Can you reset to its original indexed information sources that have been maliciously modified?
Recently I have found that a family search user (already reported) have been modifying sources already indexed (either by OCR or manually by a collaborator) , changing names, last names, dates, places, incorporating new names , events and dates that are no included in the original document, etc. Trying to correct these sources manually is time consuming. The worst part is that once these documents indexed information is changed to reflect some fake information, they will be no longer appear when a search query is done with the original indexed information, therefore making impossible to find the document unless you search it manually. I even suggested fs to look for all the changes performed by the mentioned user and reset all indexed documents to its original first time indexed information, but no answer was given..Any help/support will be appreciated.. This is only one example of the modifications this user has done on one indexed document, How many indexed documents have been changed? I dont have the faintest idea.. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHK-93T9-D756?view=index&lang=en&groupId=&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6DYT-3XZQ&action=view
Answers
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Support can restore sources and profiles to their previous state, but it is often challenging to provide evidence of malicious intent. I've just been through such an experience, and it required several months.
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This is really strange and something I've never run across before. @SerraNola , is this something you can pass on to the right people?
Just for ease of discussion, here is the one example provided above:
- Name has been completely changed.
- Father has been completely changed.
- Mother has been deleted.
- Birth data has been deleted.
- Christening data has been deleted.
- Twelve people who do not appear on the record have been added.
It almost looks like the source was incorrectly attached to a person and the user to discover the attachment error changed the source to match Family Tree rather than just detaching it.
What might be hard to determine is whether this is maliciousness, incompetence, a complete misunderstanding of what indexing does, or a massive bug in the index editor.
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Hi Gordon, thanks for taking this issue into further analysis, I dont know if this is malicious or lack of understanding how the platform works, (I even sent a message via chat to this user, to help him out if he was trying to make a family tree or if he did not know what he was doing, but never answered) but I have attached more than 350.000 sources in the last 5 years and I had never seen something like this, furthermore I did corrected some of the sources on Dec 29th when I found our about this, and next morning the sources were already changed again, by the same user (you can easily see in each source what was changed and the user thad did the changes) . Additionally, I have found several other sources changed by the same user, here the links . That's why I requested additional support in finding out all the sources this user changed and resetting all those sources to the original indexed information. I dont know the extent of these changes, I was able to trace some of this user activity all the way to October 2025
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSDQ-4QYZ?lang=en
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It doesn't look to me to be malicious. I lean towards "complete misunderstanding of what indexing does" and possibly in need of guidance on adding/changing tree data. I agree it may require the aid of internal staff with tools to find his "contributions". @Sam Sulser can make that decision and would know where to send it. In the meantime, we are reaching out to the user in Spanish in the hopes of preventing any more damage.
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Look at all the changes this user did only on one source today https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/changelog/MX5D-T8T If this is not on purpose then what's this ? Please your quick support is appreciated.. This user and its IP need to be blocked he is destroying hours and hours of work done by many people
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New Indexed sources being changed by user @German Antonio75 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS1Q-2HDX-M?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A66S8-RL87&action=view&cc=1951777&lang=en&groupId=
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Hello,
I just want to add my +1 to Oscar's report. I initially thought (back in November) that it was just a very-enthusiastic-yet-absolute-clueless new user. I sent him a message that never responded. He kept destroying records left and right. At this point I do believe there's intentionality for who-knows-what reason.
I tried to fix some of his… contributions, but it was so extensive, and so pervasive, that it would easily take weeks of work just to fix a few branches.
This user needs to be stopped. I hope there were an easy way to rollback changes made by a user.
All the best,Will
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I'm sure it isn't "easy," but Support or Data Administration can roll back changes made by a user. In the instance I mentioned above, even the change logs were wiped.
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The reported user (now with a new user @German5163 keeps doing the modification of indexed documents, erasing the original information and manipulating the documents.. Can you block his IP instead of blocking the user? Here a sample of two other documents just manipulated with fake information a few days ago. Thanks for your support in solving this matter
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@Oscar Lang @WillCastillo I do not know if Support is still investigating this as Tree abuse but I have provided information for Records Group engineers to take action against the destructive alteration of indexed records.
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@Oscar Lang @WillCastillo Update—-
I've been notified that FT management will be meeting with engineers to find this patron's work. Thank you for your efforts to bring this to our attention!
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@SerraNola Wow, thank you SO much! Please extend my gratitude to the dev/management team. Tell them I'd bring them a bag full of kit kats if I could!
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@SerraNola @Gordon Collett @WillCastillo
Good morning, it looks like this guy wants definitively to keep doing harm to the platform.. Yesterday he activated new user @German Antonio17 (third one being used I believe) https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/changelog/PH76-PRW and he keeps destroying previously indexed documents, erasing old information and feeding new information irrelevant to the document itself (fake information like this one )https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRRB-KT6?view=index&personArk=1%3A1%3A62RZ-42GN&action=view&cc=4465438&lang=en&groupId=M9SF-PQ1 making the original document worthless since it will not show anymore in any query. I really hope this user can be stopped before more damage is done.. Thanks for your support
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@Oscar Lang @WillCastillo I deleted my previous post that you may or may not have read. We don't need to give this guy any information.
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@SerraNola @Gordon Collett @WillCastillo
Good morning, the mentioned user appears to have created another account as of Feb 5,26, to keep doing his matters, the new user is @Ggraffe64 . All the sources cited here https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/research-help/PH76-PRW were modified so the indexed information imputed by the mentioned user does not match the real information on the indexed documents.. Would be appreciated if the indexed information could be rolled back to the original indexed information. Thanks.
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@SerraNola No, sorry. I didn’t read it.
This person really seems to be on a mission to destroy the tree. I’m afraid being reactive is not the right approach. Something needs to be done about them. Given all the usernames that @Oscar Lang has diligently provided, I’m fairly confident the dev team can establish a pattern. IP-based, behavior-based, or otherwise.
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@SerraNola @Gordon Collett @WillCastillo
Good morning.. and the mentioned user created another account today feb 8 26 ( I believe 5th or 6th), the new user is @German8499 and he keeps destroying /modifying indexed documents with fake information as this one https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR5Y-Y91?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AX922-MT43&action=view&cc=1951777&lang=en&groupId=M94H-RXT
It will very important to check the chronology of indexed documents modified by all the different users accounts this person has used, and be able to roll back or reset to its original information all these documents, otherwise these documents will never be found by regular queries or people genuinely searching for this information
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How can you tell if someone has changed an indexed record? Already attached sources were not changed, so it's not in the profile change log.
Yesterday I encountered a census record where the indexing of ages was totally random. The original image was very clear, so I doubt that it was indexing error. Is this something I should report? (I corrected the errors for the family I was working on, but there easily could have been others.)
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I have no idea how Oscar does it… but the cases I’ve found are due to this user detaching valid sources from records. That’s in the log. After checking the source again, I noticed that the user not only destroyed the record but also the indexed data so they can't be easily attached again.
Yeah… a different level…1 -
@SerraNola @Gordon Collett @WillCastillo
The mentioned user keeps being creative.. the new user created I believe today is @Zulayger and keeps modifying indexed information in documents, destroying and modifying family trees with fake information , changing date of trees, names, etc and basically destroying the possibility to find the documents, following an example of changes done to one document today, you can see that before the new user is one of the previous users he used @German Antonio75. Again I believe the best way to stop this is simply to NOT allow changes to indexed information unless you are a registered user. Or at least block the IP to any account originating in Venezuela (that's I believe where this user is located) to do changes in indexed documents, unless you are a registered and vetted indexer. Thanks again..
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RRT-9DHS?view=history&personArk=1%3A1%3AWQRF-XBZM&lang=en
In this other documents the amount of changes carryed out was crazy… it took me almost 30 minutes to put back the correct data https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDN-9SQJ-6?view=history&personArk=1%3A1%3A6RTZ-JG71&lang=en
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More changes on indexed documents including fake information on names, dates, etc and destroying original indexed document information
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-9QSC-F2QV?view=history&lang=en
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Just look at how this user changed all the original information in this marriage document , the original document usually has 6 to 8 names, the document modified by the user has 17 names none of then related with the original document https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X726-NJHB?lang=en
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@Oscar Lang @WillCastillo This issue is being treated seriously and with urgency. Senior engineers and the Family Tree team are collaborating with records engineers to address the problem from both angles. Your feedback is shared and we appreciate your bringing it to our attention!
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Thanks a lot @SerraNola . Everyday I open the records I track where this user makes changes and its really frustrating trying to make the corrections, trying to contact him/her and explain the damage he/she is doing, even I have offered help to make his/her family tree, but nothing works.. I believe this user has a definitive purpose in doing this.. the reason? not idea… but he has been doing this apparently since 2024. I really hope the technical team is able to put a stop to this.. and implement a procedure so no indexed document is altered without proper authorization (like registered/vetted indexer) or simply is not modified at all.. Again thanks for your valuable support.
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@SerraNola thank you for the update.
Given that this is being treated internally, I wonder what the best course of action for us would be.
Should we just report new instances of wrongdoing or, in addition to that, should we keep trying to manually fix what this user damages.
Asking because it's obviously very pron to errors.
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As of Feb 7, I found another user (@German8499) being used for making changes on indexed documents and trees. In this particular review I found all the following documents need to be rolled back to its original indexed information, because the incumbent user changed all the original information with fake data. Thanks for your support
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X726-NJHB?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7DS-6SL6?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X74V-N9JD?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:62RZ-42GN?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XS84-S6WV?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4HJM-4Q3Z?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQK7-HDP8?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSMX-5JWH?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KJT-4ZQ2?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9PP-4WPD?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X922-MT43?lang=en
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Thank you for continuing to keep us undated. It is likely going to be easier for our Tree team to find and make corrections than for Records teams. It may be a longer process than was anticipated.
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Today I was able to filter out most of the documents changed, a figure between 200 and 300 documents where basically the user (under 5-6 different user names) removed the original information in each indexed document and substituted with fake information in addition to adding fake information not included in the original document). I believe all the documents changed belong to the Venezuela data base, but there could other documents changed in other regions . (Maybe Germany) It looks most of the changes occurred during the last part of 2025 and the first 2 months of 2026 even though we reported this issue on January 1st. Like I have suggested I am very sure there must be a way (through some software routine) to roll back to its original indexed information all documents modified (Instead of making a correction one by one) and using the activity tracking of the associated users to filter out the documents modified, but the preventive solution to avoid this from occurring again in a bigger scale is to control who can modify indexed documents and under what circumstances these modifications can be done and what clearance or registration including an associated code (as a registered indexer) must be used to do this type of modifications. Thanks again for your support.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/record/results?count=100&q.givenName=Leoncio%20Augusto&q.recordCountry=Venezuela&q.surname=Graffe
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