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Bitcoin Scammers Run Off With $12 Million: “Going to The Caribbean… Hope You Guys Understand”
Submitted by Mac Slavo of The Daily Sheeple
Bitcoin Scammers Run Off With $12 Million: “Going to The Caribbean… Hope You Guys Understand”
For the casual observer the underground online marketplace, often referred to as the DarkNet, seems to resemble the lawlessness of the Wild West. Over the last several years millions of dollars worth of digital crypto-currencies have been stolen, oftentimes by the very operators of the web sites tasked with managing the online digital “hot” wallets of its users. (A “cold” wallet is used to store crypto-addresses on your own Flash drive or can be written down on a piece of paper).
The most recent example comes to us from the “Evolution” Darknet, which according to a report from Crytpo Coins News shut down their web server and ran off with $12 million in user bitcoins:
Users of the popular darknet marketplace Evolution were disappointed over the last couple of days as the site has been unavailable. Spotty access is normally unsurprising for the market, and there is a long list of alternative URLs. But none of them have worked, so it appears the site is down.
Evolution has become much more active in the wake of the arrest and subsequent conviction of Ross Ulbricht, the operator of the first major darknet marketplace, Silk Road. Its operators do not have the same philosophical drive as did the Silk Road operator.
A user or users operating under the name Verto and Kimble appear to be the culprits responsible for transferring the funds out of the Evolution network. But the story doesn’t end there.
The operators of Evolution did leave a note for their users letting them know what happened to the money. As you might expect, the $12 million in bitcoins that have been disappeared will be shared among the former admins of Evolution, with the operator of the site claiming he’s headed to the Caribbean to enjoy his profits:
Due to unforseen events I decided to close down Evolution Marketplace. We want to thank you guys for you effort and help making this the most profitable and popular marketplace. This wasn’t an easy decision but due to other marketplaces getting shut down and the forum going downhill I decided to cut my ties and exit with an eight figure profit. The millions from evo will be divided up amongst the mods a few admin and members. Since this is such an abundance of money I may consider buy ins from former evo members in exchange for 1k bitcoinis. I’ll be around around for a short period of time before permanently moving to the caribbeans, I hope you guys understand.
Crypto-currencies like Bitcoin are gaining popularity across the world, but with the anonymity the provide the entire system remains open to unscrupulous brokers.
For those utilizing bitcoin and other crypto-currencies it is strongly recommended that they keep their funds in “cold wallet” storage to avoid broker shut downs and theft of “hot wallets” that are stored online.
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"Sweet Caroline"
Unless Caroline is a prostitute, I would imagine it's of more a case of Cracklin' Rosie tonight in homes across the world...
F0nestar??
So good ole Fonestar and his Mighty Brigade cashed in and headed for the tropics and some sunshine?
Good for them...
Ah, to be 14 and a millionaire on the beach in the tropics ...
Regards,
Cooter
FØNESTAR
There ~ Fixed it.
fonestar is with you always!!
https://btc-e.com
This is a misunderstanding Tyler
The Feds got into this market. They want it to look like an exit scam to bleed the trust out of these markets.
This was done by LAW ENFORCEMENT
Conspiracy theorist here on ZH? c'mon guy you can't be for real. I smell bacon.
It was a bust by the Feds. There was lots of warnings on www.deepdotweb.com about evolution. Ddw is the zerohedge of the darknet. Look there. Only idiots got done in on this one . Smart money was out a long time ago
When you say "smart money" what exactly are you saying? ;-)
Ppl were jumping up and down that the Feds got in there about 5 months ago
So all it takes is for the Feds to open up a website to follow along with ones transactions?
Sounds completely anonymous ;-)
The feds didn't need to keep track of the identities of payers and payees. To get the money the feds just needed access to the wallet/s sitting on evo's machines, which according to Spitzer they somehow got. Who deposited btc in those wallets is irrelevant, as well as - considering precautions are taken - impossible to discover. Wallet compromised, mission accomplished.
Didn't need to keep track of payers & payess but you know how nosey they are and even if it is the Feds, they still got into "Evolution's" server.
If its all the same to you. I'll transact the old fashioned way, in a dark alley behind the dumpster where only drones & traffic cameras with infared & Starlight can observe me ;-)
Well, I was with you until the latter half of your soliloquy.
