New Hive Spam Network

in #anti-abuse4 years ago (edited)

Yesterday a new spam network was started, I have my suspicions on who it maybe and digging through some log files to confirm.

They have been creating accounts that look like existing users and setting their metadata to look like the original user. They then steal posts from that user and repost them. If you follow new, it may be difficult to detect these posts at a casual glance unless you goto their profile directly and do some research.

Some of them have even received large votes from to the tune of around $15. No worries though, these rewards will all be removed before payout.

I have identified over 300 accounts in this network and have have been additional ones created that haven't activated yet. It appears this will be an ongoing problem as they attempt to attack Hive in various ways.

If you notice your post has been stolen, it is most likely one of these new accounts.

If you follow created a lot, double check you are voting on the original author and not one of these fraudulent clones.

Example Posts w/ Payouts

Current list (more being added as we speak)

  • a1amin33
  • a1ebrijes
  • aaron-731
  • abcor-spt
  • abh12345-sports
  • abhl2345
  • achimo3
  • acu-fund
  • ad0nisr
  • ag-moore
  • akipp0nn
  • alex-absolute
  • alyssa-mey
  • amah0vac93
  • amygoodrich
  • an0123
  • andy1ein
  • anroja-sports
  • appicsgir1
  • appreciat0r
  • ap-teacher
  • arslannasir9o9o
  • art-galleryraka
  • asdo9
  • aster0ids
  • ata1gyi
  • aur0divys
  • ave1692
  • b0bskib0b
  • b0tante
  • bdvoter-cur
  • be1eg
  • beakd
  • bee1in
  • be-helen
  • berge1mirsenpai
  • bestb00m
  • bigm
  • big-power
  • bobby-madagascar
  • br0sin0
  • br0xi
  • brucutul
  • bryanimhoff
  • bubub00mt
  • c00ltivar
  • c0redump
  • cameron-barnes
  • cannapals
  • canna-writer
  • cari0ca
  • ch00girl
  • cheese-4ead
  • chinese-bi
  • chops-support
  • circle-point
  • cliff-agreen
  • c-malescov
  • cmmofficial
  • cmp1xty
  • coderbts
  • cool-buddy
  • coqui-unlimited
  • crypt0s17
  • crypt0vues
  • crypto-story
  • cryp-toxicate
  • cu1gin
  • cur-angel
  • cyg0n
  • d0wnv0teme
  • dalz-photo
  • dam1a
  • dani1e666
  • dan-status
  • da-planet
  • deral23
  • derwin-augustus
  • drill-ith
  • drl0bes
  • drone-graphica
  • dude0ntheweb
  • durbisr0driguez
  • e1eidap
  • eliezer-floyd
  • elmund0dexa0
  • el-nathan
  • em0n366
  • en-grave
  • ericboucher
  • erikkl0k
  • ervinlemark
  • esech0l0
  • et-handsmith
  • evildid0
  • exy1e
  • f1atman
  • f1emingfarm
  • fcb-spt
  • felix-garciap
  • fengcha0
  • fish1ucy
  • fitzgibb0n
  • fl0rin0
  • flam0
  • flow-cannon
  • fluff-cloud
  • foresterjoe
  • f-turner19
  • fun2-learn
  • furi0sl0si
  • futi1e
  • games-joyce
  • gandalfthedark
  • gear-nsnow
  • glory-7
  • greckibazarewy
  • green-do
  • h0w0
  • h1aingwin
  • hafizu11ah
  • hamsa-quality
  • her0s
  • hettyrowan
  • hispapr0
  • huaren-news
  • hyborianstrain
  • i0i0i0i0i
  • iamjade1ine
  • iamnot-social
  • ico-reviewblog
  • ifart-rainbows
  • im-charming
  • invest-egg
  • invest-prosper
  • isariaccc
  • isariaphoto
  • isiahwa1t
  • itchyfeetd0nica
  • jazzher0
  • jerry-tsuseer
  • jersteemit-sport
  • jgr33nw00d
  • ji11feint
