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FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

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101–110 of 111 posts

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#101
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trendon Shavers operated the first Bitcoin based Ponzi scheme out of Texas and it folded in 2014. When he defaulted he tried to claim Bitcoin wasn’t money, he wiped or lost all his records and access to the AWS hosting the scam, he perjured himself and claimed to have fully repaid “jcpham” under deposition. Liars gonna lie. My deposit and withdrawal addresses and the blockchain kinda shows no, I wasn’t made whole It…

I do wonder what the difference between running a bitcoin ponzi scheme and a ponzi scheme in Eve Online for Plex is. The claim that Plex isn’t allowed to be traded for real money seems irrelevant since there is nothing in the bitcoin spec that allows trading for real money either.

What large scale ponzi schemes existed in Eve? The only big money making schemes were casinos and betting sites.

Oh now I understand your question. It’s totally in-game legal to run a ponzi scheme in Eve but no one actually gets prosecuted for it.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#102
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what people expect of crypto in general yet this thing as a whole has some insane marketcap.

Buying drugs online is a big market and won't go anywhere. That, and transferring money to all kinds of people and regions where traditional banking tools aren't properly functional.

The unbanked/developing country story for crypto is complete bunk.

Online drugs, porn, terrorist funding, and other illicit or anti-social behavior , that’s likely gonna wind up being the only use case for all that nonsense

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#103
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah! Don’t trust the man! The man is only interested in … something! There must be an ulterior motive in trying to bring scammers to book! Just think for a second. If someone has been scammed out of millions, you think they’re not going to talk to law enforcement about it? They wouldn’t only if they were perpetrating their own scam. At some point privacy nuts on HN have to really stop and think before typing.

Give the Minneapolis FBI whistleblower account a read and then think for a second https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/magazine/fbi-terrorism-te...

Thank you for sharing this.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Historically, the agency has been one of the most corrupt from the beginning," What proof do you that the FBI is more corrupt than other government agencies?

Most USG agencies did not have programs similar to COINTELPRO. The FBI is the USG secret police and as such share they same set of problems other secret police have in other countries - since secret police suppress internal dissent with tactics veiled in secrecy, they are able to violate human rights much more easily than agencies that have more openness and less political valence.

" they are able to violate human rights much more easily than agencies that have more openness and less political valence."

I asked you to show evidence for this statement ""Historically, the agency has been one of the most corrupt from the beginning". Not if it's easier for them to violate human rights.

"Most USG agencies did not have programs similar to COINTELPRO."

COINTELPRO is a secret surveillance program. There's been similar secret surveillance programs from the CIA and NSA, many discussed here regarding internet surveillance. [1][2]

You also claim the FBI is the US secret police, similar to other countries secret police. What makes them like other countries secret police? What makes them more secret than the NSA or CIA?

"since secret police suppress internal dissent with tactics veiled in secrecy,"

How is the FBI suppressing internal dissent?

[1] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-... [2]https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

statute of limitations?

I'm not a lawyer, but I think statute of limitations only protects you against charges being filed for a crime performed X years ago. It doesn't protect you if you run from charges for X years.

so the timer only begins when you are in a certain jurisdiction? That seems unenforceable..

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#106
post #79
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luke had his wallet sitting on a server that he knew to be compromised for months. There is no reason to expect a nation state actor, his loss was 100% his own poor security. It also says a lot about the "wisdom" of hosting your own wallet. Can't trust the exchanges, and you can't trust your own wallet.

> Luke had his wallet sitting on a server that he knew to be compromised for months How do you know this? Luke has denied this over and over again. It seems like you've invented this in order to defame him.

He twitted it himself in November:

https://twitter.com/LukeDashjr/status/1593227756841578496

He then only "purged the backdoors" which suggests very poor approach to security. If anything, he publicly discredited himself.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#107
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be interested if you've heard of any prosecutions against individuals solely for using a mixer. In itself, I don't believe that it is illegal to use a mixer, but it is likely illegal to operate a mixer in most countries.

I've been convicted of money laundering in an European country for far less than using a mixer, so probably yes. I merely sold 5000 euros worth of bitcoin to a Chinese OTC exchanger. There wasn't any real legal theory behind the charges. The court and prosecutor just assumed without any evidence that 1) the money must have been from criminal source and 2) I was using the Chinese exchanger specifically to obscure the…

Wow, that sounds shitty - sorry.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do wonder what the difference between running a bitcoin ponzi scheme and a ponzi scheme in Eve Online for Plex is. The claim that Plex isn’t allowed to be traded for real money seems irrelevant since there is nothing in the bitcoin spec that allows trading for real money either.

What large scale ponzi schemes existed in Eve? The only big money making schemes were casinos and betting sites. Oh now I understand your question. It’s totally in-game legal to run a ponzi scheme in Eve but no one actually gets prosecuted for it.

“Zzzz Best” was one - http://www.wirm.net/nightfreeze/part1.html

Also, the name of the company was hilarious.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What large scale ponzi schemes existed in Eve? The only big money making schemes were casinos and betting sites. Oh now I understand your question. It’s totally in-game legal to run a ponzi scheme in Eve but no one actually gets prosecuted for it.

“Zzzz Best” was one - http://www.wirm.net/nightfreeze/part1.html Also, the name of the company was hilarious.

Err, actually, that was the wrong scam. I do remember a different one that had a website investors would go to to see fake “profits” though.

Re: FBI Looking for Hashflare Victims

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most USG agencies did not have programs similar to COINTELPRO. The FBI is the USG secret police and as such share they same set of problems other secret police have in other countries - since secret police suppress internal dissent with tactics veiled in secrecy, they are able to violate human rights much more easily than agencies that have more openness and less political valence.

" they are able to violate human rights much more easily than agencies that have more openness and less political valence." I asked you to show evidence for this statement ""Historically, the agency has been one of the most corrupt from the beginning". Not if it's easier for them to violate human rights. "Most USG agencies did not have programs similar to COINTELPRO." COINTELPRO is a secret surveillance program. Ther…

>How is the FBI suppressing internal dissent? COINTELPRO was more than just a surveillance program, unlike the other agencies you mention. It involved disrupting perceived communists many of whom were not in fact communist but did dissent against the various elites within the USG’s domestic regions. This was a stated goal of Hoover. Today these practices continue with known evidence of FBI activity purposed towards suppressing dissent. within both right and left wing activists. I would agree that the CIA has an even more miserable track record than the FBI, but putting the NSA in the same category is strange. The NSA did not, as far as is publicly known, plant agents with the intent to disrupt dissenting groups or spread pro state ideology. Instead they seem to have mostly passed illegally collected info to other agencies to act on. While that is wrong, it is not as wrong as what activities the FBI (and of course the CIA) have. To take your logic a step further, it’s unlikely that agencies such as the US Department of Energy are planting agents to disrupt dissent.
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