Anatomy of a Fake
Hosette-ING
Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just reviewed a blatant fake that I was able to conclusively identify as a fake in just a few seconds, but that will probably pass. In case it's interesting to other people I'll walk through my process for determining that it was fake and identify as many clues as possible.
The first clue is that I am very familiar with this town and this specific area, and I'm aware that there is a significant and ongoing problem with fakes being submitted and approved there. I was aware that all or most of the nearby wayspots that were shown to me are fake because I've visited them all to confirm that. However, I would have picked this out as fake even if I was unfamiliar with the area, and I'll walk you through how I spotted it. Let's start with the first information I saw.
OK, fine, it's a trail marker. What do I see? The marker is at a pair of parallel trails with hills and trees on each side. For reference, here are full-size version of the main photo and supporting photo. My next step was to scroll down to satellite view. Unfortunately I didn't grab a screenshot of that before submitting the review but I have enough information to approximate it using Google Maps.
This doesn't look anything like a pair of parallel trails with hills and trees on either side, does it? That's pretty sketchy. Just to be sure, I'll check Street View.
Oh hey! No hills. No trees. No paths at all... just some ditches running through a big grassy field. The astute observer will also note that the red bridge that is allegedly right in front of us isn't actually there. If you wanted to you could flip to satellite view and notice that the nature signs along the path also don't exist.
OK, that's conclusive, but am I done? Well, I'm done enough to submit a 1*/Fake review but now I'm caught up in the puzzle... can I figure out where this trail marker really is?. There's a massive clue in here. Check out the main photo and notice that it mentions POINT 52 SPUR TRAIL, HWY 49, and GATE #131?
If you're familiar with northern California you know that Highway 49 is nowhere near Roseville. Here's a map with the pin at the location of the fake. Highway 49 splits off at the area circled and then meanders through the mountains.
Searching Google for "POINT 52 SPUR TRAIL" gets me this map, which shows that the trail is just east of Auburn. If I mash that map up with Google Maps I can find the precise location of the real trail marker, complete with street view. For the cherry on the cake I can find the Point 52 spur trail portal on the intel map.
My summary:
- Known area of plentiful fakes
- Satellite view did not match the photos
- Street view did not match the photos
- The trail marker provided information that suggested its location was far away from the pin
- A bit of extra credit sleuthing found the precise location of the real POI
My advice
If something feels wrong when you're reviewing a wayspot spend a little bit of time investigating to see if all of the pieces add up. Sometimes fakes are super obvious. Depressingly, they often get through despite that.
Comments
@Hosette-ING I’m guessing you will bookmark this as a resource to refer to from time to time.
One if the few conclusive fakes I found in the U.K. I went through a similar process and tracked it down to a trail in Washington state - hardly surprising that the vegetation looked different.
Too bad that it is not possible to share information with the other reviewers. All reviewers have to do location-checking work all over again.
You can report fakes like this in help chat and the staff will remove it from the queue and might give penalties to the submitter.
Source: I make reports over help chat everyday since Germany has a lot of fakes in the system: murals, painted boxes, Stolpersteine (small memorials for WWII crime victims), you name it
BuT yOu’Re SuPpOsEd To GiVe It ThReE sTaRs iTs A tRaIL mArKeR
@kawin240-ING Thanks! I have a fairly long document that I'm going to dump onto the help chat soon. It has documentation of dozens of fakes in this area plus a set that I've spotted while reviewing.
I started a YouTube channel for Wayfarer reviewers 1.5 weeks ago (I posted the link in the forum today) and I would love to make this post into a video. I would just show your post and all the steps you took. Would that be okay? You can say no if you want too.
@CopperChick-PGO Sure, and I'd be happy to work with you on it if you'd like. hosette AT hosette DOT com will get to me.
Looks like I will post the video about this string of posts publicly on March 5. I will post it privately first on my page first and share it with you so you can tell me if you approve.
Call me crazy, but if a nomination is reported as fake, by a long-time reviewer with more than 10,000 agreements -- that nomination should be routed to Niantic staff without the long-time volunteer reviewer also having to fill out an additional report.
@MargariteDVille-ING I would actually like it if I had the option to fill out a report when I mark something as fake or abuse... beyond the text that nobody will ever look at. Give reviewers an extra checkbox or something that let them fill out a report form as part of the review, including the ability to provide additional information (text/images/map links/etc.) That report should go to the support team like any other review.
well if you open help chat and then switch back to reviewing you kind of have that, still, a lot of people don't even know about it. Putting it more prominently on the reviewing site is something I'd like to see too but I wonder if that could, like, be too much for beginners at least
@kawin240-ING Yeah, kind of, but it's not directly tied to the submission. I think an additional "Open a support ticket for this" wouldn't be too much for beginners... and it could be hidden for anyone who had fewer than, say, a thousand agreements and who wasn't in good/great.
I meant that once a Trusted Reviewer says it's abuse, they shouldn't have to also fill out another form. It should just go to Niantic review.
Niantic's viewpoint seems to be either (a) why pay to automate manual labor that volunteers give freely? (b) anything from a 4square upload is OK, so why not this too?
Here is the video I made about this post, I also added a discussion I participated in a few years ago about fake nominations in Mexico. Either that person got all the locations they wanted, or Niantic finally did something about them. I haven't gotten any in Mexico since starting to review again.