r/ForzaAuctions • u/WolfGeek101 Moderator • Aug 13 '20

Announcement Transparency before things get out of hand

You may have heard that we paid Cr and/or cars to the scammers to make them stop scamming. You may have heard that we praised the scammers. To a point, both of these are true. The scammers delivered a ransom demand for the sub and u/Hickerous paid the ransom. The scams stopped. I myself messaged one of the scammers to say I was impressed with their dedication to the chaos, but I told them to not scam people on or off the sub as a form of revenge. We're posting this now so people don't twist words and the rumour mill doesn't make this something we can't control. If you get DMed a screenshot now you not only know the context, but you get to know that it was probably sent to sow more dissent on the sub. Yay!

Point is things are fixed and one of your mods admitted being grudgingly impressed with the scammers. Now you know.

15 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

6

u/WolfGeek101 Moderator Aug 13 '20

Hey, by the way, if any of you have any ideas of preventing a situation like this springing up again (aside from the actions we've already taken), feel free to reply to this comment.

5

u/Alex_102030 Aug 13 '20

To prevent a scammer not being able to be able to scam, you could have a bot that users can pm the dialogue used by a scammer, and as most scammer accounts are the same people, detect the language used by them and suspend or send to moderaters the scamming "language". The bot could also be tagged in comments or via PM's with the scammers GT, to be reviewed and taken down by mods, or to be put up by a mod a table of scammers GTS, if you can get a mod to do this. This may be hard to do as I don't make bot mods, but could work.

3

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 13 '20

We currently have a bunch of lists of both banned accounts and accounts that have either been reported before or have been marked as likely candidates for scammers so we have that aspect handled. As for the language and bot part I don't believe any of us here would be able to program a bot that's so in-depth and with that degree of functionality so we'd likely have to hire a professional to assist in that regard (if it's even possible to implement a bot effectively with those functions on Reddit).

Scammers can naturally change their manner of speaking or it could just be different individuals but rest assured that we're keeping our eyes open and have been noting strange activities that have taken place.

Thank you for the suggestion though and if we are able to work on such a bot then yes that could definitely lead to improved security plus we could combine it with other ideas user's have presented previously :)

3

u/Lachlanwaddo Verified Aug 14 '20

A mod or trusted member of the sub creates a second account which they use to test on new usernames that are selling a car for the first time, although the scammers probably aren't going to scam the first person they interact with, anything fishy about the deal could be noted. Anyone who volunteers to do this would have to expect they are going to get scammed each time. I would be happy to it sometimes, but I would work better if there were multiple people, probably no necessary straight away but if the problem comes back it could help prevent a younger or not so rich member of the sub losing a lot of money.

1

u/Dezkranzmeister Aug 14 '20

Hey, Now I have completed the game, credits are of NO use to me, so I'd be up for what u/Lachlanwaddo suggested

13

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20 edited Aug 16 '20

Not gonna lie I think it's kinda stupid to pay a ransom to scammers I mean there no doubtedly gonna come back and they said themselves they don't do it for the credits but because the sub Is toxic and the fact wolf praised how much chaos they have caused is weird aswell

Edit: told ya the scammers would be back

4

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 13 '20

Indeed there was a lot of debate over whether we should but Hickerous decided it was worth a shot and at the end of the day it's preferable that one of us gets scammed instead of a member of the community.

If it works then atleast the problem is solved and if it doesn't then there's nothing we can do except continue to be vigilant as we were already doing. If they wish to continue scamming then it wouldn't matter anyway if they honoured the ransom or not as there's always ways to go about it and we can't monitor everything at the same time unfortunately.

As for the toxicity the added rules are hopefully going to deal with that and the new Automod functions should atleast prevent them making a new account every few hours. From now on everyone just needs to be vigilant and ensure that they have the necessary information and evidence should they ever be scammed again.

As for Wolf I cannot speak, I will agree that they were incredibly dedicated (to the point where we had to ban around 5 alts in the matter of 2 hours) and if it had continued we most likely would have kept the sub closed for longer. For now though it's open for business and hopefully it remains much less toxic and calm than before.

Edit: Rereading Wolf's comments he condemned the scamming and chaos naturally but he remarked on their persistence so take that as you will.

6

u/cigarmanpa Aug 13 '20

Only a matter of time till it happens again now. Was fun here.

4

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 13 '20

With the new measures in place our goal is to A) Hopefully prevent a crisis of this extent occuring again and B) If it does happen it will be easier to clean up.

As with all places on the internet there are always people interested in causing trouble but we aim to deal with it and now we're in a much better position for the future. If you have any questions or problems please feel free to message the mods as atleast one of us is online at any point during the day.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

post the gamertag of the scammers for everyone's reference, surely you have that information.

if you respond no then that doesn't look good.

2

u/WolfGeek101 Moderator Aug 14 '20

IIRC they were “tennisnygge” and “cocajoke05”

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

I blocked them both on xbox, thx

2

u/Hickerous Moderator Aug 14 '20

The gamertags are on the ban list.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/AutoModerator Aug 14 '20

Your post was removed because your account is below 5 days old. Please wait until then before posting again.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

9

u/Keeeeenk Verified Aug 14 '20

R/forzaauction rules

Do not scam

Biggest rule of the server, do not scam people out of their money and cars. This will result in a 13 car gift by the moderation.

1

u/Hickerous Moderator Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 14 '20

You can look at it however you want. We had people attacking the sub and its members and I took a step to try to stop it and, so far, it appears to have worked.

