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Wikiproject:Antispam/Archives/2021/Wikibusiness

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Background Edit

Ukrainian Wikipedia spamming company banned by the WMF. hxxp://wikibusines.com; they have another website: hxxp://www.wikibusiness.com.ua. Ongoing abuse.

Discussions Edit

5 August 2021: Wikibusiness Edit

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
Report continues under "Bodiadub" below. MER-C 11:51, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi,

I'v been alerted on Twitter by someone who had been approched by Wikibusines.com; they have another website: www.wikibusiness.com.ua.

Their websites display a list of articles they claim to have edited – it should be noted that the list of edited wp articles differs from one website to another, but also, on the same website, depending on the language; example with Wikibusines.com: es, fr, es.

Client lists (and more)

Here is the current wp articles list (with my assesment for some fr-wp and en-wp pages):

I found out (via en:Beyond_Meat) that the case has already been discussed on en-wp, with a SPI, see:

It seems that ru-wp and uk-wp are aware too, as they blocked several accounts (see for example there), but with the language barrier, it's hard for me to get a big picture of it. Does anyone have more info/links? @MER-C, NickK, and Oleg Yunakov:?

Regards, — Jules* Talk 18:16, 5 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

+ Cutezorn (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · commons), for the fun. — Jules* Talk 18:27, 5 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Also known as Crazyalien (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). They've been banned by the W?F. They're also still active, I blocked Petrshenko42 (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) not too long ago. They are on PAIDLIST, but there is no additional information there. Sockpuppet tagging is rather spotty on en.wp - this needs to be tidied up before I can look at the deleted edits en masse. MER-C (talk) 19:29, 5 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Hi Jules*, I have checked and all of them are already blocked on ruwiki. Oleg Yunakov (talk) 23:45, 5 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@Jules*: Basically, they are a major pain in the ass to Ukrainian Wikipedia (and likely to the Russian one as well). Almost all of their paid editing is undisclosed. There three main approaches are the following:
  • Cold calling companies or celebrities that do not have Wikipedia pages yet offering them creation of pages in their language, or creating pages about their company in additional languages (usually asking for something like 250-500 USD per article). Some companies or celebrities then complain (sometimes publicly on social media) that Wikipedia is not really free and you need to pay to get a page there.
  • Contacting companies or celebrities whose pages were nominated for deletion, often just hours after nomination, offering their help in keeping the article (offering even positive result from a 'friendly' administrator for some fee). This is a major source of damage to Wikipedia reputation: companies or celebrities think that Wikipedia blackmails them into payment to keep their article.
  • Literal blackmailing, manipulations and harassment. For instance, on one occasion they contacted a (prominent and rich) politician, asking for payment to protect their article against vandalism, and heavily vandalised the article the same day. On another occasion, they organised an edit war to remove a major scandal from an article about a company, and they manipulated an administrator to protect this article on their version. They have also manipulated on-wiki discussions, like nominating articles about notable companies for deletion, harassing editors willing to keep these articles, and then contacting companies for a payment to 'save articles from evil Wikipedians'. This is borderline criminal, and as far as I know (but cannot confirm) some company or celebrity even complained to the police about them.
Based on what Wikibusiness' post on social media and job forums, they are willing to expand their business to new languages. By this point they are well-known in Ukraine (both as a group ready to made a really dirty work on Wikipedia, and as a group trying to sell you expensive services you don't actually need), so it is disappointing - but unfortunately not surprising - to see their activity on more and more wikis.
Their founders Bogdan Dubyliovsky (Bodiadub) and Roman Melnyk (Crazyalien) are both globally WMF-banned. They created multiple sockpuppets and made many IP-edits globally (including VPNs and proxies), so 2019 socks are clearly not the only ones. I know at least one confirmed case where they paid a relatively experienced Wikipedia editor to make edits requested by Wikibusiness from their account. This is clearly not the only case, so they are likely working with multiple meatpuppets/subcontractors in multiple wikis.
