Spammers

  • Motman's Avatar
    What is it lately with spammers on this site? I seem to be reporting a major spammer every time I log in. Can’t something be done to prevent this at the sign up stage?
  • 28 Replies

  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    What is it lately with spammers on this site? I seem to be reporting a major spammer every time I log in. Can’t something be done to prevent this at the sign up stage?
    Not really. All emails are required to be verified but people set up disposable emails in an automated way. This stuff tends to go in waves, and the things I've done in the past to prevent it (censoring certain keywords for example) have caused people to complain later.
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    Mike, you could try censoring 'fake', 'passport' and 'kitchen'?
  • Santa's Avatar
    I think that 'kitchen' was censored at one time and we did complain about it. Censoring 'fake' would stop a genuine complaint about fake goods etc. None of this is easy as many other forums have discovered.

    I remember when an American email provider tried to censor bad language, including 'a s s'. The substituted 'but' for it, which led to ridiculous words like butbutinate. A friend sent an email to her friend in America and mentioned that she was reading Moby Dick. (Note that this is actually an American book). This was changed to Moby Richard.

    You can't beat the human brain for this stuff.... yet :)
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    It was a tongue-in-cheek post! Even now you can't link Euro Car Parts for some reason.
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    It was a tongue-in-cheek post! Even now you can't link Euro Car Parts for some reason.
    I've fixed that.
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    Excellent!
  • 98selitb's Avatar
    Why was "kitchen" banned in the first place? I've seen spamming about fake passports, fake degree certificates, etc. but nothing about kitchens.
  • Santa's Avatar
    No doubt Mike will reply... I think that, a few years ago, there was a spate of spam from a kitchen fitting company along similar lines to the illegal passport guys.
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    Why was "kitchen" banned in the first place? I've seen spamming about fake passports, fake degree certificates, etc. but nothing about kitchens.
    We endured months upon months of spam from a notorious kitchen outfit. You can read more about them here - https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...iller-13902084
  • Motman's Avatar
    The upgrade has gone well. Major spammer just joined up!
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    The upgrade has gone well. Major spammer just joined up!
    The upgrade was postponed.
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    The upgrade was postponed.

    ..... and your departure????
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    ..... and your departure????
    Until the upgrade takes place.
  • Motman's Avatar
    Some cynics may say that waiting for this upgrade is like waiting for a RAC patrol to turn up...............
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    What I fail to understand is how spammers like the fraudulent passport ones - the forum is overrun with them now as I post - get their posts on here. They do not appear on any other forum I ever go on.
    Watchdog would have a field day with this about a national motoring forum promoting safe driving, ensuring your vehicle is roadworthy, that you have the correct licence and all that jazz, yet permitting spam advertising illegal driving licences and passports.
    Hopefully these posts are passed to the police?
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    A real person registers the account then the account details are used by automated software to post the spam. As the email addresses are generally free email providers that normal users use too you can't ban those. As a real person is registering like any real user would there is very little can be done. If I start adding words to the auto censor to deter them (like when we had the spate of kitchen spam) and render their posts pointless then users complain because it looks ridiculous.
  • alan1302's Avatar
    What I fail to understand is how spammers like the fraudulent passport ones - the forum is overrun with them now as I post - get their posts on here. They do not appear on any other forum I ever go on.
    Watchdog would have a field day with this about a national motoring forum promoting safe driving, ensuring your vehicle is roadworthy, that you have the correct licence and all that jazz, yet permitting spam advertising illegal driving licences and passports.
    Hopefully these posts are passed to the police?

    Why bother passing them on to the police? - nothing will be done with them especially as it's very unlikely the spam posts are coming from the UK.

    Take a look at the Honest John forum - they have a problem with spam like this as well. It's difficult to stop unless someone is pre-moderating the posts which would be expensive and on a forum like this not worth the outlay.
  • Drivingforfun's Avatar
    Some forums I go on recruit volunteer moderators from among the longer term members who are willing to take on some responsibility for free.

    This has good and bad sides to it but it usually works as long as they don’t abuse their “powers”.

    Maybe that’s an option?
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    Yes I know what you mean D for F. My concern is that the RAC is a recognised national company with (generally) a good name. As my post above, it promotes all things good. The problem is that these posts can be on here for a long time before removal and what ordinary people reading this must think of it all probably wont be doing the RAC's image much good.
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    Why bother passing them on to the police? - nothing will be done with them especially as it's very unlikely the spam posts are coming from the UK.

    Take a look at the Honest John forum - they have a problem with spam like this as well. It's difficult to stop unless someone is pre-moderating the posts which would be expensive and on a forum like this not worth the outlay.

    Eh? Pretty simple and basic stuff - its called intelligence. How do YOU know nothing will be done? When you report dodgy emails concerning your bank account to your bank's security they collate it all with the aim of stopping it. If we all sit back like you want us to do with your preconceived 'nothing will be done' mindset, then spammers and conmen will flourish.

