If I was a Thief, I Could Have Stolen Almost $10,000 Today: ANOTHER IMPORTANT REMINDER
There are a lot of places on Steemit that say this, but here is one more, because the problem continues and I don't want to see you get hurt:
DO NOT PASTE YOUR PRIVATE ACTIVE KEYS IN TRANSFERS!
If you're using your private memo keys, you're protecting your account to some degree by not using your master to make transactions. However, ALWAYS check your copy and paste contents BEFORE you enter the memo and submit: if you paste your private active key there, you are handing out control to your account... publicly and transparently, TO THE WHOLE BLOCKCHAIN.
Let's go over this one more time, because it's so, so important, and I know some people get a bit confused about this sort of thing. When you transfer money to and from Steemit to Bittrex, Blocktrades, Poloniex, Hitbtc, to another user, etc...
Do NOT Do NOT Do NOT use your private active key in the memo field. (I can't make this bigger, or I would.)
Before you copy and paste anything on Steemit, do it into a notepad or word document first to make sure it's actually the thing you mean to paste! If you copy your key to log in, be extra careful and take the extra step that the memo you need to copy actually copies — we're so fast at hitting control-V-enter that it's just way, way, WAY too easy to mess this one up. And if you do, you are giving access to your wallet out to everyone on the chain. One extra step, but so worth it, compared to having an emptied wallet.
Here are some scary facts: I found 65 transactions in just the last 3 days without even looking hard. I or anyone else could have taken all the money out of and transferred anywhere I wanted to. Those accounts had just under $10,000 in them when I checked the wallets.
Anything you type in that memo field is visible on the blockchain for all to see. It doesn't go away. You can't take it back — please be cautious when making transfers! One or two extra seconds to check your copy/paste will save your wallet.
I'm Jeff, and I'm @followbtcnews.
I'm a top 30 witness, along with my project partner @crimsonclad. Feel free to reach out to us on Steemit Chat or Discord any time! If we haven't earned your vote yet, please take some time to look at our tools and our work. We hope you decide to place a vote for followbtcnews at https://steemit.com/~witnesses
This post made from https://gosteem.com
Well done mate.
You may well gave saved a few people the misery of being robbed.
Good on ya buddy. Resteemed.
evening all ! howdo ? :)
Hey Buddy, how ya doin?
Good Thanks Sir Percival ! Hope all is well in the land of truth :)
good work @followbtcnews I put out a post this week asking witnesses why they should get my vote. (I have a few spare slots on my dance card).. you just got mine .. and a new follower, Batman
Thank you @outeground Your witness vote is very much appreciated sir! And please contact me anytime you have any questions or comments that i may help with..
good to know that someone is looking out for the duhs, dohs and dufus brigade. We all make mistakes and there's always a wolf lurking to prey on wounded lambs. It's a good service. you couldn't possibly imagine how losing all that steem might affect someone. I have no questions at the moment, but if I do, I will ask. keep up the excellent work cryptoman
Thanks For your Good comments @outerground
Nice find Jeff. I am glad you are pointing that out. Some of the newer users are not familiar with cryptocurrency and have no idea the implications of their actions. Glad you are still actively helping the community. Glad to see you in the top 30, you have come a long way since our interview :) congrats to u and crimmy!
Hi @followbtcnews,
Thank you very much for the warning post. This is indeed scary and I had my heart skip a beat for a second when I was reading it until I found that you were talking about The Memo field.
If I may suggest (please forgive me for this as it may sound very un-techy and stupid to some extent). Would you please provide an example (a screen shot) of the Memo field that you are warning people against using it to copy/paste their private/master keys.
There are many users in steemit that are not tech-savvy (including myself). For us, it is hard to understand or remember what Memo filed is while panicking about someone stealing the little money that we worked hard to collect it, just because we used our "whatever-you-call-it-key" to transfer some money for bot upvote.
So even if you scream it or write it in bold letters, nothing beats up pictures to make simple people understand the message you want to get cross!
Thank you very much again. You got a witness vote from a tiny minnow :)
Cheers mate..good on you for pointing this out...resteemed
Wow, there needs to be more awareness... It'd be helpful (maybe) to have a Steemit bulletin that all users could see... Sort of like how that Tom jerk messaged everyone on mySpace...
Good work, its important to educate people about this! People usually don't care about security until something happens to them, it's sad but is true.
Integrity is worth more in the end. Thanks for sharing this news though, people do need to be careful.
People want everything done so fast these days that they dont stop to check twice. Thanks for pointing this out
If someone does accidentally do this mistake, what do you recommend they do?
Not do it again.. There is nothing I know of they can do..Once its sent, then its gone for good.
But they can change their key, can't they? So it is no longer able to be abused.
Should they create a new steemit account at this point to avoid anyone missing their account?
No, actually I was wrong.. like @bex-dk mentioned, they can change their passwords and keys and should so immediately.
I should have mentioned that and totally forgot. Please change your password and keys if you have done this and you will be fine
I would add this bit to your post to complete its greatness!