[split] Tips on how to spot fake torrents - Updated 7/29/11

[leaptohell]

If you have any comments or questions the original Thread is located in The General Hallway which is unlocked.
http://www.torlock.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=111

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Now, I can't stress enough how important it is to have a proper anti-virus, there are some free ones out there but its best to get a paid version, it's a 24 hour job keeping up with the viruses, trojans, worms, etc. Support the people who keep your PC and personal information safe!

First off, About your P2P client.
There are a lot of software out there that you can find to use to download torrents. But there are a couple who have earned themselves a bad reputation for malware, fraudulent codecs, keyloggers, trojans, the list goes on. So I recommend to avoid them.

Torrent101
Get-Torrent
Bitroll
BitLord
BitThief
TorrentQ

Now, when dealing with new movie releases, visit imdb to make sure the movie has been released. I would recommend to only download .AVI (Audio Video Interleave) and .MKV (Matroska Video) formated videos, most .WMV will be fakes. You may find a couple legit ones, but the majority will link to other sites to get paid codecs to play the file, or you might get malware downloaded onto your PC without your permission or even knowledge.

With music, avoid downloading .WMA files, same deal as with .WMV.
There are so many different types of music formates out there. I would say stick to only MP3 (MPEG-1 or MPEG2 Audio Layer III) or .FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)

When dealing with both movies and music, avoid RAR/ZIP files. You might also find some sort of "password instructions", "codec instructions", "unrar instructions", "special instructions", "important read me first", "download instructions here" to be able to open the files. That is a telltale sign that someone is trying to sneak malware onto your PC. Furthermore, if there is an .EXE (Executable) file included, then avoid that download!
For movies and music, there is no need for an .EXE file to be present.

Always read the comments, it is the feedback of other people who have already downloaded the files. These comments can give you a sense of how legit the file is. If you see no comments on a file, be suspicious. If you see any negative comments, then move on and find a better torrent.

Distrust .RAR, .TAR, .ACE files
If you see an attractive torrent movie that is in .RAR, .TAR, .ACE format, distrust it, and examine its listed file content before your download. If there is no list of the contents, DO NOT TRUST IT.

DO NOT INSTALL OR RUN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING!!
They are BAD Player’s/Decoder’s (Codec’s)/Downloader’s
123 - 3WPLAYER
A - AbcCodec, AccessKeyGenerator, AccessMediaDownload, AccessMediaSetup
B - BitGrabber, BitRoll, BlackCodec, CityCodec
D - DemoCodec, divocodec, divxmovienow, DOMPlayer, Dvd Access, Dvd Codec
E - Emcodec, eMedia Codec, EndCodec,
G - GalaPlayer, GameCodec, Go Media Decoder
H - HeroCodec, Hificodec, HQ Codec
I - iCodecPack, IMCodec, IntCodec, iMediaCodec, ivideocodec, IxCodec
J - JetCodec
K - KeyCodec
L - LightCodec
M - Megazcodec, Media-Codec, MediaCodec, MediaTubeCodec, MedCodec, MMediaCodec, MovieCodec, Moviecsodec, MovieXplayer, MPCODEC
N - NetPumper, Newvidscodec, NiceCodec, nvidcodec
P - PCODEC, Perfect Codec, Player_Flash, PlayerCodec, PlayersCodec, PlayCodecs, playvix player, PowerCodec, PornPass Manager, PornMag Pass
Q - Qvee Player
S - Setup.exe, SiteTicket, SiteKeyMaker, Siteentrances, SoftCodec, StormCodec, strCodec, svideocodec
T - TrueCodec, TsCodec, TvCodec, TvsCodec, Tvs-Codec
U - UinCodec, Unpack_Movie.exe
V - v-codec, VaxObject, Vccodec, VCodec2007, VideosAccess, VideoCompressionCodec, VideoKeyCodec, Videoscash, VideosCodec, vidscodec
W - WinZix, WebSoftCodec, WebVideoSetup, WinMediaCodec, WMcodec
X - X Password Generator, X Password Manager, XeroCodec, XXXmediaCodec, XVod Decoder
Z - ZipCodec, Zcodec, ZLOB Show

Or any other “special Player/Decoder (Codec)/Downloader” They are Trojans (SCAM/FAKE) and probably not even the file stated in the .torrent. If you download something requiring any of these delete them and Don’t Seed them.

