Spammers Gone Wild

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:24 pm

I reported 6 posts tonight. All from henr. Looks like we're hitting another stride with the spammers

.

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:30 pm

Keep them coming! Got rid of a few today

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:32 am

Well, here we go again

. I reported 5 posts already this morning. 4 of them were by the same person and were all in the Vibe Lounge. There was also a 6th post that had already been reported by another member. I guess at least the spammers give our mods something to do since the rest of us are so well behaved

.

jake75 · Post by **jake75** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 8:11 pm

So far it seems to be only a minor annoyance.

Post by **NSimkins** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 4:45 am

I've recently been cleaning out some old user accounts that are known spammers as well as trying to harden the registration process to keep them out. For now, we (the mods) are diligent to clean up reported posts and user accounts as quickly as possible. Thanks

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:14 pm

Once again, a huge thanks to you and all the other mods for keeping GenVibe clean

! You guys and gals (?) do a great job!

Once again, if any more mods are ever needed, I'm more than happy to volunteer

!

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Sun Sep 01, 2013 5:59 pm

Cleaned up a few more this evening. Happy Labor Day everyone

PS Yes I am still here, lurking in the background

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:19 am

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I figured I would just post it here. As I was reading this post in the Handling, Suspension & Brake Forum, I didn't suspect anything, but once I scrolled down to the very bottom and saw this "user's" "signature", I quickly became very suspicious. Why would anyone put all that information in their signature? I know this "user" does mention supposedly owning a Vibe, but it still has me wondering...

Opinions, comments, concerns, etc.?

canadave · Post by **canadave** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:40 pm

Wow....interesting pickup there! Yeah, that's a toughie

But I think the links in the sig are the giveaway. Crazy to think that spammers are going to that much effort to match their spam content to the forum they're in!

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:32 pm

canadave wrote:Wow....interesting pickup there! Yeah, that's a toughie But I think the links in the sig are the giveaway. Crazy to think that spammers are going to that much effort to match their spam content to the forum they're in!

My thoughts exactly! When I saw "erectile dysfunction" in his "signature" that really threw up a red flag for me

!

Post by **NSimkins** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 6:37 pm

That was a good find. I overlooked that post as well, but just removed it. I have been combing through and removing user registrations over the past year and noticed many accounts with no posts but their profiles are completely filled with spam links.

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:38 pm

One of the main things I look for is the username. If I don't recognize the username, I pay close attention to the post to make sure it's legitimate. If you think about it, it's mostly the same people that post on GV on a regular basis, so any username you don't recognize has the possibility to be a spammer.

canadave · Post by **canadave** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:20 pm

Come to think of it, an odd name for a spammer, too. "Dennis"???

I can just see the guy, picking out his username by which he will spam the forum with his erectile pills or whatever....

...."Let's see now, what identity to adopt, what name to pick....not ag2k8q7, not mir901z3....wait! I know! DENNIS."

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:00 am

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 3:10 pm

I'm 99% sure the most recent post in this thread is spam. If you read the entire thread, the most recent post is completely off topic.

This is another tell-tale sign of a spammer. If they don't start a new thread, they will bring one back from a couple years ago and it's typically a pretty obscure thread that doesn't have a whole lot of posts. It's not 100% every time, but it is definitely something to watch out for.

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:06 pm

Our eyes are peeled

Keep those reports/sightings coming!

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:41 am

Another big clean up on aisle 5 lol!

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:34 am

ArcsVibe wrote:Another big clean up on aisle 5 lol!

No kidding! I popped in on Thursday evening for a few minutes and there were five or so spam posts in the Vibe Lounge and another five or so in the MOTM/VOTM forum

. Great job with the cleanup Arcs

!

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:19 pm

vibenvy wrote:
ArcsVibe wrote:Another big clean up on aisle 5 lol!
No kidding! I popped in on Thursday evening for a few minutes and there were five or so spam posts in the Vibe Lounge and another five or so in the MOTM/VOTM forum . Great job with the cleanup Arcs !

Thank you for the kind words

SeattleJeremy · Post by **SeattleJeremy** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:17 pm

Cyrillic text + nude pictures. wow.

Edit: So when this happens, how does cleaning them up work? Can you just remove the user, and their posts also disappear, or do you have to remove every post they make as well?

Edit2: Reminder! Do not click on the links in the spam. There goal is to get clicks from unique users on the internet, that is how they are getting paid, and that's why they are spamming forums.
People who post spam links are sometimes smart enough to generate fresh links for every site they do this to. So if lots of users hit their server from our forum, the more likely they will "hit" us in the future.

kumquat · Post by **kumquat** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:02 pm

Well, the girl was kinda cute, at least.

star_deceiver · Post by **star_deceiver** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:41 pm

They're coming out of the woodwork today!

