Best not to impersonate a police officer...

[+Simply Paul]

For your entertainment and, perhaps, education!

 

It started with this log while I was on Guernsey last month:

 

15th find of the day, and a good spot to stop off for a drink. At first my GPS took me to someone's stash of Nuts and Zoo magazines, rather past their prime, under rocks. I dropped them off in a bin as they looked like litter at this stage. The cache was located close by nice and quickly while the place was quiet, even in the hot evening sun. TNLN-TFTC. A top location for a very enjoyable cache. Plus som[e] CITO

 

SP

 

I then received this email:

 

Subject: [GEO] simplypaulRIP contacting Simply Paul from Geocaching.com

Date: 10/07/2010 15:40:25 GMT Daylight Time

From: noreply@geocaching.com

Reply To: tom.ogier@hot-mail.co.uk [extra dash added to avoid automated spaming]

 

WE ARE EXTREMELY ANGERED WITH YOUR RECENT THEFT OF OUR PRIZED STASH. WE ARE DEEPLY DISAPOINTED WITH YOUR BEHAVIOUR AND WILL EXPECT ATLEAST £20 WORTH OF MAGAZINES IN REFUND PLACED AT THE 'TIME FOR TEA' CACHE. WE ARE NOT AFRAID TO TAKE MATTERS FURTHER AND SHOULD THIS NOT HAPPEN WILL CONTACT THE POLICE.

 

User's Profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=df...c5-a73720602a52

 

Just a 'joke' in poor taste? If there'd been a smiley I'd have guessed so but there wasn't, so I replied, CCing contact@gc.com in:

 

Hi Tom, thanks for the email. Given its threatening nature -especially your choice of account name- I'm passing the details of your mail onto Groundspeak, who run the geocaching.com site, and will consider contacting the police myself.

 

Note for Groundspeak, this is the log Tom is reacting to: Geocaching - Log by Simply Paul for Time for Tea! (Traditional Cache) - The magazines were 'non-family friendly' and were badly rain damaged, vaguely hidden under a couple of rocks but still way-too public for a 'stash' of this sort. CITO seemed very-much the appropriate thing to do.

 

Paul

 

I then received this email via GC.com:

 

Subject: [GEO] SouthEastPolice contacting Simply Paul from Geocaching.com

Date: 11/07/2010 01:20:46 GMT Daylight Time

From: noreply@geocaching.com

Reply To: georgemcgahy@ya-hoo.co.uk [extra dash added to avoid automated spaming]

 

We have been contacted by a distressed individual who has claimed that a theft was carried out on an important and expensive item that meant a lot to them. Please contact this individual if you know them to achieve an agreement, whether it is in the form of an apology or compensation. We are not looking to take matters further, but this individual does seem distressed and desperate to reclaim their possession.

 

Thank you for reading this, we hope that an agreement can be acheived.

 

User's Profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=fa...51-ab347a1136ea

 

And replied, CCing Groundspeak in again:

 

Hello 'George' - do 'South East Police' - which doesn't actually exist, and does make you guilty of impersonating a police officer, which is a serious criminal offence - really use a Yahoo mail account? If you continue this campaign I'll have no choice but to inform the actual police of your actions. Achieved isn't spelt like that either...

 

Note for Groundspeak, your service is now being used for something which is criminally illegal in the UK (and the US, I imagine) and I'd ask you to take matters further. The above relates to case 49603fbjhcw

 

Thank you.

 

Paul

 

- So, am I just being a grumpy ol' git and not getting the gag (I could have laughed off the first mail BUT IT WAS TYPED IN CAPS, GAWDAMMIT!) or am I right to try to pinch this in the bud? Going public because I think it'll amuse, either way

Edited July 11, 2010 by Simply Paul

[+The Blorenges]

A good tale. It amuses me.

 

I offer you this link for your consideration...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100...ier1?ref=search

 

MrsB

[+Simply Paul]

I'm a long way from Pid's 'best mate' unless his social-life has seriously imploded of late but thanks anyway. I don't *think* he's daft enough to impersonate the police but I'll keep an eye on him...

Edit: Ah, no, now that link sends me to some kid's page, not Pid saying he's planning his best mate's downfall. You could be right, in which case I hope to impress upon this young man that there are consequences to actions, even online...

 

However, there is also this 22 year old Tom Ogier on Guernsey: http://www.myspace.com/190155672 - The name could easily be a red herring anyway. Who knows?

Edited July 11, 2010 by Simply Paul

[+Bear and Ragged]

I'm a long way from Pid's 'best mate' unless his social-life has seriously imploded of late but thanks anyway. I don't *think* he's daft enough to impersonate the police but I'll keep an eye on him...

