Topic: Has my brother been scammed? (Read 387 times)
Yes your brother is scammed obviously. As what I mostly read on replies in this thread most of it is true. Signs of scam sites are explained in some replies here. If you are thinking if you can recover the funds in the wallet without depositing first then the answer is no. There is no actual funds in the wallet said. You share the site to let anyone who doesn't know about this site.
Hi
I'm a complete novice and have had no dealings with bit coins whatsoever.
However, I've joined this forum to try to gain some understanding on how things work with wallets etc.
In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes) reasons cannot access his coins/money. I have read some of the threads on here and a few of the discussions have raised alarm bells with me as he has mentioned some of the malware/hacks particularly the Ctrl C, Ctrl V issue.
I'm not sure what wallet/s he has or who he is dealing with blockchainwise but I believe he has access via a laptop using Windows. He seems to use the correct terminology when talking about things, in relation to what I've read on here and other sites, but I've not seen anything legitimate about the transactions need to recover his coins. I've not actually seen his laptop or how he accesses his wallet.
So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.
Is 'Overturn' a genuine thing? Does this sound like a typical scam?
Is there a way of sorting this out?
I'd be really grateful of your help/opinions.
Thank you
Probable it can be considered as a scam if your brother got into that wallet, made or donated that huge amount of bitcoin. I have heard some websites or wallets that are also having that kind of scam, that you need to deposit first in order for you to activate the wallet. But the experience of your brother is different, he already had such amount of bitcoin in his wallet, and then had asked to donate 6k euro. Probably it's a scam, but try to make background checks for that wallet. I'm a complete novice and have had no dealings with bit coins whatsoever.
However, I've joined this forum to try to gain some understanding on how things work with wallets etc.
In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes) reasons cannot access his coins/money. I have read some of the threads on here and a few of the discussions have raised alarm bells with me as he has mentioned some of the malware/hacks particularly the Ctrl C, Ctrl V issue.
I'm not sure what wallet/s he has or who he is dealing with blockchainwise but I believe he has access via a laptop using Windows. He seems to use the correct terminology when talking about things, in relation to what I've read on here and other sites, but I've not seen anything legitimate about the transactions need to recover his coins. I've not actually seen his laptop or how he accesses his wallet.
So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.
Is 'Overturn' a genuine thing? Does this sound like a typical scam?
Is there a way of sorting this out?
I'd be really grateful of your help/opinions.
Thank you
Hi
I'm a complete novice and have had no dealings with bit coins whatsoever.
However, I've joined this forum to try to gain some understanding on how things work with wallets etc.
In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes) reasons cannot access his coins/money. I have read some of the threads on here and a few of the discussions have raised alarm bells with me as he has mentioned some of the malware/hacks particularly the Ctrl C, Ctrl V issue.
I'm not sure what wallet/s he has or who he is dealing with blockchainwise but I believe he has access via a laptop using Windows. He seems to use the correct terminology when talking about things, in relation to what I've read on here and other sites, but I've not seen anything legitimate about the transactions need to recover his coins. I've not actually seen his laptop or how he accesses his wallet.
So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.
Is 'Overturn' a genuine thing? Does this sound like a typical scam?
Is there a way of sorting this out?
I'd be really grateful of your help/opinions.
Thank you
There is no such thing as blockchainwise wallet the domain is on sale, and there is no such thing that you are going to pay a certain amount of money just so you can open the wallet, the rule here is you have the key you have your coin, not your key not your coin, and you are right it's completely bullshit you two should educate yourself on how things work especially when it comes to a wallet, it's not tricky after all. I'm a complete novice and have had no dealings with bit coins whatsoever.
However, I've joined this forum to try to gain some understanding on how things work with wallets etc.
In short, I believe that my brother has been scammed as he has bought bitcoins over the last 6 months and for various 'unbelievable' (in my eyes) reasons cannot access his coins/money. I have read some of the threads on here and a few of the discussions have raised alarm bells with me as he has mentioned some of the malware/hacks particularly the Ctrl C, Ctrl V issue.
