[ Part 1 Here ] in case you missed it.

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Phreedom!

(part 2 continuation of Phishing, Phreedom and Prayer)

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Master Password Mistake

So I received a call from @enjoywithtroy that same afternoon and what I suspected was confirmed, but it was worse than I thought it would be. Troy was doing something a lot of Steemians inadvertently do and that was using their Owner's Key whenever they logged on, you can see it's function here:

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Notice that 2nd line under the Owner Key:

"The private key or password for the owner key should be kept offline as much as possible."

That means, ONLY use it when you need to and DON'T use it as your log-on password.
Look at the "7 Rules of Steemit":

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I will have to admit when I first started posting on Steemit these passwords/keys were a confusing thing for me to understand. One thing I did know was that I wanted to make sure I kept that Owner key offline.
So, unfortunately,​ Troy had clicked a link and was taken to a malicious/spoof website(Steewit) and whether consciously​ or not logged on to Steewit with his Owners/Master password and more than likely the bad guys grabbed that password and used it to transfer some of the money that was in his wallet as seen above on his wallet screenshot.

If you want to read Troy's ordeal and get some other background info on the phishing hack check it out:
https://steemit.com/steemitabuse/@enjoywithtroy/scam-alert-1-i-was-scammed-663-843-sbd-be-prepared-enjoy-with-troy

With Phreedom Comes Responsibility

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Even prominent Steemians have admitted to using their Owner's password as displayed by the humble @papa-pepper comment above.

So, what should we do? That's a big question and if you've read this far, I hope that you would really think about this.
-We could ask the Government to come into this community and regulate it.
(I don't know about you, but this would be the last thing I would want a decentralized system to do!)
-We could ask Steemit to regulate it.
(Steemit is actually owned by someone, but the decentralized nature of it does give up a certain amount of their control. I think since it is their property that they should be able to set the rules, but I am all for the fewest number of rules, as it keeps things simpler.)
-We could take responsibility and educate ourselves on how best to protect ourselves.
(I like this one. Remember with Phreedom comes responsibility!)

I'm sure that there are other things that can be done, but I would caution on the side of less complication, less rules and more education and greater responsibility.

@enjoywithtroy has talked to me about the need for someone to help out victims of these scams. I would encourage him to go ahead and figure something out and get it started as a phree-market solution, but a solution that Steemians can participate in a voluntary way. What do you think? If this is something you think should be done, please get in touch with @enjoywithtroy

Thanks again to @guiltyparties, who was helping on the steemitabuse chat channel, for the assistance he gave to Troy and myself.

Since this post is getting longer than I would like I have decided to break it into 3 parts so follow through if you'd like to find out what happens next. I will probably make a master post that has it all for those that might have the time to read it as a whole.

[[ Phreedom! Phishing, Phreedom and Prayer Part 3 coming soon ]]

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Please consider Commenting, Upvoting, Following or Resteeming @sighmanjestah

Steemit,

do it for the love,
the reward will follow,
it just might not be financial.

Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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SDG

SDGvia(http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/~tomita/)