One of our friends stumbled upon a pseudo-Wikipedian who was trying to extort money for “passing” an article onto Wikipedia. Digging deeper, we found out that Serhiy Harbaruk has been involved in a Wikipedia-related scam for over three years, and in the summer of 2021, he registered as a private entrepreneur, stepping up his game.
Currently, he operates and issues invoices as a private entrepreneur, HARBARUK SERHIY SERHIYOVICH.
State Registration Date: 25.06.2021
Record Date: 25.06.2021 Record Number: 2010350000000008481
Serhiy Harbaruk, is a self claimed Wikipedian,[1] who has been alleged by clients for scamming them to write and publish Wikipedia pages for their companies and about them. He came into the spotlight due to allegations of misleading clients about writing and publishing Wikipedia pages for their businesses and personal profiles. Harbaruk is reported to have operated since 2019, using several LinkedIn profiles and email identities with variations of his name such as Serhiy Harbaruk Jr, Sergii Garbaruk, Sergey Garbaruk, and others.[2]
Harbaruk is said to have promised organizations that he would craft Wikipedia pages about them and establish Google Knowledge Panels.[3] Notably, between 2019 and 2020, Wikipedia reportedly deleted 18 pages that Harbaruk had established. This action adversely affected entities like Job.com, Spacebit, ARDOR, Bitkub, Minebest, N.exchange, Ignis, and more. Consequently, in May 2021, he was banned from all projects and language versions of Wikipedia.[4]
In spite of these setbacks, there are claims that Harbaruk continued his operations by accepting payments for Wikipedia pages that he no longer even intended to create.[5] After receiving payment, he allegedly blocked communication with his clients and went incognito. To further his operations, he is reported to have registered as a private entrepreneur in 2021.[6]
https://wikitia.com/wiki/Serhiy_Harbaruk
The scheme is as follows: Serhiy presents himself as an expert and owner of many prestigious Wikipedia accounts, promising companies to create a page about them and set up a Google Knowledge Panel. His victims have mostly been startups and crypto companies from Asia and the USA, but even some Ukrainian companies were affected.
Between 2019 and 2020, 17 of the 18 pages created by Serhiy were removed from Wikipedia. Companies such as Job.com, Spacebit, ARDOR, Bitkub, Minebest, N.exchange, Ignis, and others were affected.
There became so many clients among crypto and blockchain projects that in May 2021, the unfortunate entrepreneur was completely and indefinitely blocked from all projects and language versions of Wikipedia.
However, this blocking did not stop, but only inspired Serhiy Harbaruk, suggesting an even shorter and faster way to make money. There’s no need even to try to create articles. The main thing is to sell, receive payment, and then just block the customers and disappear.
So, just a month later, the guy registered as a private entrepreneur and continued his activities. Next from Wikipedia’s backlog, we learn that the next to be defrauded by Serhiy were Change, IoTeX, WOWCube, Stephen Calk, Martin Muoto, and others. The enterprising man from Chernivtsi began creating many fake accounts (so-called sockpuppets) in Wikipedia, making it very difficult to count the number of victims.
Here is a recent post by another victim of Sergei
The scammer works primarily through two channels – email campaigns and LinkedIn.
In case a potential client refuses to pay after numerous letters and follow-ups, Serhiy resorts to threats that he won’t pass the article on Wikipedia, even when there are all the reasons for it.
Harbaruk’s scam can be recognized by the large amount of complex terminology in correspondences, thanks to which he creates an image of an expert. Among other signs are a bunch of pseudonyms and the use of pseudoterms in chat, like “page validation” (such a term does not exist).
So, stay vigilant and warn your acquaintances in professional marketing and PR circles. And if you have already suffered, contact the Wikimedia Foundation to have the ability to block new profiles under which Serhiy operates.
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