ABOUT THE WALL OF COINS COMPANY
AND ITS UNSCRUPULOUS BUSINESS PRACTICES
By Vincent Gillespie (originally published on 1/14/2020; revised on 4/29/2023)
OVERVIEW
In November of 2019 I, Vincent Gillespie, was scammed out of $4,000 by the Wall of Coins company, an online forum for buying and selling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I later discovered through online reviews of Wall of Coins that many, many other people besides me had also been scammed by this company.
The website for the Wall of Coins company, www.wallofcoins.com, was taken down in December of 2021 or early 2022 and the company apparently ceased operations at that time. (But saved pages from that website can be viewed on this website [wallofcoins.org], on the page titled Where is the wallofcoins.com website?) In my opinion the reason why the company abruptly shut down was that so many people had gotten scammed and were very angry, authorities and law firms had started to take various actions against the owner(s) of that company, and the temperature had started to get too hot (so to speak). The (former) owner of Wall of Coins, Robert Genito, Jr. (see the next section, below, for more about him), fled from Florida to Utah and then to Nevada (and possibly elsewhere).
Although the company has now shut down, the material on this website is still noteworthy and pertinent because: (1) authorities may be able to use this material in going after Robert Genito, Jr.; (2) the many hundreds or thousands of people who have been scammed by this company would probably be interested to read it; and (3) cryptocurrency enthusiasts and other readers who were not scammed by Wall of Coins may be interested to learn how this scamming operation operated.
This web page discusses the online reviews of Wall of Coins and how that company operated in general and scammed many people. (Other pages on this website [wallofcoins.org] discuss other topics relating to Wall of Coins.)
To read specifically about my story of getting scammed by Wall of Coins click here.
Wall of Coins gave off the appearance of being a neutral online forum which connected independent buyers and sellers of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so that they could buy and sell with each other (similar to www.localcoinswap.com and other cryptocurrency trading companies). Also, Wall of Coins purported to operate like other cryptocurrency trading companies in that the cryptocurrency to be sold was held in escrow by Wall of Coins until the seller received the money from the buyer (after which the cryptocurrency was released to the buyer), thus eliminating the risk of encountering a fraudulent seller who could just take a buyer’s money and keep it without providing the cryptocurrency. (But things often did not work out that way with Wall of Coins, as discussed below.)
However, contrary to initial appearances, there were some serious problems with Wall of Coins. One problem is that, unbeknownst to the buyers, Wall of Coins was the seller in at least some and maybe most of the transactions conducted through that company. This meant that Wall of Coins had a huge incentive to keep customers’ money without providing the cryptocurrency that was paid for. Wall of Coins used several deceptive and unfair business practices and, after buyers sent in their money, they often (but not always) got scammed, sometimes losing thousands of dollars.
WHO OWNED WALL OF COINS?
Robert Frederick Genito, of Sarasota Florida (“Robert Genito, Jr.”) was the main person behind Wall of Coins. His father, also named Robert Fredrick Genito, of Bonita Springs, Florida (“Robert Genito, Sr.”), was also involved with Wall of Coins to some extent. Robert Genito, Sr. died in 2022. To learn more about these two men go to the Who Owns Wall of Coins? page.
CUSTOMER REVIEWS OF WALL OF COINS
Lower down on this webpage there are several hyperlinks to web pages from other websites which display numerous independent customer reviews of Wall of Coins. Those reviews express, among other things, the frustrations, anger and anguish of many people who were bilked out of money when they used the services of Wall of Coins.
Some themes in the customer reviews:
A review of those customer reviews yields some repeated themes, including (but not limited to) the following:
1) Wall of coins is a scam: Many of the buyers refer to Wall of Coins as a scam.
2) Many customers lost money: Many of the complaints reflect that the buyers lost their money (without getting any cryptocurrency), and a number of them report having lost thousands of dollars.
3) Some customers did get their cryptocoins: Some of the complaints report (in essence) that the buyers did eventually get their Bitcoins but only after much time, effort, frustration and many phone calls. Also, some of the customer reviews indicate that the buyers had previously participated in one or more successful purchases and that they only had problems with Wall of Coins for the first time with their most recent transaction. Apparently at least some (and probably many or most) of the transactions are successfully completed. It appears that only some of the transactions end with the buyers getting defrauded.
4) Wall of Coins posts fake favorable reviews of itself: A number of the complainants in the customer reviews state that they observed that Wall of Coins employees were posting fake positive reviews of Wall of Coins online. (This should be kept in mind when reading the positive reviews, which comprise a minority of the total number of reviews.) Several examples of customers writing about how Wall of Coins agents posted fake reviews: on the Trustpilot.com Wall of Coins customer review web page see the customer reviews by: Chelcie Weldon (dated 12/28/2019); Murat Yelman (dated 9/1/2018); and Tamer Aydogdu (dated 8/27/2018).
5) Problems with the customer support people: Many of the complaints report (things to the effect) that the customer support people lied, were rude to the buyer and/or were incompetent.
