After the recent debacle with drugwars that left many Steemians feeling scammed out of their money, something came to light that should have been obvious to all from the get-go, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING A PENNY OR YOU ARE BOUND TO LOSE IT. Yet, many fail to recognize this one simple but crucial fact and they wonder why they are left wondering: "How the heck was I dumb enough to get scammed like that?".
You need to realize that not everyone that is on STEEM has good intentions. Some just want to separate you from your hard earned money and take it for themselves. It's a simple, yet very true fact which you must learn and accept or you are bound to make some devastating moves. People are people and just like in life, the same can be seen on STEEM that is, not everyone has honest intentions and you ought to be very cautious before investing in a project or a game which promises to pay returns on your investment.
I can't stress this enough, but I'll state it once again to cement this into your perception and make sure that the message gets through to everyone in a clear and understandable fashion: DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AND DON'T INVEST ANYTHING YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE.
Ok, now when we got that out of the way, let's look into what seems to be an interesting new game built on the STEEM blockchain, or is it?
Daiesthaiwar introduction post just vaguely mentions the actual game, but heavily emphasizes selling in-game items at a 20% discount, red flag nr.1.
Before the post was edited, it had STEEMIT BLOCKCHAIN in its title, red flag nr.2. After it was pointed out by a couple community members, they were quick to correct that shameful mistake.
The intro post has no information whatsoever about the team that built the game, no roadmap, no gameplay mechanics, no whitepaper, no aditional information, nothing.
Simply advertising selling in-game items, pretty 3d models, a cool trailer, and again wrongly stating STEEMIT blockchain in their promotional video makes for one laughable introduction, red flag nr.3.
One would think that this marks an end to the red flags. No, no, no, there is one more that concerns me much more than all others as it raises questions about their ulterior motives, credibility and integrity.
After reading their disgraceful introduction post, I quickly turned to check their wallet to see how many Steemians are dumb enough to spend money on a game that offered so little information yet so many red flags a blind man could see them. Could someone seriously be that careless as to invest in something solely based on pretty graphics and a fairly simple web page? Only because it's built on STEEM? Surely not, I thought to myself.
Much to my surprise, there was already a decent amount of Steemians buying in-game items.
Being a snoopy detective I' am, I was eager to find out who these Steemians actually were so I visited their profiles and did some digging. I was shocked to find out that most (about 90% or more at press time) were fake accounts, all created at around the same time, only re-steemed posts and never actually posted any of their own content, and most shockingly ALL OF THEM received STEEM from @blocktrades at around the same time, red flag nr.4.
Meaning, that all of them were most likely operated by the same people that created the game itself. It seems that they are trying to artificially create interest and instill trust in their game by faking it. Fake it until you make it, right?
Below is a list of all of the accounts that caught my attention as to being their own, for the sole purpose of fakery.
@haily.krock @sarah.sweet @jerry.hudson @emna.bahry @malek.issa @emna.bahry @don-jinero @emma-olson @maria.jhon @natamiko @kristina-bascio
This is a huge no, no for me. As if the three red flags before weren't enough, after this one, not in a million years, not even if they paid out 150% rewards based on investment to its users, wouldn't I be caught dead investing in this mess.
There is just too many question marks left hanging in the air after their cataclysmic introduction. It's shady, vague, misleading and amateurish. Definitely not something I want to participate in. Maybe from the sidelines solely for entertainment purposes but surely not actively.
I strongly advise everyone not to spend any money on this game unless a miracle happens and they come out with a solid business plan, publically and transparently announce their team, game mechanics, intentions, goals and a clear vision for the future.
Additionally, they need to make an official statement about the motives behind their fake accounts buying into the game.
Even then, I would be highly cautious before spending any money on this game, but that's just me. I'm paranoid when it comes to spending money that is still a scarce resource in my life and that is something that won't change in the future if I'll foolishly dump it in the next new thing that comes out on this chain of blocks or anywhere else for that matter.
I could be wrong here and this game might turn out to be the biggest thing since sliced bread, but the fact of the matter is that they introduced more red flags in their intro posts than information about the game.