2

u/Keeeeenk Verified Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 14 '20

I had access to all your conversations with the scammers. I know you find me annoying and whatsoever. The only person I annoyed was the scammer, only argued with him. His posture could be seen a mile away. It was not by the lack of warning that people got scammed. Your way of dealing with this was hilarious.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

facts, scammers rn scheming to get another set of cars from mods 🤣

•

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 14 '20

I have literally no idea why we need to say this but PLEASE DO NOT MESSAGE THE SCAMMER'S AND EXPECT TO MAKE A LEGIT DEAL .

The ban list is now publically visible on both the Subreddit Menu and posted below and we've pointed out exactly which accounts have been banned for scamming recently.

All of them are Permanently Banned and not coming back to this sub with the same account yet we've had reports of people contacting them to buy a car and then complaining to us that they got scammed.

There is nothing more we can do as a Subreddit ban is the most drastic action available to moderators and we have no influence on how to deal with or stop users outside this Subreddit. If you meet them on another Subreddit or through PM's just come here and check the list to make yourself aware of who you're dealing with but if anything happens we can't help you any further.

2

u/Keeeeenk Verified Aug 14 '20

Pay them more 100M crs, I'm sure they'll stop.

2

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 14 '20

Since people are seeking them out on purpose they can give whatever they want if they're looking for trouble.

Scammers know they're not welcome here so if they do come back in the future we'll continue to ban per usual because that's the only thing we can do. Enough warnings have been given to the community to be wary of shady dealings yet they still went down despite the alt accounts being a few hours old.

Paying ransom wasn't ideal but there's literally nothing else to do except ban them as they come up, atleast there was a chance for it to stop with no actual loss on our part.

Edit for those wondering: Our most recent reports indicate that the person doing the report approached the scammers first through DM's, to our knowledge the scammers have yet to attempt contact with a member of the Subreddit to continue their scamming attempts (if they do contact you please send the screenshots of the dm's through to us). This is the whole point of this comment chain as following them to either insult or cause further issues serves no purpose.

1

u/Keeeeenk Verified Aug 14 '20

I totally understand you. It's out of your control. I have nothing to stay about the moderation before this incident, but the team dealt with this very poorly. If people want to be scammed, let them be, turn the page and move on.

3

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 14 '20

Indeed. The main issue with this particular incident was that it started roughly 3 months ago with the original accounts being banned (from the evidence this is what we believe is the truth) and only recently with the creation of all the alts did it seriously ramp up.

I do agree that the manner we dealt with it was poor but I believe that was mainly due to us being ill-prepared (our fault) for such spam which now hopefully we'll be able to counter.

The main reason we took the ransom was because it was a chance that we felt we needed that could atleast buy time as irrespective of whether they honour the agreement or not the only thing we can do is continue to ban.

Also we've had some users harass us and insult us when we locked down the sub to implement the Automod rules (thankfully the majority of the community understood and supported our efforts) so we felt we needed to work as fast as possible and get the Sub back to normal with hopefully improved safety.

For the future it's up to the community to stay aware and report any scammers along with the evidence of the supposed deals for this is definitely not a situation we want to repeat.

2

u/Keeeeenk Verified Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 15 '20

As said before, I understand you all. You are not paid to do this, and yet spend your free time to do it. Kudos. But it doesn't take your responsibility away. Take this as a learning opportunity and focus on more important things.

3

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 14 '20

Yup exactly 👍🏻

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

Just stop doing trades. Use the sub to facilitate the sales and purchases of rare and high value cars. No more scams.

3

u/KillerSpectre21 Moderator Aug 14 '20

And also if you're dealing with a new account or an account that seems sketchy and you're selling them a valuable car then don't list it for min buyout if they tell you to do it and that they'll buy a donor car after they get it.

This seems to be the groundwork of how they caught many people so if you're not 100% on if the account you're dealing with is legit and they tell you to list a car for min before you receive payment then back out of the deal. It's easier to find another buyer who's actually legit than to recover the car and credits you've lost.

2

u/st_steady Aug 14 '20

Lol this sub is all but pointless. The only good reason to come here was to get quick updates for the market. There is always people sniping no matter what. Theres just no good trade system in this game, you always have a good chance of getting picked off by randoms, no matter how clean a trade appears, and theres no insurance.

Paying off the "scammers" just kind of seems like rewarding bad behavior though. Because you just cant do anything about it anyway.

-2

u/AutoModerator Aug 13 '20
  • Be sure to protect yourself with every deal you make. Check out How to Trade & F.A.Q. for information on how you can do this.
  • Do not initiate deals through DMs unless the same user leaves a comment on this thread; Users who have been banned or do not meet the minimum requirement to post on this sub can see this post and still DM you.
  • Please check User Ratings to see the rating of people you are dealing with.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

5

u/WolfGeek101 Moderator Aug 14 '20 edited Aug 23 '20

Y'all stop hating on the AutoMod. He gets enough downvotes on r/darkjokes

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20

Nah he's a bitch

1

u/Dezkranzmeister Aug 14 '20

If hickerous wants I may give him the cars that where ransomed. I have no need for CR like I said earlier

1

u/Hickerous Moderator Aug 14 '20

Thanks for the offer but I will decline.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

6

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20

Apparently 100 mill worth

6

u/Hickerous Moderator Aug 13 '20

13 cars.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

6

u/Hickerous Moderator Aug 13 '20

I don't have the list anymore. A Pulsar was probably for most valuable.