Sudden Surge in Private Messaging spam

[nimaim]

Dear Slickdeals Users,

We have noticed a sudden surge in private messaging (PM) spam in the past few days. We appreciate the fact that many of you have mod alerted these PMs and let us handle them accordingly.

We are doing everything we can to reduce the amount of spam that gets to our site, including messages, threads, and posts, however we cannot filter everything. Please be cautious of messages you receive, and continue to mod alert these PMs if they appear suspicious, so that we can prevent them from spreading and affecting you, our users. As such, please be careful of the PMs you receive and do NOT click on or open anything that seems suspicious. This is especially important if someone is pretending to be part of the Slickdeals team, yet not identified as such on any pages, including Forum Leaders Page (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showgroups.php). If you receive any message impersonating our team members, please let us know immediately using ModAlert feature.

Slickdeals' staff are continuously looking into solutions to minimize occurences of such spam, and as always, our users are a tremendous help in ensuring safety and security of our site. If you have any further questions, please free to ask in the Site Issues and Suggestions forum (http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5) or send a private message to one of the moderators (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showgroups.php).

Thank you :)

[deeds]

Maybe raise the minimum number of Posts needed before some one can PM ?

[FreebiesRGreat]

Thanks for the heads-up. I've been lucky (so far) to not get any of these PMs.

I agree...maybe have a higher number of (non-spam) posts before you can send a PM.

[redsolar]

Maybe raise the minimum number of Posts needed before some one can PM ?
We already employ many things that can hinder the spread of PM spam, and we'd rather not raise the requirement too high, since that may cripple legitimate users.

It may be something we will consider if we have no other choice, but for now this is more of "be aware" type warning, than anything else :). There isn't a way to stop spam 100%, and what we saw in a couple of days is somewhat of a new form of it, with potentially malicious links in PMs (all blocked now).

[deeds]

Thanks for the Heads Up

[w3kn]

Same thing is happening on another board that I'm a semi-regular on. It's really annoying.

[disk]

We already employ many things that can hinder the spread of PM spam, and we'd rather not raise the requirement too high, since that may cripple legitimate users.

you might not want to block it but you can still make it expensive by adding captcha if below a certain rep count. also some captcha technologies have been broken by spammers and those that they haven't they use actual people in desperate countries to input the strings.
but basically the idea is make it more expensive when there's less reputation.

[greenmeansgoooo]

also, prevent the same exact msg from being sent back to back to different people.

[DNC]

My suggestions:
Prevent new users from using the BCC feature.
Prevent new users from including URL's in PM's. The spam will still get through, but at least the recipient won't be open to malicious sites, unless of course you prevent the PM being sent if it includes a url.
The above suggestion. Check for similar/same messages across new accounts.

[getgreen09]

thank you much for the heads up!
would it help any you think if those with fewer reps/posts, would need a PM request or invite from the recipient before they could PM them? so if you were for example doing a coupon trade, then the senior SD'er of the two could send a missive saying please PM me. only then could the other one do so. that would automatically cut down on unasked for PMs from /newcomers/strangers/malicious spammers but still allow new SD'ers to use PM as needed... or is that too labor-intensive/complex to implement on the programming end?

[SP33DFR34K]

I won't be commenting on our implementation to prevent spam for obvious reasons. What I can say is that we'll have mechanisms in place to mitigate the issue. We rather not have 1 or 2 bad apples spoil it for everyone else with captchas or other draconian limitations.

[Scrappy02]

Thank you for calling this to my attention.

[angelicmind]

Thank you for the heads up guys :)

[me2you]

SSiPMs - Sudden Surge in Private Messaging spam

Love the new acronym, but I'm not getting any (spam).

[a2z]

Thank you for the heads up guys :)

Make Sd an "INVITE ONLY" !

[debranator]

SSiPMs - Sudden Surge in Private Messaging spam

Love the new acronym, but I'm not getting any (spam).
Me either...I am beginning to feel deprived:D

[Dude111]

We already employ many things that can hinder the spread of PM spam, and we'd rather not raise the requirement too high, since that may cripple legitimate users.Well there is NO LEGIT REASON why a new memebr would have to PM anyone while having 0 posts..

Alot of other sites im on require 5 posts before PM is available and that seems fair... Anyone PMing someone with 0 posts usually isnt legit (IE: A spammer)