SPAM via PMs

I've just received a spam personal message and e-mail from this forum.

I hope this isn't the start of a trend - here's the email:

You have just been sent a personal message by RobertT on AudioMasters.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

If you have some time check out this COOL pic:
*link removed*
Also, check out the following website I came across:
*link removed*
It will knock your socks off!
Next, the below website is thrilling!!!
*link removed*
Finally, the following website is the absolute BOMB!!!
*link removed*
ENJOY!!!

MY PIC: *link removed*

*Moderator has removed images and links from this page*

Reply to this Personal Message here:
*link removed (doesn't work anyway)*

[Despised7 caught this one recently, after it had posted all sorts of rubbish on the forums, and in PMs. If you have recieved one, please delete it, and accept our apologies. If you get any more of these PMs from any rogue members of these forums, let either of us know immediately, and we will delete them.]

I've just received a spam personal message and e-mail from this forum.
I hope this isn't the start of a trend

I think that this all relates to part of the problem that we were having with the previous software, and is a hangover - one that got through. The "member" is removed. Most of these members had very silly user names, and very dodgy email addresses, and were quite easy to spot - at least they were when I switched back to the non-automatic approval system after being alerted to this previously. This may have been one that got through before that* - and somehow now Despised7 and I will have to trawl the entire membership list to see if there are any more.

What I'm hoping is that they haven't somehow managed to trawl the system for email addresses - this could only happen if you elected to make one public, I think. No system is perfect; we are doing our best here, but the size of the potential onslaught, and the lengths the protagonists will go to are both considerable.

*update*

Despised7 caught this one recently, after it had posted all sorts of rubbish on the forums, and in PMs. If you have recieved one, please delete it, and accept our apologies. If you get any more of these PMs from any rogue members of these forums, let either of us know immediately, and we will delete them.

Steve,

Thanks to you  and despised7 both for your hard work on the forums!

Dave

Thanks for stuffing this jerk early.  I got the PM and email notification as well, and am surprised gmail didn't tag it as spam.

I just saw this mail too today. I didn't click on anything as I immediately saw that this wouldn't come from a regular member The names of the links kind of gave it away and I have a habit of holding the mouse over a link to see the real link. Or possible javascript. I was a bit surprised though when I went to my pm's here and noticed a picture that wasn't visible in the regular mail lol

This seems to be a problem all over the Internet though. On a gaming related forum where I'm a member these kind of things have increased MAJORLY as of late. Lots of bots registering, spamming the boards and sending pm's. The people there have been complaining about it happening at other forums too.

Anyway, nice job with the forums here guys. It's my first visit to these ones and I prefer them to the phpbb style at first glance. Just judging visually then of course.

[Rachel Elliott]

Sorry about the spam guys.  It was my fault, I had activated an account that did not seem 100% suspicious at first.  I did notice that the bot had posted this spam in every category on the forum, so I banned the account and removed the posts.  But, I did not notice the spam in the private messages!  Steve and I are working on a solution to the problem.

Sorry about the spam guys.

I suppose at some time it was inevitable this would happen, so I wouldn't beat myself up about it. However, many thanks for being upright about the situation and also the work you guys are doing to resolve the problems. Cheers

Based on similar experiences (which were of a definite malicious intent, from a malware pov) I turned off e-mail notification of PM messages at all the fora I am a member (no pun intended) of. Now I am glad I did, but that doesn't stop the seemingly ever-increasing and militant plethora of spam that is interfering with fora. As i indicated before, with organised crime involved now, all bets are off for any kind of ameliouration of the situation. However, the efforts of individual fora admins is greatly appreciated, though in general when there are still people who do stupid things here and there, like provide txt-based e-mail links on their pages, or even post addresses publicly, that actually feed the bots, one has to wonder... <sigh>

Wow "RobertT" must really like me!