Dear Steemers,
A new scam is making the rounds. It is important that you know this. And it is important that you protect your account from it.
So if you are receiving a private message from anyone delegating Steem Power to your account, avoid at all costs. You will also be asked to enter your password or wallet key into a form.
It's a fake form designed to steal your account.
Never. Fill. It.
And if you do? You lose your Steemit account. Your funds. And your sleep.
This Is A Clever Scam
Because our scammer, blinded by greed, is impersonating someone. In my case, the scammer signed up with the username of a whale.
He used @michael-b as his username. And Michael is powerful.
But Michael is not on Steemit.chat or Discord, opening the doors to scam wide open.
Then, after signing up on Steemit Chat, he sent me a message to delegate a portion of his Steem Power to my account. He knows I am Indian. Perhaps he saw my profile.
At this point, in between conversation, I was trying to verify if he is the real Michael. Because, quite honestly, I couldn't ask him.
Then he drops that link.
And that link points to a website with a form:
No one has delegated me Steem Power before. So I didn't know if this form was real or fake. Yet something surely didn't seem right.
So I messaged @rahul.stan and @acidyo to double-check. And Acidyo quickly replies:
So when I knew anyone can delegate power through Busy / client, I decided to message Michael back... only to find him gone.
I couldn't message him anymore. And I thought he blocked me.
Then comes another account.
And this one is skillfully named delegate-support.
Delegate-support was waiting for me to fill those details. He says he didn't block me. He, in fact, deleted his account. All this already screamed scam to me.
Yet I played along.
It looked like he is very close to Ned (CEO of Steemit). 😂
Then he deleted his account again.
When, in reality, it was @Pfunk who did it.
Acidyo messaged him these accounts and Pfunk immediately disabled them.
I wasn't the only target. In fact, our scammer messaged a bunch of us. I took the lead to inform them.
For now, he has been silenced. Not forever. Maybe there are a bunch of them out there. And these bunch are pulling such dirty tricks on other good users.
So it's important to educate and inform everyone. Your Steemit account is important to you. And I request everyone of you to be extra-careful when it comes to sharing your password or wallet keys with anyone.
Or any website.
Cheers,
Sid
UPDATE:
Account @michael-b belongs to Steemit Inc developer Michael. He wasn't the one messaging us. Thanks to @Donkeypong for investigating this.
Anyone using phishing links on steemit.chat needs to be reported to me, @firepower, and @riverhead immediately. Please send a PM to all three with screenshot(s) if possible. Thank you.
As an aside, if you have any phishing sites targeting Steem users, ping me on chat with the URL's. I can usually get them dealt with pretty quickly if made aware of them, and they also can provide useful intelligence data for trying to detect and stop future scams.
the bank that you bank with ! genius
Great fonejacker clip!! :-D
Cg
He tried to steal my account too by using that phising link, luckily i did not give my password everyone :D
scary... it's a good job you guys know what you're doing and my wallet isn't worth stealing (yet) ! Judge Dredd would sort this out with instantly dispensed justice
Yeah, it's probably not a good idea to click on a link that goes outside of Steemit.
Greetings Sidwrites! To be able to receive the 2k SP from my OCD project I'm going to need you to visit https://thisisdefinitelynotascamtrustmei'madoctor.net/phdinrocketscience and fill in your name, address and date of birth followed by your private key and the year you think/hope you might lose your virginity. Don't ask why, don't even give it a second thought or ask anyone if this is legit, just don't do it, I'll know if you do. Also please change your shirt, its almost making me puke while I'm riding this cow watching you through binoculars while you keep watching a compilation of Sarahrie's covers.
Thanks.
Epic one 😁😁
Funny!
I can't stop laughing 😂😂
LOL! the most epic comment on steemit!
Most epic comment on sid's post, this should be on his profile forever.
AGREED LOL'd!
Sounds legit
Lol..
Some people are brand new to steemit and cc..
Comment of the century LOL
😂
Scams, scams everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
Really appreciate the share. So unfortunate when people play on other's desires to succeed.
Ah! The rhyme! Its my favourite poem!
Thanks for this! I feel we will always need to be reminding people to think about security first. Great work!
