Topic: Scamming my own money back ft. escrow scammer and fake Lauda (only 0.175 to go!) (Read 470 times)

Dont know if you have already noticed this or not, but the Telegram ID that you posted here has once used the avatar which is similar to the one philipma1957 uses. You can check this by clicking on their profile pic - it currently has GrumpyKitty's pic, but scroll right and you can see the previous avatars.

It my assumption that this is a serial scammer who may have impersonated other trusted users of the the forum to attempt scams like this previously as well. 

Let me know if anybody has any more information on this low life.

That should be the scammer -> https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/selling-92-ltc-for-btc-5054200



He's acting like both person who needs loan and fake escrow.

Stay safe my kittens: Don't trust, verify.

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Possibly related (but somewhat doubtful as user had contacted me several days before): https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/escrow-ripper-here-guys-warnnning-5053593.

I think it will not be helpful if op is from another country as to take formal action required more info than this. And from another country to provide more info is quite impossible. And as it is not sure either it is personal ip, public ip or vpn, they may avoid the case. They may think it is worthless. But as it is not small amount I also suggest to take action as mentioned marlboroza. If they take then it will be helpful for you, if not then nothing to be loss more for it.

Correct name should be "Nikola". Looking at his email, there is exactly zero chance his name name is "Nicolas".
I don't think he used VPN, I would say he maybe connected from public place, but yet again, he used "VPN" excuse which could mean this is indeed IP provided by ISP to him.

Thing is, ISP won't share anything unless police is engaged so you should probably report them to Serbian police.
Try to reach them here [email protected]

I agree with it. And for this incident the scammer locked the thread which may safe people to be scammed. You are many more experienced then me. Yet you may check Collateral Risk! Few Trusted Escrow Provider and Strategy of Scamming People!
to stay safe from scammer.

Edit: One request to you even all forum member that once become scammed or give any loan please give trust. Negative trust for scammer and neutral trust for loan. Which may safe from being scammed.

Yep, but 0.005 is better than zero. I never intended to get any money from him, I initially wanted him to reveal more information that would lead me to finding him, most importantly revealing other addresses he has used in the past. When the opportunity presented itself, I took it.

Wow, what an excellent story. Really surprised to see when I saw transaction history.

But you have been scammed 0.18BTC and covered only 0.005BTC

Hey everyone, just thought I'd make this quick post. Couple days ago I was scammed for 0.18 BTC by an escrow scammer, I was super busy at the time and didn't double check whether the escrow was valid or not. Long story short, the escrow wasn't valid and the guy made off with 0.18 BTC, ouch!

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/00018-5052757

This was the initial thread that lead me to being scammed. I won't bother posting the original conversation since it was long, but it basically revolved around organizing an escrow in a Telegram chat, he then faked the escrow's username and grabbed my 0.18 BTC. Annoying, but I got hit with the oldest trick in the book, next time I'll double check!

Anyway, today I see another thread that looked strikingly similar to the one that got me the first time. Of course, I saw this as an opportunity to learn some more about my scammer, so I hatched a plot to reveal more information.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/733-eth-loan-needed-xmr-collateral-5054244

Following this, I reached out to the scammer on my alt account @Telegram and baited him into setting up the same scam again, I suggested an escrow (in this case Lauda, sorry Lauda!), and baited him into creating a group chat once again. Oh, and throughout this period I grabbed his IP address using a fake URL shortener. The fake escrow had used the Telegram @gumpykitty (missing an 'r').



I found that the guy is from Serbia, in the city of Belgrade, using an Android device. Further checks reveal his ISP to be Serbia Broadband. He later claims to be using a VPN, seems extremely unlikely to be a VPN from a home broadband provider. In a previous conversation (not shown) he revealed his name to be Nicolas (possibly fake) and provided the email [email protected], Stajebilo meaning What happened in Croatian, one of the major languages of Serbia.




According to the position coordinates, the scammer is located somewhere near Skadarlija, though I am not certain how accurate this data is. No doubt he is within a reasonable distance of this place though.

What follows next is the entire conversation between me and the pathetic scammer via Telegram;















As you can see from the transaction ID: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/bbe54c20d98dd171da4f7f0bdedb309bfebc5d44a78da9a79eb47a19908fe735, the POS actually sent me my own funds back!

It is very likely that this is the same scammer that has been targeting people recently with fake escrow scams. If everybody could post all the known addresses and information you have of this guy, it may be possible to track him down via blockchain forensics.

The end!