Home › Forums › Windstone Editions › Announcements › Private Messages and Spam
- This topic has 20 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 5 months ago by Susie.
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July 12, 2019 at 11:00 am #1572254
Just to clarify how private messages work for those who have received their first one from a Spammer!
When another Windstone registered user sends you a Private Message the website sends you an email telling you have a private message. When you follow the link in that email and you are logged into our website, it takes you to the messages in your Windstone account. If you reply to that email from our website – it does not go to the sender of the private message – it goes to Susie (and she’ll let you know that she got your message by mistake).
When a spammer gets into the system they send Private Messages to Windstone accounts, they do not have your personal email address. If you receive a suspicious Private Message (such as from a stranger that says “hello dear”) do not follow any links on it, check our forum for messages from us about it, and if you see no report from us that there is spam, please email us at service@windstoneeditions.com that you found a spammer so that we can block them.
July 12, 2019 at 5:14 pm #1572353Everyone,
Just want to let you know that I will be working on this issue over the weekend. The spammers seem to be getting more frequent and more persistent, so I will look at different ways of combatting them. Spam prevention is always a balancing act–how to keep the spammers at bay, while keeping the site easy to use for legitimate community members. I will update you all on new spam prevention measures as soon as possible. Rest assured that your personal info (including your email address) is not at risk. The email you receive is from our site, notifying you that you have a new PM; it is not a message from the spammer directly. Sorry for the inconvenience, and stay tuned for the solution.
(I’m posting this on the other relevant threads as well)
July 17, 2019 at 9:34 am #1572691thank you. I just got one. Well, I found it in my email today. It was sent 7/11.
July 30, 2019 at 5:12 am #1575168hello,
I just start to use a forum and as I am not used to these things, can I ask you if the kind of messages/links hereunder are safe ? For exemple I received : “marie cooper sent you a new message: “HELLO” Go to your account to read the message and reply: https://windstoneeditions.com/members/anne-mesureur/messages/view/215627/” and also “Kayla Noyes sent you a new message: “Hello” Go to your account to read the message and reply: https://windstoneeditions.com/members/anne-mesureur/messages/view/217438/”. I didn’t followed the links and found nothing to read in the message zone of my account.
Many thanks for your help 🙂AnneM
July 30, 2019 at 5:54 am #1575170Anne, the emails you get from Windstone are notifications that you received a private message here. The links in those emails are safe to click – they just bring you to your private messages here. BUT the links in a private message can be unsafe. The two PMs you listed were spam and it would have been unsafe to click the links in them. You found nothing to read here because Windstone had already deleted all of them. Windstone has protections to block spam PMs, but sometimes some sneak past them. Windstone deletes the offending messages as soon as someone reports them, but the email notifications have already gone out and cannot be deleted by Windstone.
My keyboard is broken. I keep pressing "Escape", but I'm still here.
July 30, 2019 at 6:03 am #1575172Those two ‘Hello’ messages you happened to receive were from two Spammers that had already been disabled and removed by Clay (Windstone’s WebMaster) before you checked your Messages section.
We do get Spammers sometimes. It’s not a problem to view the messages, just don’t click any links within the messages… especially from anyone that says they are Military, lonely, want to make ‘friends’ etc. and to email them at “blah blah blah” email address. THOSE links would probably be phishing scams or worst! If you do see one of these Spammer messages – DELETE the PM from your Messages section.
Some Spammers in the past have also employed the Forum Threads to open a new Forum Topic that reads like an Advertisement for watches, services, etc. – those too may include website or email links. Again, DO NOT CLICK On Any links within these types of Forum Thread posts!
Most of us will sometimes embed links within our posts or PM’s to another, but always know who you are PM’ing back and if you did not solicit the message or if it sounds ‘off’ be safe and delete.
IN SEARCH OF MY NEXT GRAILS:
Black Peacock & Butternut Adult Poads
Kickstarter 'Rainbow Tiger' Bantam Dragon*~*~*~* Ela_Hara: The DragonKeeper *~*~*~*
*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comJuly 30, 2019 at 11:40 am #1575225Many thanks to you two for your quick answers and help 😉
AnneM
August 10, 2019 at 5:36 am #1576674Another SPAM message from Kayla Noyes
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
August 10, 2019 at 5:59 am #1576675Yes I got the one from Noyes Kayla as well this morning. I sent a message to Susie and Jennifer.
Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"August 10, 2019 at 8:46 am #1576689I got one from Noyes Kayla today too! Wasn’t sure how to report them, though. Thank you for sending the alert, Stormdancer!!
August 10, 2019 at 9:29 am #1576693Me too
August 10, 2019 at 11:09 am #1576708Yes same for me, another message from Kayla Noyes today.
AnneM
August 12, 2019 at 10:20 am #1576847We apologize, we’ve had more SPAM messages from Kayla Noyes. The spammer has been blocked. If you got a message just delete it – don’t follow any links (I don’t think they will work anyway). Rest assured the the Spammer does not have your personal email address – the message you received in your email is from our website telling you that you have a message in your Windstone Private Messages. We are doing out best to keep them out but as there is nothing that prevents real people from creating accounts for robots to send spam from, its difficult. Pretty much if you see a message that begins “Hello” or “Hello Dear” from someone you do not know, be suspicious, don’t open any links, and check the forum to see if anyone else has remarked about it.
Thank you to everyone who emailed us to alert us – that helps us block them quickly.March 3, 2020 at 7:43 am #1605453FYI – another SPAMMER is at it again!
Newest Spammer on the block is: Render257 aka: Render Morgan
BLOCK THIS USER AND DELETE ANY PM MESSAGES YOU RECEIVE!!!
I’ve already alerted Clay to remove the Miscreant! :/IN SEARCH OF MY NEXT GRAILS:
Black Peacock & Butternut Adult Poads
Kickstarter 'Rainbow Tiger' Bantam Dragon*~*~*~* Ela_Hara: The DragonKeeper *~*~*~*
*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comApril 5, 2020 at 10:17 pm #1608033Looks like the user is already removed but if you also got messages from Spammer “abino”, please do not follow any links.
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