Virus warnings in PMs

[Geezer]

The past few days, I have received several PMs like this:

Dear(s), ask;Geezer;EricRC;JimG;icvader!

A virus alert was noticed on your computer.
We highly recommend you to check your computer and perform online virus check at our site immediately: "http://antivirus.effectmeds.com"
----------------------------------------------------
Sincerely, Forum Administration danielleftv.com.
***************

They are coming from the user name "StopAdmin"

This sure looks like a scam or a method of infecting one's computer via Danielle's forum.

Does anyone know what this is all about? I find it hard to believe that a forum member can detect virus's on a member's computer.

[Natal]

They can't. It is obviously some spammer trying to get you to go to that site for who knows what purpose.

In any case a real admin would have that listed under their user name, not "just visiting" or any of the other forum titles.

[mart]

Any kind of PM like that Geezer, be on the safe side and just delete it.

[Anoree]

Yep, that's a scam. I've also received a message like that lately, though not from StopAdmin. My sender, MannInBlackk, got banned. It seems they get a little better in blending in.

It's like everywhere else on the internet: Don't follow every link unknown users send to you. The "effectmeds" in the address should suffice to avoid the link. There are other hints to me, but I don't want to teach the scammers.

It's sad that we've got to start being careful what links we click on here, too.

[Max]

I got about 2 of them myself. Thankfully I have a mac, so I don't get viruses. It is a blatant scam.

[dxhound2003]

I posted here about them a couple of weeks ago.

http://danielleftv.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1136

[laranger]

The writer of those PM's has been banned.

[WhyYou]

Anybody that gets an Admin PM from a member that does not have an Admin status title should report the message to me or laranger. The ONLY Admins on this message board are me, laranger, FTVGirls Rob, Danielle, Lagwagon and Anoree. All other people claiming to be Admins are frauds.

[ugo]

Am right with they admin this forum (no frauds others ).

[PurplePanties]

Just received one of these from someone by the name of forumAdmin, I believe he's now banned

[Geezer]

Originally Posted by PurplePanties

Just received one of these from someone by the name of forumAdmin, I believe he's now banned

Yeah, I got one also. Seems like this was the 4th or 5th one I've received in the last couple of weeks.

[FTVfanatic]

I too got spammed by these con artists!

How I hate people like that. Don't they have anything better to do than spam people and provide links to their virus/malware websites? Damn losers!

[T-bone Thomas]

Originally Posted by FTVfanatic

I too got spammed by these con artists!

How I hate people like that. Don't they have anything better to do than spam people and provide links to their virus/malware websites? Damn losers!

I totally agree. I got 2 of these spam PMs recently. I wonder how they pick their "victims" or does everyone here on the forum got one?

[FTVfanatic]

Originally Posted by T-bone Thomas

...I wonder how they pick their "victims" or does everyone here on the forum got one?

I guess they are just randomly attacking members. I have only received one spam PM so far. However, I truly hope it was the first and last one. No one appreciates these shady people with their links to malware and viruses.

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by T-bone Thomas

I totally agree. I got 2 of these spam PMs recently. I wonder how they pick their "victims" or does everyone here on the forum got one?

I got 2 of them, too.
They seem to seek the receipients by pure chance: One of my co-receipients has never posted and was last active October 2008.

[eastbill]

i deep getting them too.... delete delete delete

[YetAnotherDave]

Originally Posted by eastbill

i deep getting them too.... delete delete delete

Pain in the *** !! That's 4 so far. Personally you'd think that they'd have learned by now that most folks actually do know what they're doing if they're on a Forum site and just delete them, tell the Mods who then kick them off if they hadn't already spotted them. 'Spose it's the nature of spammers.

[Max]

How should I delete these messages

[Texasdrake]

I've been getting them also...3rd one in the last few months and 4 for the total.Getting to the point that I don't trust any PMs from the "Admin" even if by chance they are legit.The Receipt request is a dead give a way that they're spammers.

