Detailed report on 200+ fake Wayspots
TLDR: For those who don't like insanely long reports, deal with it. I had to.
This will be a VERY long and extensive report since it concerns more than 200 fake nominations in 9 different locations in south Sweden.
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To begin with, several nominators have used the same sign/s (swapping out the information on the board) to create over 160 Wayspots in multiple locations by placing the sign, taking a picture, submitting it and then moving the sign to another location, sometimes changing the information on it, and repeating process. There are a total of 11 different "sign designs" used for this and I will list them below with identifying traits for each "kind". Some of these are duplicated as well, using the same picture with or without some cropping in several locations, completely falsifying them. The rest of the ~55 fakes left are simply pictures and information taken from legit nominations (or other sources) in other parts of the country and used in faulty locations. All of these will be listed with proof of the real locations.
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Not all the signs of the same type show every single identifier, depending on the angle of the picture, how the light and shadows fall and (for me due to being on a cellphone) the resolution of the picture I am able to provide. (On a computer where you'll be able to open a bigger picture it should be a lot clearer). But they will all showcase 1 or more identifiers for the listed type of sign.
REMEMBER, all signposts listed with the same letter, for example A, are the SAME ONE, with different laminated sheets of paper on it. The first PDF is made to showcase the identifiers for the 11 signs used to create over 150 Wayspots.
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Since the complete report will be WAAAAAAAAY too long to put in a single forum post here (believe me I actually tried, no dice) I will put the documentation into two PDF-files (for easier cross reference) and post it below, complete with explanations, supporting pictures, links and similar.
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FIRST:
List of the different signs - with their identifiers, where they are used and corresponding #s for the individual signs. PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!
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SECOND:
List of the individual reports #1-#215.
OBS! When reading the list please cross reference to the sign-documentation above for easier verification of the proof submitted.
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Please take a serious and thorough look at this because it's a major case of premeditated abuse by an organized group to game the system for personal gain. There's no lack of legitimate Wayspots in these areas, this is just pure greed.
Thank you in advance.
Comments
What an impressive detective work, and what shameful abuse you've uncovered. Submitters ought to be banned for life!
Hope Niantic remove all wayspots and all users take all fake nominations.
So these people have been carrying around home made fake signs, placed them in the woods, photographed, submitted and then moved onto the next place? Absolutely insane. Impressive detective work.
Exactly this. Not so much woods as "wooded area behind their house", but yeah... Because I really really doubt that there are 19 signposts missing the exact same sliver on the left side or 40+ frames with the same dent in the top right.... 🙄
"Honorary mention" (#3) because why not? This showed up in Wayfarer this morning - in one of the fake-riddled areas. Looks somewhat plausible, right?
Talks about the tree "Avenbok" (Hornbeam) and support charmingly states "I want it in the game because it's an information signs about hornbeam".
Closeup of the sign. Isn't that a cute snail in the bottom right corner? At least it's a very special very clingy and possibly very dead snail beeeeeecause....
The little blighter is present in this identical sign as well, but lookie here, now we got a county logo from Lund as well. Lund is 130 kms away.... Amazing how the logos crawled away over that distance, but not the snail....
Original sign in actual location here. The fakes just keep coming....
Niantic please do something about the agents submitting fake poi and destroying the portal network with this.
Stop being so lenient NIA. Ban the players doing this. Permanently.
Well done Meenite. Hopefully this kind of abuse will be dealt with in an appropiate manner!
I appreciate the effort you put into this report and flagged it to us, @Meenite-ING! We'll have it thoroughly investigated and write back as soon as we are done with it.
Thank you, @NianticGiffard.
Found yet another fake that I'll add here.
This on is very contextual, because it looks fine at first glance. But the details don't add up.
"Lekplats"
https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=56.209023,14.848258&z=18&pll=56.209023,14.848258
The backround of the picture shows an open green area with single family homes and a hill in the background, BUT on satellite view it's very clear that the "courtyard" in the claimed location is surrounded by red one story buildings (seen on street view from the nearby Iglavägen to the south.)
There's also black rubber mats covering the ground around the play structure, these, as well as the play structure are nowhere to be seen in the satellite view.
Faulty link on #62 in the report, sorry! Here's the real one!
#217 Faktaskylt om Hassel
Type D: metal post, scratch mark
on top left and right side of post,
black mark on top right corner of
sign, "bubbly" edge
Additonal: SiS logo removed, OK
logo added.
IDENTICAL DUPLICATE WITH #70
#62, #179 and #217 are still around, but AMAZING work with the results of the report. Thank you!
In Mexico we have one Expession: "Chale" that can be translated as: "I'll be damned"... it's incredible!
This report took quite a while to investigate, we're done with it now @Meenite-ING!
We have reviewed it and have taken action on 219 Wayspots and 22 Wayfinders in accordance with our policies. While we are unable to discuss our actions in detail to protect the submitter’s privacy, they may include, but are not limited to, sending a warning message, placing restrictions on their Wayfarer, Pokémon GO, or Ingress account, putting their account on probation, or placing a temporary or permanent suspension on their Wayfarer, Pokémon GO or Ingress account.
