Spotting pirates

This is an age-old issue. In my youth, even I was guilty, running an illegal MW TX! Mind you, with a range of maybe 20m, I doubt I caused any QRM.

On FT8, a useful trick is to see where the station is being spotted. If there are few spots close to the station's location, be suspicious. If the station is being spotted locally and across the world, it is more likely to be genuine. I know this is not a 100% sure-fire check, but if you have doubts it is worth checking.