PM Spam

[AaronS]

I'm not sure where this goes, but the Spam PM I received from Jon13 on Fri the 17th looks to me like an attempt to exploit the membership. Here is the cut and paste.

show date for your band

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello

I was wondering if you and the boys in your band want to take part in the world's biggest festival for unsigned bands.

We would be interested in seeing you live and would offer you slots in the best and biggest clubs and venues around the world.

There are requisites though: no cover songs and have a full band (no pre-recorded hip hoppers).

If you think you have what it takes go to [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] and book your band now!.

Amber*Lee Trenton
A_R*Department
mail to: [email protected]

Emergenza US Entertainment
666 Fifth Avenue, Suite 341
New York NY 10103 - USA
Toll Free 1.888.923.2263

 

[paul]

I'm sorry for the intrusion. TalkBass was 'attacked' by a spam-bot on Friday, which registered about 60 accounts and sent mass PM's . Please, do NOT even consider contacting these people for their services - they are NOT legit (foreign-based frauds).

The image-verification that we and many other VBulletin sites use (the string of distorted letters you have to type in to register an account), has been broken by spammers, so that spam-bots are able to mass-register. There are workarounds out there, and I'll have something better in place this week.

 

[vindy500]

boo spam, hooray paul

 

[Mark Wilson]

Just so everyone knows, these guys are on myspace too.

My band got a message from them at the beginning of October.

Just so everyone knows.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

boo spam, hooray paul

+1 I hate spam! My blocked sender list for regular e-mail is getting huge. It seems as if it's gotten worse over the last little while...

Let us know how it goes Paul!!!

 

[beaglesandbass]

the sad thing is, Emerganza is real.

 

[KeithBMI]

Wow. I'm not even cool enough to get one.

...How depressing.

 

[Dave]

Me either.

 

[ZombieGhosTrain]

What's truly scary....I don't think they even had bad grammar and spelling to tip us off!

Bad, bad spam!

 

[paul]

the sad thing is, Emerganza is real.

Your right. I assumed they were frauds when I couldn't get a legit trace on their IP.

I called the number 1.888.923.2263 and spoke to a company rep, who was totally convinced that using spam-bots to register 100's of accounts on forums and send mass PM's is a "legitimate business practice" and "appreciated by bands everywhere who get to peform...".

What a bunch of BS! I wish there was an easy way to hold these people accountable for what they're doing on forums across the net.

 

[beaglesandbass]

So the real problem is, they aren't foreign frauds.

they are just "conducting business".

 

[paul]

So the real problem is, they aren't foreign frauds.

they are just "conducting business".

I wouldn't call intentionally violating a private website's acceptable use policy 'conducting business' Whether they are based in the US or not isn't really relevant - either way I have no recourse.

 

[beaglesandbass]

would something like a confirmation email work for bots?

like a user would have to receive and click on a link in a confirmation email before they are allowed to post.

i don't knew if we have those now, nor do i remember if we did back in 2001 when i signed up.

just throwing out ideas.

 

[paul]

That's how things are set up currently - the bot was able to verify all of it's accounts via several hundred temp email addresses.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

Quite the cunundrum then....

I assume the programmers of vBulletin been informed of the problem... Are they working on anything?