bug?? my bitcoins magically doubled

[DanielVG]

So here's the story:

On monday i moved Bitcoins to a wallet on a website.  It took 5 days to arrive.  I was starting to get a little bit stressed that i made a mistake with the address, checked it out with block explorer but  everything seemed fine.

Today i finally saw some Bitcoins on the site, the amount i sended though was exactly doubled.  I took them off immediately, moved very fast this time, 30 min instead of 5 days, and sold them, ka-stjing!  

Does anybody have an explanation for this?  

[tiberiandusk]

It should not take 5 days for a Bitcoin transaction. I bet something went wrong on the website's end and they messed up the deposit.

[Bitcoin Oz]

You are admitting to a scam ? You need to report this to the site involved and hand back the coins or get a  scammer label.

[Stephen Gornick]

Does anybody have an explanation for this?  

There could have been a technical problem with the account handling at the service  you were using, where customer service saw your request and decided to add funds to your account, and then the technical problem was resolved and you got credited a second time.

Or your ticket was looked at by two different people doing customer service, and both gave you credit at the same time, before the support ticket was closed.

Or the outfit is so sloppy they just honor any complaints and pay out to resolve it.  This is particularly true for sites that hold a wallet (e.g., exchanges, escrows, wallets) that are fraudulent.   If they don't really hold all the customer funds that they should be holding, then who cares if the proceeds of the fraud is only for 80% of the balance (because 20% was credited to fix problems like this).

There are a lot of reasons this could happen.  And each time it does should be a warning sign.

[JompinDox]

What site is that?
I would be VERY wary of keeping your coins there. Not a good sign.

[Graet]

So here's the story:

On monday i moved Bitcoins to a wallet on a website.  It took 5 days to arrive.  I was starting to get a little bit stressed that i made a mistake with the address, checked it out with block explorer but  everything seemed fine.

Today i finally saw some Bitcoins on the site, the amount i sended though was exactly doubled.  I took them off immediately, moved very fast this time, 30 min instead of 5 days, and sold them, ka-stjing!  

Does anybody have an explanation for this?  

did you contact the "wallet on a website" service
asking here will just get guesses or opinions, asking the people you are dealing with might get some actual answers

[gweedo]

You are admitting to a scam ? You need to report this to the site involved and hand back the coins or get a  scammer label.

I agree with that, that are abuse of the system and if I was running the site I would probably give you a reward anyway for reporting of the bug. So Please on behalf of the devs report it to them otherwise or face being labeled a scammer.

[FreeMoney]

I've seen some very temporary doublings at instawallet.org. They are never available for sending though.

Do tell us which wallet it was.

[DanielVG]

You are admitting to a scam ? You need to report this to the site involved and hand back the coins or get a  scammer label.

I didn't even look at it like that yet. I'm an ignorant user and from my point of view, these bitcoins came out of thin air, handing them over to the website would be assuming they made a mistake, there are more possibilities.  
I thought i was just communicating between my local wallet and an online wallet linked to my account. How can a website be between this transaction anyway?  

[DanielVG]

i'm not gonna tell on a forum which site it was, i'll just contact the website personally.

[Foxpup]

You are admitting to a scam ? You need to report this to the site involved and hand back the coins or get a  scammer label.

I didn't even look at it like that yet. I'm an ignorant user and from my point of view, these bitcoins came out of thin air, handing them over to the website would be assuming they made a mistake, there are more possibilities. 
I thought i was just communicating between my local wallet and an online wallet linked to my account. How can a website be between this transaction anyway? 

Don't give it back!  They snooze they lose.

I registered just to come and tell you this.

'Scammer label', pfft.  You only have 11 posts - nothing to lose.

If the website is that incompetent to be risking other people's money on faulty programming - then call it justice.  The real 'good deed' would be to out them so the rest of us know not to go there and risk our money on their bad software.

I'll do my part: betsofbitco.in currently has my balance listed as negative - I guess I 'scammed' them out of the transaction fee (reverse-scammed?  they scammed themselves?).

