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Alleged Bitcoin Scam Leaves Millions Missing
First time accepted submitter OutOnARock writes Yahoo Finance is reporting on the latest Bitcoin scam, this time from Hong Kong. "Investors in a Hong Kong-based Bitcoin trading company fear they have fallen victim to a scam after it closed down, a lawmaker said Monday, adding losses could total HK$3 billion ($387 million). Leung Yiu-chung said his office recently received reports from dozens of investors in Hong Kong who paid a total of HK$40 million ($5.16 million) into the scheme run online by MyCoin, but the total loss may be vastly more. 'The number of cases is increasing. These two days I received calls about more than 30 cases. We estimate more than 3,000 people and HK$3 billion are involved,' he told AFP."
...as much as I try to build sympathy for these people, I just can't.
I mean, just reading about this not knowing what happened would make me think "Hmm this seems shady". I also don't think I'm an overly paranoid person by nature!
if I'm correctly reading the figured I'm finding online, there's about 14 million bitcoins in existence, worth just under 4 billion dollars.
10% of all bitcoins were just stolen, and don't we see a story like this just about once a year?
Once in a rare while I regret not getting into Bitcoins during their huge growth phase. Then I'm reminded of how often this happens and I'm glad I kept my money.
Bitcoin by definition is a scam. You can't have a scam of a scam.
You've obviously never seen the movie "The Sting." :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Bitcoin is like regular bank accounts where most of the moeny is in virtual ones and zeros. Except regular banks have regulation and insurance with decades of history showing they work in most cases. Not to mention if a major bank tried to run away with everyone's money the lynch mob would be epic.
I think bitcoins are a great experiment in 'anarchy'. It goes to show that even a crappy government beats none at all.
(If at first you don't succeed, do it different next time!)
I think Bitcoin is one of the world's greatest producers of shadenfreude, but lately it's getting depressing. The cultist mentalities of a lot of them, and their incessant preaching towards their children and loved-ones has gone well beyond obsessed into cult status. The more I read bitcoin stories, the more depressed I get - not for the idiot that blew away all their money, but for the kids getting bitcoin IOUs for gifts, and the wives who are getting their shared vacation savings cashed in to buy more btc.
From the aritcle:
"One investor said she spent HK$1.3 million in swap options for the virtual currency last September. She said salespersons had told her she would recoup her investment in four months and make around 200-300 percent profit in one year."
How does someone this stupid get hold of that much money?
What's ironic about all these bitcoin scams is that they rely on a technology that removes the need for a middleman (e.g. a bank) to make transactions, the scams always involve people leaving their money in a 3rd party bitcoin bank rather than in a personal bitcoin wallet.
It's like people have bought into the idea of putting their money in safes, but when the "neighborhood safe inspector" comes door to door asking for the combinations to their safes, they don't realize that the whole point of a safe is that you ware not supposed to tell other people the combination.