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I spotted a series of signs posted near me (irl) that only contained hex characters. I was curious and thought it might be some sort of Cicada 3301-type nonsens

I spotted a series of signs posted near me (irl) that only contained hex characters. I was curious and thought it might be some sort of Cicada 3301-type nonsense, so I transcribed all of the signs and tested multiple combinations to discover a secret URL, and... It turned out to be a crypto scam!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
function_seven 3y ago
I love it. Ovaltine must be remaking themselves for the 21st century.
- fouc 3y ago
  What's the Ovaltine reference to?
  - TylerE 3y ago
    https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/a-christmas-story-movie-facts/little-orphan-annie/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBe%20Sure%20To%20Drink%20Your,Sure%20To%20Drink%20Your%20Ovaltine.%E2%80%9D https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/a-christmas-story-movie...
    - jrockway 3y ago
      For some reason the quote "oh my god I shot my eye out" was stuck in my head yesterday. Topical.
  - function_seven 3y ago
    https://youtu.be/zdA__2tKoIU https://youtu.be/zdA__2tKoIU
keyle 3y ago
Damn I remember Cicada 3301. Good times. I think the source is always online though as it was to cast a wide net. IRL would be too narrow. Hope the Cicada crew pulls another one soon, although now that reddit is what it is...
- bhhaskin 3y ago
  It had a IRL component. Technically the last puzzle is still not solved. There is a good chance that one won't start until it is, but who knows.
- jl6 3y ago
  One can only hope…
- low_tech_love 3y ago
  I was one of the “winners” of the first one (yeah I know, believe it or not, it makes no difference) and I can tell you: there is absolutely nothing interesting on the other side. Don’t hold your breath. :(
  - mailund 3y ago
    I would love to hear some more details about what was on the other side!
    - low_tech_love 3y ago
      We were I think 8 or 9. We got access to an onion forum on Tor with randomized nicknames, and one person who said they were a representative of a bigger network, but no extra info was given. Then they told us to find some common project to work on; something that would change the world or whatever. We were supposed to discuss ideas and decide by ourselves. Eventually we settled on an idea and started working on it, but we had a shitty forum, a shitty chat, and an even shittier slow git repo. The whole thing was pointless so I just drifted away (it was a very busy time for me). It made no sense, there was no reason why we should work in secrecy, no infrastructure, no motivation, nothing. I bet the guy who said he was a representative was just a kid somewhere who made up the challenges. I don’t know, I just abandoned it and lost the drive to pursue any further ARG after that.
userbinator 3y ago
Is knowledge of hex/ASCII an indication of increased gullibility? If anything, I'd think it would be the exact opposite.
- eastbound 3y ago
  You’re assuming scam works. Maybe the cryptoscammer received zero subscription, and is in debt from putting up the signs. Could be an artifact of gullibility of the scammer, not the victim.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    The trick is that the actual scam was likely someone sold a "class" to whoever put up the signs for how to get rich quick
- HWR_14 3y ago
  Knowledge of hex/ASCII is probably associated with an increase in the likelihood to get involved in crypto, as a filter there.
- blackoil 3y ago
  Maybe they are seeking fellow scammers to join forces.
- IshKebab 3y ago
  I think it's more about making the victim feel like they're on to something special and secret. They're in the know.
- kroltan 3y ago
  Plenty of skid type people who are into tech for the aesthetics mostly.
ge96 3y ago
what you're telling me Mr. Musk won't double my money
IAmGraydon 3y ago
A bit tangential, but I found and contacted the author of Cicada3301 some years ago. They sloppily used a single Google Analytics ID on 2 sites, one of them being on an old version of the Cicada3301 site which had been snapshotted by archive.org before they realized their mistake and removed it. I was able to reverse search this ID and found it was also in use on the personal website of a cryptography/security expert who was the Chief Information Security Officer of a contractor who primarily does work for big three-letter agencies in the US. I contacted him on LinkedIn and he denied it, though I very much doubt this was some big coincidence.
- godelski 3y ago
  So you won Cicada3301? But they just didn't like how you won?
  - IAmGraydon 3y ago
    Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking!
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  Or the creator of Cicada took the Google analytics ID of that security expert
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  A bold claim to make, but interesting nevertheless. Did you ever do a writeup on that? I'm not into it myself (I'm not smart enough for puzzles like that), but I can imagine there's obsessive communities around it that would love to know more about this lead.
  - IAmGraydon 3y ago
    I never did a writeup because it seemed to me that the theories may have been true that Cicada3301 was a government program to recruit talent. I didn't want to dox the guy publicly and I also didn't want to piss anyone off at a three-letter agency. This is actually the first time I've ever mentioned this in public, but so much time has passed since the program was active that I think it's probably OK at this point.
jrockway 3y ago
I think I saw one of these in New York. Someone stuck a "bitcoin is a scam" sticker on it. Now it all makes sense.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

function_seven 3y ago

I love it. Ovaltine must be remaking themselves for the 21st century.

