[River]

I got this email (portion copied below) today. Either Myfastgti has been hacked or they have sold their registration info or email list. Either way, I'm pissed. The amount of spam I've been receiving lately has gone way up, and now I think I know why. Here's a brief portion of this typical scam letter (usually referred to as the Nigerian scam):

Letter of Relationship and Establishment Aid.
From : Wilfred Coulibaly
Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire West Africa
Tel+22507924282

Attention: Respectful
Greetings and How are you Dear Friend.I am Wilfred Coulibaly from Ivory Coast in West Africa.I am a members of www.myfastgti.com <http://www.myfastgti.com/> that is where i got your contact email address,I would like you to Please permit me to apply through this medium for your co-operation and to secure an opportunity to invest and do joint relationship establishment with you in your country. I have a substantial capital which I honourably Inherited from my late father Chief

blah blah blah. Come on Myfastgti, what's up with the site info? If you're not secure or are selling info, I'm outta here!

River

 

[nitroburn]

Hi River,

It is neither that they are not secure or that they sold the list. View one of your posts, see the envelope icon under your name (under Posts: ), it has your email as plain-text. "mailto:[email protected]"

So from that, the scam bots index this site, find your email address and send you email as if it was coming from MyFastGTI.com

Not much the owners can do other then remove the email links and/or use a javascript solution.

 

[nitroburn]

I think it is default to hide your email, so somehow you must have selected to expose your email to the public.

Goto PROFILE then click on the left hand side "Account Related Settings" then check the box to hide your email and save the changes. Now you won't have your email address being given to email spiders.

 

[Fast Freddie]

This has been a problem with just about all forums and websites for the past year. Most actually is from search engines ignoring robot.txt files and scraping the site. Then the hackers become an actual member and using that information, they send spam that looks like it came from the site you're a member of.

I would never sell or give your information to anyone. I myself have gotten spam that seems to come from vwvortex.com, odyclub.com ridgelineownersclub.com, vwfixx.com and tons more, but I know it really doesn't. Until someone can come up with a way to stop spammers for good, unfortunately, we'll probably have to live with it.

Most spam comes from 2 sources, countries with little regulation on the internet, i.e. china, Nigeria, and many 3rd world countries and spammers using wifi from motels and cafes. By moving around, it makes it impossible to ban their IP or report them.

I've implemented some more blocks and adjusted spam assassin to try to stop the problem. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.

Fast Freddie aka Ken Nix Founder/ Admin / Owner MYFASTGTI.com

 

[Fast Freddie]

I think it is default to hide your email, so somehow you must have selected to expose your email to the public.

Goto PROFILE then click on the left hand side "Account Related Settings" then check the box to hide your email and save the changes. Now you won't have your email address being given to email spiders.

You're right nitroburn, his email is not hidden, so he must have ticked it by accident. River, you need to go to your profile settings and tick "do not show email to public"

I can not do this for you without changing your password.

I am a members of www.myfastgti.com <http://www.myfastgti.com/> that is where i got your contact email address,

If you notice this part, it does not say the mail came from MFG, but that they got your email address from MFG where you made it public. Again, I'm sorry this happened, but it is your preference to make your email public.

I do everything possible to prevent these type of problems. I very rarely send email to members. I will never ask you for your password. If anyone else has received any suspicious email from MFG, please contact me asap.

Thanks,

FF

 

[River]

My bad. I've changed the setting, don't know what I could have been thinking when I registered, but as you can see, my other post was also my first post ever, so someone (or bot) had to be reviewing member profiles, not just posts. I do appreciate the responses, and believe Freddie when he says he doesn't sell our info. Spammers suck.

BTW, I've never posted before because my GTI is a stock 4 door with package #1, nothing compared to what I've seen here. I do love it though! After 10 years of minivans, it's a dream come true.

River

 

[Thalo]

Every GTI is special.

Shit, I just posted this to check and I've got my e-mail public too. Oh well, I get so much spam it doesn't even matter anymore.

 

[Dragon]

River- if it's any consolation, if you have some time check out this website: http://www.419eater.com/

Read their hall of shame... They counter-scam the scammers ;D

 

[Fast Freddie]

My bad. I've changed the setting, don't know what I could have been thinking when I registered, but as you can see, my other post was also my first post ever, so someone (or bot) had to be reviewing member profiles, not just posts. I do appreciate the responses, and believe Freddie when he says he doesn't sell our info. Spammers suck.

BTW, I've never posted before because my GTI is a stock 4 door with package #1, nothing compared to what I've seen here. I do love it though! After 10 years of minivans, it's a dream come true.

River

Hey, don't ever think you have to have a modded GTI or even a VW to post. No one will pass judgement on you here. If they do, they're gonna have to answer to me. Jump in, and let us know about you and your GTI, and BTW, :WELCOME6: You've busted your cherry so there's no turning back now. ??? And yea, spammers will troll the forums and other websites that you have your email address on looking for emails. People will respond more if they think the email is from someone they associate with.
ff

 

[Fast Freddie]

River- if it's any consolation, if you have some time check out this website: http://www.419eater.com/

Read their hall of shame... They counter-scam the scammers ;D

Amish order of the weasel? [fish] [fish] [fish] [fish] [fish]

 

[Dragon]

River- if it's any consolation, if you have some time check out this website: http://www.419eater.com/

Read their hall of shame... They counter-scam the scammers ;D

Amish order of the weasel? [fish] [fish] [fish] [fish] [fish]

I'm Father George Carlin of the Church of Bread and Wine... >

 

[Thalo]

My bad. I've changed the setting, don't know what I could have been thinking when I registered, but as you can see, my other post was also my first post ever, so someone (or bot) had to be reviewing member profiles, not just posts. I do appreciate the responses, and believe Freddie when he says he doesn't sell our info. Spammers suck.

BTW, I've never posted before because my GTI is a stock 4 door with package #1, nothing compared to what I've seen here. I do love it though! After 10 years of minivans, it's a dream come true.

River

Hey, don't ever think you have to have a modded GTI or even a VW to post. No one will pass judgement on you here. If they do, they're gonna have to answer to me. Jump in, and let us know about you and your GTI, and BTW, :WELCOME6: You've busted your cherry so there's no turning back now. ??? And yea, spammers will troll the forums and other websites that you have your email address on looking for emails. People will respond more if they think the email is from someone they associate with.
ff

In all fairness though Freddie, we can make fun of this douchebag's Jetta-ized GTI, can't we?

 

[kryptonkid07]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA! [party1]

 

[Thalo]

River- if it's any consolation, if you have some time check out this website: http://www.419eater.com/

Read their hall of shame... They counter-scam the scammers ;D

I read through a couple of their scams, fucking awesome! The one titled "Busted" is three pages long but well worth the read. He starts out getting an e-mail from someone claiming to be dying of some disease, then when the anti-scammer replies back that he can't help him but he's looking for art submissions for a national art scholarship the scammer bites. The scammer gets a bust carved of the anti-scammers head and sends to him. Long story short (you have to read for all the details), the story involves, tree squirrels, mural painting, amateur reproduction of Monty Python sketches, an eventually a police investigation.

 

[VWredrocket07]

River, right when I read this, I checked my email and low and behold. Mr. West Africa sent me one too. something about his father dying in the conflicts over there and that I'm the only one he can turn to and blah blah blah. I guess it's time to hide my email address. [suicide]

 

[Thalo]

Reply to him and string him along!

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm