I think what has happend is that a few people were using Dwolla/Bitcoin to steal money.

These thieves would steal someone's bank account information, sign up for Dwolla, and then drain the account into bitcoin. Once the thieves had converted the stolen money into bitcoin the transactions could not be undone.

Dwolla is probably desperately trying to verify new accounts, to make sure that the account owners are aware that their bank account is linked to Dwolla. It seems like a futile effort.


And yes, I received a phone call from them several weeks ago. I think they are calling everyone. But be wary of scams !

Dwolla is in Africa right? Yeah, watch out for these kinds of scams they are very common.

Dwolla are probably scanning for hacked accounts.  We have been pushing Dwolla to be more proactive about this since we caught a couple of them trying to trade on Camp BX.

Thank you,
      - Keyur

Yep, Dwolla is based in Africa....*facepalm*sarcasm

So far, I've received no phone calls from Dwolla.  If I did, I would not verify any information except for my name, would hang up, and then would call them back on their published phone number on their web site and ask for the person who called me.  After reconnecting that way, *then* I would verify my account information.  Remember, you do not know who is calling you when somebody calls you unless you know them and can recognize their voice.

I've had Dwolla call my GV #.  I assumed it was 99.9% legit because the return # they told me to call them back at was the same 515.280.1000 # on their website.

Cheers,
Kermee

Sorry. I should of been clearer.

They left a VM saying to call them back, so yes, I called them back.  The call-back # was the same as the phone # on their site.  I assumed it was for verification purposes only. -- Worst case scenario is they know my 'Billing' PO Box address now which is what I have on my Dwolla account.

Cheers,
Kermee

They're in a hacker space, Foundry Coworking, at 1312 Locust St, Des Moines, Iowa. So says the Iowa state corporation registry. If there's a problem, that's where you send the process server or collection agency.

Bitcoin oriented companies remain rather low-rent. Dwolla is in a low-cost hacker space. Mt. Gox used to be Magic, the Gathering Online Exchange. "Global Standard Bank" put up fake pictures of their supposed premises and got caught. Of the ones outside major countries, Tradehill is in Chile, and Liberty Reserve is in Costa Rica. All these outfits have potential liabilities in 7 figures if they screw up, and no indication that they have the financial strength to deal with them.

I have refused to answer any questions to "confirm my identity" on the phone.  They invited me to call their COO.  Hah! The COO wants to deal with a $2 total fees account personally?  I refused to have any verbal contact or to give them any information that they did not already have.  I demanded all communication be in writing.

Because I don't trust dwolla since I read about them trying to scam tradehill.

They responded by "freezing" my "pending" transactions.  Their site said I had "0 pending" transactions.  But the last ACH withdrawal made 3 days before the phone call has yet to be credited to my bank account.  Anyway, I will give it a few more business days, then try written correspondence, then seek civil and criminal penalties.  I figure it will be worth it since I can get costs and if I'm lucky treble damages, punitive damages, or restitution.  It would be a class action if they are doing this to lots of people.

This from a company that has moved less than $10k dollars for me and has taken less than $2 in fees from me.  They already lost all their profit on me after the first phone call required a follow-up email.  And they want to play hardball without so much as a professional written correspondence.  Pfft, I'm done with them. 

I don't trust dwolla.  I'm guessing it's run by a handful of kids with little business or legal experience trying to play bigshot and not realizing the civil and criminal trouble they are walking into.  Blindly walking to their own doom, arrogant and foolish.