I don't think Helix Light didn't exactly steal anything yet... I'm confused.

Let me start by saying that I was working with blurry vision I am so tired with my work lately. I can usually send out BTC from a market into a mixing/blending service fairly easily and without much troube. I like to change methods constantly so I went to Helix Lght for the first time. I put my wallet into one side and I put the Helix wallet into the market. Things I did right:

  1. Used the correct onion link
  2. Added the information correctly to the market withdraw form

What I did wrong:

  1. Did not make sure that the "single transaction" option was selected on the market, so it basicaly transferred the requested amount (4.0000 BTC) in multiple transactions.

...and here's when things got wierd....

I realize that there is a requirement NOT to add BTC in more than 1 transaction. So I refreshed the page franically as well as the blockchain.info updates. I saw over 6.81 BTC transfer into that account in 21 transactions immediatey. During the confirmations I refresed the Helix page and watched some bad HTML/PHP text displayed on the background. I wanted to screen shot but I'm tired and defeated at this point. Who was I going to show? You guys? Anyway I saved the info despite being on Tails. I could post the blockchain info if it would help. Not sure if that's OPSEC fail though. It's between a blended market and a blender. I'll tell you what though... safety first. It just cost me like $3k that I'd like to see back.

Lastly, as I continued to refresh the page I saw a new address pop up and an explanation beneath saying that this address was generated minutes ago. Then I knew I was screwed.

Of course I messaged suport both on email and reddit. Support got back pretty quick. Of course they have no record with that address. I've written it off as a loss but I still check in on this mystery 6.81 BTC sitting on the blockchain confusing me to no end.


Comments


[3 Points] Ethereality_DNM:

/u/gramssupport

Helix is not programmed to accept more than one transaction to the address it gives you. However, grams still holds the private key for that address so he can manually retrieve your coins. I believe you can give them as little information as the address you sent the coins from and they will be able to retrieve it for you.

They are limited in the amount of time they store the private keys though, IIRC, so hopefully they can take care of this quickly. I may be wrong on that last point so don't take my word for it.

Just because: /u/gramsadmin


[2 Points] Morvu:

adresses on helix light are for 1 transaction, after 1 transaction received it wont register the next one. so if you send your transaction in several parts only 1 part will get registered by helix and after all tumbled and sent to you. whats not clear for me, u didnt even receive 1 single part of the transaction?

what do the helix guys say(would like to see the message itself)? they seemed pretty customer friendly to me


[1 Points] CocaineIsPrettyCool:

Did you save your transaction ID?

They've returned $2k+ worth when I made the same mistake.


[1 Points] lovelylittlegangster:

Double negative. I'm confused too.


[1 Points] gramssupport:

Hello,

we can't find your address so it looks like your URL was not the correct one (you can find it on /r/grams). I'm watching your address on blockchain right now, there was the first transaction placed on 2016-06-16, second on 2016-07-09 , third on 2016-07-15 and then all your transactions placed on 2016-07-19. So it doesn't lok like a valid Helix address. Unfortunatelly I realy think you've been scammed by an imposter site.

Now when gramsadmin is marked here you can be sure you'll get the best care. But that's everything what we can do. He can't return your coins back to you if you've used a bad URL and he doesn't find your address as a valid one.

GramsSupport


[1 Points] gramsadmin:

did you send your helix verify string to support? https://www.reddit.com/r/grams/comments/4sesu5/grams_new_features/


[-2 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

I'm surprised that helix support couldn't help you. You can prove that it was the deposit address they gave you. You can prove on the blockchain how much money went into it in total.

Get some sleep first, because the blockchain record will still be there tomorrow. These sorts of things happen all the time with tumblers and coin mixers. If 6.81 goes in, and nothing comes out, they owe you 6.81 btc (minus their commission).

Grams Helix has been trying to attract vendors away from bitcoinfog, not quite above-board (remember the "bitcoinfog selective scammer" fud? That stopped the moment lobali stepped down?).

I'm sure he will sort it out, that's a lot of money to lose.I think alphabay's notoriously ad0hoc tumbler sent too much to helix, which then fucked-up too. Don't tell alphabay though, and you are quids-in. Unless Helix reuses deposit addresses, and some of those bitcoin belong to other users.

Maybe its a way of hiding the origin of everybody's bitcoin, but its a pain in the arse if that is the case.

Bitcoinfog is a coinmixer followed by a tumbler. Its very thorough buy takes at least 6 hours. Helix is just a coin mixer / swapper, but its quick. This makes it ideal for customers who are always in a hurry to get money to the market to place an order.

Vendors tend to be in less of a hurry. The only urgent bit is to get bitcoin out of some fucking dodgy marketplace before it breaks down or steals it. But occasionally a vendor needs cash quick to pay for postage, or toilet paper, or a flight to Belize.


[-4 Points] IsaacDestruction:

Every tumblr service steals from their customers, its ridiculous, this is why I dont tumble. Plus more money for me


[-2 Points] to54w6ey7ut:

helix is run by a ignorant thief too lazy to fix years old issues too stupid to understand cryptography and too dishonest to return all the stolen bit coins. someone evil enough to phish and scam his own users, lazy enough to reply to encrypted e-mails in plain text. 103, 614 subscribers need to wake up and realize there are other newer tumbling services much better than helix run by honest people.

"not programmed to" "single transaction" are man made limitations aimed at making easier for the user to fuck up somewhere bullishit excuses to cover up ignorance or the big fat lazy ass of the helix admin

after losing more than 2k last year i wont touch helix with a ten feet pole grams is useful for searching but it can not be trusted handling your bit coins