@zeartul has deleted all his recent posts.

About 3-4 hours ago, according to steemd.com, the user behind @zeartul went through and deleted all of his posts over the last week. His profile and location has also changed to "hacked."

(Because, you know, that's what hackers would do. Ignore the money in his account and spend 1-2 hours going through and editing and deleting old posts.)

As you know, he first claimed during @themarkymark's article revealing @zeartul's misbehavior that his upvoting bot, @bellyrub, had been sold off. Based on transfers from @zeartul and @bellyrub that made to Poloniex and sent to the same account (based on the memo it was sent to), and the inconsistent stories coming from @zeartul, we can safely assume that no sale took place.

In addition, 4357.567 STEEM was sent to @poloniex from his @zeartul account. As many people will recall (but the comment has now been edited/deleted), @zeartul claimed that he was cashing out the STEEM at a "more favorable exchange rate" on Poloniex, and waiting for the funds to be returned to his account.

Of course, the return never happened. @zeartul has essentially been operating a ponzi scheme through @bellyrubbank, which promised users a 45% APR on their investments, returning their funds in full at the end of 3 months and paying the dividends along the way. These funds were said to be used for purchasing delegation leases to @bellyrub, but many people can see how often he talked about new things he was purchasing in his older posts.

He made some dividend payments to @bellyrubbank users and then defaulted on his most recent payment in a now-defunct post, which follows a pattern of paying initial dividends to attract investors, then disappearing, as documented below. After @themarkymark's article was released, @zeartul tried to blame @dang007 for the problems with @bellyrub, claiming he was the new purchaser. @dang007 denies purchasing it.

Now, with @zeartul's account "hack," you can be sure that no one is going to be paid back (not that most of us suspected anyone would get paid back even prior to this.) All the lies and bizarre activity we've seen in the last few days was a last-ditch attempt to extract as much income from the accounts as possible before "cashing out."

Here's what we know about @zeartul.

Thanks to @pfunk, @themarkymark, @neoxian and many others for sharing this information.

Known Aliases

@zeartul
@bellyrub
@bellyrubbank
@zear
@psych101
@mrsteemitbwhale
@carlidos
@lifeisamazing
Bitcointalk: minerlite
Bitcointalk: onewiseguy (see BitcoinTalk thread)

Past Scam Activity

According to Shamelist, which information extremely similar to the content seen above, Carlos Cardenas (suspected identity of @zeartul) has scammed over 100 BTC from investors with ICO schemes (such as "multiblockchain.com," which paid out dividends to investors before there was any actual website) and through several loan defaults via BTCJam.com and BitLendingClub.com.

Known Contact Information

https://www.facebook.com/worldalikerevolution - Facebook Account deleted
https://localbitcoins.com/p/carlidoskar/ - Account banned by LocalBitcoins Admin
[email protected] - E-mail status unknown

Suspected Location

Simi Valley (California, USA, 93065)

Photographs/Video

Video of @zeartul (Carlos Cardenas)

What Can You Do To Stop Him?

You can try to initiate a lawsuit against him, given you can figure out where he's living based on the information that we already know, or if you're willing to hire a private investigator. A more immediate solution may be to watch his accounts (see list above) and contact Poloniex and other exchanges when he attempts to transfer funds away from his account.

I've already contacted Poloniex with the memos he used, and while it's unlikely anything will be done about it, the more noise that is made about this scammer, the more likely it is that they will be willing to take action. Feel free to follow the instructions and use the template I made here.

Sorry to everyone who was scammed by this guy, especially newer users. Never invest more than you can afford to lose in any venture.

If you have any further information, feel free to comment below, or better yet, contact Simi Valley Law Enforcement directly.