Scammers on the site
We continually have people attempting to join Senior Chatters who are here not for chat and friendship but they have an ulterior motive. If you get a message from someone who begins with “Hello, my name is XXXXXX and I want to be your friend”, be wary. Here is a typical message from scammers:
Hello,
My name is XXXXXXXXXXX, I would like to be your friend, please reply me to my private email address (**********@**********.com), so that i can introduce myself to you.i also have some thing very important to tell you
PLEASE CONTACT ME TO MY PRIVATE EMAIL
(**********@**********.com)
,I’m Waiting to read from you
XXXXX
In reality they are phishing, trying to get your email address and personal information. Once they have your email address, it puts you at risk of being hacked or of receiving a virus.
Please beware of these predators. We have them attempt to join many many times a day and we do our best to have them removed as soon as possible by admins, but sometimes they are here long enough to spread their message to many many members.
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I got one yesterday merryjay? I have had three in the last two weeks!. I do what admin tells us to do..report them and delete. Well, to be honest with you i didnt report them becouse i deleted them before the name registered in my brain. 🙁
Yes, please report with as much info as available – they will be dealt with as soon as possible .
It was pointed out to me that many members don’t know how to report suspected scammers. Basically there are 2 ways. Click on HELP in the menu bar and then click on SCAMMER WATCH, or hover you mouse over the suspected scammer’s picture until the profile pops up. Then scroll to the bottom of the profile to REPORT MEMBER. The Scammer Watch window will then pop up. Please include as much information as possible. These scammer reports trigger auto emails to the admins and they will respond as soon as possible.
Thanks for helping us to keep the site safe.
Thank you Merry. You do a wonderful job in help making us all feel better. You also make it more understandable for us who are computer challenged.!! I am one of those chatters….lol
Passy, if we all work together we can keep Senior Chatters the fun place to be, and keep it safe from Scammers and predators.
Hi merryjay.
I have had one of these today and exactly as u describe i removed it but never sure what is going on. thanks Steve
Woodsie, this is the basic script for a gang of scammers. Just be careful and try to remember to report it. Thanks and have fun chatting.
Thank you merry, good blog xxx
Thank you for the warning Merry x
Thank you for the information Merryjay, it hasn’t happened to me yet, but now I know what to do if it does, your blog is much appreciated.
Wow, thank you for the information, Merryjay. I had no idea. I will heed your warning and follow your advice, if and when it happens to me. Just to be safe, I just changed my password, in my email. I’m not paranoid, I’m . . . prudent! LOL! Bright Blessings, Faerie
faerie, these scammers are not hackers so your password should be safe, but it never hurts to change it occasionally. These guys are usually trying to scam people out of money by befriending them and then either offer some kind of deal where you send them some money in expectation of getting even more money back. Or they will feed you a sob story about how they need money for medical reasons or some other fantasy tale. We try to stay on top of it and keep them off the site, but in the short time they are usually here, they can contact many many members. We just want members to be aware of their tactics. Just be sure you know who you are talking to and be extra careful about sharing any personal information. Happy Chatting!
MJ