"Item Purchased" Gold seller Player mail Spam/scam

Hypertionb14_ESO · May 2014

it seems like gold sellers have started a new annoying trend. they are now sending advertisement Player mail with the title "item purchased" with a list of random items and website etc. Even going so far as to include item links when clicking on the items.

Im not sure if they think i wont report this behavior out of personal fear, but i have now done so 4 times in the past few hours. these Player mails seem blantently attempting to cause the players harm if they report. Attempting to trick GMs into thinking the players who report the advertisement spam mails are buyers.

ZOS really needs to put proper systems in place keeping these bots out and take approprate action against the Websites guilty of what at this point amounts to Corporate Sabotage against them.

Chirru · May 2014

You are right...I got such a mail also. Many players on this forum have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current state of this issue...yet I have as yet to come across a valid solution to the problem, a solution that does not hurt the players also.

Loxy37 · May 2014

There will never be a solution that will not hurt the players. The simple fact Is that to combat the bots we will have to have core game changes that will impact all of us, if they don't sort it soon then people will leave and all that will be left is the bots, then FTP will be the games future with everything up for RMT but this time Zenimax will be doing the selling!

Jarnhand · May 2014

No, its a VERY easy solution:
Zenimax need to hire and pay more GMs to hunt and handle bot reports 24/7, this is NOT hard, its just a money issue.

IF they want to get rid of the bots, they CAN.

Skirmish840 · May 2014

Yeah I received that Email OMG o.0

It's just LAME what's going on....

starkerealm · May 2014

Now just wait for reports of players being banned, or having their gold balances zeroed for receiving these mails.

zhevon · May 2014

I received those emails - I have been dutifully reporting them since its like 1 or 2 a day.

YourNameHere · May 2014

Well, if you don't have a guild or your guild doesn't have a guild bank ... then you should know you didn't buy an item.

So you shouldn't clink on ANY links, whatsoever.

What I would like is a way to take a screenshot of the e-mail or some way to copy it to the report so they can see what it says.

Heck mine has colours in it! So so fancy.

Seriously though, please stop with the 'I'll quit if Zen doesn't do something' threads.

Yes bots are annoying. But there is a ton of more stuff to do. Hate to see how some people react with annoying people at their work if bots make them nearly go nutters.

*rolls eyes*

theyancey · May 2014

I got one of those. Reported it as usual.

Tion · May 2014

I recived an ingame mail with the title "We remember you", to implicate i would ever had bought something from them. I reported the mail as usual & wrote in the report that they try to blame me in the mail-title.
I think they just try to scare the gamers to not get reported.

starkerealm · May 2014

Tion wrote: »

I recived an ingame mail with the title "We remember you", to implicate i would ever had bought something from them. I reported the mail as usual & wrote in the report that they try to blame me in the mail-title.
I think they just try to scare the gamers to not get reported.

As dour as I've been on the boards lately, this is kind of a good sign. Might be too late, but still, at least the botters are scared now.

KhajitFurTrader · May 2014

starkerealm wrote: »

As dour as I've been on the boards lately, this is kind of a good sign. Might be too late, but still, at least the botters are scared now.

Only scared? Desperate.

zhevon · May 2014

Tion wrote: »

I recived an ingame mail with the title "We remember you", to implicate i would ever had bought something from them. I reported the mail as usual & wrote in the report that they try to blame me in the mail-title.
I think they just try to scare the gamers to not get reported.

Thats creepy - I just get the normal ads - so far.

Corew · May 2014

Tion wrote: »

I recived an ingame mail with the title "We remember you", to implicate i would ever had bought something from them. I reported the mail as usual & wrote in the report that they try to blame me in the mail-title.
I think they just try to scare the gamers to not get reported.

I received the same mail, and yes.. it certainly seems like they are trying to discourage players from reporting them

Censorious · May 2014

I don't even bother reading them.

The moment I get a multicoloured mail I just hit 'F1', type 'Gold seller' and hit enter followed by 'X' (delete).

I'm thinking of writing a macro to do it for me.

starkerealm · May 2014

Censorious wrote: »

I don't even bother reading them.

