Uncovering Masterndut's Plastic Mask or Who is Masterndut?
Hello everyone. Please note that the person behind this account is NOT the one who has a Chess.com username, Masterndut, but somebody who knows, based on reliable information, who Masterndut is. The purpose of this article is to warn everybody, especially International (non-Indonesian) Chess.com users who interact directly with this ill-behaved user, and who have no idea who this user is and what he has been doing on Chess.com with regard to his interaction with other fellow users.
Please be warned that Masterndut is an impersonator who easily claims to be anyone else but himself. He used to claim himself to be Edward (Ed or Eddie) who worked in Russia and had a sister named Linda and he also claimed that both of them regularly accessed a joint Chess.com account with a username: Masterndut. That's why he also created a group, Masterndut & Linda with All Best Friends.
Here are some of Masterndut's avatars as captured by Internet Archive WayBackMachine (http://archive.org/web/) on differet dates (from left to right, April 18, 2012; May 15, 2013; June 1, 2013; July 1, 2013; and September 28, 2013):
However, the truth is that everything Masterndut claimed in this regard is either fake or false. There has been neither Edward nor Linda; they were all fake personalities impersonated by Masterndut whose real name is Amir Barus who currently works in a small local company in Jakarta, Indonesia. With his impersonation as Linda, portrayed as a young beautiful lady, he often asked (hopefully did not abuse) other Chess.com users' personal information like phone numbers, Blackberry pins, and even home addresses.
Just for your information, Masterndut first created his account on Chess.com on October 27, 2011. He, then, changed his username to Kak_Ira after a Chess.com user investigated and uncovered his impersonating behavior as thoroughly reported on his blog article (in Indonesian language, unfortunately). On March 26, 2014 Chess.com closed Kak_Ira's account, presumably due to reports of his abusive, offensive, and impersonating behaviors. On April 7, 2014 Masterndut was back to Chess.com with his peviously used username, Masterndut.
Since his impersonating behavior was revealed, Masterndut has been wearing a plastic mask and never reveals his true avatar on his profile (which is his privacy, of course).
Masterndut's current avatar
The same avatar (in slightly lower resolution) was once captured by Internet Archive WayBack Machine on April 13, 2013, proving that both old and new accounts with the same username (Masterndut) refer to the same user:
Masterndut's avatar on April 13, 2013
On January 4, 2014, however, a Chess.com user (a friend of Masterndut's) took several pictures of him in an OTB occasion and posted on his blog, as also shown in the album of this account:
Among Indonesian chess players on Chess.com Masterndut has been so notorious for his impersonating and abusive behaviors that he has been banned from almost all Indonesian groups on Chess.com.
I created this account and I am writing this article to warn everybody, especially non-Indonesian Chess.com users who interact with this user directly about his impersonating and deceitful behavior. I strongly believe that everybody should be concerned about the potential danger of impersonation (which might turn into crime of opportunity) because it is in violation of Chess.com's Codes of Conduct in particular and Netiquette principles in General.
To super admins of Chess.com groups who have promoted this user to an admin position in their groups, please reconsider his position to show your support of Chess.com's anti-impersonation policy and to establish your group's integrity and credibility.
