Can't we do anything about Spammers

I mean they now Spamming in Went Worth, every Server I go to I find Jack Azz Spamming something like this today

"1000million=$7.5, PowerLeveling 1~50=$13.5."

They find that Went Worth is a good Place to Spam the little Greedy Speechs in there now. Every time we Stop them like form using Emails or do something with trial accounts we Still get them pulling out there Sneaky little Tactics. I just think there should be a System to Stop people form using Trial accounts in the wrong way, I don't no what to do or how to stop people form Promoting Power lvling people for real money or Gold farming or whatever, but it should stop. I just think these Azz's Should get there butt kick and they need a Good Butt kicking.

use /ignorespammer <name>

Report them by clicking on their names and selecting "Ignore as Spammer..." This directs the complaint to a specific location to get the account investigated (and usually closed) as quickly as possible.

When enough people do it, I've seen the occasional GM stealth through and start 'disappearing' folks. So stay proactive and report as appropriately (and honestly).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I'm shocked to learn that the game even still has spammers. I haven't heard a peep from them in at least a year or two.

You don't tackle the problem by banning / deleting the trial accounts that do the spamming...you tackle it by getting rid of the level 50's they have which are feeding the money.

All the devs need to do is go to the websites and purchase a couple dollars worth of influence.

Once the money is sent to them, they go and start tracking it back through the characters to see where it is coming from (along with looking into patterns of people who are playing with those farmers *they probably have little groups which they opperate with, maybe even supergroups on obscure servers*)

Then, they keep doing this and after a while they run out of the high characters they have which are feeding all the massive amounts of influence.

The devs have the power and tools needed to tackle the problem... they just need to put someone on it.

Seems like they are spamming on the forums now, disguised as a rant.

Up to three different (familiar) companies on Virtue.

They're actually doing it in AE now too - not too surprising!

There's so much wrong with the OP, where to start...

First, I'd like to say a heartily sarcastic "Thank you!" for advertising their site for them. That's right, the spammers are counting on people like you to inadvertently spread the word of their dubious service. Thanks to your post, there are probably one or two (or maybe even more) users now thinking, "Hmm, that's not a bad price to get a billion or two of influence without working, maybe I'll just pop over there to check it out..." (Important! To those users: please read on!)

Second, you deliberately modified a curse word to bypass the forum filters. That's a no-no, and may get you into trouble even if your post had nothing to do with RMT spam.

Third, you posted a character's name in your rant, which is yet another huge no-no. How do we know that you are the spammer, and this post is designed to pick on some innocent victim? Probably not, but still, it is blatantly against the forum rules to call out another player like that, and "but they're scum!" is not a legitimate reason.

Fourth, nowhere in your rant did you mention that you reported them. Did you? Do you know how? (Click on their name in the chat window and pick the option to report them for spam.) Or were you so busy coming here to post your indignant rant that you didn't bother? If that's the case, then you're actually part of the problem.

Now, having said all that, in case anyone is thinking of going to that site (or any other) and buying influence consider this. Contrary to what the OP posted, the RMT spammers aren't using trial accounts. Trial accounts can't hold more than, what is it, something like 25,000 influence? So they're not being used as the mules. Trial accounts also can't get above level 14, so they can't be used as the moneymakers.

No, those are real accounts that the RMT spammers are using. If you think about that for a moment, how much it must cost them to continually get those accounts when they keep getting banned, something becomes abundantly clear: They are screwing you over. That's right, on the surface, they might come off as polite, offering "satisfaction guaranteed," and "easy and fast delivery!" But how do you think they're getting those legitimate accounts that they're burning through so quickly?

They are using the product of identity theft--credit card information--to register the accounts. By the time NCsoft finds out that the credit card has been stolen, the account is already banned for RMT spam. Where do you think they are getting the credit card information from? You. How did you think you were going to pay for the influence you're buying? By giving them your credit card information, you are giving them the exact information they need to sign up for legitimate accounts a month or two down the road. Oh, and once they've signed up for accounts, do you think they're just going to kindly toss your credit card information? If you're lucky, it will get sold on the black market to eek out a few more dollars from you. If your'e not, they'll use it themselves to finance various other lucrative operations.

Also, if you buy power-leveling services, you're handing them something much more valuable: a legitimate account that they can use to conduct their shady business. If the account gets banned, what do they care? Of course, the fact that the account happens to be yours and that you cannot play any more is of no concern to them.

Think about this. When you sign up on an RMTer's site to buy their wares, what password do you use? If you're like a hell of a lot of people, there's a decent chance that it's the same password you use on a lot of other sites like, oh, say, this one. So when you register on their site to buy their stuff, what would happen if they try the same username and password you use on their site on this site? Even if you're not one of the 99% of all people who use the same password across multiple sites, there's enough who are that they have a virtually limitless supply of accounts from their own customers. Just out of curiosity, what would happen if I tried that same username and password at Bank of America's web site? Chase's? Wells Fargo? Citibank? Amazon? iTunes?... Do you honestly think that they won't try that?

I guess that's all just the long way of saying that if whoever's reading this post even idly ponders using an RMT service, that makes you pretty damn stupid, and you're just asking to get banned from the game and/or commit financial suicide. But hey, at least they wish you a good day while doing it, right?

A quick tip, I've created a macro for /petition Spam. When I see one of them {which is frequently, since I've taken to bulk crafting} all I do is hit the macro, copypaste the spam text into the petition box {complete with the character name}, tick the "harrassment and conduct" checkbox and send it off. The whole process takes less than ten seconds and they're usually gone within a couple of minutes.

BTW, Tony, mind if I link to your post in general chat from time to time? As PSAs go, it's a pretty good one.

An open letter to NCsoft

A billion influence is going for less then the federal minimum wage. I'm curious to see how low that price gets, when your dealing with credit cards the closer you get to $5 being your average transaction, the bigger the percent of your monthly sales are going to the banks. I'd have to imagine the PL market must be in the toilet.

Also going to RMTers is like paying for sex, it's far better if you find someone willing to give you it because they like you.

I didn't know spammers were still around. I've been spending long periods sitting at the auction houses in Virtue and haven't seen a thing. Maybe my preference for Steel Canyon and St. Martial instead of Atlas and Cap Au Diable has to do with it.

In my experience, it's mainly at Atlas. Between WW's, and now in the AE and standing the crowds during Rikti/Zombie events.

I'm going to assume that the RMT people are no longer a concern of the Devs/GMs/whoever in this game. I reported one in Atlas last night and three hours later it was still there.

I wish there was something I could do, because between this and the incessant "LOL LVL 50 IN SIXX HOWURS!!!! HUR HURHUR" spam I've been seeing, it's enough to make me want to quit.

Outside of the ephemeral treatment of the boards' EULA, I know the game EULA and would be happy to banhammer any of these sewer dwellers.

I can believe that they are still around, but I don't notice them anymore because the first thing I do when I create a new character is set up my chat channels so the only chatter I see is from the private channels I've joined.