avatarDeborah Walker is Writing Science Fiction

Summary

The author of the article is concerned about a potential scam on Medium, having received twenty new sign-ups with suspicious similarities, suggesting the platform might be targeted by scammers.

Abstract

The article titled "Brace Yourself: Incoming Scammers?" discusses the author's recent experience on Medium, where they received twenty new email sign-ups within a day. Initially excited, the author grew suspicious as all sign-ups came from the same email client, lacked profile pictures, and had accounts with identical images and content focused on a single topic with minor variations. This has led the author to believe that Medium is under attack from fraudulent accounts. While acknowledging that having multiple accounts or using the same picture isn't against Medium's rules, and AI-generated content is permissible if labeled, the author finds the pattern of these sign-ups to be suspicious. The article questions the motives behind these accounts, speculating that they might be bots designed to manipulate the system for financial gain by interacting with genuine users. The author, unfamiliar with such scams on Medium, seeks input from readers on how these scammers operate and how to report them, expressing a desire to protect the community from potential harm.

Opinions

  • The author perceives the new sign-ups as part of a coordinated effort to exploit Medium, rather than genuine engagement.
  • There is a belief that while certain behaviors (like multiple accounts or AI content) are not inherently against the rules, they can be indicative of malicious intent when occurring in a pattern.
  • The author suspects that the ultimate goal of these suspicious accounts is financial, possibly through manipulating user interactions.
  • The author admits to being naive about scamming tactics on Medium and is keen to learn more about how these scammers might operate.
  • There is a sense of urgency and concern for the Medium community, with a call to action for readers to share their knowledge and help report these suspected scammers.

Brace Yourself: Incoming Scammers?

Image Created by User with Bing Image Creator

I got twenty sign-ups to my Medium email yesterday. I was delighted until I noticed they were all from the same e-mail client and none of them had a profile picture.

A quick check showed me that these were from users, with very similar accounts. Their stories:

  • Used the same picture.
  • All writing on one topic. With narrow variations.

It looks like Medium is under attack from duplicitous accounts.

I’m assuming they’re up to no good. Although I do believe it’s not against Medium rules to have multiple accounts or to use the same picture more than once.

Or to use AI to generate content, if it’s clearly labelled as such.

But it looks pretty suspicious to me.

How do they guys make money?

I’m not sure how they will manipulate the system. I’m guessing they use bots to interact with genuine users in the hope of getting follow backs or reads.

Is that how they work?

I’m so innocent of the ways of Medium scammers. But I’m interested.

If you know how this works, do let me know in the comments.

I’d like to report these suspected scammers. Does anyone know how I can do that?

Take care everyone and brace yourself for a bumpy couple of weeks.

Scammer
Medium
Clones
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