Consumer complaint received 2017-08-18
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Hello On XX/XX/XXXX th I purchased Bitcoin through Coinbase with funds withdrawn via my credit union. The transaction was acknowledged on XX/XX/XXXX taking 5 full days and the funds seem to be in coinbase but there is a two tier problem, the second half which involves fraud.
The initial amount deposited was {$1000.00} however shortly after my buy/sell option under the account setting shows 'buys disabled '. This has been going on for 3 weeks and I can not get the status to change. I have read various community blogs and many coinbase clients are saying they do respond but it takes a while. Nothing happened so I opened a ticket with coinbase on their support website only to repeatedly get the same response which was the robot did n't understand what I was asking or finally a response saying to leave a message on their support page. I did that at least 8 times and still no response thus my request for your help.
The second part of this it where the fraud comes into play. XXXX XXXX of BitCoin Pro Trade XXXX AND XXXX XXXX XXXX ) contacted me and I honestly do no remember how he got to me. He seemed very knowledgeable and tried to help me move my account from disabled status. On XX/XX/XXXX he called and gave me three sites in New York that host Bitcoin ATM machines and told me to go to any one to withdraw my funds. Every location was at least 3 hours from me. He also tried having bitcoin deposit small amounts of coin into my checking account and asked me to verify when they post in my account. The amounts were small i.e., XXXX, XXXX etc. The amounts did not immediately post so he told me to call my bank to see if they were in 'pending ' within my account. Being a credit union my bank said they would not post for 2 to 3 days.
The account was still stuck so he said the only way to help was for me to deposit another {$1000.00} into my account and he asked if I use pay Pal which I do not. And furthermore I told him I do not have the funds to do that. So he said he could n't help me but the one way left was to purchased XXXX gift cards from XXXX XXXX and give him the numbers on the back of the card. I did a quick check of XXXX cards and found they were used to deposit into cryptocurrency accounts so it sounded feasible to me. OnXX/XX/XXXX I purchased the cards using a credit card and called him with the numbers. Needless to say I can no longer reach him and my account is still disabled. I called my phone company and they verified that he had blocked my number.
So now I 'm stuck with a {$1000.00} disabled account plus {$1000.00} credit card bill and needless to say I 'm very angry at myself but furious at him for taking advantage of my naivete.
So now I 'm stuck with a {$1000.00} disabled account plus {$1000.00} credit card bill and needless to say I 'm very angry at myself but furious at him for taking advantage of my naivete. I want to get the word out about his name and contact phone numbers for him. I did find a XXXX XXXX site on the internet listing the XXXX number but can no longer locate it ... I 'm wondering if perhaps the site has been taken down.
Are you at least able to help me get my coinbase account to function? This has been going on for so long and still no response from XXXX people.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation