Unless THIS thread is the hacker trolling and testing!
LOL I wish, my theory is he had to sell them to some people and this guy was just a screw up who didn't know enough. Theymos needs to get his email and do some digging. It could be a test from the hacker though, I just don't know what to think of it yet.
Your finding is a typical BitMixer transaction. It is now evident that Bitstamp coins were mixed through BitMixer. But, the top and bottom addresses has no link after mixing is done.
Similar example, where BurtW found the same for Klee's stolen coins:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=686275.msg7804434#msg7804434I don't know exactly how mixers work but the story is sketch as well, the guys says he bought them locally from someone who sells them for lower than market and it the coins were there by the end of the day.
I dont know where did u get the info that the guy bought it locally at lower than market rate, but if he had said so (or if we believe him at all) then it makes sense. First think, why someone will give you coins at lower than the market rate ? There must be something fishy that he wants to offload fast and does not want to keep a trace. So that guy will take his money and send his coins to a mixing service. The output address of the mixing service will be the buyer's address. So, the guy in the middle gets his fund mixed and as well as get money against it. The buyer on the other hand gets new stolen fund, with which the seller has no relation. That is why 1Af9nUCxKYRuXeHRDS6v14eV1JXxvUFUqc has no relation with 1NbBW1XJ81ZtgPp8LL952vVJSf54N5SjK9 apart from they are address of the same mixer.
OP, we all would like to know where you got these coins from. We can see where they came from, can you tell us who?
As I said, my friends told me the price will rise and hence I bought the coins. One of my roomie knew a local guy who sell bitcoin at lower than market rate. We went to his place, handed over the cash and within one hour the coins came to my address.
Now, the problem is price went up and now it is falling down. All my friends want me to sell the coins as we had a condition on 20 BTC. If we make profit on 20 BTC, we will share that and if we lose, we will share that as well. They could not pay at that time as they did not have the money. Now, the coins are out of my hand and they think I have sold the coins without telling them. As I can see, you are a member of Bitcoin Foundation. Can you please help me to expedite the process of getting the coins back ?