Part of being a witness is attempting to stop scams and also point out when certain members are trying to take advantage of their followers.
So with that in mind, let's go over one of the biggest scams going right now: @lovelygirl
The good news is that cheetah has blackisted them and their rep is destroyed. But. Here's the deal, people are still falling for this scammer!
What's the Scam?
The promise of TRIPLE your money!!From a "group" of 250 people, the only one that seems to be active is this account.
You will NOT get triple your money back, you will get zero. You have just given a scammer cash for free.
Need proof?
Let's take a look at @haejin here who DID send 5 SBD as is said in this transfer note. Let's take a look at the upvote total
5 days later and still no $15 return as promised. @lovelygirl's wallet is full of spam being sent, and several transfers back in from people asking where their upvote is.
What makes me sad is that even with all of this going on, people are still throwing their hard earned steem away
Unfortunately, @shellyduncan is going to lose out on 10sbd.
DO NOT SEND SBD to lovelygirl!
In related news, I lost a big witness vote this week, but that's okay.
There's no question that @jerrybanfield has a ton of loyal followers, he also has the ability to talk people into things that are not always in their best interest. There are the stories of the packaging of free information on how to become a witness and him charging $180 for the information, but this week brought a new embarrasement. Jerry was trying to sell a new "service" of quick account creation for the price of 50 Steem!
I had Jerry voted as a witness and he had voted me back. I removed my vote due to his trying to take advantage of his followers, and in turn he removed his from me, dropping me quite a few spots. My vote didn't really put a dent in his. What can you do, right?
Anyway, the point is this: As a witness, we have a responsibility to make sure that Steemit users are not taken advantage of, even if it's from other "big name" witnesses, and even if it hurts our own campaign in the short term.
So here's what you need if you want to create a new account quickly and cheaply.
https://anon.steem.network/ is run by @someguy123 and it's a solid service. You can have your new account in about 15 minutes tops. Price? 10 STEEM (you can also use BTC or LTC but check market for true cost)
https://v2.steemconnect.com/accounts/create This is the cheapest route costing only 6 STEEM, but I have not used it personally. The many people that I have talked to that have used it, swear by it.
So that's the latest from this end
I lost nearly a full GV, which drops me to just over 4, but I can sleep better knowing that I am not supporting a person whose actions I do not agree with.
Use the witness page https://steemit.com/~witnesses
scroll until you see this box and enter
swelker101
click vote and accept my virtual hug!