6) Burdensome, time consuming, nonsensical and/or maddening documentation requirements: Many of the buyers express frustration in their complaints that after they sent in their money – which were often cash payments – Wall of Coins required them to provide extensive personal, KYC (“Know Your Customer”) documents and other documents. And this is despite the fact that Wall of Coins gave no advance notice of this and claimed to be "anonymous." The documentation requirements were tedious, tiresome, sometimes nonsensical and/or contradictory and they often caused more and more delay in the transaction. (See more on this topic below.)
Cautionary note:
Do not confuse the professionally written reviews
with the independent customer reviews
In reviewing these web pages with the customer reviews (the hyperlinks for the webpages with them are below), the reader will find that some of those pages include detailed review articles written by professional writers in the first part of the web pages. Those reviews are much less informative regarding the serious problems with Wall of Coins than the independent customer reviews, which can be found lower down on those web pages. (Also, at least one and possibly most or all of these professionally written review articles, it seems to me, were subsidized by Wall of Coins. [For example, see the disclaimer at the end of the professionally written review which is at the beginning of the Youmeandbtc.com Wall of Coins customer review page])
Hyperlinks to the web pages with the customer reviews:
Here are hyperlinks to seven web pages with Wall of Coins customer reviews:
(1) Forexbrokerz (backup link);
(2) Scamguard (the original hyperlink to the pertinent pages on the Scamguard website is no longer working but you can access a saved copy those pages by clicking here);
(3) Reddit (backup link);
(4) Ripoffreport (backup link);
(6) The Better Business Bureau (most of the reviews from The Better Business Bureau’s website are gone because they only keep reviews for three years but you can read a saved copy of many of those reviews by clicking here);
(7) Youmeandbtc (backup link).
ABOUT WALL OF COINS’S EXTENSIVE DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
As discussed above, many of the reviewers complain about the extensive documentation required by Wall of Coins. The documentation requirements were tiresome, invasive of one’s privacy, extensive, sometimes nonsensical and/or contradictory and (based on my experience) they were given to the buyer in piecemeal fashion (rather than all the requirements being given to the buyer at once), creating one hurdle after another after another, thus causing more and more delay in the completion of the transaction.
Also, these documentation requirements were unfairly sprung on the buyers after they had sent in their money and were financially vulnerable. The Wall of Coins promotional video (which misleadingly described the transaction process as “anonymous”) and the How to Buy Bitcoin with Cash page on the wallofcoins.com website imply that the transaction process was quick, simple and easy and that no personal documentation was required.
Note that I pointed out to a Wall of Coins employee that the extensive documentation demands made by Wall of Coins were surely not required by law. The employee acknowledged this but said that the documentation requirements were just the policy of Wall of Coins.
Some people (especially in the crypto world) find it very uncomfortable to provide several pieces of personal, private documentation (such as a passport, driver’s license and Social Security number). It eviscerates their privacy. And, as reflected in the customer reviews, many people found it frustrating and burdensome to meet all these documentation requirements. It seems as if Wall of Coins used their documentation requirements to create a kind of obstacle course in the hopes that the buyers would trip up or give up in trying to complete the requirements for the transaction. Then, if a buyer failed to complete the documentation obstacle course, Wall of Coins used that as an excuse to not provide the cryptocoins.
A KEY DECEPTION USED BY WALL OF COINS IS THAT IT WAS SECRETLY THE SELLER IN SOME, MANY OR MOST OF THE TRANSACTIONS IT HOSTED
Wall of Coins presented a misleading appearance of being a neutral forum which facilitated transactions between independent cryptocurrency buyers and sellers
Wall of Coins gave the initial impression (through its website and its promotional video) of being a neutral forum where independent cryptocurrency buyers and sellers could find each other and do business, like with www.localcoinswap.com and other similar cryptocurrency trading companies. But in fact that appearance was deceptive. I tried to buy Bitcoin through Wall of Coins in November of 2019 and later I obtained proof that (although it was not initially apparent) the seller in my order was actually Robert Genito, Jr., the Project Director at Wall of Coins. (To read about my experience in getting scammed out of $4,000 by Wall of Coins click here.) Consistent with this, one of the reviewers of Wall of Coins indicated that he suspected that the seller he was dealing with was improperly associated with Wall of Coins. (See the posts by "WH" dated 1/26/18 and 5/10/18 on the Youmeandbtc.com Wall of Coins customer review page.) I allege, based on information and belief, that at least some and probably many or most of the sellers on Wall of Coins were actually not independent sellers at all but rather that they were Wall of Coins (i.e., Robert Genito, Jr., the primary owner of Wall of Coins, or his agents or associates).
Wall of Coins offered no way for buyers to communicate with sellers, which helped hide the fact that many of the sellers were actually just Wall of Coins or its agents
Furthermore, unlike with www.localcoinswap.com, the Wall of Coins website offered no way for the buyers and the sellers to communicate with each other directly. This helped shield the fact that (apparently) in many or most (but not all) Wall of Coins transactions the buyers were not dealing with independent sellers at all, but rather just Wall of Coins or its agents or associates.