And of course there is no guarantee everything they announce is true, we have already seen them claiming things they were not related to - and vice versa, them denying things they have clearly done — NickK (talk) 12:45, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Thank you very much, @NickK, for this comprehensive summary. I find it particularly worrying that real experienced Wikipedians accept to get paid to do that kind of work, but I guess I'm still a bit naive about that; it probably also exists (beyond this firm) on fr-wp without me beeing aware of it.
I will try to monitor it if Wikibusiness starts working on fr-wp.
— Jules* Talk 14:00, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@Jules*: They already did. fr:Harfouch Walid is clearly one of their works. I guess there are more — NickK (talk) 14:24, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I would be happy to block it and to delete its edits, but do you have more info @NickK? I can only find that the account Fabrica2808 (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · uk · fr · es · en · wikidata) used an open proxy (uk:Вікіпедія:Запити на перевірку користувачів/2020#Наші старі знайомі), but I can't find where it has been linked to Wikibusiness firm, and I see that the account is not locked, and not blocked on en-wp. — Jules* Talk 15:30, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@Jules*: Basically duck test for Fabrica2808 (interest in some of Wikibusiness clients like uk:Альянс краси or en:Reface (they seem to have a lot of clients on apps), plus interest in topics related to Ukrainian war in foreign wikis, e.g. fr:Cyborgs (défenseurs de l'aéroport de Donetsk) - Bodiadub personally wrote about translating this article into multiple languages - or en:Shatun), plus open proxies confirming block evasion. Plus uk:Валід Арфуш experienced a suspicious edit war exactly at the same time as fr:Harfouch Walid was written. I am not sure if this is a sock of Bodiadub or Crazyalien, or if it is a separate person that sometimes writes for Wikibusiness and sometimes on their own — NickK (talk) 16:07, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Thanks for this information; that's enough for me taking action on fr-wp.
Sorry to take your time (!), but regarding fr:Harfouch Walid, what about the SPA Marya.dubovnickaya (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · commons · en · fr · es · ar · de · it · ru), who created (back in 2013) en:Walid Harfouch, ru:Арфуш, Валид and ar:وليد حرفوش, the nearly-SPA Mestees (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · uk · ru · en · wikidata · arz · ar · commons) (more recent), and the account Ebsentura (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · uk · commons · wikidata), who uploaded several files of Walid Harfouch? And regarding es:Reface, also created by Fabrica2808, what about OmInna (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · uk · ru · en · wikidata · be-tarask · pl · be · commons), who created ru:Reface and uk:Reface (where another editor added an UPE template)? May be linked to Bodiadub or Crazyalien? — Jules* Talk 16:13, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
2013 is before Wikibusiness was launched, but I cannot exclude that Marya.dubovnickaya was an employee (e.g. a PR agent) of Walid Harfouch. OmInna is extremely suspicious, first edit on enwiki is on an AfD of a person related to Playrix, a well-known Wikibusiness client (en:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dmitry Bukhman), but I am not sure if this is a sock or a genuine person working for them. Ebsentura really looks like a paid editing sock (I have hardly ever seen newbies uploading four pictures from four different cameras but with their Commons username and license in EXIF, thus looks like a professional license launderer, plus involved in defending quite a paid editing article on ukwiki uk:Благо (фінансова компанія)). There goes Mestees as well: they have also edited an article on the likely Wikibusiness client uk:Альянс краси, plus enwiki contributions at en:Special:Contributions/Mestees are extremely weird (just two articles: cleaning biography of Lebanese-Ukrainian TV businessman and correcting extremely technical details of a case involving Russian businessmen), plus, again, Commons username and license in EXIF of their only upload. I think these three are likely a part of the Wikibusiness farm behaviour-wise, either as socks or as unrelated Wikipedians working for them. Not sure I will have time to CU them quickly, but pinging my fellow CUs @Goo3 and Andriy.v: who are also following them — NickK (talk) 22:16, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Note, for Mestees: on uk:Вікіпедія:Статті-кандидати_на_вилучення/26_жовтня_2020#Альянс_краси, he votes along with... Fabrica2808 (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) (who created fr:Harfouch Walid). — Jules* Talk 09:48, 7 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Oleg Yunakov: I see Orekhova (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · en · ru · uk · fr · wikidata · commons) has been blocked on ru-wp for possible undisclosed payments (ru:Википедия:Запросы_к_администраторам/Архив/2020/10#Orekhova), and was suspected, if I understand well, to promote Rinat Akhmetov. I found this account because Fabrica2808 (see above) also made a few edits on es:Rinat Akhmetov. Is Orekhova linked to Wikibusines firm, or do I mix up different editors? — Jules* Talk 16:13, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