Bitcoin is NOT an anon coin, and barring massive infrastructural changes to the code base, never will be. CoinJoin and BitcoinFog have been proven to be relatively easy to trace, and while proper IP obfuscation and best practices could make it easier to conceal yourself, saying you'd be "impossible to discover" isn't only incredibly naiive, it's flat-out wrong.
https://chainalysis.com/
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113207/coinbase-is-tracking-how-users-spen...
As these technologies develop, it'll only get worse. I'd be surprised if any DarkNet market still dealt in Bitcoin a year or two from now for precisely these reasons.
Still uncrackable encryption out there.
They might see transactions, but assuming the users encrypted their info yes it is still anonymous.
@Spitzer is right. Think about it.
I tend to agree.
What Spitzer is saying would be a much bigger story than some people running off with $12 mil. Lets see if the Tyler's actually take some initiative to research.
The policitians here in the United States do this everyday with billions of tax payer dollars.
"If you don't hold it ...."
And if you can't hold it, it doesn't exist.
lol...fools & their bitshit are soon parted ;-)
You have no idea what happened here
I know BitCoin is a scam (with some usefulness thrown in as bait) thats all I need to know.
You do not seem to understand what happened here.
I understand that it is too easy to be scammed when you don't even know who you're dealing with - it doesn't matter who did it because nobody will ever know for sure. At least if the bank stole your money, you would know who to go looking for.
Right, it's not a problem of the currency who you are dealing with, it's the problem with whom you are dealing. You will demand justice, if a grocery dealer scammed you, but better not if a drug dealer did it.
Seems pretty clear to me, the BitShit is gone, poof!...lol.
I just went and checked my underwater camera, my shits still there.
Try depositing your gold or dollars with your drug dealer instead. Everyone knows tgose can't possibly be stolen.
T...the unique thing about transacting (anything) in person is you can look them straight in the eye and they know immediately what your deal is.
Plus, you and I would never show up with a million dollars (or an i-phone...lol.) without having very real buddies up on roofs or ridges with .308's and really bad attitudes ;-)
No one lost a million dollars, a bunch of people lost smaller amounts. This is akin to a bank failure, something a lot more common when dealing with criminals.
I really don't get why you idiots hate bitcoin and crypto so much. Its incredibly short sighted of you.
I don't know what to say T...
"No one lost a million dollars, a bunch of people lost smaller amounts."
Its a 12 million dollar haul no matter how you look at it.
"This is akin to a bank failure, something a lot more common when dealing with criminals."
Cept there is no Bit-FDIC, financed by Satoshi, to make all the little people who "lost smaller amounts" whole.
"I really don't get why you idiots hate bitcoin..."
Like I said elsewhere, I don't "hate" BitCoin I just know what it is, so it goes without saying I'm not one the "idiot" smaller amounts who lost anything.
Knock yourself out T...just don't expect me to join in with your pump & dump.
I see. You are just another government loving slug too lazy to do his iwn due diligence, prefering systemic collapse to free markets.
Absolutely disgusting.
And here I thought you were above the "you're just another government loving slug" routine.
Heres the deal T, BitCoin is an exact copy of what bankers are doing, there is no intrinsic value in what they print just as there is none in the digits manufactured by "Satoshi" that were "mined" and I'm damned sure it took more energy than $261 to "mine" the first one and will take even more by factors of thousands to "mine" the last...which WILL NOT be valued any higher, so you're already in the hole.
Even the banks are running a cleaner ponzi than this, they admit theirs is nothing but faith based.
So fuck you and the next time I see you pumping silver for what it is not (oh yes, I saw you) you can count on me busting your chops, jerk.
They say you don't know what happened here. I see $12 M stolen from what I read. Doesn't mean anyone paid $12 M for them as they may have been mined for less.
You are right, it is a scam. The people selling this stuff are no different than the diriviative sales people who are descendents of the Elixer salesmen of yore, except elixer had alscohol in it mostly and people would feel a bit better after a drink :)
No, it is not like elixer salesmen, it is like the multitude of private currencies issued by private banks during the free banking era. IE a good thing. But you guys just love fiat so much, you slander and say any kind of idiot drivel so long as it sounds like it is against bitcoin.