The moment I get a multicoloured mail I just hit 'F1', type 'Gold seller' and hit enter followed by 'X' (delete).

I'm thinking of writing a macro to do it for me.

But... then... what of my rainbow declaration of friendship and creepiness?

Censorious · May 2014

Shudder...

Syzmicke · May 2014

Censorious wrote: »

I don't even bother reading them.

The moment I get a multicoloured mail I just hit 'F1', type 'Gold seller' and hit enter followed by 'X' (delete).

I'm thinking of writing a macro to do it for me.

I would not make a macro you will porb get banned for botting

Requielle · May 2014

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

Chatoyancy · May 2014

YourNameHere wrote: »

What I would like is a way to take a screenshot of the e-mail or some way to copy it to the report so they can see what it says.

Pretty sure you can, actually? There's a checkbox on the report screen that will allow you to send a screenshot. I believe when you open the report window or bug report window, before the overlay actually loads, it automatically takes a screenshot and saves it as bugreport.jpg in your Screenshots folder. If you check the box, it will send it with your report.

starkerealm · May 2014

Requielle wrote: »

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

I don't get this kind of crap in other MMOs with free mail systems. I never got Goldseller mail in Star Trek, even before it went free to play and locked out the chat systems until you had 10 hours of logged play time on your account.

Bazzakrak · May 2014

starkerealm wrote: »

Requielle wrote: »

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

I don't get this kind of crap in other MMOs with free mail systems. I never got Goldseller mail in Star Trek, even before it went free to play and locked out the chat systems until you had 10 hours of logged play time on your account.

I would just really REALLY like for Zos to at least give us a nice 1 click option to report these people.
Cant be that hard to make, they have had plenty of time to whip a coder into making such an option

starkerealm · May 2014

Bazzakrak wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Requielle wrote: »

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

I don't get this kind of crap in other MMOs with free mail systems. I never got Goldseller mail in Star Trek, even before it went free to play and locked out the chat systems until you had 10 hours of logged play time on your account.

I would just really REALLY like for Zos to at least give us a nice 1 click option to report these people.
Cant be that hard to make, they have had plenty of time to whip a coder into making such an option

Incidentally, something Star Trek actually had. Along with a separate, semi-automated review process specific to checking for goldsellers that would cut down on customer support's overhead, when it did get used.

Bazzakrak · May 2014

starkerealm wrote: »

Bazzakrak wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Requielle wrote: »

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

I don't get this kind of crap in other MMOs with free mail systems. I never got Goldseller mail in Star Trek, even before it went free to play and locked out the chat systems until you had 10 hours of logged play time on your account.

I would just really REALLY like for Zos to at least give us a nice 1 click option to report these people.
Cant be that hard to make, they have had plenty of time to whip a coder into making such an option

Incidentally, something Star Trek actually had. Along with a separate, semi-automated review process specific to checking for goldsellers that would cut down on customer support's overhead, when it did get used.

They made that function in Lord of the Rings online as well, when they had an influx of goldsellers, took them a very short time to get it ingame, and the sellers went away pretty fast, at least in my experience.

Reevster · May 2014

I just delete them, I don't work for Zoe, I have enough stuff on my plate,don't have the time to fill out stupid reports .

starkerealm · May 2014

Bazzakrak wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Bazzakrak wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Requielle wrote: »

I am getting really, really tired of the daily batch of "Item Purchased" and "Raw Materials" emails that are just gold seller spam.

I literally do not get this type of crap in any other MMO I've played. Then again, every other MMO I've played charges postage for plain-text emails - which makes mass-spamming everyone about their scam website eat up all their ill-gotten gold.

Just like in the real world - if there is a free messaging system, it gets abused by lowlifes. Which is why you get emails for fake erectile disfunction drugs instead of letters in the mailbox.

I don't get this kind of crap in other MMOs with free mail systems. I never got Goldseller mail in Star Trek, even before it went free to play and locked out the chat systems until you had 10 hours of logged play time on your account.

I would just really REALLY like for Zos to at least give us a nice 1 click option to report these people.
Cant be that hard to make, they have had plenty of time to whip a coder into making such an option

Incidentally, something Star Trek actually had. Along with a separate, semi-automated review process specific to checking for goldsellers that would cut down on customer support's overhead, when it did get used.

