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[Robert]

The plot thickens...

[joknatson]

Robert, could you possibly send me an invite to Orkut? I'd like to snoop around myself.

Definitely dig further into the "Four friends" message. I'm thinking that could be a UPC code. I was doing research on EAN-13 last night, and there could be something there.

http://www.barcodeisland.com/ean13.phtml

This link is a good resource for understanding EAN-13.

I've also attached a picture of what a barcode would look like if we used the number string in the message that you found (0822162710052) as a UPC number. Translation: I turned that number into a barcode. I'm not seeing any matches though...

[Robert]

Thoughts about the barcode...

[Blacklight]

I think I'm onto something with that barcode. If you take the barcode, and put the two halfs end to end, with the right barcode on the left, and the left barcode on the right, it looks exactly like that number that we found's barcode if printed using code 128-B on http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php

What that means, I don't know, but maybe someone here with more code cracking experience can look at that number.

[joknatson]

Blacklight is right. The barcode that that site generates is WAY too close to what the barcode in the picture if you flip it like Blacklight did.

I'm looking at it now, and it's almost creepy. I'm attaching pics of the websites barcode and of our barcode flipped in Blacklight's position for comparison. Check it out!

But as Blacklight said....what does it mean? Can you try and run our barcode through the scanner again Blacklight? And maybe even that website's barcode too?

[Blacklight]

I can run down to the store in a couple hours to see if the scanner will read the new barcode. I doubt we'll get anything, but who knows...

I personally think that it's the number that's important and not the barcode. I think since we have two sources pointing to the same number, that it's got to be some kind of coded word or words. I ran it through several ciphers this morning and came up empty handed, but I stink at cryptology. I'm more of a hands on kind of guy and if we get audio intel on anything, I'm the guy. I have a nice amature music studio settup here for rooting out audio signals and such here. Doesn't help me much with codes .

[Robert]

Barcode...

[Blacklight]

I'm heading off to work now to grab my paycheck.. I'll take both codes.. the original and the one generated with the recalculated checksum. Just on a whim to see if ay product comes up or maybe a sku number. I should be back in a half hour/45 minutes with my findings. See what you can't do with that code. When I get back, I'll take a long look at the toy company unless I find something major with the barcode scanner (doubtful but worth a shot).

[joknatson]

Well I took my long look at the Childs Play, and I didn't find anything. The closest thing I could find were children's books that had ISBNs that started with 0859...but the were only 10 digits. I even looked at all the books on the site to see if any referenced 'rain' or 'spider', but no dice.

When I ran a search on the barcode, and the Childs Play barcode, I came up with ORAVEST INTERNATIONAL INC. which I guess is now called Broadleaf Capital Partners Inc.

I checked out those companies and couldn't find anything of use. Maybe we justs need to think simpler.

Hopefully Blacklight's scan will come through...

[Blacklight]

Well both barcodes did scan with the scanner.. Only thing is, since the numbers were not in the store's database, they didn't render a product or a sku number. All I got on the scanner was what I expected... the same numbers that we already know.

I don't think that the barcode is pointing us to a product or company. I think that the number is an actual coded word or set of words or numbers.

Hey. Could one of you with an Orkut account invite me ? I'd like to get a look at that website.

[joknatson]

I asked Robert to send me an invite. He emailed me back asking for a name (phony if you want) and an email address. He said it could take a couple of days, even after he sends the invite request to Orkut, before you get an email from Orkut.

Did you send my invite Robert?

I'm just stumped right now, all I have left is to check Orkut myself for more clues. I spent all day trying to find something to match that barcode or UPC number, and nothing worked. Like Robert is saying, the checksum is wrong, but when I correct the checksum, it still doesn't produce anything.

[Blacklight]

Make sure to check to see if there is any invisible or hidden text in that innaccessable message.

My search for anything related to "Four Friends" and Spiders and webs has turned up nothing so far. We have to decode those numbers methinks to figure out where we're going.

I'm going to send those numbers to a friend of mine who is VERY good at cryptography to see if he can see anything in the numbers. I think the numbers can stand alone because if we just found the numbers through the barcode, they would be all we had. I think the "Four Friends" and the "Weaving the Spiders web" are part of the sentance that the numbers create. We just have to fill in that blank.. I suspect it's some type of substitution cyper that we need, but since I'm so new at this, I'm lost.

[fog]

some ideas

[Robert]

Hi Guys,

I have had no success to speak of. My attempts to decipher any message have failed so far. I have tried finding meaningful 13 digit numbers, but I have been unable to find it - unless you think it could be a library card ...
hahahahaha!

Seriously, I have treated it as a straightforward substitution cipher and as something modularly encrypted, but it hasn't gotten me anywhere. But, like I said, I am new at this so I am going to continue trying to decode.

Until then, I agree with fog that the next step might be an email to our mysterious Ms. Ricci ... or perhaps Lucas Meeks (the AOL address). And yes, it looks like geocities is registered but not set up. Is it possible she has another webpage loaded but no index? So, I guess, if anyone comes across a possible value for our number it might be worthwhile to check: http://www.geocities.com/tolmhbe/?whatever?.html

Robert

[Blacklight]

I actually sent her an email two days ago asking her to check to see if there were any co-workers who had access to her computer to be sending wierd messages to people. I havn't gotten a response yet..

If we email her, what do we email her about ??? I mean do we just go out and ask "Why is there a barcode in your picture and a numerical code in your message area ?"

Someone should take a look at the sites of her "Three Friends" listed on her Orkut page to see if we can pick stuff up from there.