The incentives for frauds to steal identities and pass themselves off as someone else are huge.

The rewards associated with an impressive looking #introduceyourself post are massive. A fraudster can make many attempts and only needs to get lucky once to net a significant bounty.

The only way this changes is by changing our attitudes to introductory posts. Yes a good introduction is nice however verification and building a reputation on Steemit needs to be valued higher.

Verification

As I've stated previously, the whole #introduceyourself tag was borne out of a request for verification. I love that it has become this wonderful social thing, however I'd prefer if we looked introductory as someone laying down their marker. "I've said I'm so and so...", here is the proof.

Reputation

More important than the verification is has the person gone on to build a reputation on Steemit and bring value to the platform or have they just used the introductory post as a quick money grab? Verified or not, there have been many that have made hundreds of dollars on their first post and haven't been seen since. Whilst we can look to fancy technical solutions to these issues, we should start by valuing solid contributors as highly as we value new faces. It may even be time to consider adding reputation markers against names so people can read their existing post or comment in light of the work that has preceded it.

We should welcome new adopters however the rewards for being new are perhaps a bit too skewed. We need to help @anyx unearth the frauds. However we also need to show that this is the home of valuable original content, not just a place to show your face to swell your coffers.