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Spam

spam spam spam

 

You probably would not believe how bad the spam problem is these days. We are not seeing much of it here for some reason but it is likely to get much worse.

I have a huge problem on my board due to spam. Most of it is sex related in some way.

Another problem is that large numbers of new users are coming from what are known as spam bots and most are Russian based. I also get fake new users from Denmark, the U.K. or Latvia. I get 10 to 20 fake new users a day plus lots of emails from the same type of thing. I have to ban them by their IP addresses but the number of I.P. addresses they can use to get there are almost without end.

Most message boards are plagued with the same thing. They show huge numbers of users but they have no where near that many actual users.

An example of that is that this board shows to have 16,452 users. I'd bet money that 15,000 of that number are either fake users from spam bots or have not actually logged on to the board in the last 6 months.

The only thing good about it is that showing all those fake users makes a board look very attractive to potential advertisers thereby helping the board make money from advertisers. Google makes huge bucks from their advertisers via what is known as click fraud which, in a sense, is the same thing.

There is little that webmasters can do to keep it from happening. All they can do is fight it off and that wastes much of their valuable time. Same thing happens with egroups, wikis and blogs too. The spam bots are all over those as well. The spam comes in so fast there isn't any effective way to fight it. At least I haven't found any so far.

 

The other reason for the warning is that with some sites, you enter "info" to get something "free", and you could find yourself signed up for some "membership" with fraudulent charges crammed onto your phone bill, credit card or bank account.

Criminal activity is rampant, not only among debt collectors, and the attitude that there is nothing legally wrong with knowingly sending consumers fraudulent bills, since they can always dispute it, leads to the current mess.

Some debt collectors and billing consolidators are willing participants in this sort of fraud, and even supposedly legitimate businesses have allowed themselves to be used as conduits for criminal activity. Since the originator of the fraud generally plans to spirit away the money and skip town, this will only stop when the middlemen, whether willing or incidental, get stuck reimbursing the consumer.


http://myfloridalegal.com/__8525622...B895852571F7005BC281?Open&Highlight=0,verizon

"September 28, 2006

Crist Sues Verizon, BellSouth, Embarq and Internet Company for â??Crammingâ?

TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist today sued an internet service company for improperly tacking unauthorized charges onto consumersâ?? phone bills. Crist also joined Floridaâ??s Public Counsel Harold McLean in filing a petition with the Public Service Commission demanding that Verizon, BellSouth and Embarq be held responsible for charges placed on phone bills and calling for full reimbursement for affected consumers.

Cristâ??s Economic Crimes Division launched an investigation this May after charges for Plantation-based Email Discount Network, LLC, an online shopping service, appeared on phone bills from several different telephone carriers. The $12.95 and $14.95 charges are examples of â??cramming,â? a billing practice that charges for extra services without the customerâ??s knowledge.

According to records reviewed by Cristâ??s office, at least 70 customers have been billed for the charges every month for a year. Florida consumers may have lost a combined total of nearly $200,000 to the company. Investigators estimate that more than 258,000 customers were charged nationwide, including more than 20,000 Floridians. Other internet service companies with the same owners as Email Discount Network are still under investigation and could have more than a million affected customers.

"Phone companies shouldnâ??t bill consumers for services they never agreed to pay for," said Crist. "We will continue to protect our consumers from any company that might try to take advantage of them and hold those companies accountable."

..."