A curiosity on RMT spam

[Bixby]

Something came up in FC chat the other day that's made me wonder whether (some) RMT are targeting players based on something more than just being logged in.

My blacklist is empty, and has been for months and months and months. On a bad day, I get two RMT tells; it's usually one or zero. And I've never gotten an accompanying friend request.

I'd always thought it was just Gilgamesh being cool like that, but the other day some FC members were saying they get a lot more spam than that, and that they had gotten the friend requests, too.

Both myself and another FC member have pretty much the same experience, and it sounds like we do things largely the same. We're hardly ever on a job that isn't 50 (he doesn't have any, and I only switch for a couple roulettes/leves/whatever when I have time), and we both do our shopping & idling & such in Limsa a lot more than the other two cities.

So it's got me wondering if (at least some of) the spammers are actually being a bit selective about their targets instead of just blasting anyone & everyone they can find. Has anyone else noticed anything like that? Do you get more tells in one city/zone or another? Do you get more tells on sub-50 classes? When you're doing something in particular?

[UltimateAoe2]

I only get tells from Gil Sellers in Lavender Beds or North Shroud.


I was on my Bard. So...maybe?

[chocomaid]

I get them on any character, any level, any region, at random intervals. But much like you, only a few times a day, maybe 2-3.

[MomomiMomi]

I only seem to get friend requests in certain zones. I spend most of my time in The Goblet. Don't get tells very often, and I get zero friend requests.

However, whenever I'm out in certain zones, such as Western Thanalan or Lower La Noscea, I get friend requests.

[duvvvv]

always in new gridania, I think my blacklist list is brimming lol I kind of agree that the targets might be lowbies (I get those tells on offering fast leveling or something) because while in the high level maps I don't get any tell. I had assumed before that it might be due to my party finder details, because when I'm partied with my choco it's quiet (except for actual friends tell)
I seriously hope SE find a pattern here and obliterate the lot asap

[zandervont]

one oddity i've noticed recently, that i keep getting spam but no friend requests, but others in FC keep getting requests but no spam. I'm mostly in Mist or on a random map hunt or S marks.

[Kuroyuki-Hime]

Theory 1:
Sellers target mostly Gridanian players because Limsas pirates would probably run off with the gil while Ul'dahns flip the taple and sell something to them, something they dont need and overpriced. But tree-huggers on the other hand....


Theory 2:
Sellers are actually run be SE for some extra income. They use their RNG to randomly select you over and over again (or never). Would be interesting to check on ATMAs when you get a lot of tells...

[Kyandeisu]

I get alot and its been this way since right out of beta when the Gil Sellers players started showing up. I dont know if its because at first I used to tell them to stop pming me *maybe responding was a bad idea* or wut because I get spammed alot both with tells and friend invites. Im online alot thou so maybe thats why i get more even thou I tend to idle most of the day? wish there was a way to just stop people from sending me tells all together.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Hi,
RMT / Tell-chat Spam is brutal and persistent on Adamantoise regardless of the victim's location. At least 2 of the big RMT companies send repeated friend requests. There is no way to decline and run the blacklist macro fast enough to circumvent their follow-on friend requests. They continue this for at least 10 minutes, and the only recourse is to wait it out.

At least 3 of the big RMT companies detect user logins and commence the spam within about 15 to 45 seconds of character appearance. They probably intercept the data-stream packets using their 3rd party softwares, then use bots to commence the spamming upon detection of a user's login.

I, and fellow FC members, receive about 15 or so spams per login. I have to spend considerable time purging the blacklist. I report every incident, hoping that something will be done to mitigate this.

[Nutz]

I haven't had much RMT trouble since the limited /tell patch, but I have had some incidents. Usually it's just a /tell (and typically when I'm out of Mor Dhona, oddly perhaps). Once i got a friend request. Upon declining it it was immediately resent. I thought this was a bit odd and perhaps a bit clever, but declining it again and then blacklisting them quickly worked. Usually I only get about 1 RMT /tell per hour or two online, so it's significantly better than it used to be. A very minor annoyance now as far as I'm concerned.