  • jinizzang
  • joeyfancy
  • joeytech-talks
  • k0nl0n
  • kasiarepl985
  • ketc0m4real
  • keyp1ex
  • kibe1a
  • kimi1i
  • kita1ee
  • kl0ne
  • krazyp0et
  • kristyg1as
  • kryl0vayar
  • krypto-formator
  • l0ngye
  • l0rdg0d
  • l0tear
  • laser-city
  • laych0
  • leslie-revales
  • less-horrible
  • librepensad0ra
  • light-photo
  • little-gremlin
  • lrc-consult
  • m0el0ut
  • m0l0velly
  • m0wemu
  • maarni0
  • majes-tytyty
  • mana-bank
  • mang0s
  • marble-ly
  • marble-sz
  • mari11aanne
  • maria-msinn
  • measure-able
  • melissa-official
  • men0
  • mi1aan
  • mighty-panda
  • mksportstoken
  • modern-zorker
  • moe-knows
  • monster-mama
  • monstersralph
  • mount-aingod
  • mrsb0zz
  • mummamonza
  • music-mip
  • my0khant
  • n00pu
  • na1exadre
  • neddy-kelly
  • neutral-izer
  • nocompass-norway
  • nyan1ynnhtay
  • o1ddemon
  • ocb-witness
  • oscar-oef
  • p0c0t0
  • pa-trickulrich
  • pedr0brit02004
  • pedr0canella
  • penpa1s
  • perfi1brasi1
  • phe1imint
  • philip-pekiene
  • plad0zer0
  • pocket-js
  • post-promoter
  • project007-ccc
  • project-hope
  • qu0chuy
  • r0mbtc
  • rafar0sad0
  • raisemeup
  • raise-up
  • random-voter
  • raven-mottram
  • rayshiu-images
  • rea1treebivvy
  • rebe-torres12
  • retin0x
  • re-verseacid
  • ritikd0kania23
  • roelanpd
  • rondon
  • rooms-ervice
  • s0lairitas
  • s0ushi888
  • sandra-carrascal
  • sat0rid
  • sbi1o
  • sch1ees
  • sfrtreasury
  • sh0utl0ud
  • shim0zurd0
  • shine-dojo
  • siggib0y81
  • silvi0mangum29
  • sm0lalit
  • sm0nbear
  • sm0nian
  • solar-warrior
  • s-omegaming
  • someguy456
  • sp1iddash
  • st0jay007
  • steem-consultant
  • steemedproxy
  • steem-historian
  • steem-itasclub
  • steemitralph
  • steem-london
  • steem-power4
  • steem-telly
  • steem-ulant
  • steve-jhuggett
  • sweet-kathy
  • syedshaki1
  • t0ric0
  • taga1
  • tattoo-djay
  • team-australia
  • the-marky-mark
  • the-real-wolf
  • there-alyme
  • tomato-m
  • tr0nhill
  • trev0rpetrie
  • tript0lemus
  • truel0vem0m
  • truth-bot
  • tyedyefire-power
  • upmewhale-team
  • ur-trailer
  • v0ter000
  • vaughndem0nt
  • vincent-nijman
  • v-lemon
  • wendy-th16
  • william-turner
  • x60c5
  • xanders1ee
  • xt0phercruzeu
  • y0mism0s0y
  • yabapmat
  • your-averageguy
  • z0bayer
  • zeleirac-ordero
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Wow that is a long list. And what sucks is that those usernames are gone forever, no?

  • Wow that is a long list.

That's what she said.

image.png

OMG! Some of the names remind me of those fake designer perfumes from back in the day

😅

for fun I tried if math0wl was created but alas I am not that famous

I just experienced the same disappointment. Not even 'moobs' exists

but apparently boobs exist https://hive.blog/@boobs

I guess it's an ok compromise

Oh, moobs exist. Just not @moobs.

I just realized your name is Math Owl (I think).

I'm still trying to piece together why I was highlighted lol I'm not a big account or anything..

Thank you @themarkymark for all the work that you do. Can't thank you enough. It is upsetting to see that my account was not spared but I am glad this was made known. What is wrong with these people who take pleasure in doing crap like this?

