There is a problem on Steemit, not just of plagiarism, but now of cyber impersonation crime. Yesterday I was scrolling through Steemit, and I saw a post about a young girl who had just been admitted into the hospital after a brain injury. The girl’s aunt (aka @belle.julz ) was posting the story about her niece asking for upvotes and resteems for help. The aunt told everyone that the father had left the mother and family and the mother had recently died, so this aunt was taking care of her little niece. Really sad story right? Problem was, the poster wasn’t the aunt, and the mother was still alive, it was a lie.
It wasn’t that I had a sharper eye than anyone else, but that by a chance of luck I had seen this story posted by the mother on Facebook earlier that day. So when I saw this post by the “aunt” on Steemit, and that @belle.julz said the mother was dead, something didn’t feel right. I couldn’t remember where I saw the story on Facebook, so I searched Google and eventually found the mother’s original post had been picked up by the news and had gone viral with over 200k shares. I went back to the “aunt’s”( @belle.julz ) Steemit post and asked if she was sure she was the aunt, and the “aunt” said the mother in the photo was the HER mother not the girl’s mother and acted upset.
After how she reacted I felt guilty for questioning her, like I did a bad thing, but part of me felt something was wrong. I kept thinking about the post, and I sent a Facebook message to the mom who had posted the original story about her daughter’s accident, asking her if she knew this lady claiming to be her daughter’s aunt. The mom responded saying she had no idea who this lady was and was very angry that some stranger was using her daughter’s name to beg for money. The mother was so stressed out when she saw this post that she couldn’t sleep, so I told her I would help get it taken down.
Now there was proof that this fake “aunt” was completely lying to everyone by: impersonating an aunt, defaming a father for abandoning his family, and lying about the mother’s death. I went back to the original post on Steemit from the “aunt” ( @belle.julz ) and told the “aunt” I had found and talked to the real mother on Facebook, and had proof that she was lying. I told @belle.julz to apologize to the mother and remove the post, and that I was going to be reporting her to @steemcleaners.
To her credit @belle.julz did remove the post and apologized. After the apology was up, I messaged the mother again and let her know the article was down and the imposter had said they’re sorry. The mother was relieved and warned people on her Facebook post about people trying to impersonate her. So, the scammer was caught this time, and all seemed to end well.
However, I think this whole situation is a good example of a growing problem I’ve been seeing on Steemit. As more and more people are hearing about this platform where you can get real money for upvotes, there will be more scammers trying to post anything they think can generate profit regardless of morals. In this case impersonating and lying about a family is a massive step up from just copy and paste plagiarism. If this was done in Canada, under section 404 of the criminal code impersonating someone is a crime punishable up to 10 years in prison. @belle.julz is posting from the Philippines, and The Cybercrime Prevention act of the Philippines of 2012 doesn’t explicitly say you can’t pose as someone else online, however a case on page 7 under “Computer-related Identity Theft” might be argued? I’m not a Filipino lawyer, so I won’t pretend to know, but to me this doesn’t seem right, and might be arguable in court?
Legal stuff aside, what are we as a community going to do to stop this behavior? First of all, we can all be a little more careful what we upvote, but as the scammers get better and better this might be hard to keep up with. If a story like this went viral outside Steemit, imagine the damage it would do to our community and what other people think of Steemit. Their impression of Steemit might be: “That scammy social media website where criminal activity is happening.”
To me, Steemit is too special to let that happen to. I don’t want to see us get overrun by scammers and I’m thinking neither do our community leaders like: @jerrybanfield , @kingscrown , @papa-pepper, @ned and neither do you. We need to acknowledge and deal with this issue before it becomes worse and hurts the brand of Steem. (PS, I really hope these whales don’t mind me tagging them.)
Any Ideas?
I talked about this issue with my husband @sevenstars and he had some ideas on this:
His thoughts are that if we’re going to let people create multiple accounts, then every account should have to be backed by a unique ID. For example: let’s say Bob creates his first steemit account, then Bob needs to prove his identity somehow (Maybe a passport? Or whatever we decide to accept). Once Bob’s identity is proved, Bob gets a unique Public/Private ID number (maybe stored on blockchain?). Then, if Bob makes a new Steemit account, he must register with his existing private ID number. If he tries to create a new account with a new ID number Bob won’t have the supporting documents necessary to validate a new ID unless he’s James Bond and has multiple identities.
Extrapolating out, let’s say that each and every Steemit account needs to be registered to a single ID number, both publicly visible (so people can see that Bob’s public ID number of 8xb2C-NlQd4-b1C6vG owns all 3 accounts’ of X, Y, and Z), and privately signed (for internal verification). I think this system gives people a good balance of privacy (the public wouldn’t know their public identity), yet also incentivizes them that if they misuse their Steemit account(s), they can be banned instead of allowing them to create a new account with a new email address and learning how to scam better on the next iteration.
