Mass Flagging and Phishing Scams – On the Rise!
Please beware all steemians, as there is a big rise in scams across the site involving phishing links which has resulted in user accounts being taken over and emptied of any SBD and STEEM contained in account wallets. Not only that, but the stolen accounts are then used to continue posting phishing links across the site. Posing as the original account holder, this gives the phishing link extra credibility and a cover for being a genuine account or user!
In this post by @irvinesimages, he explains how he was locked out of his account. The account was taken over and wallet was emptied by the scammers. The scammers claimed to be reporting a plagiarised post by the original author, using a phishing link that posed as a reporting website, but in actual fact is a fake. This method is used to lure users into entering their account details to reveal who the ‘plagiarisers’ are. Once the account is taken over, it is used to post more phishing links with the stolen account.
For all the ongoing and latest news on phishing scams, you can either follow or lookout for messages posted in the comments section of posts by @arcange, who warns users of phishing links. They are also a witness on the steemit blockchain, who does a great job of protecting user accounts. Also, @guiltyparties is another great steemit witness account, which helps combat phishing, spam, and fake circle-jerk accounts which are a blight on the steemit blockchain. They posted a warning yesterday, of another phishing scam.
Interestingly at the same time, a lot of low reputation accounts have appeared/been created, which are flagging posts on a mass scale. These accounts are setup and named as being flag bots (claiming to be providing a community service), who are also posing or impersonating as other reputable steemit users and @steemcleaners community members.
Up to this point, I have received two flags from these two fake or impersonating accounts in the last few days or so.
The first flag was made by @nice-steemer on this post. It even has a cute and cuddly name. How could you possibly get annoyed at an account name like that:)
The second flag was made by @charlesdeherstal on this post, who is impersonating @patrice, a steemcleaners community member and witness.
There are a lot of fake accounts being created which are on the flagging warpath. Even though they are mainly a nuisance atm with very low reputation and voting power, they do still have the ability to affect low value posts and newbie steemians. These type of accounts have in the past similarly held accounts, with more voting power, which hopefully won’t happen again. I have previously posted on this topic, and trend here and here.
If you are aware of any phishing accounts, scams, circle-jerk activities, or being regularly targeted and abused with the flagging of your posts, a great place to start would be to report these accounts to steemcleaners at their official website. The great thing about this reporting facility, is that you can report any of these things anonymously! Otherwise you can find them at their discord server to report any suspicious activities.
Please spread the word and be safe out there!
As always, have a great day and PEACE
That is awesome you are helping to spread awareness on the phishing and flagging issue. Steemcleaners team help victims as an afternmath of the scam. We can all contribute to helping by educating end users before they become victimized. Education is equally as important. Great job @palikari123!
Thanks for stopping by my post. I feel better today. 🙂
Thank you @beeyou ...Yes, awareness of these issues are key and important for unsuspecting users. Happy to hear you're feeling better:)
Thanks @palikari123
I didnt know about this when my account was hacked and i quess i had to learn it the hard way.
When i was hacked i did my reserach which is not a wise decision to do.
I hope your posts spreads more so people can see this, it is very important for someone that is just starting on steemit :)
Upvoted, resteemed.
I'm very sorry to hear that you were a victim of this type of phishing attack @amahovac93. These people need to be exposed, so we don't have more victims who lose their hard earned stake on the steemit platform! It affects us all in various ways...
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by palikari123 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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Resteeming so newbies are aware of the phishing and flagging activities. Although your Rep is beyond Rep 45, upvoted too since you took the time to bring awareness to the issue!
Congratulations you have been upvoted and resteemed as part of #newbieresteemday's top 10 posts for the day! We invite you to use our tag to connect with more of our members. To learn more: Come Join Us!!! (Newbie Resteem Initiative)
Thank you @newbieresteemday! You provide a great community service:)
Thanks palikari, we try when we can. :)
And since many people don't know how to use the keys (since steemit is not at all clear about that) this makes things even worse.
people are forced to use the master key far to often since well... it is often the only key that works. and so people don't even bother to use the correct key.
I heave read many guides on how to use the keys and it is still not clear to me.
Not that the guides are bad, but the way the key system is build.
Since all the money is just protected by one key the risk is extremely high when most people use that key ALL OF THE TIME.
So it is just a problem waiting to happen.
It can definitely be confusing, especially to people who are new to the platform....I know that I definitely felt overwhelmed and confused with the whole idea to begin with!
Great work, thank you for bringing this to our attention .. these people are scum, parasites feeding of our body of work and good intent. I wonder what the story/person/people is behind these flagging bots? .. It would be interesting to collate the type of post they're flagging, if it's not indiscriminate and directed at certain content, then it would appear to be an agenda.
Thank you my friend @perceptualflaws! Yes they are scum, and stealing from the reward pool and people's hard work and ethos that makes this platform enjoyable for all, no matter what community or topics we are all interested in. As far as the flag 'bots' are concerned, they seem to be totally random, as hundreds of users are reporting being flagged from a varying array of communities.
They obviously didn't enjoy this post as they gave me a flag for this one too haha. At least the steem power attached to these accounts is at a very low level!
Nice Steemer was surely on my butt down voting me for at least a week until they left me alone, I wish the other accounts did the same
Yes @aaliyahholt, they are all a huge pain in the butt! Especially towards smaller accounts who feel picked on by these trolls, as you called them in your meme:) Let's just hope they don't get their hands on larger amounts of steem power!
Lets hope or it will be bad. I think these are bot accounts, but a human made them
Thank you for spreading the awareness about this. We should all stay vigilant within the space. Have a great day too :)
You're welcome @crypt0rhodes, and thanks for stopping by. You have a great day too!