"Today, a homeless looking man handed me $50 and this note. Do any of you have any idea what it mea

Note: This is not about me. I am just linking to story that is happening else where.

So, ATS, today on Reddit.com, a user made a post saying that "a homeless looking man handed him a USD$50 and an encrypted note. Obviously, there is a chance that the user just made this up entirely, but I know there are some pretty brilliant minds on here. So, I figured I'd post what they had in case you all had anything to offer. Here is the words of the official post:

Dear Reddit, I work in NYC, and was dragged into a very curious situation today. I was taking the 1 train from midtown to the financial district and as usual, the train was pretty packed. I bumped into a raggedy dressed man as we got on and he shot me a quick smile. I though 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. Below you find pictures of both the front and back of the note.
Front: i.imgur.com...
Back: i.imgur.com...
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.
Maybe I'm just reading way too far into things, and he was just another crazy New Yorker, but I figured it would be neat to see if anyone has run into this similar situation. Do any of you have any idea as to what the note says if anything?
EDIT: Just got to my friend's house in Jersey, didn't expect this post to take off, but I've managed to read some of the comments and see that most of you are saying that the letters on the back are the cipher. That was the first thing I tried and it failed; others said that the 50 may have something to do with it, the only thing out of the ordinary that I saw on the bill was a number written along the back of the bill, but the "7" on the bill doesn't match the one on the note. I've taken pictures with my phone:
Front: i.imgur.com...
Back: i.imgur.com...
I'll be stepping out for the night, but I should be back on later tonight.
Edit to Edit: There's also some shading on the front of the bill that may mean something.

www.reddit.com...

There is also a good chance that the homeless man (if real) was simply crazy and this means nothing.

Here is the encrypted note front and back:
i.imgur.com...
i.imgur.com...

And here is the $50 bill:
i.imgur.com...
i.imgur.com...

One user also had this to say in response:

The bottom says Ecnrption in Basque, and then below that says Bifid in hebrew and Cip[her in russian.
The Bifid Cipher is a thing..
en.wikipedia.org...

Another user:

The last line also says "encryption", but in Russian: "шыфр" which is written as "шь|фр" with a vertical bar. The person writing it probably didn't know that 'ы' is a single letter.

So, have anything to add, ATS?

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


The back is the alphabet key? backwards maybe?

That looks distinctively like a Grille Cipher to me!

So, have anything to add, ATS?

Oh crap not again. Also that thing on the front of the $50 that looks like it was written in ballpoint looks incredibly familiar to me... It's probably something overtly obvious that I am forgetting about. Or just a lot of people scribble on bills. Looks like a little circled 8. My bet? Crazy guy or someone screwing with us internet peoples.

The back has 26 letters, so we could assume that's the key for a substitution cipher. Give me a few minutes...

reply to post by ErroneousDylan

greetings~
for those with time and interest Rumkin will allow you to enter text for encryption - or - decryption.... ... .. .
ENJOY


∞LOVE∞

There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****

Think its only fair to hide the location and the name of the fellow who is about to give this guy some more money. I wonder how much is waiting for him?

First post!

reply to post by Curiouslyopen


Ah, you're right. I just read that on there as well.

Originally posted by Curiouslyopen
There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****

Think its only fair to hide the location and the name of the fellow who is about to give this guy some more money. I wonder how much is waiting for him?

First post!

That's what I got too...

Good job

what are the chances that the "note" is perfectly square? *and the paper & ink look very clean, like it's never been folded or handled very much, like it's brand new.

the lines seem hand-drawn with a ruler or straight edge, but the paper looks square, and uncut...strange.

is it interesting that the "FI" & "D" of "FIFTY DOLLARS" is blacked out? maybe the bill and note go together to solve the puzzle?

It has to do with an invasion from space during the olympic games, and implies that they are 'warriors'.

When someone actually figures this out, and can prove what it says. Then you look back at this comment, you will surely be





gnarliest, phogon race, ... ok I'm done, getting bored lol

Originally posted by Curiouslyopen
There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****

Think its only fair to hide the location and the name of the fellow who is about to give this guy some more money. I wonder how much is waiting for him?

First post!

Welcome to ATS...fab first post....

What a sneaky way to set someone up for a hit....

Would you go to the hot dog stand? I think curiosity would get the better of me. Wonder how may other people in NY will be at that hot dog stand, since it was put on the internet...

Might be that hot dog vendor's best day ever.

Des

reply to post by Curiouslyopen


Maybe that large sum on the bottom of the bill? Nice!

Originally posted by Curiouslyopen
There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****

Think its only fair to hide the location and the name of the fellow who is about to give this guy some more money. I wonder how much is waiting for him?

First post!

Are you the same one that figured it out on Reddit?

So it uses the Bifid Cipher as I said before, with a g -> a alphabet translation.
It comes out to: There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****
I asterisked out key details as to make OP earn it himself since I live no where close to NYC.

www.reddit.com...

If so, good work.

Originally posted by Curiouslyopen
There's plenty more money to make figure this out and prepare to meet july 19 fifty sixth and sixth hot dog stand outside ***** cafe ask for mister *****

Think its only fair to hide the location and the name of the fellow who is about to give this guy some more money. I wonder how much is waiting for him?

First post!

So, a three letter agency is looking for cryptanalysts.



Keep the money but don't fall for the hook.

Originally posted by FractalChaos13242017
It has to do with an invasion from space during the olympic games, and implies that they are 'warriors'.

When someone actually figures this out, and can prove what it says. Then you look back at this comment, you will surely be

How did you come to that conclusion Sherlock?

No I'm not. Just found an answer to a thread and got excited haha.

I wonder if the guys story is true. Anyone else in New York going to troll up and down 56th and 6th now?

I wonder how many people will be buying a hot dog on that day. Half the internet?

Is this a clever scheme by the owner of the hotdog stand?

reply to post by zonetripper2065


exactly - the back 26 letters are the primer (key).

apply the correct order alphabet substituted into the back key.

translate.

try it.

Originally posted by Argyll

Originally posted by FractalChaos13242017
It has to do with an invasion from space during the olympic games, and implies that they are 'warriors'.

When someone actually figures this out, and can prove what it says. Then you look back at this comment, you will surely be

How did you come to that conclusion Sherlock?

lol, I tried, easyciphers.com...

HAHAHA! I never reveal my sources!



here, just so you don't think that I totally made that answer up...

www.google.com...:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb#hl=en&client=firefox-a&pwst=1 &rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=fflb&sclient=psy-ab&q=gnitseral&oq=gnitseral&gs_l=serp.3...10404.10404.3.10699.1.1.0.0.0.0.196.196.0j1.1.0.. .0.0.h98X-EREQQU&pbx=1&fp=1&biw=1024&bih=639&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&cad=b&sei=sRr-T53IFcjc2QW2q53EDw

btw, it's a double cypher!

I told you, that you would be:





Here, solve this one 'jmmvnjobuj'