Silly Spammers

[Post-Crisis D]

Between this and the phone calls telling me I may have been injured in the Camp Lejuene mess the last fifty years... Never been there in my life. I had friends who married Marines. I'm pretty sure they're smart enough to figure out how to join a class action suit.

There have been ads on that on TV one after another, from different law firms.  Now the local veterans agencies are advertising to tell veterans that may have served at Camp Lejuene to contact the local agency who can help them for free.

Alas, they don't have the advertising budgets of the law firms so those ads don't run nearly as often.

[notthatamanda]

What local veterans agencies? I'm dubious. Sounds like just another law firm looking to cash in. It's a class action lawsuit, none of the law firms advertising to sign up clients are going to charge the clients, they just want to sign up as many people as possible to increase their own cut.

The Veteran's administration site has a lot of information about disability benefits for Camp Lejeune victims, but nothing about the lawsuit.

[Post-Crisis D]

What local veterans agencies? I'm dubious. Sounds like just another law firm looking to cash in.

They are local agencies overseen by the county government.

[notthatamanda]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Post-Crisis D]

Okay, which one of you is the spammer?

Because after I posted this:

I am tempted to actually send a bill to some of these spammers that leave contact information just to see how they might react.

Spam comments slowed down and have seemingly now stopped. 

I had to send myself a test on Saturday just to make sure it was working.

[Jeff Tanyard]

On the other hand, according to the eMail, a new girl wants to meet me.  And she's a "hottie."  Probably also Russian given that the URL ends in .ru.

A Russian hottie, eh?  Awesome!  What could possibly go wrong?   

[Post-Crisis D]

The spam comments are back.

I'm wondering if changing the name on the submit button from "Submit" to "Add to Cart" will deter bots.  Ah, heck.  I'm gonna try it . . .

[She-la-te-da]

Ah, yes, the continuous commercials!

The VA doesn't want vets signing up to lawsuits because it's admitting the government harmed service members. When we sign up, we agree that we can't suit the government for anything that happens to us. Congress had to pass a bill for this, and I'm still surprised they did.

[Post-Crisis D]

The spam comments are back.

I'm wondering if changing the name on the submit button from "Submit" to "Add to Cart" will deter bots.  Ah, heck.  I'm gonna try it . . .

Instead of that, I made it a payment button.

So far, now I'm only getting foreign language spam.

[Post-Crisis D]

Oh, silly spammers . . .

"If your is still in the market for additional funding . . ."

I mean, wow.

On top of that, it was sent to my eMail address and the company name listed is mine, but it isn't addressed to me.  The last name is my father's first name and the first name is something out of Battlestar Galactica.

[Post-Crisis D]

For those following along in the battle against comment spam, which is probably no one, I have a new update.

My last change was to have the "Submit" button read "Commit to Pay."

Overall, spam comments are down but not completely eliminated.

Meanwhile, the site's contact page has gotten no comment spam in months.  For those who don't want to scroll back, I have two comment forms on the site.  One is for the main site and one is for my author section of the site.

Earlier this week, I re-examined the two forms to try to figure out what the difference is.  Why does one get no comment spam and the other gets a regular barrage of it?  Especially baffling is that the main contact page should be easier to find as it is at the root level of the site whereas my author section is in its own directory.

Then I noticed that, in addition to everything else, I had at some point also added a field on the main contact page that asked the submitter to spell a specific word.  Not hard to do especially when the word is right there but it's apparently something bots aren't able to figure out yet.  Thank goodness for that.

So, I added such a field to my author contact page.

So far, so good.  We'll see how it holds up long term.

I should also add something to track how many form submissions get rejected.

[LilyBLily]

Much of the spam from my website is from what I'd call bottom feeders in the self-pub industry. People trying to convince me to pay them to advertise my books to their supposedly large and responsive Twitter or Facebook accounts. I'm not sure that the clever spelling test would rule them out--unless they simply spam every website whose address they can find. In which case, yes, it would be useful. Do you have code for the spelling test that I could copy to add to my site?

[Post-Crisis D]

Much of the spam from my website is from what I'd call bottom feeders in the self-pub industry. People trying to convince me to pay them to advertise my books to their supposedly large and responsive Twitter or Facebook accounts. I'm not sure that the clever spelling test would rule them out--unless they simply spam every website whose address they can find.

The ones I get are more of a general "promote your business" nature.  Or SEO.  Or services that will remove negative reviews of my business.  I don't recall any that actually recognized I write books.

In which case, yes, it would be useful. Do you have code for the spelling test that I could copy to add to my site?

It's very simple PHP code.  I could PM it to you, but you'd have to figure out where to insert it into your comment form.  Also, obviously, your comment form would have to be parsed by PHP for it to work.

If your site is a WordPress site, then it won't work.  I did a number of custom PHP thingies for my WordPress sites back in the day and I gave up on trying to make any of them into plugins anyone else could use.  I used them on my own site by manually editing the pages in the WordPress install.

[LilyBLily]

My site is indeed a WordPress site, hosted by SiteGround. Oh, well. It was an idea.

I don't get much spam anyway. I do wonder if one of the self-pub gurus sold me out to the bottom feeders. It's so silly. They all claim they can sell books of mine via methods I have tried that do not work.

[Post-Crisis D]

My site is indeed a WordPress site, hosted by SiteGround. Oh, well. It was an idea.

I've coded tons of stuff in PHP but WordPress is a royal PITA.

[Bill Hiatt]

Akismet seems to take care of the comment spam on my Wordpress site pretty well, but if you're using any kind of comment form plugin, you can probably add a field that would have the same result. I haven't used a comment form plugin recently, but my recollection is that the good ones were pretty customizable.

[Post-Crisis D]

I can second the Akismet recommendation.  I forgot about that one since I don't really have any WordPress sites of my own anymore.  I do have client sites using WordPress and Akismet seems to work well for them.

[Hopscotch]

Help!  Have begun getting nasty spam in Google Drive where I backup manuscripts.  The spam hits Drive as a shared/collaboration document and there is no gmail-like spam filter.  Google will not allow me to turn off the collaboration function.  I can block individual spammers but they return under other names.  Any other ideas out there except to stop using Drive?

[Bill Hiatt]

That's disturbing. But I'm not clear how someone uploads anything to your Google drive.

None of this helps? https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9310248?hl=en#Drive_change_permissions

If the stuff is coming is as collaboration, it sounds as if it shouldn't be coming in if all of your documents are unshared or otherwise restricted.

I haven't used Google Drive that much lately, but I just checked mine, and there's absolutely no spam. And as I recall, a while ago, Google did away with documents being shared just with a link (which would have enabled spam if a hacker got ahold of the link, or so I imagine).

If you're looking for an alternative, I can recommend Dropbox, which has always worked well for me.

[Hopscotch]

Thanks, Bill, for the suggestion and link, however the link's solution is whack-a-mole.  I've tried it.  Turns out I am not alone w/the Drive/spam problem - others online report the same.  Access appears to be via your gmail address.  You may never have used shared files/collaboration (I never have) but the villains creep into your Drive files.  I sometimes see the same or similar address in my gmail spam folder, so I suspect they are shotgunning.  Google knows of the problem but offers no global solution.  The quick and easy fix is a user option to turn off file sharing altogether.  Or, as you say, Dropbox.

[Post-Crisis D]

If you want alternatives to Google Drive, there's also OnlyOffice.com.  They have both a cloud-based and self-hosted solutions.  They're also more privacy oriented than Google or Dropbox so perhaps there'd be less chance of spam.

Why not just backup to an external hard drive?  You can get small ones that fit in your pocket, so they're easy to take with you if you work remotely and small enough to not take a lot of room in a media safe.

[Post-Crisis D]

So far, so good.  We'll see how it holds up long term.

