Open letter to Ned Scott and Dan Larimer and STEEM community -I have lost all my $900 worth of STEEM- typosquatting usernames
Hello Steemians. Gabi here.
This is an open letter for @ned and @dan and it should be distributed.
Let me explain this.
2 days ago I have made a huge, stupid mistake and sent all my $900 worth of STEEM to the wrong Bittrex account. I have made a post here:
https://steemit.com/steem/@gabi-dumitriu/the-art-of-being-stupid-sending-your-whole-steem-to-the-wrong-bittrex-account
So, I was so tired when I made the transaction, and as the title suggests, I have sent my whole steem, my entire work, all my savings to the wrong account. After 30 mins, I have checked the Bittrex wallet, and I saw that there was no STEEM in it.
You can imagine my frustration when I saw that I have send the whole sum of 5478.300 STEEM to the bittrexx ( notice the 2 'X ')
So if there are people selling steem to @bittrex account, always check that there is only one "x" and not 2.
You can also check my wallet if you want to see my stupid mistake. But here is the screenshot:
I have contacted user@bittrexx and no reply. He did not spent anything and I hope with your help, I can retrieve all my work.
The steem that I have sent represent all my savings, all my work since last year. Of course, I have spent some, but I have put a lot of effort in creating content and earning every STEEM. And it hurts knowing that they are gone now.
I have started last year in June and it was so fun. Then I became a father and my attention moved to my little girl. I am a proud dad of a little girl and in this June she will be 1 year old. So my plan was to surprise my family with a nice trip to celebrate her first year. I have also started a nice post where I have explained how I made the funds for this super nice trip. But now this dream is gone. Of course that I will still have that trip, but now I am just devastated about my mistake.
People here even donated some steem and steem dollars, I couldn't believe it. I've almost burst into tears.
So big thanks to:
2 days ago Receive 2.174 SBD from @robrigo Hope this helps.
2 days ago Receive 24.673 STEEM from @benjojo not much but all my liquid steem to help wigh your mistake
2 days ago Receive 1.000 SBD from @freebornangel for your loss
2 days ago Receive 20.352 STEEM from @thejohalfiles I will try to help you brother. Please learn from your mistake that is the most important thing. - Good luck in your future - 8888
2 days ago Receive 0.143 STEEM from @nulls I can only help a little money
I have no words to describe the mixed emotions that I have seeing all of you trying to help with the little you have. Means the world to me knowing that there are still people with great heart out there.
This is for you out there that are using @bittrex account to sell your STEEM. Open your eyes double check, hell, triple check if needed, ask your girlfriend/boyfriend, husband/wife to repeat the process for you, but DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS ME.
@ausbitbank said, and I agree: "I think we should edit the transfer page so that a warning /second confirmation is required if someone tries to send to a harcoded list of exchange "typo squatter" accounts like this." He also added to this github issue that looks like it was possibly made in response to my post here.
"I would suggest we make a big list of all the legit main exchange accounts, as well as a list of the typosquatting usernames that are within a few characters of the legit ones.
If a user tries to send to a squatter account, make them confirm twice and suggest the most similar legitimate exchange account. Perhaps also make a second warning/confirmation for transfers over a certain size that aren't going to a whitelisted exchange account.
These 2 simple~ish rule changes, implemented just on the steemit wallet page would probably stop 90% of the user errors and a whole lot of pain.." Source: - https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/1313 https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/1313
My question is: could someone intervene and help me out?
Fixing this would bring more transparency and more trust in the whole withdrawal process and I am 100% convinced that the whole STEEMIT community will appreciate an update where you are safe transferring your funds to an exchange.
Thank you for reading this and I hope my issue can be fixed.
These people who are namesquatting are doing it deliberately so they can pocket the money that people send them by accident - I don't buy their pathetic excuses for doing it.
It is an attempt at deception and profiting from people's mistakes.
I think @ausbitbank's idea is a good one - not sure how much work it would take to implement though.
Tagging @sneak as I believe he's more likely to review this than @ned.
There should be a "transfer to exchange" button. When you press it, it has a drop-down of known exchanges. It should also warn you if you don't include a memo (ideally it would know the formats).
"Transfer to a steem user" could be an advanced option, normally hidden for now.
Thank you @demotruk. I would love to see your opinion on this. Do you find this as a security issue? ( having squatted usernames for exchanges? )
I think manually entering names is the security issue. In Bitcoin this is prevented by checksums. There is no equivalent for Steem. Whereever possible in the UI we should be able to select from a list* instead of typing in a name, because typing is so prone to error.
* Examples: List of exchanges, list of followers, list of friends etc.
I am so sorry to hear about this.
I do not have much, but I will send what I am able to help <3
I am also sending reiki to the situation to assist in the recovery of your savings/earnings.
Bright Blessings and Much Love ~ Namaste
Leave it to @ausbitbank to have a reasonable solution. That's truly tragic though and I wish you the best on a speedy recovery of Steem!
Sorry to hear this happened to you. I hope you get your funds back. :( Surely something can be done?
Check out my last post:
https://steemit.com/steemromania/@gabi-dumitriu/gabi-the-blockchain-buddy
Oh ouch...
I was looking through @bittrexx account....looks like a dead account that was opened but never used.
I also see that you worked hard for that Steem over the last year only noticed one post that popped big for you.
Also I don't think there will be any way to get your Steem back unless @bittrexx refunds it to you.
Up voted/ Followed / Gifted
1.8 SBD>U. Dust off and create content like the effing Rockstar you are! :)
I lost 400 Steem by accidently typing bittrIx. I was in luck to find the person to whom owned the typo account and he was supposedly willing to return the steem. However, he 'lost' the keys to the account. I contacted Ned and tried to get the two guys to talk, but nothing ever came of it. After several inquiries - to both parties - I have not yet recovered my lost steem.
This has been MONTHS ago. Not only are fail safes nonexistent, support is severely lacking as well.
The Steemit enchantment is wearing thin.
Good luck.
I recently tried to reach out to the community with the same post, but couldn't. It is necessary to nobody, But I believe that there should be some mechanisms of influence on such accounts, because there is a suspicion that it's beneficial to someone to STEEM remained inside the platform.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@inna-yatsuk/attention-bitrex-polonix-ploniex-poloniex-this-is-a-lie-explain-to-me
And again. For this post I have not received a penny, at the time of payment of the account zeroed out, explain what happened?