MER-C: take a look at these users as well:

  • Iamlookingforsugardaddy
  • BFD-69

--Goo3 (talk) 09:14, 8 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I won't be the first mover on these either. MER-C (talk) 13:37, 8 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

MER-C, Tagiko is another WB account. --Goo3 (talk) 11:21, 10 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

More socks found:

MER-C (talk) 14:47, 14 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This is as far as I can take it. MER-C (talk) 12:59, 15 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Automatic article list pasted here: User:MER-C/Spam/Bodiadub. MER-C (talk) 16:18, 21 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

en:Draft:Volodymyr Usov was recreated by Raketaman (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). Apart from the recreation, no sign of sockpuppetry. Getmantsev Danylo is d:Q16636588. MER-C (talk) 12:30, 29 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Another recreation: en:Notepad calculator recreated as en:Notepad calculators by Chewy Cash (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). This is too coincidental. Blocked Chewy Cash and Raketaman. MER-C (talk) 11:35, 4 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Add Ivan Grigarovitch (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) for recreating en:Draft:Gismart. MER-C 11:52, 5 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A fresh batch of spam:

@Oleg Yunakov and Wikisaurus: Саша Полторак (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) is also likely them. MER-C 14:18, 18 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

MER-C: As a starting point I have reverted his edits on Ukrainian political topics. Let's see what they will do next. Oleg Yunakov (talk) 16:43, 18 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
On second thoughts, I have blocked Mestees and Ebsentura as sockpuppets. MER-C 11:17, 19 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Two more socks:

Plus recreation of en:Getmantsev Danylo. MER-C 19:21, 25 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Another couple of socks:

Blocked in the nick of time. Per w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Bodiadub. @Anntinomy: 800 edits on Ukrainian Wikipedia. MER-C 08:25, 29 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

impressive, thanks --Anntinomy (talk) 05:46, 30 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Asketbouncer was actually a radnom find, I noticed AfD disruption on a delsort I watch, which led me to examine the Asketbouncer account behaviourly. Asketbouncer is still unblocked and with patrol rights at uk.wiki, thoguh I did inform the granting admin at uk.wiki. @MER-C:, is this page the better place to discuss Wikibusiness / Bodiadub or the English SPI Wikipedia SPI?--Eostrix (talk) 09:17, 30 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Both. They've been reported to SRG for a few days now with no action. MER-C 17:49, 1 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Two more socks:

Note uk:Special:Pagehistory/Онуфрійчук Іванна Павлівна. @Anntinomy and Oleg Yunakov: see above. MER-C 12:51, 2 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

thanks, template added. seems to be notable person with a bunch of sources, unlikely to be deleted, our guys do not consider WB articles to be spam automatically.--Anntinomy (talk) 07:06, 3 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Thank you, MER-C. Blocked and deleted due to creation by this particular user. Oleg Yunakov (talk) 19:08, 3 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Anntinomy and Oleg Yunakov: 902 edits on Ukrainian Wikipedia, 200 on Russian. Was suspected before; the Favbet stuff pushed me over. MER-C 11:19, 10 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

MER-C: Blocked all the accounts above in ruwiki, nominated ru:FavBet (interestingly a few month ago I already had to block pov there) and ru:Шабуров, Виктор Валентинович for deletion. But notability might be possible, we will need to check. If in 6 month no one will find notability it will be deleted. Oleg Yunakov (talk) 16:25, 10 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
no surprise, Bodiadub says openely that he worked for Favbet and Parimatch. Wellring was checked and justified last year --Anntinomy (talk) 19:04, 11 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Given the sophistication of Wikibusiness type paid editing rings coming out of the Ukraine, I think there is a fairly high chance of very sophiscated operations such as en:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Sanketio31/Archive being operated by Eastern Europeans. The similarities are striking as NickK noted with Wikibusiness.ua's Literal blackmailing, manipulations and harassment. Jwindleberg (talk) 02:33, 11 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Sigh. MER-C 08:27, 11 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Can we check authors of parallel articles in ukwiki?

