WARNING: TheBitcoinJournal.net is a fraud

Hello, new user here.

Just got banned from /r/Bitcoin for doing some digging on a fraudulent scammer who used to run the site TheBitcoinJournal.net (which is now down at the moment). Roll Eyes

A user on /r/Bitcoin created a new post that someone ('Sara Wood' or 'Sara Ward') was contacting him about potential advertising at TheBitcoinJournal.net and other services. When he replied to the email and questioned the author he got suspicious and did a 'Google reverse image search' on the profile picture and found out that it was from a stock photo site.

Here's an example of the email he received:

https://i.imgur.com/xhKRsO1.png

Here's his original /r/Bitcoin post, which is now heavily edited by mods and admins to hide the details of the scammer. Apparently the scammer complained to Reddit admins and forced the /r/Bitcoin moderators to delete any information exposing his lies. I don't really blame the moderators of /r/Bitcoin, because the orders came down from Reddit admins and they have little control at that point. A helpful moderator suggested I post this warning over here.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2997du/warning_the_bitcoin_journal_is_a_fraud/

follow up posts:

1) http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/29b14l/repost_thebitcoinjournalnet_and_joel_cassaway_aka/
2) http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/29bkim/what_happened_to_the_bitcoin_journal_fraud_thread/

Now, I never got an email from this guy or his site, but apparently a number of you in the Bitcoin community have? From what I've read he's sent out his spammy emails with a number of fake profiles including "Sara Wood", "Sara Ward", and "Patrick McDowell". (Feel free to chime in if you've been contacted by any of these fake profiles.)

I was intrigued by the other profiles on his TheBitcoinJournal.net site, so I did some relatively simple Googling and found the following information:

Quote

It's interesting to see what turns up when you do a Google Image Search on the Journalist photos...

So first this shows up:
http://joseph-chinnock-r1xm.squarespace.com/staff/ He deleted this page recently, but not before I was able to make a screen capture of it. See the image at: http://i60.tinypic.com/vwvnh2.jpg

This appears to be some old hosted version of the site. The only person who don't look like they have stock photos (stolen from photo sites) is *Joel Cassaway*. Oddly enough *Joel Cassaway* is missing from the list of journalists on the current site.

Hmm... what does Google say about *Joel Cassaway*?

Who are Joel Cassaway and Joseph Chinnock?

They sure do seem like shady scammers to me.

Here they are together running a "Charity Coach" business in Boulder, CO --
http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/employment-service/charity-coach-in-boulder-co-90156647
Here they are trying to fund the Bitcoin Journal on Indiegogo.com -- FAILED (only raised $108 of $9,475 goal) -- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bitcoin-journal -- "The $10,000 will go to journalists at five different locations: New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo" (Yeah, sure it will...)
Here is a poorly written article by Joseph Chinnock on how to "make funds from house on the web", where he describes how to create fake journalists ("pen names") and spam people (""directly message folks who want what you offer") into paying for "professional bono writing". -- http://gjycorp.com/Gcentre_Advisors/43402?ckattempt=1
Here are a few more Ripoff Reports for Joseph Chinnock (jcboulder@gmail.com) -- http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/joseph-chinnock-wordsmiths/boulder-colorado-80302/joseph-chinnock-wordsmiths-copywriting-scam-do-not-send-payment-upfront-boulder-color-686620 -- http[Suspicious link removed]cutive-Search-Systems-ESS-Joe-Chinnock-resumebestmedsearchcom-jc-604395
There's a high probability that Joel Cassaway and Joseph Chinnock are the same guy. Here's a video from Joseph -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VmDzCIpTyI and the profile picture matches Joel's picture from the FAILED IndieGoGo campaign. EDIT: The Youtube profile has now been deleted. Someone is cleaning up after themselves...

But getting back to the "Journalists" at TheBitcoinJournal.net, here's what the rest of the images turned up:

NAOMI BROCKWELL -- appears to be an actual person. Unsure of how involved she is or how much she knows about the scams that are perpetrated at TheBitCoinJournal.Net? Here's her Twitter page: https://twitter.com/SkyCorridors **EDIT: Naomi has responded below, confirmed her innocence and ignorance as to the scam that was being perpetrated, and has asked to be removed from the site.
PATRICK MCDOWELL -- Stock photo. 1) http://mortgagerefinancexprts.com/jumbo/ 2) http://www.console.com.au/support
SARA WARD -- Stock photo. http://www.123rf.com/photo_26193583_happyy-oung-women-over-clouds.html
HUI WEN -- Stock photo. http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/formal-man.html#comp.asp?recid=64518687&xtra=
DOV LEOPOLD -- Fake. Stolen photo of a real person from a bio on a 2008 HIV/AIDS Impact Report. http://www.rodgersjohns.com/images/Crusaid-annual2008.pdf (page 17)

So the majority of the journalists are fake, and the 1 real person was duped into working with Joel/Joesph on false pretenses.

Why is thebitcoinjournal.net using fake people as journalists on their website?

source: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2997du/warning_the_bitcoin_journal_is_a_fraud/