First of all, I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the amazing support of the Steem community I've experienced during the past three hours.

If losing the control over my account could've led to anything good, then it was learning how much support one can experience being part of this network.

What happened?

A couple of hours back I got a comment by @eruda on one of my blog posts. He made his comment look like as if it was two, and included a phishing link in the latter. Since the link appeared to be provided by a trustworthy member of the community, I clicked on it - even though it sent me to a third party side. I was then asked to enter my Steem password again, and - by convenience (stupid girl) - I even used the owner key. After yesterday's crash I wasn't surprised that I had to type in a key again, since I thought that the system just wasn't that stable yet and I accidentally got logged out. But it was a fake log-in window!!! The scammer then quickly changed all of my keys and I lost the control over my account. To make it worse: He even started to abuse the account in order to spread even more phishing links all over the platform on my behalf. I really hope nobody clicked on them!!!

I honestly apologize for (unconsciously) providing such a stage to that scammer. It was really not my attempt to endanger anybody in this community.

Now thanks to a couple of amazing people the story got a happy end.

This is why I would like to especially thank @sircork who turns out to be my today's hero, since he started to literally move everything and everybody in order to catch the enemy who ran away with my money, while he encouraged me to stay positive. Thank you @sircork, you're are really amazing and a true role model in this network!!

Also @jonny-clearwater, @soyrosa, @fbslo and many more who reacted fast and downvoted the phishing posts submitted by the manipulated account.

Then @good-karma who was able to guide me through Steemit's official recovery process what definitely accelerated the whole process to get back full control over my account. Only few minutes after starting the process I already got a message from Steemit, Inc.

Thank you to whoever was in charge in the Steemit Security Department today, you just literally saved my life! :-)

And of course @anomadsoul, @abh12345, @the-alien, @hanshotfirst, @steeminator3000, @sauravrungta, @scipio and many more for their uplifting words on discord.

Also thanks to everybody who resteemed my announcement post submitted from my charity account in order to get the word spread and prevent others from stepping into the very same trap.

As a wise man said once:

If you don't own your private keys, you don't own your coins.

Probably I knew all that already, but I didn't really live it up.

Maybe my main problem is that I don't expect people to be so damn evil ever, which converts me into a careless person sometimes.

On the blockchain it's even more important to look after one's assets, since we are the only ones who are responsible for them.

So here's my today's learning and message to all of you: double check everything BEFORE you click on it, even if it looks trusthworthy in the first instance!

Please all read this blog post from @arcange for further information on phishing links that are currently spread over the Steem blockchain.

Sorry that this post looks a bit wild... I'm just tired, grateful, happy and whatever all at once!

Yes, it's me...

What a day!

Ah and @eruda and partner account @vanisa: We will catch you sooner or later! Whenever someone knocks on your door, from now on you will ask yourself if it's the cops already...

See you on the block.

Much love,
Marly -
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This blog was created in July 2016, aiming to provide thought-provoking content for open-minded people who go on adventure, step out of comfort zones and embrace the new.
Thanks for being part of the journey!

PS: All my blog posts are created and submitted via eSteem Surfer 1.1.12 - my favorite Steem desktop client that was developed by @good-karma's @esteemapp team. Check out their account for more information.

Original content.