Wirral

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Spam/Scam post on the site May 13th 2024

Dear members,

We are receiving multiple emails regarding the spam/scammer messages you are all receiving, they are an autobot scammer please block their messages, do not open them or click on the link. 

Just wanted to get out a quick update to you all regarding a spam attack whereby the spammer joins a local group and replies to all open posts with texts mentioning a lottery or mentioning membership issues with Freecycle and including a link that should not be clicked on.

 

Bad news is that this bot someone created was able to join and leave groups all over and make this spam replies in My Messages.

Good news: the Tech Team is on it. They've already removed all the replies in My Messages and the accounts have been blocked/removed. Also, the email notifications have likewise all been removed from our bulkmail servers so they are not going out either. If a member already received an email and clicks thru to the My Messages, they'll just see a replier with an account starting in "!". The exclamation mark means the account has been deleted. And, there will no longer be any spam/scammer text in the actual reply.

 

Some members will report that they can't reply to other legitimate repliers to their posts. That happens when a member blocks another member (the spammer) that the other replies are blocked as well, but the removal of those accounts means that members will no longer have that problem either.

 

And, it's always a battle with scammer and spammers. The Tech Team is setting up blocks so that this can not happen again.

 

Were sorry for the inconvenience but we are also glad the tech team was able to patch things up.

 

If you are still receiving these emails you do not need to report them to your moderating team as we are all working extremely hard to remove each and every scammer/spam auto bott, we appreciate all your assistance during this time and hopefully we will all be up and running smoothly again soon. 

Always stay vigilant and never click any link. 

If you still require further assistance please contact us by using the 'contact moderating team ' tab.

 

Many thanks 

Moderating team leader 

Wirral UK Freecycle