Stealing/moving Tb: Unfair Geocacher

[+DocW]

The Story:

 

- On July 4th, a guy called Travelbug1000 registered to the site.

- The same day he/she visited a TB-Hotel near Airport Frankfurt/Germany and grabbed all (6?) TBs residing in this Cache (This was against the rules anyhow, but this is a different story)

- On the next day he placed all of them in Caches in Great Britain in different locations, very unlikely to reach if you dont own a helicopter

- A cache control resulted in that all of the TBs still resided in the Cache in Frankfurt. Except my German Geocoin!! Its gone, just after two weeks being on the road!

(By chance I was able to check the cache myself, I was in the area on a business trip. I searched also the area, but my Coin is MIA.)

In the meantime his logs most of the owners of the other TBs deleted his logs and virtually put their TBs back into the TB-Hotel, but still there is a lot of confusion.

Currently it looks like if he had exchanged Tags at two of the TBs.

 

We (the owner of the cache and I) have mailed the guy asking him politely whats going on: No reaction!

This behavoiur doesn't look like if some newbie made some mistakes, it looks like he acted with aim. And we fear (due to the name) he wants to confuse 1000 travelbugs, so we saw only his first attempt.

 

So, what to do?

Is there a possibility to block the guy's account? Or send him a warning by geocaching.com?

Any ideas?

Edited July 7, 2005 by DocW

[+BubbleDragon]

First - this might do better in the TB forum. But from what I've seen, no there is nothing you can do. Some people are just going to be a**hats and have different ideas of fun than us. I'd get as much info as you can, perhaps ask owners/locals to check the relevent caches and sort out the tag situation. If some are still in tact, then there's a bit of luck in the situation.

[+tobsas]

But from what I've seen, no there is nothing you can do.

That's right, locals can't do much beside sorting out the confusion. :-( But Groundspeak should look into this, try to get hold of the person via eMail and/or IP-numbers and IMO at least ban this account.

 

Greetings,

Tobias

Edited July 7, 2005 by tobsas

[+briansnat]

But from what I've seen, no there is nothing you can do.

 

Groundspeak has banned the accounts of people who abused this site's features before.

[+DocW]

But Groundspeak should look into this, try to get hold of the person via eMail and/or IP-numbers and IMO at least ban this account.

That's my expectation in this case. The evidence in this case is so cristal clear, otherwise I wouldn't posted it in this forum.

Perhaps some "official" email by the sites representative brings this guy back to the right way.

And hey, I am a paying member and I have paid for my Geocoin, so I am a customer of Groundspeak, it should be their interest to keep their customers happy?

 

Regards! Wulf

Edited July 7, 2005 by DocW

[+DaveA]

Wouldn't banning his account just be a symbolic gesture? Anyone can see the caches and TB locations.

 

It is unfortunate what happened, but I don't see that even banning this person's account is going to offer any protection against this sort of thing.

[+tobsas]

It is unfortunate what happened, but I don't see that even banning this person's account is going to offer any protection against this sort of thing.

He/She proved to be in possession of the tracking numbers as he/she retrieved them and placed them (only online) into caches across England and Wales. Without banning the account, he/she is able to do that again and again and ... without any problems. If the account is banned, he/she has to create at least another account before being able of re-doing that.

 

Greetings,

Tobias

[NickPick]

Banning his account won't work - he only opened it one day before messing up the TBs.

 

If the PTB can find his IP address and match it to another account, you'll find out if it's a sock puppet account.

 

If you can find the actual person, I'd suggest a quick LART should stop any future transgressions.

[Jeremy]

- The same day he/she visited a TB-Hotel near Airport Frankfurt/Germany and grabbed all (6?) TBs residing in this Cache (This was against the rules anyhow, but this is a different story)

The account has been banned. I also banned their real account, and, sadly, the static IP address for the user who did all of this.

 

Just FYI, but this user does not live in Germany, so whatever was done to the cache was done "virtually"

[+DocW]

- The same day he/she visited a TB-Hotel near Airport Frankfurt/Germany and grabbed all (6?) TBs residing in this Cache (This was against the rules anyhow, but this is a different story)

The account has been banned. I also banned their real account, and, sadly, the static IP address for the user who did all of this.

 

Just FYI, but this user does not live in Germany, so whatever was done to the cache was done "virtually"

Cool! Thank you for your support! Thats great!

 

But you say the guy has never been at the real cache's location?

Where did he get all the TB numbers?

 

And (you can't answer this probably) where is my poor little Geocoin??

 

Thanks and all the best!

 

Wulf

[Jeremy]

But you say the guy has never been at the real cache's location?

Where did he get all the TB numbers?

I have no idea. They may have seen photos with the IDs on them, or the user may be on vacation. I doubt it, however, since the IP does not originate locally.

 

And (you can't answer this probably) where is my poor little Geocoin??

 

I'm afraid I don't know. A geocacher may have found it and it could be unrelated to this particular bonehead. Information shows this person more than likely faked the ransacking of the hotel.

[+DocW]

But you say the guy has never been at the real cache's location?

Where did he get all the TB numbers?

I have no idea. They may have seen photos with the IDs on them, or the user may be on vacation. I doubt it, however, since the IP does not originate locally.

That's strange: I can say at least for my coin, no photos or other information of it's code have been published by me or the other users before (I can say this so clear, I know all the cachers who transferred until it got lost.)

 

We will investigate this here....

 

At least you've made my (our) nearly done day in resolving that issue so fast ;-)

 

Wulf

[ju66l3r]

Sometimes geocachers (especially new ones) do not always understand the ideas behind separately logging a TB (and the coin is a *really* special case because it does not have the dogtag).

