SPAM Scam Alert (UPDATED)
 

We have recently been made aware of an email scammer who seems to have figured out some member email addresses (which are set so that they can ONLY be viewed by FULL members - no newbies or guests are allowed to see them). I assure you that we are doing everything we can to ensure our members's safety and security and urge you to report any emails to your email client that you may receive from 'Juliet' as spam or phishing. Do not reply to these emails!!

If you are concerned about your privacy, feel free to change your email settings in the User CP under Edit Options. If you uncheck the box that says 'Receive Email from Other Members' your email address will be completely hidden from view. However, it appears this particular spammer is merely guessing at email addresses, putting usernames in front of the popular email clients so this may not alleviate all unwanted email if your username (like mine) happens to be the first part of your email address.

Again, we are aware of this issue and will do what we can to prevent this in the future, but unfortunately this is just one of those things that even the best security measures can't always prevent. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience because I know how you feel (apparently Juliet doesn't realize I'm a happily married female :lol:).


~The SnitchSeeker Site Elves (aka Technical Support Team)



Note: This particular spammer doesn't seem to have taken addresses from profiles. I just merely pointed out that you could ensure that your email address is not viewable to other members (it is NEVER viewable to non-members, newbies, suspended, or banned members) if you so wished. SnitchSeeker.com will NEVER EVER use your email address for anything other than contacting you about site-related things and will NEVER EVER give your email addresses out to anyone for any reason and we take steps to ensure your privacy is secured, though given the nature of the internet we cannot guarantee it.

UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that if you have your email addresses listed in your profile for IM information that might have led you to receiving one of these emails, as well. I highly recommend you keep your contact information private and PM your IM usernames and addresses to those you wish to have it. :)

That's not cool that someone would do that...but I know you guys work very, very hard to take care of us. Thank you. :glomp:

I got an email like that too, I sent it through onto the junk mail and reported it like that

EDIT: I may take my email off here for awhile...[:/]

Eek! I got that email too!

I'm glad I didn't open it. I sent it to my junk mail and deleted it...:blink:

Thanks for the info, I was wondering about it. :glomp:

Thank you for posting this Kris and i hope my information helped you.

Yes, definitely report this to your ICP if you receive an e-mail like that and don't reply back. I know on AOL it's TOS, so forward it on to them (or whoever takes care of this sort of thing for your ICP).

I truly hope no one falls victim to this scam, and am shocked they would choose SS for this sort of thing. Thanks, Kris, for letting the members know! And thanks, Ross, for being on top of things!

Rawr! Go Site Elves! :glomp:



Although I can't believe anyone would fall for that e-mail, seriously. :xd:

*screech* ACK thanks!! ^______^

Actually, this particular scammer didn't get emails off profiles. pparently this is something happening on other sites and they are merely taking usernames and adding @hotmail or @yahoo etc to the end in the hopes of finding a live email address. My email happens to have my username before the @ of my email address so I got one as well. I've double checked our settings to ensure that the member list is not viewable to guests, but member names are viewable next to posts for everyone so, this particular spammer couldn't have necessarily been stopped (rather ingenius of them). However, should we find that this is a member of the site doing this then we will, of course, take appropriate disciplinary action (ie: automatic, permanent, ban).

:xd:

Dude, that was so disturbing to read. *shudders*

My email is nothing like my screen name so I'm just gonna run off and remove it. Fwaaank you. =]

PACHOW! :whip: Disciplinary action!

Thanks for the updates and clarifications. :yes:

BOOOOOOOOOO to spammers <_<

They'll never crack mine :evil: Hopefully they'll give up eventually. Thanks for the heads up Kris!

EEEP! I got one too! >_< Scary stuff I tell you - especially when coming from a site such as this one!

My email couldn't be more different from my email address though, so maybe you guys should look into members as well (no idea how...).

Thank you so much for protecting us though! *snuggles you*

:glomp: <-- you

:poke: <-- them. *bares teeth*

Yeah......that scammer.....actually, all spammer scammers are irritating. Ugh.

I haven't gotten any emails but go SS elves! :glomp: Kris and everyone is awesome. ^_^

Thanks guys, for letting us know. :glomp:

My emails are totally different from my username, so hopefully I won't get such an email.

Well ... my username and e-mail address are NOTHING alike and I have recieved one of these e-mails from the said "person." The e-mail got to meet my lovely e-mail delete button simply because I had no idea who the sender was (and that's where everything else from scary people I don't know go too).

But thank you for the update on that! ^_^

I don't know why anyone would WANT to spam...

It's a sad fact of the world that some people just have nothing better to do, sweetie. They figure 'why not? It'll get me some attention." And it sure has... they'd better hope that Kris doesn't catch them though. Not even the Incredible Hulk can beat her when it comes to SQUISHING POWAAAAH.

Ohh, I just checked my Hotmail account (I only use it for MSN and saw that email! Thankfully is in the Junk folder because I have my non contact emails sent to my junk folder. And She did it by using the MSN contact bit, since my hotmail account and my username have nothing in common.

Thank you for handling this, Kris!

Yeah, it seems there could have been a number of different ways this was done (neither my email address nor my msn address are viewable on my profile, though it is on the staff page, I think). We've got the technical team on this though and hopefully we'll be able to at least suss out the problem and ensure it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, this IS the internet and no security measures are foolproof. That's why we try to encourage safe internet practices on this site since we attempt to be family-friendly (and many of our staffers are parents which helps to ensure that). :)

My email and UN are quite different as well. Thank Merlin. That is sooo disappointing that people just decide to go do stuff like this. :/

Thanks for all the hard work tech team! <3

:hmm: I haven't become a victim yet, but maybe I'll go take my msn off my profile just to be safe.

Since the tactic of using my SS username wouldn't work for me, since it's nothing like my email (Actually, even the tactic of adding @hotmail, @ yahoo, etc. wouldn't work either.) And any emails from people I don't recognize go directly to spam anyway.