Nevertheless, you can do whatever you want with your money. Who am I to tell you how to handle it, what to do and what not to do? Just don't come back whining about how you got ripped off because YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Have a good one, cheers!
It’s a very strange account. They have 117 pages on steemd and it’s just massive follow and unfollow spam. Has to be at least 100 pages of this going on.
Reverse search of their logo bring up a different background with bunch of websites that appear to be an “Instagram tool.” Yet if I go out to user name on Instagram they naturally don’t have the image.
While the account was created a while ago why just now spend a bunch of money and promote anything about the game. There’s no history of posts highlighting little things here or there.
While I have not gone out to their website to check. They have not stated who is behind this project in a post unless I’ve missed it.
What I find alarming about most blockchain games is how quick they are to push that there a way to earn money and then trying sell a product.
Frankly I don’t think developer should be collecting money for in game purchase in “alpha.” As an experienced gamer spending any money on an alpha I know is extremely risky. I wish the general public who would not consider themselves to be gamer understood that. Game projects fail all the time even with a good heavy financial backing and being a legit game.
With the lack of transparency and those odd accounts you have mentioned. My biggest concern overall when it comes to RCE/blockchain game is the owner/friends farming a bunch of assets in game with alts. Which I’m more fearful of then someone attempting to make It look more successful than it is. It would take a developer almost no effort at all to take a worthwhile item horde it and then patch it to be some OP thing selling for a lot money. Not saying that what is going on but that is something to keep in mind.
Sherlock, thank you so much for this comment and for looking further into this and offering us further insight that I missed to find out about myself.
They must have been trying to collect followers. It's a tactic I've seen quite a few Steemians use to gather a decent amount of followers in no time.
I think it's partially because none of them have yet created a graphically appealing game so they have to stick earning by playing into our faces so that users are more easily incentivitzed to spend their time playing their games.
Either you play a game (with or without paying something) or you want to get money for 'investments' - it's easier if you don't mix that. No player of WoW or LOTRO expects to get money back ;)
Ya money seems to always over complicate things. I'd rather just pay a flat fee then be nicked and dimed for every little thing and have it be called an investment.
Outside of those gold farmers most just enjoyed those games :)
Thank you for pointing this out, can't believe not many other comments in the post were pointing out the ridiculous attempt to scam the platform, although I'm guessing the majority were their alt accounts.
My guess is it's the team behind @steem-bet, their errors in language were similar.
It's our duty to warn each-other of possible malicious intentions by other users. You have a keen eye. It could be the case that @steem-bet guys are behind this mess.
I had suspicions about @steem-bet for a while now. Do you know anything I might not be aware of?
Just something that @broncnutz posted that I resteemed. They were acting similarly in the comment section.
People need to realize how easy it is for them to scam them in a very minimal cost way. Buy 1000 Steem, spend 500 on bid bots, "power some up (lol)" starting buying with another 1000 Steem on different accounts (in this case you noticed their timings of creation and transfers but in other cases they will be smarter, then just spend a few $100 on some lousy graphics from fiverr.com but forget to get a decent english writer and you get their "announcement" post and many legit Steemians looking at "prize of the items you purchase will definitely rise" in their post and they'll ROI on their scam quite quickly.
The one about how they are diluting the value of their tokens by doubling the amount in circulation? That was a terrible and dishonest move. The entertainment value I got from reading how they corresponded to him in the comment section is unquantifiable. They must be some half-wit retards who just so happen to have some coding skills and are ready to abuse them to screw over gullible investors.
I agree. It's especially cheap and easy for coders to pull a fast one on you as they don't have to spend any money for development, just as you mentioned promote an intro post, get graphics, fake interest, introduce ROI and it's a GG!
Lessons will be learned though, but for most at a cost of losing their STEEM.
I'm guessing once the gambling websites became popular here we will see a lot of quick profit projects pop up here, I suggest people to be careful with what they promote.
Great to see how you summarized all the things that need to be notice. Many are coming on Steem for the easy money grab, just be carefull everyone. DYOR!
Excellent slueth work detective Runicar. It's people like you who make Steem a great place, keep upholding the integrity of the blockchain. I'm personally worried about all these new games and casinos popping up tricking people into thinking that they are investments when they are not.
