I've never seen so many spammers spam majorgeeks before.

/Hiccup....

I don't mean to sound like a halfwit (ed - then you shoul not have spoken!), but people DON'T actually buy into the 'Enlarge your fah-donger' thingy majigi, an buy 5 bottles of viagra for two dollah fifty! do they?

I haven't run into anyone, but you also get a much clearer and better view of the state of things, I just couldn't tell if you were joking or not in the post quoted, I hope you are, otherwise what are we in for next in the spam-tastic, interlectually disabled masterminds, generate a new spam idea....

 

Sadly some people actually do. Along with the Nigerian "will you cash my Money Order?". and “Be the first to buy real estate on the moon”, and such like scams.

 

*looks up into the air and whistles tunelessly while shuffling feet in the dirt*

Was your doll friend, Halo sweetie

@Luthius - I don't think the spammers just do it for entertainment - some sadly make a few bucks or so from it

 

Heya Lev,

Thats shocking though, honestly I also just assumed the spam era took off becuase people just got hooked on annoying innocent people, it never crossed my mind that people actually fall for it and yeah...

I guess I`ve been naive, or just held higher respect for annonymouse people, ahhh well...

Actually talking about spam, I got my first international call for fraud today, I was waiting for my ISP to give me a call back, ADSL went down, had to excalate it to my phone supplier to reset the exchange..

Anyway while I was waiting a guy rang, I could only hear parts of his sentence, I told him to phone back, the phone he is using has a problem, then hung up...

5 mins later he called back, asked for my first/last name, I asked him what for and who he was from, he kept saying from my telephone company, I said whats it about, something about having $100 call credits to give me, etc, I was getting frustrated becuase he was india or something, very hard to comprehend, I asked him who HE was and what was my phone company, he said abdul and he is an Agent for my phone company, and wanted my details to verify who I was before proceeding, I said who is my telco, he said he was an anger and I got 100$ call credits he wants to give me but needs to verify who I am, I just got angry and told him, "Look, **** off pinhead, call me again and I`ll report your information to the australian authorities", he quickly hung up...

When kylie got home I explained what happened, she informed me that it was the stuff on our current affairs shows they were warning about, she had them alot when she was at WORK!

Crikey!

 

Having been a problem child inthe past, Ihave to say that I have a lot of respect for the mods here and at any board for taking the time to deal with all the crap that comes down the line. FOrtunately, I grew up and realized what a putz I was being and after some serious time away, I came back under a new incarnation. Now, I come in and peruse the software and relax inthe luonge and check the interesting links and don't cause problems. Actually, I have made quite the dent over at Yahoo Questions by pulling serious questions and giving them straightforward answers. I have never forgotten where I was though, and work every day to make sure that I don't get back there again. Props to the Mods who volunteer their time to keep an eye on things. I like the rd triangle tho, I nailed one a couple weeks ago who was offering a free gift card to Petco (my other half works there and verified that it is a bogus deal) so I reported it and dropped a note inthe thread to warn people until the mods got it.

Thanks again to Tim and Co. for having a great place to come for help (which is how I first got back here again) and a great place to relax.

Calltaker

 

I just had one today at a site I mod for where a person asks for software to do something in particular and a new person chimes in with an addy and name of said SW, but they're both posting from the same IP! I was a bit surprised at the work they put in as the first poster was up to eight posts over several days. They're trying to get more devious but it was obvious in the thread that he was talking to himself.

 

just wondering....is it still spam if its 'charity'? i recieved a 'walk for breast cancer' spam the other day. i was supposed to pass it on so the little icon could 'walk the world'. can someone tell me the point of that? spreading awareness just doesnt seem to cover it. i didnt pass it on, but would be interested in your opinions. aloha as always

 

>> Just wondering....is it still spam if its 'charity'? I received a 'walk for breast cancer' spam the other day. I was supposed to pass it on so the little icon could 'walk the world'. Can someone tell me the point of that? Spreading awareness just doesn’t seem to cover it. I didn’t pass it on, but would be interested in your opinions. Aloha as always. laurieB <<

Hi LaurieB,

You were actually very wise not to "pass it on." Reputable charities and organizations do not solicit contributions or sell merchandise, etc. via "unsolicited" spam e-mail. The overwhelming majority of "legitimate" charities will only send you email you if you have previously given them permission to do so. If you do not already have a relationship with the charity, do not respond to such email solicitations; whatever they claim to be. These types of unsolicited emails are best deleted immediately and if possible; added to your "blocked" list via your email client.