fouc 3y ago
What's the Ovaltine reference to?
- TylerE 3y ago
  https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/a-christmas-story-movie-facts/little-orphan-annie/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBe%20Sure%20To%20Drink%20Your,Sure%20To%20Drink%20Your%20Ovaltine.%E2%80%9D https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/a-christmas-story-movie...
  - jrockway 3y ago
    For some reason the quote "oh my god I shot my eye out" was stuck in my head yesterday. Topical.
- function_seven 3y ago
  https://youtu.be/zdA__2tKoIU https://youtu.be/zdA__2tKoIU

keyle 3y ago

Damn I remember Cicada 3301. Good times. I think the source is always online though as it was to cast a wide net. IRL would be too narrow. Hope the Cicada crew pulls another one soon, although now that reddit is what it is...

bhhaskin 3y ago
It had a IRL component. Technically the last puzzle is still not solved. There is a good chance that one won't start until it is, but who knows.
jl6 3y ago
One can only hope…
low_tech_love 3y ago
I was one of the “winners” of the first one (yeah I know, believe it or not, it makes no difference) and I can tell you: there is absolutely nothing interesting on the other side. Don’t hold your breath. :(
- mailund 3y ago
  I would love to hear some more details about what was on the other side!
  - low_tech_love 3y ago
    We were I think 8 or 9. We got access to an onion forum on Tor with randomized nicknames, and one person who said they were a representative of a bigger network, but no extra info was given. Then they told us to find some common project to work on; something that would change the world or whatever. We were supposed to discuss ideas and decide by ourselves. Eventually we settled on an idea and started working on it, but we had a shitty forum, a shitty chat, and an even shittier slow git repo. The whole thing was pointless so I just drifted away (it was a very busy time for me). It made no sense, there was no reason why we should work in secrecy, no infrastructure, no motivation, nothing. I bet the guy who said he was a representative was just a kid somewhere who made up the challenges. I don’t know, I just abandoned it and lost the drive to pursue any further ARG after that.

userbinator 3y ago

Is knowledge of hex/ASCII an indication of increased gullibility? If anything, I'd think it would be the exact opposite.

eastbound 3y ago
You’re assuming scam works. Maybe the cryptoscammer received zero subscription, and is in debt from putting up the signs. Could be an artifact of gullibility of the scammer, not the victim.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  The trick is that the actual scam was likely someone sold a "class" to whoever put up the signs for how to get rich quick
HWR_14 3y ago
Knowledge of hex/ASCII is probably associated with an increase in the likelihood to get involved in crypto, as a filter there.
blackoil 3y ago
Maybe they are seeking fellow scammers to join forces.
IshKebab 3y ago
I think it's more about making the victim feel like they're on to something special and secret. They're in the know.
kroltan 3y ago
Plenty of skid type people who are into tech for the aesthetics mostly.

ge96 3y ago

what you're telling me Mr. Musk won't double my money

IAmGraydon 3y ago

A bit tangential, but I found and contacted the author of Cicada3301 some years ago. They sloppily used a single Google Analytics ID on 2 sites, one of them being on an old version of the Cicada3301 site which had been snapshotted by archive.org before they realized their mistake and removed it. I was able to reverse search this ID and found it was also in use on the personal website of a cryptography/security expert who was the Chief Information Security Officer of a contractor who primarily does work for big three-letter agencies in the US. I contacted him on LinkedIn and he denied it, though I very much doubt this was some big coincidence.

godelski 3y ago
So you won Cicada3301? But they just didn't like how you won?
- IAmGraydon 3y ago
  Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking!
pcthrowaway 3y ago
Or the creator of Cicada took the Google analytics ID of that security expert
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
A bold claim to make, but interesting nevertheless. Did you ever do a writeup on that? I'm not into it myself (I'm not smart enough for puzzles like that), but I can imagine there's obsessive communities around it that would love to know more about this lead.
- IAmGraydon 3y ago
  I never did a writeup because it seemed to me that the theories may have been true that Cicada3301 was a government program to recruit talent. I didn't want to dox the guy publicly and I also didn't want to piss anyone off at a three-letter agency. This is actually the first time I've ever mentioned this in public, but so much time has passed since the program was active that I think it's probably OK at this point.

jrockway 3y ago

I think I saw one of these in New York. Someone stuck a "bitcoin is a scam" sticker on it. Now it all makes sense.