Man Robbed at Gunpoint for $1,100 Worth of Bitcoins in Brooklyn - page 2.

magneto

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This is definitely not the first case of this happening. Trading on localbitcoins has been extremely risky when you are doing local trades because for some reason you are dealing with someone that does not have a bank account, doesn't want to use other safer and less expensive payment methods, only wants to deal with cash which is untraceable and wants to apparently only deal locally when he's not even a local.

If you decide to trade with one locally, make sure that he has 100+ feedback. Make sure that all his docs are verified and make sure you trade near a bank or shopping mall. And don't do large amounts either, bring a weapon of some sort jsut in case.

Quote from: erikalui on June 17, 2017, 04:35:12 PM

Just when people thought that F2F transactions are safer than online transactions, such incidents prove that those who deal with bitcoins are far more dangerous. We can't really rely on who and when will turn out to be a scammer and craigslist is always targetted by scammers/hackers. Even earlier a man was robbed in a car when he went to meet the buyer in a known place. He was caught behind and asked to transfer all the coins. The police also doesn't help in such cases which is sick. No CCTV but IP addresses can be tracked. Their phone locations, some proof can be got?

Your point is valid but practically no one is going to track down IP addresses. They prove absolutely nothing because I addresses can change over time by themselves, others can fake your IP and you can connect to a VPN yourself. The biggest concern for online dealings is fraud whilst offline it's your life.

erikalui

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Just when people thought that F2F transactions are safer than online transactions, such incidents prove that those who deal with bitcoins are far more dangerous. We can't really rely on who and when will turn out to be a scammer and craigslist is always targetted by scammers/hackers. Even earlier a man was robbed in a car when he went to meet the buyer in a known place. He was caught behind and asked to transfer all the coins. The police also doesn't help in such cases which is sick. No CCTV but IP addresses can be tracked. Their phone locations, some proof can be got?

chaser15

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That's very unlucky and feel sorry for the victim.

Meetups is actively present here in my country. As of now, no such thing as reported a case like that. To ensure safety, meetups must be on public places with lots of people around. CCTV is not necessary as long as you are prepared. Also never go alone and try to be accompanied by at least couple of friends (obviously be accompanied with a guy that can adopt the situation when there is an emergency).

Quote from: Pearls Before Swine on June 16, 2017, 10:33:43 PM

I've no doubt the robber's arm got extremely sore waiting for the theft transaction to confirm. lol

Maybe after it was send, the robber just assumed that it should be confirmed later even it hasn't established yet on the network. So walk out quickly after it was being send. lol

squatz1

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Sadly enough, this sort of stuff is going to become more and more expected with people who own bitcoin (if people know that is) if the price continues to rise and rise or to simply just stick at what it is. This is one of the main reasons I would never do any sort of Bitcoin currency exchange in person, unless of course you're going to be doing the Transaction in a Police Office, or one of those desginated safe places for trading in your town.

Fucking crazy though, the worlds a changing and it doesn't seem to be changing for the better.

bartolo

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The strange thing in this story is that the seller was who stole the buyer´s bitcoins. The most logical thing had been to steal his cash money, which he was going to use to buy the bitcoins.

LFC_Bitcoin

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Threads like this don't really interest me much in a sense that it's going to effect me using bitcoin. People get robbed for items of value every day, it's no worse with bitcoin. Search any local newspaper or crime records & you'll see stories about phones, cash, cars, watches getting stolen.

This is no big deal & certainly nothing to scare bitcoin'ers.

slaman29

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I'll bet any time now if we were to make some study on data, Bitcoin-related crime would still be the lowest percentage of all currency crimes. Hope the Brooklyn guy knows how to track his stolen coin (yes, isn't that wonderful, unlike fiat you can track it from your computer at home).

BitHodler

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Sad to hear for that person, but this article doesn't state anything about what device has been used to transfer the funds to the robber. It's a pretty empty article to be honest.

This is important because the victim in question could attempt to double spend his coins (obviously assuming the outgoing transaction wasn't yet confirmed).

Important lesson ~ if you go face to face to settle deals, do it in a McDonald's building, or any other crowded place.

haroldtee

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You wanna do a face to face exchange in a secluded area? This is not even about exchange of bitcoin. Could be anything, Gold, valuable goods etc. I think the seller wasn't just smart and he should be more careful next time. Can happen to anyone if careless, so lessons learnt. Also, I detest the fact that bitcoin is always used as an excuse for the increase in crime like crime has not been existing even before bitcoin came into existence. Please! Gimme a break!!

