Accusation:
A few days ago, an anonymous tipster sent me this link and a simple question:
"Is this ok or should I flag this?"
So let us take a look, a low effort spam-post featuring a single image from Aliexpress with a "self-goat", that's not really a big deal, or is it?
The Findings:
Naturally the linked post wasn't the only one following this scheme that had been posted by the accused account, @hamayun, but for the sake of argument let's look at this as an isolated incident first.
Bot-voting on low effort posts
Some will say this is totally legitimate.
After all, there is no rule that defines an effort-threshold for what is allowed to be posted on the blockchain and if someone uses an established service to "invest" their money into an upvote, that certainly doesn't break any rules either.
That's correct!
But, if we continue looking at this objectively, we must also recognize that the rules allow for discontent with the exhibited behavior just as much, and downvoting such posts cannot be deemed any less legitimate!
Now that this is out of the way, let's look beyond the scope of just that single post.
Increase the volume for maximized profit!
I already mentioned that this wasn't an isolated incident.
The account @hamayun had been silent for several weeks before starting his Aliexpress-scheme 6 days ago, but with their consistent use of the various upvoting services they did manage to gain a decent little pending reward balance already:
source: steemnow.com
Ok, not even $40 and only a dozen posts, that's not a huge amount and only little spam.
Fortunately most voting-bots work with some sort of limitation on how much rewards you will be able to buy from them, and we all know that too much spam can easily bring you negative attention. Luckily for the greedy players out there, there's an easy workaround to this.
Just make more accounts!
No surprise, @hamayun didn't come alone.
It's sibling-account and faithful voting buddy, @humayalz had started the Aliexpress-scheme over 4 weeks ago already, successfully raising their voting power from 4 SP at the beginning of September to 78 SP now.
source: steemwhales.com
In addition to the "earned" voting power, @humayalz has access to a 3,750 SP delegation, leased through @minnowbooster.
We obviously have some witty "investor" working hard for their "ROI" here.
Let's do the usual and follow the money.
Introducing @cryptokraze alias Umair Rajput.
Both @humayalz and @hamayun as well as 13 other accounts are being sponsored by @cryptokraze.
@cryptokraze himself is not new to the virtue of low-effort posting and bot-votes. He has been making a steady income with screenshots from coinmarketcap.com for weeks himself.
Umair also isn't new to the virtue of running a multitude of accounts. His legacy facebook presence shows he is known as both Umair Afzal and "Trader Boy" Umair Rajput.
At least his personal interest in trading and investments seems genuine. I'd take his advice and analysis with a grain of salt, though. Someone who gets involved with MMM-Global clearly doesn't do his due diligence properly!
source: Umair Rajput on facebook
read more about the MMM-Global ponzi on wikipedia and independent.co.uk
Umair is not an absolute cheater.
Some of his sponsored accounts may even be legitimate people.
But all the accounts he has sponsored are engaged in the same "investment strategy", low-effort posting and bot-voting.
I would also say that it's safe to guess that most of of the accounts are probably being used by Umair himself, though. Despite some identities closely resembling his legacy social media friends, their activity and coordination strongly suggest Umair himself is behind them.
Here's the full list of accounts he has sponsored so far: @cryptokraze himself, @aunj, @qasimwaqar, @talhasaeed, @mwaqar309, @alonrtpve, @rehanhashmat, @rizwanphe, @desiretech, @hamayun, @humayalz, @aqeelch, @atifafzal, @messirajput, @ahmadraza123 and @maqeel.
Some of these accounts are a few months old but have been mostly inactive, some show consistent activity, a few even exhibit somewhat authentic content, most of them had run-ins with @cheetah for plagiarizing, all of them know how to maximize their rewards with bot votes and all of them received SBD from @cryptokraze to pay for those votes when needed.
I have contacted some of the legacy social media friends to see if they are knowingly involved with steemit but I have not received any replies so far. Should I learn something new from this in the next days, I will update this post accordingly.
update: Umair has responded to this post, both in the comment section and to me directly via discord, he insists that all of the accounts he sponsored belong to individuals, friends and family, which I do find very hard to believe. Their comment exchanges are seemingly random interactions while their financial ties show a more than obvious connection. I could go to lengths to elaborate on all the circumstantial evidence to support my impression, but I'd much rather stick to the facts and would argue, that even if the accounts did belong to distinct individuals, their actions remain the same. At least Umair has pledged to consider the effort he puts into posting and he will "guide the others" to do so as well. He promised those Aliexpress posts will stop.
To flag or not to flag?
I will go ahead and start flagging a dime off of those Aliexpress posts for sure. Simply because that's plain spam.
For the rest of their activities, I'd welcome a lively disussion on your own verdict in the comments below!
yours,
Sherlock
P.S.: It's a pity to see ponzi-schemes like MMM-Global still making the rounds and targeting the most desperate victims they can reach. Be careful when someone promises you insane returns without actually having any business to back it up with. The cryptocurrency scene is flooded with similar schemes, fraudulent ICOs and scammy tokens, so be careful, your chances of loosing your investment are often much larger than any potential gains!
Would it be justified to blacklist or even nuke these accounts?
Share your subjective verdict on the exposed accounts and their activities!
Don't decide impulsively, I encourage you to take a first-hand look at them.
Update: Please also see Umair's own comments below.