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#1 2018-11-23 8:33 pm

Steve Goodey
Member
Registered: 2018-01-06
Posts: 4

New spammer tactic?

Hello,

I don't know if anyone else has noticed what I think is a new spammer tactic.

On a forum that I'm a moderator of, it recently had two users register and post relevant questions/comments. After a period the users would then return to the forum and edit their posts and add software download links. As the questions/comments were relevant it took a while for the moderators to spot what was going on. Removing the links then caused the posters to add them back in at a later date.

Checking the usernames on google showed a lot of forums where the same spamming had happened and not been caught.

The spammers seem to have spent a bit of time doing homework on the type of typical content posted, mimicking it then adding links so that the posts don't get deleted straight away.

Steve.

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#2 2018-11-24 12:19 am

Alex Kemp
Moderator
From: Nottingham, England
Registered: 2009-12-02
Posts: 2,420
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

Sorry Steve, but that is as old as spam is; natural deception technique.

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#3 2018-11-24 1:27 am

sklerder
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 336
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

Hi.

A good strategy is to have a group dedicated to new members, this group not having rights to add links.

Checking the usernames on google showed a lot of forums where the same spamming had happened and not been caught.

Checking spammers against the username is not a good practice, usernames are nowhere unique (would it be Internet or elsewhere)  smile

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#4 2018-11-24 5:17 am

Maikuolan
Member
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: 2011-08-09
Posts: 799
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

If you wanted to take a step further: Have it that members aren't allowed to include links in their posts, unless an admin or moderator specifically flags their account as being allowed to include links in their posts (e.g., don't render, and silently filter out links, if a member doesn't have permission to include links in their posts). No idea whether you could do such a thing with the software that you're using, but if you can, could be worth a try.

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#5 2019-02-04 12:49 pm

LoopyChew
Member
Registered: 2019-02-04
Posts: 4

Re: New spammer tactic?

Something else I've noticed spammers doing is copying reddit posts on a relevant topic and then embedding links shortly afterward.

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#6 2019-02-11 5:23 pm

Piperdane
Member
From: Arizona
Registered: 2009-10-13
Posts: 39
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

We use vBulletin 4.2.5 and have made a special usergroup for 'newbies'.  That usergroup is not allowed to edit their own posts until after the new member has submitted at least 10 postings in main purpose of our site (Classical music).  Posts submitted in the Community Forum area do not count towards that requirement.  Spammers are not likely to post twice, let alone 10 times.

We also have an internal bot that searches new posts and looks for links, and if found puts those posts into moderation queue automatically, which then requires forum staff approval.

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#7 2019-02-19 8:16 am

Oblivian
Member
Registered: 2018-11-04
Posts: 79

Re: New spammer tactic?

I really wish the admin/(higher than my mod access) would impliment the same. I've provided all the links etc and instructions. But no. Still whackamole with backlinks

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#8 2019-02-19 4:17 pm

squirt
Member
Registered: 2010-03-02
Posts: 46

Re: New spammer tactic?

You can also fix it where newbies can't edit posts, give them the permission after say 25 posts or so.

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#9 2019-02-19 4:31 pm

kpatz
Member
Registered: 2008-10-09
Posts: 1,437

Re: New spammer tactic?

One of the mods I added to my forum (custom coded) is to moderate the first few posts made by a new user that include links.  Additionally, if they return and edit-in links later, the post will also be thrown into moderation.  This pretty much makes this (stupid) spammer tactic useless on my forum.


Spam happens when greed meets stupidity.

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#10 2019-02-19 4:59 pm

sklerder
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 336
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

Hello !
As far as I understand, Oblivian's problem is that he is only moderator, not admin or super-moderator ...

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#11 2019-02-19 10:26 pm

Papa Parrot
Member
From: Mexico
Registered: 2011-08-19
Posts: 1,826
Website

Re: New spammer tactic?

Yup, sounds familiar,  I help on one forum, but even the moderators, and 1 active admin, do not have full administrative access, so they also can not do much , IE: upgrade forum software, add mods or plugins to help filter most , if not all the listed spammers,...
But just the other day, I was thinking, the problem for me  is I don't have the script writing skill, knowledge needed, but since I can connect and login, and then I do have the permissions need to look at a newmember, and check their IP, if it is listed here, and I decide to I can ban them,  later a admin can completely delete them, if they want, ...
How ever this gets tedious, manually checking all the new registrations, there are dozens or more daily, lately about 90% are listed spammers,  any way, it seems to me like it would be possible to write a script, to do this for me , and it could be run from my PC , to the browser, to the forum , if that makes sense,..

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#12 2020-03-10 12:43 pm

guyinoz
Member
Registered: 2020-03-10
Posts: 1

Re: New spammer tactic?

Hi guys,

(nice to be here btw)...

I've found the best way to combat spammers is to setup a "newbie" group. No links, no sigs, no PM's, moderated posts, etc. If a new member genuinely wants to be part of my community, they'll put up with a little inconvenience to begin with.

Granted, it's a little bit more work for me (moderating posts), but in the long run, it's far better than spammer headaches.

BTW I use XenForo v2.

Cheers

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