I'm not sure what wallet/s he has or who he is dealing with blockchainwise but I believe he has access via a laptop using Windows. He seems to use the correct terminology when talking about things, in relation to what I've read on here and other sites, but I've not seen anything legitimate about the transactions need to recover his coins. I've not actually seen his laptop or how he accesses his wallet.
So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.
Is 'Overturn' a genuine thing? Does this sound like a typical scam?
Is there a way of sorting this out?
I'd be really grateful of your help/opinions.
Thank you
I believe OP has realized that your brother scammed by scammers. That's the real reason why people should minimum study about bitcoin before dealing with it. Otherwise there is chance of easy scam and it has been happened with your brother. I will prefer for good practice from beginning, for store your bitcoin should use Ledger or any other hardware wallet I there is such as big amount of bitcoin. Or if there is small amount of bitcoin then you may use Electrum, it's easy to use and open source wallet. Must verify signature if you can. And always be careful when you need update it, don't click update popups. Just go original website from where you installed first time and reinstall your software. Your funds shouldn't affected for this updates.
Remember, there is no support team for bitcoin nor anyone could help you to recover your fund even it has sent to the wrong address. Bitcoin is a irreversible cryptocurrency. There is not such as opportunity that you need to pay for active your account or recover your funds.
Remember, there is no support team for bitcoin nor anyone could help you to recover your fund even it has sent to the wrong address. Bitcoin is a irreversible cryptocurrency. There is not such as opportunity that you need to pay for active your account or recover your funds.
Again, thanks to you all for your views and advice.
Although not a programmer I've been involved with computers for years and can see the clear inconsistencies and discrepancies with the email content etc. I don't have any experience with trading bitcoins which is why I'm asking you (more experienced people) to chip in with your views on what has been sent to him, in relation as to what you would expect to see. So, thanks for that.
I did have a whiff of an issue with his 'trading' in late 2019 but couldn't really get enough details to be able to get involved. The coin-bits website was definitely '.com' back then so they've obviously moved to '.co' for dodgy reasons. Plus the website has been done by a company set up in Kingstown, St Vincent - major alarm bells there!
Unfortunately, my brother isn't computer savvy and he's been totally sucked into the scam.
On a more positive note, looking into bitcoins has me intrigued and I'm thinking of having a go - obviously following the valuable advice on here!
Cheers
Although not a programmer I've been involved with computers for years and can see the clear inconsistencies and discrepancies with the email content etc. I don't have any experience with trading bitcoins which is why I'm asking you (more experienced people) to chip in with your views on what has been sent to him, in relation as to what you would expect to see. So, thanks for that.
I did have a whiff of an issue with his 'trading' in late 2019 but couldn't really get enough details to be able to get involved. The coin-bits website was definitely '.com' back then so they've obviously moved to '.co' for dodgy reasons. Plus the website has been done by a company set up in Kingstown, St Vincent - major alarm bells there!
Unfortunately, my brother isn't computer savvy and he's been totally sucked into the scam.
On a more positive note, looking into bitcoins has me intrigued and I'm thinking of having a go - obviously following the valuable advice on here!
Cheers
<...>
You stated that the site was "coin-bits", and that it wasn’t online anymore (even though the alleged support email belongs to another domain, but being scammers, don’t expect too much coherency). Although it may not be of that much use now, you can see what the landing page of that site looked-like here: https://web.archive.org/web/20191008040906/https://www.coin-bits.com/#If the exact spelling of the URL is different, try to search for it there to see what it looked like (although it’s a snapshot, so it’s not an operative active site).
Here you go, now the others don't have to manually open them 
They're pretty huge though.
They're pretty huge though.
This is definitely a mental manipulation of sorts: waving money in front of you and asking for money to get more of it. As soon as you give them the funds, they will either disappear or ask for more upping the stakes.
This is a very easy scam to detect, just remember the African Prince saga. Having a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo in the email just makes it easier to see imho.
This is a very easy scam to detect, just remember the African Prince saga. Having a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo in the email just makes it easier to see imho.
The terms used in that email are utter bullshit, the scammer is trying too hard to sound "technical" by using widely used terms for crypto.
Words that are weirdly combined and non-existent crypto terms: "Blockchain system", "turnover operation", "default HASH", etc.
He used those common terms in a very outlandish way.