Many despicable spammers hide behind the guise of a charitable cause. It can be very easy to get taken by a "faux charity" or by someone who is claiming to be in need via some form of chain letter. Emails which claim that money will go to a specified charity or the charity will somehow otherwise "benefit" each time the message is forwarded are simply not true. The spammer is simply playing upon your "good intentions" in order to get you to spam for them!

As for what harm can come from when you click on (the icon) in order to "pass it on" so the little icon could "walk the world" a lot of unseen and malicious things can happen after this icon is clicked. Doing this could cause the user to inadvertently install malware or other nastiness on their computer.

It could also send a surreptitious message back to the spammer to add the sender's e-mail address to their "sucker lists" and the user could be inundated with other spam messages; once the spammer knows you will fall for any "charity spam" message that asks you to click on something within the message when you’re not familiar with whom you are dealing.

Good Luck!

 

There has been such an increase lately that we've had to implement user validation on the extremely small and quiet forum I help to run... So now every new member gets checked by an admin before they are allowed to post. Sad that it has to be this way! We get about 3 who register every day with names like "biglover4u"... I wish we had that increase in real forumites instead!

We've even had the forum hacked, a nasty bugger managed to get a trojan on it, and we were down for quite some time. What is sad about it is it puts proper members off, there are still so many out there who find the internet a little intimidating, and they don't want to go through hassle of having to get "validated" for a forum! It defies what the forum stands for, forums should be places open for all - all who don't abuse it...

I also get the feeling most of the spammers are bots, not real people signing up. Talk about war against the machines!

 

@star17....your right! Its very sad in a way but also quite amusing observing their antics!
For some reason they try again and again hoping that eventually they'll be able to slip one under the radar.
There are 2 other IT discussion forums that i also like to visit from time to time, and surprise, surprise....The same spammers that have been booted at MG are at these other sites trying again. (and visa versa) Most of the time its under the same user name!
I guess a high IQ is not a prerequisite in the spam business!

Regards!

 

I just ran a search on one of the new members signing up on my forum, and the first 10 hits was profiles on forums saying that was a member who signed up on the 25th of september and never posted. On either of the forums he/she signed up on.

I suspect it is bots signing up. Can anyone confirm that? And if it is bots, can that be prevented by using scrambled code when signing up? Does anyone know if IPB has the option of putting scrambled code on signing up? (I'm not the one programming it, and the guy who does is "learning as he goes along").

Can't say that it is an enormous amount every day, but the pity of it is that we've become so strict with what names/email addys we approve that I'm afraid we'll accidentally close out real members.

 

Yes... I know most people who sign up never post, and that is fine, not everyone has the need to express themselves all the time...

Why I reacted to was that this member had signed up to at least 10, probably more (got bored and stopped counting) forums in one day, with forum topics ranging from tech forums to car forums to games forums to health and beauty forums... I doubt that person signs up on all those forums because of a genuine interest to read them all...

 

I just got a Nigerian spam from what was supposed to be a Sgt stationed in Iraq. Give me a break, like someone who has 25 million is going to send it to me!?! Since I'm not that stupid, guess it must be them. I just can't believe people fall for it.

BTW, I'm a dog.

 

On a follow up note to MA's, my other half clicked one of those links, not knowing any better, and we ended up having to go rounds with BMG or someone who said that a membership form had been filled out for the DVD of the onth club or some such. All he was doing was looking for the 'Free Laptop' cause he thought it would be a great gift for me........ be careful what you click, nothing is free.


calltaker

PS: was not through here... was one of thos banner ads on a site somewhere

 

Dang.................busted!!!!!!!!

 

Awh Shucks now you tell me Lev, after I sent you my life's savings to rescue your "Husband" from the Aliens (And MA thought he could Hi-Jack this thread Peshaw

 

Oh, ya mean those pics., WERN'T you???....Ah silly me!

Believe it or not, some people do. And I don't just mean some Hillbilly from the Ozark Mountains with a grade school education. There was a story on a current affair program a while back, where a Lawyer spent a few hundred thousand bucks, thinking she'd get rich from some Nigerian 'Millionaire'. The really pathetic bit was, she stole the money from one of her client's accounts, thinking she would get rich and pay it back before anyone noticed.

Presumably, if she was a Lawyer, she had a University education. Makes you wonder what's going on in some people's noggins. Can greed really make someone that blind?

 

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down .Don't dance so fast.
Time is short, the music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask someone “How are you”? Do you even hear the reply?
When the day is done! Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You'd better slow down don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, “We'll do it tomorrow”?
And in your haste, not see their sorrow?
Ever lost touch, and let a good friendship die
Because you never had time, to call and just say,"Hi"

You'd better slow down, don't dance so fast.
Time is short, the music won't last.