[captnjack]

I have gotten a few of them but as with any email account if I don't know the sender I don't open it.

[ugo]

Fortunately, my PC is safe. I had real problems to those Pms deadly "virus pirate".

[PurplePanties]

Originally Posted by ugo

Fortunately, my PC is safe. I had real problems to those Pms deadly "virus pirate".

You running OSX or Linux?

[ugo]

Hp 3 Ghz, Xp, and Antivirus Avira. I thinks it is very good, eheh

[Immortal]

I never got the Virus one yet, but i just report these things to whyou when i do get them.
Those damn losers, they need a better Hobie.

[ugo]

I think this forum is free also for they so much perfidy and avidity toward us nembers. I dont remember these things happen at Alison's Chat.

[laranger]

Originally Posted by Immortal

I never got the Virus one yet, but i just report these things to whyou when i do get them.
Those damn losers, they need a better Hobie.

You may report to any admin. Just an fyi.

[WhyYou]

An added note and FYI:

Do not send a read receipt back to the sender of these PMs.

The recent virus PMs have all be sent by the same person using different accounts.

[Rey C.]

He keeps starting his messages wth "Dear Friend", so I was about to send him a friend request. There I was thinking we were buddies.

[PurplePanties]

PM number 2, this time from - XandderrMan - Banned

Originally Posted by WhyYou

An added note and FYI:

Do not send a read receipt back to the sender of these PMs.

The recent virus PMs have all be sent by the same person using different accounts.

Can you guys block his IP address?

[laranger]

Originally Posted by PurplePanties

PM number 2, this time from - XandderrMan - Banned



Can you guys block his IP address?

The moderators panel is not set up with those permissions. Rob has to do anything like that. All we can do is ban by name.

[MISSY]

I had 4 of them when I got back, just deleated them!

[WhyYou]

The most recent PM spammer is ForumTeam. He has already been banned.

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by WhyYou

The most recent PM spammer is ForumTeam. He has already been banned.

Not quite WhyYou, the new one is "RazzorrMan",

[Removed]
I have removed this post as I was somewhat miffed about all the spam PM's and so on, not just here but on the internet as well, I thought best to remove it as it may entice more spam because of what I said, this would not solve the problem but alas make it much worse

[Geezer]

This very moment, I have THREE spam messages in my In Box but someone has changed the settings and I can't even get TO the In box to delete the messages.

I hope I don't get a real honest to goodness PM because I won't be able to access it.

[WhyYou]

Originally Posted by Geezer

This very moment, I have THREE spam messages in my In Box but someone has changed the settings and I can't even get TO the In box to delete the messages.

I hope I don't get a real honest to goodness PM because I won't be able to access it.

I have checked the settings for your profile and have not found anything wrong. Exactly what is the problem? Have you checked settings for your own browser?

[WhyYou]

Geezer: I can not send Visitor Messages. This may be the same problem as your's. I will let Rob know about these problems.

[YetAnotherDave]

Not sure whether I am putting this in the right place as this is mainly a subject for Rob I think, but with the ever rising amount of spam, is there any way it can be nipped in the bud at activation stage or similar. It's such a long time ago that I subscribed, I don't recall whether an activation link was sent to my email address or not as seems the norm for most sites.

As I said, I am not sure that this would stop anything but surely summat has to be done to get rid of these tossers.

And yes I got 2 more today as well, the little w***kers.

PS These days I check the members list before openning ANY PM's from unknowns, if they ain't there then the PM can be safely deleted as spam as the Mods have already banned the guy.

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by YetAnotherDave

Not sure whether I am putting this in the right place as this is mainly a subject for Rob I think, but with the ever rising amount of spam, is there any way it can be nipped in the bud at activation stage or similar. It's such a long time ago that I subscribed, I don't recall whether an activation link was sent to my email address or not as seems the norm for most sites.

As I said, I am not sure that this would stop anything but surely summat has to be done to get rid of these tossers.

And yes I got 2 more today as well, the little w***kers.

