Blockchain Sherlock is done with Breakfast.
My final thoughts on catching a minnowsupport abuser.
image source: denofgeek.com
These will be my conclusions on the recent drama I have been involved in. A lot of you may be aware of the situation, but if you aren't, I'd like to encourage you to read these previous posts, leading to where we are now, and make your own conclusions before you skip to mine:
"I Abused Minnow Support Out of Desperation, I Regret It"
by @hundreddays
"Catching a Minnowsupport Abuser - Blockchain Sherlock Eats Copy Pasta for Breakfast"
by myself
"I Abused Minnow Support Out of Desperation, I Regret It (cont'd)"
by @hundreddays
That's a lot of reading, i know. So here's my summary of what happened:
A few days ago I stumbled over some accounts significantly cheating the @minnowsupport group. A brief search on the blockchain revealed all these accounts to be connected to a single account: @aut0matic. I confronted the suspected cheater with my findings, but did not get any response. Shortly after, I alerted @aggroed about the situation.
@aggroed was able to get a response and convinced the guy to issue a public apology. That apology however was posted through one of the many fake-accounts I had identified earlier - @hundreddays.
Adding injury to insult, it was more of a justification than an apology. Claiming the abuse had been done out of desperation to pay for a grandfather's hospital bills. At that time, it even saw some significant upvotes (~$60). The situation made me furious. Is he getting rewarded for cheating now?
I decided to step up and publicly state my side of the story and to reveal whom I saw as the central "player" behind it: @aut0matic - or more precisely his "personal" account @renepaolo.
Soon after I had released my side of the story, fellow steemian @discordiant discovered that the account @hundreddays had actually introduced himself with a sob-story about stage 3 cancer and 100 days left to get the money for his burial expenses! I think this was the turning point for @renepaolo. The community (at least those who actually read before voting) started to see through his story.
Suddenly @renepaolo started talking to me on discord. He was very defensive, accused me of ruining his online reputation and came up with new claims that @hundreddays was actually really just a poor God-loving guy he had met randomly. Someone who badly needed help and whom he introduced to steemit out of good-will.
The account @hundreddays had posted the same story to go along with it on steemit, in what I see as an effort to protect @renepaolo's name.
What has happened since then,
and why am I still posting about this.
I don't want to turn this into a witch-hunt, and I sincerely hope each of you will be vigilant enough to do your own due-diligence before just accepting my statements for truth. I don't feel comfortable in the shoes of the accuser, but as a member of this community I feel obligated to make these things visible.
In my last post I did intentionally not reveal all the accounts belonging to this scheme, I had hoped @renepaolo would eventually come to his senses and do that himself.
I have tried talking reasonably with him over discord in the meantime. But he holds on to his claims of not being the same person as @hundreddays. Okay, that may even be true. Maybe he really got tricked into giving his private-keys to that guy he calls "James" in an effort to help him pay for those hospital bills? We'll never know for sure!
All I do know is: @renepaolo never gave me any of the "rock solid evidence" he promised and he didn't release the list of fake accounts that have been used. Those fake accounts have continued to move their rewards to bittrex. All that while he claimed innocence and his devotion to God. Really, he talked about God a lot!
I already corrected James' actions by talking to him earlier when we had our Bible study. I told him to repent for his mistakes and confess. In 1 John 1:9, it is stated that if anyone confesses their mistakes, God will forgive them and purify them from all unrighteousness. From the looks of it, James did. Before I left their house earlier, I made sure that he surrendered all his worries to God. I also made sure that he won't do such thing ever again.
...
Lastly, if I prove it, I'm expecting a public apology. Aside from that, you should also contact everyone who upvoted and commented on your posts and hundreddays' post about it. Admit that you accused me wrongly.
...
Man, you're asking me to publish the list of the fake accounts. I have a life too you know. I just don't sit around on the computer all day like I'm doing nothing.
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Oh yeah, because after using these accounts twice daily it's suddenly hard work to list their names?! It's ok. I understand. Here, let me help you:
List of Fake Accounts on Steemit and Discord
only containing accounts with definite connections to the scheme!
On Steemit:
@aut0matic; @renepaolo; @patrickangelo; @patriciangela; @squidward; @spongeb0b; @krustykrab; @bloodless; @brainer; @nobrainer; @hundreddays; @ptcuber; @tinmendes; @sanman; @granpa; @speedsteem; @vexana; @colorblind; @tigreal
On Discord:
Aga; Andy; angelo19; antim0ny; athena; aut0matic; bamboo; batmoney; Beatriz; blackteam; bloodless; brainer; cassiopeia; colorblind; cooldown; danman; Danny; dayan2; doobidoobidapdap; doublekill; franc0; gan356; ggyx; gts2; Hachiko; Hannah; Hellen; hundreddays; iampat; Inah; jamie; Janus; jed; Jerald; Jia; Kiara; krustykrab; leas; Luke; Mae; Maddie; Mai; Maie; Maine; Marlon; Mateo; Menard; Merrill; mickeymouse; Nicole; nobrainer; patriciangela; Patrick; patrickangelo; peon; Philip; photosynthesis; ptcuber; Rachelle; ramit; randoshark; Rene; renepaolo; santababy; Sheila; Shanichelle; Simba; speedsteem; spongeb0b; squadddd; squidward; steemonkey; Steffi; Stephen; sunflower101; tclap; thevalk; tigreal; Tony; tulip101; undead; unknown; vans; venus; vexana; yul0ng; yunzhao
image source: imgflip.com
Credibility of my Findings
Don't just believe what I am saying!
I don't want to judge @renepaolo for what he has done, either wilfully or out of negligence! Maybe he's a victim himself here? Though, personally, I doubt that.
What we can see, are the obvious connections of the accounts listed above, those are recorded on the blockchain and available to anyone who wants to dig deeper.
I gave some details on how I discovered what was going on in my previous post. From there, all I did was to look at transfers in their wallets, times of articles being posted, voting behavior, replies from minnowsupport, etc... it's all pretty obvious!
Well, maybe that's what finally does lend some limited credibility to @renepaolo's story. How could someone, laborious enough to come up with such a scheme, be stupid enough to leave such obvious traces?!?
But his reactions towards me on discord only further convinced me that he's not wanting to own up to what he has done. He has not taken any steps to resolve the issue, whether it was, as he claims, the result of his naivety and kindness, or actually his own devious scheme.
Being involved with this drama was both exciting and and a strain for me.
I've spent hours collecting and correlating the evidence to make sure I can backup my claims and not risk to accuse someone innocent. I never felt comfortable accusing someone. No matter how convinced I am about my conclusions, it still feels bad to bring such negativity towards anyone.
But it also did feel good, fighting for what I believed to be the right thing and being supported and rewarded for it.
Such a rollercoaster - I'm glad it's over and done now.
Thank you all for your support!
footnotes:
I also have a bunch of additional indicators about who the mysterious collaborator/culprit "James" aka @hundreddays might actually be. I can't say whether he's himself aware of being instrumental to the situation, though. Hence I think it's for the better to keep those findings to myself. I will keep my eyes on them though!
edits:
- Despite the lack of any further statements from @renepaolo at the time of writing this edit, and despite the fact that he doesn't "sit around on the computer all day like he's doing nothing", several of his accounts are still showing frequent activity upvoting, powering down or making transfers to bittrex.
- Added visualization of the list of fake steemit accounts.
I'd like to hear what you think!
Are any of my claims unreasonable?
Do you think I should have handled this differently?
Do you believe @renepaolo could be innocent?
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