How do I report INVISIBLE bots?

[KraggyKor]

We've had 'underground' bots for some time but you could usually see their name plates even though you weren't not be able to focus them to report.

Yesterday in Thanalan (can't recall the zone, the one with Drybone) I saw invisible mining bots .. well actually I saw the 'pickaxe strike' animation and heard the sound but the toon was invisible. The 'hit' animation was completely above ground level so the character was clearly not underground, it was just totally and entirely invisible.

I stood on top of the rocks this bot was mining and could see nothing of it at all.

How am I supposed to report these SE?

[Phaus]

How am I supposed to report these SE?

You don't
They're invisible
Bots are a step ahead no matter what SE does

[Boatrider]

I saw this while mining in Thanalan too. In my case, they weren't invisible, they were inside the rocks. Saw the miner's head clipping through the side of the rock for a brief second.

[Shirai]

Request for an investigation of the area.
It's what I do.

I just name the zone, the specific area and coordinates.
On the name section I just say I don't know because I am unable to target them.

[Umo]

Request for an investigation of the area.
It's what I do.

I just name the zone, the specific area and coordinates.
On the name section I just say I don't know because I am unable to target them.

This^
On a side note, you can turn on others gathering results on your chat log and try to find the name of the bot, although you must be careful not to provide the name of a legit player not botting.

[Aleczan]

This^
On a side note, you can turn on others gathering results on your chat log and try to find the name of the bot, although you must be careful not to provide the name of a legit player not botting.

I checked under "Announcement" in chat filter but there is only "Own Gathering Message" but no "Other's gathering messages." I thought it had it, like, long long ago, but maybe they removed it somehow.

I ran into them for the first time yesterday and I immediately reported, asking for GM live observation of the area. Not sure if they had come or not, but today the bot is still there. One good trick to try to eliminate who is the invisible bot and who is not is to search the region for all miners, then check who is in your map. Then, while standing near the rock they mine, use command /target "Name Surname"

- If the person is far away and not within your range of target, the game usually returns an error saying Unable to use /target "Name Surname" on that target.
- If the person is within your range, the game will make you target the person.
- But for the invisible bot, it will return no error, but you won't target it. It will just fail without error.
I attached the "suspect" name in my in-game report, telling them this person MIGHT be the bot and to please investigate.

Also, I managed to get a screenshot of the strike animation after like 20 tries.

[UlricCraft]

Bump for good thread!

[MStowastiqVahlshdeh]

File a report by using the in-game command [System Menu] -> [Support Desk] -> [Contact Us] -> [Report Cheating]
It gives info on what each category means. You can also screencap the image, loc and name of the botter and report it to the support website later if you don't want to report in game. If you can't click on their name then you can at least type /echo <pos> to get the location you saw it in your chatlog, record the time and report what you saw in detail.

Whether or not we can see them, the STF can see them and likely it is a place they will return to do whatever they are doing so reporting it will allow the STF to locate hotspots for this kind of thing. Here is the most recent ban report, came out today:
Regarding Actions Taken Against In-Game RMT and Other Illicit Activities (Jan. 16)

- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for illicit activity: 462

[Shirai]

On a side note, you can turn on others gathering results on your chat log and try to find the name of the bot, although you must be careful not to provide the name of a legit player not botting.

I feel incredibly silly for not thinking about this.

[Renik]

they are not invisible, they are inside the rocks or underground, sometimes you can see part of their name, make an area search and find a match (bots will always have a DoW or DoM lvl10 and miner lvl50) and report them.