When you run to fast to get somewhere, you’ll miss the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race, take it slower
Make sure you hear the music before the song is over.

You'd better slow down, don't dance so fast.
Time is short, the music won't last.

Just a side note this is my rewrite of a Spammer’s Poem that is still circulating to get you to donate monies for a supposed “Dying Girl/Boy”. The “original” poem was written by David L. Weatherford in 1991.

Moral:-Take the Good, from the Cr*p, and leave the Spammer nothing

 

Yes, we have use activation by email, but as that hasn't been enough, we get some that slip through that, we've also activated "Admin validation", so we screen each new member manually (there isn't very many, it is a small and cosy place) and approve of them. Why I'm asking is because we've become quite strict, and if there is anything remotely fishy about the email addy they provide, or the username, we don't allow them. And I'm always worried when I click the "deny" button that I'm turning down someone nice...

The reason why we had to become this strict was that we started getting an incredible amount of spam, and also some hacks that unfortunately were successful.

Maybe the ones that actually come as far as to be validated are real people though, and not bots. It was the "random generated alphanumerical code" I wondered about, but if there is actually people who go through all the trouble of activating via email and then request a validation, then they will probably read the code as well.

Thanks for the answer!

 

He should know by now we can run with any hijack attempt, and then some

Isn't this the spammer thread, after all ?

 

I have to admit I laughed looking at the ads on the thread from JinaXXX. They were legitamently advertising what Jina (if indeed that is her name) got quashed by her little spam.

 

the difference being that they've probably paid, Jina hadn't.....

 

Yes, but the funny part is if anyone really WAS interested they could find what they were looking for. Safe sex comes in many forms, a bullet between the eyes strikes me as unsafe sex. Married women come with many liabilities.

 

Phantom........Just what is wrong with a hillbilly from the Ozarks with a grade school educ? In ways we're smarter than y'all are. Bet you can't exist on a gov't pension of a few hundred a month and still have money for beer.

 

Is it just me that reads this sentence differently to how it was intended? ROFL

 

Nuthin. I like Possums - as long as they are in the trees and not the dinner plate, LoL. That was kinda my point. Even the so-called 'educated' Lawyer was more stupid than 'Uncle Jed', the country bumkin.

 

You called her? HAHA.......her name wasn't Heidi then?

 

Lmao! Yes! http://members.chello.se/solange/smileys/Rotfl.gif

 

Yea right Mankind, but the redneck tire tube patching kit only contains Double Bubble gum and that might stick to Halo's nether regions. Ooooouch

 

Oh boy...now I'm remembering that file Mankind sent me last night.....

 

A tire tube patching kit is for vulcanized rubber,blow up dolls are made of polymer,the rubber cement doesnt stick them,a friend told me

 

I just saw that JinnaXXX thread. It made me laugh.

 

Asking for pleasure in forums, stupid
Spamming in forums in the first place, stupider
Saying your married while doing it, priceless

 

I wasn't on about THAT file Your secret is safe with me! I was on about the one I forwarded to my husband that had him busting up from the office so loud I could hear him!

 

I had a thread taken down after I posted it a few weeks ago. It was a link to a movie to download via bittorrent. Was I spamming by doing that? I never spam so I was just wonder why the thread got taken down.

 

The link to the movie was a fan edit of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. I guess that falls under copyright violation. Some people left some nasty comments for the person who made the fan edit on the page you download the movie. I guess it broke 2 rules.

Sorry.

 

Hey bro I have done the same in the past, sometimes our enthusiasm for something clouds our reasoning of the facts of life today

 

This confuses me too sometimes Colonel...seems that if you mention the word bittorrent around here its worse than selling your soul to the devil, yet i have seen a link to a bittorrent program right here on MG's???????

http://majorgeeks.com/BitTorrent_d4377.html

 

Don't get me wrong here Halo, i am the first to speak up against downloading illegal copywrite material and believe it is a major concern towards those who work hard to bring us what we have today...
My confusion lies in the grey area as to what are your hoping members will download from any P2P client software?
Is there anything you can get that is acceptable?

Not so long ago a new member made the mistake of claiming that they used a crack key to enable windows XP, and was literally ridiculed and belittled by senior members before the thread was closed! I thought this was unfair.
What if this crack came with the program gained from the bittorrent software that was downloaded here? Do you see my point?

To me its like giving someone access to a gun, but saying hey, please dont fire that!!!!

If im way off track here....I regress!