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Another fake geocacher

TheRichFather

By TheRichFather
in General geocaching topics

Followers 5

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Dame Deco

+Dame Deco

Posted
Posted

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

+Twinklekitkat

Posted
Posted

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

+Islalou

Posted
Posted (edited)

Another three...

 

Wiggins8433

 

Sutherland8355

 

Glass4592

 

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

Edited by Islalou
Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

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!

+The Happy Hodag!

Posted
Posted

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!

The Happy Hodag!

+The Happy Hodag!

Posted
Posted

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

+Fugads

Posted
Posted

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

+Poke'Frog

Posted
Posted

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

+Poke'Frog

Posted
Posted

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

+jellis

Posted
Posted

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

Rock Chalk

Posted
Posted

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

+Tassie_Boy

Posted
Posted

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

+GeekinTX

Posted
Posted (edited)

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 by GeekinTX
jellis

+jellis

Posted
Posted

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. :ph34r:

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

Manville Possum

+Manville Possum

Posted
Posted

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. :ph34r:

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. :ph34r:

jellis

+jellis

Posted
Posted

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

Poke'Frog

+Poke'Frog

Posted
Posted

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. :ph34r:

 

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

+Manville Possum

Posted
Posted (edited)

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 by Manville Possum Hunters
PlasmaWave

+PlasmaWave

Posted
Posted

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

+niraD

Posted
Posted

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

+mm&i

Posted
Posted

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?

jholly

jholly

Posted
Posted

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.

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