[Scam Warning]Double Spenders.

Hello, everyone! I am here to warn all traders who use BTC to trade. I really haven't seen any other posts about this topic on sythe so I decided to create one. I used to use coin base, but COINBASE DID NOT WARN ME. It is my fault for not being more thorough but I learned my lesson. A few Sythe users have been conducting a scam using BTC which involves Double Spending money. From my readings it is an extremely hard action to pull off unless you know what you are doing, it is not like charging back via Paypal. What is double spending you ask? Well, it is the successful action of spending the same money (BitCoin) more than once. How do they do it? From my research, you need to understand scripting to even think about doing this. The basics are they spend THE SAME BITCOIN to one part of the network, and then to a different part of the network, which the Bitcoins do get sent but only to one part of the network. One gets lost during the transaction and sits in your wallet with 0 confirmations for about 2 days and then is sent back to the person who double spent. You should google this, read up, and correct me if I am wrong. My grasp on this subject is not perfect. How can you prevent this? You can prevent this by using blockchain. I never knew blockchain would tell you if a transaction was double spent until it actually happened. If you are trading goods and someone sends you Bitcoins, check it. Before there is even confirmations Blockchain will give you a warning stating it was double spent. I can post screenshots and steps on how to check exactly if it is something people would want. If you don't mind making trades a little longer just wait for a confirmation. Usually after 1 you are safe and will eventually receive your money, but to be 100% safe wait until you get all the confirmations and you see the transaction is confirmed. So be careful out there trading and hopefully you learned something from this post. Thanks everybody!

 

Tldr:

Check blockchain for the payment, it will mark it as a double spend. If this shows up do not trade the person the goods.

Waiting for one confirm however will be fine.

 

Thanks for this I didn't know it was possible

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up man.

 

Always wait for one confirm to go through

 

@Decimate

 

Yeah this is a major need-to-know about btc deals. People get ripped all the time because they don't know this shit

 

FYI, in my experience blockchain did not warn me it was a double-spend until almost an hour later, waiting 1 confirm should prevent. If you are dealing with a very large amount, you should wait for more than 1 confirm. It takes 6 confirmations for the transaction to be official, I believe.

Also,

Unfortunately, there are tools online that make doublespending so easy ANYONE can do it, this is something we will be encountering much more in the future I am sure.

 

There is a certain area on block chain that will show you. Maybe there is different way to do it so it does not show. But mine showed instantly when i figured out how to check it. Really Frustrating if this is the case. Wallets should protect against this.

 

Ima bump this so it comes back up in the community...

 

I never knew about this but I always wait for at least one confirmation before sending over any goods so I should be safe Thanks for this guide man!

 

I've read that 6 confirmations means the btc is safe and secure!

 

Isn't just one confirmation fine though? There isn't any way they can get their bitcoin back on one confirmation, can they?

 

I had 1-2 confirmations when i was double spent. I remember getting 1 thinking i was okay after about 35 min. but still the coin got lost and never was found again :/ id just wait until you receive the actual coin unless you have done business with the person before!

 

Oh wow I never knew that people could still take back their bitcoin even after one confirmation I'll make sure to wait until the transaction is fully confirmed from now on, thanks for the heads up!

 

good to know

 

good to know! thanks

 

Thanks for warning us about this.