A few days back I posted this on BitconTalk.org:
WARNING – a little off topic, but tangentially related.
Can someone tell me, still very much a tech noob, what the significance is of the term “lion” or names containing “Lee” or “Leo” (including homophones like “Leigh” or parts of names (“Cleo,” as a made up example)). In my sleuthing, I’m seeing an uncanny amount of usernames w/ Lee, Leo, etc. in the twitter followers (and other social media) of some of the most unscrupulous appearing individuals in digital currency.
IMHO, this is not a coincidence (maybe it is, maybe its a figment of my imagination), but I haven’t been interested tech/computers in a substantial way but for a year and half or so and lack some of the foundational knowledge to know what’s going on.
From the hacker dictionary:
lion food /n./
[IBM] Middle management or HQ staff (or, by extension, administrative drones in general). From an old joke about two lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their chances but agree to meet after 2 months. When they finally meet, one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one says: “How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a small army to chase me — guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I’ve been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass.” The fat one replies: “Well, I hid near an IBM office and ate a manager a day. And nobody even noticed!”
http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_27.html#SEC34
Very interested to read what others think and whether there is something to this.
EDIT – Very aware of seeing patterns where none may exist . . . . I just don’t see the Lee/Lion thing in other areas, just tech/digital currency/[possible] scammers.
I also posted a tongue-in-cheek (but still serious) thread on Reddit about a week and half ago about ISIS’ use of internet memes to recruit young girls. Possible evidence of this playing out has been in the news recently with reports about three young girls leaving the UK for Syria to join up in ISIS.
Where am I going with this?
Recently, there have been several news reports about ISIS using bitcoin for fundraising and money transmission purposes. We learned a few days ago that Jihadi John (of ISIS ilk) is a well-to-do young Londoner with a computer science degree. From his picture, he looks like he could be any young, modern individual and not a fanatical, ostrich-mimicking bozo that destroys historical artifacts in Mosul that date back to the time of Abraham.
On February 6, 2015, a man from Utica, NY was arrested in Indiana for suspected ties to ISIS. The gentleman, like John in the previous paragraph, appears to look like he could be anybody. His arrest came after he and few others had been watched for two years by law enforcement. During that period, and though September 2014, Mr. Rosic and others, both males and females, allegedly sent funds and supplies to third parties with the intent of supporting ISIS and its affiliates. The amounts were not exactly large either: $300 here, $1500 there, ete. – more or less the cost of a bitcoin depending on the date.
The Justice Department has indicted the gentleman and said indictment was made available today. Of note from the indictment are these allegations:
Admittedly, this post appears a little paranoid and spastic. However, I’ve now found some confirmation of a communication strategy I believe I see from time to time in the digital currency space and not other spaces (i.e., alias, references to Lions, etc.). Incidentally, Lee, Leo, Leigh, Li – some of which share the same pronunciation – are used in literature and elsewhere to depict lions, etc. (Leo the Lion, for example). Some of the young women indicted depict themselves in anime-style drawings on Facebook (Jasminka Ramic) or other wise enjoy anime and like goofy pictures with cats – not all that uncommon from types that frequent the message boards, forums, and social media zones enjoyed by digital currency enthusiasts.
To be clear, I am not saying that what I’m seeing with regards to user names, lions, etc. in the digital currency space is ISIS or other terrorist group – I’m mainly discussing possible communication and chatter between some group of people – could be silly, harmless computer geeks for all I know. Additionally, its important to note that today’s indictment potentially produces nothing more than more confirmation bias for my thinking about certain variables in the digital currency space.
Side note: it is interesting, however, PayPal and Western Union were specifically discussed whereas the “other means” are not.
The broader point, and why I’m sharing now, is to reiterate a need for internet users, especially bitcoiners and the like, to embrace due diligence, questioning, and critical thinking as part of their participation in the ecosystem. Be observant in the digital currency social circles, in particular when using social media. If you see something, say something. Report it to law enforcement.
As it happens, this article is a good segue for revealing that WatchDoge has acquired the domain Moolah.ch. You might recall, up until the middle of last spring, Ryan Kennedy (which may not even be his real name, more on that later) used the domain as the face of his business, MooPay Ltd.