Introducing CryptoCopyPaste: The Elusive Case of @always1success

in #utopian-io6 years ago (edited)

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The case we present today began when our fellow cleaner @mathowl spotted the account @steemoon

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He quickly realized there was a close association with the account @always1success since in the last 31 days the incoming votes to that account from @always1success amount to 95.2%

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And the outgoing votes from @always1success to that account in the same period represent 31.6%

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Upon initial examination of the @always1success blog @mathowl suspected something was up with the account, so he commented about it to the @stemflagrewards admin and cleaner @steemseph who in turn requested from the Jaguar Team a deep investigation of the account.

The account @always1success was created on July of 2016 and the account @steemoon on November of 2016

All in all there are 1513 votes from @always1success to the @steemoon account
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A very curious fact is that almost every transfer ever made from the @steemoon account was sent to @always1success

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With the exception of 4 transfers that were made to bidbots
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When the @always1success blog was browsed a very curious pattern was readily observed

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This seemed extremely suspicious, so we went ahead and checked the interactions between the user and @steemcleaners

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Nothing was there at the time, apparently if something was up with this user it had remained undetected by SteemCleaners for over 2 years.

The Jaguar Team then began checking the images in the posts for matches in the net, hoping to find one of the "friends" of the user to verify the claims. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of images were checked.

Not a single match was found.

We realized then that the user was using images from a site that was not indexed by reverse search engines so we changed the approach. The assumption was that the user was reverse checking the images at the time of posting to ensure no match was there to be found, but he could not ensure that would continue to be the case after he posted them. So the approach was shifted to check high quality photographs that would be more likely to be replicated out of the unindexed sites by fans or by the authors themselves....

Bingo

After checking several hundred more pictures 3 sources were found:

This image posted 3 months ago was found in a lower quality in the form of an avatar
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This other image posted 11 months ago was found in a Russian site where the author copied some of her photographs

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And this other image posted 11 months ago was found reposted 3 months ago in Pixabay

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2 of the authors were contacted:

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Our SteemCleaners Liaison @guiltyparties was informed of the case and a comment was made by them.

Engagement

With this evidence in the sleeve and awaiting response from the authors the user was engaged

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A response was obtained
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The user was then asked for evidence supporting his claims
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In view of the nonsensical reply by the user engagement was escalated
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A user then appeared defending @always1success
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Coincidentally, it turns out that user joined in June of 2017 and has made 0 posts to this day, the user only comments.

Also coincidentally, the user has made 325 comments on posts by @always1success
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And out of those, 228 have been voted by @always1success
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Jackpot

Finally, we got a reply from one of the authors of the photographs

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Update: Thanks to the help of @whatsup the account @anastasiavasilc has been created for Anastasia so she can start posting her photographs in Steem and so that @always1success can hear from her right here in our beloved blockchain.

This is Jaguar Force,
Reporting directly from the Jungle.
Onwards!

Sort:  

Greetings @jaguar.force!

This was one amazing tracking. I saw it progress in the background. I must also commend you for having improved your tact when approaching suspects.

It is funny how one thing could lead to the other. I chuckle when people behave as if they were different persons, and @steemoon is no exception. The blockchain records all movements. It is about as absurd as another group the anti-abuse initiatives have encountered. Yeah, no one transfers their entire wallet to a "friend's" account, much less large sums, on regular basis.

Back to the main dish. It is one thing to post something sent from your friends. It is quite another to do so for years while none of them have showed up on Steem. I hope others will stop voting on @always1success' posts from now on.

At one point, this was a frustrating case. We all knew something seemed off, but we could not prove it. I am glad that everyone involved came together to figure out this puzzle.

While I am all for quality work on the anti-abuse front, I am also impressed by the end result of this case. The lady @whatsup will have my gratitude as well for creating an account for Anastasiya.

I hope @anastasiavasilc will use this place to further promote her photography. No pressure, though. At least @always1success will not be plagiarizing her work anymore.

On the other hand, there are still loose ends to tie up. Get your VP ready. The sweeping continues. Again, good team work!


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[utopian-moderator]

I and @steemoon are different people. For example, a husband and wife may have different accounts. Therefore, so close interaction. But it is worth knowing the measure, I agree with you! @steemoon is a close friend of mine or relative. We wanted to remain anonymous!

Relative. That’s fair. I just don’t buy the “friend” narrative.

Unfortunately, I did not control the context sufficiently. Some customers may lie to you to get money or a discount. I realized that you can not trust third parties in the selection of paintings. Because you will be responsible for plagiarism. Even if you show the contract. But I had only verbal agreements. It is easier.

You must rely only on yourself!

I am ready to help @anastasiavasilc in promotion and votes. I am willing to collaborate with your team @jaguar.force and community. I have already started writing other posts. Sorry for my mistakes in English!

Thank you for your review, @enforcer48! Keep up the good work!

Good job. A nice collaboration between Jaguar Force and SFR. Keep up the good work team.

Your skills at finding and proving abuse on Steem are meowerfull, right @mathowl?

Posted using Partiko iOS

Owl do my part :P

Great work @jaguar.force I would never have found the source. Hope we can have more future collaborations :o)

Am I famous now!? You never mentioned you were sleuthing around looking for the original authors. I stand corrected! And yeah I never post. I'm a serial re-steemer and stopped re-steeming @always1success just in case these weren't legitimately shared photos. Not gonna lie, I liked the pretty pictures......

Awesome job and effort to get all this information and organize it in a neat and concise way :) really exemplifies the process of how people game the system on here!

We definitely need to find ways to further decentivize this stuff and bring more attention to it so the witnesses and steem team members can also pitch in on how to reduce abuse

Posted using Partiko Android

OMG..! Good job @jaguar.force! Proud to have you on board!

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Cuidado, este usuario es reconocido como un engreido abusador de la autoridad delegada, se comporta como un guardia nacional, es un hipocrita y es mansito cuando anda mendigando, pero se enardece facilmente en lo que agarra un poquito de poder.

Digno representante del Hombre nuevo del Chavismo emergente

Interesting case. I read it like some kind of thriller.

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