The Great J.M. Bullion Bitcoin Scam
J M Bullion is stealing Bitcoin ~ with the help of their payment processor BitPay! Please help get this posted all over the web so people will be aware of this scam and not be taken and raise a ruckus for dishonest practices. So that you know, the dictionary definition of Scam is: (verb) swindle, cheat, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-cross (noun) a dishonest scheme; a fraud. When someone knows that someone or some entity they are associated with allows dishonest practices and does nothing about it they are culpable.
On December 15 2017 I attempted to purchase some gold coins with Bitcoin at the J M Bullion Website. I made my selection, then proceeded to checkout. During checkout a popup advises me that any over payment will be refunded and then you are told the price in Bitcoin so you can send that amount from what ever exchange you use. I immediately logged in to my Coinbase account at 3:57 a.m. and sent the required amount plus a few extra sotoshis, the amount was $656.33 Logged out of Coinbase and returned to JMB order page to find a popup box telling me that I underpaid and that a refund would be issued, that they were sending an email with a link to process the refund. I promptly requested the refund which I received at 6:57 a.m. 3 hours and 10 minutes later. The amount of the refund was $606.18 the difference was $50.15 I called JMB when they were open for business and explained what had happened with the transaction and that I wanted the $50.15 refunded back to me. I was told that since they never actually received the funds they could not issue a refund, and suggested I take it up with BitPay. You can not contact BitPay directly you have to go through a messaging system that can take sometime to resolve. BitPay has the following posted on their website:
When you receive a refund from BitPay, you get the total invoice amount minus the
BitPay network cost and the miner fee for returning the payment.
When you send a bitcoin payment to a BitPay invoice, you are sending the amount
necessary to cover the invoice price, plus the standard BitPay network cost for each invoice.
This total amount is reflected in the BTC price your wallet fetches from the invoice when
you scan to pay. It's also shown on the invoice's total BTC price.
The additional network cost included in your invoice total covers the cost of BitPay's
UTXO sweep for your payment. You can learn more about the reasons for this additional fee
here: https://blog.bitpay.com/network-costs/
Because the network cost has to be paid to bitcoin miners in order for BitPay to access your
payment, it cannot be used again. This means it cannot be included in the refund you receive
from BitPay.
Also note that BitPay does not receive the miner fee your bitcoin wallet includes in the
outgoing bitcoin transaction. This fee pays the bitcoin network's cost of confirming your
payment.
If you use an exchange or online account to send bitcoin payments to BitPay
(not recommended), the service provider may deduct a miner fee or service fee from your
outgoing payment that is not sent to BitPay.
Finally, if you receive a refund for an underpayment or overpayment via BitPay's refund
processing flow, the miner fee required to issue the refund will be deducted from the amount that returns to your wallet address.
Please Note, This information is not posted on JMB's website only on the BitPay website which does little good to the unsuspecting customer who has come to do business in the spirit of good will.
JMB's customer rep has suggested that the extra fees were miner's fees for processing the transaction, (it is obvious that he read the above BitPay FAQ) or that there was some volatility with with BitCoin. I pray that among all of you fantastic Steemer's you don't buy the idea that transaction fees were $50.15 for a $656.00 transaction any more than I do. That is nothing short of outrageous, why would anyone have their brain detached from their pocket book while doing business transactions. While any one with a 2nd grade education in Crypto's knows that there is volatility with cryptos, they also would understand that it would be virtually impossible to grab the crypto bull by its proverbial horns, reign it in and make it cease volatility while one sends a payment to a payment processor and would like reasonable people expect that the vendor has provided for any possibility of error that could occur in the course of a transaction. To know there is a flaw in your system that injures its patrons is unconscionable. I also pray that you recognize JMB's responsibility to their customers and to protect them from unfair practices and injuries from the people they hired to process their Bitcoin payments. I pray this one last thing as I call upon all you Great Steamers to pass this story like wildfire through the internet and let's injure the pocketbook of JMB for aiding and abetting this atrocity. Now I am done praying and I can only express my deepest gratitude to all of you for your dedication to expose this atrocious scam. If I deem it I Steem it!