Topic: Intersango scam!! (Read 3611 times)

Well if you use Intersango be prepared to loose your money.....
I don't know any other site so can't help you there but look around on this forum, should be some kind of thread for trustable sites!

Update 2012-12-11: Still no update from intersango and i suppose that none of their admins will reply here anymore either since they can't answer to the evidence posted here.

Offtopic but I was considering to use Intersango sell my bitcoins and withdraw to a Polish bank account but I see it doesn't exactly have the best reputation on this forum. Is there an alternative exchange I could use?

Thats not how it is.
Actually i got all some evidence for that!
Now i will give you the prints of my transfer from the bank.

https://i.imgur.com/twWEv.png

So in this picture the first line is the internalreference i gave you at first, the wrong one that i have admitted to!
The rest is the information that was supposed to be there

So today i also noticed that you deleted my support ticket, fortunately you forgot to delete the support ticket i did during the time you wouldn't answer me, you know that extra one where you just told me to not make multiple tickets
So here is the print with the same reference code as in my banktransfer, ohh and as i said earlier YOUR BANK has confirmed that it went in to the right account, if you want i can call my bank and beg them to confirm the transfer via letter or email!

http://imgur.com/lC0Xi

Nice try Patrick but please don't blame me or my bank with a scam that you committed!

And you never mentioned this once in any of the emails? If it was as simple as him sending the money to another account (that he does not have control over; asked him over skype just now because i know him irl) you would have easily been able to tell him that the money has gone into another account ever since the first email.

Patrick even told him he would credit his account with the money (but couldn't do so until the following day, what a convenient way to delay) while they are investigating where the money had dissapeared, this never happened since it was just another way to delay of course.


* Your story (for almost 2 months) at first was that you have not gotten the money.
* When my friend contacted his bank who proceeded to contact your bank to find out where the money had gone, they confirmed that the money had been credited to intersango without problems.
* Now 2 months later you claim that he has already withdrawn his money from a some other second account that he logs in through with tor, this story is almost better than Twilight.

Here's How we see it:

He sent his funds to the "wrong" account.

That account bought bitcoins and transferred them off our site quickly.

I tried to help him.  It took awhile and some back-and-forth for him to give me all the information.

By then I put two-and-two together.  He accesses "his" account over clearnet (the regular internet).  The "wrong" account is always accessed over tor.  However there is a pattern – the two accounts sign in within minutes of each other regularly.  No "proof", but it appears he controls both accounts and has his bitcoins.

If you do not control both accounts, my apologies for questioning your information.  But the fact is you sent your funds to the "wrong" account (or your bank did), and that other person has already taken the coins purchased.

Please do not blame Intersango for your (or your bank's) mistake.

I would but somehow i can't create an account there says something about header information error!

Now it worked
Thanks for the tip!

Intersango, doesn't have the best track record

http://www.thebitcoinreview.com/site.php?site_id=737

please copy past OP as a review on thebitcoinreview.com

I wasn't talking about Intersango in particular, just a careful practice I have had success with in dealing with untrusted parties. I've considered making an account with them when they started business, but i didn't like their interface and their trading volume was to low at that time.

You must be new here

Never had any issues with Intersango thus far. Hope this isn't a sign of declining service.

A lesson learned is that when you first suspect payment troubles, go to your bank and fill out a statement that you suspect foul play from an internet purchase, they will then reverse the transfer, often without a fee.

This has saved me twice on ebay: The fist was a seller that didn't provide me with a tracking number as promised. I cancelled the payment and informed him that this would be reported by my bank to Interpol Got my money back the next day, he was a scammer!
The second time the seller was just sloppy and didn't mail my PSP as promised. When I cancelled my payment, she pulled her act together and shipped it, and I payed with a new transfer, when i received it.

You have inform the recipient that you've cancelled the payment and are willing to try again (if you want to try again). Don't be stalled by the recipients excuses and lose your window for cancelling your payment!

Sorry this happens to you, It's sad to see this happen. Intersango was the perfect exchange for brits and others in the euro zone but it's all been downhill for them and their customers recently.  Would be nice if they recovered.

Thanks for sharing

This is why I love https://bitcointalk.org whenever somebody fucks
around their story gets told

I made a link of your story to the Scam page
I find it a bit strange that Intersango would do this
but your images speak more then a 1000 words i guess

I agree with you and i hope everyone who lost money will report Intersango to the right authorities, this could be the only way to get some money back or atleast give other "customers" the chance to know that a scam is occurring.

Sorry to give you bad news, but IMHO Intersango can't be trusted.
The first bitcoin trading account I opened in my life was with them, back in April this year and things seemed to go smoothly at the beginning.
But then problems started with their GBP account being frozen in the UK.
A logical solution would have been to open a GBP bank account in their Polish bank, but this seemed to be unfeasible, even after I suggested it to them.
Patrick Stratemann (one of the founders of Intersango and probably the only one left onboard) answered to my ticket saying that the GBP account couldn't be opened on the phone (as if going to Poland to put a signature was a trip to Mars!!) and that there was no possibility to solve the situation other than waiting.
No ETA was provided.
This caused two mayor effects:
1) A great increase in Bitcoin quotes expressed in GBP compared to the ones in Euros (averaging about 10-15% spread to what it should logically be, given the EUR/GBP exchange rate)
2) A collapse of the transaction volume in GBP

For instance I got stuck myself with some GBP's on my Intersango account and waited for a few days (couple of weeks or so) for the problem to be solved
I then decided to take my loss and exchange my GBP into BTC at an artificially inflated rate and move the hell out of there.
Since then problems, started also for Euros transactions ( the ones in dollars were already supended previuosly with the excuse that the volume was too little) and the volume handled by Intersango has been sinking to very low levels (a few dozens BTC's a day in GBP and a few hundreds in Euros).
(See www.bitcoincharts for reference).

To make a long story short I believe this exchange business will soon be closed and I strongly suggest anybody that still has bitcoins there
to move them away at speedlight and to the ones that have GBP's or Euros to buy bitcoins and move them out.
Any other strategy (such as waiting or trying to withdraw funds) will end up in my opinion with a total loss.
I believe Intersango will be remembered in the future as a good example of  software developers with a good business idea, but with very very very scarce business acumen and especially marketing understanding (Patrick replies to case opened should be collected in a book and sold as a perfect example of how NOT to treat your customers).

No problem, just glad to be able to help others!


Forgot to tell you but they deleted my account : )

Thanks for the info

Today my bank called Swedbank made an official inquiry to their bank!
The money has gone through the bank and in to Intersangos account without any problems.
I have given them a chance to give me my money, if they wont do it i have to head down to the police office and make an official report about this.

Be carefull when dealing with intersango....

thanks for the heads up

Best of luck, I haven't heard of any issues with Intersango to this extent, though by the looks of it this is absolutely outrageous.