First Clue:
found a guy that was offering $200 more than the other guys
(That's typical of a scammer. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.. Hopefully this isn't the first time you've heard this.. in your quest to use greed in your favor to benefit, you lost your logical thinking. Watch for this tell tale sign in the future)
Second Clue:
he will send me money though western union
(That's a #1 sign by Nigerian scammers, either dhl or western union, every time)
Third Clue:
I purchased 500 Ether Classic Coins because it's the new FAD
That is not a good reason to buy coins. Chasing FADs will make you broke over time. You should only buy coins when you have done your research on the technology and compared it with other technologies. If you chase what everyone else is buying, you stand to lose when everyone loses. There is an old saying "don't try to time time the market".
Do a google search for that, and it will lead you to a lot of helpful resources.
Fourth Clue:
It's time to give up.
No, it's time to try this again, but don't do this:
I have probably lost over $7000 since I started trading
Until you get experience, you should play with $50 here, and $50 there. You can learn the same lessons with $250 that you learned losing $7000
I have no idea why you'd spend so much money when you are new to trading, and new to cryptocurrency. You set yourself up for a fail when you did this.. Being a good trader takes years of experience, especially with new technologies.
So start again, but with a much smaller investment. You could also find yourself a friend that you trust, who has more experience than you, to help you invest larger amounts.
Good luck. It was an expensive way to learn. This time, don't spend so much, and you can have fun with it.
In your quest to get rich, you were running to the exchanges and to localbitcoins. Crypto is going to be here for a long time. There is no rush to spend so much.
I couldn't agree with you more, however, I am not as tech savvy as I should be. I do understand blockchain technology to a certain extent. I spoke the Gatehub, and wrote on XRP chat room and they are getting my funds back. ETC isn't a new fad, it was a poor choice of words and I was upset last night. It's actually an older chain that was broken off, at first I didn't trust, but now thinking about it.. it has great value because it is finding parity with ETH. Being scammed with local bitcoin was long ago, and I was new to trading. Plus at the time, there wasn't many places where I could trade my bitcoins for instant cash, with out being taxed heavily. I'm no giving up, I am stacking up on the long run coins, and not cashing out.