It all started with an email.

One night(June 4), when I was closing my eyes while meditating, my phone was suddenly ringing on an incoming message. (I knew I should have turned off my cell phone!) It was an email from a stranger with the title of “BITVC.com”.

The email reads:

Hi Cindy, Do you have an email address for bitvc.com support? huobi is no longer supporting btc. I chatted with them via their site and they kept insisting they have nothing to do with bitvc and could not support me. My inquiry is in regards to getting my coins off bitvc.com as they stopped withdrawals abruptly with no email to us. We are in the Philippines and never touched Yuan i.e. bitcoin only account yet they seem to be blocking us from getting our funds / btc. I tried calling bitvc re my account user id 181612 at 86 4000-685-598 but they could not speak English despite the site claiming they support in english. This is absolutely appalling that huobi would cut off support via email. They completely distanced themselves from bitvc. You can’t even reach them via support@huobi.com and when you go to chat they refuse to help. Recently we have had a death in the family and desperately need those funds but it seems like bitvc may never return them. I wrote the PBOC but their email bounces as mailbox full. We have funeral expenses to pay and are under severe hardship here. I TRUSTED huobi to back up their word and only place funds at bitvc knowing that huobi stood behind them. Can you help us reach out to huobi or bitvc regarding this matter as we are in really bad shape at the moment. Cheers, Pete Marino of cryptoradio.club

After reading the email, my first instinctive reaction was:

“Stupid conman! You think you can fool me? I am a constant victim of online fraud. I’ve learned my lesson. I, Cindy, will not fall for this one.”

But on second thought, I wondered what if he was just telling the truth. What if he is a good guy who just need some help?

So I read the email again, and I ask myself:

“Why me?”

Why he picked me? And that’s when it hit me that I wrote an article about bitvc suspending withdrawal about some 30 or 40 days ago. I guess he somehow read that story and found my email address. Yeah, it must be the reason why he reached out to me.

God, make me Detective Sherlock Holmes! I must know the truth.

OK, Detective Cindy, let’s be logical about this. If it were scam, you would not be the only one. There must be others who received such emails.

So I showed the email in a bitcoin group called 比特爽, the main English WeChat group for bitcoin.

Just like me, their first thoughts were:

“Scam!” “Sounds Scammy!”

If these smart people think it’s scam, then scam it is.

Great, now I could turn off my phone and continue to meditate.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi…Holy Crap! I can’t concentrate anymore. I kept thinking of Pete and the one he lost.

I turned on my phone again, and asked people at a bitcoin BU group if Huobi still supports bitvc.

A guy recommended a girl Miss Wu who worked at Huobi to me saying she might help me.

At the same time, a complete stranger at 比特爽 said something that enlightened me. (I would not tell you his name is Sven R in order to protect his privacy, but I could tell you he is smart!)

“As long as he only asks for help contacting ppl, and can identify himself (that cryptoradio should b easy to verify), no harm in helping out. Just drop him like a hot potato if he starts asking for any money in any form. FWIW, there is a lot of shit going on in the Philippines with Duterte’s new take-no-prisoners policies, the ISIS attacks etc. People do get murdered there. Then again, anyone can claim to be from the Philippines. I’d say be supportive to help someone in need, but be alert to not fall prey to a scam.”

How come I never thought of it? For one thing, I could verify his info on Google. For another, I could always drop he if he asked me for money. Plus, I don’t have any money to lose.

And that’s how I decided to be part of the “game”.

I typed that I would work on it and let him know the result tomorrow.

In about five minutes, I received another email from him.

The next day(June 5), I added Miss Wu on WeChat and told her the whole story. She replied right away and promised she would talk to people at bitvc to find out what’s going on.

In about an hour, I got another email from Pete.

Dear Cindy, I wanted to keep you abreast of the progress for your edification..re bitvc issue.. (i really like their platform and wish they would just have better support services. I would like to keep using them in the future after this personal mess is behind us.. but its so risky now knowing they can bloack withdrawals at any time) Wow they actually called us.. and requested further info so i sent the screen shot and video..to help@bitvc.com (the reply to address) thanks again for your help. May god bless. you.

I felt bad! Awful! Horrible! I thought everything was gonna be as smooth as silk. Why? Why it’s so damn hard to get his coin out?!

