Topic: Had a gun pointed at me during a trade. Here is the full story (Read 1535 times)

Really sad to hear this story. Unfortunately thieves and criminals are wherever money is involved, both online and offline, but of course the latter is much more dangerous...

Wow, thanks for sharing. It is great to learn these stories.
Have to be careful dealing online and in person as well.

Well same as you I also used to visit different places to do deal with users but after a small incident I stopped going out with my money for anyone, If someone wants to buy or sell his bitcoins for cash I always ask them to come at my place.

Short Story of that incident is: I did some deals with a guy (Lets call him G), he was good. once he called me and said he wants to sell a big amount of btc. He said he is traveling somewhere and need some money. So he asked me to come at another state to complete that deal with his friend.  I said ok as we did some deals before and all went smooth.

I went there with my brother and booked a hotel. Next day his friend asked us to do deal ASAP as he was in hurry. We took cash with us and went to his friend's hotel, then I gave him cash for counting, he then started asking for more money. I refused to give more money as prices were fixed and we were doing deal with G not him).
He then started panicking (He was on some kind of drugs I think) and told us to fuck off and pushed me.
I was fucking angry so I slapped him hard and we took all cash back from him, He said he will call everyone and tell them that it's his cash and we are stealing from him. I told him,that if he said one more fucking word or did any kind of drama, we will gonna beat him up badly.
He ran away from room and came back with hotel manager and other hotel staff and started shouting that we were beating him and we punched him. He then pulled his shirt and started showing some red patch to manager.

We all story to manager and asked him to throw out that guy from his hotel immediately otherwise we will call police and It wont be good for his hotels reputation.

He did same and we came back to our city next day. I didn't lost money but I lost 2 days and some good deals that I was getting in my city.

Im sorry to hear that bro. I would not have been brave enough to dart away from a guy with a gun.

Bitcoin attracts many criminals for it's anonymity.
Don't trust anyone meeting online!

That sucks.

Ok, no more cash deals for me, unless I change my mind (although I might have never made a cash deal to begin with).

How about the phone numbers used by the attempted theif.
If LBC banned him, then they most likely received other reports as well.

You can look on google maps, the location was on the side street across from the padre. there would be no cameras there.
As for the police. I called back once I got to a house and they said that they had driven by, but had not seen me, so "cleared the area", then offered to come to my current location and file a report. I am not fond of police, and especially not incompetent ones. Bakersfield is a weird oil town, and is meth ridden. I would probably have received more hassle than help.

Edit: The Padre might have one of me running back to the lobby, but that is all I can think of and is likely erased by now.

Dang man. Glad to hear you're ok.

You were sure lucky.
Anyway, as a side note, Coins4Cash has now been banned on localbitcoins.

Was anything reported to police?
Location have camera's? (Show of intent of robbery - gun)?

Glad you made it out of the situation with your life.

Wow, just WOW,

But Congrats for getting out of that situation without loosing anything.

Such a shame that people cannot do anything responsibly and without criminal intentions.

Money attracts criminals.

I feel sorry for what happend to you, thank god you did not lost your valuebes or got injured.
Thank you for sharing this, this is a warning to the other face-to-face traders.

Always trade in crowded public places during the day!

This is a first for BTC.

First, this was not written until now in the hopes of tracking the guy down. I have done what I can, and know that he is likely from San Jose, CA, but I have not been able to figure out much else. I am posting this to dispense of any rumours or confusion that has cropped up since the incident first took place and was talked about in IRC.
The dates are fuzzy and I am putting little effort into this now, so please don't join onto this thread to nit-pick, call me stupid, point out my obvious errors, or in any other way be rude

I know the things I did wrong here, and am only writing this for transparency and to help others learn from my mistakes. If you are rude, I will remove your post.

I think it was in early September that I was first contacted by https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/Coins4Cash/
He had a paper wallet and was trading for usd. The value was in the lower 5 digits. We met at an upscale bar in Bakersfield, CA, called The Padre. He arrived in a black mustang, with california plates (possibly a rental). All went smooth and I was able to sweep the wallet on the spot before handing over any cash.

Then, I think in mid-October, when LocalBitcoin was down for a few hours for maintenance, I received a reply to the previous request (since lbc's re-mailer was not offline). He was wanting to dump double what he had in our last meeting and was in a hurry. I agreed to meet at the same location and gave him a phone number he could SMS with, since lbc was offline and email was cumbersome. He lives a long distance away and it is winter, so we were going to be meeting after dark, which I normally don't do. ~8-9pm.

Clue 1) He ends up arriving before I got to the bar, and I start getting text messages asking about what car I am driving. Why would anyone need to know that?

I arrive and park directly infront of the entrance to the bar, under a flood light and within 15ft of the door.

Clue 2) While getting out, I notice a short latin man in a leather jacket who appears to be chatting on his cell phone, but is paying me a lot of attention.

I get inside and do not see Coins4Cash. So I sit down and send him a SMS message, asking where he is. At this time, the bar is close to closing, and I say get in here quick so they don't close on us. He claims that his wallet is syncing in his car with his phone's wifi since he had been waiting for me, and does not want to interrupt it.
I stay inside the bar for another 20 minutes and wait for them to usher me out. Now this bar is also in a hotel lobby, so I still have access to the lobby, but can not stay in the bar.
I now head out to my car and place my fiat in a secure box (mounted to the frame ) and get inside. I send another SMS.

Clue 3) The short latin man is still outside on his phone.

Coins4Cash says that his wallet is scanning the chain at this point and asks if I would be willing to trade at his car. He is wanting me to sit inside, I can tell, But I decide that I will insist on doing the trade on the sidewalk once I get to his car. I leave everything of value in my car, secured, and take only my burner phone with blockchain.info pulled up so I can give him the address and check the transaction. On my way walking towards his car (black truck this time), the short latin guy starts moving finally, and its to follow me. I stop on the same block as his car and ask him what the deal is.

Clue 4) He says the man is his protection. I have to deal with that regularly, but never is anyone so weird about it. This is clearly a set up.

At this point, I know I have gone too far, but I still have many ways out and nothing of value on me.

I turn around, tell the latin man that I know he is with Coins4Cash, and ask him to head to the car, infront of me, and get inside. At this point, he kind of panics, pulls a gun out from his coat pocket and asks for my car keys. Instinctively, I reply, "Yeah, that's not happening" and dart off at full speed around the truck and back to the hotel lobby, where I proceed to call the police and wait. After a good 20 minutes, the cops never show up, so I finally get back into my car and drive around for a while, before finally heading to a friend's place for the night.


I hope my story is clear and this helps someone else out there.