Another fake geocacher

[+TheRichFather]

This appears to be an organized attack on geocaching.com...

 

Another fake cacher using that same .co.uk website in their logs.

 

They just hit one of my own caches.

 

Here's the faker's profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=815e5e35-06f3-456a-9310-a40fa298dff0

[+jellis]

Yup I got hit by Roy5283. No validated email and logging caches all over the world

[+duncanhoyle]

And Holden9491 http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=7ff48eca-4ee1-4574-9318-8c30790cb714

[+Dame Deco]

and Sims3717 http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=64b3149d-e81b-4394-98f0-03a8cdb6f92f

[+TyroneShoelaces]

and Roberts2771

 

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=17b9ef01-19fe-42b3-bf89-5569bae0d127

[+BIGBADJOHN1402]

PCPRO

KERMIT

GODFREY2896

 

all advertising GCPRO cheat site only available on mobiles making you download a fake app before you can read.

[+Dame Deco]

Yep--I saw that, too. Didn't download anything, needless to say.

[+Dame Deco]

Wow--I just clicked on a cache I found a week ago in Colorado, hit "find nearby caches," then "last found," and there are a dozen totally different accounts logging this same thing with the link today.

[+Twinklekitkat]

Can I list 2 more of these users here or must I contact Groundspeak directly?

[+Dame Deco]

Might not help--I literally found a dozen names just by checking on caches within 50 miles of a recent find. This looks to be a lot bigger than a few fake accounts.

[+Gulfdassie]

Antwan193 logged one of mine - deleted the log. 100 finds today in 17 countries.

[+Twinklekitkat]

For what it's worth here are the user names. Finds all over the world in one day and logs mentioning that same website.

 

Fabian2185 100 finds

Woods3868 82 finds

 

You can't even contact them because they are unverified users who just opened their account today.

[+Islalou]

Another three...

 

Wiggins8433

 

Sutherland8355

 

Glass4592

 

All have logged caches within a mile of our house, along with others all over the world

Edited September 5, 2015 by Islalou

[+WalleyeSeeker2]

As I was reading this one of mine got hit

[+Stearman5]

Woods3868

Horn9311

Boggs7750

Dennis1845

 

Add these to the list as well

[Izzy and the Lizard King]

Another posted on one of our caches:-

Donaldson8952

Joined today and a hundred finds around the world

[+The Happy Hodag!]

I just noticed this today on some caches in Wisconsin. If you guys don't mind, I can add to the list:

 

Graham8539

Campbell4988

Beck4930

Carr3693

Sellers7829

Bullock3873

Norton4520

[+jellis]

No offense to the OP but there was no need to create two forum post about the same subject. These should be combined.

[Pup Patrol]

Is the fact that it's a long weekend perhaps a coincidence?

 

B.

[+Team Hugs]

Groundspeak knows. They're working on it.

[+TeamDAAK]

This appears to be two more:

 

Cliff669 http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=0351aa5f-13c2-4bfe-bf6a-4128b8f4307d

Pat5410 http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=bc869127-8121-4163-87b7-c752fa43327c

[+famv17]

And Merrill2353

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=2bd68961-89af-4a2d-9aaa-82c7a356ae6d

[+Lydford Locators]

and Townsend4388

[+Harry Dolphin]

Ah. I was wondering what that was. Two hits (one of mine, and one I was watching by Progc.

And another of mine by Scot5991.

Both have status "Locked Member". Finds were deleted, presumably by GC.com.

Exactly what is it?

[+The Happy Hodag!]

I went through and counted close to 75 different accounts that passed through Wisconsin, some of the accounts listed here I haven't seen until here. How much you want to bet there are over 100 fake account? And what does this really accomplish? I'm just waiting for someone to say "It's worse than we thought!"

 

-The Happy Hodag!

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

Yup I got hit by Roy5283. No validated email and logging caches all over the world

 

I wonder if having validated e-mail accounts would help fight this?