    Here is a good place to start: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails
    and depending on which area this has the details: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.u...ort-scam-fraud
  • alan1302's Avatar
    Eh? Pretty simple and basic stuff - its called intelligence. How do YOU know nothing will be done

    Using intelligence you know the police aren't going to be interested in a few spam posts on a forum. Often the posts aren't for illegal things as well...just spam advertising which the police will have even less interest in. They don't have the resources to be that bothered about them with everything else they have to do along with all the cuts they have received over the last few years.

    You could always volunteer your services to help out on the forum and pre-moderate all the new posters messages to give them a hand here.
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    So fake driving licences and fake passports are not illegal and of no interest? Ha ha, you are a joke Mr Know-it-all. Did you read the links? No, thought not.
    Curious how you have suddenly posted replies in defence of Derwen/Dennis the troll dragging my name into a post between Santa and Motman. You just can't help yourself with your pathetic sniping comments aimed at me. Carry on little man.
    Strange how you have surfaced just at the same time as the other troll.
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    So fake driving licences and fake passports are not illegal and of no interest? Ha ha, you are a joke Mr Know-it-all. Did you read the links? No, thought not. Curious how you have suddenly posted replies in defence of Derwen/Dennis the troll dragging my name into a post between Santa and Motman. You just can't help yourself with your pathetic sniping comments aimed at me. Carry on little man. Strange how you have surfaced just at the same time as the other troll.
    He's right. These spammers use proxies, and when checked are invariably posting from computers in in Russia / China and beyond the reach of law enforcement. There's also every possibility that if anyone did contact them, they'd just take their money and run, never providing any illegal goods or ever having had any intention to do so.
  • alan1302's Avatar
    So fake driving licences and fake passports are not illegal and of no interest? Ha ha, you are a joke Mr Know-it-all. Did you read the links? No, thought not.
    Curious how you have suddenly posted replies in defence of Derwen/Dennis the troll dragging my name into a post between Santa and Motman. You just can't help yourself with your pathetic sniping comments aimed at me. Carry on little man.
    Strange how you have surfaced just at the same time as the other troll.

    If you read what I had written you will have seen that I said that not all the posts are about illegal items. Some are, some arent.

    Intersting that you think spam links on the forum is not a good look for the forum but quite happy for yourself to to try and berate other posters on here - do you think that's a good look for the forum? Do you think you should be reported as well ;-)
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    He's right. These spammers use proxies, and when checked are invariably posting from computers in in Russia / China and beyond the reach of law enforcement. There's also every possibility that if anyone did contact them, they'd just take their money and run, never providing any illegal goods or ever having had any intention to do so.

    I am well aware that spammers use proxies. I am well aware that they post from outside the UK. They are not beyond the reach of law enforcement. They are beyond our law enforcement unless there are reciprocal arrangements in place.

    Its very disturbing that you say 'the'd just take their money and run' and that seems to satisfy you. I find that amazingly naive. Lets just say that if an elderly aunt related to you became confused about a driving licence or passport and sent off £xxx because they advertised on your RAC forum, lost a lot of money and you would be happy? Because that's how your post comes across.

    Unless and until dodgy rubbish like this is stopped, thousands of vulnerable people will be scammed.
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    I am well aware that spammers use proxies. I am well aware that they post from outside the UK. They are not beyond the reach of law enforcement. They are beyond our law enforcement unless there are reciprocal arrangements in place. Its very disturbing that you say 'the'd just take their money and run' and that seems to satisfy you. I find that amazingly naive. Lets just say that if an elderly aunt related to you became confused about a driving licence or passport and sent off £xxx because they advertised on your RAC forum, lost a lot of money and you would be happy? Because that's how your post comes across. Unless and until dodgy rubbish like this is stopped, thousands of vulnerable people will be scammed.
    I think this is an extremely unlikely scenario. Obviously any illegal content is removed as soon as it's seen as it always has been. However I don't believe anyone would see those posts and think they were a legitimate advert within the context of the forum endorsed by anyone and they don't last long enough to gain any traction on search engines here, where they would only be found by someone searching deliberately for counterfeit products. Every countermeasure anyone has ever put in place on the internet has been bypassed in some way by spammers. It's a game of cat and mouse as it has been for 20 years, and by dint of being a relatively popular forum in terms of search engine optimisation, the forum will always be a target as will any other large forum.I've checked the last handful of these and all of them provide an email to contact in order to make a purchase, which has been auto-censored, making what you describe above impossible.
  • Mike Gray's Avatar
    I'm closing this thread here, not to have had the final say but because there's been a lot of petty bickering on here today. I'm going to clean up a few threads, and remind everyone to keep things civil.If you think a poster is a troll, do not engage with them.