I appreciate this valid use of your tools. This kind of spam/scammer is why downvotes are necessary on Hive.

However, @joe.public is not such a spam/scammer, and it is a strong signal that moderation of the tools you use needs to be immediately undertaken for the protection of the community from abuse by individuals applying the tools you control that he is on your blacklists, and totally censored by the #irredeemables mechanism.

Get him off that list!

Your inaction on this matter continues to indict you as potentially abusive to every user of Hive. When it is proved you are incapable of being trusted with the absolute power to censor anyone you want, I won't be around to tell you - or anyone else - I told you so.

I'll be on the list.

Thanks Mark. I know I never say that enough, but I really do appreciate all the 'toil and trouble' you go through for the chain and the community.

Great job as always. Hope theyre all going on your global blacklist as it's then easy to see if they have a read number against their name!!

Seems I'm not famous enough either lol....but wait.....@project007-ccc is a copy of my curation account @project007.ccc ......all of 2SP and 20K in Creative coin tokens....I'm in with the in-crowd baby!!

I'm not famous enough either

Me neither, stupid sounding names are omitted I guess.

It does make you wonder the criteria they used to create the names. You're a big stakeholder who posts a lot. I'd have thought you'd have been ripe for cloning!

This is why we can't have nice things

someguy456

hahaha for some reason this is legit my favorite one x^D

Nice job on spotting this. I wonder what their genius endgame is? Just a spam on the reward pool ( which is pretty easy to take care of ), or are they really hoping to cause some long-lasting catastrophe by making a fake post from a top account?

Pathetic waste of time, shouldn't they be working on bettering Steem? ;^P

Phew! thank goodness I'm not in the list of Doppelgängers. Cause I'd be well pissed off if one of these impostors would copy & paste one of my posts and make more do$h than me. };)

ok, retin0x is already listed... Just have noticed it 2 days ago...
Anything I can do except using my downvotes?

I am in this list, sort of, the account has a DASH in the middle of my user name that doesn't show on the Spam profile.
There are two of my shares showing there.

What can I do? Would it help if I commented that it is a SPAM account?
Please let me know what I should or can do about this before it gets out of hand @themarkymark, and thanks for bringing this to my attention

image.png
Five Followers, most have no HP or little, one hasn't posted since 2018

followING 6

image.png

Honestly, who goes round creating so many impersonator accounts, they really have too much time on their hands.

Gutted that I'm not famous enough either, though one of my community account got on the list 🙃

Thanks for doing this list @themarkymark

Noganoo does this all the time.

I am definitely too small to be impersonated ! I feel safe for now haha 😆

I saw v-lemon so you certainly have been.

Didnt look enough. I am a superstar ! Thank you

Damn, that is one hell of a list! You did some thorough homework

Could you create an api with a list of users to flag? Or maybe we have something like this already?

I have considered exposing some toolings, as it is usually just me I haven't needed to, but I have thought about it in the past.

I will use this list but an auto-updated api would be cool :)

When I saw the account @melissa-official not me. Good to know that you are all aware of this. They want to destroy Hive

where do I make a delegation to help stop these guys?

Most of these are now zeroed :)

Been working to get the votes removed at the source so they are aware of this issue before actually downvoting.

Been working to get the votes removed at the source

I won't ask how you're going to manage that, how about new accounts?

I built something that monitors for them and their rewards.

Thank you for the information and your great work on the chain.
The account @br0xi is not mine.
Would it be possible to blacklist or block such accounts so that they are not even visible on the frontends?

The #irredeemables list on Github does exactly that - but only to enemies of Bernie.

So far, that is it's only use AFAIK.

Lol your ignorance is world class

So, other than @fulltimegeek and @joe.public, what other valiant defense of the blockchain has the #irredeemables list been used for? I may be nescient, but am open to learnin'.

I recall the inception of the #irredeemables list was your doing. You sent a 60 Steem refund due @fulltimegeek to @null and sent him a pic. A disagreement ensued between @fulltimegeek and @berniesanders that ended when @fulltimegeek was completely censored by the #irredeemables list.

