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Freaking PM spammers
30/1/12 05:36![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azurelunaticLet's discuss briefly the Advance-fee fraud, where a grieving orphan "inheritances an important sum from my late father" and would very much like to invest it, or something -- but up front, they're going to need a small fee -- really a paltry sum -- to liberate the cash. They will of course pay you back handsomely --
... except there is no money, and they pocket the fee and leave you in the lurch.
Please continue to use the "Mark as Spam" link from your Dreamwidth inbox when you get one of these. (As tempting as it is to mark the email notification as spam, try to resist the urge -- that won't stop spammers from registering accounts on Dreamwidth and trying to send you messages, it won't report the message to us, and depending on your email system's setup, may well lead to them ditching notifications of legitimate activity from Dreamwidth. It would be so much nicer if the "report as spam" in your email box were connected to our spam system, but sadly I don't know that that ever would happen.)
After you have marked it as spam in the Dreamwidth inbox, you can feel free to delete the message, as a copy will have been dumped into the spam team's queue.
The activity in IRC when this spammer kicks into action -- this one looks to be a single person, gone through 2 accounts now -- is probably hilarious for the onlooker. There's shouting of the "MAN THE BUCKETS! ALL HANDS ON DECK!" sort, and a frantic scramble for whichever Terms of Service person happens to be on duty at the moment. There is cussing, glowering, and occasional bursts of spammer mockery. Some of this is even in the public channels.
... except there is no money, and they pocket the fee and leave you in the lurch.
Please continue to use the "Mark as Spam" link from your Dreamwidth inbox when you get one of these. (As tempting as it is to mark the email notification as spam, try to resist the urge -- that won't stop spammers from registering accounts on Dreamwidth and trying to send you messages, it won't report the message to us, and depending on your email system's setup, may well lead to them ditching notifications of legitimate activity from Dreamwidth. It would be so much nicer if the "report as spam" in your email box were connected to our spam system, but sadly I don't know that that ever would happen.)
After you have marked it as spam in the Dreamwidth inbox, you can feel free to delete the message, as a copy will have been dumped into the spam team's queue.
The activity in IRC when this spammer kicks into action -- this one looks to be a single person, gone through 2 accounts now -- is probably hilarious for the onlooker. There's shouting of the "MAN THE BUCKETS! ALL HANDS ON DECK!" sort, and a frantic scramble for whichever Terms of Service person happens to be on duty at the moment. There is cussing, glowering, and occasional bursts of spammer mockery. Some of this is even in the public channels.
