I've Been Spammed

[FerretMath]

Every single day I log on here, I have 3-4 PMs from either phishing scams or just spam in general. I'm getting very irritated, as the messages are also being sent to my email as "important notifications". Is there something I can do to stop this madness?!

[0bcsed]

It has been an on going problem for awhile now. See: http://www.lovingferrets.com/showthread.php?t=11189
for more information.

I've been getting an average of 4 a day recently. Hope they get it sorted out soon.

[Megawee]

Yes it is becoming quite a problem. Please be patient it is being worked on. I get them also.

[KokosDaddy]

Since I'm the only active Admin here, I am the only one who can sort it out.

I'm in the process of working on this issue.
I've spent several hours over the past week trying to make it all stop.

Going through more than 1,000 accounts to make sure they're viable takes some time, and I've been dealing with some personal/medical issues of late.

Please be patient... I'm working on it.
My apologies to all.

-KD

[FerretMath]

Alright. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one having the problem! Thanks for the information :)

[FerretLover4Life]

Not sure which thread this should go in, I got 2 messages from one guy saying that my computer is infected with a virus and needs to be run through a scan which is provided in the link on the message. Both messages said this.

[kfarlee]

Please see KokosDaddy's post up just a couple in this thread.

We've been swamped with spammers, who have found some new ways through the site security. We're working to both keep up with banning the spammers and plugging the holes.

[kfarlee]

Also, if you don't want an email notification when each PM arrives, you can control that in the User CP. There is a menu for PM/messaging settings, where you can choose whether or not to receive email notifications of new PMs.

[kim]

Not sure which thread this should go in, I got 2 messages from one guy saying that my computer is infected with a virus and needs to be run through a scan which is provided in the link on the message. Both messages said this.


I get this one also:(

[BadgersMama]

Again, if you receive spam via the PM system, please do NOT open it or forward it. We are working as hard as we can to get this all worked out; things take time. If your not sure if a PM is spam, look to see who sent it to you.... do you know that screen name? If not, just delete it without opening it.
Thanks for understanding during this time.

[KokosDaddy]

Also, if you receive a "READ RECEIPT", I don't think its a good idea to confirm. Just cancel it.
I've been working since around 1-2 p.m. yesterday to update accounts as they "join". 99.99% of all signups are spam, and I've been killing them before they even finish the registration process, then adding their IP to the banned list.

As of right now, at this moment - we're clear.

I'm going to have to visit other places online to try to get a clearer picture of why this is even happening, as I have the time.

[g&k's_mom]

With Me If I Dont Know The Person Sending It To Me I Do Not Open It.That Is The Best Thing To Do. Deleate Anything Your Not Sure Of.K.D. Does Do A Lot to Make Sure Our Site Is Safe For All Of Us.

[ferretfan]

I would upgrade to a newer version of software as vBulletin 3.8.1 has some known vulnerabilities. Also, if you can do it with vBulletin (I've never used this software so I don't know if it is possible), I would set it up so an admin has to approve all new registrations. What I usually do is google the email and IP addresses to see if they are on any spam lists before approving new ones.

[KokosDaddy]

That's exactly what I've been doing all along.

There have been times lately when I haven't had the time to go through the accounts as immediately as I would like. New accounts (spam) have been able to find the vulnerabilities in the vBulletin software. An upgrade will be coming shortly. -Just depends on how much it costs, and when I can do it.

I've been updating the banned IP addresses and email addresses aggressively for the past few days. If anyone sees anything new, click on the user name to be sure that they haven't already been deleted. If its new - let me know and I'll kill it.

By the way Lynn, I still think about "my" boy Lancelot all the time. Have you ever looked at the bottom of the http://www.OCFerrets.org page? He's been there since he passed in memorial.

[MysticalManana]

I just wanted to say thank you for all you do for us. The spam is a pain to control and a lot of time and effort on your part to make this a safe place for us all to come and I thank you, your doing an awesome job!
The odd spam message isnt a big deal folks, I just delete them and know its going to be taken care of.

[ferretfan]

Awww, I miss that darling little boy too. Lancelot was one of the special ones who just would not give up.

On the topics of forums, I know how hard it is to keep ahead. I actually had to move ours to different software due to the cost of upgrading and the problems that were happening due to old and insecure software. In my case I sacrificed some features and migrated to SMF. It's not perfect, but it was a big improvement (I'm hoping the new version has the ability to hold registrations until we can review and approve them - it's usually fairly easy to spot the spammers if you check their email and IP addresses on the spam lists).