PS These days I check the members list before openning ANY PM's from unknowns, if they ain't there then the PM can be safely deleted as spam as the Mods have already banned the guy.

There are 2 thing's that can be done, to help stop what's going on, one is hard work from the Mod's and Admin, which is already being done and the other I can't post on the forum, but it has been passed on to the Admin's, but if this dose get used it will not stop all the spam and so on.

[danielle_ftv]

This is absolutely ridiculous. I've talked to a member that has told me he's gotten four "virus warnings" so far. I am really getting irritated at these idiots. It's almost like they are trying to sabotoge my website.

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by YetAnotherDave

PS These days I check the members list before openning ANY PM's from unknowns, if they ain't there then the PM can be safely deleted as spam as the Mods have already banned the guy.

Those false virus warnings come from member accounts, so checking the members list won't help here.

A three step activation process (joining the forum, receiving an email and clicking on a link in that email) would at least require a valid address they have access to. I think it would be a task for Lagwagon to set this up.

The spammers could use onetime mailboxes for the activation, but that would be quite time consuming.

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by danielle_ftv

This is absolutely ridiculous. I've talked to a member that has told me he's gotten four "virus warnings" so far. I am really getting irritated at these idiots. It's almost like they are trying to sabotoge my website.

I think I got five already, but I didn't even bother to forward the last ones to WhyYou or Laranger. I deleted them right away.

I don't think the intention is to sabotage the forum or your website, but rather to earn some money with it. (Which is bad enough.)

Perhaps you should see it this way: The forum is attractive enough to draw those spammers here.

[TheDoctor]

Originally Posted by Anoree

I think I got five already, but I didn't even bother to forward the last ones to WhyYou or Laranger. I deleted them right away.

I don't think the intention is to sabotage the forum or your website, but rather to earn some money with it. (Which is bad enough.)

Perhaps you should see it this way: The forum is attractive enough to draw those spammers here.

Great minds think alike, herr. I, for one, stopped counting after the 7th "warning".

[Geezer]

Now the "spam ads" are changing. Instead of ones for antivirus software, today I got one for an "online pharmacy." When will these damned spam hits stop?

[WhyYou]

The newest is from AdministrationTeam. One way to tell is a message is not from the administration is to look at the status for that member. If it says "Just Visiting" then that person is NOT an administrator here. All the Moderators and Administrators have either "Admin" or Administrator" for their status.

This is also the same person that has been sending the virus warning PMs. Do Not send a read receipt! Just delete the message without reading it. If you do open the message and a read receipt window pops up, hit the "No" or "Cancel" button.

[WhyYou]

Originally Posted by Geezer

Now the "spam ads" are changing. Instead of ones for antivirus software, today I got one for an "online pharmacy." When will these damned spam hits stop?

Any improvements to control these spam PMs will have to be done by Rob because he is the owner of the message board and he purchased the license. We all know how busy he is keeping FTVGirls going. Just bear with it and be patient, he is aware that there are methods to control these problems. He will get it done as soon as he can.

[Rey C.]

One board I've been on for awhile has a minimum post count of 5 before a person (or bot) can send a PM. Just throwing that out there.

[mart]

Am i right in thinking that should i get one, it would be perfectly safe just to delete it WhyYou?.

[WhyYou]

Originally Posted by mart

Am i right in thinking that should i get one, it would be perfectly safe just to delete it WhyYou?.

In one word...Yes!

[WhyYou]

Originally Posted by Rey C.

One board I've been on for awhile has a minimum post count of 5 before a person (or bot) can send a PM. Just throwing that out there.

A set up such as this is set up by the license holder. Our message board has not been set up to work that way. In order for this message board to work in a similar manner, Rob will have to set it up for us. As I stated previously, we all know that Rob is swamped with work just keeping FTVGirls running. He is aware about what needs to be done and he will get to it as soon as he is able. Until this is accomplished, be patient and if need be just report any PM spam to laranger or me and we will take care of the problems.