 

Another possibility is that it has been picked up by a vacationer who has not returned home yet to be able to log your coin.

[+DocW]

Sometimes geocachers (especially new ones) do not always understand the ideas behind separately logging a TB (and the coin is a *really* special case because it does not have the dogtag).

 

Another possibility is that it has been picked up by a vacationer who has not returned home yet to be able to log your coin.

Yes it could be that this two incidents (taking my coin physically and confusing the TB-database) were pure co-incidence, but:

I equipped the Coin with an two sided/dual language "This is not an ordinary trade item"-leaflet, you know, explaining all the details and stuff. So the coin was protected against Newbies mistakes.

 

And there is no entry in the log book between dropping the coin and myself (I had the chance to visit this cache the day before yesterday, just on the day the trouble began)

A newbie on his first cache writes an entry into the logbook for sure! Even if he/she doesn't log online later!

 

What I am curious in the moment, how could this guy get hold of the TB-numbers, at least my coin was too short time on the road, you can track down every person being in contact with it. Did the guy hacked into the Groundspeak database?

[Jeremy]

Did the guy hacked into the Groundspeak database?

You're giving him faaar too much credit.

[+DocW]

Did the guy hacked into the Groundspeak database?

You're giving him faaar too much credit.

Ok, ok, conspiracy mode off

 

The IP-address thingy get us thinking in the moment in a Thread on this issue on another Forum:

How did you came to the understanding, this guy is not in Germany? Just the IP-address? My IP-Address from the beginning of this thread was located somewhere in the US, because my employer is an US-company, our gateway is in the US. But I am located in Germany. Or does his normal caching habits (of his normal account) are somewhere else? Which timezone? (I dont want to ask more in detail)

 

Is there a chance that he is in Germany?

The TB hotel is located close to Frankfurt/Main Airport and right across of an entry to an recreation area of the Frankfurt airbase of US Airforce with a lot of service man and US citizens. (Oh I am sounding like this arm chair detectives )

 

edit: typo

Edited July 7, 2005 by DocW

[Jeremy]

How did you came to the understanding, this guy is not in Germany? Just the IP-address? My IP-Address from the beginning of this thread was located somewhere in the US, because my employer is an US-company, our gateway is in the US. But I am located in Germany.

We have a privacy policy that does not allow me to disclose this kind of information. This also protects you.

[+DcCow]

Just visited the TB Hotel. We are going on holiday next week to the UK and could help three of them on their journey to Ireland.

 

Well, we drove over an hour to the cache and picked them up. Got them home and tried to log them, but two of them have their tags switched with other TBs that were in the Cache. We ran into another caching couple picking up one of the TBs, and the other is still in the box.

 

These are the two that are switched:

 

Secretariat73 has the tag for this one My left shoe

 

and

 

Mogollon to Ireland has the tag for this one Bernd das Brot - Bernd the bread

 

Not real sure what to do! Going to email the owners, but does anyone have any suggestions.

 

DC

[+DocW]

How did you came to the understanding, this guy is not in Germany? Just the IP-address? My IP-Address from the beginning of this thread was located somewhere in the US, because my employer is an US-company, our gateway is in the US. But I am located in Germany.

We have a privacy policy that does not allow me to disclose this kind of information. This also protects you.

I didn't expect you to answer because I appreciate this privacy policy. This is why I wrote, I don't want to aks more in detail. It was just intended as an thought starter to you.

[+DocW]

Just visited the TB Hotel. We are going on holiday next week to the UK and could help three of them on their journey to Ireland.

 

Well, we drove over an hour to the cache and picked them up. Got them home and tried to log them, but two of them have their tags switched with other TBs that were in the Cache. We ran into another caching couple picking up one of the TBs, and the other is still in the box.

 

These are the two that are switched:

 

Secretariat73 has the tag for this one My left shoe

 

and

 

Mogollon to Ireland has the tag for this one Bernd das Brot - Bernd the bread

 

Not real sure what to do! Going to email the owners, but does anyone have any suggestions.

 

DC

I guess, now only Snail Mail can help in exchanging the tags.

 

What a mess this guy created!!!! And now I am sure he had been at the cachebox physically. It would be a very unlikely co-incidence, that at the same day the same Cache being fooled virtually and physically by different people.

[+sbell111]

...Not real sure what to do! Going to email the owners, but does anyone have any suggestions.

If the other bugs are in the cache still, grab them and switch the tags back. If not, contact any cachers that pick them up. Try to get the bugs together so the tags can be switched back.

 

Is this the right place to vent about TB hotels?

[+VegasCacheHounds]

...Not real sure what to do!    Going to email the owners, but does anyone have any suggestions.

If the other bugs are in the cache still, grab them and switch the tags back. If not, contact any cachers that pick them up. Try to get the bugs together so the tags can be switched back.

 

Is this the right place to vent about TB hotels?

No, there are plenty of other threads about that

[+DcCow]

...Not real sure what to do!    Going to email the owners, but does anyone have any suggestions.

If the other bugs are in the cache still, grab them and switch the tags back. If not, contact any cachers that pick them up. Try to get the bugs together so the tags can be switched back.

 

Is this the right place to vent about TB hotels?

I would if the cache was closer by, but it is over an hour drive. Just emailed the folks that picked up the other TB, so we can snail mail the tags to each other. Now just to get the one that is still in the box.

 

Thanks,

 

DC

[+halffast]

No matter what you do for fun you always get a few people that try to ruin it.No way to stop the minds of these people.If you stop one then along comes another.