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:03 pm

That's a lotta spam, comrades...

Time to remount this file system as read only.

kostby · Post by **kostby** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:09 pm

Wow, 5 pages of **** in the last 10 hours. GenVibe hasn't had this much activity since trdvibe (Hope) quit posting every night.

Post by **NSimkins** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:18 am

SeattleJeremy wrote:Cyrillic text + nude pictures. wow.

Edit: So when this happens, how does cleaning them up work? Can you just remove the user, and their posts also disappear, or do you have to remove every post they make as well?

Whoa... thanks for the private messages. I was out of town and was not able to get on until this morning.

I cleaned up everything I could find. Luckily deleting the users in question also removes their posts automatically saving some time.

If anything remains please report them. Thanks!

Water boy · Post by **Water boy** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:09 am

Posts are still there just no pics.

kaflex · Post by **kaflex** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:16 am

they just keep coming

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:32 am

kostby wrote:Wow, 5 pages of **** in the last 10 hours. GenVibe hasn't had this much activity since trdvibe (Hope) quit posting every night.

Teehee...

Nick, they're still at it... Ugh.

kostby · Post by **kostby** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:50 am

A few more spammers to ban:

akorsetkoh is posting a cyrillic spam message every couple of minutes in existing threads
Ereserism has posted a couple of new messages
honingquinolit and sgeujdsara have each posted one message

SeattleJeremy · Post by **SeattleJeremy** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:55 am

I just went through and marked a bunch of posts as spam. Hope that helps.

Mods/Admins please make sure to look posts made by the users, and make sure all the spam posts are deleted. Don't just delete the posts that have been marked as spam.

beemerphile1 · Post by **beemerphile1** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:50 am

Wow, is about all I can say, I have never seen anything like this before.

SeattleJeremy · Post by **SeattleJeremy** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:02 pm

Maybe it's time to implement manual verification of new users?

chevelle_lover · Post by **chevelle_lover** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:30 pm

Funny that they spammed the topic about spammers.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:43 pm

SeattleJeremy wrote:Maybe it's time to implement manual verification of new users?

Yep!

Post by **NSimkins** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:50 pm

SeattleJeremy wrote:Maybe it's time to implement manual verification of new users?

I am turning that on for now while I cleanup.

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:52 pm

Cleaned up a whole bunch of spam. I am tired lol!

Post by **NSimkins** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:19 pm

Thanks Sam and Kari for the assistance.

I disabled all new user registrations. Too many are coming in and hard to keep up.

Also researching a patch for PHPBB due to some known exploits.

Will post more info when I have it. I reported to Mike K.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:23 pm

I noticed these same dudes (er, bots?) were on a couple other forums I've been on.

Same garbage. So, we are not alone!

Water boy · Post by **Water boy** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:59 pm

ColonelPanic wrote:I noticed these same dudes (er, bots?) were on a couple other forums I've been on.

Same garbage. So, we are not alone!

Hummm.
SpamBots here....Check

Spambots there....Check

And the common denominator is ???

jake75 · Post by **jake75** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:15 am

Maybe a small ($5?) lifetime fee to register/join would be effective.

cptnsolo77 · Post by **cptnsolo77** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:51 am

Lots of spam, but some were worth looking at....

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:02 am

Apparently I missed all the "fun" by not logging on since last Sunday

. Job well done to our mods once again

!

Salsa Guy · Post by **Salsa Guy** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 5:53 pm

I'm showing "1 new message" however none exist. Clean my mail box but no good. HELP!

OOPS Wrong thread...sorry please fix.

Post by **NSimkins** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:02 pm

Salsa Guy wrote:I'm showing "1 new message" however none exist. Clean my mail box but no good. HELP!

OOPS Wrong thread...sorry please fix.

If you're talking about the advertisement right below the logo at the top of the page, I've noticed it too, it's just an Ad.

Salsa Guy · Post by **Salsa Guy** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:09 pm

NSimkins wrote:
Salsa Guy wrote:I'm showing "1 new message" however none exist. Clean my mail box but no good. HELP!

OOPS Wrong thread...sorry please fix.
If you're talking about the advertisement right below the logo at the top of the page, I've noticed it too, it's just an Ad.

I know it's an ad, but I figured it out. Something about "release held messages" that I over looked. Thanks!