17 Faked Portals in A Village of 47 people

bobofangobobofango ✭✭
edited December 2019 in General

Our local Wayfarer community is aware of multiple faked points of interest in Armena, Alberta, Canada.  Most of the faked portals in Armena are actually located in the nearby larger town of Camrose, Alberta, Canada and are already long-standing portals/waypoints in Niantic’s Wayfarer database. In some cases, the faked clone portals use the same title as the original portal or the portal photo is obviously third party from the internet. Two Ingress agents have both driven an hour out of their way to verify the points of interest in Armena, Camrose, and nearby town Hay Lakes. Multiple agents have tried reporting these portals to Niantic support only to get the standard  “We have taken action where appropriate” message. Nothing has been done to remove the invalid ones. 


Here is a listing of the waypoints that we have verified as false.  The list is organized so that the first portal shown is the legitimate one, while the second one is the falsified one. This list was  submitted to Niantic via Ingres in-game support and nothing was done. 


Real A1 (Camrose): North Mirror Lake Gazebo

https://www.ingress.com/intel?pll=53.019304,-112.830048&z=15

Fake A2 (Armena): Kiosk

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.121722,-112.947829&z=17


Real B1 (Camrose): Ukrainian Catholic Parish

https://www.ingress.com/intel?pll=53.019806,-112.831066&z=16

Fake B2 (Armena): Armena Ukrainian Church

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.124564,-112.951561&z=17


Real C1 (Camrose): The Handoff

https://www.ingress.com/intel?pll=53.019669,-112.834858&z=16

Fake C2 (Armena): Runners

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.122658,-112.948409&z=17


Real D1 (Camrose): Grand Drive Park

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.022225,-112.843232&z=17

Fake D2 (Armena): Mirror Sculpture

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.121966,-112.952674&z=17


Real E1 (Camrose): Fish Fight

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.018439,-112.833082&z=17

Fake E2 (Armena): The Metal Hunter

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.121036,-112.952331&z=17


Real F1 (Camrose): Rose City Baptist Church

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.120357,-112.951035&z=17

Fake F2 (Armena): Armena Rose City Baptist Church

https://www.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.123641,-112.952194&z=16 


Real G1 (Hay Lakes): Hay Lakes Community War Memorial

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.122139,-112.947791&z=17

Fake G2 (Armena): Community War Memorial

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.122139,-112.947791&z=17



In addition: the following waypoints are verified by our local agents as false but we have not found the actual physical location yet or they are not Niantic waypoints yet


Fake H1 (Camrose): 53.0184497,-112.8333547 **Not an existing wayspot**

https://goo.gl/maps/cmh6GrGE9rer52uE9

Fake H2 (Armena): Armena Fount

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.120357,-112.951035&z=17


Real I1 (Camrose): 53.012718,-112.831722 **Not an existing wayspot**

https://goo.gl/maps/MhhhMYGXLY9rtwtj7

https://www.alamy.com/cenotaph-camrose-alberta-canada-image256765030.html

https://www.facebook.com/CityOfCamrose/photos/a.1151538118209520/1151538141542851/?type=3&theater

Fake I2 (Armena): Armena Memorial

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.124218,-112.950521&z=17&


Real J1 (Camrose): 53.0150575,-112.8273085 **Not an existing wayspot**

https://goo.gl/maps/tndpLXSHPis6VJsc8

https://www.facebook.com/CityOfCamrose/photos/a.1137490982947567/1137491316280867/?type=3&theater

Fake J2 (Armena): Armena Outdoor Gym

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.122928,-112.948837&z=17


Real K1 (Unknown): ?????? Most likely in Camrose

Fake K2 (Armena): Armena childrens playgrown (unable to find source photo but it is not at pinned location)

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.123063,-112.950168&z=17



Furthermore, there are still pending submissions in Wayfarer that we know to be falsified. 


Real L1 (Camrose): Kamifurano Friendship Gardens

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.123063,-112.950168&z=17

Fake L2 (Armena): Kamifurano Friendship Gardens (still in Wayfarer)


Real M1 (Camrose): Wildlife Bas Relief

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.123063,-112.950168&z=17

Fake M2 (Armena): Wildlife Bas Relief (still in Wayfarer)


Real N1 (unknown): Korean War Memorial: ?????? Most likely in Camrose

Fake N2 (Armena): Korean War Memorial (still in Wayfarer)


Real O1 (Camrose): Rotary Skate Park: 53.0134517,-112.8333056 **Not an existing wayspot**

https://goo.gl/maps/ypZF65jXL1Jgnfmx6

Fake O2 (Armena): Armena Skatepark (still in Wayfarer)


Real Q1 (HW13 Camrose County): Alberta History

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.017455,-112.914648&z=15

Fake Q2 (Armena): Norwegian Sttlement (still in Wayfarer)



Armena is a hamlet with a total population of 47 people http://www.county.camrose.ab.ca/content/armena. We have determined that the submissions have come from a PoGo player with likely three Level 40 accounts (we know what the accounts are) and who has extensively edited Google Maps also to falsify PoI. Most of the locations have been edited out of Google Maps. His original submissions were legitimate PoI. For the ones that got through, most reviewers gave them 1* on location but gave them the benefit of the doubt otherwise. 