What is it with these morons? We live in a society of law. OP, you took property that didn't belong to you, sold it, and kept the proceeds. That's illegal. You could be sued or even arrested if the site operator actually decides it's worth taking legal action over. And with bitcoins becoming more valuable by the minute, someone will eventually decide that they are worth it. And no, just because there are bitcoins in your account, that doesn't mean they belong to you. This exact situation has happened many times with real banks, and guess how many times it's ended well for the poor fool who decided to withdraw their "free" money and spend it? That's right: none.

Anyone who's casually stealing bitcoins just because they think nobody's going to do bother anything about it is going to get a really nasty surprise when the day comes that people do start to take these matters seriously.

[Gabi]

Stop menacing that guy with "scammer label", arrests, illegal and so on  people take this matter seriously? Then they should seriously start making a proper website lol. Also 5 days for your bitcoins to appear on the website? This is very weird...

and with banks poor people always lose, no matter what 

[Foxpup]

Stop menacing that guy with "scammer label", arrests, illegal and so on

My post was a warning, not a threat. What the OP did is illegal pretty much everywhere, and he could probably tracked down very easily with only a few subpoenas to his ISP and bitcoin exchange. Will the site operator actually go to the trouble? Probably not, but it's possible. Will the OP get a knock on the door from either the cops or a collection agency if they do go to the trouble? Almost certainly. Remember, this is real money we're talking about. It's only a matter of time before someone decides to take it seriously.

people take this matter seriously? Then they should seriously start making a proper website lol.

As I've pointed out, this exact situation has happened with real banks. Do the authorities just say "Well, if the bank can't manage their customers' accounts properly, that's their problem, not ours"? Spoiler alert: they do not. When you take money that doesn't rightly belong to you, even if it was as a result of the bank's negligence, you are either forced to give it back or arrested and charged with fraud. Anyone who thinks this is never going to happen with Bitcoin is deluding themselves.

[Bitcoin Oz]

Stop menacing that guy with "scammer label", arrests, illegal and so on  people take this matter seriously? Then they should seriously start making a proper website lol. Also 5 days for your bitcoins to appear on the website? This is very weird...

and with banks poor people always lose, no matter what 

One guy on here got a scammer label because he refused to return some coins sent to him by mistake. This is no different.

Its not a threat its the way things operate on the forum and as its their property its their rules.

[Raoul Duke]

i'm not gonna tell on a forum which site it was, i'll just contact the website personally.

You better contact them and tell them about the bug. If they don't fix it, then post who they are. Remember Bitcoins can't be printed unlike bank notes. For you to double your coins, someone else will lose them.

[Foxpup]

"these morons" ... you mean yourself right?  Isn't it ironic that the first guy to throw out a personal insult... is completely wrong and is the real moron.  So stupid, you don't even know that you are stupid.  And aggressively stupid at that.

Don't take it personally; my insult was directed at you morons in general, not you specifically. I'm sorry if I offended you more than the other morons. Anyone who thinks the law or even basic ethics somehow don't apply to Bitcoin is either stupid or severely delusional. If you want to break the law, that's your business, but at least don't act all surprised when people get angry about it.

"We live in a society of law." - actually we don't, it's called bitcoin, and it is illegal (US courts have interpreted the law as giving the US government a monopoly on currency, see how this ended for Liberty Dollar and e-gold; with other countries being similar), and unpoliceable.

What the Hell are you smoking? Bitcoin is not illegal. Liberty Dollars were busted for counterfeiting (they were trying to pass off their coins as real U.S. dollars), and e-gold is still operating, despite the operators being busted for running an unlicensed money transmitting business. The U.S. government specifically allowed e-gold to continue functioning since it recognises that e-gold's users still have a legal right to the money in their accounts, regardless of what laws the company broke. Bitcoin is not a money transmitting business and is not being passed off as real U.S. dollars, so neither of these cases apply to it. There is also no law giving the U.S. government a monopoly on currency; while the law requires U.S. currency to be accepted as payment for debts, any other currency may be used for any other kind of private transaction if both parties agree. It's perfectly legal to pay Canadian dollars, Euros, or bitcoins to anyone who's willing to accept them as payment. Bitcoin is not unpoliceable either. I'm not sure why you would think it is.