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It seems that they have realized how gullible Steemians can be about anything that's built on Steem so they are now abusing this fact until we learn a lesson. Some will sadly have to learn the hard way, but I'll always do my best to prevent others from losing their hard-earned STEEM.
Cheers!
The promo video has stolen music from Overwatch, red flag for me.
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Don't play Overwatch so I wouldn't know. Great that you mention it and I must agree with you it is another red flag, for sure!
Yes, it's the same music or sound effect they use in their Developer Update videos:
Ha!, I just read their intro post but am super tired but the post and website didn't sit well with me so I was like 'let me leave this post open for further research tomorrow'... I think from first impression I was mainly worried about them lacking knowledge about Steem, but those fake accounts are actually very weird and raise more red flags than a careless launch.
Anyway, let's keep an eye on this, thanks for digging :-)
That intro definitely didn't do them any good and the fake accounts only compounded the suspicion. I'll definitely keep an eye out on any future developments of this game. Maybe against all odds they turn out to be genuine, who knows.
Np, always glad to be able to contribute to our community. Even if it's just pointing fingers at the most obvious of red flags as some have proven time and time again that they need much more than that to prevent them from falling into an obvious trap.
Yes, some people might use Steem just as their experimental playing ground: no bad intentions, just plain unprofessionalism. Either way it's good to share what you see/notice/find out, so the community is at least informed and can make decisions based on that.
Cheers!
That's exactly what DLie did
So do you think Drugwars is a scam?
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No, they just made a shitty, dishonest move by violating the terms under which users spent their money. They promised payouts in STEEM and then changed it to payouts in a worthless shitcoin. Saying it was a dick move is an understatement for what they did, but they delayed the switch now, most likely to avoid legal action against themselves.
I see. Legal actions? Isn't Steem decentralized? Who can take legal action against scam Dapp developers?
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Fraud is illegal, even if it happens on the blockchain^^. I am not saying that what they did is fraud, but in my opinion, it's shady. Of course, everyone can be sued, if they are able to find the team behind the dapp. If it's a reputable dapp, the team should always be known.
Yeah, but there's too many frauds in the Cryptos world it's impractical to take legal action even against those involving billions of dollars in sum.
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People who lost millions due to a scam will always sue the company or its individuals.
Good luck to them!
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They really didn't.
When you send your money to another account that money is now theirs, plain and simple.
They based their entire marketing around that one simple fact and it's quite a shitty move they did by removing the strongest incentive for most players to participate in their game.
I agree, and I'm not even upset about it as I already made more than 2x on most of the accounts I "played" with but it doesn't make their move less dishonest than it is.
Honestly, without well know community members backing something I just won’t trust it. Steem is about community and if the community isn’t involved in a project of this scale then I believe the people behind the project don’t get Steem’s true potential.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Although that still doesn't make it 100% safe, it's a good metric to keep an eye on.
Yea, unfortunately there’s only so much time in a day and there’s so many amazing projects I haven’t even discovered yet. Doing a deep dive into each one just isn’t feasible.
Yep, so much going on it's incrementally hard to keep track. Now just imagine how hard it will be to keep track in the bull run when every other person will be launching their own project to take their piece of the reward pool/our STEEM :D
Thanks for looking out buddy, I just saw another post talking about this game but didn't look into yet.
We need solid games & soon. Enough gamblers, enough scams, just something actually fun & solid. I'd even fucking take Angry Birds at this point 😅
Resteemed & upvoted to spread your findings before someone gets hurt. Thanks again!
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Amen! Let's get some proper games built on here. I'm sick and tired of gambling and half-baked games. SteemMonsters is the only decent game we currently have and it too could use a re-design of both the monsters and the website.
I guess it's just a matter of funding because in order to get professional design and code one must dump a decent sum of money into paying for skillful individuals to make their dream a reality.
Thank you for the support buddy!
I'm waiting for NextColony - so far it sound intriquing!
Their bid bot abuse is another massive red flag. I gave their post a red flag of my own for that. Buying votes to look more legitimate is disgusting behavior.