HOly cow! This is scary! Thanks for the update.
wow. Unbelievable how scammers figure this out, and try to rip people off. Well done for being alert. And job good for warning other people. I'm resteeeming this so others know. Thanks
Thank you @sidwrites for the heads up!
every where on the world have bad people like to kidding another.
Thanks a thousand times for this precious piece of information everyone should be aware of. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
More simply do not enter your WIF anywhere unless it's
Steemit.comorSteemconnect.comBingo! Good call.
Thanks for letting us know about this! I've been phished out of $20 before on the Darknet, but that was my mistake. But now that I think about it.. my $20 back then in BTC probably is like $40 today :P SCREW all the fucking scammers that try that shit. I've been paranoid about my Steemit account since day 1!
Thanks for the heads up! Do not EVER enter sensitive information from a complete stranger on an unsecure form dropped in a chat message. Ever . . .
Congratulations @sidwrites!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Wow what a clever little rascal. I also got a private message on on Dischord saying I was selected for something but I never responded or opened it. I'm scared as hell when I see unsolicited private messages on a crypto website.
Thanks again for the heads up!
This post received a 10% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @firepower! For more information, click here!
Thanks for sharing this scam with us! I bet we will be seeing more of these types of scams in the future once Steemit grows even bigger, so making informative posts about the scams is a really good strategy to prevent people from falling for them :)
zappl warning too!
Wow! Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks so much for this warning! Why can't people accept the gift of Steemit. Why do they have to be greedy and still want more and more...
great post and job ! Informing everyone !! Yes I was messaged by him , but then it disappeared so I never even responded ! Unbelievable !! I was also informed in steemit chat messaging about this guy ! Hate losers like this !! Keep up the great work !👍👍👍
If he/she could only use that account properly, he could be rewarded. The skills like that has value in a platform and could be earning good rewards. This is a problem with people who could not be satisfied of what they have.
yes for sure ! 👍
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thanks for posting this "heads-up" scam alert, resteemed it as well! The following post is also a great guide to better understand STEEMIT's Permission Keys and how important it is to "protect" them at all costs: "Everything you need to know about Steemit's Permission Keys".
Wow, thanks for sharing. I'm new & pretty much learning as I go & this helps a-lot, just resteemed & upvoted, thanks again.
Thanks for the Warning I will resteem this immediately to spread the word thanks.
New follower here. Excellent post! Thank you @pfunk and @sidwrites for looking out for the community.
Keep up the good work!
@abn
Thank you for the heads up!
Ridiculous that people think they can get away with this crap!
Thanks for the warning!
Good to know, thank you very much!
I'll resteem this. So will @goodguygreg. This kind of scam alert post is important!
Anyone intentionally 'phishing' is committing a crime under law in many countries, and all the evidence is forever embedded in the STEEM Blockchain, this criminal activity should be be reported to police.
Great work investigating this, I am sure it will help a great many if they see it. (a resteem will raise the visibility of this important post)
Thank you for your diligence and efforts. They make the community better for all. Followed
It's actually sad that when the whole community is working toward a better future for Steemit and helping new people find a place, one selfish person wants to ruin another person's life on Steemit and pull our beloved community backwards.
Thank you so much for posting this. And for taking action against that person. Your actions could have saved many people now and in the future.
Great article. Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks for the warning @sidwrites!! As a new Steemian I don't have much to be scammed out of, but who knows where this journey will take me... this info may come in handy one day, and it's good to know how things work early instead of learning the hard and costly way. Much appreciated!!
Thanks for informing the community about this, the greed and the scammers are getting a little crazy.
I won't anyone would share their password and wallet keys to other, right??? That's the basic security knowledge to prevent hacked by other!
Please upvote my posts @sidwrites
Broken english should be a giant red flag.
Thank you for sharing this important information!
well done sidwrites keep your eyes open
Thanx a lot
OMG. Those scammers try it everywhere. Thanks for your warning
Thanks Sid - appreciated
Thanks for the heads up
Stay vigilant!
Thanks for the heads up!
Wow, that's sneaky. Thanks for keeping us sharp. I just got signed up, and I'd hate to get scammed before I even started!
Thanks for the info
That's scary Sid. Have to be careful!
I'm glad for you that you didn't lose your account.
Thank you for this post!
Oh my goodness!!! As a new member this is good to know, thank you so much for sharing this!! That is crazy!! What asshats!!