Spammer/scammer getting forum email addresses

ChrisCst22

ChrisCst22

New Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2012
Messages
297
Just a heads up folks. This morning I received this email:

"
chriscst22,

Zoppy has sent you a new personal message entitled "THANK YOU!".

You can read this personal message by following the link below:

http://www.prsforums.com/forums/index.<random code ive removed so no one clicks it>


Regards,

The PRS Guitar Forums team.
http://www.prsforums.com/forums/index.php"

When I logged into the site here, there is no email. I tried searching for "Zoppy" and came up with nothing. I won't open the link, I'm flagging the email. Looks like someone has obtained personel email addresses through this site.
 
Unless they successfully hacked the database your email address would not be available publically. I can't tell for sure without seeing the rest of that URL but based on what you posted it looks like it is a standard "you have a new private message" message that you get from the forum software. When they banned/deleted the account it was probably set to remove all posts by that account which would include private messages. This would be why there was nothing in your inbox when you looked.
 
The notification you got does NOT mean the user "Zoppy" or any other forum member has access to your personal email.

The forum sends a notification when someone sends you a personal or private message within the forum system.

The proof is that the link you received directs you to a webpage within the forum system, not an outside link.

Your outside emai has not been compromised?

Edit: looks like the message was not generated on this forum, but on the other PRS forum.

Nevermind...
 
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rugerpc said:
The notification you got does NOT mean the user "Zoppy" or any other forum member has access to your personal email.

The forum sends a notification when someone sends you a personal or private message within the forum system.

The proof is that the link you received directs you to a webpage within the forum system, not an outside link.

Your outside emai has not been compromised.
Click to expand...

That is not always true but in this came I suspect it is. In an HTML email you can have the text say anything you want and the hyperlink be completely different. Just like when a website has a hyperlink that says "click here". Also, in all the code at the end you can mask the real target if the site has an open redirect on it. ***PRS does not appear to have this issue*** but many other sites do. Look for something like http://www.commerceflow.com/redir?url=www.google.com in a link... There are other ways to do it too. The safest bet is to always navigate to the site rather than clicking any links at all in your email, especially from unsolicited emails!

This has been your friendly security lesson of the day... Now, if I could get the idiot developers at work to listen to this advice I wouldn't be so stressed out all the time...
 
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Edit: looks like the message was not generated on this forum, but on the other PRS forum.

Nevermind...
 
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FYI I received the same email in the prsforums.com mail this morning, but not on this site...
 
GTRMAV said:
FYI I received the same email in the prsforums.com mail this morning, but not on this site...
Click to expand...


Can you get a copy of that email to James?

Edit: looks like the message was not generated on this forum, but on the other PRS forum.

Nevermind...
 
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ChrisCst22, GtrMav and kes7u, are your settings set to allow other forum members to email you? (see above)

Edit: looks like the message was not generated on this forum, but on the other PRS forum.

Nevermind...
 
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rugerpc said:
ChrisCst22, GtrMav and kes7u, are your settings set to allow other forum members to email you? (see above)
Click to expand...

Mine has already been set to only receive email from admins. Again, though, this was an 'OTHER'forum issue from the start.
 
With all the spam trouble we have been having, I didn't even think about it being that the OP's email came from that other forum...

Edits due above...
 
BTW, you do a pretty good Emily Litella impression!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I didn't even realize it was from a different forum. I thought the old forum was turned into this forum...Oh wait that was birds and moons! haha Man my memory is absolutely horrible. This is the only forum I visit these days so I assumed it was from here.

Good looking out though guys, thanks.
 
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