PLEASE DON'T be the NEXT VICTIM of a PHISHING SCAM !!
Hi everyone,
Hopefully by now, you have heard of a phishing scam; if not, simply put, it is an attempt to gain confidential information from you (in this case, your active or owner key) so that it can be used to drain your wallet of all your hard earned SBD. It's like the emails you've probably seen, where a Nigerian prince wants to give you one million dollars, but first you have to give him all of your banking details, just to make it happen.
Sometimes, it comes in the form of a wallet transfer, which I learned from an older post by @arcange :
According to my friend @simplymike, there are over 65+ domains here that are known phishing sites. She (yes, @simplymike is a girl;) is actually hosting a contest in the hopes that more people will write a post to raise awareness of phishing scams because it seems as though the number is on the rise, and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop them. @arcange is doing a fantastic job in the offensive; you've probably seen him addressing known spam links in the comments of various posts. He has also just recently written a fantastic post that has a wealth of information for you.
If you don't take the time to educate yourself by reading the above links, please know:
The most important rule of thumb is to NEVER use your owner key, and STOP using your active password when you're on steemit. If you do, go to the permissions link in your wallet and change your password to the posting one instead. Only use the active key when you are doing things with your wallet, like transfers, for example.
Be cautious of links that take you off-site. If you do click on them, do NOT provide your active password to anyone, even if they promise you all kinds of cool things! The old adage applies...If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
I want to reiterate though...you should educate yourself about this stuff! This kind of information is as important as learning about steemworld.org or @ginabot or any other thing that makes your steemit experience a better one. I know of people who have been scammed here, and they are kind, caring, and smart people. So please don't think "this won't happen to me, so I don't need to involve myself in it". Take the time to help someone else, to pass the information on to someone who doesn't know what it all means; it's just another aspect of paying it forward.
I'll leave you with this quote that I love, by anthropologist Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
It's up to each and every one of us to work together, continually learning and educating others, in the hopes of keeping this platform great ;)
Howdy, update, there are 105+ phishing account now it seems,
Also, it might be worth to mention to users, That if you are already logged in and they click a Steemit link, they should not have to re-enter their code. If they are requested to do so, It might be advisable to open up their own page again in a new tab to check, before entering any codes.
Geez 105+!! That's terrible. And your point is a good addition. Thank you for that ;)
Great advice @lynncoyle1. I don't there are a lot that know about the differences in passwords. That was a very good point to bring up.
The giving out of SBD to get you to click on something is getting to be irritating. If you want to hand out SBD be my guest...I'm not going to click your link and I am most definitely not going to use your service. I use 1 bot right now @ginabot it helps me filter out the crap LOL, however I do like that it shows me when someone has commented to I can get back to them faster.
I agree we need to make this an in your face kind of thing. I think @simplymike would love to tattoo it to people's eyelids at this point.
hahaha so true!!
Thank you for your feedback! Yes, @ginabot is all we need to "filter out the crap" lol I appreciate that ;)
I didn’t think of that before... now that’s an idea... come on, peeps, line up while I get my needle!!!
LOL
It's nice of you to share to enlighten others. I received a comment from @arcange asking me not to click on a certain comment but didn't know how serious the issue was until I read more about it.
Thank you! I'm so glad you didn't click on it!! It's so tempting though, isn't it?:) I guess that's why 'they' do it ! Thankfully @arcange saved the day ;)
good information , this need more attention and spread to all . It can't happen to me is the wrong attitude , everyone is vulnerable
Thank you @wolfhart! You're absolutely correct; "everyone is vulnerable"!!
I was almost caught by a phishing scam but in my email. They were claiming to be paypal. They way they did was send you an receipt email and send you to a link to look at your transactions, then send to a page to type in a verification code to prove that you are not a robot. Before I put that in I noticed the address it sent me to - pavpal.
So I called paypal for further information. The things to notice, they have told me, is that they always address the person by name, not email (I was addressed by email) and they will never send a link to another page in their emails, unless an agent you are talking to has asked you.
So just putting it out there if anyone has had that email from paypal- pavpal, forward the email to [email protected] and the team will help stop these phishing scams.
Thank you Lynn for this post. I resteemed it. Hopefully everyone knows it.
