Open source dev warns of project theft scam: fork passed as original
A fake collaborator tried to steal SmallCode by rebranding a 2-day-old fork.
A Reddit post by u/Glittering_Focus1538 has gone viral in developer circles, warning of a new scam targeting open-source project owners. According to the post, another user (u/Worried_Goat_8604) created a near-identical fork of the original project SmallCode, rebranded it as LightAgent, and falsely claimed to have built it independently. The scammer then approached the original creator, offering a partnership in exchange for making them a co-founder, framing the offer as a collaboration on what they presented as their own earlier work.
The incident has sparked outrage across GitHub and Reddit communities, with many noting that this is not an isolated case. The scam exploits the trust-based nature of open source, where code attribution and originality are difficult to verify without deep auditing. The original developer advised others to regularly monitor forks and contributions to their repositories, use license enforcement, and be wary of unsolicited collaboration requests from unknown users. The post has received thousands of upvotes and comments sharing similar experiences, underscoring a growing need for better community tools to detect and report project theft.
- User u/Glittering_Focus1538's SmallCode project was forked and rebranded as LightAgent by u/Worried_Goat_8604.
- The scammer claimed prior ownership and offered a co-founder role in exchange for merging efforts.
- The fork was only 2 days old at the time of the false claim, according to the original developer.
Why It Matters
Project theft erodes trust in open-source collaboration, risking wasted effort and reputation for genuine developers.