[Cammer-6]

got a PM from a wanted ad I put up
says zero posts and suspended.
How is it they are allowed to PM someone?

[78w72]

Not legit... they were suspended after they PM'd. Lots of spam/scam accounts on forums these days but the mods do a good job of identifying them & suspending them.

i got an email notice last night for a couple threads i posted in recently where a new member posted about 20 links to "escort" websites... by the time i signed on today the posts & that member were deleted.

[Cammer-6]

so you missed out on the escorts?

[Cammer-6]

so the question then begins with how are these scammers able to send PMs?
I hate the thought of putting more restrictions on new members but perhaps they
need better vetting.

[Cammer-6]

duplicate
site error

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

so you missed out on the escorts?

Still have all the links from the email... guess i will be busy for the next few months!

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

so the question then begins with how are these scammers able to send PMs?
I hate the thought of putting more restrictions on new members but perhaps they
need better vetting.

Pretty sure this forum allows PMs to be sent right away when signing up, many other forums im a member of dont let you PM until you have at least 5 posts... they get around that pretty easy too by just making stupid comments on random posts like, "nice car" etc. I agree there should be some new member restrictions with all the recent spam accounts on here. mods?

[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by 78w72

Still have all the links from the email... guess i will be busy for the next few months!



Pretty sure this forum allows PMs to be sent right away when signing up, many other forums im a member of dont let you PM until you have at least 5 posts... they get around that pretty easy too by just making stupid comments on random posts like, "nice car" etc. I agree there should be some new member restrictions with all the recent spam accounts on here. mods?

yep
one forum Im on wont let you post PM or for sale section until you reached 50 posts.
And those are checked to be legit posts.

[b-man]

It’s being looked into.

In the meantime protecting yourself from scammers using simple common sense is the answer.

Seeing those silly usernames is the easiest way to weed them out, you can’t imagine the number of these accounts that get slammed down on the daily here.

In several instances I’ve seen legit new members here either selling or trying to find parts, it makes little sense for us to require that they make 50 posts or whatever number before they can send PMs and take care of their business.

[78w72]

50 is a little excessive... but 5 posts is very reasonable. A new member can make 5 legit posts in 1 day then go on to being a active member posting sales or wanted ads.

In just the last 6 months to a year I have got or seen at least 10-15 of these scammer accounts & im sure there were a lot more deleted quick by mods I didnt see, compared to maybe 1 or 2 legit new members posting for sale or wanted ads as their 1st post.

Hope something can be done about the spam & scam accounts on here.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by 78w72

In just the last 6 months to a year I have got or seen at least 10-15 of these scammer accounts & im sure there were a lot more deleted quick by mods I didnt see

We regularly ban 10 to 15 of them every single day. One day there were 75 of them. It's not just here, most online boards are facing the same problem these days. They often sign up in the middle of the night, so they have several hours in which to send out PMs before we catch them in the morning.

To repeat the warning flags:
- they usually have a suspicious screen name with a few numbers thrown in, for instance something like johnsmith1234. Legitimate people more often will have screen names that are Pontiac related (or at least car related).
- they've just signed up for the board and have zero posts.
- they tell you to contact someone off the board who has the part you're looking for.
- for some reason, they'll often use the phrase "hey buddy" in their message.
- we still get plenty of people signing up from third world countries but they're usually the ones posting spam (apparently, escorts in Dubai is a hot business these days) but more and more often the scammers are in the US.

[78w72]

I can only imagine the amount of scam accounts you deal with... but a small post requirement before they can PM would stop a lot of the fake accounts PM'ing people on their want ads... or even a post restriction for 24 hours?

Any legit member can deal with those requirements, especially if the ratio is 10-15/day scammers : 1 or 2 legit members wanting to post sale/wanted ads the same day they sign up. Everyone I have got was a new(er) member with 0 or maybe 1-2 posts.

just a suggestion that seems to work well on many other forums.

[Shiny]

I personally would have no issue preventing PMs in response to an ad on PY unless the member had a significant (10 to 20 ?) number of technical posts.

I advertised on here because I want to deal with members that I know have some interest in Pontiacs.

If I wanted to sell to anyone else or open myself more broadly to scams, I'd try to sell on Craigslist or FB Marketplace.

[b-man]

Some members are here to sell parts and cars exclusively and have absolutely no interest in participating in the tech forums and we’re fine with that. We don’t exclude them just because they’re not into being sociable, they’re strictly into conducting their business here and we shouldn’t exclude them and thereby narrow your choices.

We shouldn’t have to force them to contribute any number of essentially useless or contrived posts just to post items for sale or to answer “parts wanted” ads.

Again use some discretion here when considering dealing with anyone whether or not they’re contributing to the technical forums.

Protect yourself, we really cannot protect you nor is that our duty here. We provide the venue absolutely free of charge and it’s completely up to you to do your due diligence.

[Shiny]

Makes sense and I appreciate all you do to keep the forum running. It is a great site and I know that's because it is actively managed.

And I agree it's on me to protect myself from scams.

Also, I now better understand how a PM from a suspended member could happen. But I'm still curious if you are suspending them after they have PM'd or if the software allows suspended members to send PMs?

Mike

[Cammer-6]

other forums may also put a hold on posting PMs or classifieds based on a time period vs post count.
this would help with the mindset that a legit new member could post tech or not,but would have a timeout
for PMs or classifieds. 10 days would be reasonable
so my proposal would be 10 days or 10 legit tech posts.
Wouldnt this make the mods job easier?