Cybersecurity & SCAM Education:

Battling Scams: My Heartfelt Struggle Against 5 Medium Attacks in a Week, Unveiling Their Latest Tactic

It has been 12 hours since scammers from a dubious writing club spammed all my articles, trying to deceive members, and some readers are still falling for their ploy.

I now firmly believe that these sophisticated spamming and scamming accounts represent organized attacks on the Medium community, demanding collective action. While the primary responsibility lies with the platform’s leadership, as writers and readers, it is crucial for us to contribute as catalysts in this process through our modest efforts, such as vigilance and education.

What Happened Again?

This time, the scammers’ approach got more sophisticated; therefore, I felt obliged to write this educative and caring piece.

As an editor, I earlier shared a curated collection featuring approximately 100 fantastic stories that deserve more attention, aiming to introduce them to my audience. Additionally, with 130 new writers joining us this weekend, Dr. Yildiz requested that I showcase them in my latest collection for my readers.

Unfortunately, within an hour, the collection fell victim to spam, increasing scam risks for my readers. My readers got alarmed, and they flooded my inbox.

When I joined the editorial Slack workspace of ILLUMINATION publications, several members left messages saying, “Mike, your account was duplicated again by this fake account. Please be careful”.

Then I saw a message from Dr Mehmet Yildiz, chief editor of ILLUMINATION:

This weekend, I contacted Dr Yildiz, chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications, supporting 26K+ writers. As he is my mentor, I offer him help to ease his excessive workload. Here, he documented his Saturday and mentioned me kindly in his story.

I was on the verge of leaving Medium, following the advice of my adult children. However, Dr. Yildiz encouraged me to persist, expressing my belief that my seven decades of life lessons could offer valuable insights to readers on this platform. This sense of purpose resonates deeply with me, motivating me to stay, contribute to his mission, support his community, and illuminate my readers for my remaining years.

A new caring friend, Aidan McCarthy left this heart-warming message.

I captured many supportive comments from my readers in my previous story. They inform, inspire, and support me. You can read the details in this story.

You may also check out my previous stories related to this topic as I covered different aspects of it before this new sophisticated attack.

Beware of a new sophisticated tactic to confuse my readers.

At first, when I reviewed my comments, the fake account used my photo and exact name. However, within two hours, it altered the account name and photo, as illustrated in the screen captures below.

Unfortunately, like my previous friends, my good friend on Medium, Roxy Wright, is now following this deceptive account, believing it is me. I greatly appreciate Roxy’s fantastic stories and often curate them for my audience.

Look how the fake account changed the account name and image. Mike Broadly turned to Choco.

Here is how it looks when one of my Friends of Medium Barb Chappell commented on my story.

Then, the FAKE account removed my photo and name and used a new profile image and name, as shown in the response to Elizabeth Emerald

My older readers and informed Friends of Medium instantly recognized it. For example: Author, D. Denise Dianaty and James Boylan my Medium friends quickly understood and informed my readers.

However new writer friend (Lover girl) we added to our publication at the weekend seems to believe the scammer, as shown in this screen capture. I hope Lover Girl receives this message and blocks this fake account; therefore, I tagged her.

This is precisely my worry, as numerous new readers continue to get caught in this trap. I am determined to protect both my readers and all Medium users from falling victim to scams. I personally experienced the pain of falling into a scam, and I want to prevent others from going through the same ordeal.

Even someone as intelligent and diligent as Dr. Yildiz fell for a sophisticated scam in 2022, and he openly shared his experience.

Here is an important message from my good friend Patricia Ross

“Truth be told, Mike, I have to read this a second time to start to understand what has happened, being technologically challenged. I’ve been writing on Medium for 2 years now with my stats crawling along the bottom of the graph until recently when I was lucky enough to get a story boosted (I was thrilled!). Views went up, and reads went up. Even money went up. But in the “outside world,” I have been the victim of a scam (I wrote about it . . . escaped by the skin of my teeth!) and am being monitored right now by one of the 3 credit outfits because of a breach on the part of Medicare which may have resulted in all of my personal information, including Personal Health Information, being “out there.” Medicare even had to issue me a new card. I’ve become so paranoid (is it paranoia when it’s justified?) that I check all sources when I get emails from unknown entities. So not only am I technologically challenged, but throw in a criminal element and I’m truly lost. Thanks for your article. I’ll read it again.”

