A self-report of a Venezuelan bitcoin "criminal"

Translator's Note: The original post author CivBitV claims to be a Venezuelan bitcoin miner who was arrested by the Venezuelan government for cryptocurrency mining and was abused by inhumans and eventually forced to surrender all of his own apartment. Digital assets, and the mining machines in their mines were also confiscated. However, some members of the community have provided proof that this person is just trying to swindle everyone's sympathy and make a profit…

The following is a translation (slightly abridged):

at last! I am regaining my freedom, so I want to share my story. I am a bitcoin criminal.

As for the memories, it was full of scars. As early as 2009, I spent $200,000 to buy an apartment without trying to get some bitcoin. This mistake made me regret it so far. Anyway, as a civil engineer, my monthly income was about $4,000, and I didn't need anything at the time. But after the death of Chavez (Venezuela's former president), Venezuela became more chaotic, and my income became less, for the sake of the future, so I decided to try something new to make a living.

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Later in 2014, I came into contact with Bitcoin and decided to invest some money in the mining field. Then I started with five Spondoolies Sp20 mining machines.

Digging bitcoin in Venezuela is profitable, and I only need to pay about $5-7 a month for electricity service fees, and then I can get a very good income. When Maduro came to power, my job became unprofitable in Venezuela, and the situation became very bad at the time, so I decided to invest more money in the cryptocurrency (this is the second I made. Wrong, I should leave the country of Venezuela instead of staying there.) After that, I met a like-minded business partner and then formed a great team.

As the situation is deteriorating all the time, we use cryptocurrencies to help those in trouble… Well, the Venezuelan government will not pay for the thoracic aortic dissection surgery of my neighbor's daughter, but we did.

Everything is getting worse, but our self-help behavior can handle it well… until the following event happens:

News: Venezuela Bitcoin miners arrested for stealing free electricity

This is persecution! If you are not a member of the Venezuelan government and you are against it, then you will lose money, lose your car, or even lose your life. You will be arrested for stealing a free electric hat (actually, every month) I will pay $7 for this).

They caught the first person, then he said… we are all on this list. I have been arrested before I have time to do anything.

This is my crime. I have been jailed for six months like everyone else. If I don't pay their dollars, I may have to spend two years or more. For this, I can only cash my own bit. Coins, they threaten us, if we don’t pay the fee, we will even burn our house or kill our family members. Some of us refused them when we first “voluntarily turned over”, and then torture began. . They had to cut my fingers one by one, but I told them that if I broke my fingers, I couldn’t cash the money because I needed fingerprints… so they didn’t cut my fingers, and It was breaking my hand.

Since we are only civilians and professionals, torture does not go too far…

There is no other way to get released. The prison here is terrible. Sometimes we will be tortured. The food will be accompanied by urine or number 2… Obviously, I throw these things into the toilet. I haven't eaten for a few days, then a glass of water and a chicken leg in the morning, that's the best treatment.

This irresistible feeling has been afflicting me for a long time. How long can I resist? I also tried to pay the money to them, but it didn't work. "Your money is not only the bitcoin, we need everything, this is the command of the (Maduro) commander."

They didn't even let me talk to my lawyer, we were isolated, as if I were a sinful prisoner.

The hope of waiting for the miracle has completely disappeared. I am going crazy, I am really starving, so well, I told them that they will turn everything over.

In handcuffs, I was taken to my apartment. "Open the place where you are hiding money, open every electronic device, or we will continue to torture you," they said.

Yes… I am not smart enough, I don't know how to store my funds "safely", so I was forced to unlock everything, including desktop computers, phones, laptops, hard drives, DVDs, and even movie DVDs. These places have hidden wallets or other things, and after unlocking, they forced me to open my wallet, exchange, email, social media. Now, everything is gone, everything is sold on Localbitcoin on the same day. Out, they used my information to cash it out.

The payment is complete, what should I do now? Of course, they missed something, my cryptocurrency mine and the mine of my partner.

They got everything… what now? I was sent back to prison, and they released me the next day, but they also warned me: "If you say something, we will hear, we will find you, you will know what the real pain is."

What about my lawyer? Disappeared, I am afraid of everything, I have nothing else, I can't talk about it in Venezuela, there is only one Amazon gift card worth $500, so I bought a laptop. Even my car was taken away by them.

