<blockquote>
<p><strong>I have been scammed 6 months ago</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Then criminals expect you to be gullible and foolish. You are a prime target for them. So they'll try new ways to trick you.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>BTC REFUND DEPARTMENT</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>No such thing.</p>
<p>Note that Bitcoin is not centrally controlled by any organisation. It is a peer to peer currency designed to be usable for one person to send money to a second person <em>without involving anyone else as a trusted intermediary</em>.</p>
<p>Any business can use words like bitcoin or blockchain as part of their name. Having bitcoin in a business name does not mean you control bitcoin. Just as dollar.com has the word dollar as their name but are a car-rental business with no control over the US dollar. Nobody polices who may or may not use words like bitcoin or blockchain in websites or email addresses. Many criminals do.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>synchronise my wallet with the address</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>They want to fool you with a watch-only address, where your wallet shows an amount of money that belongs to someone else not to you. Addresses are not secret. Anyone can add any bitcoin address to their wallet but that doesn't give you any control over money.</p>
<p>Bitcoin wallets do not actually contain money. Wallets contain a secret number called a private-key that a wallet can use to control money. Importing an address doesn't give your wallet this secret number.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>the amount is under my name</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's not how bitcoin works.</p>
<p>Some businesses that sell bitcoin might ask buyers to set up a named account but that's outside the real Bitcoin system.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>hi is asking 10% of the amount to be added</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is often called &quot;advance fee fraud&quot;. Don't be tricked. There is never a need to pay any fee to release money. If there were, it could just be deducted from the amount being returned, you wouldn't have to pay it first. This is a favourite trick of confidence tricksters.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Is this true or is just another scammer</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's not true. It is just another scam.</p>
<hr />
<p>See also answers to questions about</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=watch+only">watch only</a> addresses</li>
<li><a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=non-spendable">non-spendable</a> addresses</li>
<li><a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fraud">fraud</a> (Bitcoin)</li>
<li><a href="https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/scams">scams</a> (Personal Finance)</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-20T18:25:21.100Z
Just a suggestion for the OP, it can be eye opening to read through the Scams tag on Personal Finance. I thought that I was pretty well prepared against scam tactics and have been able to readily identify or know something was fishy and go on to find out more about scam attempts against me, but I learned a lot about different scams people try by going through that tab and really effective ways to identify if something is a scam that I hadn't considered before. Keep yourself safe and informed, and remember, if your mind at any point asks "Is this a scam?", it probably is.
Davy M
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-19T20:00:00.727Z
2024-05-28T09:31:36.477Z
2024-05-28T09:31:36.477Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>I have been scammed 6 months ago.</p>
<p>Now someone is calling me from BTC REFUND DEPARTMENT. He said that I have under my name the bitcoins that have been scammed. But the way to take this amount is to synchronise my wallet with the address that the amount is under my name. The issue is that he is asking for 10% of the amount to be added in the wallet and send the new bitcoins to blockchain and then after 15 minutes all the funds will be in my wallet.</p>
<p>Has anyone had a similar experience? Is this true or is just another scammer?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-19T19:19:56.510Z
Yes. This is  scam %. If they want to send you money, they could deduct the fees and send you the rest. If they ask for money to send you money, they won't send you money.
MCCCS
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-19T19:57:26.987Z
They not asking payment to them they asking payment after I receive the funds in my bank account 1%
The issue is that I got part of the order they ask and is been send it to blockchair I can see the transition are under my wallet address just I don’t know how to transfer it to my wallet
Ioanna Arsi
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-20T14:13:08.333Z
You will get fake money (apparently in your non-btc bank account) and send them real money (as bitcoin?), after which the fake money will vanish from your bank account and your bitcoins will be impossible to retrieve.
user
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-26T17:54:21.460Z
Related: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/103891/5406
Murch
<wallet-recovery><fraud><theft>
Is there a 'BTC Refund Department'?
Ioanna Arsi
# Is there a 'BTC Refund Department'?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-19)

I have been scammed 6 months ago.

Now someone is calling me from BTC REFUND DEPARTMENT. He said that I have under my name the bitcoins that have been scammed. But the way to take this amount is to synchronise my wallet with the address that the amount is under my name. The issue is that he is asking for 10% of the amount to be added in the wallet and send the new bitcoins to blockchain and then after 15 minutes all the funds will be in my wallet.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Is this true or is just another scammer?

**Tags:** wallet-recovery, fraud, theft

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Yes. This is  scam %. If they want to send you money, they could deduct the fees and send you the rest. If they ask for money to send you money, they won't send you money.  
> **username_0**: They not asking payment to them they asking payment after I receive the funds in my bank account 1% The issue is that I got part of the order they ask and is been send it to blockchair I can see the transition are under my wallet address just I don’t know how to transfer it to my wallet  
> **username_2**: You will get fake money (apparently in your non-btc bank account) and send them real money (as bitcoin?), after which the fake money will vanish from your bank account and your bitcoins will be impossible to retrieve.  
> **username_3**: Related: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/103891/5406  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-11-19. Score: 51

> **I have been scammed 6 months ago**

Then criminals expect you to be gullible and foolish. You are a prime target for them. So they'll try new ways to trick you.

> **BTC REFUND DEPARTMENT**

No such thing.

Note that Bitcoin is not centrally controlled by any organisation. It is a peer to peer currency designed to be usable for one person to send money to a second person *without involving anyone else as a trusted intermediary*.

Any business can use words like bitcoin or blockchain as part of their name. Having bitcoin in a business name does not mean you control bitcoin. Just as dollar.com has the word dollar as their name but are a car-rental business with no control over the US dollar. Nobody polices who may or may not use words like bitcoin or blockchain in websites or email addresses. Many criminals do.

> **synchronise my wallet with the address**

They want to fool you with a watch-only address, where your wallet shows an amount of money that belongs to someone else not to you. Addresses are not secret. Anyone can add any bitcoin address to their wallet but that doesn't give you any control over money.

Bitcoin wallets do not actually contain money. Wallets contain a secret number called a private-key that a wallet can use to control money. Importing an address doesn't give your wallet this secret number.

> **the amount is under my name**

That's not how bitcoin works.

Some businesses that sell bitcoin might ask buyers to set up a named account but that's outside the real Bitcoin system.

> **hi is asking 10% of the amount to be added**

This is often called "advance fee fraud". Don't be tricked. There is never a need to pay any fee to release money. If there were, it could just be deducted from the amount being returned, you wouldn't have to pay it first. This is a favourite trick of confidence tricksters.

> **Is this true or is just another scammer**

It's not true. It is just another scam.

---

See also answers to questions about

* [watch only](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=watch+only) addresses
* [non-spendable](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/search?q=non-spendable) addresses
* [fraud](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fraud) (Bitcoin)
* [scams](https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/scams) (Personal Finance)

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Just a suggestion for the OP, it can be eye opening to read through the Scams tag on Personal Finance. I thought that I was pretty well prepared against scam tactics and have been able to readily identify or know something was fishy and go on to find out more about scam attempts against me, but I learned a lot about different scams people try by going through that tab and really effective ways to identify if something is a scam that I hadn't considered before. Keep yourself safe and informed, and remember, if your mind at any point asks "Is this a scam?", it probably is.  

---

