[Discussion] Bot Accounts and Sellers Using Alt Accounts – A Growing Concern?

[Krad3z3]

Hey everyone,

I've been an active member of the Elitepvpers community since joining forum and I've noticed a troubling trend that I think needs more attention.

It seems that the number of bot accounts and sellers using alt accounts to manipulate the marketplace is growing.

From my short experience, it feels like there are more fake accounts than genuine members lately across all marketplace sections. I wanted to bring this to the community's attention and see if others have noticed the same.

I’m curious if the Elitepvpers team is actively investigating this problem. Are there any ongoing efforts to crack down on these fake accounts?

[Luke]

Yes, we always investigate such accounts as soon as they get reported, however, many users think that every new user with a low post count and a positive feedback post is automatically a bot, which isn't true. We incentivize sellers to make sure they use our trade-system to everyones safety, they are allowed to give different bonuses for their customers (= some sort of payment happened) if they post feedback and/or do a trade. This results in forum activity, even for users which only lured in the past.

Now it might be true that there are bots/illegal feedback posts, but sooner or later we'll spot them, as we also do our random sample checks. It is also true that we had some very big sellers which pushed their ratings in their beginnings, which shattered their whole business later when it thrived, as they either got permanently banned or account wiped after we found out. There is no mercy from our side as soon as we find out, and not only our staff is watching, the whole community does, every customer is a potential user which could uncover shady practices of a seller to us.

[SenpaiSoftware]

Originally Posted by Luke

Yes, we always investigate such accounts as soon as they get reported, however, many users think that every new user with a low post count and a positive feedback post is automatically a bot, which isn't true. We incentivize sellers to make sure they use our trade-system to everyones safety, they are allowed to give different bonuses for their customers (= some sort of payment happened) if they post feedback and/or do a trade. This results in forum activity, even for users which only lured in the past.

Now it might be true that there are bots/illegal feedback posts, but sooner or later we'll spot them, as we also do our random sample checks. It is also true that we had some very big sellers which pushed their ratings in their beginnings, which shattered their whole business later when it thrived, as they either got permanently banned or account wiped after we found out. There is no mercy from our side as soon as we find out, and not only our staff is watching, the whole community does, every customer is a potential user which could uncover shady practices of a seller to us.

I 2nd this I've had a ton of potential customer flee because they say "your review on epvp are fake most of the accounts only have 1 post" and I assure them that the users are real and they probably simply made the account to check the links out and access the product I would love to see something done about this if possible.

An option is to require phone verifications when registering accounts or possibly REQUIRE ID verifications to access the market portion of the forums.

[Littledagger]

Reviews shouldn't be allowed from 1 Post accounts or unaged.

[Krad3z3]

Originally Posted by Littledagger

Reviews shouldn't be allowed from 1 Post accounts or unaged.

I am not saying they shouldn't be allowed but should be monitored. There is a lot of obvious alt accounts and its very easy to spot them. Same for fake reviews.

Only should be better monitored, a lot sellers jump into arguments with alt accounts to defend themselves. Few clicks and you already know who is alting but there is no investigation about it.

[Thomaszack]

Originally Posted by Littledagger

Reviews shouldn't be allowed from 1 Post accounts or unaged.

Yes I have seen a lot of these new account with 1 post recently

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Krad3z3

I am not saying they shouldn't be allowed but should be monitored. There is a lot of obvious alt accounts and its very easy to spot them. Same for fake reviews.

Only should be better monitored, a lot sellers jump into arguments with alt accounts to defend themselves. Few clicks and you already know who is alting but there is no investigation about it.

There is no investigation until you report it to us, explain the 'few clicks' in a complaint area ticket and the alt + his main will get banned, but only do this if you have evidence/facts, not just guesswork.

[VegaProjects]

I agree with this. There is alot of alt accounts.