AirVPN - FBI Honeypot? (update: response from company)

in #freedom8 years ago (edited)

I decided to purchase a short subscription to the AirVPN service and paid for it using Bitcoin.

Because of the distributed public ledger of Bitcoin my curiosity allows me to follow the money. I was quite shocked when I saw that a large portion of my payment had been sent onwards to the Silkroad Seized Coins address.

I've tried asking the question on the AirVPN forum but as a new member my posts are subject to moderation and I am still waiting for the post approval at this point...


https://blockchain.info/address/1PycNckcTw39yd7x6CGZgtTRvbYWsEDyVn

Update: Post on AirVPN forum getting attacked as anti-competitive FUD (although I have to agree that it could easily be - it's not though, it's the address I sent payment to which I then tracked and wanted answers for). Have filed a support ticket to get an official answer. Will update in the comments section when I hear something.

Response from support ticket. They don't seem too happy so take the response how you wish.

A member of staff has replied to your support request.

Hello,

we can't see your point. Coinbase and BitPay are our Bitcoin payment processors. The address displayed by them and which you transfer BTC to has nothing to do with us: it is a one-time generated address to collect Bitcoin for us, just like any other payment processor does. What the payment processor then does with the collected Bitcoin to each generated address is a business of the payment processor only and we don't see why you should be worried about that.

Kind regards
AirVPN Support Team



Does anyone have any information on this company or have seen anything like this before? Seems odd that any legit person would forward most of the payments to a compromised account, even if you bought the Silkroad Bitcoin address it wouldn't make any sense to use it as it is clearly tainted and the private key compromised.

Sort:  

Congratulations @devnull! You have received a personal award!

Happy Birthday - 1 Year
Click on the badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.

For more information about this award, click here

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!

Congratulations @devnull! You have received a personal award!

2 Years on Steemit
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard World Cup Contest - France vs Belgium


Participate in the SteemitBoard World Cup Contest!
Collect World Cup badges and win free SBD
Support the Gold Sponsors of the contest: @good-karma and @lukestokes


Do you like SteemitBoard's project? Then Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Congratulations @devnull! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 3 years!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!