German man loses 400k GBP about $500k in Twitter Bitcoin scam

Post by viraptor » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

shawnz wrote: post #95

viraptor wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same situation. You don't have $500k - you have an opportunity to get $500k if you do things right. If it's kept as BTC, there's a number of things that could bring the value to $0 without the scam.

I think this is a pointless distinction. A 500k bank balance is just an "opportunity" to withdraw 500k of cash. There are a number of things that could bring your bank balance to $0 without the scam. 500k of cash is just an "opportunity" to extract 500k of value. etc.

Post by Bancakes » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 1:54 PM UTC

WA wrote: post #49

viraptor wrote: post #24

> The 42-year-old says he first invested $40,000 in Bitcoin in 2017, and quickly made his money back as the value of the coins rose on the open market. He cashed out and got his initial money back, but then watched excitedly over the years as the 10 coins grew to be worth nearly 500,000 euros. Fortunately this sounds like he didn't lose anything, just never realised extra gains. I know it's slightly nitpicking, but l…

No. This is a common way to think about it, but it's wrong imho. Because that money is real and it buys you real stuff. If you have that money one day and it is gone the next, you effectively lost that money. It doesn't matter where it came from. Think about it: You inherit $500k. You lose it through a scam or a bet or gambling. Do you think it doesn't matter? I mean, you didn't earn that money yourself, right? There…

Post by shawnz » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 1:58 PM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #101

shawnz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a pointless distinction. A 500k bank balance is just an "opportunity" to withdraw 500k of cash. There are a number of things that could bring your bank balance to $0 without the scam. 500k of cash is just an "opportunity" to extract 500k of value. etc.

A bank balance is different. The value of $500k in $ doesn't change. There's regulation which dictates what banks can do with that money. There's industry enforced insurance which means even if the bank goes under, you can still recover a decent chunk of that money. Putting money into a basic bank account is by law not gambling, speculation, or investment. You don't have opportunity to withdraw it - you've got the ri…

Post by qilo » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

Bancakes wrote: post #100

bb123 wrote: post #10

This is a terrible scam, but I am astonished by the frivolity with which people would move life-changing amounts of money into something with absolutely no due diligence. When I took on a financial advisor I verified their identity with the govt regulator, verified their written bank details over the phone, and then verified those details with my bank before I even considered sending a single penny. Even then I sent…

It was just bitcoin money. He never worked an hour on them. He lost $40k which was his initial bitcoin investment in 2017.

Post by shawnz » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #108

shawnz wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, sure. Those things are all true, but it doesn't change my point: He could have "realized" the gains any time he wanted and it wouldn't have affected the outcome of this scam. For all we know he actually did "realize" them at some point and just bought the coins again to send them to the scammer. It makes no difference in this situation.

> For all we know he actually did "realize" them at some point and just bought the coins again to send them to the scammer. It makes no difference in this situation. I think it makes a big difference. "I'll gamble my 10 BTC" and "I'll exchange my actual $500k to gamble as BTC" would have a very different threshold for action. I suspect he wouldn't do that with real money. Same reason F2P games get you to exchange mon…