Spammers are back in force...

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Thanks to all of you who report the spam threads.
Please do not respond to spammers and (obviously) never click on their links...
Your moderators are nuking them as fast as we can!
 
Yes, thank you. I've noticed on EBay in the UK, classic cars being sold at discount rates by vendors in Greece. These cars seem too good to be true, so be careful out there.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
I don't know why the site can't keep these folks out. It uses Recaptcha and a Ford specific question to eliminate robots and spammers. But they still get through.

I'm considering blocking by country. All the spambots are coming from former Eastern Bloc nations, China, Singapore, and a few other locations. I know it'll be a non-PC action, but spam sucks and a true GT40 enthusiasts from Slovakia can email for approval.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
While it would be more work for you why not make everyone who wants to join email you and explain their plans for joining the site?
 

Ron Earp

Admin
While it would be more work for you why not make everyone who wants to join email you and explain their plans for joining the site?

You answered your own question. Pay isn't enough. Far better to just block everyone by a few select countries and require the one-a-year Indian GT40 fellow to email an admin.

at one time I had the system require admin approval before joining the site but that required me to tend to that daily or at least every other day and authorize 25+ registrations. Mostly not authorize them. Screw that.
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Ron - I think the idea of restricting specific countries is a good one.
I believe that it is not Bots that are posting the spam. There are inconsistencies which tell me that there is an individual that is cutting and pasting etc. That is probably why Captcha is not working..
If I get notifications (I don't now) of requests to join, I'll certainly interact with them as required..
 
I'm in support of "blocking" the aformentioned places. I get really tired of "people" miss-using the internet for less than legal reasons. Forget PC and do what will stop the crooks and reduce your workload.
 

Ian Anderson

Lifetime Supporter
Ron
How about saying sign up fee of $5.00 required. Anyone would pay this for a coffee without thinking.
The spammers will not pay. Anyone else will surely see this as a small fee to register on the fantastic web site.

Ian
 
The scammers are so clever however- my wife, Debbie, fell foul and lost £1000 (currently $1300) to a guy selling a non-existant quad bike. She answered a free ad online. He said if she paid the full price, he'd include delivery. She said "how can I pay". he said "via EBay and Paypal, so your money is secure". OK.. she clicked on the link he kindly provided and it took her to an EBay ad for the quad bike. She hit "buy it now" and paid via Paypal, then waited for delivery. She is still waiting 5 years later! He had sent her to fake EBay and Paypal webpages and that was that. We did notice afterwards, the photographs certainly look like England, with no pavements, white-washed flat-roofed buildings and palm trees in the background! For those who know Wigan, I'm pretty sure there's no palm trees!!.. Andrew P.S. Neither EBay nor Paypal were interested, because the webpages were purely fake.
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
I've nuked 6-8 spammers so far today...
Countries show as USA, Malta and Korea. Bad thing is that half were USA according to the indicator here...

And yes Jon, that is good advice!
 

Keith

Moderator
Another 1/2 dozen or so over the past few days. We have a system. Jac Mac in New Zealand gets 'em first, alerts the Mods. I'm always awake at stupid hours and delete most of them before America wakes up.

Mostly American in origin and always in the Transaxle Forum, now what's that about > eh? :shifty:

Disgruntled/unsuccessful Craigs List ZF scam artist maybe? :laugh:
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Along with a half dozen others - I got one yesterday right after he registered and before he could post. I hope I frustrated the crud out of him...
Nationality seems to be spoofed in some manner. As I have seen some that said Malta with a US Flag. Others Korea and Switzerland among many others..
We just keep nuking them.
Thanks for the help in all of this!
 

Ron Earp

Admin
Hi Folks,

Can you tell if these posts are from robots? Some clues:


  • Nonsensical text with a link

    "Fire" or "Nes" in the user name

    Never in response to a thread

Don't alert mods, just delete that crap. If you make a mistake and delete someone's post don't worry, if they are real they will be back.

Making the site "pay only" would certainly solve funding problems but I never wanted the site to be that sort of place. I always wanted a free to use site where everyone is welcome regardless of means.

Ron
 
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