This post was an opportunity for us to get to know more about people thoughts and concerns about us now it’s time to see things from our perspective of view. The idea of DaieSthai war has begun from June 2018 and our account has been created since then, we have been hard workers from the first day so we can present a humble alpha for our game. We mean seriously why working 10 months to rip off people while we could build what we built and make it worthy. It's been a really nice time working on DaieSthai War we had a lot of fun and we faced many problems but in each time we decided not to surrender even we had a lot of a hard time, behind the scene our team is fighting (with all The meanings of the word) to lead the game on the road of success. We admit that we made some mistakes during our release but we depended on the community to help us fix them with all the feedback.
That’s some major red flags 😂
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You’ve said it all!
PROPER RESEARCH! Do yours before doing anything!
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Exactly! There is no other way around it.
Yes @runicar, it's a scammed... Thanks for the investigation.
Good research post and I will not waste my time into this one. ;)
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Glad you found it useful and that I saved you from falling into a trap :D
Thank you for pointing out these red flags. Didn't notice the one with the fake accounts.
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Np, I'm glad that I can be of use to others and prevent any losses for my fellow Steemians.
CHeers!
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I have a feeling as we move forward with SMT etc that scams will be coming out of the woodwork
Tell me about it, this is just the beginning of one big shithole we are about to enter. Although it will make a lot of Steemians lose quite a lot of money in the process, it's a lesson everyone needs to learn in order to be successful both in business and life in general.
I seriously question if 90% of people ever learn though lol
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They do, but only for a little while. I think that most suffer from some sort of amnesia or an iteration of Alzheimers because I see people get burnt, they learn their lesson, and then repeat the same mistake after a month or two and this happens time and time again.
all we need is a SCAMCOIN
I agree this project needs to be more transparent about the Team, Code, Roadmap and overall presentation.
The first thing they did is to create excitement about their investment packs which is a red flag as well!
Yes, much more transparent because without transparency, I wouldn't trust any project on here or anywhere else for that matter.
Thanks for sharing your insights, @runicar! 👍👏
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It's likely that quite a few games are going to pop up that don't meet all of our requirements. It's crypto. There are going to be anon dev teams. There are going to be shady companies. Most of the things like this, especially in the beginning, are gonna end up being shady, because people see it as a cash cow. But, I don't think that necessarily every questionable project actually will be. This one probably is though. All the reasons you stated are good enough reasons to be really weary of the project. And the trailer looked shit.
But, we'll have a lot of newbs and questionable teams. And some of them might make awesome games. We just need to be weary and yet still give people a chance.
Yikes, thanks for the heads up
Not that I'd have time to play any of these
But I sure will not recommend this to anyone who likes gaming
Thank you :D
No comments here to discuss the red flags either which is another flag in my thoughts.
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This post has been included in the latest edition of SoS Daily News - a digest of all the latest news on the Steem blockchain.
Its always the house that wins.
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Damn well-written and to the the 4th red flag aka the "fake-the-queue" tactic is plain stupid for them. They wanted to utilise the advantage of blockchain's openness so that everyone can tell the game is 'hot' while they forgot the exact transparency of blockchain could easily expose those little tricks. Low class act.
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We should stop use the word "investing" if we talk about paying with money (regardless if fiat or crypto) for a game. "Investing" implies giving money and getting something in return. In a game you pay money because you want to play and have fun.
People here (and elsewhere) should remember that difference.
Resteemed, I also found this announcement post and the games website really shady.
Thanks for pointing that out @runicar. With my interest in gaming so far, I would have almost certainly fallen for it.
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Resteemed just so that people are aware in KR community as well. Thx
I still play, but I didn't actually spend more than I thought I'd get back. 10 Steem give or take. At this point I'm just milking it. It is kinda fun. I enjoy the game. Now that I've broke even, I can just wait and see what shakes out.
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Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:Congratulations @runicar!
Always good work! Thank you Big Brother😉
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I have been tickled. Didn't know what it is. Probably some kind of pollen. Is it hayfever season already?
!sneeze
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You have been infected by the King of Disease!
Will you quarantine yourself?
Or will you spread the plague?
Amazing
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