Quote from: Timelord2067 on February 24, 2017, 12:20:08 PM

@rizzlarolla:

Quote

This is a serious issue. (i suspect stock photos are being added to many accounts?)

Not sure .....

Ok Timelord2067 i understand now, thanks. The photo's were always a side issue though.
The real serious issue is that so many old accounts appear to have been compromised.

Quote from: Lauda on February 25, 2017, 10:12:14 AM

I agree with rizzarolla in this case. These recent revelations by Timelord are huge, and potentially show just how deep this corruption/organized activities go. You should start a separate thread in this section for it/them as I'm afraid they may get buried in this one.

Indeed. However it is just another shed load of work, probably ignored by admin. I am hesitant to take this on.
I would like to explain the situation here, before possibly making a new thread to find if i am missing an obvious flaw/reason why this is happening?
(clear to me, either another part of admins scam scheme or just pure negligence on their part. Hal's account being "reactivated" bought no response on this issue from mods or admin)

I have further searched this problem, and it is now quite apparent to me that an organised entity has access to thousand of old accounts.
I have now found hundreds of accounts, "reactivated" after years of dormancy.
Admin need to start collecting snapshots of activity (of all users) if they ever want to be able to tackle this "hacker" in the future.
(i asked for similar in my search for mass farmed accounts, and was denied, so...)

It seems that although these accounts are compromised, their passwords are not (generally) changed.
Maybe the "hacker" does not feel the need, as most are abandoned by the real owners for good. Changing passwords en-masse would draw attention.

The oldest accounts seem to have been targeted. (for fairly obvious reasons)
(edit - maybe slightly wrong there, because i think miningdude and johnybigs may be part of this "reactivation". both around u=110000)
My research is showing me that around 40% of all account are affected. No way can i list all these!
(my research has only looked at accounts u=1 -> u=120000)

I'm not sure how to lay out this info in a new thread. An example of what i am seeing below,

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9000 jakeroxs 0 post November 24, 2016, 08:47:41 AM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9003 Micro333 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:18:36 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9005 Qrr 2 post February 19, 2017, 01:28:59 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9009 Trance555 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:28:07 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9011 twadsworth 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:16:27 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9012 FictionWobbles333 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:27:05 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9013 MoodFool333 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:28:08 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9014 marish 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:38:06 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9015 BlackRunner111 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:15:55 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9016 jhallsworth 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:28:12 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9020 carter 0 post February 19, 2017, 01:20:13 PM

(notice the 24 nov first on list)
That is 11 "reactivated" out of 21 accounts in this random sample.
This is one of the easiest lists to understand, all (bar one) being "reactivated" Feb 19.
All Feb 19 accounts (shown here) "reactivated" within 25 minutes.
(there is a shed load of other feb 19 "reactivations" elsewhere, look at u=2000 - 2020 @11.00am, or u=3000 onward @11.30am, or u=4000 onward @11.45am, or u=7000 onward @ 12.00pm, or u=8000 onward @1.15pm for example, a clear timeline pattern) - edited for more clarity.

Any thoughts? Anyone else want to start that thread?
(added - l'm thinking Meta may be more suitable for this topic?)