Pokemon Go Player Being Harassed and Stalked by a Serial Spoofer, Let’s Help a Friend in Need
Even in 2021, we are still dealing with spoofers and people that love to harass other players. They have a habit of kicking us out from gyms or getting Regional Pokemon and whatnot, but this time, the story is more serious than we thought.
A post on The Silph Road Reddit has appeared in which a user going by the name u/giantbuzzkill explains in detail that a player is not only harassing him in the game but in real life too. This unknown player is probably a spoofer and makes sure to keep the harassed person out of gyms in their radius.
The spoofer has also made many accounts with names of u/giantbuzzkill’s vehicle registration, work name, and many more. As the player reports, this vendetta has been going on for seven months and Niantic has done nothing to fix this issue.
The harassed player has also said that the spoofer is constantly reporting their nickname, to which Niantic responds with a “you must change your name” mail. The spoofer was reported numerous times, including their fake accounts, but Niantic replied that the reported player is not violating any of their terms of service.
The spoofer probably stalked the harassed player since he knew the vehicle registration, the player’s workplace, and their whole routine from the start in the early mornings. The spoofer, as reported, has many accounts from Valor, Mystic, and Instinct teams that have full control of the gyms nearby the player’s home or workplace.
The player said that they run one of the largest Pokemon GO groups in the UK and that they have also posted there about this issue and many people reported that they have problems with the same accounts in their area, but not to this degree.
We are absolutely against spoofing and harassing other players, so we hope that Niantic will see this post and resolve this problem as soon as possible.
Sadly all too common. It has happened to me. Get knocked out of any gym I go in, very wide radius by a spoofer who controls many accounts and has a gym map. I know who it is but Niantic aren’t interested.
I have the same issue with a guy in my area. I have reported him many times and nothing ever gets done. You would think that after getting so many complaints Niantic would finally do something!
You say in the article’s title “Let’s help a friend in need” but I don’t see where you provide any suggestions on how to do that. I think you need a part 2 here.
You are all Stupid, you make this game a way of life accusing people of spoofing because they’re doing better than you it’s a game you win you lose it’s also a numbers game when it comes to shiny when your numbers up your numbers up stop accusing people of spoofing just because you’re not doing as good as them
Even if he’s not spoofing, he at minimum stalked and is now harassing the other player. He’s also doxxing him by creating accounts with his vehicle tag number and work name.
people make this game a way of life accusing people of spoofing because they’re doing better than you it’s a game you win you lose it’s also a numbers game when it comes to shiny when your numbers up your numbers up stop accusing people of spoofing just because you’re not doing as good as them
Exactly. I had seen the reddit convo and was actually excited that others had thoughts to get involved. Apparently, the only thought was how to turn the players problems into click bait. I hate sites like this.
I’m being stalked by some insane players too. I am being harassed by their hacked accounts. By hacked I mean, when I play pvp, I get the same players names who use hacked mons. Their charge attacks charge to quickly. They have game tag names with private details of my life. I go to gyms raids, and they are there raiding with me when no one is around. They have hacked character designs. Their characters are wearing outfits that are impossible to equip at the same time.
I tried wearing the same combinations and it is impossible. More or less, these people, need f******* lives. I am not that interesting. Why waste time bothering me? I am not gonna stop playing. I’ll just set my raids to private. I just won’t do pvp. I just won’t interact with you. Waste your time kicking me out of gyms. I don’t care. I don’t need the coins
I think we have 2 main issues that need to be addressed and taken seriously.
#1 is the cyberbullying/stalking that is happening… It is not a formal of “flattery”, or “admiration”!! It is super fn creepy. You are told to “go to the authorities, if you feel you are in danger” … and say what?? I play a virtual game and someone (not sure who)..is stalking me? Not likely to get help there
Which bring me to the second issue.
#2 auto-bot actions
All reports of inappropriate ign and other issues need to be reviewed and followed up by a human, not a bot. This is a major flaw in their server.. and people are indeed taking advantage of it… it is in their ingress, and in Pokémon GO. Anyone can mass report any trainer/agent and have them forced to change their nickname or as in ingress get them banned completely from the game.
Some of us identify with our trainernames after 4+ years. And to be forced to change it for any reason other than being truly offensive needs to stop. A simple correspondence to the trainer before an automated change would make a world of difference. As well as a support area for players who are legitimately being targeted by others in the community (as niantic has information on the identity of the person through the trainername)
Yes I understand this would take more time, and mean delegating or hiring more staff for this endeavor… but it would help the overall community.
I hope niantic does indeed do something in the future.. as this is something that has been going on for some time sadly. And the players affected have nobody to go to other than plead to an automated bot for days,weeks. Which for many makes them want to give up their fight or the game all together.
Sorry for the novel here, this is something I’m super passionate about.
Thank you. I’m another person now being targeted in this way and I don’t know why and it seems there is no help or remedy for it. I have a leading role in my local Pokémon GO community and I see from other posts that it’s common for people like me to be targeted in this way. I don’t understand it at all since I seem to be appreciated and well liked here but maybe that’s why a person with self-esteem issues would feel a need to try to take down people like us. I was battled out of a gym four times yesterday but I did get my 50 coins.
Some of y’all need an intervention!!!!
I’m being stalked by some insane players too. I am being harassed by their hacked accounts. By hacked I mean, when I play pvp, I get the same players names who use hacked mons. Their charge attacks charge to quickly. They have game tag names with private details of my life. I go to gyms raids, and they are there raiding with me when no one is around. They have hacked character designs. Their characters are wearing outfits that are impossible to equip at the same time.
I tried wearing the same combinations and it is impossible. More or less, these people, need f****** lives. I am not that interesting. Why waste time bothering me? I am not gonna stop playing. I’ll just set my raids to private. I just won’t do pvp. I just won’t interact with you. Waste your time kicking me out of gyms. I don’t care. I don’t need the coins .
I love pokemon go. You don’t bug me freaks. Waste your time