<html> <p>I must admit it - I have been scammed or rather, I allowed to be scammed. A greed played a big factor on my part. I imagined that if the scammer delivered on his promise, my holding would increase significantly. I even calculated my gains and put them neatly in my spreadsheet to track my crypto net-worth. The potential gains turned quickly in real losses. </p> <p><img src="https://image.ibb.co/gFQAeb/tree.jpg" width="480" height="640"/></p> <p><em>Image source: Wikipedia</em></p> <p>Before I sent any STEEM to the scammer I did my basic “research”. Recognized member of a community? Check. History of payments? Check. Backing of the whales? Check. Are the other people putting the money in? Check. </p> <p>What I did not realize, simply because I had no experience with it, is the fact that criminals like Carlos Cardenas can exploit Steemit.com to develop almost warm and fuzzy relationships with the community. This relationship has appeared authentic to me, also because it lasted over a long period of time. Cardenas is a petty thief. He does not have an intelligence or a vision to run a big scam that would net him millions, and that could happen if he had paid up several of bigger accounts. This may be a blessing. Being just a small-town scumbag, he’ll be happy with his second-hand BMW and a soulless girlfriend. </p> <p>I have never been scammed before (leave the government aside) and it was a completely new sensation to me. Although the financial impact has been significant the psychological one far outweighed the former. See, I really had to work hard to save up the money that allowed me to buy STEEM. I bought it high, at $1.20 and it was one of my very first crypto experiences. My first reaction was a complete loss of trust that extended into the Steemit community. I even started the process of powering down to leave this community. I considered completely crazy ideas like crowd-funded hitman, who would visit our scammer one night. Then @<a href="https://steemit.com/@neoxian">neoxian</a> stepped in and thanks to his incredible generosity I realized that leaving Steemit and having thoughts of vendetta would be a mistake. I stopped my down powering. Although I have not recovered majority of my lost funds, @neoxian has performed healing for me. I no longer suffered, and I regained trust. This event became just a financial loss and that I can deal with. I am rarely on a receiving end but this time it was exactly what I needed. </p> <p>Now, what to do with this crisis? My personality does not allow me to just do nothing. To learn and grow I need to take some action. I must spin it, so that it becomes a positive experience not only for me but also for Steemit community and the world. With those thoughts, I was about to fall asleep last night when an idea occurred to me to plant a bunch of trees somewhere here in the city to commemorate this incredible event. I am not a tree planter. I have planted a handful of trees in my life, but I love trees and the world can benefit from more trees. Every tree that I plant will come with a QR tag that will point to this very article. Hopefully with time a small forest will grow. This way I will promote Steemit.com and this phenomenal community. The act of tree planting will help me heal and a new layer of wood will be added every year thickening the ste(e)m. </p> <p><img src="https://image.ibb.co/n1O5eb/tag_copy.png" width="324" height="701"/></p> <p>I will report back here occasionally with my tree planting progress. </p> <p>Love </p> </html>
| author | mlequo |
|---|---|
| permlink | steem-forest-do-not-let-a-good-crisis-go-to-waste |
| category | scam |
| json_metadata | {"tags":["scam","steemit","life","health","love"],"users":["neoxian"],"image":["https://image.ibb.co/gFQAeb/tree.jpg","https://image.ibb.co/n1O5eb/tag_copy.png"],"links":["https://steemit.com/@neoxian"],"app":"steemit/0.1","format":"html"} |
| created | 2017-12-02 22:51:36 |
| last_update | 2017-12-02 23:02:42 |
| depth | 0 |
| children | 5 |
| last_payout | 2017-12-09 22:51:36 |
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 |
| total_payout_value | 2.125 HBD |
| curator_payout_value | 0.648 HBD |
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| promoted | 0.000 HBD |
| body_length | 3,584 |
| author_reputation | 21,415,518,796 |
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" |
| beneficiaries | [] |
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD |
| percent_hbd | 10,000 |
| post_id | 22,220,314 |
| net_rshares | 738,975,905,862 |
| author_curate_reward | "" |
| voter | weight | wgt% | rshares | pct | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| neoxian | 0 | 731,509,270,769 | 25% | ||
| unipsycho | 0 | 218,387,306 | 1% | ||
| alexvan | 0 | 4,401,597,854 | 11% | ||
| leyla5 | 0 | 2,846,649,933 | 100% | ||
| dtubix | 0 | 0 | 50% |
Cool! I follow you. <p><img src="https://preview.ibb.co/fGAMyx/up1.jpg" width="200"/></p>
| author | dtubix |
|---|---|
| permlink | re-steem-forest-do-not-let-a-good-crisis-go-to-waste-747 |
| category | scam |
| json_metadata | "" |
| created | 2018-03-15 01:16:18 |
| last_update | 2018-03-15 01:16:18 |
| depth | 1 |
| children | 0 |
| last_payout | 2018-03-22 01:16:18 |
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 |
| total_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| curator_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| promoted | 0.000 HBD |
| body_length | 89 |
| author_reputation | 34,573,484,405 |
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" |
| beneficiaries | [] |
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD |
| percent_hbd | 10,000 |
| post_id | 44,487,296 |