They made that function in Lord of the Rings online as well, when they had an influx of goldsellers, took them a very short time to get it ingame, and the sellers went away pretty fast, at least in my experience.

I may be Monday morning quarterbacking here, but I can't help but think that the reason we're seeing the population explosion now is because Zenimax didn't deal with them harshly enough at launch, and didn't have the tools in place to deal with them efficiently. By giving the sellers time to get rolling, and the bots time to fully deploy, they might as well have hung an "open for business" sign for the Goldsellers.

jbfroik · May 2014

I get the exact same mails from these guys with phony receipts of "items purchased" almost every single day. I think its cool that you are taking offense to it and actually doing something, because apathy will just allow them to continue the behavior and solidify themselves in our gaming environment and ruin it for all of us. I agree that it is a kind of scare tactic to lul the population into not reporting it because "Oh my god there is a phony gold sale receipt in my mail if I report I'll look like I'm involved" It would be awesome if more can be done. I mean even if the people doing this are using a VPN so they can't be ip banned think about it guys like every account they get banned on is like a 60 dollar purchase of the title. It will stop being profitable eventually. Criticizing the reporting system I feel is targeting the wrong group of people guys, bottom line gold spamming is in EVERY mmo. If we keep reporting them and people stop buying gold from them it will no longer be worth their time especially in a sub mmo. If this were a free to play good god they would be macroing it in zone chat. So be happy its just your mailbox, things could be alot worse.

MasterSpatula · May 2014

I don't think they're using that Subject Heading to get players thinking fearing they'll be blamed as well. I think they're doing it to get past a filter. They're also using the subject heading "Raw Materials."

starkerealm · May 2014

MasterSpatula wrote: »

I don't think they're using that Subject Heading to get players thinking fearing they'll be blamed as well. I think they're doing it to get past a filter. They're also using the subject heading "Raw Materials."

Oh, you might be right. "Item Purchased" is the mail you get when you buy something off your guild store, isn't it?

KerinKor · May 2014

Chatoyancy wrote: »

YourNameHere wrote: »

What I would like is a way to take a screenshot of the e-mail or some way to copy it to the report so they can see what it says.

Pretty sure you can, actually? There's a checkbox on the report screen that will allow you to send a screenshot. I believe when you open the report window or bug report window, before the overlay actually loads, it automatically takes a screenshot and saves it as bugreport.jpg in your Screenshots folder. If you check the box, it will send it with your report.

To be pedantic the screenshot isn't saved on your PC, which is fine but the real problem is you can't submit one of your own.

This means there's no usable screenshot if you're trying to report a bot train because by the time you've faffed around trying to focus the bot to hit the radial menu to click Report! the bot likely has run off-screen so there's no picture to send.

Of course, lack of NAMEPLATES is the root of the problem sending reports but ZOS seem intent on making or life harder so that the 'immersionists' don't get THEIR 'immersion' broken by ME turning on the OPTION of showing them.

starkerealm · May 2014

KerinKor wrote: »

Chatoyancy wrote: »

YourNameHere wrote: »

What I would like is a way to take a screenshot of the e-mail or some way to copy it to the report so they can see what it says.

Pretty sure you can, actually? There's a checkbox on the report screen that will allow you to send a screenshot. I believe when you open the report window or bug report window, before the overlay actually loads, it automatically takes a screenshot and saves it as bugreport.jpg in your Screenshots folder. If you check the box, it will send it with your report.

To be pedantic the screenshot isn't saved on your PC, which is fine but the real problem is you can't submit one of your own.

This means there's no usable screenshot if you're trying to report a bot train because by the time you've faffed around trying to focus the bot to hit the radial menu to click Report! the bot likely has run off-screen so there's no picture to send.

Of course, lack of NAMEPLATES is the root of the problem sending reports but ZOS seem intent on making or life harder so that the 'immersionists' don't get THEIR 'immersion' broken by ME turning on the OPTION of showing them.

Well, you know, people phasing through walls and flying over slaughterfish infested waters isn't immersion breaking, but seeing a floating health bar would be the end of western civilization as we know it.