Кен Гінг (CA · xwiki · COIBot report), main author for Igor_Mezencev / uk:Мезенцев Ігор Олександрович Nick Vasylchenko (CA · xwiki · COIBot report), main author for Marco Cervetti / uk:Марко Черветті --Anntinomy (talk) 20:30, 11 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Blocked Swum Swams (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) for be:Ігар_Аляксандравіч_Мезенцаў and the two accounts above. MER-C 18:31, 12 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I don't know Hebrew at all, can someone help me out with he:ראפיד (חברת פינטק)? MER-C 15:29, 16 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I created the article he:ראפיד (חברת פינטק) in Hebrew Wikipedia. It is a legitimate article about a large Israeli fintech company, one of many articles about Israeli hitech companies that I have created in the last months. There is no problem with this article. דוד שי (talk) 14:22, 17 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I can confirm the Hebrew article is factual and legitimate, and was not written by (the despicable) Wikibusiness folks. Ijon (talk) 13:10, 18 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Break 1 Edit

Split for ease of editing and perhaps archiving.

More coming. MER-C 18:58, 20 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

active in ukwikipedia blocked--Anntinomy (talk) 06:08, 28 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@Anntinomy and Oleg Yunakov: Big haul of socks on en.wp: w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Bodiadub. Flamethrowers and banhammers please. MER-C 17:23, 27 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
phew, ukwikipedia was of minor interest for this haul   --Anntinomy (talk) 20:31, 28 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
MER-C: All taken care of now. Oleg Yunakov (talk) 23:56, 28 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]


Can we check these contributions? --Anntinomy (talk) 20:35, 28 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Could you give a few suspicious article creations? There's a lot to look through, the only suspicious article I found was edited heavily by other socks. MER-C 08:45, 29 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
in process --Anntinomy (talk) 10:58, 1 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

FYI Undisguised spam in Indonesian Wikipedia id:Wikibusiness . All sources are PR publications. It is remarkable that blocked accounts created or edited Asia-related articles recently in Ukrainian Wikipedia: uk:IOI Group, uk:Minor Hotels, uk:Grab (компанія) (no spammers in history of this one yet, just my suspect) --Anntinomy (talk) 10:58, 1 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

id.wp is one of those with G5. Tagged. Also filed c:Commons:Deletion requests/Uploads by Bodiadub sockpuppets. MER-C 20:35, 1 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Also tagged a few articles for G5 deletion. MER-C 16:33, 6 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]


Went sock hunting on simple.wp. MER-C 17:55, 7 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Investigation with Goo3 and Wikibusiness Edit

Retaliatory filing. MER-C 11:51, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I’ve noticed that Goo3 is or was a part of Wikibusiness spammer sockfarm. Here is some bald evidence.

Ajax Systems

The Ukrainian version of Ajax Systems [1] was created by user:Лексусс who is now banned as a sockpuppet of Crazyalien/Bodiadub. The Russian version [2] was created by user:Kanderal07 who was convicted of working for Wikibusiness and who eventually after this investigation stopped editing wikipedia at all. Also, Ajax Systems in Russian wikipedia was heavily edited on 27 may 2019 by another globally banned by WMF user:Serghiy Hrabarook. That is quite nice coincidence. English version of Ajax Systems [3] was created by another sockpuppet of Bodiadub — OliosBay [4] which is now globally banned. However, MER-C deleted the article and banned the user. On February 11, 2020 - administrator of Ukrainian wikipedia Goo3 created Ajax Systems in Spanish wikipedia in a very promotional tone. Here is the version of Goo3: [5]. I have no doubts that Goo3 is working for spammers from Wikibusiness and helps them to publish advertisements.

