The whole story began when a Taiwanese Cerberus player friend of mine apparently got hacked. Some people in his LS tracked his gear seemed to got sold off by Cerblm via AH and bazaar (the character was discovered bazaaring the gear in Rolanberry by someone who noticed consistency of the gear by bazaared with the gear the hacked character had). It also happens that alleged hacked player is black mage main... so CerBLM sounds like a reasonable name for such activity.
Today, when browsing and buying/selling gear from my mule... I also discovered this by accident:
Cerlkj
I have no way to confirm if that is someone's gear or not, but there are awful lot of similarity between Cerlkj and Cerblm. Same name prefix (apparently referring to Cerberus), limited AH history (and all selling, and in a way that looks like someone is quiting).
The evidence is mostly circumstantial, but it clearly appears in a pattern. I wonder does anyone notice such things in other server... So may in Carbuncle it will be something like Car(something); for Fenrir it is Fen(something).
Edited, Mar 5th 2008 2:12am by scchan
Edited, Mar 5th 2008 2:13am by scchan
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Patterns in hacked account gear being sold offFollow
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
RMT have a long history of naming characters after the server.
Lunali wrote:
RMT have a long history of naming characters after the server.
And after jobs, too.
And after sequences on the keyboard.
lkj
asd
oiu
nji
vcxz
lkj
asd
oiu
nji
vcxz
Interesting...
"garblm" on Garuda matches the same pattern. No buys, just lots of sells, and it's all top-grade expensive gear for a variety of jobs, looks remarkably like the sell-offs from hacked accounts.
scchan wrote:
The evidence is mostly circumstantial, but it clearly appears in a pattern. I wonder does anyone notice such things in other server... So may in Carbuncle it will be something like Car(something); for Fenrir it is Fen(something).
When my account was stolen someone called Fenlo sold my stuff on Fenrir on the AH as well as the angel skins he farmed with my character. Got it back a few days later and thanks to SE banning compromised accounts that were used for RMT lost it again at the end of the month(been over 3 months now and still under investigation =/ ).
I searched for Syl- names, and wow, a lot of them were OBVIOUS RMT (the ones that didn't have names that could actually be pronounced, at least.) Most of them looked bant, though. But 
RMT
RMTWould be wise to bring this finding to SEs attention.
I don't see much on Ragnarok just looking quickly, with the possible exception of some people that sell an awful lot of fish...
Ragcheng looks to fit the pattern of selling off high end gear in bulk, but the dates are all back in November. I'm guessing that char was either quitting, or selling gear for rmt. But, I hate guessing...
Anyhoo, it is interesting to look at characters and see how they buy and sell. Personally, I tend to use my mules to sell certain items I farm (one for misc junk, one for crafting stuff, etc.) I think you do have something with the timeframe thing tho. It is certainly suspect to see so many high end gears sold in a short period of time. If the time is more spread out, I'd tend to think they are more likely to be legit.
Either way, its worth bringing to the task force. Just don't bog them down from giving us the update we are all waiting for! :p
Ragcheng looks to fit the pattern of selling off high end gear in bulk, but the dates are all back in November. I'm guessing that char was either quitting, or selling gear for rmt. But, I hate guessing...
Anyhoo, it is interesting to look at characters and see how they buy and sell. Personally, I tend to use my mules to sell certain items I farm (one for misc junk, one for crafting stuff, etc.) I think you do have something with the timeframe thing tho. It is certainly suspect to see so many high end gears sold in a short period of time. If the time is more spread out, I'd tend to think they are more likely to be legit.
Either way, its worth bringing to the task force. Just don't bog them down from giving us the update we are all waiting for! :p
Searching the listening "Car" under player searches in FFXIAH-Carbuncle brought up a lot of characters selling same items over and over, like stacks of coral fragments for 120k each and they sell them back to back. 90% of the names starting with 'Car' under Carbuncle are most likely RMT.
At least according to FFXIAH.com, Cer~ something character that has a Jeuno transaction history is at least above 100. Most of them do appear to be dealing with fishing item and more generic crafted items. Cerlkj, Cerblm, Ragcheng do stood out different in terms of items being sold off.
I am wondering if there is an effective way to limit short-lived characters in the game. I do know people use mules to do quests for specific items, and some of such quests have workarounds now including a minimum level limit now. I myself got a level 1 Tarutaru in Lower Jeuno myself too, but she has been there very long time now -- even she is the youngest mule, she has the longest playtime of all mules:P
I am wondering if there is an effective way to limit short-lived characters in the game. I do know people use mules to do quests for specific items, and some of such quests have workarounds now including a minimum level limit now. I myself got a level 1 Tarutaru in Lower Jeuno myself too, but she has been there very long time now -- even she is the youngest mule, she has the longest playtime of all mules:P
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
why dont they just ban IP from China?
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
Ramzby on Ramuh recently sold off one of my friend's gear after his account was hacked. SE refuses to return the account because my friend no longer has the original codes. It's too late now anyways as the account has been completely stripped.
Quote:
why dont they just ban IP from China?
I usually do not respond to comments like this, but...
I know one or two players do play from the mainland legitly, and assuming all RMT is Chinese is stereotyping. No, the world don't work like "the Bush Guantanamo Bay." There are RMT sweatshop shops even in Mexico (that is even reported in the news), and probably in Eastern Europe too.
I myself is Chinese too :P
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
OddlerJiub wrote:
why dont they just ban IP from China?