Almost two weeks now and no spam comments. 

[Post-Crisis D]

So far, so good.  We'll see how it holds up long term.

Almost two weeks now and no spam comments. 

Almost three weeks and still no spam comments. 

[Post-Crisis D]

Silly phone spammers.

Spammer: "Can I speak to the owner?"

Me: "He's not in.  Can I take a message?"

Spammer: "That's okay.  I can speak to a manager.  Are you the manager?"

Me: "No.  He's not in either.  Can I take a message?"

Spammer: "Can I speak to whoever is in charge of the business when they're not in?  I can hold."

The last line was a mistake.

Me: "Sure."  *Click to put on hold.*

There was no one else here at the time.

They waited on hold for maybe two minutes before hanging up and calling again.

I didn't answer the second time.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Silly phone spammers.

Spammer: "Can I speak to the owner?"

Me: "He's not in.  Can I take a message?"

Spammer: "That's okay.  I can speak to a manager.  Are you the manager?"

Me: "No.  He's not in either.  Can I take a message?"

Spammer: "Can I speak to whoever is in charge of the business when they're not in?  I can hold."

The last line was a mistake.

Me: "Sure."  *Click to put on hold.*

There was no one else here at the time.

They waited on hold for maybe two minutes before hanging up and calling again.

I didn't answer the second time.

You can simply say: "Hold on, I'll call him." Yell: "Harry, it's for you." Then leave the phone off the hook.
If they are looking for a female say, "She's upstairs with a client. Do you want to wait?"

[Post-Crisis D]

So far, so good.  We'll see how it holds up long term.

Almost two weeks now and no spam comments. 

Almost three weeks and still no spam comments. 

About two and a half months now and still no spam comments. 

[Post-Crisis D]

So far, so good.  We'll see how it holds up long term.

Almost two weeks now and no spam comments. 

Almost three weeks and still no spam comments. 

About two and a half months now and still no spam comments. 

Two days shy of eight months and still no spam comments. 

[Post-Crisis D]

Oh, silly spammers, you are so, so dumb.

Received today, which is Monday, December 11, 2023.

We noticed that [My eMail Address] has not accepted our new terms and will be disconnected from [My Mail Server] today 13th of February 2023,

Tap below and sign-in to get an updated mailbox to avoid being disconnected from our service.

They could at least try to get today's date right. 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Oh, silly spammers, you are so, so dumb.

Received today, which is Monday, December 11, 2023.

We noticed that [My eMail Address] has not accepted our new terms and will be disconnected from [My Mail Server] today 13th of February 2023,

Tap below and sign-in to get an updated mailbox to avoid being disconnected from our service.

They could at least try to get today's date right. 

 

[Post-Crisis D]

Part of a spam received today:

Dear member, We have noticed that you signed up an account in our system one year ago. However, it appears that you haven't logged into your personal cabinet for an extended period. We would like to inform you of the significance of using the platform on the platform.

Personal cabinet?  I'm guessing their spam thesaurus software went wild and substituted "cabinet" for "wallet."

I especially like the part about "the significance of using the platform on the platform."  LOL.

[Jeff Tanyard]

I especially like the part about "the significance of using the platform on the platform."  LOL.

Yo, dawg... I heard you like to log in to platforms, so I put a platform in your platform so you can log in while you log in.   

[TimothyEllis]

I especially like the part about "the significance of using the platform on the platform."  LOL.

Yo, dawg... I heard you like to log in to platforms, so I put a platform in your platform so you can log in while you log in.   

Isn't that called phishing?

[LilyBLily]

This wasn't spam: A major credit card company said it saw suspicious activity on a dormant account. I went to the website the smart way, found the issue, and discovered that the credit card company is monitoring my relationship with a small department store. Probably the bank is the true issuer of the store card. Or else it's just nosy. And no, the activity wasn't suspicious, nor was the account dormant. Just dormant-ish.

Some email did show up recently claiming my email would be shut down, but I just deleted that piece of nonsense.

