Moderators should be more careful about fake ANNs.

[Icon Of Liar]

Recently I unknowingly downloaded a fake wallet on GitHub and my wallet was stolen. Although there were not many tokens in it, I probably spent about $1000 on that wallet. However, I did not post this to recover my wallet. I mainly posted this to inform the moderators that currently some bad people are opening fake ANN threads and spreading fake wallets on GitHub in the name of their tokens. From which probably many people like me are losing access to their wallets. Please be more careful with these fake ANNs. I actually do not post on various topics on the forum like everyone else. That is why I did not use my main account here. I just love to collect altcoin tokens. Although I have already suffered losses many times because of these tokens. Still, I feel quite comfortable keeping the altcoins to myself. I was quite careful about fake ANN threads. Still, for some unknown reason, I made a mistake. As there are good people on this forum,  Likewise, there is a gathering of bad people. Please look into the matter. And if there are any mistakes in my writing, I sincerely apologize. I am not used to posting like this.

[Rikafip]

Mods are aware of the existence of those as there is a thread dedicated to exactly that, where people report malware and other similar stuff and they usually take care of it very fast. Having said that, no one can protect you if you are not careful enough.

Report Malware and Suspicious Links here so Mods can take Action

[SilverCryptoBullet]

Recently I unknowingly downloaded a fake wallet on GitHub and my wallet was stolen. Although there were not many tokens in it, I probably spent about $1000 on that wallet. However, I did not post this to recover my wallet. I mainly posted this to inform the moderators that currently some bad people are opening fake ANN threads and spreading fake wallets on GitHub in the name of their tokens.

Forum admins and moderators are human and they can not moderate this huge forum community by themselves. This is reason of existence of the Report button, which can be used by you and the others for reporting scams but not limited to scams.

[Unofficial Guide] Reporting effectively.
Read and apply it with your Report button.

$1000 is big fund, I don't consider $1,000 is a small money, honestly.

You can check any wallet with https://walletscrutiny.com/
Some insightful criteria on wallet software security.
Cryptocurrency wallet security checklist.
Cryptocurrency security checklist.[/ur]

[Charcol]

Recently I unknowingly downloaded a fake wallet on GitHub and my wallet was stolen. Although there were not many tokens in it, I probably spent about $1000 on that wallet.

In this case, you can take help from Virustotal. Before downloading and opening a wallet directly, you can review it with Virustotal. In that case, you will be saved a lot.

Mods are aware of the existence of those as there is a thread dedicated to exactly that, where people report malware and other similar stuff and they usually take care of it very fast. Having said that, no one can protect you if you are not careful enough.

Report Malware and Suspicious Links here so Mods can take Action

You are right, moderators take action on these issues very quickly. Still, users always need to be careful. Because many times new projects or new tokens are announced. Then it is seen that moderators cannot immediately confirm whether there is malware or malicious links in the wallet of that token. Then it is necessary to check from various sites like Virustotal to be sure. And since moderators do not do anything without evidence, many times the ANN threads of the new token are not deleted for a few hours despite the presence of malware or malicious links. They are deleted only after the malicious malware is detected in the wallet of that new token. And during this time, if a user downloads and runs the malicious wallet, then it is seen that they have to face various problems.

The moderators should say something here to better understand this issue. So that we can know more details.

[Welsh]

I don't know how many of these are removed every week, a lot. I'm sorry to hear you lost money.

While some are obvious to spot, others can be challenging to say the least. The ones that are challenging usually stay up a little longer and require a bit more work and even then isn't always easy to verify whether its malicious or not. For projects which are trying to pass themselves off as the original, its always better when reporting to include a message linking to the original.

Something like: Fake announcement. Original topic: <url to bitcointalk original project post> this will speed it up. Since, its impossible to remember all the projects that exist on that board. We are familiar with some of the more prolific ones though.

Some of them are even more difficult than that, they aren't copying old projects, but instead new projects looking to steal coins, which most altcoins get flagged up by virustotal so we can't solely rely on that. The only way I know of for these is downloading the file into a virtual machine that has been specifically hardened / configured for malware analysis. Then monitoring the actual downloaded program from there.

