scammed via bitcoin can you do anything about it?

[shmoochie]

there was a person on reddit selling a used headset for $25 and I paid for it in bitcoin on a website called selly.gg that ive never heard of before, he has like his own shop on it. well anyway its been 1 week and he never sent tracking so he scammed me, if there anything I can do about it? even if I can't get my money back can I report it to someone like the police or FBI for wire fraud? the website emailed me back saying they do not support physical item sales and its for digital goods and they can do nothing about it.

 

I don't care about losing $25, I just don't want to have them continue scamming.

[TheKDub]

Nothing you can do about it.
I'd avoid buying things online from sketchy websites, especially with cryptocurrency. At least something like PayPal would offer Buyer Protection.
Also, I wouldn't buy a used headset either, you never know who's head it has been on.

[shmoochie]

2 minutes ago, TheKDub said:

Nothing you can do about it.
I'd avoid buying things online from sketchy websites, especially with cryptocurrency. At least something like PayPal would offer Buyer Protection.

I hate paypal and will never use them again. even if I went and reported on lets say the FBI website they would not do anything? I googled what to do and it said if I do that it can maybe leave a paper trail. some other websites said to report it to local police. but I really didn't think anyone would happen if i did. I got them banned from the selling reddit but its probably not their real account

[zombienerd]

Caveat Emptor - you're SOL.

[Cyberspirit]

Isn't the whole point of coins to be completely anonymous and untrackable?

[shmoochie]

5 minutes ago, Cyberspirit said:

Isn't the whole point of coins to be completely anonymous and untrackable?

ive read it can still be tracked especially if you use like coin base that you need to use a picture ID to get an account and your SSN

[TheKDub]

11 minutes ago, shmoochie said:

I hate paypal and will never use them again. even if I went and reported on lets say the FBI website they would not do anything? I googled what to do and it said if I do that it can maybe leave a paper trail. some other websites said to report it to local police. but I really didn't think anyone would happen if i did. I got them banned from the selling reddit but its probably not their real account

The FBI has way bigger fish to fry than some dude that lost $25 because they used a sketchy site and likely got scammed.

 

You'd be better off just moving on and learning from the mistake.

[shmoochie]

Just now, TheKDub said:

The FBI has way bigger fish to fry than some dude that lost $25 because they used a sketchy site and likely got scammed.

 

You'd be better off just moving on and learning from the mistake.

true. its not like $25 is anything, I freelance and have a full time job oh well RIP

[2FA]

2 minutes ago, shmoochie said:

ive read it can still be tracked especially if you use like coin base that you need to use a picture ID to get an account and your SSN

There are ways around that by exchanging the Bitcoin into hard to track coins like Monero using anonymous exchanges to launder the money. Of course there exist exchanges that don't require verification either but you still have to trust them.

[shmoochie]

2 minutes ago, 2FA said:

There are ways around that by exchanging the Bitcoin into hard to track coins like Monero using anonymous exchanges to launder the money. Of course there exist exchanges that don't require verification either but you still have to trust them.

well the user can maybe be tracked from the email or pc used to make the selly account right?

[2FA]

20 minutes ago, shmoochie said:

well the user can maybe be tracked from the email or pc used to make the selly account right?

Assuming they didn't use proxies and a VPN, yes. Selly probably wouldn't give that up without a subpoena though so they'd at most close the account since $25 doesn't amount to a meaningful crime.

[TetraSky]

You decided to trust a random nobody on Reddit of all places, to honor their end of the deal when paying through cryptocurrency?
That smelled like a scam from a mile around.

You could maybe contact Reddit about the user/report him, nothing will likely happen, but at least he might not be able to make more victims... (though if he's smart he's using a VPN and throw away informations in the first place)

Contacting you bank/credit union and see the charge reverted could be another option, but I doubt they'll help you with that.

[shmoochie]

13 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

You decided to trust a random nobody on Reddit of all places, to honor their end of the deal when paying through cryptocurrency?
That smelled like a scam from a mile around.

You could maybe contact Reddit about the user/report him, nothing will likely happen, but at least he might not be able to make more victims... (though if he's smart he's using a VPN and throw away informations in the first place)

Contacting you bank/credit union and see the charge reverted could be another option, but I doubt they'll help you with that.

his profile was like 6 years old with a ton of karma and posts, but then again there are sites that sell cracked accounts so you never know. and yes I did get him banned from the subreddit I found him on. but not on reddit as a whole

[LogicalDrm]

FBI doesn't care. Local police maybe. But what you really can do is cry to Reddit moderators, and that trading sites support. Though reading through ToS of that site, you can only get seller banned.

 

Pro tip: always read ToS of service you are about to use. You accept their terms when creating account (or before making purchase through service), so if something goes wrong, you can only blame yourself.

[shmoochie]

9 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

FBI doesn't care. Local police maybe. But what you really can do is cry to Reddit moderators, and that trading sites support. Though reading through ToS of that site, you can only get seller banned.