As Marcus aka Gregory Maidman informs “Instead of playing whack-a-mole, I don’t understand why Medium doesn’t implement simple security measures to stop the creation of fake accounts, like not allowing someone to use both the same name and image as an existing account.”

Conclusions: Taking Matters into My Own Hands and Filling the Void on the Platform.

I wonder why the Medium Staff account, with 82 million followers, hasn’t taken a proactive approach like me to inform members. Perhaps they did, but I haven’t seen one yet.

While tagging this, I observed another Medium Staff account established in July 2023 with four followers and seven articles. I am unsure of its authenticity, as the stories and the links in them did not resonate with me. I encourage the Medium Support and Trust team to scrutinize this account, as my intuition signals there may be something suspicious about it.

As a modest writer with only 1.5K followers, I’ve embraced the responsibility of scam and spam education o this platform.

Bu my adult children chided:

“‘Dad, you’re like a modern Don Quixote, tilting at metaphorical windmills on Medium.com. That platform will distress you.”

They are right. Despite three written pleas and tagging Medium staff, my account remains vulnerable to scammers. Medium’s algorithm further complicates matters by suppressing my stories and allowing the spread of spam messages on my stories.

However, I don’t give up. In my persistence, I’m shedding light on the deceptive tactics of scammers to inform my readers that scamming hurts. I fell victim to sophisticated scams.

In my retirement, I dedicate my time to family, volunteer work, and supporting new writers like myself. However, the battle against sophisticated scammers demands attention, and I share my story for the sake of education and awareness.

As a senior and somewhat naive citizen, I fell victim to multiple scams that hurt me both psychologically and financially. I don’t favor social media, but I joined Medium because I believed it to be a reliable and safe place.

Some may wonder why I persist in addressing this issue. ‘Doesn’t Mike have better things to do?’ they might ponder.

Indeed, my retirement years are filled with meaningful pursuits — I have grown children and cherished grandchildren, and I dedicate my time to altruistic activities, such as volunteering for a writing/reading club and fostering a supportive environment for emerging writers.

However, as I ventured into curating stories affected by the algorithm and uncovered a pervasive spam issue on topic pages, my account unwittingly became a target for spammers. The evolving sophistication of these tactics prompts me to share this post, aiming to contribute to education and awareness on the matter.

Thank you for your help and support.

ILLUMINATION editors have also posted a crucial bulletin, alerting the community about this issue. We are doing our best from our end, and now it’s Medium’s turn to swiftly eliminate these spammers and discourage the creation of accounts with identical names and photos.

Here’s the key message from our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz

“The escalating proliferation of counterfeit accounts on Medium transcends mere inconvenience, posing a formidable threat to our community’s trust, integrity, and safety. These deceptive entities disrupt the essence of authentic engagement, inundating our feeds with dubious content and eroding the credibility of genuine creators.

Encountering these accounts not only jeopardizes users’ exposure to scams and misinformation but also results in a loss of valuable time and a dent in trust. For Medium itself, this poses a significant risk to its authenticity, potentially alienating creators and readers.

A proactive stance by Medium is imperative. Implementing tighter verification processes during account creation, strengthening innovative reporting tools, and enhancing algorithms are pivotal steps to curb the surge of harmful accounts. Equally crucial is education, empowering users with the knowledge to identify and report counterfeit accounts to safeguard the integrity of Medium.

Recognizing the telltale signs of these fake personas — such as a lack of followers, non-member status, and unconventional language usage — can bolster our collective vigilance. Safeguarding Medium’s integrity is a shared responsibility that demands collaborative efforts between the platform and its users.”

Here are the guiding stories by Dr Yildiz.

Thank you for reading my story and acting carefully on this insecure platform. To read my stories, you may subscribe to my content.

How Friends of Medium Can Amplify Important Stories Via Customized Social Media Sites