THE TALE OF PHISHING ON STEEMIT: HOW A MINNOW GOT PHISHED AND SURVIVED!!!
I woke up roughly 9:13am on 31st of May by the constant beeping of my phone, I picked it up reluctantly after a hard work through the night; learning, contributing and researching till it was around 6:00 am in the morning, I was getting more attached to steemit more than ever, I couldn't believe I would find the platform I refused to join almost a year back as overwhelming as it seem to be. I checked my phone and I was shocked by the tons of notifications flying in via #ginabot, I knew it couldn't be as a result of the resteem bot I used earlier before going to sleep, I knew something must be wrong and yes I was right!
I checked the messages and I could easily comprehend that my account has been hacked, I tried to login in but I couldn't, my password reset authorization failed, there I knew I have been #phished. I decided the next thing to do was an account recovery, which I finished up in no time, then I followed the link in the spam the account kept sending in unrelentlessly, that showed me how it all got wrong.
I have been trying some few bots to help my post reach a larger audience , little did I know one of the bots was a scam and the link I had my information divulged into wasn't the real #steemconnect website, it was a scam page, but it was already late for I had lost access and the funds in my account was already moved out.
I was so disturbed, I couldnt believe with my understanding of the dark web, I could ever get phished , I contacted [email protected] and their response came in like a lightning, I felt a little bit at easy though I couldn't compherend what was in the message, so I decided to get some help on discord channels like #utopian, #steemjet, #steemcleaner and some others, I also got quite a number of good guys who gave me useful information on how to recover my account and steps to take afterwards.
I kept checking my page, it was so sad to see the reputation I have built from scratch with so much commitment getting wasted..
Luckily, I got a message from steemit support, roughly 12hours after I complained to them, it was faster than I ever imagined, in between I have opened a new account because I couldn't stand be away from my newly found sweetheart, steemit.
I was able to do a password reset through the link sent to me via email and then I got a new password, I was so happy I got my steemit account reinstated but the sad part was that my reputation was already reading minus.
A lot of good guys who got the spam messages gave me the support possible to ease my burden, irrespective of the fact that they don't know me, but they showed me love and care.
My special thanks goes to :
@thedarkhorse
@bjgesse
@jlordc
@lynncoyle1
@traciyork
@charisma77
@flugschwein
I missed this darling but I have to include it now, @charisma777,I am sorry, it's my bad.
You guys are one of a kind, my account recovery won't have been much easier without you, you lifted up my spirit and gave me a drive.
Over 350 Spam messages and down votes awaited me!!!
I logged in , then I began the journey of deleting messages without downvote and replacing those with down vote with an apology message which I also used to create an awareness . I spent over 15 hours trying to fix this, I grew tired at some point but I was not ready to give up, when I got through, I went over to chat up @pjau and @guiltyparties, I had inform them prior to having my steemit account reinstated, it took them few minute and behold, I had my reputation back immediately.
I got #phished because I was anxious, as much as I was well informed about phishing page and spam messages, I fell for it stupidly.
"Please let us create more awareness and help keep stemians safe on this platform"
Save someone today, resteem and upvote this post.
Thanks to @spamcleaners, @steemjet , you guys rock
#steemjet
Glad everything was sorted out in the end. You were probably one of the worse cases since you had hundreds of comments. That was unfortunate, others usually only have a few. 😂
Sorting it out was so hard, until you told me I could delete those without down vote, taking care of up to 400 spam messages was crazy, thank you so much and I hope I don't ever a reason to do this ever again!!!
Thank you bro, God bless
Thank you so much for the mention @goldbaba1! I'm so glad you sorted out the mess and are back at it :) I recognize most of the people on your "thank you" list, and it doesn't surprise me at all that they all helped you too...I'm glad we all found you!
One thing about phishing site/link is, the link is only a click away. And everything looks the same.. Although there may be a few hints to get it's not real, one necessarily do not pay any attention to these hints and fall for it.
I'm glad you got your account back, it's sad some people find joy in others distress but you overcame whatever they had and I'm sure you're back better and stronger than ever before.
Thanks to everyone who helped you out, I see some names I'm familiar with already on your list of helper... I'm not surprised I've come across them in one place or the other and know the kind heart they possess.
Finally, I see you as the winner! You won because they tried, they took but you never relent, you fought your way to victory and got your account back. This awareness you're creating is a sign of your victory!! Thank you for not quitting!!!!
Thank you so much @lightoj, I am short of words, thanks for the message, I couldn't have done it alone with people like you, I feel honored by your message, thanks a lot
You're welcome... I'm glad you got it back, I just feel good. We are not here talking I couldn't get it back.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by goldbaba1 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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I think @darkhorse has been a victim. I saw some posts, sometimes ago about people being phished and scammed but i am not sure. I am glad tou survived. Stay surviving sir.
Glad that everything worked out for you. This could have been a lot worse! Thank you for taking the time to share your story, hopefully others will learn from it.
Thank you so much @thedarkhorse, you all inspired me and gave me the drive to keep fighting. Thank you so much and I hope to always stay in touch, I messaged you earlier about the upvote I received from you