"It's the buyer's responsibility to use due diligence to see if the price their paying is the best price for the product their buying."

Ultimately, the most important point. Not using such a service would have likely solved the problem, and if it survivied, well...the market has spoken.

However, the desire to hold witnesses to a higher standard may not be off base here. Even if that standard is simply "enough knowledge about Steemit to have known about anon steem in the first place, or to look for it, before trying to create one."