I met @anoniam earlier in the month when he came to me requesting to do some coding work for our group @slothicorn.
Obviously, I want to warn everyone about this person, and hopefully also save people from loss. But I am very disappointed, and a bit pissed off that I wasted my time talking and giving advice to a criminal.
He told me that he had researched who had a high reputation and it was obvious he was interested in getting a reputation by doing work. This admission on his part did make me suspicious, but I am willing to give people a chance in the beginning. My suspicions began to grow for a number of reasons, but I was extremely alarmed to find out via @neoxian that not only is @anoniam a suspicious person, he is a phisher, as it appears he has stolen the account @khoa and who knows what other accounts. I narrowly escaped being scammed in several ways, which I will explain.
Please read both posts by @neoxian to see how @anoniam admitted to phishing: https://steemit.com/scam/@neoxian/phishing-attack-scam-attempt-update-anoniam-is-the-phisher
https://steemit.com/bank/@neoxian/phisher-tried-to-scam-me-today-could-not-outsmart-a-bank
A few days ago @anoniam asked me for 300 Steem. He said he would repay me 350 Steem. It was at this point I began to have suspicions because his earlier work all revolved around coding projects. I asked him many times why he was not contributing to Utopian, as that is the most obvious way to earn as a programmer. He said the rules were too strict, or something of that sort. His answer seemed off to me.
Ok, when he asked me for money, I had to ask him questions about how he was going to earn. He told me arbitrage, which is buying on one exchange and selling on another. When I heard this information, I began to think lesser of him because doing this kind of activity doesn't generate reputation, social clout or anything. It's a hollow way to make money, and while making money is not a bad thing, the way you decide to earn tells a lot about one's inner nature.
Once I learned that arbitrage was the way he was going to earn, I realized I wanted nothing to do with this.
But the scary part is that I almost loaned it to him. It was while I was thinking on it, that I decided to ask Neoxian about it. I learned that Anoniam had told Neoxian that he (anoniam) had a good reputation in Slothicorn, and that he was a mod in our group. This set off a red flag because while it's true that Anoniam had done one coding project for us (thankfully I never used the code...I'll go into this shortly), I had not made up my mind about his trustworthiness yet. He was so new, and there were a number of things I found disturbing about his lack of history.... Let me detail my suspicions in the hopes that you can learn what to look for in people:
1: His Github history is brand-new.
After he created some code for us (and communities) to use in order to simplify the key permissions, I asked to see it on Github. I asked him if he creates open source code. He said he doesn't make open source code. I asked why. This was the first red flag. Creating closed source code seems extremely fishy to me. But he did release the code on Github finally. Here's the second red flag: after I asked him to make an adjustment to the code, fixing one thing, I found out he didn't release this fix on Github. Instead, he sent me the code directly in a file.
I didn't like this.
I actually never opened the file. When I didn't use the code he made, he seemed anxious, and he asked me if I was planning on using it. His hurried nature, mixed with some anxiety was another red flag. I told him I would look into using the code in a few weeks (I was planning to use it!). But I wanted to wait, mainly because the code was not on Github, and that made me nervous, knowing that he sent the code directly to me. He probably had the secret code in there, planning to steal our keys! I AM SO GLAD I TRUSTED MY GUT INSTINCTS ON THIS ONE!
If @anoniam is in your Discord Server, ban him now. He is a thief.
Always ask lots of questions and analyze carefully someone's behavior. It's quite difficult for people to pretend to be a certain way for a long time. Never trust anyone who enters your group in the beginning. I made the mistake of trusting @anoniam in our Discord Server too quickly, after he did one coding project for us. This was a mistake. But luckily, @neoxian and myself asked questions, and also communicated with each other about this person. We are lucky this time, but as you can see, I narrowly escaped being scammed IN TWO WAYS! I could have lent him the 300 Steem, and I also could have used that code which I suspect has been coded to steal active keys. This could have turned out very badly.
I have learned a lesson.
6 months is a good amount of time to get to know people in order to trust them. @anoniam, please leave our community. You're not welcome here.
Take Care of Your Safety and Be Cautious,
Stellabelle