Restream

Goo3 also made a covert advertisement in English wikipedia in Restream page [6]. On 18 december 2019 he translated (and stated it on the talk page of Restream here: [7]) an English version of the page into Ukrainian and then on the same day he added many new spammy not neutral information into English version of Restream with the edit description: translated from Ukrainian wiki [8]. Here we can see a tricky procedure of legalization of the advertisement text by adding it allegedly from the Ukrainian version which actually was just translated from the English one and could not have this text. Goo3 continued to edit the page heavily and made it looking so spammy and non-neutral that GSS user warned Goo3 to disclose his paid edits. Link is here [9] (Goo3 deleted this warning from his Talk page). Of course, Goo3 declined his paid edits and stated that he wasn’t doing it for money.

StuDocu

Here is a lame effort to convince MER-C to move a covert advertisement page from Draft again into Main space: [10]

EssayEdge

Here is Goo3's unsuccessful effort to post some spammy article: [11] but DGG deleted it on 26 Sept 2020 under (G11:Unambiguous advertising or promotion) rule. The most interesting part is that this page in only present in Ukrainian wikipedia and was created by UPE User:K.A.T.E._Project. Right after 5 minutes after the EssayEdge page was created in Ukrainian wikipedia, Goo3 started heavily expanding it with non-trivial information which couldn’t be found so easily and so fast [12]. It’s an evident sockpuppetry. Then, Goo3 tried to “translate” this spam service into English wikipedia but the page got drafted and then deleted. I’ve run out of time, but would be glad to cooperate in the future. Just imagine, I found that in a short period of time. Imagine, if to check use Goo3, what will everyone see? Taking into consideration that Goo3 is a checkuser in Ukrainian wikipedia, just imagine what a sockpuppet farm Goo3 may run.

Discussion
  • P.S. I've also sent a copy of this message to: paid-en-wp(at)wikipedia.org. *Thanks @MER-C: for this email. FYI @GSS:, @DGG: --Arsen Petrov (talk) 15:36, 4 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
    • Goo3 is the most active in identifying WikiBusiness socks in Ukrainian Wikipedia. That's why WikiBusiness decided to launch such a stupid and naive attack on Goo3 here and ukwiki. I banned a User Arsen Petrov in Ukrainian Wikipedia as an obvious sock of BodyaDub. --Yakudza (talk) 13:16, 9 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Mykola7:, @AlexKozur:, @DGG:, @GSS:, @MER-C: please take a look at that case. Obviously a good fellow of Goo3— Yakudza, who is covering Goo3's violationg of rules and spam edits, tries to block me and persuade that I'm attacking someone. However, I'm here as an observer and cannot share many private information. What I told here is only the top of an iceberg. I communicated with many top officials and businesses and can say, that Goo3 is connected to either Wikibusiness or some other company or works as a freelancer. I share the details of English Check user team. I will also update the details with Yakudza and his shady cooperation with Goo3 in Ukrainian wikipedia. More details will appear. I will keep updating. --Arsen Petrov (talk) 09:28, 10 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This has some red flags of being a retaliatory filling. Can we collapse this section? MarioGom (talk) 11:04, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

21 August 2021: Serghiy Hrabarook Edit

Another W?F banned spammer, but I couldn't figure out which one. MER-C (talk) 14:42, 21 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Looks like the only surviving articles are about WOWCube although there may be some residual from previous spamming runs by users that haven't been tagged under this SPI:
@Jules* and DarwIn:. MER-C (talk) 16:28, 21 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
  Done Done for fr-wp, thanks! — Jules* Talk 16:33, 21 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@MER-C: Sent to elimination discussion on wiki.pt.--- Darwin Ahoy! 16:36, 21 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Hi,
I think I have fonnd an orther account how have spammed WOWCube : Special:CentralAuth/Iexeru :
I think there are orther accounts on orther languages, but I haven't the time to check all.
(I hope my english is not too bad)
RG067 (talk) 12:19, 23 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@MER-C:   Done reported and articles nominated for deletion on es-wiki. Nacaru · Talk ✉ 14:23, 28 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Vladyslava Smolinska (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) enquired about the deletion of three Hrabrook articles and created the Ukrainian and Russian equivalents uk:Spacebit and ru:Spacebit Ukraine. MER-C (talk) 12:33, 29 August 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
in uk.wikipedia main author is Alina Voznaya and is marked with 'translated from ru.wikipedia' template. Spacebit is nominated for deletion. --Anntinomy (talk) 16:12, 6 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
UPD. Noone is interested in discussing WOWCube :( and Spacebit was deleted but then recreated by the user not affiliated with WB --Anntinomy (talk) 19:59, 12 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]