Don't sweat it, Spitzer. nmewn, despite displaying occasional flashes of erudite Truth on the odd post, is largely an ignoramus.
where's fonestar?
he got grounded after he lost his mom's life saving during a horrible bitting accident. no more internets for him.
Just like that and Poof he is gone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1tmkAFb_Os
But I was told Bitcoin is the greatest new monetary system since sliced bread and indoor plumbing. You mean all the bitcoin touters on this site are morons?
Certainly not! Don't insult the frauds, cons, and shills like that!
Gold and dollars get stolen every day. Guess the only money you idiots like is Yap coins.
This will lead to an increased interest in decentralized marketplaces, like OpenBazaar, which don't have a central administrator and can't be shut down. Once that happens, governments will truly be unable to control this "wild west."
yes, can't wait for openbazaar, should be coming out soon:
https://openbazaar.org/
if it gets going strong, i will be able to ditch fee-bay and net another 9% to my margin
847328_3527,
U beat me to it.
Bitcoins are scarcely better than other fiat currencies.
Better to just own gold.
While the world is betting on bawnds and stocks I am making a small bet on Bitcoin. Fuck it.
Better for sure, but not stored in other hands.
you still don't get it, do you
hold gold to preserve wealth, yes...bitcoin is not really a store of wealth
but bitcoin is superior when you want to move wealth outside the system.
gold and bitcoin are not opposed to each other, they just have different functions
blockchained/corzined
No time for lightweights
Had fuck all to do with the block chain. Markets was doing 10's of millions a month in business. Feds found the servers and drained funds in escrow
thanks for the time, big boy.
Not even close to comparable -- and getting ripped off like this has nothing to do with the blockchain.
it has everything to do with the blockchain.
ok, go ahead and explain how that's the case.
these coins were banked.
What is the blockchain?
a poor way to do business. as in over the blockcain. rainbows.
What stacking 12321 said...
for the children. blockchain is for bicycles.
Bitcoin is a tax on people who do not understand computers.
yes. and also, it's a bonus for those who do understand computers.
I beg to differ. Bitcoin fans are often financial literacy challenged but rarely are they CompuTer illiterate. Quite the opposite.
I can't believe the gullibilty of some people. This bitcoin thing and other crypto currencies are no different than paypal of bank transfer, accept the electronic coin has less credibility and much more risk.
In the end, what do bitcoin people do? Trade their bitcoin for green as I don't think anyone in the market place will accept a number for a digital wallet scrawled on a piece of paper in exchange for goods or services. And don't kid yourself, NSA and CIA and the others know who and what uses bitcoin, so anonymity is just an illusion.
bitcoin can be used anonymously.
most people are lazy and don't want to make the effort to do that, however; it would be a mistake to assume that it can't be done, though.
if you want to read about it:
http://anonymousbitcoinbook.com/
OT, slightly, but true.
My co-worker came to me on the job this morning. Fear in his eyes. I mean he was shaking. He needed my advise/ council, he values my opinion. At the time, I was busy as hell, taking a delivery. I asked if it was an emergency, he answered in the affirmative. Here goes....
He just got a phone call from the IRS. They wanted $7000.00 to square up his taxes, or they where going to fine him $18,000 or some shit.
I told him, not now. Stop fucking with me, I'm busy. He was hurt. Just in case he wasn't hosing me, I told him it's a scam, ignore it. He didn't believe me. I asked him if he lives under a fucking rock. It's all over the news, the net, print.
Five minutes or so later, I walk inside, and he's got this motherfucker on the speaker phone, trying to get him to get a supervisor. The guy on the line had an Arab accent, and he was pouring it on. I lost it. I went over and said shit to that phone that I don't wish to repeat. It was ethnic, racial, sexist, profane and loud. Then I told my buddy, if he doesn't hang up on this prick, I'm kicking him in the nuts, and he will thank me later. Click. I walked away pissed.
He finds me, ten minutes later, and says " I googled the number, it's a scam" . I rolled my eyes, and he thanked me. He was getting ready to go to the bank and wire the funds.
You CANT make this shit up. True story.
good story.
but, even if it had been the irs, it still would have been a scam.
don't give money to someone if you never agreed to the deal.
