+Dharma Dogs Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Something a little odd happened today. i work on a college campus where there are a few caches, two are mine and the others are on my watch list. A cacher posted a dnf for one of mine and one of the others. My cache is an easy park and grab off a sign in the middle of nowhere but this guy's log says he was looking in trees 50' away, holes in ground... my first reaction was to reach out and contact this poor guy... then I checked his profile and he's been a member since 2007 and has logged not a single find. This feels like some sort of phishing scam to me but I don't if they just wait for contacts to get email addresses attached to the geocaching.com messages or what.... I'll check to see if the cache is still there because I know some folks make it a mission to just go out to take them... but this has something weird written all over it. thoughts? Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 If you're nervous about contacting someone, you can choose on the email form whether or not you want to provide your return email address. There are lots of reasons why an account created in 2007 doesn't show any finds. Maybe they log their finds as notes, eschewing a public find count. Maybe they only log DNF's and NM's, to let cache owners know of problems. Maybe they registered for an account, but only found time to start caching much later. Maybe they're awful at finding caches - this would be supported by what you've narrated! Quote Link to comment
+SeekerOfTheWay Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 (edited) Maybe they're not good at geocaching. But boy are they tenacious! Edited July 20, 2011 by SeekerOfTheWay Quote Link to comment
+Brooklyn51 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 If you're uncomfortable with contacting him, it's perfectly ok to NOT contact him. You could wait and see what happens and just chalk it up to "another odd thing" Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 It would not be a very efficient phishing scam anyway. What information would they be trying to get? "Can't find your cache, would you please give me your PIN and bank account number?" As Keystone said, you are safe responding to them through the geocaching.com website. Quote Link to comment
+bflentje Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 If he didn't ask for contact how can it be a phishing scam? Sound slike you just need to resist the temptation of contacting him/her. Quote Link to comment
+SeekerOfTheWay Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Haha! knowschad! I was just looking at profiles and I came across someone that's been caching since 2002 and only has around 70 finds. So it is possible I guess. Quote Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 (edited) thoughts? I don't see a reference to a cache hidden at a "sign", in any of your cache descriptions. Without a specific clue, people may look anywhere. One of your caches has the icon in the middle of a grassy median, so the only option for cachers may be to look in holes in the ground (particularly if they read the hint). Also, many people use car GPSrs, which will direct them to anywhere but the cache spot. For the very casual cacher, this leads to few finds. It's also possible that this cacher uses only the online maps -- have you compared the icon location to the actual cache location? Don't contact this suspicious cacher. Go there near the place where you work, verify that the container's still there, and make a log note that you did it. Edited July 20, 2011 by kunarion Quote Link to comment
+dorqie Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. I went through one of those phases too. All you AZ cachers will never know I found your caches He could be one of those. If he described an area 50' from gz, he's either the best bot i've ever seen, or he's actually a person. Just uncheck the box that allows him to see your email if you are nervous. But remember that if all you give out about yourself if your email address (so he could reply) there isn't a whole lot he can do with that information but spam you. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. But does your friend log DNFs? Quote Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. But does your friend log DNFs? I tell him that if he's interested in getting a few threads started here, he should start throwing around some NM and NA logs every once in a while... Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. But does your friend log DNFs? I tell him that if he's interested in getting a few threads started here, he should start throwing around some NM and NA logs every once in a while... That would sure do it! Of course, my point is that the subject of this thread did indeed post a DNF. We have no way of knowing if he has posted other DNFs or not, but we do know that he has not logged any finds, so I do find it interesting that he logged a DNF. Quote Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Of course, my point is that the subject of this thread did indeed post a DNF. Oh. That's an interesting point. I didn't catch the implications at all. Quote Link to comment
+GeoBain Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I have a good friend who actively caches but logs none of his finds online. People may or may not agree with that practice, but it does happen. But does your friend log DNFs? I tell him that if he's interested in getting a few threads started here, he should start throwing around some NM and NA logs every once in a while... That would sure do it! Of course, my point is that the subject of this thread did indeed post a DNF. We have no way of knowing if he has posted other DNFs or not, but we do know that he has not logged any finds, so I do find it interesting that he logged a DNF. I've logged DNFs and notes but I no longer log finds. I think the owner deserves feedback but I don't believe in the numbers game that geocaching has turned into. Just my .02 and I do not encourage anyone to follow suit. It's just the way I have chosen to play the game. Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I'm nosey, the OP only has 4 or 5 hides, and found the logs. There are probably other nosey people around here, I just admit it. Yes, they joined in 2008, but I'll bet dollars to donuts they just signed up, never had a GPS, and got a smartphone recently. Logs definitely have a "first cache hunt ever" feel to them. Just my nosey opinion though. Quote Link to comment
+sword fern Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Haha! knowschad! I was just looking at profiles and I came across someone that's been caching since 2002 and only has around 70 finds. So it is possible I guess. The person might have stopped caching when he had 70 finds, or he created an account back then and just started caching. Quote Link to comment
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