Speaking of scams, please check every user's profile that replied here by clicking on their names (left-side of posts, specially the latest ones).
Make use of the forum's "trust" feature and I suggest you to do not trust the profiles of those who've got a bad reputation.
Take care.
Words that are weirdly combined and non-existent crypto terms: "Blockchain system", "turnover operation", "default HASH", etc.
He used those common terms in a very outlandish way.
Speaking of scams, please check every user's profile that replied here by clicking on their names (left-side of posts, specially the latest ones).
Make use of the forum's "trust" feature and I suggest you to do not trust the profiles of those who've got a bad reputation.
Take care.
https://imgur.com/xxi0L2T
https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc
Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!
Not at all. Never saw anything close to that.https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc
Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!
Ask him if he actually spend money that he suposedly have frozen (over 4 BTC)?
I mean its around $32000 (well not in this moment because of market crash but around), he should know where he send money transfers to.
Yeah its a scam.
But i feel im missing some key story elements.
Make sure you are in control of your funds, read article or two about bitcoin and fix your brother problems if its even possible (fake exchange or smth).
[/quote]
I've spent a hour this evening looking at his computer and talking to him and I still don't understand what has happened. He definitely didn't set up a wallet himself so I think he's been scammed ever since he started. I've been reading up on things for the last 2 days (actually seems very interesting) and nothing fits in with what should happen. Think he's been royally screwed over!
Thanks hosseinimr93 for your help
So, here's 2 emails that he received, not for the same transaction...
https://imgur.com/xxi0L2T
https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc
Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!
It looks like he has 4.8 bitcoins that he can't access, because of the wrong address, as per the above image. Then another 6.1 bitcoins are in a suspended account for some reason! What an idiot!
He's now got someone acting as his 'friend' telling him he can get his coins out....as I mentioned previously.
Thanks
So, here's 2 emails that he received, not for the same transaction...
https://imgur.com/xxi0L2T
https://imgur.com/IQYEuzc
Are these typical messages? The second one refers to this 'turnover' money required!
It looks like he has 4.8 bitcoins that he can't access, because of the wrong address, as per the above image. Then another 6.1 bitcoins are in a suspended account for some reason! What an idiot!
He's now got someone acting as his 'friend' telling him he can get his coins out....as I mentioned previously.
Thanks
If he has to pay money to get access to money that's actually his, it's a scam.
Yeah its a scam.But i feel im missing some key story elements.
Make sure you are in control of your funds, read article or two about bitcoin and fix your brother problems if its even possible (fake exchange or smth).
I've seen emails that appear to show the status of transactions but they look very simple. I've also seen one that shows addresses for 2 wallets - one showing the correct address with the other showing the same address with an extra character on the end. Apparently bitcoins were supposed to be sent to the first one but ended up going to the one with the extra character - my brother thinks he did this by accident but it could have been the Ctrl C, Ctrl V hack?
If the difference of that address with the correct address is only in an extra character, I don't think that's related to a clipboard hijacking malware. It's impossible for the hacker to create such address. I was going to show screenshots but I cant add pictures. Is this possible somehow? Just wanted to get an idea if these emails look legit/typical.
Upload the image in https://imgur.com/ and share the link here. (Click on "New post" on top of the page.)
I'm sure it was originally coin-bits.com but that site doesn't open now. Looks like they've moved over to coin-bits.co! Good job that doesn't look suspicious. Plus their Account Types page is empty!
So, I've managed to remote into my brother's pc. I've seen emails that appear to show the status of transactions but they look very simple. I've also seen one that shows addresses for 2 wallets - one showing the correct address with the other showing the same address with an extra character on the end. Apparently bitcoins were supposed to be sent to the first one but ended up going to the one with the extra character - my brother thinks he did this by accident but it could have been the Ctrl C, Ctrl V hack? (maybe?) So, these bitcoins are in limbo (a wallet address owned by nobody) and he needs to pay this 'overturn' to access them... I was going to show screenshots but I cant add pictures. Is this possible somehow? Just wanted to get an idea if these emails look legit/typical.