Either way, this whole thing makes me so angry. This little girl and her family have been taken advantage by a scammer on Steemit. Let’s not let this opportunity to improve the platform slip through our fingers.
“I believe @ned has said before that he created steemit partly as a way to give to charities who are in need? Maybe I'm wrong, as I'm not 100% sure what his position is, but I imagine if @ned saw what happened here he would be disgusted.
I still think Steemit as a platform is amazing, but this gross misuse of the platform proves that we haven't taken the appropriate measures to disincentivize this behaviour. As more people are learning about steemit, we inevitably have more cheaters and liars starting to join as well. Perhaps forcing people only have accounts approved with some sort of ID so that if they're found misbehaving, all accounts tied to that ID can have action taken against them? I'm not sure, but this is clearly a problem that needs to be fixed before Steemit truly goes primetime.”
@sevenstars
Final question: Using this Public/Private ID system, do we think people would be more or less incentivized to act in an honorable manner? Obviously, I’m thinking people would be more honorable, but what do you think?
Thank you for reading!
great job uncovering a scam. But the solution you provide is too extreme, and probably wouldn't work anyway. Bad guys will find ways around that anyway.
So, you shouldn't try to make it harder for new users to join. Efforts to make it easier to join should be made. As far as scams I think community will expose them when they happen.
Thank you! Yea, I don't think there is a perfect solution. I'm just thinking if someone was found scamming or breaking the law on steemit, it would be easier to bring them down for investigators if you could link seemingly unrelated accounts to the same person, even if you don't know their actual public identity. Right now there aren't a ton of scammers but if we have a wave of scammers once Steemit gets public attention, they might do actual damage to the community.
I get some of your arguments and concerns. However, one of the main points of Steemit is that it is designed to be censorship resistant and allow as much freedom of speech as possible (I think?) Posts which are flagged are hidden rather than deleted? There is no-one in control of it. It's self regulating, by volunteers. Once some entity is in control then it would just be like Facebook with money.. Maybe that would be a cool idea on its own, but at the moment there is something pretty disruptive and completely original about steemit because it doesn't have that control?
Some sub-Reddits (r/bitcoin vs r/BTC) became a war zone due to question of censorship, I.e., who ultimately can decide what can be posted and what can't)! I like the idea that the only and best solution is that no-one should be in control!
But it will be interesting to see what will happen if and when steemit gets bigger and place does get filled up scammers, bad actors, people posting pretty bad material etc.
I agree with your points. I don't want a Facebook-like bigbrother watching over Steemit and controlling everything we do or see all for their own gain.
However, I'm going to play devils advocate about censorship. ( This is an extreame case, but for argument's sake) What happens if a Steemit user decides they want to destroy another person's life by posting their SIN numbers, Credit Card numbers, and maybe even their home address so that anyone on the internet can steal their identity? What if they post revenge porn, or secret recordings private encounters (like the person who posted the two college guys having sex, which I think one of the two guys in the video was so embarssed he commiting suicide) Do we leave all these posts up forever for anyone to see? I just don't see how "no censorship ever" can scale when Steemit is as big as YouTube or Facebook? Obviously, censorship isn't something I want either, but if someone does something wrong to someone else, should we uphold that post in the name of no censorship or step in and help that person?
Either way, I'm not really sure where I stand. I want Steemit to be as free and open as possible, but the idea of not being able to shut down a really horrible crime also bothers me.
Thanks very much for taking the time to post that reply!
I agree with the points you make - how can a social network work just based on self regulation? It's a completely crazy idea...but at the same time how has it worked up to now! I have no idea but just wanted to put some points from the other side. Let's hope it can work out somehow, is all I can say really :)
Well done work @lgfurmanczyk
Cheers to you and your followers.
Follow me @Yehey
Thank you.
Thank you for spending time out of your day to research certain posts and in trying to keep people accountable in this community! To me, if you make a mistake... what's done is done. You simply have to accept that you did something wrong, learn from it and move on. I've seen you call out other users on the material that they produce and we need more of people like you. I agree with @xaero1 that Steemit must continue to be self regulated by volunteers. That's the only way to keep control from being too centralized. Unfortunately, there will always be things that happen in this world that we do not like and can not control, that we just have to focus on what we can control.
I agree with you and @xaero1. We need as many people to self regulate the community and keep us honest as possible. When I see someone misusing steemit and lying something inside me switches and I feel a need to make it right. Seeing someone take advantage of a little girl and her family really made me angry and I couldn't stand by and do nothing. We can't just sit by when people deceive us, we need to call them on their BS.
