Steve Wozniak had 7 bitcoin stolen from him through a credit card fraud scheme.  The co-founder of Apple computer explained how he lost the bitcoin to a clever fraudster that conned him out nearly $100,000 by paying him with a phony credit card and then canceling the payment when the bitcoins were transferred.

He Wanted To Experiment With Bitcoin

Wozniak originally bought the Bitcoins as an experiment indicating that it was something that he was drawn to since it wasn’t controlled or manipulated by the government.

Bitcoins to me was a currency that was not manipulated by the governments. It is mathematical, it is pure, it can’t be altered

He bought the Bitcoin for $700 but after holding on to them for awhile he realized that he was spending far too much time checking on the price since it was increasing so rapidly.

He decided to sell, but that was when his trouble started.

The blockchain identifies who has bitcoins… that doesn’t mean there can’t be fraud though. I had seven bitcoins stolen from me through fraud. Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card and they canceled the credit card payment.

Don’t Sell BitCoin And Accept Credit Cards

Wozniak’s story is a cautionary tale for those consumers that sell their Bitcoin through peer to peer payment sites.  Sites like Paypal charge back the seller when there is a fraudulent payment made with a credit card.

And that is exactly what happened to Woz.    By the time the Bitcoin was transferred to the fraudster, the credit card transaction was reversed and charged back to his account.

This story originally appeared here – Wozniak Bitcoin Stolen.