Wow.
2 signed messages by the owner of the ASICMiner share (Kruniac). The first, promising to transfer upon receipt of payment. The other a signed statement requesting transfer of the share. Nobody but the owner of that address (and therefore that ASICMiner share) could have made these promises, received payment for the deal, and then failed to successfully fulfill the terms of the deal.
Lesson learned: use escrow. The reason I didn't was because I felt a that over the previous week I had dealings with Kruniac. He had trusted me in a deal worth more and I assumed he was an honest person looking to trade on #bitcoin-otc and his reputation there was worth more than the 1.8 BTC he would steal from me. Multiply by 20 and now I see how easily this type of scam can happen.
From Kruniac:
--------MESSAGE--------
When the payment of 1.8 BTC is received by the address of : 14cBNrTYW9XCnYhJqJ9ooAMzz7zAnojWaz
A transfer request will be sent to Friedcat for one (1) ASICMiner direct share.
The request will be made on behalf of the user ryanAC, controlling the address: 14WzWD9GP2Zq93h935JkhqY3dK91UtiyDv
----------------------------
Sig: HyD7yFtPR8KeqvzJZ6Hzd6M6yEZ576nfl1lRcNwZ8Ev0/QqrB/HCgovoe4rVgkG8nWFkp9lVuwJi9IRewsxPIM4=
From Kruniac:
--------MESSAGE--------
My username is Kruniac (As you can see), controlling Bitcoin address: 14cBNrTYW9XCnYhJqJ9ooAMzz7zAnojWaz
I received one (1) share of ASICMiner via an auction:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=223560.msg2364193#msg2364193I'd like to transfer ownership of my ASICMiner share to:
User: ryanAC
Address: 14WzWD9GP2Zq93h935JkhqY3dK91UtiyDv
------------------
Signature:H2/88WCvcOR1z6q2u9NxJz1sAN1iE0Q80HAWdrvVM8zNsO0mQJzZVE5iRQ+VK7A9bTHDE9o+bT99ORJHK/0yRXE=