 

Skye.

[+The Happy Hodag!]

Yup I got hit by Roy5283. No validated email and logging caches all over the world

 

I wonder if having validated e-mail accounts would help fight this?

 

Skye.

 

I would say having to validate your e-mail before logging any cache would help.

 

-The Happy Hodag!

[+Fugads]

Another two on caches I was watching

Donovan8052

Chas7330

 

Do their find logs automatically get deleted at some point? As far as I can tell, their find logs are still standing on the caches I was watching. Or do COs have to make the effort to get the logs deleted?

[+Poke'Frog]

Yep, two of my caches got hit by two different fake geocachers: Normand5600 and Alphonse2186. A fellow geocacher friend of mine got hit three times that I know of...by these three: joel1300, Roberts2771, and Godfry2896. We have both sent emails to HQ.....not sure there's much they can do about it, but at least we know they are aware of the problem. I wonder what the reason is for this hacking ~ what could they possibly gain by scamming fake geocache finds? Unless it's a matter of the virus installed by downloading the apps. (Which I also did not do)

[+Poke'Frog]

Another two on caches I was watching

Donovan8052

Chas7330

 

Do their find logs automatically get deleted at some point? As far as I can tell, their find logs are still standing on the caches I was watching. Or do COs have to make the effort to get the logs deleted?

 

I individually deleted the two on my caches, but a friend said when she went back to hers, they had been deleted. So maybe they are being automatically deleted at one point?

[+jellis]

Just got this message from one of our local reviewers on Facebook.

"Public Service Announcement from CacheShadow : Hundreds of fake accounts are creating fakes logs on various geocaches across the globe. Geocaching HQ are aware of the issue. They will be addressing the fake accounts and fake logs in due course. The fake logs include a web link to a site that offered "geocaching cheats"; that site now appears to have been taken offline. Before it went offline, the site was requiring a program/application be downloaded. If you visited the website referenced in a fake log and downloaded/ran the program/application... it might be a good idea to scan your computer for malware. Remember folks : Don't download/click things from unknown sources!" cross posted

[Rock Chalk]

We've locked all of the accounts that we're aware of to this moment. Many of the logs have been deleted, and the remaining ones will be deleted as soon as possible. (Might not be till after the weekend, but we're hoping it'll be sooner.) We understand that someone in the UK has successfully blocked the website referenced in the Found It logs.

 

We have several developers looking into the issue and seeking a possible solution. In the meantime, feel free to delete any logs on your caches that you encounter.

 

Thanks to everyone who brought the issue to our attention here and via our Help Center!

[Tassie_Boy]

Yup I got hit by Roy5283. No validated email and logging caches all over the world

 

I wonder if having validated e-mail accounts would help fight this?

 

Skye.

 

Slows them down and that's about it. Another forum i frequent requires all the validations (mainly due to the younger audience) and they still sign up, let the account sleep for a few months then bring forth their drivel.

[+GeekinTX]

The website seems to automatically log 100 random caches from all over the world. I've stumbled across a few today. They're all new accounts, mostly non-validated email addresses. Some busy world travelers out there!

 

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=90acbdba-e21e-46e6-8786-0372e1da4b1e

 

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=32b5bc21-dba6-4142-888d-a4d80ae8295b

Edited September 5, 2015 by GeekinTX

[+Manville Possum]

The website seems to automatically log 100 random caches from all over the world.

 

One of mine was logged too, so I suspect it may be linked to the fourms here.

[+jellis]

The website seems to automatically log 100 random caches from all over the world.

 

One of mine was logged too, so I suspect it may be linked to the fourms here.

Nah! You're just special. I got hit twice today and some others more the then that.

[+Manville Possum]

The website seems to automatically log 100 random caches from all over the world.

 

One of mine was logged too, so I suspect it may be linked to the fourms here.

Nah! You're just special. I got hit twice today and some others more the then that.