Thanks for helping us maintain the quality of the Wayspots.
Really impressive work! I thought that some of them looked a little suspect while reviewing them, but I confess I probably have let some of them through.
It’s really hard to catch things as this when you get them as single nominations and do not do detective work like this.
That's probably why so many slipped through. Only a handful where really suspicious on their own (example: #14 and #15 where like next to each other and they're identical).
The one that ticked me off was a "real" sign about trees... On the picture it was located in a thick forrest, but in the nomination it was in a ditch outside someone's house with a road and railroad outside...
When it turned out to already exist in another two locations nearby (and miles away in the real spot) I started digging....
Wow! Congrats @Meenite-ING , great work! Does unfortunately show how easy the system is to manipulate though.
Or at least what is possible when you somehow convince a whole community that it's okay to do this. It wouldn't have worked in my area because someone would have reported them much much earlier. It's about so much more than just "having as many things as possible in game".
@NianticGiffard
Some of the faulty Wayspots are creeping back into the game/s.
This submission (it's #213 in the PDF above) went through Wayfarer in the past few days and its now a portal in Ingress again.
Here is the new picture:
If you zoom in on the map you can clearly see the red marker showing where this map should be located according to the sign itself.
But instead the suggested location is on the edge of the preserve just behind the suburban area, not by the lakeside.
Another interesting sidenote is the signs placement in comparison to the tree in the background.
This is the old Wayspot picture that was removed. It shows the sign seen from straight in front, with the tree sitting just behind the right side of it. Also somewhat visible is a smaller shrub about 2-3 feet behind the left post. The board on top of the sign has a white mark on the right, wood knots in the middle and on the left.
But in the new picture the signpost has suddenly moved about 2-3 feet to the left (the tree is now completely visible on the right instead of being partially hidden by the sign) and the shrub on the left is about 1 foot behind the sign, instead of 2-3 feet). The top board has also been flipped around 180 degrees, white mark is now on the left side, wood knots middle and right.
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Both pictures are taken head on which should mean that the backround would stay exactly the same, especially the location of a big tree. But there's a big difference.
Either one picture would have had to been taken at an angle to make the tree more or less visible (and it isn't), or the sign has been placed in a slightly different spot between the last nomination and this one.
It's the only way to explain the difference in the two.
(Also, there's amazingly little wear or bleach off the fresh wood between the two)
Here is a tip from people nominating, as I write this most people may think, yea we know, but for some people they do not know about these common scams, and I am just helping people out from what I see.
1) People are taking pictures on their phone of little free Library's, then marking the location outside their house (and/or) building them outside their house to try and get stops/gyms outside their house. Which Does not meet eligibility criteria as it is a private home.
2) people are taking pictures of buildings (with no names on it) and pretending their government building or something important to add stops/gyms in those areas.
3) People are taking pictures of plaques but marking it at their homes.
4) People are building parks in their back yard or adding swings to add stops/gyms.
5) People taking pictures of parks and trying to mark them at churches to make their church a gym. Yet the church itself has no playground.
6) Marking trail stops, foot bridges and ball fields by number as ball field 1, ball field 2, ball field 3 and marking them in locations that only have 1. Most in a tree area so they cannot be seen but marked top stars.
7) Changed of name slightly, so it is not notice, and moving the location slightly to mark double stops. Such as: First Baptist Church, Then Christian Baptist church and have different photos.
Most are aware of the common scams, and yes some are following these above that are not scams, but just wanted to help out.
This is useful, but what does it have to do with the proven premeditated abuse reported in this post?
Impressive work. Those players/wayfinders who submitted those fake portals should be banned from Wayfarer forever with no probation.
Apparently loosing a literal sh*tload of Watspots due to cheating has had absolutely no effect on some of the submitters in the area...
This nomination is claimed to be located just next to the recently approved one I wrote about in my comment above. But it's an obvious fake;
1. Here's the real one: https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=56.275423,14.526613&z=17&pll=56.275423,14.526613
2. Picture of the real Wayspot: the troll on the left with fish is identical with the one in the fake suggestion above. You can even see the stone wall in the support picture.
3. There's a black line along the left side of the support picture, very much suggesting that it's a screenshot.
We have taken action on the Wayspot and 1 Wayfinder.
I'm amazed that they just keep on cheating!
I'm just going to quote myself here....
It's the same nomination as in the last comment (quoted) submitted once again in the same faulty location!
Apparently whatever you are doing to stop these submitters from continually cheating it's not working.....
New title/description but same pictures used.
Proof is the same as last time as well. It's the troll on the left in this Wayspot.
@NianticGiffard I am aware that you are trying to give even people cheating second chances, but it's been less than a week since the last attempt.
They really need to just start banning people caught submitting fake wayspots from submitting at all and possibly put a geoblock on locations that repeatedly get fake wayspots added. Wayfarer only bans are not effective.
We've rejected the submission and took action on the player.
This one is still hanging around in game despite it being faulty. It's moved around and the map itself on it disprove this location.