Greetings,
I am an Indian National currently resident in Kenya. I recently sent my remaining bitcoins to an online service called bitcoinfive.com for conversion into dollars and for transfer to my paypal account. The firm is registered in the U.K and their website promised quick and hassle free transactions. Subsequently I heard back from them with the following message:
Hello,
Unfortunately, your transaction was flagged by our anti-money laundering
screening system as requiring verification and was hold until it.
Please provide us with the following details to get your account verified:
• a scanned copy of an identity document:
-National ID card (both sides) or national passport (double page);
-International passport (double page);
-Driving license (both sides)
• a scanned copy of your proof of residency:
-Utility bill
-Electricity bill;
-Bank statement;
-Tax return, council tax;
-Other documents, with an exception of electronic bills/statements,
online screenshots, mobile phone bills or credit card statements
• a photo of yourself holding the identity document.
Information in the address section of the Verification Form should match
the information in the submitted proof of residence.
Proof of residence should be not older than 3 month. Scanned images should
be in color and in high resolution (at least 300 dpi).
You will have 72 hours to send us above documents.
We apologize for any inconveniences that may result from this process.
This extra verification is done for your security and to ensure that
orders are legitimate. This industry, unfortunately, has a high rate of
fraudulent orders, and this sort of verification helps us drastically
reduce fraud and ensure our customers remain secure. Such documents are
used for verification only and are not provided to third parties in
anyway. Verification is a one time procedure, after this you will never
face this issue again.
http://www.bitcoinfive.com/aml
Regards,
Altaf Usmani
CFC, Risk Management
GX Money Capital LTD
I had since sent them the following message:
Hi,
As requested, I am sending across to you the following documents:
1) Scan of Passport (with the relevant endorsements showing my residency in Kenya)
2) Scan of Driver's License
3) Scan of Bank Statement for the current month
4) Photos of me holding my I.D
You can download the high-res documents from the following link (as the combined size of the files were too large to attach in an e-mail!): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4ddv1xcyzjusoju/AACHbiNzo5-Sk_ZUXSe7Ts6ca?dl=0
Hope these should suffice. Please do let me know.
Thanks and regards,
Sid
P.S: It is my humble request that should you be unwilling or unable to process my transaction, that you please refund to me the bitcoins sent.
I have since not heard from them either acknowledging the receipt of my information or denying me my service. It has been 3 days.
I wanted to have your legal opinion as to what my legal recourse is, in the event they withhold my funds.
Your help/advice in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
Sid
Hi
Hope all is well. I read your complaint and I’ve actually had the same thing happened to me. They took 1300us from me. What have you done since in trying to retrieve your funds? You can reach me via email MrProdg@gmail.com
Hi
I am in the same situation, sold for over $600 of bitcoin to them they asked me for document that I cannot provide and since i told them no more reply.
Anyone knows what to do next?
I am also going through the same thing.these ppl are thieves and are a scam.I am looking for legal assistance with relatives in the UK as I am in Africa in zambia.they have very Unethical standards.why did they not request for this documentation before they said it was OK to transfer.it's so annoying.
I have found myself ripped off by their "Anti-Money Laundering" lie as well. What self-respecting money launderer deals at the level we are? Certainly, I can see the AML reasoning if we were transferring 1, 000's of dollars or Euros worth, but for 500 or 1, 000?
These people ARE THIEVES! They are a SCAM! Tehy are stealing money from GLOBAL CITIZENS and I believe we should tyry to find the actual PEOPLE that are behind it and TAKE PERSONAL ACTION.
They steal without remorse, and they are NOT going to STOP until someone holds them PERSONALLY ACCOUNTABLE!
Watch out, BitCoinFive PEOPLE. I have friends in 43 countries! ONE of them is going to FIND you! And the last thing you're going to hear is their knock on your door.
Have a nice day.
For those of you who have been scammed by BitcoinFive and GX Money Capital LTD of London, Mr. Janos Laczon and Mr. Altaf Asmani, I encourage you to file an official complaint with the UK Government against them. (Here's a link to their listing with the Government of the UK: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10479958)
First, they are only authorized to trade securities not for the public, but for themselves. Second, they have no office to speak of, but share a location in London that houses more than forty other companies. I had a friend do a drive-by and he saw it as a jewelry store.
I have found reports by dozens of others who report exactly the same conduct by BitCoinFive, amounting to hundreds of thousands of US Dollars in confiscated funds, amounting to nothing less than wide-spread fraud by this company and their officers. I have lost thousands of dollars, as have many others, some having their rent money stolen from these people who show absolutely no remorse for teh pain they are creating by their dishonest business practices.
Drive these cockroaches out of the shadows, for it is there they can do the greatest damage.
Should you wish to collaborate on this issue, please contact me directly at Gadgetman@GadgetmanGroove.com
Ron Hatton
Montana, USA
I'm going through the same thing, its been since Feb the 8th 2018 since I got flagged, have sent in documents and got a few emails stating that I didn't pass the AML verification process and that they would send me a postal letter to verify my mailing address, Its been a month since I received that email and have gotten nothing except 2 more emails stating the same thing about the letter. I have emailed them and am still emailing them daily bothering the crap out of them, I just want the sorry cowards to man up and be straight and forward with me and quit leading me on a wild goose chase knowing I'm never getting my money. I've excepted that part but I want the low life pieces of crap to be a man or woman and tell me YEAH I SCREWED YOU, but no they are too much of a coward and low life scum sucker to even tell me that. I've excepted my money is gone and I hope something is done to them but in the mean time I will email them till I can't email anymore.
Me too
I actually was homeless for three months because of this. It had been a back and forth since oct 2017.