TBH, this just sounds like more excuses for a company that should have had this issue fully nipped in the bud a long, long, long time ago. The fact that the community has had to step in to make any real progress that lasted for any period of time showcases that NCSoft as a company doesn't really care, because if they did, they would have this issue fully resolved by now.
The fact that the option to check mark the "Block whispers from players below lvl 10" is STILL greyed out speaks volumes. These are features that should have been 100% working day 1, and to be told "we are looking into it" is frankly no longer good enough. I have had a few friends leave the game due to the ongoing spam of private messages and the inability to update the chat filter successfully as others have done.
It seems to work for some, but then not work for many others. End result? Folks are actually filing disputes with their financial institutions and winning their case for refunding all money spent in game because no one enjoys the constant distractions of in-game whispers coming from the onslaught of lvl 1 gold seller bots. I myself have had to log off several times due to the increased anger and frustration I feel when I get spammed with these whispers for different gold seller sights, who now use new special characters and symbols.
Just last night, I received over a dozen whispers within a few minutes time and decided to log off and go play another MMO that doesn't have this issue.
I truly hope NCSoft gets their act together asap and not "we are working on it" and try to make your player base wait another week or months for a "fix".
The #1 priority right now NCSoft should be doing is to enable the blocking of whispers from characters lvl 10 and under. However that will only be a temp solution as gold sellers will simply build a bot army to get past lvl 10 and start whispers all over again, which circles back to, providing your paying player base a proper chat filter and maintaining it as priority.
I honestly do not know how much longer I can go before I decide this ongoing issue is just not worth the headaches and mental frustrations.