Blocked Heroeswlthmetaphors (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) today for more WowCube crap. MER-C 09:22, 18 September 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today: Kennedy 2030 (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). MER-C 11:51, 10 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Turns out this user is Bodiadub: Special:CentralAuth/Serghiy Hrabarook, [13]. Whoopee. I'll leave this up for a little while before I pull it into the archives. MER-C 09:49, 30 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

14 November 2021: Bodiadub Edit

Recently I have come across a few of their socks in Simple English Wikipedia. The pages that I have come across have already been deleted/tagged for deletion. Here are few accounts that are possibly linked. Other than simple, they seem to have created pages on ro, et, be and cawiki.

Pages cross-wiki that are yet to be deleted: be:Gismart and et:Tbhawt Manufacturing-- BRP ever 11:12, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

We have a section above, which is already getting too long. I'll close the one above. MER-C 11:54, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Sigh. MER-C 12:24, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Pinging TaronjaSatsuma for the cawiki side. MarioGom (talk) 13:05, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Did he any edit in cawiki? If he didn't edited, then admins won't block him.--TaronjaSatsuma (talk) 15:57, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@TaronjaSatsuma They created ca:Gismart, which has now been deleted. BRP ever 19:46, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Already deleted.--TaronjaSatsuma (talk) 19:55, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@TaronjaSatsuma ca:Calmerry is still there. I can delete the wikidata items once all the pages are deleted.-BRP ever 19:58, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I think a check on Wikidata would be quite useful. Also see Wikiproject:Antispam/Archives/2021/Wikibusiness for a partial listing of spam to date. MER-C 20:06, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I am checking this list and will list the possible accounts shortly.-BRP ever 20:20, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I only see the article in Romanian, not Catalan.--TaronjaSatsuma (talk) 21:22, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@MER-C: here are the possible accounts I came across in wikidata.

Not sure if they are the same. Likely another sock farm:

--BRP ever 23:45, 14 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I think you've caught a few accounts before they could spam. The medical stuff appears to be separate. Also bagged one on en.wp. MER-C 18:16, 15 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@MER-C:, @BRPever: Need your help to understand whether Taras Slovotvir (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) was just suspected and not checked. He applied for patroller rights in ukwiki and from the discussion above I don't understand how he got to the list to mention this correctly on nomination page. --Anntinomy (talk) 15:22, 23 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@Anntinomy That account came up during my check of other accounts and is highly likely to be one of them based on checkuser data. Also, they have created uk:Netpeak (d:Q106975341) which has been deleted as spam twice at ru:Netpeak and once before as not notable in ukwiki along with several other attempt to add it crosswiki. Thanks --BRP ever 01:34, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
@BRPever Hello. Can you please share more details of what is suspecting both in my behaviour and my tech data? @Anntinomy concerning my creation of Netpeak in Ukrainian wikipedia, I stated that I'm a paid editor on its talk page. I worked a year ago closely with Netpeak as a freelancer and helped to create them a wikipedia page. It was restored in Ukrainian wikipedia upon my request and it passed the official undeleteion procedure. I'am surprised that it is now a blame or suspection. Why the creation of the page is such a big suspection here? I didn't violate the rules. Please discuss with me this topic. If you have questions, ping me. Taras Slovotvir (talk) 12:13, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
To clarify, I think behavioral evidence needs to be taken into account as technical data in itself isn't conclusive. BRP ever 09:26, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

GGFox (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) jumping between En, Uk, Ru wikipedias, contributing about politicians and buisness. Let's look at the deleted articles started by the user but deleted because of lack of notability: banker, ngo activist (there's recently blocked Al friendster (CA · xwiki · COIBot report) who helped with voting in nomination), local stateswoman (again already blocked user helped in voting), local politician. And solely logos for Commons. --Anntinomy (talk) 18:22, 22 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@MER-C: Would that be possible to check?--Anntinomy (talk) 23:58, 14 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
It's reasonable to believe they are a spammer, but I don't see any indication they are Wikibusines (at least the two abuse patterns I am familiar with). MER-C 19:50, 15 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I blocked them for their involvement with w:NAGA Group AG (w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mar11). Still don't know whether they are Bodiadub. MER-C 21:04, 19 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

