Putting Scammers On Notice

j0kie_smurf (OP)

Newbie

Offline

Activity: 6
Merit: 0

⇾ Putting Scammers On Notice

June 15, 2015, 07:20:40 PM

I've been a developer for many years. A friend encouraged me to look into Bitcoin. Well, crypto currency in general really. I've been reading through forums, looking at sources from both Sourceforge and Github, compiling libraries and trying to keep up on current news and trends involving crypto currency. I do like many of the features offered by various coins. I think that crypto currency has a big future. What I don't like is how many scam artists have sprung up. I'm also not impressed by the "developers" who just copy and pasted someone else's code into a compiler and did nothing but change some names to attempt to look different. I've noticed that there are also poorly coded coins and wallets. Mostly made by scam artists, "skids" and thieves hoping to make a quick dollar at everyone else's expense.

I think the crypto (SHA256) is ok, but several coins actually only use the library. They hash out to 32 bit and 64 bit strings and do not actually use 256 bit strings. The hasher leaves unused bits of data in your RAM that can quickly build up and max out resource consumption. This can be solved with a simple flush added. The encryption however needs to be written out to the full 256 bit strings. The chunker also falls short in some coins, actually only converting 60 bits of the 64 bits it will output. Which leaves 4 bits "in limbo". These bits may be simply hashed with the previous bit, making the last chunk actually 5 bits, rather than 1. It may also just pass the data unencrypted. I've seen some coins that are addressing the issue, but many coins are not.

Using IRC for node detection is not a bad idea. However, the channels used for many coins leave data unencrypted and vulnerable. The wallets actually seed your information. It publicly posts your I.P. address and user information and makes a log file. The IRC channels must be maintained on a regular basis or else everyone whose wallet uses that channel is at serious risk. Not to mention that if the owner of the server shuts it down, you have a wallet that is worthless until fixed. Because the IRC server seeds your wallet and information, the owner of the server can take coins out of your wallet if they wanted to. Or even set up so that others to do the dirty work, while giving the appearance that they had no idea what happened. Not all of the IRC connections used are fraudulent. But any use of IRC is a vulnerability if not back-ended properly, and not put on a secure server, on a secure network, operated by a trusted network administrator on a domain that is actively maintained.

I'll be posting screen captures from source and articles designed to point out the good stuff and the bad. I have been doing extensive testing and debugging, in hopes of improving and optimizing crypto currency/wallets. I would like to also bring the light of day to scams and schemes designed to steal from you. I'm very sure that all the wrong people will be angry that I've gotten involved. I'm sure that they have friends that they will try to get involved, in an effort to "scare" me away. Good luck with that. I like the technology and the potential for innovations and pioneering technologies. there are good people in the community that should not have to deal with so many scams and liars. Where there is money, there are thieves. Hard to get rid of them all. But if we can make it more difficult for them to steal and more difficult for them to pull of scams, then the community will prosper more.

When dealing with "developers", if they ask for money upfront, it's a scam. If you are a developer, then you already have the IDE and any software libraries needed. You have already worked on a similar project and are familiar with the rules and regulations, what clients expect and you know how to be professional. Any deviation from this is a red flag. Only liars, thieves, scammers and frauds want money up front for what they claim is the cost of starting the project. Or they "run out of code" as I heard tell once. How do you run out of code? Who in their right mind believed them when they said that? People make mistakes. Nothing wrong with making a mistake. Learning from said mistake is what matters more. Many people in the community cannot read code and do not know exactly what went into development. So it's easy for the fraud developer to say whatever they want. You really don't know if what they say is true or not. So you just take them at their word. And then they take your money and run.

As I continue to delve into the sources of many coins and wallet types, I will be posting all of my research findings to this forum, as well as others. The more informed and educated the community gets, the better prepared it will be to deal with threats. I've been at this a very long time. I've dealt with skids and scammers before, on many occasions. None of them have lasted long after I put them on blast. Any scammers on this forum, you are on notice. I'm going to show everyone exactly what kind of scum you are. Which will allow the legitimate developers to do the work they need to do. And allow the community to get a better product and a better experience.

runpaint

Sr. Member

Offline

Activity: 518
Merit: 250