Answering PMs would lead to follow up PMs, maybe a side investigation, maybe a mentoring session, and etc.. I love helping people but I've become stretched thin trying to help people get the latest info, and trying to make a dent in the PM avalanche, all while working a regular job and having a family. I have had to intentionally and unintentionally ignore friends and fellow channel admins for days in order to try to be fair, by trying to start at the bottom (oldest) PMs.
I wrote this post about a month ago, but got too busy to finish my exhaustive, balanced review on it that I was working on, as a follow up story to this one:
https://steemit.com/investments/@allyourcrypto/exclusive-info-on-hexabot-trading-bot
Note: It is recommended to download Telegram to properly open these links but I suppose the web version should be fine for accessing these links below.
Swearing, posting links, talking about other projects, or questioning the viability of Hexabot were all cause for permabans at Hexachat trollbox, as many community members can attest. The Telegram Supergroup that sprouted up after I founded the FAQ channel became the primary location for an international, community led investigation into the legitimacy of Hexabot with hundreds of people providing information and sometimes private tips.
As initial fears of a quick exit scam abated over time, the Hexabot Supergroup became hundreds strong and became a fun, safe place to learn about crypto, get good investing tips, and to hang out and have fun with other like minded crypto investors and speculators.
With my background in investing, crypto community building, and a background in supervising other technical experts, I was a natural at creating the first large secondary online community outside of Hexabot trollbox (aka Hexachat), and I had already built a prototype channel . One can see Peter Shepherd stopping by to test out the chat functions of the prototype FAQ channel here: https://t.me/hexabotcommunity/26
Unofficial FAQ (mostly read only): https://t.me/hexabotcommunity
Unofficial Hexabot Chat Supergroup: https://t.me/joinchat/Hb6kPFBVIbr2bpfO9LmA6Q
I do feel that if concerned investors somehow do manage to find Peter Shepherd's real info and if they do want to bring them to justice, that the proper way to do it is to go to Law Enforcement and not tip off the person(s)that could be the scammer, in which case the tip off could lead to said person or persons to get away hypothetically speaking, if Hexabot does turn out to truly be an exit scam.
And most definitely do not try to attempt vigilante justice. Besides being illegal and dangerous, you could literally be accidentally/intentionally attacking the wrong person or persons! I know that we as humans tend to react to threats with an adrenaline surge - and that modern life doesn't adapt well to the fight or flight response - but try to use a cooler head even when things are bad or seemingly bad. I felt like I had no choice but to use the Community FAQ channel to fight FUD:
This is the type of things I've been dealing with in the last week, include public Telegram statements made that either insinuated or just flat out stated that I and/or the Telegram channel admins were part of some exit scam which I've had to repute repeatedly. After days of further FUD spreading and possibly illegal statements promising or encouraging harm on other humans (including possibly innocent bystanders such as channel admins and their families):
Just a major bummer - from what used to be a cool, fun place of about 600 that ballooned to 1400-1600 people in a day or two when Hexachat went down. Suddenly Supergroup had an influx of new members or visitors where approximately 800-1000 of them that were new to the Hexabot Telegram Supergroup and angry or upset in some way or form at Hexabot, and possibly looking at channel admins as scapegoats! I even had to respond to totally incorrect publicly stated rumors that A) I had control of Hexabot's Telegram account, and that B) I was supposedly in secret talks with Peter (also wrong as shown below):
I do apologize if I've been grumpy, brusque, or just plain seemed like I ignored you this week. I do apologize if you were banned by overzealous admins - including myself. And I do apologize to any that think that I may have trivialized or belittled their concerns.
Anyway, it looks like this story has not yet finished, and closure has yet to be seen, although signs are grim since there hasn't been an update since December 6. Keep your chin up everyone, regardless of how all this drama works out. Cheers. [Authors's note: Article is an early take; some edits to this section going forward, early access is given for you as my token of appreciation.]
I will also edit this post later tonight to pass on some general tips going forward for those that have funds at risk at Hexabot (and other similar sites):
Chad Burton's Tips to recognizing and researching scams and bad deals in this space:
Notes: My background investigating HYIPs
Besides writing articles on Steemit as a HYIP blogger, I have also spent time providing feedback on HYIP Explorer as user HYIP=Gamble
Just type that user name in the user search function there to see the posts I have made there in the past regarding HYIPs. I also wrote this Steemit post earlier about Bitcoin Ponzi scams in general for a $1 Billion+ scam: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@allyourcrypto/this-might-be-the-world-s-biggest-ponzi-scheme-usd1-1-billion-raised-by-bitlake-biz-in-12-days