Games and Others
Better to try and look for Image files (.iso .bin/.cue .nrg .mds/.mdf .ccd .img .daa .uif etc.) , Although games and other non video files are often archived with no password (.rar .7z .ace .tar .gz .arc .dar .pea .sit etc.) and are usually OK.

File Size
The .torrent File size is not even close to what it should be for the given .torrent. (A movie/game is 7MB when it should be 700MB)

Download Stuck at 98%
There are a couple of reasons this can happen.
1. The main reason you get stuck at 98% these days: sometimes people upload torrents that are bogus. They purposefully make sure the whole file is not there. or they put spam files in there etc. Or the tracker is reporting false information to mislead you. They are Scam/Fake (like saying there’s seeds when there really aren’t). (Also, if things seem to be crawling then check the ip address of the peers. If a lot belong to the same subnet range (this is easy to spot) then it is possible the seed isn’t a fake but is being intentionally hammered to deny access to the seed by real downloaders such as yourself) .
2. Just try and play it a lot of times it will work anyway.
3. Or there are just not any people that have 100% of the file.

Block bad connections
1. Whenever you are downloading be sure to have some protection like PeerBlock. It has signed drivers so it will run on x64 based windows systems (that require signed drivers). Additional block lists can be found at I-Block. More than 2,705,588,093 IP's can be blocked depending on how paranoid you are.
2. And/or add the ipfilter.dat (This may be used in conjunction with any of the above IP blockers) to µTorrent’s settings folder By typing this into the run dialog box %AppData%\uTorrent it will open the appropriate folder Extract the .dat file, if necessary rename it to ipfilter.dat and copy it into that folder and while you are at it you can get the ipfilter updater.
(Make sure Under Preferences the advanced tab that the enable.ipfilter is set to true) (this will help weed out the Scam/Fake Seeders)

Hash Fails
Keep an eye on hash fails. Typically these should be below 1%. If they are greater than 20% then the torrent is being accidentally or deliberately poisoned.
(If hash fails are high. Stop the torrent and wait a week before restarting it. If it was accidental it is likely the uploader will have completed their seeding back and stopped, in which case the remaining seeders will be “clean”. Equally, if it was being deliberately poisoned it’s possible the bad guys would have moved on)

Unknown/New Trackers
Trackers (that can’t be found on Google anywhere) with large amounts of seeds/peers are probably Scam/Fake. (Tracker names which look very similar to well known trackers are often fake)


Crap Websites
Stay away from the following scam/phishing sites!
AskMu(dot)com
cryptoguardian(dot)com
downloads.torrentsu(dot)com
DownloadTo(dot)com (Hosts domplayer)
hdmi2(dot)com
media-codec(dot)com
mediaprovider(dot)info
megazcodec(dot)com
missing-codecs(dot)com
PlayMP3z(dot)biz
playon.domplayer(dot)com
playon.play3w(dot)com
seonomad(dot)com
torrentm8(dot)com
torrentmovie-help(dot)com
tvcodec(dot)com
uploadvid(dot)net
vidscentral(dot)net
enjoyyourself(dot)info
DirectGameKeys(dot)com
spynova(dot)org (Pay for membership (yearly) only site)

Be sure and leave a comment on the torrent’s you download
Leave a comment for good or bad .torrents and flag bad ones if needed, Or Just Say Thanks for sharing a great file. (That way other users will know if it is a good or bad .torrent)
1. It’s just good etiquette to comment on what you download to encourage more torrents from the uploader.
2. For good or bad .torrents and flag bad ones if needed, for any torrent you download. (That way if a bad one does get through we can remove it)
3. When you leave comments just beware of the fact that any problem that you are having could be on your end and not the uploaders fault.
4. If there is no sound, it’s more likely that you don’t have the right codec installed than that the sound is actually missing. The Vista Codec Pack or the CCCP are the best , But if you must use the K-lite codec pack it will work, Although the AC3 Filter is one that people typically over look and fall over. (Only install one codec pack as installing more than one will cause conflicts excluding the AC3 Filter as it is not a codec pack you can install it together with a codec pack)
5. Likewise, if the video or audio is choppy, make sure your codecs are OK before flaming the uploader.
(In fact, never flame , just explain calmly and clearly the problems you are having)
6. After you have completed a download. Check if it is a real torrent. Avoid seeding FAKES.