I note that his account, at least, is no longer on that list, but he refrains from discussing that event. Perhaps you could shed some light on how that appeal was approved.

You might also share what crimes @joe.public committed that were so dire he has to be completely censored on Hive. I suspect he just annoyed you and Bernie, and that's all it takes.

I'm surprised I'm not on the list yet.

I'm certain your finger is poised to drop the hammer right now.

I strongly advise you offer the Hive community the ability to vote on HPS proposals to approve or deny such a terrible fate as to be completely censored, before that power degrades your morals.

You may prefer not being responsible when you consider what that power wielded by you alone might cause to innocent folks if used improperly - as you have by placing @joe.public on the #irredeemables list, or keeping him on it when you have the power to remove him from it.

That list is anathema to censorship resistance, decentralization, truth, justice, and the American way, and you alone presently bear responsibility for that foul device.

It's like being boss of the dungeon back during the Inquisition. Stop using censorship to keep people from merely saying things you don't like.

If the #irredeemables list has been used to do anything other than censor folks that annoyed you and Bernie, do tell. I haven't seen it.

The list of nearly 300 accounts here are on the irredeemable list, and I would call that a great use for it.

FTG spent a bunch of steem to upvote a post with a single link (or something like that), and themarkymark removed the vote. FTG wanted his money back, but whether he knew it or not, buildawhale had a no refund policy for people upvoting spam, and to prove it wasn't about the money, he sent it to null instead of refunding it. Then FTG went to commenting thousands of times per hour with multiple accounts, basically crippling people's ability to view some posts because the comment section would crash the page. That's why his accounts were put on the list.

I have no idea what joe.public did, and perhaps it deserves a fair shake in the court of public opinion, but from everything I've personally witnessed, the list has been used well. And the front-end devs (peakd, hive.blog, 3speak, esteem) seem to agree, as they are not required to use it, and can display any or all of it if they so choose.

I was in fact uninformed as to the necessity of the list when I made that comment. I have been learnin' as I go, as is my wont, and have come to agree that the list is necessary.

However, I still don't think @joe.public belonged on it, and I am happy to read just today that he no longer is. I also want to mention here that I have, as in the comment you are replying to, severely tested @themarkymark to prove he is not intent on opinion flagging.

Despite my incivility, he has not flagged me. I am presently convinced he believes, with good evidence, at least as far as I am concerned, that he is not opinion flagging, nor abuses his censorship power.

Despite these facts, this censorship power is too severe, and too seductive, to leave in the hands of one person, or even the four that seem to have been involved at one time. That is centralization of that censorship power, and is the opposite of decentralized censorship resistance, no matter the quality of the moral fiber of the individual bearing that weight alone. The moral hazard, as I mention above, is simply too onerous a burden to bear.

It was necessary that changes be undertaken, and I have briefly glanced at things today that reveal changes have been made. I still think an HPS vote is the appropriate level of control on Hive over who gets on that list, because it is essentially the end of any ability to post or comment on Hive, the equivalent of banishment, and that for stakehodlers.

Regardless of my tendency to produce these walls of text, I appreciate your informative and substantive comment, much of which I have learned is factually correct.

Thanks.

Despite these facts, this censorship power is too severe, and too seductive, to leave in the hands of one person, or even the four that seem to have been involved at one time. That is centralization of that censorship power, and is the opposite of decentralized censorship resistance, no matter the quality of the moral fiber of the individual bearing that weight alone. The moral hazard, as I mention above, is simply too onerous a burden to bear.

But it's not just one person involved. I can go make my own list, develop an API, and put people on there I don't like. It's up to others to either use it if they find it useful, or discard it if they see no value.

It may be one person making the list, but it's up to others running services to decide whether or not to use it, which creates accountability. As soon as it is perceived to be using for abuse, the front ends would stop using it, or maybe only grab a few names from there for their own list. It is up to the list creator to make an honest list which is valuable to the community, or else all their effort can be ignored overnight.