[Post-Crisis D]

Not spam but a dumb ad:

Heart Surgeon Begs Americans: "Stop Doing This To Your Blueberries"

The ad is illustrated with an animated GIF of a doctor pointing at a bowl of raspberries.

[Post-Crisis D]

Just got an eMail from my credit card company (not really) . . .

Subject: Hight Security Alert!

Wow, not a high security alert but a hight one.  Must be pretty important to earn that t.

Dear Value Customer,

Your request was not granted

 
High Security Alert!

We recieved a rush call to reset your account User ID, Password, To us this call look suspicious and fradulent.
For your protection, your account has been flagged as numerous that needs to be reviewed
    We strongly suggest, that you try to do the following
                   
                      Review your account Now
                    Complete all verification process

Once you've done this your account will be removed from the flagged accounts automatically

Your account security is important to us. We are sorry for any inconviniences.

Well, to me, this eMail looks "suspicious and fradulent."   

[Post-Crisis D]

Got a new one today.  It appears to be a fake order from Zappos.  It looks like a receipt and all the products listed have links to Zappos.  I didn't click any links but they all appear to be legit links.

The receipt has my name (my legal name and not my "common" name) along with my home address as the ship-to address.  Says it was paid via PayPal.

However, it was sent to an eMail address that is not associated with my PayPal address.  I'm going to log into my PayPal account later just to double check but I am sure this is fake as I haven't received any confirmation eMail from PayPal itself.

No suspicious links or attachments.

There is a customer service phone number, which is not Zappos' customer service number listed on their website.  So, I am guessing the scam here is that it's meant to look legit and you're supposed to think, whoa!  I didn't order any of this! and then call them where they scam you somehow.

Not sure how they would do it with PayPal.  A credit card, sure.  Well, maybe they'll say it was paid via PayPal with a credit card.  And then want your credit card number to issue a refund.  Still, you'd think a regular PayPal user would know that's not how it works.  Be easier just to claim it was paid via credit card in the first place, but even then you would think you would realize they didn't know the last four digits of the card used.

I don't know.  But, I'm not calling the number to try to figure out exactly how they plan to try to scam you.

[LilyBLily]

I got one saying my QuickBooks account had been frozen. I don't have a QuickBooks account. Good thing it's frozen, huh?

I got one saying they found my password online and have infiltrated all my computers and the usual bs. If you believe a computer without a camera can take a photo of you anyway, you're ripe for this scam.

Meanwhile, people/bots keep trying to break into my Facebook account by changing my password. I changed it a while ago to a very long and randomly generated password. Even as stupid a company as Facebook should notice if a million attempts to log in to one account happened in a short amount of time. Or are FB's computers oblivious? As far as I understand it, a password hack attempt has to be tested by accessing the site. How else would an evil computer know it had found the real password? The site under attack has to let it keep trying, but most sites lock you out after X number of tries--usually three. So, maybe in 50 years a very patient bot might be able to hack my FB password?

[Post-Crisis D]

Got spam today.

Apparently, I've won the Ontario UK lottery.

[TimothyEllis]

The forum is getting a lot of spammers at the moment as well.

Somehow, after not getting any for ages, we suddenly seem to be back on their radar again.

[Post-Crisis D]

The forum is getting a lot of spammers at the moment as well.

Somehow, after not getting any for ages, we suddenly seem to be back on their radar again.

The lottery spam was eMail.

On the comment forms on my website, I have not received any spam since March or so of last year.  They may still be trying and probably are--I haven't checked--but the changes I made that I mentioned earlier in the thread appear to be effectively blocking any spam attempts from going through and reaching me.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Got spam today.

Apparently, I've won the Ontario UK lottery.

Grand prize is a set of Sheffield steak knives and a lifetime supply of maple syrup.   

[Bill Hiatt]

The favorite tactic I'm seeing at the moment is requests to update my profile, usually from a site or company I don't have any connection to. I also still get the security alerts that aren't real. It's so easy to see through all of these, but I guess some people get taken in, or it wouldn't be so common.