 

Pro tip: always read ToS of service you are about to use. You accept their terms when creating account (or before making purchase through service), so if something goes wrong, you can only blame yourself.

its not like it was unrealistic or anything, the headset can be bought on ebay for the same price, but I don't and will never use paypal again after they let people scam me twice and put my paypal i the red making me lose an item then having to take money out of my pocket to get my account in the green again and ebay still made me pay the seller fees.  I wish you could just pay by card on ebay and disrepute with your bank if any scam happens.

[Canada EH]

On 11/10/2018 at 2:41 PM, shmoochie said:

on a website called selly.gg that ive never heard of before

 

Why not pay via paypal where you have recourse in such cases.

Why not pay via credit card where you have recourse in such cases.

 

 

[shmoochie]

23 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

 

Why not pay via paypal where you have recourse in such cases.

Why not pay via credit card where you have recourse in such cases.

 

 

fuck paypal

and he only offered crypto because I don't use paypal, he did offer paypal.

the website only took payment in crypto or paypal.

[Canada EH]

3 minutes ago, shmoochie said:

fuck paypal

and he only offered crypto because I don't use paypal, he did offer paypal.

the website only took payment in crypto

 

So a website you never heard of, paying in a less to nil secure payment method. Perhaps this episode will sway your decision on using paypal or any other form of a more secure payment method. Even a prepaid credit card from the corner store would have been sufficient IMHO

 

Quote

Benefits and Drawbacks of Anonymous Cards

Prepaid credit cards have no overdraft fees, can be used for cash withdrawals at ATMs, protect holders against fraud

 

[shmoochie]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

 

So a website you never heard of, paying in a less to nil secure payment method. Perhaps this episode will sway your decision on using paypal or any other form of a more secure payment method. Even a prepaid credit card from the corner store would have been sufficient IMHO

 

 

ebay/paypal has fucked me over in the past, so Ill never use them again, I lost way more then $25 with paypal. I lost $350

[Canada EH]

2 minutes ago, shmoochie said:

ebay/paypal has fucked me over in the past, so Ill never use them again, I lost way more then $25 with paypal. I lost $350

https://www.vanillavisa.com/visaLandingPage.html

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/card-benefits.html/

 

 

Quote

I lost $350

Buying or selling?

 

ebay and paypal are "buyer" friendly!

 

Go to Alibaba/Aliexpress and its a different game.

[shmoochie]

7 hours ago, Canada EH said:

https://www.vanillavisa.com/visaLandingPage.html

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/card-benefits.html/

 

 

Buying or selling?

 

ebay and paypal are "buyer" friendly!

 

Go to Alibaba/Aliexpress and its a different game.

selling, but my paypal account got locked or whatever they call it. even after I paid it all off.

[dalekphalm]

12 hours ago, shmoochie said:

selling, but my paypal account got locked or whatever they call it. even after I paid it all off.

By it's very nature, Cryptocurrency is irreversible. No buyer protection. No charge backs. No refunds.

 

It's incredibly silly to use Cryptocurrency at all when purchasing things online - especially so when using a sketchy website you've never heard of, with a random guy from Reddit.

 

Learn the lesson: He scammed you and got away with it. Don't do it again.

 

And you can be angry with PayPal and never use them again - sure. That's fine. But don't use Crypto instead.

 

If the site only offered PayPal or crypto, and you refuse to use PayPal due to previous issues? You should have stopped right there and not proceeded with the transaction.

[shmoochie]

11 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

By it's very nature, Cryptocurrency is irreversible. No buyer protection. No charge backs. No refunds.

 

It's incredibly silly to use Cryptocurrency at all when purchasing things online - especially so when using a sketchy website you've never heard of, with a random guy from Reddit.

 

Learn the lesson: He scammed you and got away with it. Don't do it again.

 

And you can be angry with PayPal and never use them again - sure. That's fine. But don't use Crypto instead.

 

If the site only offered PayPal or crypto, and you refuse to use PayPal due to previous issues? You should have stopped right there and not proceeded with the transaction.

I can't use paypal even If i wanted to, they have all my info, CC, bank, name, SSN, address, if I try to make a new account with any of this info that account gets locked/I can't even add my card and bank to it.

 

id have to switch my bank, where I live and use a fake SSN to use paypal again,

 

I buy a ton of stuff with bitcoin and never had issues in the past. ive had more issues with scams using paypal then I have bitcoin.but I have only been using bitcoin for about 1 year and this is my first time being scammed on it.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, shmoochie said:

I can't use paypal even If i wanted to, they have all my info, CC, bank, name, SSN, address, if I try to make a new account with any of this info that account gets locked/I can't even add my card and bank to it.

 

id have to switch my bank, where I live and use a fake SSN to use paypal again,

 

I buy a ton of stuff with bitcoin and never had issues in the past. ive had more issues with scams using paypal then I have bitcoin.but I have only been using bitcoin for about 1 year and this is my first time being scammed on it.

What'd you do if you don't mine me asking?

[shmoochie]

3 minutes ago, nick11682 said:

What'd you do if you don't mine me asking?

read the replies they exist for a reason I already said, I got scammed selling on ebay and didn't paypack the money for a long time so they banned my account, i eventually paid it off but it didn't help, I lost money + items + seller fees I was made to pay.