Topic: BitPlastic - page 3. (Read 20463 times)

Thank you for all of your posts, it's not the alarms or buyer beware posts that are keeping me away, it's your horrible attitude.

Services are created to cater to the people who use them, not you the owner. We don't care for your personal preferences and while some of your most influential customers are giving you key feedback, you're looking right over it and spewing garbage out of the chip on your shoulder.

Business isn't for everyone and this business clearly isn't for me or the BTC community.

"From reading the comments on one of the stories linked here, it appears when you go to load the card your bitcoins will mysteriously get stolen by a hacker using a man-in-the-middle attack.  Classic, not our fault, we got hacked scam."

Oh, you deduced that from reading some comments in a forum, did you?

Well, let me explain. We repel THOUSANDS of hacking attempts daily.  Bitcoin sites, including BitPlastic, get HAMMERED by attackers.

In one instance several weeks ago, a hacker was able to intercept incoming deposits for a period of about six hours.  The hacker stole a few bitcoins and customers didn't know (or care) since we paid out of pocket. We have an 'insurance fund' which we build up from our profits that enables us to cover small losses like that. Only one customer actually lost money, and that we because he sent an unusually large amount (6BTC) which we didn't have enough funds to cover. 

Unlike BitStamp or MtGox, we do not freeze withdrawals and all client funds are stored offline in a paper wallet, meaning even if our server gets rooted (and it has!) the attack generally cannot do much damage. He certainly cannot steal client funds in cold storage; it is physically impossible to do that.  So, yes, we had one hacking incident in which ONE client lost funds he sent to his wallet on that specific day because those funds were stolen in transit before they made it to our cold storage wallet. The customer still uses BitPlastic but sends his large deposits directly to the cold storage wallet simply bypassing the site entirely, which works well too.

That being said, we have upgraded security and that kind of attack will never happen again. That's not to say other attacks aren't possible. As MtGox and BitStamp are finding out, no online wallet is 100% safe all the time.  That's why we store funds in cold storage rather than online. 

"if you can't sell a debit card with the aspect and image of the one you are presenting at your site, don't use that image at all or you will be cheating your clients."

Really, it matters that much what the card looks like?  Personally, if I ordered a debit card, I wouldn't care whether it looks different from what is pictured on the site, as long as it WORKS.  No matter though, I have updated the faq to show the correct image of the card:
https://bitplastic.com/bitcoin-debit-card

"In my case, and as I'm a client of the Bank Zachodni, with direct access to the account of a debit card with same image of the one I received from BitPlastic, I would never buy it from BitPlastic. I feel cheated."

You feel CHEATED?  You ordered a Bitcoin debit card and you received a Bitcoin debit card.  Tell you what.  Post your BitPlastic username here and an external Bitcoin wallet address. I will HAPPILY refund your debit card deposit and delete your BitPlastic account.  Sound good?

IN FACT, IF YOU FEEL 'CHEATED' BY SUCCESSFULLY PURCHASING ONE OF OUR PRODUCTS, AND RECEIVING IT, YOU ARE NOT SOMEONE WE WANT AS A CLIENT.  WE WILL BE HAPPY TO REFUND YOUR DEBIT CARD DEPOSIT!!

From reading the comments on one of the stories linked here, it appears when you go to load the card your bitcoins will mysteriously get stolen by a hacker using a man-in-the-middle attack.  Classic, not our fault, we got hacked scam.

My comments are trying to point out your lack of honesty. I bought one BitPlastic, because of the aspect of the card. If you put an image of something for selling, the buyer wants that same aspect/image, and not some other object.

BitPlastic site needs to have an alert for the "image" of the debit card not being the image of the real thing they are sending to their clients. In my case, and as I'm a client of the Bank Zachodni, with direct access to the account of a debit card with same image of the one I received from BitPlastic, I would never buy it from BitPlastic. I feel cheated.


As I told before, if you can't sell a debit card with the aspect and image of the one you are presenting at your site, don't use that image at all or you will be cheating your clients. Try to be honest and use the real image of the Polish debit card you are sending to your clients, as the service you are also selling is useful.

Technically, yes, there is a $3500 USD limit on the card.  What this means is that $3500 USD can processed through the card in a one year period.

Please note this limit is set by the bank, not by us.  Banks are required to set a low limit for the card because of anti-money-laundering rules.

However, the limit means nothing.  If you need to convert $35,000 per year from Bitcoin to cash, then you just need to buy 10 cards - either all at once or over a one-year period, it's up to you.

The card is 100% FREE.  So once you hit the $3,500 limit on your card, we refunded your card deposit fee, and you can request another card, if you so choose.

As for the card being a 'scam', I don't see where that accusation would come from.  Yes, you can buy similar prepaid cards on ebay, but how does that help you convert bitcoin to cash?  Plus the ebay/paypal fees are significant.

No, we do not issue these cards out of our own office; we are NOT a bank.  These cards are issued by Bank Zachodni in Poland.  We handle all aspects of the card for you, from registering (difficult, because it is in polish) to converting bitcoin and funding your card.  Yes, you could do this on your own and probably save some money on fees.  We automate the process and make it easy to convert Bitcoin to cash. 

For more info, please see:
https://bitplastic.com/bitcoin-debit-card

What? BitPlastic, is this true? Isn't there a 2500eur per year limit on these Bank Zachodni WBK cards?

