Agent Insights Ep 59: Reporting Item Generators

Howdy all, Danny here to talk a little bit about something we have covered before in this series - item generators.

Item generators are sites that claim to be able to generate rare items onto your account if you submit your username and password to the site. In reality, this only results in the person or people in charge of the website going into your account and taking all your stuff. There is no reliable way to "generate" items into someone's account, and even if there was, giving out your password on a random website is never a good idea.

While you may know not to fall for them, there are many players out there who might not, so today we will be discussing how you can effectively take action to get these item generators taken down altogether.

In-game, scammers can simply be reported by clicking on their player card. For reporting websites, it can be a little trickier. Most item generator sites are created through free-to-use website creators and hosting services such as Blogger, weebly, Google Sites, and Wix. Of course, these companies do not want their brands to become associated with petty phishing scams, so they are often quick to take these sites down after they are reported. The process to do this is simple:

Step 1. Identify the website's host

This step is often pretty easy. In order to report the site, you first must figure out what website is being used to host it. The easiest way to do this is to check the site's URL (the link at the top of the page). Free-to-use hosting platforms will often embed their company's name into the site's address, so just check the link for a hosting company's name.

The site may also have other information about what platform is hosting it, such as banners that include the platform's name. The name may also be included in the attributions at the very bottom of the page.

Step 2. Go to the host's site

Now that you know what platform is hosting the site, you can fill out a report on their website to report the site for phishing. Search for a "contact" or "report abuse" option somewhere on the site. If you can't find it, simply Googling "[platform name] report abuse" should point you where you need. For the sake of organization, here are the direct links to phishing report pages for weebly, Wix, and Blogger.

For Google Sites, you don't even have to go to a separate page - look to the lower-left corner of the site and click the information button, then click "Report Abuse".

Select "spam, malware, or phishing", and you're done.

Step 3. Submit a report

All that's left is to actually report the website. This involves pasting a link to the offending website and explaining why you are reporting it (for sites that ask you to choose a reason from a drop-down list, look for an option that either includes spam or phishing).

It's important to be thorough in your submission so that they have as much information as possible. Be specific about what the site's owners are attempting to do and how. It's best to write your own explanation, but this is the type of thing I usually write:

"The site falsely claims that if you submit your login information for the online children's game Animal Jam, rare virtual items will be added to your account."

Then voila, your deed is done!

That's all for now. If you have some free time on your hands, this is a pretty simple thing you can do to help out. You could very well be the deciding factor in whether or not someone's account gets compromised! Stay safe and jam on!

-Danny