 

Yeah, but most of us have visited the forum too. It's not just a random bot program.

[+TriciaG]

None of mine were hit. Granted, I only have 7.

[+jellis]

I haven't visited the forum for a long while til now. And not til after I was posting the issue on our local Facebook pages. Then I posted on the Forum so. I was getting the random hits before the Forum connection.

Someone said they were mostly going after ones with lots of DNFs. Not sure if that is true. One of mine I recently updated the coords the other hasn't been logged since last year but no recent DNFs

[+kunarion]

None of mine were hit. Granted, I only have 7.

Not even the Robot Uprising bothers with my caches.

[+Poke'Frog]

The website seems to automatically log 100 random caches from all over the world.

 

One of mine was logged too, so I suspect it may be linked to the fourms here.

 

Nope. Two of my caches were hit this morning.....I didn't post here until 4:30 this afternoon ~ 8 hours after being hit.

[+Manville Possum]

I haven't visited the forum for a long while til now. And not til after I was posting the issue on our local Facebook pages. Then I posted on the Forum so. I was getting the random hits before the Forum connection.

Someone said they were mostly going after ones with lots of DNFs. Not sure if that is true. One of mine I recently updated the coords the other hasn't been logged since last year but no recent DNFs

 

Wow, turns out it was a geocache from my dog's account. I had it on my watchlist.

A great place for a BM.

 

It's not related to the forums, and I ain't special after all.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Manville Possum Hunters

[+PlasmaWave]

Two more fake "cachers" opened account 5th September and visited around 17 countries in one day, including one each of my caches:

 

Glass4603

Marshall6053

 

Unfortunately I tried to see what the link in the log ("gcpro.co.uk") was about, before reading the Groundspeak Twitter advice not to click on it - the URL wouldn't open (error) on an iPad but have I inadvertently downloaded some malware anyway? Mmmmm, don't really know how to check on the iPad!

[+niraD]

The spam logs I've seen have been on a cache owned by a dummy account that has been used only to create and own one cache. Caches aren't targeted because you post to the forums.

[+mm&i]

We've locked all of the accounts that we're aware of to this moment. Many of the logs have been deleted, and the remaining ones will be deleted as soon as possible. (Might not be till after the weekend, but we're hoping it'll be sooner.) We understand that someone in the UK has successfully blocked the website referenced in the Found It logs.

 

We have several developers looking into the issue and seeking a possible solution. In the meantime, feel free to delete any logs on your caches that you encounter.

 

Thanks to everyone who brought the issue to our attention here and via our Help Center!

 

Awesome, thanks for getting on top of this so fast. And on a major 3-day holiday weekend too! (in the USA)

Will the fake accounts ever be completely deleted or will they remain locked & find-less forever?

[+Gillala]

Next ones :

Marshall6055

Merrill2350

Oh, and I hadn't been on the forum for ages, FWIW

Edited September 6, 2015 by Gillala

[+Highpointer]

This appears to be an organized attack on geocaching.com...

 

Another fake cacher using that same .co.uk website in their logs.

 

They just hit one of my own caches.

 

Here's the faker's profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=815e5e35-06f3-456a-9310-a40fa298dff0

Make all of your caches "Premium Member Only" caches, and that should reduce the fake log entries.

[+jellis]

Doesn't matter.they hit two of mine that were PMO

[jholly]

This appears to be an organized attack on geocaching.com...

 

Another fake cacher using that same .co.uk website in their logs.

 

They just hit one of my own caches.

 

Here's the faker's profile:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=815e5e35-06f3-456a-9310-a40fa298dff0

Make all of your caches "Premium Member Only" caches, and that should reduce the fake log entries.

One can log a PMO cache just as easy as a regular cache so making them PMO will have zero effect.

[+Alkhalikoi]

I got hit by a Riley1513

 

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=4b05d346-bb0a-4d40-93f4-fb37c910a049