Topic: Urgent! Need to raise ~$1,200 USD in 24 hrs for South Pole expedition. - page 4. (Read 15435 times)

Make your own research. All questions have been answered. This is legit. Confirm with coindesk.com journalist Richard Boase, or the respected forum members bg002h, or Goat.

Donated a bit and tagged the address 

This cannot be a scam, since I

- Am french
- Donated
- Sent the link to numerous people, including my boss
- Received a coulpe pms from Sword Smith, the son of the hero. (He's a broker, but that can be forgiven, I guess.)

EDIT : Post edited as per Sword Smith requirements. Hope it's more to your liking, now?

Hold on right there! In the PM I sent you, I proved that I have known Faycal since 1999 when I was 12 years old. We both lived in Norway at the time. At this place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cross_Nordic_United_World_College

All this is included in the PM that I sent you. Did you even read it?

I have also answered your question on the ambiguity of the names to the best of my ability.

Check the PM that I sent you and all the replies and have written on this. I sent the same PM to "bg002h" from this forum. And he was able to use the information in the PM and a correspondence with the coindesk journalist to validate my claims. I have probably made some mistakes too so there is no reason to apologize. BUT. Please stop asking questions I have already answered. I have better things to do than sit here and press F5 in order to prove my honest intentions.

Frank over at Reddit has a final design that he's going with and is planning on delivering it to Faysal.

Thanks, bud, and I truly enjoyed the challenge.

Now, with all due respect, I'm having a very difficult time gettin' my head wrapped around the two different spellings of Faysal/Faycal.

The French TV News at 1:12 has the spelling as Faysal: http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/2013/apres-le-pole-nord-il-part-a-la-conquete-du-pole-sud-8294890.html I'm sure that they would have taken the time to make sure his name is spelled correctly.

All of Faysal's official pages spells his own name Faysal.

Thorkil, in the original OP of the first South Pole thread spelled it Faysal, but later edited the entire OP to reflect a new spelling--Faycal--first time seen.

Thorkil's FB page has the following: https://www.facebook.com/thvaerge



Assumingly, the last quote is almost an exact quote from the CoinDesk article: http://www.coindesk.com/adventurer-make-first-ever-bitcoin-transaction-south-pole/


Concerning the last quote, Richard Boase makes the same exact mistake on his FB page, of which there's no Faycal spelling in the CoinDesk article: https://www.facebook.com/richard.boase


Thorkil claims that Faysal told him that he prefers the Faycal spelling. If that's the case, then why didn't Richard Boase use that spelling in the CoinDesk article, but somehow used it only once on his FB page.

With the exception of the CoinDesk article, Faysal has not once publically mentioned Bitcoin on any of his official sites.

Faysal needed to raise 60K euros for the expedition, but opt to allow a guy he just met, Thorkil, to control the Bitcoin donation wallet, reverting it back to him once he gets to Chile--if he survives. If he dies, the funds go to charity, according to Thorkil. Really! Not a single family member is even considered? Maybe it's a French thing.

That said, again I apologize if I'm off base and totally off my rocker with this, but seriously, something is not adding up right in my head. Maybe it's the hole from rod.

The 15 BTC are there...  Any new word on the flag fabrication/delivery status?

This is awesome. All thanks to Phin for setting this up!

Excellent, over 15 BTC. 

Love this community so much.

Thank you for settling this. I appreciate your enquiries.

To put my money where my mouth is, so to speak:
https://blockchain.info/fr/tx/958a8f11c0f27d2ec01eb5f5189a1b29082d8f88d42a90ff0f68535a4436c225

He's over ฿15 now.

Richard, the author of the coindesk article, interviewed Faysal via both gmail and his public figure Facebook account and confirmed the Bitcoin address with Faysal (the brave explorer). This is as legit as it comes without signatures and irc logs.

I think we need some best practice guidelines so folks not as accustomed to computer nerd security culture can make themselves stand out more clearly from scammers.

Again...I believe this address to be valid and Thorkill (the big 6.8 BTC donor/Sirius money) to be legitimately acting on Faysal's behalf.

Is the flag ready?

Googled this,  "Faysal Hanneche North Pole", seems legit, a few links from April this year,

I believe most people were lead to believe that all the money donated was going to be controlled by Faysal. BTW, who is Faycal?



http://www.coindesk.com/adventurer-make-first-ever-bitcoin-transaction-south-pole/


https://www.facebook.com/richard.boase


Most of the Coindesk article was gleaned from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130422/frenchman-aims-both-poles-year-world-first with a quote somehow my Faysal thrown in good measure.

I sure the hell hope that we weren't played yesterday (1:53AM local).

Roger. I am in control of that. Does this work? Worked it out on Blockchain.info.

Message:
"Thorkil Værge is in control of Faycal Hanneche's bitcoin wallet and he will give Faycal his bitcoins when/if Faycal comes back from Antarctica. If he does not return (God forbid it) he will donate the bitcoins to charity"

Signature:
G4PRTIHYsp9c31e7rVo8vVv+GH7PEhhwukrb4nvNu0+DZ4IV9zwagaKOwyOx71UHUYjqkdD3XaeB26tyAqSHHAM=

Public Key of 1Gt1anYr6gEuiNgacFouhy4RUNQFH3YY9Y is 045363c16922eb9dd2439d6ef2dfd5a327bffbe4a2421780082aad7264bed3b96a42bd7fbc9df1e 5c92d5ead905ec56420f2c112fdf12b4cb65cebd1c93b251ba2

Edit: Since these are Faysal's money, I will administrate them as he tells me to do. For any enquiries on this, I can prove his wishes if needed.

I commend your determination, but realistically you won't be anywhere near the south pole. Most likely a ice shelf off the coast of antarctica. I doubt they'll let you get near where you ought to go. But, you may be able to reach the North Pole which I think would be more interesting anyway.

It would be neat if you could get a Bitcoin flag directly under Polaris the North Star at the real North Pole. Everyone could follow the North Star to reach it.

Looks like the goal is essentially met (€2000).

A signed message from the donation address is the next step. (In retrospect ought to have been my first step and the first step of any bitcoin journalist).