The truth was that I’d been bothering Miss Wu for a very good day and now I felt a little shy to bother her anymore. It’s not like bitvc belongs to Wu, and there are certain rules to follow.

As such, I sent Pete an email and told him since he needed the money badly, so he’d better do what they asked him to do.

But he sent me an email full of strong words.

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!btc坦克男子Cost me $3500 but cost to huobi and PBOC will be much greater.

PBOC’s move to indirectly steal foreign assets will result in SDR

exclusion!

(PBOC now is in violation of GATT and WTO as bitcoin is a commodity /

asset)

PBOC’s move to indirectly steal foreign assets will result in SDR exclusion! (PBOC now is in violation of GATT and WTO as bitcoin is a commodity / asset) I have just listed a property of mine for sale in order to finance an

all out war against unscrupulous companies and governments

that think they are god and have NO RESPECT FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY!

不尊重私人财产I AM TIRED OF BEING STOLEN FROM AND HAVING MY FAMILY MURDERED BY THUGS

AND GOVERNMENT WITH IMPUNITY

I have reached out ot UPWORK to hire a chinese interpreter so i can

write all chinese websites to NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH HUOBI

and to bring to light the unethical behavior of Leon Li.

all out war against unscrupulous companies and governments that think they are god and have NO RESPECT FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY! 不尊重私人财产I AM TIRED OF BEING STOLEN FROM AND HAVING MY FAMILY MURDERED BY THUGS AND GOVERNMENT WITH IMPUNITY I have reached out ot UPWORK to hire a chinese interpreter so i can write all chinese websites to NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH HUOBI and to bring to light the unethical behavior of Leon Li. IT ENDS NOW!The house I’m forced to sell now will allow me to break the fingers of

employees who work for thieves.

Whatever it takes and if you send a hit man to kill me the rest of my

assets will be released via a deadmans switch

and CHECK TIME LOCK VERIFY to continue JUSTICE.I will not take this abuse any longer. I will NOT be the only victim

any longer.

employees who work for thieves. Whatever it takes and if you send a hit man to kill me the rest of my assets will be released via a deadmans switch and CHECK TIME LOCK VERIFY to continue JUSTICE.I will not take this abuse any longer. I will NOT be the only victim any longer. TANK MAN LIVES! I will spend $20k just on the tank man story.. that

will be like a thorn in the side of your

tyrannical leaders who stoled my assets.You all should stick to ripping off peasants rather than foreigners with

assets and principles.

FREEDDOM!

I could see how angry he was about the PBOC and Huobi. He even mentioned something about the tank man, but I didn’t know what he meant until I talked with a friend of mine. My friend told me it has something to do with the Tiananmen Incident. Pete used such words trying to tell me how “tyrannical” the Chinese government was. I know he is really angry, and I totally understand it. But honestly, I don’t like the way he criticized us. Just like if my boyfriend were a stupid pig, then he is my pigman and it feels uncomfortable when others bad mouth him.

China is not an ideal place to live in, but I am sure it’s not as dark as Pete thinks. I know we have certain problems, but still, we’ve forged ahead with unprecedented progress with far reaching positive effects on people’s lives. I never know a country that is 100% democratic. And I never know an organization that is truly decentralized. Plus, I bet there is no world that is perfectly fair. Just like in the cryptocurrency world, some of us laugh, some of us cry. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway, it’s been a week since I received his email. Last Sunday(June 11), I sent him an email to see if there were any good news. But there was no response.

Though a little bit shy, I gathered up my courage and texted Miss Wu. She told me that Pete had successfully withdrawn his 1.004 bitcoins. Again, I sent him an email to check if he actually got his coin out. But still, no response.

I guess Pete must have been very busy with the funeral. If you’ve done with everything, I hope you could send me an email telling you everything has been worked out. You are the one who started this whole thing, so you must end it. Even Charlie Lee is back to finish what he started.

When I am writing down the story, I realize that if anything, I’ve learned four things from it.

First, being part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, you should be ready for all kinds of losses, be they in forgetting your wallet password, ETH surpassing Bitcoin, or being called a chatbot. (Guys keep saying I am a bot, not a human when I talk at any groups.)

Second, it must be truly desperate for someone to come to a stranger for help.

Third, bitcoin is great! Even one bitcoin could help people get through hard times.

Fourth, and probably the most important lesson I’ve learned is that you should always turn off your phone while meditating.

God bless you, Pete.