Scam PMs from new members
 

stvn123 has sent the same format PM to several people who have recent wanted requests:

stvn123 has now been banned.

Please be very wary of responding to such messages from any new members with zero posts, or emailing the address included.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Interesting how they combine a real posted subject with their spam/scam. Brobably bot software or how this is called.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

No, there are people paid to post this stuff. They register on forums then send PMs to members directed towards their interests. Anybody who gets an unsolicited PM from a new member with a low post count should view it with great suspicion.

There's not a lot we can do about this that doesn't introduce additional problems.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

I have added a restriction to these members with no posts, they can now only send one PM every 10 minutes. This should slow down the scammers so they hopefully give up, without losing the PM facility completely for new members that need it.

Of course they can still send one scam PM before hitting the restriction, and may persist anyway, so this doesn’t mean the problem has gone.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Thanks for the heads up.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

i received one of these messages and somewhat embarrassed to say I was taken in by it >:( this was before Paul had launched this Thread.

In this case I am unsure what the scam intention was ?

David

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

What action did you take? Presumably the idea was that you would contact the person whose email address was sent and send him some money to pay for the thing you were looking for. He would then disappear and never be heard from again.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Generally speaking, the initial contact will be from a low level scammer. If you respond the contact will be passed on to someone higher up the food chain who will assess your vulnerability based on your response. Typically the senior scammer will try to get you to send money or supply bank details.

There is a whole ecosystem of internet fraud, with so called 'sucker lists' being traded and groups working together.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

I did make an enquiry to the provided email address but my sent email bounced back very quickly saying "undeliverable", so at that stage started to think that something was fishy.

Hope I am not on the "sucker list" :)

David

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Some of them are just plain incompetent. You don't get criminal masterminds sitting in internet cafes in Lagos or Mumbai all day doing this sort of thing.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Even if you don't get to the attention of someone who does the main scam, you can wind up on mug lists and lists of known valid email addresses which get traded around. So be extra careful of incoming emails. You've put your head over the horizon.

Hopefully that bounce message was a real one meaning that they never got your address.

David

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

It's possible that the email address or domain was blacklisted somewhere.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

We pretty much got hit with the exact same scam on Antique Radio Forums a while back.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

The big giveaway is usually the style of writing and the poor or strange English.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Also immediately wanting to take the discussion off the forum onto email should be a red flag.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

I've just took a sample of about ten members at random and with the exception of moderators, all of them had Email reception enabled using the forum as a proxy.

That included myself!

I've now disabled "Receive Email from Other Members". Wouldn't it be better if this was the default condition?

If someone wants a members direct email address, they can always use the forums messaging service and ask.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

A certain amount of descretion is needed by members I would think.
After all, if we visit here relativly often, we know who is another regular and who is not.
If you dont know the name, or seem suspicious, simply redirect, it, their, whover email it is back to the forum. Im sure any scams will be picked up.
Its been mentioned already:
NEVER give your personal info to anybody.
Not even another forum member, UNLESS you KNOW who and what they are.

Its NOT rocket science!!!.

Joe

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Bumping this thread. This is an ongoing issue. Please take care.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Yes I received a PM this morning and smelled a rat.
A simple search first, revealed enough info for me, so no response was sent to it.
This is a good site to search for and moderators / admins to log banned nefarious forum users.
I use it as I moderate elswhere.
https://www.stopforumspam.com/
Thanks to the staff for prompt action.

Re: Scam PMs from new members
 

Another form that I moderate checks all new users against the Stopforumspam database using their API.