Abuse Series: Pretenders

         In one of my previous posts, I talked about declining rewards when you plan on sharing contents from off the blockchain that do not belong to you. The example I used was a post featuring Magical Crypto Friends with the "decline payout" option selected. Then, something caught my eye.

         If you cannot tell what is going on this the screenshot above, the post was voted on by names similar to popular services such as @huobi-pro, @appreciator, @upmewhale, etc. Well, that was a buzzkill.

Why do these accounts exist?

         I personally do not think their purpose is to give people some placebo effect when giving upvotes. The more likely answer is that they are made to purposely confuse and/or attempt to catch a misspelling on your end for when you are transferring between wallets. The funds would then wind up in their pockets.

         My advice is to always double check the spelling of your recipients, especially if you have yourself auto-logged in for payments on the blockchain. I understand some of us prefer not to deal with the hassle of entering your active keys, but I would prefer not to have transfers being done so easily from my accounts, whether they be fiat or crypto.

         I also high discourage the use of mobile phones for your Steemit exchanges. Here is a cautionary tale from the rising manual curation service, @thundercurator. It was a tough situation to be in, but I am glad that they bounced back and is doing better than ever.

An extra five seconds to confirm your transaction could save you heartaches later!

         Scams and tricks have probably existed since the dawn of humanity. The above examples can be avoided by simply exercise due diligence on your part by entering the correct information. In this post, I wish to highlight a more malicious form of pretense: impersonation.

         Recently, I have noticed more and more complaints in several Discord channels in regards to random, low SP, troll accounts that have been downvoting planktons across the platform.

         To the average Steemian, this is something new. To the anti-abuse community, we have been aware of the downvoting spree some time ago when a disgruntled plagiarist and spammer was dealt with by the community. "She" then proceeds to abuse Steemit Inc.'s faucet account creation service to gain multiple accounts for her revenge downvote spree.

         The first batch of accounts were taken care of with the help of @themarkymark when the newbie delegation from STINC were removed. That story can be read here: Steemit Defense League is Dead.

         However, this did not stop the malicious troll to admit to her own misdeeds. Instead, she went on to target other innocent Steemians to reinforce her own self-delusions. A friend of the community, @johngreenfield, has been keeping track the League's activities, who the abuse fighters have affectionately dubbed "Doofus League". John's last update can be read here: [Content Cop] Steemit Doofus League Accounts

         The actual list of accounts is larger than what is presented here. The worst part of her offense now is impersonating prominent figures such as @patrice and causing unrest in the community. Fortunately, the community seems to be tired of her antics. Furthermore, it is mindboggling that not only she is doing this manually, she seems to have absolutely no idea how voting works.

How could this have been prevented?

         For whatever unknown reason(s), STINC is extremely slow at withdrawing their delegation that was meant to help newbies. What is even more maddening is the fact that the spammer gains accounts readily while many honest would-be Steemians wait weeks without receiving their accounts. It does make you wonder where their priorities are at.

What can you do?

For those of you afflicted by the mosquito downvotes, we have wonderful community members who run services to counter flag abuse:

1. @quarantine by @bullionstackers
2. @freezepeach by @r0nd0n

         Abuse fighters and Steemians can also count on @neutralizer and @randohealer by @anthonyadavisii. Be warned, all the mentioned services will still check your posts for potential abuses in the form of plagiarism, etc.

         I regularly receive a dozen flags from them, and I've stopped caring because they do not affect payout...at all. My best advice is, ignore them. The community is stronger than that and this troll will eventually become an outcast when SMTs rolls along and banned from all communities.

         I will leave with this PSA from the Witness @pjau. Abuse Series will continue to lay out the seemingly endless sea of bad behaviors on the blockchain. Until next time, ciao!

Previous post: Lies. Damn Lies. And Statistics.
Next post: A Web of Lies