoins as soon as you signed the transaction.

As a proof that we never got your bitcoins, here is the transaction address, with only the deposit and the release: https://blockchain.info/address/3QLLTb7ats3rjvmZDKxmjQ1Yk8W9W51xyv

Here is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xEYIqAuV8g

You still can't admit that you were at fault and you fail to reflect on the situation and how you could have improved your service.

It doesn't matter if the bitcoins were stuck in escrow and they weren't physically in your account. They weren't in my account for 5 days and that's the problem. The issue here is that your website had a flaw when I tried to withdraw my coins after I successfully signed on the 12th January.

When I signed it says "manual step required by Brawker". Then for 5 days you said my password was wrong. I entered the SAME password today and the same message "manual step required by Brawker" only this time I come public about it and voila! My coins arrived. Magic.

No apology or responsibility is my main concern. If this happens to some other misfortune then will you refund the bitcoins or will you blame them?

[turvarya]

Thanks for info. Will not use them

They claimed that because I changed my password once in the past that I can no longer sign transactions unless I remember my old password. So after multiple tries again just now, I remembered my password and the signature has been confirmed on my end (again).

So now they have no more excuses. They claimed the fault was my own because I needed my old password to sign the transaction. Now I have done so. Let's see what lame excuse they pull out of their ass this time

So, after you used your old password like support said, you should, it worked?

[sase007]

Thanks for informing us 

[geeney]

Thanks for info. Will not use them

They claimed that because I changed my password once in the past that I can no longer sign transactions unless I remember my old password. So after multiple tries again just now, I remembered my password and the signature has been confirmed on my end (again).

So now they have no more excuses. They claimed the fault was my own because I needed my old password to sign the transaction. Now I have done so. Let's see what lame excuse they pull out of their ass this time

So, after you used your old password like support said, you should, it worked?

I used the same password today as I used on the 12th. On both occasions I received a notice "success, waiting for manual step by Brawker". If it was the wrong password it would not have succeeded. The only difference this time is that I posted here.

Also you must understand that their customer support was not taking responsibility for an issue in their website. They advertise that they use multi-sig (i.e. 2 keys out of 3 will confirm a transaction). This demonstrates that they cannot confirm transactions unless both the seller and buyer confirm it. So they don't even provide protection of a middleman but they advertise multi sig and act like they are.

[gmajoulet]

Here's something we can both agree on:

- There was an issue with the spender's signature
- You contacted us on the 14/01 (two days ago, not five) because there was an error (Invalid signatures) displayed on the page.
- We spent some time trying to understand why the spender's signature is wrong, because it's the first time it happens on more than 1500 multisig transactions, and we don't want that to happen again
- You were contacted with new information to use your keys (old password because you changed it in the process, that's true, I can explain why if you want to, but that's some crypto stuff, the private keys are encrypted with your password)
- The bitcoins have been released 22 minutes after you follow our instructions

End of the story on my end.

Thank you for your time,
Gabriel

[KarlChappe]

I've met the Brawker's team and I know I can trust them.

I don't understand all these guys who talk about scam as soon as something doesn't work well...

[s1lverbox]

I've met the Brawker's team and I know I can trust them.

I don't understand all these guys who talk about scam as soon as something doesn't work well...

Just because YOU MET their team and can trust them dosnt mean we all can.

OP shoukd edit title as no one was scamed. If they tried they failed.  so u wasn't scamed from 800$.

brawker as any other business when catched on wrongdoing obviously will denied everything just to look good.  Most of company always use same word "coincidence" to cover their mistakes and issue.

fact that transaction  cannot be interrupted by brawker as middle man is worrying. If they want act like middle man they should be middle man.

idea behind brawker os good. but they should improve if they want to stay in business.

[turvarya]

They can't even scam him, when they use multisig. They can just prevent him from getting his funds out, when the 2nd party doesn't respond, but there is no reason to do that.

[Udyr]

wait so all this was a failed of a attempt of a scam?

[Fortify]

wait so all this was a failed of a attempt of a scam?

No.. there was a problem with 1 out of 3 signature keys required to access funds in escrow. The customer wasn't happy that it took so long to resolve, but the payment has now been released.

[theskillzdatklls]

what stops someone from being man in the middled. by that i mean, what if someone sends fraud paypal to buy something on ebay, gets bitcoins then the ebay seller and the item receiver have a big mess? does this happen?