[Unofficial Guide] Reporting effectively.
Read and apply it with your Report button.

Ugh, I really need to revisit this. Clean it up and improve it. Images are broken, and just needs a complete revamp I think. I've been saying this for far too long. I need to sit down and sort it out soon.

The moderators should say something here to better understand this issue. So that we can know more details.

The only way we prevent the users that see the post and download it before a moderator handles it is requiring manual approval before the post goes live. However, this requires the moderator validating the post, which I'm not sure how many moderators would be willing to do this.

Like I said, it would require actually downloading the file, and taking a look at it, which I would assume most moderators wouldn't want to sink that amount of time into this, and wouldn't want to risk it.

They would also have to be familiar with malware analysis, and running a safe environment to monitor it. This also takes time, and whats to prevent the malicious actor from updating their post with a malicious file later. Would all future edits also have to be approved.  

This also leads to the mods being blamed if they make a mistake or don't catch it. But, the reality is malware can be tricky to spot unless its painfully obvious. Which, I think its safe to say that the majority of mods aren't cyber security specialists.

I wouldn't be against the idea of manually approving within the Altcoin section. I wouldn't mind dedicating the time, but it wouldn't be a quick process, and would introduce more risk.  

Bitcointalk currently sort of unofficially runs a system like users are responsible for what they invest in, download etc. See the controversy with scams not being moderated for a parallel comparison.

 

[hilariousandco]

We do remove them when reported and they're usually gone pretty quick and some are even auto-removed, but we are also not responsible for what you download. Somebody could just as easily send you a link via PM or on whatsapp so you need to be on top of your own security. Always be on the side of caution when clicking on links or downloading anything and you can help out here by reporting any Ann threads that potentially contain malware.

[Charcol]

The moderators should say something here to better understand this issue. So that we can know more details.

The only way we prevent the users that see the post and download it before a moderator handles it is requiring manual approval before the post goes live. However, this requires the moderator validating the post, which I'm not sure how many moderators would be willing to do this.

Like I said, it would require actually downloading the file, and taking a look at it, which I would assume most moderators wouldn't want to sink that amount of time into this, and wouldn't want to risk it.

They would also have to be familiar with malware analysis, and running a safe environment to monitor it. This also takes time, and whats to prevent the malicious actor from updating their post with a malicious file later. Would all future edits also have to be approved.  

This also leads to the mods being blamed if they make a mistake or don't catch it. But, the reality is malware can be tricky to spot unless its painfully obvious. Which, I think its safe to say that the majority of mods aren't cyber security specialists.

I wouldn't be against the idea of manually approving within the Altcoin section. I wouldn't mind dedicating the time, but it wouldn't be a quick process, and would introduce more risk.  

Bitcointalk currently sort of unofficially runs a system like users are responsible for what they invest in, download etc. See the controversy with scams not being moderated for a parallel comparison.

 

In some cases, after deleting fake Anns and banning the OP, they post the same Ann with an alternate account. In this case, the moderators can easily catch that it is actually a fake Ann because they have already deleted the same thread before. However, since in the case of new Ann threads, since we first have to confirm whether it is a fake Ann thread or not, and since it is a time-consuming task to do it manually, we will at least try to review them and report them to you. However, if old fake threads are posted repeatedly, you can confirm for yourself.And I often take note and try to report fake Anns very quickly.

And the last thing I will say is that sometimes people are very clever. To keep their fake Ann threads alive on the forum, they do not add their malicious files to the thread first. When the thread becomes permanent, they edit it after 2-3 hours or 1 day and add the malware file to the thread. So you can keep an eye on this issue.