I tried to find a job, but it didn't work. My health was a mess, and I couldn't make a good profit by earning $7 a month.

Revenge? I can't do anything, I don't even have weapons, my life is precious, my family needs me… Anyway, my file is dirty now, I can't even try to update my US visa because I am Venezuela. a criminal. The only good news is that my family is not injured, and I am still alive…

the following few days:

Surprise came, news reports said that cryptocurrency mining is legal in Venezuela, our politicians are mining, looking at their mines, awesome, bitcoin is freedom, against the imperialist US PIG!

Then, the Venezuelan government used its "coin coins" to deceive some idiots.

Https://www.coindesk.com/venezuelas-crypto-exchanges-miners-must-register-under-new-rules

(On the left is the TV presenter, on the right is the original author CivBitV mining machine)

Yes, those are our mining machines. It’s good. This is the way the Venezuelan government works. If you have good things, it’s not yours. It belongs to the Venezuelan government.

In the past few months, I decided to sell my apartment, yes, the apartment I used for $200,000 in 2009. The final sale price is only $ 7,000… Of course, the way to deal is through Bitcoin, because there is no other safe way.

Since my file shows that I am a criminal, I don't have any legal way to leave this place in Venezuela, so I want to pay some people to take me through the Colombian border to Perú. I am now a refugee. In the process of integration into society, I also contacted several Venezuelan NGOs to see what I can do. I explained my case. Currently they are evaluating. I don’t have enough “written” information to prove it. I am not a criminal, but they seem to trust me, I am waiting now.

I will remain anonymous until my "crime" situation changes. I am not sure if my family is safe in Venezuela, but I have asked some people to protect my family members and pay some money for it. I hope they will Get better.

Now, I only have one laptop and 0.2 BTC left. What do you think is the best way to invest? I know the way to trade, but I don't have enough confidence to do this because bitcoin is very unstable now, I think I might lose the last bitcoin I have because I am not a professional trader.

I want to say, "It doesn't matter, I will wait until it rises," but my situation is very bad. I have to cash out some things when I get better, so I can survive, but it will eventually make me Run out of funds.

If there is no way, I will tell myself not to dream anymore, I can also earn more money from 0.2 BTC, and I also need to maintain mental safety.

If everything is fine, I can work here… The feeling of starting life again is not very good, but after the disaster, I am still alive, which is precious to me.

What I want to do now is:

1. Bring my family to leave this place in Venezuela at any cost;
2. Tell the media about this case. Under the premise that my family is safe, I will try to contact the people still inside to get proof of the bitcoin miners, try to recover anything that belongs to me, and find a way to put these The names of the agents are placed on the blacklist of the United States or any other country, at least they cannot use what belongs to me.
3. Of course, after leaving Venezuela, I will start my new life.

For those who still think Bitcoin is empty, I can tell you… In addition to being a technology, it also represents true freedom and salvation.

Reverse

This post received a lot of attention after the release of the r/Bitcoin community. Many people expressed shock, but some people also warned that this person is actually a liar for the following reasons:

All criminal cases are recorded. If he has been in prison, then according to the law, his case can be viewed:) But this person did not show it, of course, because the case does not exist, the link is: www .tsj.gob.ve/casos-en-linea If you are outside of Venezuela, it may not work.

An apartment in Venezuela is now worth $7,000.

At that time, the electricity bill was less than 1 US dollar, not as much as 7 US dollars. Now I only need to pay less than 1 US dollar. Most of the bills are ordinary bills.

The cases he linked are all recorded cases in the Bitcoin community in Venezuela. He just randomly selected a case from Google and got an Instagram picture from a public figure in chavista, and said that these are his machine.

According to the investigation, the person who owns these machines is Daniel Andrés Di Bartolomeo Viloria. The Venezuelan authorities have not found him. Obviously, he left the country before the government seized the mining machine.

……

Interestingly, there is no “toilet” in the Venezuelan prison, so that these things are done in the backyard. LoL, now I don't even have a toilet at the university I am studying. This guy can actually use the toilet in prison…

When the United States applies for a visitor visa, especially a Venezuelan, it does not see criminal records.

Venezuela’s wages have never been “4K”, even in 2009, when top engineers were paid at most $1,200, and the best places could reach $1,800, but few people in the country can reach this level. .

In the end, CivBitV proved to be a bitcoin scam by more people's rebuttals, and his self-report seems to have really made him a criminal.

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