Geez the bad guys are tricky hey?! I'm glad you didn't fall for it. Oftentimes, we just get a "feeling" that something isn't quite right!
Thanks for the resteem! Eventually, I hope that everyone knows about it and the scammers will get bored and move on! :)
That’s one thing I admire when it comes to Paypal. Years ago I received this message from them with all the tricks you can use to define whether it is a real email from Paypal or not.
I guess it's their name on the line, so it's in their best interest to not have it muddied by scammers.
True.
I never got such a message from my bank, though... ;0)
Point well taken!
Thank you for writing this, @lynncoyle1. Valuable advice and, I think not sufficiently heeded. When @simplymike and I were in the @steemcleaners discord general chat the other day, someone was telling us that there are now than 400 dodgy accounts that they are watching. And the number's growing daily. One cannot be too vigilant. As I have discovered. Hopefully back on Steemit rather than Busy, soon.
Wow over 400...that's terrible! Maybe if people hear about it enough, they will start to really pay attention.
I hope by now you're back!!
Nope, not back. Still on Busy and only able to post. I wrote to support yesterday and still no reply. I am now getting tetchy, I confess.
I wish you were kidding! In your shoes, I could understand the delay if I received a reply explaining why!
Hang in there :)
Thanks, I am.... Am feeling a little like my emails have gone into a black hole... Anyway, let's see what happens. It's a week tomorrow that I got locked out the 2nd time!!
No!!! the 2nd time! Geesh, that is frustrating! I hope it's gets sorted out soon. Have you checked out @simplymike's posts about how she got hacked and then 'reinstated' ? She's on a mission now to help others who, like yourself, are dealing with the aftermath.
Yes, I have seen her posts, and we have been chatting. I will also be doing my own post when I'm back on the Steemit platform
Oh good, I'm glad you two have connected. Please tell me you've heard something by now?! :)
Not in the right sequence @lynncoyle1, but I'm back in eSteem! Thanks to @guiltyparties my issue has been resolved. 😁
It is important to educate yourself and be aware of what's going on. Thank you @lynncoyle1 for spreading awareness.
Be careful, stay safe and be happy :)
You are correct!
You are so welcome..."awareness" is our only hope to fight it all I think ;)
Thank you for stopping by!
Thanks, @lynncoyle1. Somehow, in my information overload,I managed to not comment on your post.
I like the quote you’re sharing. I want it to be true so hard...
Thanks for spreading the word.
I’ll be going through the entries tosay and tomorrow to make the awfully didficult decision on who’s going to win this contest.
I’m waiting for the painkillers to kick in, hoping they won’t blur my vision too much to read - lol
That is one of my favorite quotes ever ! I too wish it to be true ;)
Don't worry about me in the contest...maybe you weren't haha; but I did this because it needed to be done, not to win a contest :)
Enjoy the painkillers, maybe they'll help in your choosing haha
Sorry to hear you are still struggling @simplymike. Just to advise that thanks to @guiltyparties my issue has been resolved. Thanks again for all your help. I shall be sharing my experience and learning in due course.
I’m glad evrrything worked out fine for you :0)
@guard is another good account that combats phishing scammers.
Thank you for that information! I appreciate it ;)
Resteemed
Thanks for the information... The wallet transfer attack is a nasty one!
You are welcome, and thank you for the resteem.
Yes, the wallet transfer is particularly nasty! Just as I was typing this, my husband @briancourteau, just got two in his wallet!
yuck, should't there be a big warning IN the wallet that links to a page with examples? where people can report eventual new versions
This way more people would be aware of this danger and new scams can perhaps be caught a bit sooner.
BTW is @simplymike still affected by this? I have not spotted those dreadlocks lately... Or is there a new avatar in place...? Going to investigate... hehe
I think there is a warning in the wallet, but I'll have to have a double look to see.
She did change her profile pic a while ago, but it's colored photo dreadlocks now...it's actually a really beautiful pic :) She's not affected in terms of her account, but I think it has profoundly affected how she feels about it all and her drive to try and change it. I haven't seen her too much either and was thinking about her today, but I also think her back is bothering her a lot so she's just out of commission so to speak.
That's nice of you to notice and care :)
Back pain is horrible... I hope she recovers soon.
We need that sense of humour back in the room :-)
haha I agree 100%!!