[The Cryptovator]

Recently I unknowingly downloaded a fake wallet on GitHub and my wallet was stolen. Although there were not many tokens in it, I probably spent about $1000 on that wallet. However, I did not post this to recover my wallet. I mainly posted this to inform the moderators that currently some bad people are opening fake ANN threads and spreading fake wallets on GitHub in the name of their tokens. From which probably many people like me are losing access to their wallets. Please be more careful with these fake ANNs. I actually do not post on various topics on the forum like everyone else. That is why I did not use my main account here. I just love to collect altcoin tokens. Although I have already suffered losses many times because of these tokens. Still, I feel quite comfortable keeping the altcoins to myself. I was quite careful about fake ANN threads. Still, for some unknown reason, I made a mistake. As there are good people on this forum,  Likewise, there is a gathering of bad people. Please look into the matter. And if there are any mistakes in my writing, I sincerely apologize. I am not used to posting like this.

The forum isn't censoring the announcement thread; rather, the forum only moderates if something suspicious or malware is present. The moderator checked themselves all day; once they noticed something like this, then they definitely removed it. Otherwise, the forum users need to report suspicious or malware links, and the moderator will take the action.

However, users also need to check where they are clicking and must avoid any unknown links. Because we don't know what's inside the links, especially before downloading anything, you have to think twice. We are encountering such issues every day; we have to take lessons from others. Don't be greedy anyway to avoid such loss; sorry for your loss.

Remember, the forum doesn't moderate scams. This is a public forum, and anyone could post anything, but you need to be careful and report if you find something suspicious.

[Icon Of Liar]

I don't know how many of these are removed every week, a lot. I'm sorry to hear you lost money.

While some are obvious to spot, others can be challenging to say the least. The ones that are challenging usually stay up a little longer and require a bit more work and even then isn't always easy to verify whether its malicious or not. For projects which are trying to pass themselves off as the original, its always better when reporting to include a message linking to the original.

Something like: Fake announcement. Original topic: <url to bitcointalk original project post> this will speed it up. Since, its impossible to remember all the projects that exist on that board. We are familiar with some of the more prolific ones though.

Some of them are even more difficult than that, they aren't copying old projects, but instead new projects looking to steal coins, which most altcoins get flagged up by virustotal so we can't solely rely on that. The only way I know of for these is downloading the file into a virtual machine that has been specifically hardened / configured for malware analysis. Then monitoring the actual downloaded program from there.

You're welcome, and thank you for your kind words. As you mentioned, it's true that checking harmful files takes time, and the whole process is quite challenging. But do you think this issue will always be overlooked, or should we take action despite its complexity? I've already seen a thread where actions are being taken against fake ANN threads. However, there is a need for more attention on new projects as well.

We do remove them when reported and they're usually gone pretty quick and some are even auto-removed, but we are also not responsible for what you download. Somebody could just as easily send you a link via PM or on whatsapp so you need to be on top of your own security. Always be on the side of caution when clicking on links or downloading anything and you can help out here by reporting any Ann threads that potentially contain malware.

I understand that the responsibility lies with me. I did not post to get my wallet back. I have only presented the entire issue to you. The responsibility to investigate this matter likely lies with you.

And the last thing I will say is that sometimes people are very clever. To keep their fake Ann threads alive on the forum, they do not add their malicious files to the thread first. When the thread becomes permanent, they edit it after 2-3 hours or 1 day and add the malware file to the thread. So you can keep an eye on this issue.

You are absolutely right,.This is exactly how it happens. Scammers are quite clever. They edit their posts to keep them alive. And in the end, if the moderators don't notice, that becomes the reason for wallet theft. You're saying it very well, such incidents have happened many times.

[Z_MBFM]

Recently I unknowingly downloaded a fake wallet on GitHub and my wallet was stolen. Although there were not many tokens in it, I probably spent about $1000 on that wallet. However, I did not post this to recover my wallet. I mainly posted this to inform the moderators that currently some bad people are opening fake ANN threads and spreading fake wallets on GitHub in the name of their tokens. From which probably many people like me are losing access to their wallets. Please be more careful with these fake ANNs. I actually do not post on various topics on the forum like everyone else. That is why I did not use my main account here. I just love to collect altcoin tokens. Although I have already suffered losses many times because of these tokens. Still, I feel quite comfortable keeping the altcoins to myself. I was quite careful about fake ANN threads. Still, for some unknown reason, I made a mistake. As there are good people on this forum,  Likewise, there is a gathering of bad people. Please look into the matter. And if there are any mistakes in my writing, I sincerely apologize. I am not used to posting like this.

