Major Spike In LocalBitcoins Trading Activity Could Be Due To Scams & Fraud
Just last weekend, LocalBitcoins set its weekly record trading volume. Across disparate regions, there seems to be a unifying trend: volume is increasing on LocalBitcoins. But this has left some wondering: how much of this trading volume is due to fraud? Most of the transactions done on LocalBitcoins are not done via peer-to-peer cash transactions, but instead on transactions based around intermediary financial institutions. Does this mean that more and more people are dealing in bitcoins by depositing money in other individuals accounts? Nonetheless, it appears on LocalBitcoins, at least,....
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A trader on Localbitcoins and Paxful has pleaded guilty to charges in connection with a couple of bitcoin scams. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that the trader knowingly sold bitcoin to victims of fraudulent schemes. Bitcoin Trader Facing Jail Time The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that a Boston man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in two bitcoin fraud schemes. Austin Nedved “pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy,” the DOJ detailed, adding that the 29-year-old is currently “in custody....
After a joint investigation was conducted by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security, seven people were arrested. Fraud is an international business, albeit some countries seem more prone to criminal activity than others. Six Nigerians have been arrested and sentenced for their role in a US$40m fraud scheme. Although Bitcoin was not involved – from what we can tell – they used any other means at their disposal to defraud users all over the world. Among the scams run by this group are check fraud secret shopper schemes, and personal assistant work-from-home fraud....
Editor's Note (2PM CST): LocalBitcoins.com is now back up. Users are reporting that withdrawals are working fine. Though the LocalBitcoins team had to rescind their ETA multiple times, they were very good about keeping users updated via twitter. Websites go down for various reasons: Scams aren't the most common reason but the idea sure sticks with you. Hardware failure is an incredibly unfortunate happenstance that many a miner can relate to. Clearly, LocalBitcoins had backups in case of this occurrence. Last week, LSM Labs took their website down without warning, a response to being....
Today, May 3, 2014 LocalBitcoins reported a "very dangerous attack" on the site's infrastructure. As of now, LocalBitcoins has released a statement saying that none of their users data or Bitcoins have been affected and in the meantime "the site will be down for a while as the system is being rebuilt." LocalBitcoins hosting service had received a request to restart the website's server that apparently came from a "spoofed email" and other flaws in the hosting provider's support system. LocalBitcoins became aware of the situation shortly after this abnormal activity started. The attacker....
Popular peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange platform LocalBitcoins has announced that it will halve its trading fee for all bitcoin trades done in the UK, starting today. In an effort to increase bitcoin buying in the UK following the Brexit vote which saw the sterling pound fall in its valuation, P2P bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins will slash its fee for bitcoin trades among UK customers, this month. In a press communication with CCN, the Finland-based bitcoin exchange revealed its affinity to the UK, which it sees an important market. Founded in 2012, LocalBitcoins praised the UK market as the....