Thanks
So, I've managed to remote into my brother's pc. I've seen emails that appear to show the status of transactions but they look very simple. I've also seen one that shows addresses for 2 wallets - one showing the correct address with the other showing the same address with an extra character on the end. Apparently bitcoins were supposed to be sent to the first one but ended up going to the one with the extra character - my brother thinks he did this by accident but it could have been the Ctrl C, Ctrl V hack? (maybe?) So, these bitcoins are in limbo (a wallet address owned by nobody) and he needs to pay this 'overturn' to access them... I was going to show screenshots but I cant add pictures. Is this possible somehow? Just wanted to get an idea if these emails look legit/typical.
Thanks
Any sites that ask for money before he/she can get the funds is actually a scam method. It is better that your brother should use recommended wallets or popular wallets where you don't need money to get your funds. This kind of method is already on all over the internet related to crypto.
Hi,
Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.
I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits
A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too
Thanks
Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.
I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits
A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too
Thanks
Do you mean https://coinsbit.io/ ?
Or https://www.coin-bits.co/#/
Or https://coinbitsapp.com/
The app seems like a copy of Wirex. Not sure how legit it is. Or if above coinbits are even related. Their designs look similar though.
Certainly the latter link of the two(second link overall, https://www.coin-bits.co/#/) seems sketchy and does have some negative reviews lingering around on the internet.
FYI i don't know any of these businesses, and they all look the same to me: Sketchy.
<...>
Bad news: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.coin-bits.comI recall seeing the same modus operandi on a post by another person some months ago. The review were similar to those I’ve linked, and I believe they used a different name back then. These scammers follow the same satanical ritual, and then they move on to a different corporate name and reiterate the process on to new potential victims.
Hi,
Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.
I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits
A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too
Apparently he has had emails giving addresses for the transactions/confirmations on the blockchain... which is obviously just to try to make things look legit.
Thanks
Thanks for the replies trying to educate me - it's really helpful.
I think I may have discovered the problem myself....he's told me it's been done through coin-bits
A quick google review has told me that that site isn't good news! Can you guys confirm this please? Their website appears to be down too
Apparently he has had emails giving addresses for the transactions/confirmations on the blockchain... which is obviously just to try to make things look legit.
Thanks
I have a couple of questions regarding wallets which will, no doubt, confirm my ignorance...
Once I've chosen a wallet, what happens? Do I have to put money in it to be able to purchase coins? Do I have to 'activate' a wallet by paying money in?
If you use a real bitcoin wallet- often we refer to "real" wallets as wallets where you have control over your private keys, and the answer is NO. you download it for free (it's ALL open sourced software), and then you either buy Bitcoin on an exchange, and transfer it to your wallet, or work for it some other way.Once I've chosen a wallet, what happens? Do I have to put money in it to be able to purchase coins? Do I have to 'activate' a wallet by paying money in?
"Real" bitcoin wallets are free, open source, and never deal with real money (dollars). On some web wallets there is an integration with the fiat payment system, (Blockchain.com). But with the context of your story, i don't think this is related.
Quote
Do I have to put money in to cover transaction fees? Do I have to link the wallet to a specific exchange or is that done depending on which wallet is used?
Bitcoin itself is used to cover transaction fees. I have yet to hear from a wallet that needs to be linked to a specific exchange. (Perhaps this is the case with Binance's BEP protocol, but that's completely unrelated i'm pretty sure.)Quote
I'm trying to establish, in my own mind, exactly what the process is. Is there a step by step idiots guide to this? I want to try to understand so that I can identify the BS that is being fed to my brother.
You download software from Electrum / Bitcoin core, or compile it yourself.Then, launch the wallet, generate an adress, and then you send bitcoin to it.
(The bitcoin is usually bought from an exchange such as Coinbase.com, or perhaps a P2P transaction with a site such as LocalBitcoins.)
Once the transaction is confirmed, no one but you has control over where and how it goes to its next destination.
Quote
So, in general terms, he is being told that his coins are available in a wallet (possibly not his? I'm not sure) but he needs to put in cash (using the term 'Overturn') to activate the wallet and release his funds. Apparently, he has 4.8 bitcoins in there but needs £6k to get them back. This appears to be complete bullsh*t to me but as I've said I have no experience of this.
I give it a 0.001% chance it's actually legit. No reputable business or wallet conducts business like that.Jump to: