





Reddit user delverofsecrets posted photos of a cryptic note that he or she obtained from a "homeless looking man" on the 1 train in New York City. The user asked Reddit for help in identifying what the characters might mean, and the post quickly shot to the top of the front page as Redditors discussed and looked for clues.

UPDATE 1: Reddit user delverofsecrets has edited his/her original post to include a private message from a user called 2220944379 who claims to be "Mr. Input" himself. It contained personally identifying information and a new code to crack:

"You may not believe me, but I will remind you of your personalized backpack [PERSONAL INFORMATION REDACTED]. You have recruited the help of friends, the offer is now on the table for them too. I cannot have strangers inquire about me, rather we will use a proxy. Here is the next step: DWY JLRR QUBPKSJ IL NDLM OQD OUCEQMW KGXI CSH RFRM XL WEZUXKJ. YME QLPRBAZ OQD TPVJG HPM UK CQJS H. PPVD BFSRST NJYT KR. BFPU EWP BMHY BTK WL VGB FXK R PXFE DTC GPBQL QWHKI JFA QRPE EJW EYC KLJ HCB JHGN."

UPDATE 2: Reddit user icedmilflopr seems to have deciphered the new code:

YOU HAVE MANAGED TO FIND THE MESSAGE WITH THE HELP OF FRIENDS. YOU CHANGED THE RULES NOW SO WILL I. JULY TWELVE FOUR PM. FIND THE BLUE JAY AT SIX AND A HALF AND FIFTY SIXTH AND TELL HIM YOU ARE THE LAST

Also of note, Redditor new_b connected the numerical username of Mr. Input to an IP address located at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, a military base used for intelligence training.

UPDATE 3: Delverofsecrets has updated his original post again: "I plan to be there today, and I figure that as long as its a public place, I should be safe. I have a date tonight around 6, so I wont be home until around 11. I'll post any developments then."

UPDATE 4: Reddit user delverofsecrets arrived at the new meeting location at around 4:45 p.m. EST and was greeted by crowds anxious to get the full story. Read the full report.

UPDATE 5: Delverofsecrets has deleted his Reddit account and updated the original post after receiving threatening phone calls. He writes that he does not plan to follow through with the meeting on July 19.

"I bumped into a raggedy dressed man as we got on and he shot me a quick smile. I [thought] nothing of it until he went to get off at 14th street and he handed me a $50 bill along with a note. Before I could even open my mouth to ask him a question, he was gone," delverofsecrets writes in the post. "I've been looking at the note all day, and needless to say, I have no idea what it means. It's handwritten on a 3X3 square piece of paper with no identifying marks and no watermarks. There's a handdrawn grid and at a couple spots, the cells of the grid are combined. The note has random character written throughout it and the bottom quarter is filled with random shapes and numbers."

Within three hours, Redditors had identified some of the characters were written in Russian, Basque and Hebrew. Specifically, user SirSpam28 determined that the note referenced its own encryption, and that the "key" is something called a Bifid Cipher — a turn-of-the-century algorithm that would decode the secret message.







SirSpam28 (along with a handful of other armchair cryptologists) used the cipher to crack the text:

There's plenty more money to make.

Figure this out and prepare to meet July 19th, 56th & 6th.

There's a hot dog stand outside Rue57 cafe. Ask for Mr. Input.

If you're super creeped out by this, you're not alone. Many Redditors in the thread are speculating. Perhaps it's some sort of job interview. Perhaps a government spy game. Maybe it's just a strange man playing tricks on unsuspecting subway riders.

Or maybe the joke will be on us when the entire Internet shows up at 56th and 6th next week to find it was all an elaborate marketing scheme. Mashable reached out to delverofsecrets for additional information. We will keep you informed as more details emerge.