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
I'm not sure if chinas copyright laws are really allowing RMT activities in the 1st place. I'm pretty sure I read in an article a while ago(can't remember where though) that people went into jail for those kinds of activities in China. But I guess most companies don't care enough about the problem to actually bother sueing a company in another country. Most of those cases of people being arrested probably RMTed in games that originated in China. I think it's the same with bootlegs. There is someone obviously selling bootlegs of a lot of different anime series and movies on EBay. That guy is living in Luxemburg. He's been doing that since the 10th November 2004 and has sold a total of 8290 bootlegs so far. I even send a report to Ebay but guess what? Nothing happened. As long as the companies in Japan who own the anime don't sue that guy for selling illegal copies he'll just keep doing it.
There has been a case of virtual property theft in Holland that was actually prosecuted by the police btw.
Here's the link to the news: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2599663.html
As long as the companies releasing MMORPGs don't change their attitude toward RMT and the problems nothing will happen. I'm sure if they tried hard enough they really could take down companies like IGE for good.
I think it is more a problem of how to find a practical long term way to prevent RMT is what keep a lot online game service provider to take really tight action.
Those RMT companies (even may be owned by a Japanese or an American) are probably somewhere else where the copyright laws and even the rule of law is not as good. It does take money and manpower to pursue those companies. The whole idea why RMT making money is worth their money (even with continuous banning) to do what they do.
Another thing is... I really hate to say.. a lot of the problem is fueled by the player base. Let set aside how much the RMT companies account fees are, I bet a lot of players are cheating. Someone made a survey here, and found 20-30%(?) of the responder admit they had bought gil before, and Alla is already a little noobish. If you post the same survey in BG and KI, and people there willing to honest respond to you and not starting another big flame war, the number will even be higher (and more likely to buy even a higher number of gil considering the culture of players there). The truth is A LOT OF "legit" PLAYERS RMT.
Those RMT companies (even may be owned by a Japanese or an American) are probably somewhere else where the copyright laws and even the rule of law is not as good. It does take money and manpower to pursue those companies. The whole idea why RMT making money is worth their money (even with continuous banning) to do what they do.
Another thing is... I really hate to say.. a lot of the problem is fueled by the player base. Let set aside how much the RMT companies account fees are, I bet a lot of players are cheating. Someone made a survey here, and found 20-30%(?) of the responder admit they had bought gil before, and Alla is already a little noobish. If you post the same survey in BG and KI, and people there willing to honest respond to you and not starting another big flame war, the number will even be higher (and more likely to buy even a higher number of gil considering the culture of players there). The truth is A LOT OF "legit" PLAYERS RMT.
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
they already have done that and u know what happened?
remember a long time ago when the ah search function and search for party option were down ingame. its because certain hackers from china launched a massive attack on certain jp internet accesed things and ffxi was one of them.
so to do so again would cause us all drama.
remember a long time ago when the ah search function and search for party option were down ingame. its because certain hackers from china launched a massive attack on certain jp internet accesed things and ffxi was one of them.
so to do so again would cause us all drama.
OddlerJiub wrote:
why dont they just ban IP from China?
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
"it will cut off part of the player base" Honestly i never met one person from china who plays this game legit, and its chinas copyright laws that allow for RMT activity. So i would say for the sake of business why not ban China IP addresses and services, until copyright laws are changed.
they already have done that and u know what happened?
remember a long time ago when the ah search function and search for party option were down ingame. its because certain hackers from china launched a massive attack on certain jp internet accesed things and ffxi was one of them.
so to do so again would cause us all drama.
Although there is nothing you can do from buying stuff of AH from those Cer~ Bis~ or Car~ or whatever (most things that got sold that way do have a more limited value -- i.e. no one is gonna AH a Kraken Club or Speed Belt).
But get the word out to your LS members, don't buy bazaar items from those suspicious looking Cer~ Bis~ or Car~ etc.
But get the word out to your LS members, don't buy bazaar items from those suspicious looking Cer~ Bis~ or Car~ etc.
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
OddlerJiub wrote:
why dont they just ban IP from China?
I want SE to IP ban anyone outside of Japan then.
Seriously..STF stated NUMEROUS times..as well as SE that RMT is -not- Chinese only, there were HUGE RMT operations working in America AND Japan..
So if we should IP ban China...why not America, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia?
I know tons of people from China who aren't RMT..they get sick of people banning their IP ranges when they just want to play games.
OddlerJiub wrote:
why dont they just ban IP from China?
If someone is speeding why don't they just shut down the whole road and take everyone to jail?
One thing that worries me about this form of RMT gil making is... in the past, those guys fish, they sell stuff to AH, they are annoying and may taint the economy, but they do not directly destroy player accounts. This is a completely different story. Even with SE restoring the accounts to the original gear, I am fairly sure there is nothing SE can do in restoring gear -- you cannot strip the items from whoever owns it now, nor you can prevent MUDflation if you just give the restored account the stolen stuff.
Chances are not everything can get restored, and I am not sure if there is anything better can be done. Getting the gear is part of the motivation and drive for the game. Quite a bit of people will quit the game due to stripped restored accounts or even inrecoverable accounts. Folks, do your best in making sure your PC is safe.
Chances are not everything can get restored, and I am not sure if there is anything better can be done. Getting the gear is part of the motivation and drive for the game. Quite a bit of people will quit the game due to stripped restored accounts or even inrecoverable accounts. Folks, do your best in making sure your PC is safe.
Amanada (Cerberus-Retired) (aka MaiNoKen/Steven)
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
-- Thank you for the fun times in Vana'diel
Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is
beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.
- George Sand
A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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