They haven't stopped:

See also the latest discussion on en.wp. MER-C 18:02, 11 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@MER-C: New uploads

--Anntinomy (talk) 14:13, 12 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Reposts tagged for deletion. MER-C 18:36, 12 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Yawn. MER-C 17:08, 19 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Any comments on Deviloper (CA · xwiki · COIBot report)? Bodiadub socks have appeared in a big way on at least three articles: en:Draft:Mikhail Lomtadze/ru:Ломтадзе, Михаил Нугзарович, en:Vyacheslav Kim/ru:Ким, Вячеслав Константинович and en:Baring Vostok Capital Partners/ru:Baring Vostok Capital Partners.
@Oleg Yunakov: ru:Андрес, Анна Александровна is back. MER-C 11:51, 22 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi, can anyone share the advice which is the best way to reach Commons admins about wikibisness cases. Files of Bodiadub's Ebsentura (CA · xwiki · COIBot report · en · commons) are out of attention. --Anntinomy (talk) 21:34, 23 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

File a deletion request reusing c:Commons:Deletion requests/Uploads by Bodiadub sockpuppets. Bundle File:Igor Mezencev.jpg, File:Anna (Miss Ukraine Universe 2014).jpg, File:Юрій Аллеров.jpg, File:Аллеров Юрий.jpg and File:Melnyk Vadym.jpg in the same request. MER-C 16:48, 24 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
done. Thanks for the templates. --Anntinomy (talk) 21:33, 24 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
seems File:Онуфрійчук.jpg is another try of File:Іванна Онуфрійчук.jpg--Anntinomy (talk) 23:00, 24 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Oleg Yunakov: - Димас Клювик = 312 edits on ru.wp. @Anntinomy: what are your thoughts on ДмитроСавченко? The cross-wiki versions of en:Intellias are extremely suspicious. MER-C 16:48, 24 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Yes, I have some assumptions only but the article is definitely promotional, nice-to-have for investors. When created in ukwiki Intellias was nominated soon and two WB socks performed a play in discussion (Lankastor, Speipk0). But the most epic thing is that the resolution was made by admin whose adminship was later removed because of collaboration with Bodia and that's a fact. ДмитроСавченко was definitely among those whom Bodia proposed job but at the moment we are not sure what was his answer. As Intellias got a lot of attention in ukwiki it it is rather neutral but for me it is not clear enough why they should be on WP :) -Anntinomy (talk) 22:24, 24 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]


Some not fresh files. May be it is possible to check

--Anntinomy (talk) 21:53, 25 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Oh, I see Phermophilas was already found. But not blocked. Why so?--Anntinomy (talk) 21:56, 25 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Accounts listed for locking. One more new article: simple:XTrend, File:XTrend.jpg, d:Q110533217, Miran Bakir (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). MER-C 18:36, 12 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Binaryx Edit

Seems there are sufficient grounds to check authors of d:Q108805780. Bodiadub's sockpuppets are known to occupy this topic and Binarix article was created at the same time (october 2021) in different wikis by new users. The service itself is Ukrainian, so this is another reason to think that it can be of WB interest. Besides, Ukrainian article was edited by already blocked Asketbouncer (CA · xwiki · COIBot report). --Anntinomy (talk) 17:16, 20 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Bingo. All nominated for locking. MER-C 17:58, 20 January 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

9 December 2021 Edit

English Wikipedia admin TimVickers (and others) are contacted on LinkedIn - Tim reports this on en:WP:AN. A blog post (Let's talk about paid edits on Wikipedia (archive link)) clearly shows a sock tag screenshot, confirming the link between the company and SPI cases. -- TNT (talk • she/they) 20:34, 9 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I can affirm that I also got a very similar message via LinkedIn. OhanaUnitedTalk page 20:38, 18 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
The entire company was banned as a result of this discussion. MER-C 11:31, 22 December 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

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