If it ever magically became policeable and policed, then wait for them to at least threaten you before giving the money back, otherwise they are SOL.  It is also unlikely that we even live in the same society - what if the accidental recipient is in some lawless part of the world and the accidental sender is in another part that has no applicable treaty with the recipient's country - sender is SOL again.

There are no laws if there is no one to enforce them.

"society of law"... lol.

When you go shopping, do you just grab all the goods you want and then walk out without paying? At least wait until they threaten you before giving them the money. It's their own damn fault if they don't notice you leaving without paying, right? Right? You're going to end up either dead or in jail if you try to apply those principles to the real world.

There are always people willing to enforce the law. The question is whether those people are police, who generally won't mess you up too much if you go along quietly, or mobsters who'll beat the shit out of you if you don't pay back what you owe. Which of these societies do you live in?

[DanielVG]

I think it's strange people are trying to defend the legal "law abiding way" so much.  
It is a forum policy and i respect that actually,
BUT!
 As much as you're all good folks, trying to mine, make some honest bucks, go to church and preach about scammers, i hope you all realize one clear thing i thought off in the first day i used BTC.
Bitcoins is a new medium for all illegal circuits.  As we are contributing to the success of bit coins we are indirectly supporting black-market cause BTC is an anarchists dream.  uncontrollable, decentralized monetary system which can be transferred anonymous if you know how.
 If there is one thing this "society of law" would consider a threat, its BTC itself. So don't blame me for doing something illegal unintentionally. The bucks you earn after mining and selling will always go for a certain amount to illegal scenes, this will always be there, cause the system allows it.  So by using bitcoins and wishing it will be successful you make a choice that the coming generations there is easier transfer of black market.

anyways, i contacted the website, no response yet.  trying to be a law-uh-bahy-ding citizen.

[DanielVG]

I realize why some people are so aggressive and paranoid on this forum.
They have a lot of money invested in BTC and have good intentions.
You relate to the website that lost money, as if it could happen to you.
Understandable and respectable.

If I would have found 5 grams of weed under a plant in the airport and post "i have magical found..." thread
you'd all high five me.

[jwzguy]

I realize why some people are so aggressive and paranoid on this forum.
They have a lot of money invested in BTC and have good intentions.
You relate to the website that lost money, as if it could happen to you.
Understandable and respectable.

If I would have found 5 grams of weed under a plant in the airport and post "i have magical found..." thread
you'd all high five me.

What you described is more like "finding" someone else's bag at baggage claim and walking out with it "as quickly as possible."

[Foxpup]

Bitcoins is a new medium for all illegal circuits.  As we are contributing to the success of bit coins we are indirectly supporting black-market cause BTC is an anarchists dream.  uncontrollable, decentralized monetary system which can be transferred anonymous if you know how.

Bitcoin, like dollars, is used for a wide variety of purposes, both legal and illegal. It's just a tool; what you do with it is up to you. And I don't think the word "anarchy" means what you think it means. Anarchy means "without rulers", not "without law". There is law under anarchy, even if the law is something along the lines of "don't steal from me or my friends or I'll kill you".

If there is one thing this "society of law" would consider a threat, its BTC itself. So don't blame me for doing something illegal unintentionally. The bucks you earn after mining and selling will always go for a certain amount to illegal scenes, this will always be there, cause the system allows it.  So by using bitcoins and wishing it will be successful you make a choice that the coming generations there is easier transfer of black market.

Just because some people use Bitcoin for illegal purposes, does not justify you or anyone else stealing from others. Nor does it mean that anyone using it honestly is somehow "contributing" to illegal activity.