@lgfurmanczyk thank you for sharing about this because I think as Steemit grows this will only continue to be a greater challenge because the platform is based on being censorship resistant which also means more difficultly in stopping things like this. If we work together as you have done I think it will stay at an acceptable level as it seems to be now! For example, most of the trending page seems to be legit results and so far I at least have not seen any impersonator or scam or faker make a lot from Steemit without having their own investment.
Wow, thanks for taking the time to read and comment on the post. It's an honor to have you here. I care about the long-term health of steemit, and I know others do as well. Exposing this scammer isn't something I could do regularly as it took most of a day to do. If the number of scammers goes up faster than the people willing to expose them, then I'm afraid of what damage could be done to Steemit. I definitely like the idea of keeping Steemit open and censorship free as you said. Did you think the Public/Private account ID idea was too radical or could you see it being viable as a way to combat scammers who create a bunch of accounts?
As for now, I think you're right about the trending page being filled with legit results. I'm glad to see things are looking mostly healthy.
If I think about it deeply, the ultimate question I'm trying to ask here is: are volunteers alone enough to keep Steemit healthy if enough bad actors start attacking our community here?
This post received a 2.9% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @lgfurmanczyk! For more information, click here!
you told me that if i did apologize to all u especially to the mom you would not write about this anymore! what more u want me to do???? if u want me to go down then ill go down , u want me to stop ok then ill do stop . . . Sorry for what i just did . . . dont dig me up like this . . . you lied and wanted some critics to upvote you up when all you need is attention you would probably decline upvotes but not so this means you wanted to be upvoted and have marketed??? is that it???
I credited you for your apology. This post is to create a discussion around the topic of scammers. I'm using this as an example.
then you still should mention me here??? you should probably just commenting on all my impersonated post? ok then sorry to all and to the person i impersonated and used on platform sorry to you and the family of mikayla please i have kids too lets be private ,
i did privately apologized to mikaylas mom :( but she hasnt seen it yet, please let him know i messaged her on msgr thanks and sorry again
If you're clever enough to pull this crap, then you're clever enough to write your own, legitimate content, and really make a name for yourself, your own name.
im so sorry but i dont have self confidence :( im ugly , people wouldnt like to have friends with people that are ugly so i did impersonated someone instead :( im very sorry
Don't post pictures of your face, then.
Just be interesting. Be supportive. Be insightful. Be genuine.
We're all tired of fake, and we're getting good at spotting it.
You said it. Im not ugly, I think LOL, I just dont want people to know what I look like. And I tried really hard to come up with my stuff. I go to tasting, I do my research. I just want people to share my love of whiskey :D
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She brought up what she believes to be an important issue that if left unaddressed could cause potentially irreversible harm to this platform. Nothing about her post is attention seeking.
You brought this on yourself with your actions, and the best thing you can do now is learn from them and not make the same mistake again while bearing the consequences.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by lovely from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in 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.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
https://github.com/the-laughing-monkey/cicada-platform/blob/master/README.md
Its all I have to say although civic etc... steemit could aproach them
Wow! What a cool project.
very interesting read ... and I do agree that this is a problem not just on Steemit but on all over the web... I publish books Adult coloring books and the theft of images and even republishing of other peoples work in books is rampant ... so many people do not understand copyright ... that said arttheft and imagetheft is impossible to control online, as is cowardly imposters trying to use others misfortune to turn a quick buck... Only problem is that I think it will be very difficult to police this ... so far many have tried but I see noone really succeeding ... in your example at least the person retracted and apoligized ... the cases I see usually they just counterattack or make a new profile and keep doing it as it is too prifitable for them to just give it up ...sad but the reality of our world ... Lets hope one day we find a real solution to these issues !
Great job on finding these abuse! Thank you for spending your time helping finding these fradualent post on steemit comminity. We need more people like you! Our community is decentralized and we need individual like you to help keep people in check. Greatjob ! Im new to this i wish i can give u 100 dollar upvote but i cant 😭
I agree that this is an issue that requires addressing, but I think attempting to solve it by linking accounts to government issued ideas is beyond terrible. If any such measures are taken, I will be following the fork of the blockchain where the users who refuse to implement it reside which will arise from the inevitable chain-split.
This issue neads to be dealt with the light touch of better enabling self-regulation, rather than the typical heavy handed authoritarian approach favored by statists.
The creation of a secondary voting mechanism may be a viable solution. If a user believes a post to be suspect, they could vote to delay the payout, and share their suspicions in the comments. If others decide they share in the suspicions, they would add their votes to it giving the community more time to thoroughly investigate and withdraw their upvotes if necessary.
I applaud your investigatory efforts in catching that impostor.
Upvoted and resteemed.