| net_rshares | 0 |
Because of this kind of people we should be very careful...thanks for sharing your experience it helps a lot...hopefully this type of stuff will never happen again
| author | leyla5 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| permlink | re-mlequo-2017123t25540709z | ||||||
| category | scam | ||||||
| json_metadata | {"tags":"scam","app":"esteem/1.4.6","format":"markdown+html","community":"esteem"} | ||||||
| created | 2017-12-02 22:55:15 | ||||||
| last_update | 2017-12-02 22:55:15 | ||||||
| depth | 1 | ||||||
| children | 0 | ||||||
| last_payout | 2017-12-09 22:55:15 | ||||||
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 | ||||||
| total_payout_value | 0.000 HBD | ||||||
| curator_payout_value | 0.000 HBD | ||||||
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD | ||||||
| promoted | 0.000 HBD | ||||||
| body_length | 163 | ||||||
| author_reputation | 1,040,285,308,040 | ||||||
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" | ||||||
| beneficiaries |
| ||||||
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD | ||||||
| percent_hbd | 10,000 | ||||||
| post_id | 22,220,508 | ||||||
| net_rshares | 0 |
Congratulations @mlequo! You have received a personal award! [](http://steemitboard.com/@mlequo) 1 Year on Steemit <sub>_Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor._</sub> **Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:** <table><tr><td><a href="https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-knock-out-by-hardfork"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSPagmBYytsJBn8FwewvqDFRphP6swbbndADgYEsaLNkZ/image.png"></a></td><td><a href="https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-knock-out-by-hardfork">SteemitBoard knock out by hardfork</a></td></tr></table> > Support [SteemitBoard's project](https://steemit.com/@steemitboard)! **[Vote for its witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1)** and **get one more award**!
| author | steemitboard |
|---|---|
| permlink | steemitboard-notify-mlequo-20181001t032108000z |
| category | scam |
| json_metadata | {"image":["https://steemitboard.com/img/notify.png"]} |
| created | 2018-10-01 03:21:06 |
| last_update | 2018-10-01 03:21:06 |
| depth | 1 |
| children | 0 |
| last_payout | 2018-10-08 03:21:06 |
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 |
| total_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| curator_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| promoted | 0.000 HBD |
| body_length | 925 |
| author_reputation | 38,975,615,169,260 |
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" |
| beneficiaries | [] |
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD |
| percent_hbd | 10,000 |
| post_id | 72,387,533 |
| net_rshares | 0 |
<center>[](http://steemitboard.com/@mlequo) <center>@mlequo, sorry to see you have less Steem Power. Your level lowered and you are now a **Red Fish**!</center> **Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:** <table><tr><td><a href="https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-knock-out-by-hardfork"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSPagmBYytsJBn8FwewvqDFRphP6swbbndADgYEsaLNkZ/image.png"></a></td><td><a href="https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/steemitboard-knock-out-by-hardfork">SteemitBoard knock out by hardfork</a></td></tr></table> > Support [SteemitBoard's project](https://steemit.com/@steemitboard)! **[Vote for its witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1)** and **get one more award**!
| author | steemitboard |
|---|---|
| permlink | steemitboard-notify-mlequo-20181001t034529000z |
| category | scam |
| json_metadata | {"image":["https://steemitboard.com/img/notify.png"]} |
| created | 2018-10-01 03:45:30 |
| last_update | 2018-10-01 03:45:30 |
| depth | 1 |
| children | 0 |
| last_payout | 2018-10-08 03:45:30 |
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 |
| total_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| curator_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| promoted | 0.000 HBD |
| body_length | 920 |
| author_reputation | 38,975,615,169,260 |
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" |
| beneficiaries | [] |
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD |
| percent_hbd | 10,000 |
| post_id | 72,388,413 |
| net_rshares | 0 |
Congratulations @mlequo! You received a personal award! <table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@mlequo/birthday2.png</td><td>Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 2 years!</td></tr></table> <sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@mlequo) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](https://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=mlequo)_</sub> ###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!
| author | steemitboard |
|---|---|
| permlink | steemitboard-notify-mlequo-20191001t084829000z |
| category | scam |
| json_metadata | {"image":["https://steemitboard.com/img/notify.png"]} |
| created | 2019-10-01 08:48:30 |
| last_update | 2019-10-01 08:48:30 |
| depth | 1 |
| children | 0 |
| last_payout | 2019-10-08 08:48:30 |
| cashout_time | 1969-12-31 23:59:59 |
| total_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| curator_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| pending_payout_value | 0.000 HBD |
| promoted | 0.000 HBD |
| body_length | 612 |
| author_reputation | 38,975,615,169,260 |
| root_title | "STEEM Forest - Do not let a good crisis go to waste!" |
| beneficiaries | [] |
| max_accepted_payout | 1,000,000.000 HBD |
| percent_hbd | 10,000 |
| post_id | 91,116,830 |
| net_rshares | 0 |
hiveblocks