Spam emails

[Vashta]

Hello all,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, we've had a user recently abusing the "Send email" link on user profiles. The user was sending spam to multiple users by this link.

The site doesn't give your email address out, but it does send emails to users on your behalf, with the reply address set as your address, when you use the email link. Unfortunately, this means if you reply to the email, the spammer will have your email address (and know that you respond to spam). If you've received an email from the spammer, you will have their email address, but they will not have yours.

The user has been banned, and unfortunately there is no option to disable the email function, so if it continues to happen, I will need to look into modifying the code that runs the website.

Please let me know if you continue receiving these emails,

Thanks, and sorry for the trouble

[Apakhana]

I got another one from the same person. They are one of those African con artists saying they need your information and send them money, etc...

[Vashta]

Could you forward it to me on support@occultforum.org please, if you haven't deleted it already

[Nahemah]

Oops. [blush]

I posted a joke meme about Nigerian scamming in the Head Asplode thread.

Sorry,I didn't know what the content of the spam mails were at that time.

[Avelin]

support@occultforum.org via hypersigil.org
Aug 4 (5 days ago)

to me
Hello Avelin,

The following is an e-mail sent to you by lovethph via your account on
"Occult Forum.org". If this message is spam, contains abusive or other
comments you find offensive please contact the webmaster of the board at
the following address:

support@occultforum.org

Include this full e-mail (particularly the headers). Please note that the
reply address to this e-mail has been set to that of lovethph.

Message sent to you follows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello how are you today?
I hope you are fine and all is well with you. I got your contact as i was
looking for a good relationship. I am sorry to bother you with my proposal
for a relationship with you, but i know that you will grant my request in
good faith and understanding.

My name is Miss Hazina Samuel, i am an honest, sincere and God fearing
girl. I would like to know more about you, send me an email to my email
address (samuel_hazina@yahoo.com) so i can send you more details about me
and to send you my pictures. I believe we can move from here. I believe
that color, religion, language, age, country, tribe, distance etc has
nothing to do with real friendship, i believe real friendship is all about
love, care, trust etc for each other.Also for a Business Proposal

I will be waiting for your mail to my email address samuel_hazina@yahoo.com
Cheers ,
Miss Hazina.

This is spam right??? Who is this person and why is it coming from this website?

[Avelin]

Ug, nevermind I just realized that this is some scammer looking for money. At first I thought it was a christian trying to evangelize to me or something but the "Also business proposal" made me suspicious. I've never got any emails like this before and since it says "support@occultforum.org" I'm going to have to blame this website for this spam. Can't you guys make the website more secure or something?

[Avelin]

Oh, I just made a post about this but I didn't see yours. You can delete the one I just made I guess. I'll repost the email I got in case it helps. There really wasn't an direct email address. I thought it was a evangelizing christian on the forums emailing me or something.

support@occultforum.org via hypersigil.org
Aug 4 (5 days ago)

to me
Hello Avelin,

The following is an e-mail sent to you by lovethph via your account on
"Occult Forum.org". If this message is spam, contains abusive or other
comments you find offensive please contact the webmaster of the board at
the following address:

support@occultforum.org

Include this full e-mail (particularly the headers). Please note that the
reply address to this e-mail has been set to that of lovethph.

Message sent to you follows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello how are you today?
I hope you are fine and all is well with you. I got your contact as i was
looking for a good relationship. I am sorry to bother you with my proposal
for a relationship with you, but i know that you will grant my request in
good faith and understanding.

My name is Miss Hazina Samuel, i am an honest, sincere and God fearing
girl. I would like to know more about you, send me an email to my email
address (samuel_hazina@yahoo.com) so i can send you more details about me
and to send you my pictures. I believe we can move from here. I believe
that color, religion, language, age, country, tribe, distance etc has
nothing to do with real friendship, i believe real friendship is all about
love, care, trust etc for each other.Also for a Business Proposal

I will be waiting for your mail to my email address samuel_hazina@yahoo.com
Cheers ,
Miss Hazina.

[Nahemah]

We've cross posted Avelin,I was just merging your post into the spam e mail thread and I was about to explain what I was doing.

Vashta is resolving this issue,but we apologise for the inconvenience.

[Vashta]

Hi, sorry again about the spam, this is the user mentioned above, she was banned immediately when I found out about it. She didn't send it to me, but another user forwarded it to me. It is important to mention it if and when it happens, and we're grateful you have.

As mentioned, the site doesn't give out your email address, it creates an email with her email address set as the reply-to address, so hopefully this should be the last you here of her from here. Once again, sorry for the bother.