Edit: Ah, no, now that link sends me to some kid's page, not Pid saying he's planning his best mate's downfall. You could be right, in which case I hope to impress upon this young man that there are consequences to actions, even online...

 

However, there is also this 22 year old Tom Ogier on Guernsey: http://www.myspace.com/190155672 - The name could easily be a red herring anyway. Who knows?

Well, he does list 'Nuts' and 'Zoo' under Book Interests...

[+Unobtainium]

I'd be more worried by the older of the two Tom's judging by the web sites.

[+Simply Paul]

Well, he does list 'Nuts' and 'Zoo' under Book Interests...

True, but as he's earning betweek £30k-£45k pa he should be able to afford somewhere more secure (and waterproof) to leave them... I'm tending towards someone younger, but I guess you can get into your 20s and still be an idiot. I know I did

[+Bear and Ragged]

True, but as he's earning betweek £30k-£45k pa he should be able to afford somewhere more secure (and waterproof) to leave them...

True.

But I never believe anything about salary on those sites...

 

According to my page I'm a multi-millionaire.

 

 

(Which is not true... I'm a multi-millionaire several times over, but don't tell anyone! )

[+Simply Paul]

£100 is 2,896,400 Vietnam Dong...

[team tisri]

£100 is 2,896,400 Vietnam Dong...

 

I just had a root around in my drawer and found that I'm a multimillionaire in Turkey. I found 4,500,000 Turkish lira.

 

Unfortunately it's not the current lira that are worth about 2-3 to the pound, they are the old ones that were worth about 3,000,000 to the pound. So sadly my millions won't even buy me a pint.

[team tisri]

£100 is 2,896,400 Vietnam Dong...

 

I just had a root around in my drawer and found that I'm a multimillionaire in Turkey. I found 4,500,000 Turkish lira.

 

Unfortunately it's not the current lira that are worth about 2-3 to the pound, they are the old ones that were worth about 3,000,000 to the pound. So sadly my millions won't even buy me a pint.

[+Original A1]

Can't access Facebook link (don't do Facebook), but presumably Groundspeak can identify "these" users through their profile pages...

[+Simply Paul]

I've yet to have a non-automated response from Groundspeak but I imagine one is coming some time soon.

[+ivanidea]

And the moral of the story is not to publicise the fact you have disposed of certain types of litter

 

By the way, well done for CITO, although I do wonder if the cache is in a suitable location and will remain family friendly.

[+RatRunCrew]

Love the story! And yes, take out the cr..ubbish

[+AngryBirds]

I had to give a lengthy explanation to my daughter, when she saw a condom in one of the caches we found. I hope to never find something like that, I will never hear the end of it. Thanks for cleaning this cache and for a good laugh ... I suggest you replace them with Beanos

[+Unobtainium]

I suggest you replace them with Beanos

Or Policing Monthly

[+sTeamTraen]

I had to give a lengthy explanation to my daughter, when she saw a condom in one of the caches we found. I hope to never find something like that, I will never hear the end of it.

You mean one of those really, really big balloons, specially made for filling with water and throwing at people? That's what my kids thought condoms were, until they were old enough to find out. (Alternatively, you could have said "I don't know what it is. Never seen anything like that before." No need for excessive honesty with small people, I found.)

[+Simply Paul]

Still no reply from Groundspeak. It's been a while now...

[+Simply Paul]

And the moral of the story is not to publicise the fact you have disposed of certain types of litter

 

By the way, well done for CITO, although I do wonder if the cache is in a suitable location and will remain family friendly.

I still think the moral of the story is don't pretend to be a policeman

 

I'd say the location is absolutely ideal; the mags had just been dumped I think, rather than actually 'stashed'; they were so poorly hidden as to be hardly hidden at all. It's a great spot for a cache and -now- 100% family friendly. It's a coastal fort - a tourist spot - and the cache is well hidden as well as being disguised. Should be fine.

[+mickyz]

I went to find a cache in Pontypool last week by a nice river location

and Gps was playing up so walked along and as I was getting close to the

river I saw a 'magazine' in a tree and as I looked behind the tree there

were a couple of bricks ( with a cache underneath ) logged the

cache and removed the trash to the nearest bin.

[Deceangi]

Still no reply from Groundspeak. It's been a while now...

 

So you made the complaint on the 11th July, And moan on the 14 July at 00:08hrs, which means it would have been the 13th July in Seattle. that you've not yet had a reply. Groundspeak have a small number of Customer Service Staff, and work through each complaint in order. So the chances are that they are not yet up to Case No 49603fbjhcw. When they do reach your Complaint, they I'm sure will contact you about it.

 

it would have been polite to allow them a reasonable amount of time, within which to action your complaint. Also do you think that posting a copy of a email to a public forum, off someone claiming to be a Police Officer, which as you have pointed out is a Criminal Offence! Is the correct action to take? Wouldn't a more appropiate action to have been to contact the Guernsey Police about the email?

 

And in case anyone is wondering, a genuine Police Officer, would provide full details of his/her position and location based, as part of the email, in all official communications.

 

Deci

[+keehotee]

Hello 'George' - do 'South East Police' - which doesn't actually exist, and does make you guilty of impersonating a police officer, which is a serious criminal offence -----

 

Calling yourself SouthEastPolice in an email does not make you guilty of impersonating a police officer, any more than calling yourself The Police and singing Roxanne on Top of the Pops does! LOL

[+Simply Paul]

Still no reply from Groundspeak. It's been a while now...

So you made the complaint on the 11th July, And moan on the 14 July at 00:08hrs, which means it would have been the 13th July in Seattle. that you've not yet had a reply. Groundspeak have a small number of Customer Service Staff, and work through each complaint in order. So the chances are that they are not yet up to Case No 49603fbjhcw. When they do reach your Complaint, they I'm sure will contact you about it.

 

it would have been polite to allow them a reasonable amount of time, within which to action your complaint. Also do you think that posting a copy of a email to a public forum, off someone claiming to be a Police Officer, which as you have pointed out is a Criminal Offence! Is the correct action to take? Wouldn't a more appropiate action to have been to contact the Guernsey Police about the email?

 

And in case anyone is wondering, a genuine Police Officer, would provide full details of his/her position and location based, as part of the email, in all official communications.

 

Deci

Well now. I made the complaint on the 10th of July, and received an automated reply from Groundspeak at 18:28:02 GMT. If you want to state facts, please make them accurate. I 'commented' over 77 hours later. I'd call that 'a while'. I see no issue with posting the email to the forum. Is there an unwritten rule against it? As for the Guernsey police, I'm keeping that option open and if I hear from this misguided individual again I may well exercise my choice. I think that would be the appropriate time, given I've warned the sender of the possible consequences of their actions now, wouldn't you?

 

Anyway. Despite a (very mild) death threat, demand for money and criminal impersonation of a police officer (note for keehotee and my friend from the north, pretending to be a policeman is what's an offence. I wasn't pretending to be the police in reprinting their contact and Sting et al never said they were THE police, just...um. ) this is what I had back from Groundspeak this morning:

 

Dear Paul-

 

Thank you for writing to us. I am sorry to hear that you received an unwanted message through our website. Some geocachers play the game differently than the rest of us.

 

My best advice is to try and ignore their message and continue to seek your own personal enjoyment out of the game. If you receive any negative messages from this user in the future, especially if they go against our website's Terms of Use Agreement, please do let us know by forwarding the entire message to us and giving us some brief background.

 

As for the current emails, I will be following up with both accounts.

Thank you for letting us know about this.

 

Best Regards-

Dani

 

Good to know they are following this up with both the accounts I was contacted via, but I'm not sure about that 'Some geocachers play the game differently than the rest of us.' line. Still. It's all I could ask for I guess.

[+smstext]

but im sure if they are so desperate for more magazines we could send them our old unwanted magazines, i.e. keep sending them so many magazines they wont ever ask for another lol.

[+sTeamTraen]

Good to know they are following this up with both the accounts I was contacted via, but I'm not sure about that 'Some geocachers play the game differently than the rest of us.' line. Still. It's all I could ask for I guess.

I suspect that you got a fairly standard message... that said, your mail at least got read by a real human being, and had the "offences" been more serious, more action would probably have been taken.

 

Having just spent about two months trying to convince PayPal (annual turnover: about 1000 times Groundspeak's) that using "Nick" as my name when I signed up while having "Nicholas" written on my debit card does not make me an identity-thieving, money-laundering, drug-dealing, international terrorist, I know which customer service department I prefer.

but im sure if they are so desperate for more magazines we could send them our old unwanted magazines, i.e. keep sending them so many magazines they wont ever ask for another lol.

Ahhh, that's a nice thought. I wonder if anyone around here has any experience of this particular business? Maybe got some old samples lying around?

Edited July 15, 2010 by sTeamTraen

[+CanUK_TeamFitz]

Some geocachers play the game differently than the rest of us.

 

Just like some Nigerian Statesmen play the bank transaction system differently than the rest of us.

 

Fraud is fraud.

[+Palujia]

Just to add a little humour to what started out as a humourous thread, got serious then ridiculous and sort of lost its way !

I impersonated a police officer for 30 years or so my superintendant told me !! (and got away with it !!) Now happily drawing my pension