Wendigo

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Soon thieves will prefer pickpocketing your smart phones rather than taking your wallets because you might have more virtual than real cash with you Grin

darkangel11

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The only thing this proves is the value of bitcoin. The more valuable it becomes the more people will be ready to take the risk and rob, steal, scam, in order to get some.
Also, I'm pretty sure this guy will try again. $1000 is not enough to satisfy your needs, he'll party for a while and come looking for another victim.
There's over 150,000 armed robberies in the USA each year. Nothing to dwell upon here.

xFiber

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Well as long as something as any amount of significant value there will be thefts. But everything is logged on the blockchain so it can be traced. But then what they will only have his address and as for as I know you can't trace the owner.
I'm also wondering if the thief spelled out his address xD his arm should've been really sore.

vh

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Quote from: Deathwing on June 16, 2017, 08:49:05 PM

Quote from: FiendCoin on June 16, 2017, 08:46:49 PM

Some people are beyond stupid. When dealing with craigslist, ALWAYS deal at a police station fucking DUH!

If you're going to sell bitcoins, at least do so in a crowed area with surveillance, like a coffee shop or something, damn.

There are actually spots around the USA with the sign "Safe Craigslist Trade Area" with 24/7 Audio/Video Surveillance. It all comes down to the person's knowledge, I guess. That's the right word.

Have yet to spot one of these signs, but surveillance cameras are a great start.

Seems some police stations offer/recommend this as as well:
http://www.safetradestations.com

Kprawn

legendary

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These types of articles have been doing the rounds for years. I have seen similar articles when I started out a few years ago. Why would you not

go to some public place with your friends and meet the contact there? I usually meet my contacts at McDonalds and I never go there without

some backup. These places have CCTV everywhere, so they will not take chances. Best place to arrange this, is at a Bitcoin meetup, where people

are familiar with the trusted traders. Wink

Slark

legendary

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New technologies will create new ways to rob, steal and exploit people. Bitcoin is nothing more that digital money.
Gunpoint bitcoin robbery still shocks people because it is 'bitcoin' that has been stolen, no one would bat an eye when it was simply $2k paper money robbery.
Just remember folks, if you carry around a smartphone with a large amount of BTC, you can be targeted in a similar way.

rytyr

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Quote from: swogerino on June 17, 2017, 02:31:12 PM

This person a bitcoin user should have been a bit smarter. I tend to believe bitcoin user should be smarter and not go and meet face to face when selling bitcoins in an area without surveillance. The other person , the robber did a big mistake as the transaction is stored in the blockchain but so were the transactions of many scammers like Hashocean and nothing have happened to them, so catching him will be difficult too.

Exactly.
Never meet face to face to trade bitcoins with someone unless it is a well secured area like a police station where they have an area designated for such online deals and sales now because of so many getting mugged a robbed of their items.
Or meet a convention of the bitcoin community.
There are alot of them in your area.
Just have to look and find out where these places are where there are alot of people around so you can call for help if a trade of bitcoin goes bad.

pixie85

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Quote from: FiendCoin on June 16, 2017, 08:46:49 PM

Some people are beyond stupid. When dealing with craigslist, ALWAYS deal at a police station fucking DUH!

If you're going to sell bitcoins, at least do so in a crowed area with surveillance, like a coffee shop or something, damn.

Wish they gave the robber's description. Probably some kid who took his father's gun and went on hunting for idiots to rob.
It wasn't smart of him as f caught he'd be facing armed robbery charges. That's usually 10 years for a mere $1000...

SotaXBT

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That is why I never, through 3 years in bitcoin ever done a face-to-face exchange, even though fraud is so much less and nobody brings counterfeits (and even those can be scanned at a bank), but the risk of direct robbery is high, you practically meet a stranger while holding a bag of money.
Of course cases like these are a minority, but there are few bad apples and it's better to avoid being at that situation.

swogerino

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This person a bitcoin user should have been a bit smarter. I tend to believe bitcoin user should be smarter and not go and meet face to face when selling bitcoins in an area without surveillance. The other person , the robber did a big mistake as the transaction is stored in the blockchain but so were the transactions of many scammers like Hashocean and nothing have happened to them, so catching him will be difficult too.

digaran

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I wish there was an app wallet that after entering with a stress password any transactions sent afterwards could be somehow flagged then miners would never confirm such transactions, lol the thief wont wait for more than a few minutes to receive confirmation then you could blame the Bitcoin network.
In my country if we insert our credit card pin number in reverse it will notify the police of robbery in progress with the exact location.

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