This is one more of those reasons why it's a very bad idea to keep coins in exchange long term especially if it's one of those exchanges that are not popular. They can just wake up one day, disable all the withdrawals and steal your coins. You were really lucky to get a new honest owner you paid back your money.
I am not able to see the screenshot due to Error 403 (Forbidden)
Topic: BTCPop stole ETH from my wallet! Ridiculous responses.... (Read 122 times)
I created a thread a while back asking if anybody had any experience with BTCPOP and didn't get much of a response--but if you take a look at the last post in that thread, you'll see a newbie posted this:
I used them once and found the price of the coin I was interested in to be way too high and never visited their site again. Reading the responses that they gave OP here, my impression is that they're extremely unprofessional at best and are more likely dishonest opportunistic scammers. What they told OP about devs and all that makes absolutely no sense to me, and I'm as baffled by their response as he is.
OP, I hope you can resolve your situation. Maybe contact them again and link to this thread. If they care about their reputation, perhaps they'll be more helpful.
Edit:
Yes, I have experience with BTCPOP.
At first I liked the site. I thought it was a good idea to be able to invest in your peers. But I quickly realized that they are a bunch of thiefs. I had invested a couple thousand USD into BTC and I loaned it out to people on the site. They were all cool. They paid back there loan. Out of the blue I was given 24 hours to remove my bitcoin from the site. What was interesting was that in order for it to be removed it had to be approved by the admin. They wouldn't approve it. I contacted them, and they were no help, and were assholes to boot. I also had invested in IPO's or "initial public offerings". I couldn't just remove that bitcoin because It was a loan to someone else. Just that alone I lost about 500$.
At first I liked the site. I thought it was a good idea to be able to invest in your peers. But I quickly realized that they are a bunch of thiefs. I had invested a couple thousand USD into BTC and I loaned it out to people on the site. They were all cool. They paid back there loan. Out of the blue I was given 24 hours to remove my bitcoin from the site. What was interesting was that in order for it to be removed it had to be approved by the admin. They wouldn't approve it. I contacted them, and they were no help, and were assholes to boot. I also had invested in IPO's or "initial public offerings". I couldn't just remove that bitcoin because It was a loan to someone else. Just that alone I lost about 500$.
I used them once and found the price of the coin I was interested in to be way too high and never visited their site again. Reading the responses that they gave OP here, my impression is that they're extremely unprofessional at best and are more likely dishonest opportunistic scammers. What they told OP about devs and all that makes absolutely no sense to me, and I'm as baffled by their response as he is.
OP, I hope you can resolve your situation. Maybe contact them again and link to this thread. If they care about their reputation, perhaps they'll be more helpful.
Edit:
i owe an apology to the new owner. He was very communicative and did get my coins back. I feel bad that he has inherited a legacy that can easily haunt him, and for what its worth, he's a solid guy. So please take this thread now as a testimonial for him and not an indictment.
Whoops! Didn't read all the way down. Glad you got your ETH, OP. That still doesn't excuse the BS he initially told you, though. 
i owe an apology to the new owner. He was very communicative and did get my coins back. I feel bad that he has inherited a legacy that can easily haunt him, and for what its worth, he's a solid guy. So please take this thread now as a testimonial for him and not an indictment.
Tbh I don't even know what btcpop is until I read this topic. What makes this unpopular exchange so special for you that makes you want to deposit your fund there?
My guess is that OP bought/sold some shitcoins there that were only available at that exchange and nowhere else, as that's the most common reason why people end up using those dodgy less known exchanges.@OP Yeah explanation that they have you is a pure bs, and they obviously don't intend to give you back your ETH so they came up with something ridiculous, hoping that you will give up. Good luck with your lawsuit!
Tbh I don't even know what btcpop is until I read this topic. What makes this unpopular exchange so special for you that makes you want to deposit your fund there? Looking how the support answer your question just proves that they don't deserve to be in crypto industry.
After a few years of not using them, I went to BTCpop to withdraw .9 ETH from my wallet, and I noticed the withdraw button was inactive (greyed out).
So I sent a support ticket request, which you can see the full exchange screenshot here, but here's the highlights, which are staggering really (I'm not a junior member and hence can't post images).
BTCpop reponse:
"Please see your dashboard notifications."
My Response:
"There's no date on that notification, and look at how many withdrawals are "paused" from 6-12 months ago with no update. When can I withdraw my coins? Seems fishy..."
"Ok, whatever you want to think.....when the new server is up you will be able to be withdraw and deposit...that notification is only about 6 days old."
So a few days go by. I reply and ask for an update: when would this be done?
BTCPop Response:
"You mentioned updates, if the coin devs do not give updates and the blockchain no longer works, thats not BTCpop or any other exchanges issue for that matter, if that happens blame the dev of the coins, not the exchanges....they make the coin is dead and then it is removed. This is something no exchange has control over, these coins are not something as simple as user buy and user sell, there is way more to it then what the normal user sees or knows about."
My Response
"Who, exactly, are these "coin devs" who don't give "updates"? I have ETHEREUM in my wallet, that's not one of the hundreds of bullshit coins on your site, this is the easiest of all to implement and support, I've been developing smart contracts for a long time. Where the hell are my coins?"
I have not heard anything back.
Then I did some research and was shocked about not only what has been going on the whole time, but also how sloppy, aggressive, criminal and sociopathic the behavior has been. Here's what I learned:
STAY AWAY FROM BTCPOP!
I will give Lee one more chance and then I'm submiting a criminal report to the UK Action Fraud criminal division.
So I sent a support ticket request, which you can see the full exchange screenshot here, but here's the highlights, which are staggering really (I'm not a junior member and hence can't post images).
BTCpop reponse:
"Please see your dashboard notifications."
My Response:
"There's no date on that notification, and look at how many withdrawals are "paused" from 6-12 months ago with no update. When can I withdraw my coins? Seems fishy..."
"Ok, whatever you want to think.....when the new server is up you will be able to be withdraw and deposit...that notification is only about 6 days old."
So a few days go by. I reply and ask for an update: when would this be done?
BTCPop Response:
"You mentioned updates, if the coin devs do not give updates and the blockchain no longer works, thats not BTCpop or any other exchanges issue for that matter, if that happens blame the dev of the coins, not the exchanges....they make the coin is dead and then it is removed. This is something no exchange has control over, these coins are not something as simple as user buy and user sell, there is way more to it then what the normal user sees or knows about."
My Response
"Who, exactly, are these "coin devs" who don't give "updates"? I have ETHEREUM in my wallet, that's not one of the hundreds of bullshit coins on your site, this is the easiest of all to implement and support, I've been developing smart contracts for a long time. Where the hell are my coins?"
I have not heard anything back.
Then I did some research and was shocked about not only what has been going on the whole time, but also how sloppy, aggressive, criminal and sociopathic the behavior has been. Here's what I learned:
- Company solely run by Lee Bartholomew
- BTCPop was dissolved in Aug 2016 - so why is their website still up?
- Lee is accused by a former employee of pretending they were hacked to steal the coins. I can see that.
- Lee was found guilty and served a few weeks for stealing sex toys from his place of work, which the judge admonished him for trying to accuse his coworkers of doing.
STAY AWAY FROM BTCPOP!
I will give Lee one more chance and then I'm submiting a criminal report to the UK Action Fraud criminal division.
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