Topic: Known Scammer: Dzelil Salihovic / botcoinExpress / xU2 (Read 2327 times)

Background: Dzelil is well known to many on this board as kr4x. Recently, he got caught out in the OpenRigs forum thread. Since then he has made it his personal goal to destroy the OpenRigs brand, including registering multiple accounts and loudly accusing us of being a scam. In the meantime, several customers of the 1600+ orders we've received since November have not, as yet, received their order (they have all had their order shipped by surface mail, which we used to list as a 4-6 week shipping method, but have since changed it to 6-10 weeks given the delays experienced by some). Whilst we try to assist them and possibly replace/refund the shipment if it has gone missing, we have had to deal with Dzelil's constant trolling, eventually having to lock the previous forum thread and start a new, self-moderated one. He has switched tactics to opening a number of scam accusation threads, such as:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/scam-openrigscom-484403
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/openrigscomfluffyhoe-stay-away-481554

It is incredibly hard to keep a cool head and to assist irate and frustrated customers when this is going on. Some customers have very genuine complaints, and we are trying to find the most appropriate way to assist them and turn their negative experience into a positive experience. But Dzelil's trolling makes for an incredibly unpleasant experience, and he is doing serious damage to us as a brand - we have had potential customers contact us asking for clarity or telling us that they're afraid of ordering because they've seen the scam accusation posts. I am fascinated that he has such a personal vendetta - he placed an order, he trolled the thread, he got caught out, I refunded his BTC in full and his order was cancelled.

Current scams: Dzelil has unfortunately fallen in to the trap of using the same modus operandi. His new accounts often lash out at OpenRigs within a few days of being created. He also tries to create posts where he sells mining hardware for BTC (GPUs or ASICs). To bolster his "reputation" or when a sales thread gets too hot he shuts it down, claiming its been sold (in reality, had it been sold there would shortly be a scam accusation thread). He typically claims to be in Canada and never accepts escrow, although he has claimed to be in Europe before.

Invariably he's running so many scams he can't keep up with all the lies he tells. For example: under his botcoinExpress moniker, in our old thread he claims to be from Europe: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.4965323, a claim he repeats in a WTS thread claiming to have 4 ASUS 280x cards: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.4949830. However, he then suddenly appears to be in Canada: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.5265654. He also uses his xU2 moniker to try bolster the credibility of the thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.5222393.

Previous known aliases: You may remember Dzelil as kr4x, his most well-known moniker on the forum. So far I am aware of the following aliases he has used in recent months: skyisthelimit, paradiselife, goldbars, botcoinExpress, and xU2.

Resolution: It seems that fewer and fewer people are falling for his obvious scams. Not accepting escrow is the big red flag. There is little I can do to protect OpenRigs except point out when I see his modus operandi (which will probably change now that it's been laid bare). I do hope that as time progresses and more customers voice their positive experiences (even if it ends with us refunding them if they haven't received their order) that this drowns out Dzelil's noise.

We do not aim to scam anyone, and try our best to be as transparent as possible. To that end I have left all sorts of negative comments stand even in the self-moderated thread. There is no need to delete negative posts when we are trying to assist people - I understand the need for them to vent their frustration and anger in public, and we will continue to do everything we can to assist them. I must admit, though, the experience thus far has really dulled my desire to operate a business in the cryptocurrency space. I have spent more time explaining and defending myself and my business on this forum than I have creating a smoother logistics chain for our customers.