Yesterday someone attempted (unsuccessfully) to scam me out of some Bitcoins I was selling.
They initiated a trade, causing my Bitcoins to be held in localbitcoins' escrow. Then asked to be emailed an invoice for the Bitcoins, else they couldn't buy them without some kind of receipt, claiming they were new to localbitcoins and didn't know asking for an invoice wasn't normal.
In this instance, I did email them one as asked. They then used my email address to spoof a localbitcoins email to me, claiming the user had paid me.
The email suggested the payment was being held by localbitcoins and would be sent to my account on record later and that I should release the coins.
Obviously I reported the trade immediately and did not release the coins, but I figured other newer users might not realise this is a scam.
So in short:
If someone buying Bitcoins from you asks for you to send them an email of any kind. Be wary, they are probably trying to get your email address so they can send you a fake email from localbitcoins.
If someone really does need an invoice (highly unlikely), at most you should offer to upload a pdf using the attached documents feature.
Also, I'm 99% sure localbitcoins does not have any fiat escrow service. So if you get an email saying someone you're trading with has paid into localbitcoins' main account. Open a support ticket and do not release your Bitcoins. They are trying to scam you.
Submitted December 26, 2013 at 11:43AM by viralplatipuss
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