Buying votes removes the proof of brain consensus. Marky was one of the few that actually cared about the quality of posts his bot voted on, and removed votes for low effort/spam posts voted by buildawhale.

I am also under no illusions that Marky is perfect, and out of the thousands of accounts blacklisted, I'm sure there were some that weren't as worthy as others. What I do know is if I were to get blacklisted, spamming obscenities and threats wouldn't be the path I would personally choose to get the matter resolved (not saying you did this, but I've seen it happen over and over). Reasonable people are more likely to be met with reason, and emotional people are more likely to be met with more emotion.

"I strongly advise you offer the Hive community the ability to vote on HPS proposals to approve or deny such a terrible fate as to be completely censored, before that power degrades your morals."

I like that idea, but it seems like it might just lead to large stakeholders who vote wielding censorship instead.

"That list is anathema to censorship resistance, decentralization, truth, justice, and the American way, and you alone presently bear responsibility for that foul device."

I'm with you on censorship resistance, but I'm not sure how it's meant to effect decentralization.

Abstract truth is just as insubstantial as justice to me, and the American way only conjures contempt and scorn in my mind.

Truth, justice, and the American way is a formulaic aphorism I associate with my youthful naivete. It's unlikely to be familiar to folks not raised here.

Anathema is the enemy of. The #irredeemables list is the enemy of decentralization by enabling centralized control of speech. It could hardly be more centralized than being limited to one individual to undertake at their sole option.

As to HPS voting on censorship, it's at least a public process, which is better than what we have now, which is done in secret, in darkness, where none know it has been done, except them it has been done to. It would require action to be taken by those with substantial stake to effect censoring, which would reduce it.

Absent sound reasons presented to support the censorship, as seem not to exist in the case of @joe.public, it is likely that those voting in support of censoring accounts would also be held to account for doing so. This would reduce it as well.

It ain't perfect, but it's DPoS we got.

I'm familiar with the concept of anathema. Interesting that you would invoke such religious vernacular, though secularized as I presume it is intended. I'd imagine that's a consequence of your strong conviction.

I see what you're saying now about the threat to decentralization.

With me being very computer technology oriented, the first thing that comes to mind in terms of decentralization is decentralized network architecture.

I'm not so sure HPS voting would reduce instances of censorship though. It seems to me that it would open the process up to anyone who could manage to promote a proposal. If anything I would expect there to be far more pushes for censorship, since many more than just @themarkymark could get the ball rolling for whatever reason.

Still I suppose it would take longer to enact each individual proposal. While I think that might largely be beneficial for careful choice, it would give spammers and abusers until finalization of voting to continue their campaigns with full visibility and impact.

I'd also say that to some limited extent @themarkymark is held to account for these actions. I'm sure he notices the opposition's rhetoric, and it likely moves the needle in terms of public opinion to some degree. I don't know of much more than that which could be done by HPS.

That's my fiftieth of a dollar on the matter.

the list is public, you can view it. There is a guy who spans dick pics you might be interested in.

I'll add fulltimegeek was never added, only the accounts that spammed. If your theory was true he would have been added as well. He was never even on the blacklist. In fact, you would have been on it ages ago if that was true.

So did @joe.public just spam, that's what got him on the list?

Another thing, why do these blacklists need to be so deeply embedded in the architecture?

These spams and such will make it onto the blockchain anyway, right? Why not just serve up the whole thing and let the frontend pick and choose?

Ideally then the end-user could even manage their personal blacklist.

Is it because node operators don't want to serve shady content or what?

I know for a fact that @fulltimegeek was on that list, because I saw his account on it. I know for a fact he personally posted a copious quantity of spam, at least matched by Bernie.

I have never spammed anyone. Ever.

I am disagreeable, on that I agree.

I do not know if you simply miss-recall or if you are deliberately misstating facts, but @fulltimegeek was on that list.

Bernie, on the other hand, kept spamming for a long time after that, which is why you have @joe.public on that list now, because he responded to that spam.

Answering comments isn't spam unless the original comments are spam, and Bernie isn't on the list, so you must reckon his comments weren't spam. All the more ridiculous you consider replies to it to have been spam.