Microsoft, dell, expedia, newegg, buy.com and over 75,000 other merchants accept Bitcoin.
Hooray, you can buy thumb drives and video games with bitcoin.
Remind me which grocery stores and gas stations accept BTC.
Gift cards. There we go.
$12 million.
That's a lot of Cheetos.
About a blimp hangar full !
your local bank does this everyday.
So what?
Cock blocked and borged by the machine, when will people learn, organized crime does not tolerate upstarts moving in on their turf. You have to take their syndicate down by the force of a gun barrel if you want to be free.
That may be necessary for some industries, but not for this one. It is perfectly feasible to deal drugs and whatnot for bitcoins and not risk this type of scam. My understanding is that there's some of this already but it is perhaps too complicated (multisignature transactions, PGP) and that's why many users prefer to risk their money by trusting middlemen.
Paging Dr. Emil Fonestarhausen !
Glittery MyCoin Ends in Arrests, Burning Chinese Investors
18 March 2015, by Alfred Liu (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/glittery-mycoin-ends-in-arrests-leaves-chinese-investors-burned
More than 80% of the world’s bitcoin transactions are now carried out in Chinese yuan, up from less than 10% at the beginning of 2013, according to a report from Goldman Sachs Group.
Dead currency.
It's dead, Jim (transactions per day)
Even I can feel the sting all the way over here. Dang!
Why not open a Bit-Mart and hit the road?
I have the same problem buying computer parts with my credit card.
When purchasing a Bitcoin it should at least come with a toy so you will have something.
There's the gimmick! You're rich.
“Open a Bitcoin account, receive a free plushy.”
Those gold foil covered choclate coins are a great investment...
You wanted an unregulated currency? Well, you got it.
And it's completely fine. These are the growing pains of an amazing new technology. It's getting incredibly resilient.
The fall of the first darknet market severely hurt the scene (silkroad 1). The fall of evolution is pretty much insignificant now.
tbh I don't miss the retards like most of the folks here on bitcoin forums.
Stay with your government issued toilet paper, corruptible databases and shiny metals.
I saw this on a friends timeline.....
I've never been fond of Bitcoin.
1)Native bitcoin with block chains as currently constructed does not scale.
2)No one is going to wait 10 minutes while your burger purchase gets recorded.
3)So to scale then bitcoin has to move into private banks, where banks settle among each other using some hierarchy that analog to the current bank exchange system and only really large transactions end up on the block chain.
4)For this to work you have to trust your bank.
5)You have to have legal recourse if your bank steals your bitcoin.
IE government enforceable laws and contracts.
6)Look at how much effort the government has put into shutting down alternative stores of value. (aka Liberty Dollar) and tell me again when the government is going to help you create enforceable laws and contracts for bitcoin banks?
7)To be really useful in the way it was with silkroad etc... you need anonymous transactions...
8)If you can find your bank to seek legal recourse its going to be real hard for the bank to be anonymous.
9)Its also pretty hard to sue your bank anonymously.
10)If one creates a bitcoin bank allowing anonymous transactions with enough gravitas/backing to allow one to enforce contracts, the government will shut it down as a $ laundering operation.
If I combine these items then bitcoin can be anonymous, tiny,independent and fringe, or it defines the null set.
To me the combination of items 3,5,6 pretty much kill it.
Bitcoin isn't the be all end all of crypto. Darkcoin, and I'm sure others, has already solved these problems. Instantx means transactions go instantly, darksend is the best anonymity available, and blockchain bloat isnt a problem due to use of masternodes.
But most here demand money that cant be stolen by a drug kingpin who they have explicitly granted their trust to, so they should probably start chiselling some Yap.
There are purely technical solutions for all of these which won't compromise with any of Bitcoin's principles. If you followed what's going on with Bitcoin you would already know them. You don't need any governments, custodians or any kind of trusted third parties.
A> 1toz Ag Eagle, weekly, will keep the MD. away. It's only $20.00 for your medicine.
1) if this was a false flag, it was a contract job. The Feds aren't this good or nimble. Means that there are fed contractors in this space.
