Random Messages

[DkFusion]

Hi All,

I'm located on Hyperion and occasionally while at work or going to bed I stay logged in. Well I noticed this morning that over the course of last night I was receiving 4 letter messages from about 20 random people.

Example: Player Name >> StSW

Is this some sort of gil spamming deal or a fishing technique of some sort?

Thanks in advance.

[Myrhn]

Only people on your friend list can send you a mail. Maybe someone there is a rmt or got hacked

[Donarudo]

Only people on your friend list can send you a mail. Maybe someone there is a rmt or got hacked

I don't think dkfusion is referring to moogle mail. They said random messages hence 4 letter messages. I have seen messages like this while playing.

[Zfz]

From what I heard, it's just part of RMT spam where the RMT vendors try to avoid the server spam filter by adding random 4 letter words to their message. When their message still got filtered out, you get these seemingly meaningless 4 letter messages.

[BLaCKnBLu3B3RRY]

hello. first i would like to suggest you remove that players name. i have had my account suspended already once because of that issue.

anyhow, the only thing i can think of... is that the RMT bot is using a macro to send people messages through the player search function. it is always possible their macro got messed up along the way. i am not 100% sure of what method they are using to grab our names without an actual target. but i frequently get RMT spam something like, 'Hello, Motoko Kusanagi...'.

other then that, i don't know.

[DkFusion]

Fixed that although I tend to report. Hrm I guess I'll keep my eye on it might have been going on longer and just never noticed.

[LineageRazor]

i am not 100% sure of what method they are using to grab our names without an actual target.

They probably just use the in-game search tool (or some other software that efficiently mines the same data that the in-game search tool does) - run a search on a specific area with no other parameters and they'll get a nice list of names to target, which their software can then use to include the target's name in the message itself. That kinda thing is not difficult to program. And it IS a program, make no mistake about that! There is no human being behind those messages - and heaven help you if you actually respond to the message, as the software can then make a note of the fact that you are a real living, breathing human, and therefore a priority target for advertising!

[Darius-Stormcrow]

and heaven help you if you actually respond to the message, as the software can then make a note of the fact that you are a real living, breathing human, and therefore a priority target for advertising!

That's interesting- I've talked about this at length with some folks in my FC since they seemed to be bothered by RMT a lot more than I am, and I know a few of them have replied to the tells.

I'm also curious as to whether or not these different sites spam eachother's bots just out of stupid automation. That's gotta be something that happens.

[Donarudo]

Another thing to note. The search function is very robust. All I have to do is type in the letter A in the search function and it will bring ever character online with the letter A. Something to think about. At least add the feature to req more then one letter in the search function.

[Kerwin]

Check the player profile on the website and see how much time he/she put into it. If it looks like a RMT bot, report away.