Get @joe.public off that list, or continue to reveal the danger of censorship without community control to everyone that posts on Hive.

Your censorship may be the most dangerous threat to the Hive community extant. Put that power in public control and cease being a threat of centralized censorship to this community.

It is exactly the same threat Sun Yuchen was to Steem, except his view of governance and censorship differed from yours. It's the identical threat, for different reasons.

I know for a fact that @fulltimegeek was on that list, because I saw his account on it. I know for a fact he personally posted a copious quantity of spam, at least matched by Bernie.

Well as usual, you are full of shit. The entire blacklist is available on Github with versions, history, and is searchable.

https://github.com/themarkymark-steem/buildawhaleblacklist

He was never on the list. So quit your bullshit and go play somewhere else.

I have finally been cloned. Have to admit that I've been waiting for this day for a long time. Never knew that it would happen in April 2020 but we're living in weird times right now anyways.

Thanks for pointing this out.

Thank you for all u your work.

Great work! Thanks. I'm glad you're one of our witnesses here on Hive.

Thanks for this list keep up the good work 🤝

Those guys and their buffoonery. They just don’t know when to stop. It’s ridiculous already. Steem is garbage.

You're doing great work to keep our chain clean thanks

Thanks that is worthy info i am gonna distribute

Hahah I feel so honored to be someone that these people want to mimic! Sad to see my bro @chekohler not up on that list! :(

LOL clearly I fly well under the radar! Gosh really who has time for this? Seems like a lot of effort that could have been put to better use

Dude it's crazy, they even copied my profile picture as well as my other account info! I'm not sure if I'm creeped out or excited to have an online stalker.

Lol damn son I better be carful around you and double check your posts and comments could be talking to your doppelgänger

LOL Need a code word for verification purposes.

I remember back on Steem, @berniesanders created an account used to mock @lindsaybowes that I did not notice was not them for three days. I was fooled by the @lindsayblowes use of their avatar and etc.

This appears to be that exact same tactic. Makes you think...

Did it steal her posts? No.

These are more than parody accounts.

So was that. I was alarmed at the vicious and baseless remarks issuing from what I thought was a civilized person. Turns out those remarks were not coming from that source at all.

Live and learn.

I have more than my share of parody accounts pointed at my account.

Sometimes it is true that we have to take a closer look to identify and understand that it is a fake user. Thanks for your efforts.

Hey @themarkymark thanks for spotting this and going over the issue, it’s really concerning... thx for notifying us, we will be spreading the word out 😉

I wonder how they are picking accounts to impersonate.

Doesn't look like they have tried to imitate me yet. I would hope that their rep can be knocked down so they are more obviously fake. Who is giving them big votes?

Thanks for your detective work on this! Such a sad way of spamming :-/

Honestly... Well-done @themarkymark. I can't say thank you enough for this.

Thanks Marky

This list is damn long. I hope it does not associated with some of plans of Justin to bring hive down

This is absolutely crazy, even my profile is copied, and I have a very small account.

Let's keep a very close eye on this, could be another one of Justin's tricks to make us look bad.

WOw that is a long list I knew my account was sone they copied but did not realise there are so many

Nice work Bat Man!

Sneaky bastards got me... banking on the fact that 99.9% of the human population is pretty much NEVER paying attention to detail.

Appreciate the efforts on this!

keep hunting them!

That is some hard work!!! Kudos for keeping the Hive clean :)

Thank you very much for informing me. It is indeed a blatant attack on HIVE.
The phantom account @felix-garciap has already been denounced.
Cheers

Thanks for being on top of this and making us aware!

Glad I'm not famous enough to make that list.

Yes! Community working effectively against idiot attacks. Hopefully the idiots doing these realize this only empowers and puts more value onto this community...

Dang! I got fooled for a moment by the iamjade1ine account, since I follow the real one (she's been busy with her family & hasn't posted lately) because another friend reblogged the fake post. After I realized my mistake and removed my upvote, I realized other friends might see my share and do the same. Ugh, fucking scammers. Thanks for catching this & shouting out!

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