BitPlastic is, in my humble opinion, something like a SCAM! The card they send is not like the Mastercard seen at their site and @ Facebook, it's not new, but is instead a regular debit VISA Electron card from the Polish Bank Zachodni WBK, that anyone can buy at eBay at a very lower price. I had bought one with same Eiffel Tower image, starting with same 4830 4712 card number and from same Polish bank, at the beginning of last year.

'You store customers IP addresses? Seriously? Any service claiming to be anonymous would delete all server records daily. bitplastic.com home page currrently says "It works!" by the way. Very professional.'

I don't know what homepage you're viewing, but it's not https://BitPlastic.com

And yes, we store client IPs to help prevent hacking.  Every web service stores IPs, it's a major security precaution to prevent your account from being compromised. It is easy to change your IP if want to (TOR, VPN, etc..)

BitPlastic enables you to remain anonymous. Here are some tips if you are really paranoid.  These will protect you even if the actual server gets seized by authorities (not very likely):

1. use TOR or NordVPN's new Double VPN service (make sure to type https://BitPlastic.com when using TOR or you could fall victim to an SSL man in the middle attack!)

2. create an anonymous email on safe-mail.net (using TOR or VPN) and sign up with that. 

3. if ordering a debit card, have it shipped to a friend's house.  We delete your shipping address immediately when we ship your card, so there's not much risk here.

4. Don't withdraw bitcoin to an exchanger (like Coinbase or CAVirtex) under your real name, or the transaction can be traced to you through the blockchain.

Hope these tips help.  Good luck and stay safe.

POS limit is $500, you're right I should update the FAQ with this information and I will.  Most people just want to withdraw cash though

Just a note on security... this service appears to give you the ability to remain anonymous if you know how to.  You can use Tor, use an anonymous email, receive a card to your name of choice at an address of your choice, ignore that card for months, send BTC to the card from an anonymous wallet, and spend from it without showing ID.

I can understand being paranoid but when I get to the point that I don't mind risking a couple hundred dollars I'll have to find a reason not to do so.  $200 a day is not a fortune but neither is it insignificant.  Sigh, if only I had looked a bit closer the first time I looked into Bitcoin.

What is the daily limit at Point-of-Sale? Still $200 only? Why is this info not in the FAQ?

Everything leaves a trail, or is intercepted. You are being naive if you think "the cops have no way to figure out who BitPlastic users are". Silk Road buyers thought the same. The fact you aren't a company at all makes it very convenient for you just to disappear at any time with people's money.

You store customers IP addresses? Seriously? Any service claiming to be anonymous would delete all server records daily. bitplastic.com home page currrently says "It works!" by the way. Very professional.

You're right about one thing; you can not trust ANY service not to turn over records to the government.  Expect that everything you enter on a webpage is going to end up in the hands of law enforcement, hackers, or marketers - perhaps all three!

That's why we do not collect any personal information from our clients. We have no information to give up.

First of all, we don't have a door to knock on.  We are not incorporated anywhere nor do we have a real-world office that can be raided.  Also, because we keep withdrawals under $200 USD per day per card, we are not breaking any laws. These cards are issued by a European bank!

Second, even if our servers were compromised by law enforcement or (much more likely) by hackers, there would be no useful information on them.  No bitcoin is stored on our servers, and we don't request personal information from our clients. We don't know who our clients are.  We don't even require a real name to receive the debit card.  The only information we require is a shipping address and that gets deleted the moment the card is shipped out.  We store IPs to prevent hacking/fraud on your account but you can easily use TOR or some other anonymity service. 

Short answer is: the cops have no way to figure out who BitPlastic users are because even the owners of BitPlastic don't know.

Second, hackers cannot steal your personal information because we store no personal information.

The whole point of this service to enable people to convert bitcoin to cash securely, conveniently and anonymously. 

See: https://bitplastic.com/bitcoin-cold-storage

Lots of vendor offer services for high amounts and use "anonymity" as the reason for the high charges. Until the FEDs come knocking on your door, and you instantly give up all your records. Not saying you will do this, but its a common pattern, particularly in the "offshore company" and "offshore bank account" sectors.

How long have you been in business as BitPlastic?

'My gut says BitPlastic might be a good one, but my analytical side says it's not. Paralysis follows, for the moment.'

We have 10,000+ users, most of which are happy.  The main complaint I hear is the fees.  Yes, the fees are on the high side, but unlike CoinBase, CaVirtex and probably MtGox we don't report your private financial information to the IRS or CRA.  We don't even know who you are.  So you'll get what you pay for.  With BitPlastic, you are paying for privacy and anonymity in conducting your bitcoin transactions.  With CoinBase, you never know when you'll get a knock on the door from the IRS. 

We are launching an exchanger site at http://CoinChimp.com which will have a lower issuance fee ($50) but a higher transaction fee (10%).  We will see if that is more popular. If you're planning on moving large amounts of money, you're still better off paying the higher issuance fee on BitPlastic

thanks JoeVentura these are some good suggestions:

1. Have a "Forgot your password" function on your website >> You can always email [email protected] if you forgot your password.  Nobody gets locked out if they use a valid email

2. Have different tiers of service such as:          Cheap card with high service fee  and         High cost card with low service fee
>> Might be too complex for one site, but we are launching http://CoinChimp.com and we will try a different pricing structure; same debit card, but lower issuance fee and higher transaction fees

3. $200 a day limit is going to be a real limitation >> Sorry, but AML/KYC laws govern banks. You will not find another anonymous card with higher limit than $200.

4. Give away a few cards in exchange for honest reviews >> Not necessary, as we receive more than enough attention already