2) more likely another bunch of criminals
3) 12 (or 36) mil is chicken feed compared to what brick and mortar banks are stealing, with named admins
Its also chickenfeed compared to what the banks lose to theft:
http://www.securityweek.com/hackers-hit-100-banks-unprecedented-1-billio...
dupe deleted
The $12M question is what currency he moved the funds into. I'm guessing he kept the bulk in BTC.
I'm obviously not a Bit-Aficionado but I thought all the "coins" are tagged, so you guys should be able to find out where they show up...if I'm correct.
Time for Bit-Detective or Bit-Insurance yet? ;-)
It's ironic but the feds partially caused this, if it's not some government agency itself that did it.
And if it really is only 2 guys, they'll be looking over their shoulders for a long time. Who can be sure one of the scammed doesn't hire a hitman to track them down?
These smart-ass crooks need to have their identities exposed and then hunted down and shot like the
animals they are. Karpeles, are you listening???
Galt's Gulch meets Lord of the Flies...
"You want unlimited control over my valuable property while you remain anonymous and assist others in trafficking in contraband? Sounds legit. I'm in."
Just ran out to check on all my bullets, beans and bandages....yup still there. My gun safes are still full and worth more everyday. If you can't see it, if you dont actually have physical custody of it....it ain't real.
muh block chain!
where is fonestar didnt he used to whore himself out for bitcoin or did he finally hang himself after the last bitcoin fail ?
its no fun if you can't play with the trolls
When will people learn? When you deposit currency into a bank you no longer own that currency.
It was nice of the boys to leave a explanatory note...too bad they were being jerks about it.
I have a theory that fonestar is actually a new radioative element. He causes everyone around him to be subjected to explosive diarrhea, and his half life(i.e. getting banned) seems to get shorter with each new iteration.
I dont understand Bitcoin. The concept interested me for a while until i realized there might be no safe or truly anonymous way to buy Bitcoin. Unless one trades in Bitcoin only at some point an exchange from or to fiat/gold is involved which is dangerous, as the guy selling you Bitcoin might be a cop. Pay online with a card/paypal, theres a paper trail. Pay with a brown envelope under the table, cops swarm in.
The note is not redacted in a way that clearly indicates that he run away with any money from the users, just with his profits. Zerohedgers interpret the unclear note the way they want to, the same way the article's author wants them to interpret it.
Wasnt this supposed to be impossible because you could even store your bitcoins in your brain?
I fully expect some computer illiterati not to explain anything but to call me a fucking idiot.
The argument that Bitcoin is useful because it lets you send money anywhere with an anonymous click is deceiving. Trade involves an exchange and whatever you buy anonymously still goes by boat, passes through customs, is delivered to your personal address, etc. This will never work until someone finds a way to e-mail intrinsic value.
Bitcoin is the currency of the fuure. An alternative to risky Wall Street banks, blah blah blah
Maybe use it for a few seconds to transfer money anonymously, but that's it.
It seem that some folks got a lil-bit jewed.
Golfd and silver ate not mony, but Bitcoin is?
Gold and silver have been fractionally reserved by the abundance of paper gold and silver products. Bitcoin can not be fractionally reserved.
A ponzi scheme dress as uber cool and 22nd century. Suckers born every day. They seem to be robbed from around the world.
I've a computer science degree and I personally would never participate in such a scheme.
Cryptocoinsnews is the asshole of bitcoin reporting.
It's the dailyfail of the crypto world.
duplicate
Federal Reserve scammers take the value of the dollar down to 2 cents....
Lest we forget...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DT7bX-B1Mg
We need gouverments and/or banksters to control the crypto currencies.
Only then it will be save.
/endsarc
Fucking suckers.
Shows to go ya, if you don't hold it, you don't own it.
I have no need for bit$, heavily invested in baseball cards and beanie babies.
In Winklevoss we trust.
Someone stole what was suppose to be segregated funds.
Where have I heard of that scheme before?
Something tells me they’re not going to be sending any post cards once they get to their final destination, and definitely not from the Caribbean.
Bit coin is like paperless, paper gold to me. I never understood why anyone would want it. I've had enough computer woes in my life to not want anything important in only 'bits' or 'bytes'.
Since this is such an abundance of money I may consider buy ins from former evo members in exchange for 1k bitcoinis.
Go ahead and call me stupid but what the hell does this mean??? WTF is a bitcoinis???