(Note: A few of the buyers wrote in their customer reviews that they were able to communicate with the sellers. But this was apparently because those buyers were able to track down the sellers' contact information on their own. Furthermore, when I asked a Wall of Coins support agent [named Dejane] how I could contact the seller in my transaction [before I learned that it was actually Robert Genito, Jr. or Robert Genito, Sr.] I was told that Wall of Coins did not make that type of information available to the buyers.)
Wall of Coins could not consistently act as a neutral exchange forum because of the fact that they were the sellers in some or many of the transactions
The fact that Wall of Coins was the seller in some or many of the transactions conducted through its website is very significant because it means that Wall of Coins could not be relied on to act as a neutral exchange forum. Since Wall of Coins was the seller in some or many of the transactions, it had an enormous incentive to not release the cryptocoins to the buyers, to not refund money and to resolve disputes in favor of the sellers. Since most or many of the transactions involved cash deposits into bank accounts, or "USPS cash by mail" orders (wherein a buyer mailed cash to the seller), the buyers who engaged in such transactions had very little leverage and were very vulnerable once they parted with their money, making the temptation for Wall of Coins to defraud those buyers even greater. Most of the buyers who had done business with Wall of Coins would probably not have agreed to do so if they had understood that Wall of Coins was actually the seller as well as the exchange forum (because that was a fishy situation).
And I ran into just the problems discussed above (in the previous paragraph, 2nd sentence) which result from Wall of Coins being both the seller and the exchange forum. They refused to refund my money ($4,000) even though I asked for that several times (and they also failed to provide the Bitcoin to me). And this, it seems, was at least partly because they had a strong incentive to not do so. For Wall of Coins to refund my money would have been for them to send me money that was in their own direct possession and of course they had an incentive to not do that. If they were truly an impartial, neutral forum (i.e., if they were not also the seller) they would probably have been much more willing to refund my money (or to cause my money to be refunded), since it would not have been money which was in their direct possession.
Summary of the issue of Wall of Coins being the sellers
Because Wall of Coins was secretly the seller in some or many of the transactions conducted through their website, many buyers were unwittingly handing over their money, thousands of dollars in some cases, directly to Wall of Coins, instead of to independent buyers. As discussed above, this created a large incentive for Wall of Coins to not provide the cryptocurrency to the buyers and to just keep the money without providing anything in return. It was financially hazardous for buyers to be unknowingly just trusting Wall of Coins with their money in this way. And it was unethical for Wall of Coins to be doing this (acting as the sellers) in secret, without letting buyers know about it.
SUMMARY OF WALL OF COINS'S FRAUDULENT AND DECEPTIVE TACTICS
Wall of Coins purported to be a neutral forum on which cryptocurrency buyers and sellers could meet online and transact business, like with www.localcoinswap.com. As with www.localcoinswap.com, Wall of Coins claimed that the cryptocurrency was held in escrow by Wall of Coins and that it would be released when the seller received the payment from the buyer, thus eliminating the risk to the buyers of getting defrauded by unscrupulous sellers. However, there were some serious problems with Wall of Coins:
Wall of Coins was secretly the seller in most or many (or at least some) of the sales. Thus, they had an incentive to defraud the buyers by not delivering the cryptocoins and just keeping the money.
Wall of Coins required extensive KYC and other documentation in order for a buyer to complete a purchase. This was in contrast to Wall of Coins's published claims that conducting business through them was fast and "anonymous." One only learned of all the documentation requirements after one had placed an order and sent in one's money and one was therefore financially vulnerable. It appeared that Wall of Coins used these documentation requirements to intentionally create a kind of obstacle course, a series of hurdles, for buyers. Because some of these requirements could be nonsensical, sometimes difficult to complete, sometimes contradictory, and unnecessarily extensive, and also because some buyers felt very uncomfortable in providing extensive KYC documents to Wall of Coins, a portion of the buyers would stumble and not properly complete this obstacle course. Then Wall of Coins used that as an excuse to not provide the cryptocoins and they also (at least usually) would not refund the money. So in this way some of the buyers got scammed out of their money. So the documentation obstacle course appeared to be intentionally designed by Wall of Coins as part of its scamming routine. However, based on the customer reviews it seems that some of the buyers who completed all the documentation requirements also got scammed, not just the ones who failed to provide all the documents that Wall of Coins claimed it needed.
Wall of Coins did allow some, and apparently most, of the transactions conducted through its website to be completed. After all, if they had scammed all the buyers the whole operation would quickly have gotten shut down. The idea, it seems, was to just scam a fraction of the buyers. In that way they could keep the whole operation running and continue to get income by scamming a portion of the buyers on an ongoing basis.
This was a criminal operation, a racket, which was defrauding many people and scamming them out of their money. Robert Genito, Jr., the primary person behind Wall of Coins, should be prosecuted, forced to repay all the money he has stolen, and sent to prison.
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