Hi Steemies,

I am Hive account@cheater.

I actually never expect my signup request on the steemit.com account faucet to go through. It should have raised all the possible red flags that I could have imagined... but here I am... with a brand new account called Hive account@cheater that's been sponsored by steemit.com.

But let's start from the beginning:

I don't think there's many people who'll be surprised to see fake accounts here. There are armies of sockpuppets producing heaps of spam on this blockchain. It was after I stumbled over a few particularly annoying ones of those myself and had a closer look into how they operate, that I figured it was time to try it first-hand and see how easy it would be to get a free accessory-account sponsored through steemit.

It's shockingly easy.

I used to think the phone verification would be at least a minor road-block, but the first search on google for "receive sms online" immediately provides access to hundreds of throw-away-numbers for free!

Now, it wasn't that easy after all, I had to try maybe about a hundred of those free numbers before I could find one that wasn't already previously associated to another steemit account, but I eventually found a French number that worked... and now, 2 days later... here I am!

It shouldn't be THAT easy!

During the signup process I submitted cellphone number after number from all the different regions around the world, this alone should have raised some red flags on my request for a new account. But I'll have to assume that isn't even being recorded? That should be an easy fix guys!

There are thousands of free numbers like this available, but from my experience and the limited sample size I went through and tried for myself, 98% of those have been used to sign up for a free account loaded with a 15SP delegation by steemit before.

That alone shows the extend of account-faucet abuse here... but of course, if you're willing to pay for an exclusive number that hasn't been available to the public for free before, they are only a few cents and I assume it makes the process a lot more straight forward, too.

What will I do with this account now?

I don't know to be honest, I'll probably flag some fellow-cheaters here and there?!

Maybe I'll make my blog a wall of shame about those guys and their methods?!

We'll see.

So long, I just thought you guys should know!

Yours,
Hive account@cheater

_{P.S.: With ~1mio accounts on steem, I was quite surprised to find my new handle Hive account@cheater wasn't already taken, but I guess it's not really an attractive name, since cheaters usually try to keep their intentions to themselves.}

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just kidding, LOL