This is a decentralized forum where you can take action against anyone yourself. If you see a fake announcement or a malware announcement, then you can easily report it. Rikafip has already given you the topic link. And if you see a spam post, you can easily report it to the moderator, which is on the left side below each post. Then the moderator will review it and take action quickly. This forum constantly has a large number of posts and a large number of topics are created, due to which it is not possible for the moderators to find any fake announcements and spam posts immediately. Every member of the forum should report them and many are already doing this, you can do this yourself. The moderators cannot be blamed for filtering these because there are very few moderators compared to the number of posts and topics created in the forum. And they are supported by DT members and ordinary users.

This forum is not anyone's personal property and is not controlled by anyone personally. Since this is a public forum and a decentralized forum, it is the responsibility of every user to keep this forum clean at all times from scammers & scammers

[dkbit98]

Mods are not your babysitters and they don't manually approve creation of new topics and posts.
They can delete posts with malicious links if other members report it, or if they saw it before themselves.
Anyone getting scammed in 2026 with scam links on shitcoins probably don't have very high IQ, and needs to stop downloading and installing crap.

[AVE5]

Mods are aware of the existence of those as there is a thread dedicated to exactly that, where people report malware and other similar stuff and they usually take care of it very fast. Having said that, no one can protect you if you are not careful enough.

Report Malware and Suspicious Links here so Mods can take Action

Just as being said in the outside world off the forum, SECURITY is everyone's responsibility and when you finds any sensitive activities, it's expected that alarms should be raised for safety and precaution purposes.
Here in the forum Moderators alone can't handle all the phishing activities and when you as a fellow user of the forum finds one, you should have the privilege to report those posts for quick actions.
I don't also think that the Mods have bots that detect those corruptive ANNs.
Don't also trust projects just because it's being advertised here without making your own research.

[PX-Z]

I guess you should be more depending on yourself and knowledgeable enough to identify a scam, legit or what. And consider every new ANN thread with suspicion. When in doubt always make a research first. Mods only act when there's a report, it means it's fully dependent on user's reports or everyone's knowledge and doubts.

[notocactus]

The only way we prevent the users that see the post and download it before a moderator handles it is requiring manual approval before the post goes live. However, this requires the moderator validating the post, which I'm not sure how many moderators would be willing to do this.

The forum is still better than Facebook because scam and malicious links can be posted with approval from forum moderators but forum does not get any money from it. Better than Facebook because in this forum, if there are reports on a scam announcement threads, malicious links, moderators will handle reports quickly and don't hesitate to delete those posts, threads, and even ban such users.

While with Facebook, they get money from scam advertisements, including phishing sites, and they ignore reports from users and refuse to take down, ban those scam, phishing advertisements.

[DYING_S0UL]

snip...

Sorry for your loss OP, it's really unfortunate. But remember, moderators aren't machines, they are only human, and might not be able to take care of every possible scam/spam at once or nearly instant. They do nuke these scam ANN's as soon as they get discovered, but despite their continuous efforts, some still slip through their radar and might be up for some time. And that too gets reported by community members. So you see, they are doing the jobs, but the forum is so big and vast, that it's really hard to cover every part. So you can't expect them (fake ANN) to be removed magically, but they do get removed eventually, that's for sure. And there is this freedom to do anything, it creates less restrictions for these spammers. But as an user you have to be careful, check registration date, feedbacks, as well as check files through virustotal, careful about downloading things..so it's your fault too. You should have been more careful..hopefully you have learned your lesson (the hard way).

[7juju]

Mods are not your babysitters and they don't manually approve creation of new topics and posts.
They can delete posts with malicious links if other members report it, or if they saw it before themselves.

I don’t know why some people like dishing out assignments they know will be much of a work to handle to other people, as if they will do it better if they were in the shoes of the mods. Keeping the forum safe will be a collective efforts from everyone. The mods can’t do it alone, but often time I wonder why some people think the mods are super humans with extraordinary abilities to detect every scam posts the moment they created in the forum.