Public Glossary of Black Market Terms.

Whether runescape, WoW, Linkedin or TikTok. Sometimes when discussing deep topics on the subject of trading accounts and avoiding bans, I find that some terms are well defined and understood by the community, while others may vary in meaning. Additionally some concepts may have a well-known word to denote it, but others may not.

In this thread we can discuss etymology and definitions of terms commonly used in our community.

In order to provide some structure and some longevity, OP will contain this introduction, and a word of the week, which will provide a central topic of discussion. Posts that attempt to provide a definition are encouraged.

Word of the Week: Vouch

 

Ok, no one's playing ball, so I'll get started.

Flagging an account: The act of an account being silently marked by some automated system for possible rule breaking activity, and set up for later manual review.

So account flagging refers to a very specific practice, the four elements are present at once:
- the account user is not notified that they triggered the flag
- the flagging system is automatic, manual marks are not themselves flagging
- Not sure about this one, but the flag is typically not always enough to warrant an automatic ban, it requires the manual review.
- After the flag, a non automated or semi-automated human agent reviews the account and delivers a final judgement.

This is distinct from shadowbans or delayed bans, in which the purpose is not solely to hide information from the user, but to allow for the use of higher sensitivity, lower specificity auto-tests by decoupling the detection mechanism from the disciplinary action.

 

Changed the word of the week to "chainban"

Fairly easy one, I've seen it used in other communities as well, even non-gaming like social media. If somebody wants to give it a go, feel free to post a definition.

 

Chainban: The banning of an account due to a break of Terms of Service followed by a subsequent banning of accounts linked to the same owner, whether it be because of:

- Use of the same or similar registration data like emails, names.
- Use of the same or similar payment methods, like credit cards, names on credit card.
- IP Address.
- Device identifying metadata.

 

Changed word of the week to "Recovery", should be an easy one

 

Recovery ( of an account): To access an account, legitimately or not, without traditional authentication systems by claiming that the original authentication credentials were lost or compromised.
Recovery procedures may range from automated procedures with a secondary authentication method like an email link, or a more elaborated manual procedure.
The first is subject to abuse if both methods are compromised by an attacker, while the latter is vulnerable to social engineering.

 

Changed the word of the week to "IP" slightly more technical one this week.

 

IP (Address): A 32 bit number identifying a networked computer as defined in the Internet Protocol, first usage in 1974 "A protocol for Packet Inter-Network Communications", later more formally defined in 1978 "Internet Protocol specifications version 4".
While originally addresses identified single user computers, later they came to be used for servers as the internet transitioned from flat decentralization to a hierarchical capitalistic system. Later still, as the amount of available addresses became insufficient for the amount of connected devices (IPv4 exhaustion), addresses started to be recycled between sessions and shared between pools, effectively identifying sessions or sub-networks.
IP addresses are a very solid technique used in modern days to combat abuse by network administrators, as blocks of IP addresses require a registration by the service provider, and different administrators can block individual IP addresses or blocks of IP addresses if they see continued misuse from that origin.
Attacker techniques for avoiding IP identification exist, but since addresses are a limited resource due to ipv4 exhaustion, attacks become costly, effectively applying a Proof of Work cost to any type of attack. Which greatly disuades or neuters attackers.
For this reason IPv4 addresses are a valuable resource in the black market, whether sold as Proxies, as VPNs or as blocks, they have a market price as a commodity, and a subjective quality assigned to them, which varies based on the reputation of the individual address, the block and the country of origin.

 

Changed word of the week to proxy

 

Proxy (Dictionary definition): authority given to someone to act for you, as by voting as your representative in an election, or the person to whom this authority is given.

Proxy (Black Market definition): A server that acts as an intermediate connection point between the user and a third party server. The objective of the proxy is to hide the real origin of the connection, so that it appears to the third party as originating from the proxy, not from the user behind it.

VPN: A synonym of a proxy with a more advanced technology.

Note: The original allegory of proxy is not precise, doing something by proxy might be a transparent delegation, while a proxy in black markets is always opaque. A more precise allegory would be a Straw Owner or Testaferro.

Straw Owner: A straw owner is a person who owns property legally or has the legal appearance of owning something but does so on behalf of another, sometimes for a fee, and typically solely to hide the identity of the effective owner. Most instances of straw ownership are legal, but the arrangement is sometimes made for nefarious, illegal purposes.

 

Changed word of the week to "vouch"

 

Vouch: A testimonial, a review, a referral, a statement by a previous customer or associate about the trustworthiness of an individual according to internal the codes of ethics of a subculture.

 

Can I get a definition of: “my word is my bond”?

 

Not a word, nor is it a black market term, but here is an etymological definition.


From wiktionary:

bond

Etymology
From Middle English bond, a variant of band, from Old English beand, bænd, bend (“bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown”), from Proto-Germanic *bandaz, *bandiz (“band, fetter”). Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Swedish band. Doublet of Bund. Related to bind.

1. (law) Evidence of a long-term debt, by which the bond issuer (the borrower) is obliged to pay interest when due, and repay the principal at maturity, as specified on the face of the bond certificate. The rights of the holder are specified in the bond indenture, which contains the legal terms and conditions under which the bond was issued. Bonds are available in two forms: registered bonds, and bearer bonds.
2. (finance) A documentary obligation to pay a sum or to perform a contract; a debenture.

 

Here are a couple of related terms which you might find useful, not strictly related to black markets, but might help.

From wikipedia:

IOU: An IOU (abbreviated from the phrase "I owe you") is usually an informal document acknowledging debt. An IOU differs from a promissory note in that an IOU is not a negotiable instrument and does not specify repayment terms such as the time of repayment

Perpetual Bond: A perpetual bond, also known colloquially as a perpetual or perp, is a bond with no maturity date, therefore allowing it to be treated as equity, not as debt. Issuers pay coupons on perpetual bonds forever, and they do not have to redeem the principal. Perpetual bond cash flows are, therefore, those of a perpetuity.


From wiktionary:

Maturity Date: (finance) The date on which a principal amount of a note, draft, acceptance bond, or other debt instrument becomes due or payable.

Delinquency: A debt that is overdue for payment.

Default: In finance, default is failure to meet the legal obligations (or conditions) of a loan, for example when a home buyer fails to make a mortgage payment, or when a corporation or government fails to pay a bond which has reached maturity.

Consideration (law) : A matter of inducement for something promised; something valuable given as recompense for a promise, which causes the promise to become binding as a contract.

 

This entire thread is pretty deep and actually quite wild haha.