Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: 3DInGjwqN1olP3SNIA on June 15, 2012, 08:17 pm
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I'd just like to raise the question. A buyer could easily establish a good record by buying 0,01 BTC items such as e-books. He/she can then move on to reverse-scam a seller.
A seller could easily offer e-books to generate a flawless track record, then just scam some of, or all buyers who get "real items" and for some time maintain a good record by selling e-books.
Point; Sales of immaterial goods in the sub-BTC range may be used to generate false (or half-true) track records which can be used for scams. Solution; either ban immaterial goods like 0,01 BTC ebooks, or say that feedback should be 'weighted' with the value of the transaction.
More ideas for solutions or thoughts on the subject?
(On a sub-note, a SR-scam that has been discussed several times is the feedback-circle scam where a seller uses fake accounts to generate a fake track record. After getting a good record and selling some real items to forum members (giving him/her reputation in the forum) he/she than starts scamming (some or all) buyers. He can also use the fake-buyer-accounts to reverse-scam sellers. Does anybody have any ideas on preventing this?)
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Yes, but what good what it do to have your stats say the following:
Total transactions: 102
Total spent: $36.26
Refund rate: 0%
Auto-finalize rate: X%
Member for: X time
Wouldn't that look quite odd? Indeed it would.
This is what is shown to vendors when you purchase on Silk Road.
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Escrow. It's there for a reason
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This has been discussed many times. It all boils down to risk and doing your homework as a buyer. If a vendor is presented with stats that indicate the buyer has a large number of transactions for very few bitcoins then the vendor has many options. They can cancel the order, they can ask the seller to finalize early, they can require it be sent with tracking and tell the buyer that if the tracking shows delivery there will be no refund (pretty much an unspoken rule). Or that if it gets returned then the address was fucked up....(one way to selective scam and a nasty thing to do to someone).
It would be pretty obvious to a vendor that if someone came along and placed an order for an ounce and had only spent 15 bitcoins in the course of a month on 25 transactions that it would not be worth it to stay in escrow, cancel the order, require finalize early, or work out a deal for a smaller amount to build trust. Maybe someone actually wanted to start with e-books while they set up a PO Box, who the hell knows?
As for generating accounts to create feedback. This certainly occurs however it costs at least .18 BTC to generate feedback and vendors who do this would likely be impatient, do this over the course of a just a few days or weeks, and then put up bulk orders requiring F.E.
They may have +35 transactions and a 100 rating, but look at their ranked in the X percent stats,,,,,
The buyer needs to be smart enough to actually go through the feedback and look at the items, and if they are all suddenly gone and the vendor has a high percentage and low rank (for example DickHeadMcGee (100) ranked in the top 96% of vendors with 42 successful transactions....then it should be obvious to the buyer that they're about to get zinged if they purchase.
If there is a less obvious but still fishy scenario...ranked top 65 percent with 38 succesful and selling ounces now....check the forums or just use another vendor until they prove themselves.
The easiest way to avoid scams is to stay in escrow and use vendors that are reviewed in the forums by other credible members.
The most difficult thing to prevent is selective scamming; A vendor ships almost all of their orders even a god deal of their bulk orders, but every now and again decides not to ship a bulk order and takes a small hit on their feedback...There are even ways they could potentially get it through the resolution center and make it appear to have arrived or have been returned due to a buyers error.
The best thing a buyer can do is to start with small orders from a vendor and then work their way up to larger amounts, research the forums, look deeper into the feedback of a vendor who suddenly hits 35-60 transactions (for the more patient scammers) and require F.E's on items that they would benefit from running a scam on. Assume that vendors with a 100 percent feedback who are ranked "in the top 100-70 percent and have at least 20-30 transactions are digital goods vendors, and their 200 bitcoin half pound of OG Kush is silly to FE early for.
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That was well put.
I think that should be stickied for new buyers.