Brian Armstrong is just a much smarter / competent version of Mark Karpeles of Mtgox. He has a degree in computer science and economics. He has the perfect pedigree of being a mastermind at defrauding people in this new wild wild west of cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase has over 630,000 customers. Almost all of which are happy and satisfied, but the small percentage that aren't happy or satisfied, has taken a HUGE hit. We're not talking about $5, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. This "anti-fraud" "high risk transaction" algorithm that coinbase has is nothing more than an algorithm (if it's event that) made to put extra money in the pockets of the owners.
How do I know this? Common sense. Once a customer has verified their bank account and initiated a buy transaction, right than and there the algorithm should kick in to detect if it is "high risk" or not. NOT 2 weeks later when the money has been taken out of the person's bank account (and then ultimately returned back to the person's bank account bc it is "high risk"). That is why there is a verification process to make sure the registered customer owns the bank account. During those 1 - 2 weeks, coinbase is in control and can do whatever at will.
For example, if I order 10 bitcoins at $500 each... coinbase will take out $5,000 from my verified bank account and say we will give it to you 1 -2 weeks later. Come the date that you are supposed to receive your bitcoins, coinbase has the option of A) giving you the bitcoin like promised b) calling it a "high risk" transaction and denying you the agreed upon deal.
Does that make sense? If bitcoin rises to $700 each by the time you are supposed to receive your bitcoin, the obvious thing to do is to call it a "high risk" transaction. And then after you would have a decision to make. Do i keep the money in my bank and in hopes coinbase would reinitiate the transaction and honor the previously agreed upon deal? Since their customer support always says in the forums "we regularly reinitiate" transactions, which is a lie. They certainly ignore you if it is a large amount. Some people have lost over $10,000 because of this. A small handful of people not satisfied equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars extra in the pockets of coinbase.
Here is just a bit of info
coinbasefraud.com
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3655164https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/coinbase-hands-down-the-most-unprofessional-bitcoin-service-ive-dealt-with-339882https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/coinbase-cancellation-issues-are-not-resolved-145797https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3655636https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/coinbase-is-a-bunch-of-thieves-328076https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3454765https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/coinbase-steals-and-profits-off-customers-via-high-risk-transaction-scheme-322229https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3450929https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3531406https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3526610https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3627572http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14195/did-i-just-get-defrauded-by-coinbaseOk here is some proof with screenshots:
What the heck? Are you serious? You guys aren't even on the same page. Also the funds have automatically been sent back to my bank before you guys replied to me. This incident has pretty much ruined my holidays and reputation with friends/family. I was in school and it affected my grades. By the time I could purchase bitcoin again, the price had ballooned to like $600.
By the way Brian, I know you guys know who I am, because I've chatted with Olaf who has refused to reinitate the agreed upon transactions from OCTOBER (yes october lol), because the "window for restarting the purchase" is closed."
If anything happens to me or my family/friends, it is obviously you. I've told my family / friends all about this. Yes I am a threat to your operation and all those that have invested money in you. You can rectify everything by showing that "anti-fraud algorithm" for the experts to take a look at. But who knows, you might have already covered your tracks.