[Post-Crisis D]

The favorite tactic I'm seeing at the moment is requests to update my profile, usually from a site or company I don't have any connection to. I also still get the security alerts that aren't real. It's so easy to see through all of these, but I guess some people get taken in, or it wouldn't be so common.

I get those too, but some have been from ones with which I do have accounts, so you always have to double-check.  But, typically, they're easy to see because the eMail address will be with either a suspicious looking domain name (like writersanctuum.com or writer-sanctum.com*) or be entirely different.  Or, they will address you as "Valued Customer" or something generic when companies you have accounts with have your name on file.  I received one the other day that listed "Account Ending XXXX" with the actual Xs not the last four digits of your account number.  I suppose some people fall for that one but it's like why bother including "Account Ending" when you can't include the actual digits (because spammers don't have them)?  Better to just leave it off, in my opinion.

But, on the other hand, there are a couple suppliers I have that will send eMail invoices or other account notices and actually open the message with "Dear Customer."    I have to always double-check those to make sure they are legitimate.  But, it's like, ugh, don't do that!

[Bill Hiatt]

It's very true that one has to look carefully. Some time back, I did fall for an update notice for AOL that looked genuine. I think it was right after the last ownership change, and the request was supposedly related to that. I forget what the exact wording was. Fortunately, I realized right after I'd responded that the message was fake. I immediately changed my user name and password. Evidently, I was fast enough to beat them to the punch. But after that, I became even more careful

[Post-Crisis D]

As a minor update, submissions from the comment form on my website remains mostly spam-free.  The one exception is the occasional submission from some janitorial service.  Either they have a real person submitting spam or their bot is able to figure out the obstacles on my form.  I need to edit the code to block them too regardless of whether they pass the challenges.

Also, I am tempted (again) to put up a fake WordPress login page on my site (which does not use WordPress) just to keep the less sophisticated would-be hackers busy trying to login to a page that wouldn't actually log them into anything.

[TimothyEllis]

Also, I am tempted (again) to put up a fake WordPress login page on my site (which does not use WordPress) just to keep the less sophisticated would-be hackers busy trying to login to a page that wouldn't actually log them into anything.

Why not let them log in, and redirect them to a porn site.

[Post-Crisis D]

Also, I am tempted (again) to put up a fake WordPress login page on my site (which does not use WordPress) just to keep the less sophisticated would-be hackers busy trying to login to a page that wouldn't actually log them into anything.

Why not let them log in, and redirect them to a porn site.

They might enjoy that?

Maybe I could redirect them to a phishing site.    Let the scammers scam each other for a bit.

[TimothyEllis]

Also, I am tempted (again) to put up a fake WordPress login page on my site (which does not use WordPress) just to keep the less sophisticated would-be hackers busy trying to login to a page that wouldn't actually log them into anything.

Why not let them log in, and redirect them to a porn site.

They might enjoy that?

Maybe I could redirect them to a phishing site.    Let the scammers scam each other for a bit.

 

[Post-Crisis D]

Well, this is a new spam.

Would have been better if they hadn't reversed first and last names.  So, if your name was Johnny A. Smith, it opened by saying, "Hi, Smith!"

It purports to be a medical report for my relative, "B. Johnny A."

I can view his discharge summary by clicking a link.  Of course, I'm not clicking that link.

But, it's like, well, first they screwed up by mixing up first and last names.  Second, it would be a violation of privacy rights to send me someone else's medical report.

Then it gives me "your" medical test number.  So, who had the test?  Me or the supposed relative?

Then I should not delay getting medical assistance for my family.  So, we're back to my supposed relative again?

So many screw-ups in one spam message.

[Post-Crisis D]

Just got a spam ad for an AI blog creation tool.  You just give it a few keywords and it will write blog posts for you.

As if there aren't enough bot-generated junk sites already . . .