Difference between revisions of "Scammers and Spammers"

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(The procedures for reporting spam were not complete. Also simplified the page to improve readability.)
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Spammers attack Freecycle groups in the following ways:  
 
Spammers attack Freecycle groups in the following ways:  
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*Sending spam to the group, from their own account
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*Spoofing another member.
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*Harvesting member addresses.
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*Posting seemingly innocuous messages that require going to a third-party website<br>
  
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#Sending spam to the group, from their own account
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Freecycle's Spam Control team (spamcontrol@freecycle.org) does a great job of catching most spammers before they can do much harm, and you can help by reporting any spam attempts that you catch on your group. <br>
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#Spoofing another member.
 
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#Harvesting member addresses.  
 
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#Posting seemingly innocuous messages that require going to a third-party website<br>
 
  
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You can combat spam in the following ways:
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When reporting a Spammer send an email (with as much detail as possible) to spamcontrol@freecycle.org and add these five things:
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*Moderate new members until they have posted a valid OFFER. Many spammers join a group and immediately send a message ‐ if you moderate new members then the spam will show up in your Pending queue. Don't reply to it, just delete it ‐ replying to spam just tells the spammer that they've reached a human, which is what they're trying to do.
 
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*Keep an eye on your ModSquad to be alerted to the most recent scams.
 
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If you think a member should be removed from The Freecycle Network for sending spam or for sending scam attempts, you can email (with as much detail as possible) spamcontrol@freecycle.org. The admin team will review your message and remove the user if they agree it is right to do so.
 
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When reporting a Spammer send an email to spamcontrol@freecycle.org and add these five things:
 
 
   
 
   
 
# The spammer's MyF User Name
 
# The spammer's MyF User Name

Revision as of 20:34, 21 February 2016

Spam is the Internet equivalent of junk mail ‐ email you didn't ask for, and probably don't want. It's sent by spammers, usually using automated tools. Freecycle members will often have their own spam filters to detect and remove ‐ that's up to them. This answer just talks about what you can do as a moderator to reduce the chance of your Freecycle group being used for spam.

Spammers attack Freecycle groups in the following ways:

  • Sending spam to the group, from their own account
  • Spoofing another member.
  • Harvesting member addresses.
  • Posting seemingly innocuous messages that require going to a third-party website

Freecycle's Spam Control team (spamcontrol@freecycle.org) does a great job of catching most spammers before they can do much harm, and you can help by reporting any spam attempts that you catch on your group.

When reporting a Spammer send an email (with as much detail as possible) to spamcontrol@freecycle.org and add these five things:

  1. The spammer's MyF User Name
  2. The spammer's MyF email address
  3. The reason (e.g. iPod scammer)
  4. The post ID.
  5. Your group ID (name and number, please), which is found on your group's Info and Options page.
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