SCAM ALERT on Binance P2P: Express Zone To The Rescue!

Binance has always been one of the most reliable crypto exchanges and still is for me. With the bullish run of major coins and altcoins since the start of this year, the interest in trading cryptocurrencies has increased.

For Nigerians, it's central bank issued a circular barring the use of fiat to purchase cryptocurrencies. This made it difficult for most of us but then Binance peer-to-peer came to the rescue. Peer-to-peer platforms are considered the most secure way of trading between users.

Binance P2P was quite effective and easy to purchase and sell crypto with fiat. I personally carried out some transactions just as some friends did. The process was fast, smooth and simple until recently.

I tried to sell some ETH some three days ago and discovered that Binance P2P has been compromised by the activities of scammers posing as crypto traders.

Normally, before the P2P transaction is deemed complete, the coin must have been deposited in the P2P wallet. Then the seller makes an offer which the buyer accepts. The seller sends the crypto worth to the buyer's bank account or any agreed means of payment. When the buyer confirms payment, he/she then sends the coin to the seller.

Upon my contact with the seller, the offer I got was to confirm a payment that I had not received by releasing the coin from the wallet. In fact the sellers made it part of the terms and conditions of the transaction!

I was baffled! A bell went off in my head. I knew something was wrong. This is the chat history.

I quickly went through the feedback section of P2P and discovered a lot of complaints from some buyers.

Apparently, the sellers have been making off with buyers' cryptocurrencies without sending them the payments. This is daylight crypto robbery and very wrong! *Caveat emptor - ALL BINANCE USERS SHOULD BEWARE OF THIS SCAM!

I got in touch with @esther-emmanuel, an avid crypto trader who had a similar experience. Thankfully, she did not lose her coins. We had to decide what was the way forward. We found the Binance P2P Express zone smoother without room for any of the scamming activities.

Just like you would get into the Binance P2P from the trade section in the App, click P2P.

Further the arrow beside click P2P on the top left corner of the App, there will be a drop down showing "Express".

Click and it will take you to the buy and sell pages where you can enter your order and wait for an alloted time where the buyer or seller will contact you.

The difference between the Binance P2P zone and Express zone is the price is reggulated on Express. Also, the parties are protected. You may read more on how to avoid scams on Binance.

I hope this article helps for those trading on Binance. If you know of any other easy, smooth P2P, do share in the comment section. Thank you.

^{All images from my Binance App unless otherwise stated.}