What will it take for Niantic to actually do something about this? This is significant abuse. The portals should be pulled.  Any account that submitted these faked PoI should have their Wayfarer privileges revoked. 

Post edited by bobofango on
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Comments

  • In Google Street View/Maps/Earth, Did you report the photospheres as "not a photo or video of the place" or "copyright or legal issue" (if a copy of another photosphere submitted by another person)?

    Many people use the same email address for Google as they do for ingress and perhaps Pokémon.

  • There are no photospheres. Just numerous fake "Park" labels on Google Maps, but we have gotten those removed today. It's just Niantic Support that is slow to respond to the obvious fakery.

  • KliffingtonKliffington ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2019

    Post this on the wayfarer subforum

    Or @NianticCasey is it possible to look into this as well?

  • Gosh there's two portals there - Armena Memorial and Armena War Memorial that actually look like the same photo but at different ends of the tiny town.

    And one portal where the image clearly had a river behind it, but there's no rivers nearby at all.

  • We had a same issue down where I am with pogo ayer befor the could submit stuff spoffed on ingress to sub and they where doing dodgy painted bus stops and some where being used 3 to 4 times we have removed most and they got shamed in the pogo discord and they said they did not do it but not long after that they stoped the dodgy and went to doing legit stuff best thing to do is report it as either not there or duplication if u know the pogo player that is doing it let them know the pogo players down my way no if it is not there or should not have gone through it will be removed

  • TheFarixTheFarix ✭✭✭✭✭

    Have you submitted removal requests through the Ingress app? If you received any rejection response to those requests? Have you posted appeals of those rejections in the Invalid Portal Report forum with additional evidence showing that those portals are invalid?

  • TheSpazimatazTheSpazimataz ✭✭
    edited December 2019

    If you really want to stop it from happening, you'll have to take your own Photospheres of the area to provide proof they don't exist and post them along with the Takedown Rejections to the Invalid Portal Report forum.

  • That is the plan, eventually. But it gets dark here by the time most of us are off work. So it would have to take up one of our weekend days.

    Everything has gone through the proper channels for reporting a takedown. It is only Niantic's slow and generic response that have resorted us to posting on community forums and subreddits to get more attention and hopefully push Niantic to act faster.

    I believe all our research and all the provided supporting links should be more than enough evidence of clear falsifications.

  • correction to intel link:


    Real G1 (Hay Lakes): Hay Lakes Community War Memorial

    https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.197079,-113.057518&z=17

    Fake G2 (Armena): Community War Memorial

    https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=53.122139,-112.947791&z=17

  • The most interesting thing to me about these fake portal issues is that people are actually tampering with real world locations for the sake of a game. Destroying the integrity of real data to catch fake creatures. For years here in my own area a post office with no photo has been located at someone's house, and the real post office is less than a mile up the road and also a portal.. every year or so I report as a duplicate with significant backup information and it remains. The same with a cigarette sand bucket on a military fuel depot nearby.

  • So can we get Trusted Reporters, but for Wayfarer?

  • Yet to be any action by Niantic. That's pretty sad.

  • @NianticCasey @NianticBrian @NianticBC @NianticAustin @NianticAkshay


    Come on, guys. This is clear abuse and support has yet to follow up.

  • Have you reported any of them?


    The process is:

    Report fake portal

    If Nia agree, they'll remove it.

    If not, goto the portal appeals section and provide more information to justify the removal.


    The community members are front line staff they're not responsible for this.

  • Follow the process and appeal their denial email response in the portal appeals section.

  • bobofangobobofango ✭✭
    edited December 2019

    Other agents reported them 2 weeks ago. Just generic responses with no action.


    Hell, it took Niantic Support over a month to give me back my IGN after someone mischievously reported it as "offensive"

  • You need to take a screenshot of the rejection email and appeal it in the invalid portal report thread. There's a process for this, they won't respond to spamming threads.

  • It's also pretty egregious that this isn't isolated. It's basically a given that submitting a ticket is going to be closed with no action. Of course players will resort to reporting them here in the hopes they'll be addressed.

  • bobofangobobofango ✭✭
    edited December 2019

    @NianticCasey Thank you for bringing this to the immediate attention of your team. The faked portals have all been removed today. While I understand that you can't say anything about what happens to the player who faked the portals, I hope there are consequences for his action.


    I feel like there should be an avenue to report fake portals outside of the "invalid portal report" in-game as that process is extremely slow and wayspot fakery has become even more common, especially in Europe.

  • Thanks for the follow-up @bobofango.

    While I can't say anything specifically, I can assure you that we're looking into the appropriate course of action to take in this situation.

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