I'm in the middle of trading with a member on here, the trade is confirmed and deal is agreed. I gave him my shipping address. All of a sudden, he requires photo ID and a bill as proof of residency. I didn't see any harm, so I took a picture of my Drivers License, bank statement with address, and tax return (sensitive info blanked out) with address. He replies with "this deal is not good for either of us", when in fact we both already agreed. Never heard from him again. The guy in question is Accumulator I've done hundreds of transactions/trades in another hobby, and this one seems like terrible trading etiquette. I'm not sure if requiring this kind of info is how it's done for trading PM, or if it's just this guy. Is providing ID and proof of residency something you guys normally do around here?
Never heard of such BS , asking for ID Very suss , should have never sent him any form of ID Yes it's just this guy
was it a member with a lot of trading feedback? post count?? something seems pretty suspect i would say. i've never being asked anything like this. hopefully nothing to worry about though.. thanks for bringing this up. a lot of questions get asked on this forum, many of them are repetitive. first time i have heard this one.
Gosh, now I feel like an idiot. I wasn't worried at first because we were both trading, and he made it seem like this kind of stuff is the norm because I was new to the forum. I wasn't alarmed until after he called off the trade and disappeared right after I sent him personal info. There's no reason for him to cancel on an agreed deal after I've complied to everything, unless it was just to get my personal info. Now he knows what I look like, where I live, and at least some of what I have. At least I blanked out my tax number on the tax return, but now I can potentially still be robbed in the future.
I thought the whole reason of trading here was that it was more anonymous, no disrespect to either of you but jebus if someone asked me for anything more then my address/ po box alarm bells would ring. It would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.
Rather odd.. never heard of this, and wouldnt have sent i.d. Especially as it sounds like you were paying him first. How were you paying if you dont mind me asking? Is there a chance he thought you were going to try and somehow reverse the payment? (like you hear some do with paypal?) (not that ive heard of this happening here.. Just trying to think of how seller may justify this)
Hope it was just a misunderstanding. Doing a swap/trade with a new member with low feedback. Should have been sorted out with a bit of better communication.
I think you have got the gist from other's comments. I am amazed that that someone mentioned had the gall to withdraw from the deal after he got your details.
Anyone met him at a meet up? He is a paid member but I'm in agreeance with the sentiment here that too much info was requested.
Proof of residency ?....really ? if someone asked me for those details you would be able to hear me laughing from whatever country i was a resident . Good thread for newbies to read & know what is the norm
In addition to the above, For a few coins I would say this is way over the top and very suspicious, however many of the people on here are paranoid/odd. For a deal over a couple of thousand dollars you would expect someone to take more precautions. Not quite sure how a photo ID would be any use unless he intends to track you down and stalk you if the deal goes sour. For a deal over $5000 then maybe the guy is a dealer and has no choice and has to request this info. First thing I would do is get back in contact and ask for a full explanation, there might be a reasonable one but until you ask you will not find out for sure. In the email ask them for some feedback as to why the deal did not go ahead, it might be their personal circumstances that changed and nothing to do with you. Ask them why they felt the need to ask for the personal information, tell them that as the deal has not gone through you are not happy for them to keep this information and you would like them to dispose of it securely. If that doesn't answer all your queries. Let them know that requesting personal details is considered suspicious, tell them that you will be removing all PMs from the address and that you have kept a record of the communications as a precaution. You will have no choice but to leave negative feedback, not for the deal but for the lack of adequate explanation. Then see if you can store your PMs elsewhere, and definitely keep a record of all communications as you might need them . Still a bit too early to panic but you can take some sensible precautions.
I'm sure there's a misunderstanding somewhere, I already met Accumulator in person a couple of times and never had any issue on any transaction with him.