Okay, my experience and this write up are part of paying my dues and perhaps it will win my little newbie account some MERIT.
Here are a few things to think about before attempting to buy a BitcoinTalk.org account:
1. MODS, understand that the restrictions placed on NEWBIE accounts is overly severe. Some of us are legitimate business people and hobbyists that want to LEARN more about the technology. Newbie's accounts are restricted from posting as well as restricted from sending PMs to (most) anybody.
2. This causes a bit of frustration on behalf of the Newbie.
3. The newbie sees a great number of offers that do not seem legitimate such as Bitcointalk.org moderators leasing signature space on Legendary accounts for stuff that clearly seems "grey."
4. Newbie reasons, if this behavior is okay from a Legendary Mod, maybe it's fine to buy an account... after all, my intentions are pure. I'm not going to scam anyone...
5. Newbie browses Bitcointalk.org looking for accounts that are for sale. They all seem to be for sale by other newbies and jr. members, reason being that it's "frowned upon" to sell accounts, so the sellers don't want to use their REAL account for fear of getting hit with "negative trust."
6. Seems reasonable to Newbie. So Newbie inquires regarding an account.
7. Seller responds that the account detail must stay hidden until after half of the payment has been made or the account could be "comprimised or locked."
8. Newbie feels uneasy, but sends half of the payment (.075 BTC) to receive login detail to verify the account.
9. Seller confirms receipt of the first funding tranche and shows seller multiple legendary accounts (yassin54, Scott J, Limx Dev) and says "pick one"
10. Newbie sees that yassin54 is a little spammy, and since Newbie has no desire to run ads, he doesn't select that account. Limx Dev has a post history in German, and since Newbie is NOT German and/or cannot speak the language to verify that post history is not spammy, he settles on Scott J's account.
11. Seller demands the other half of the payment, an additional .075 BTC prior to giving the login information, stating that he's "been scammed before when a spammer tried to make off with the account before paying the other half."
12. Newbie pushes back, stating that the terms of the deal should not be altered halfway through the deal. Logins were promised after the first tranche of funding, not after both tranches.
13. Seller persists, stating something to the effect of: "That's fine, the price was too cheap anyway... I'll just refund the transaction."
14. Newbie smells a scam and says "Okay, thanks. Please refund the first .075 BTC I sent you."
15. Seller never responds, or refunds the first .075 BTC, and uses the BTC to purchase a donkey for his family to eat.
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SO! What did we learn?
A. If the English is broken, and the account is new... it's probably just some poor bastard trying to scam you to buy donkey meat for his family way far away in the People's Republic of Bumblefuck or whatever. Probably not a first world country.
B. Just because MODS act sketchy, doesn't mean that Newbies can. They can see the admin panel and tell where users IPs are from and safely avoid scammers from third world countries that use clamshell phones for Internet access. Countries like the People's Republic of Bumblefuck.
C. Buy a Copper Membership to decrease the amount of time between quality posts that you make. The more quality posts, the faster you can earn merit and better ranked accounts. Reputation clearly cannot be bought on BitcoinTalk.org any more than it can in real life.
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Lastly, a quick thank you to the scammers at BitcoinTalkAccounts.com and John Lock <
[email protected]> for providing this valuable lesson for a mere $800, which is what I would spend on a nice Sunday dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant in Malibu with a few close friends.
Please remember 3rd world scammers (looking at you BitcoinTalkAccounts &
[email protected]) to eat your Donkey back to front, starting at the anus. Ask your wife to show you how.