thought I was missing out on all this SPAM. My first one - via A4A!
Letter Of Relationship .
FROM NNA ROBERTS
12 BP 1046 ABIDJAN.
COTE D'IVORIE.
Dearest one,
Permit me to inform you of my dee to go into business relationship with you , l got your name and contact through the internet here in Abidjan and I prayed over it and selected your name among other names due to the nature of my proposal,which requires a reputable and trustworthy person. Someone who will be kind and sincere to me. I am a memeber of www.allotments4all.co.uk
l am Mr Nna Roberts, the only son of late Mr and Mrs Nelson Roberts.My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan here, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, he was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their business meeting. My mother died on the 20th october 1988 and my father took me so special because l am motherless.
Before the death of my father on 29th november 2005 in a private hospital here in Abidjan, he secretly called me on his bedside,when I sat down to listen to him, he started crying, why? (1) He complained that I am too young to be managing my life with no one to take care of me,(2)That I have not finished my university education as he planned for me, he revealed to me that he has a sum of US$4.500.000.(FOUR MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) left in a security company here in Abidjan, that he used my name as the only Son for his next of kin in deposit of the funds.
He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisioned by his business associates , that l should seek for a GOD fearing foreign partner in a country of my choice where l will transfer this money and use it for proper investment purpose ,that I must finish my university education by the help of a business partner abroad,that he or she should help me obtain a resident permit in his or her country.
He also gave a standing instrution to the company that the deposit must be
transferred outside this country. According to my father,the money was deposited as art works to avoid attracting attention to the deposit.
I am now ready to do all these since my father my bread winner is no more. l am honourable seeking your assistance in the following ways.
(1) To serve as my guardian in your country while I will depend on your expert advise since l am a boy of 19 years.
(2) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country in order to further my university education and to secure a residential permit for me in your country.
Moreover, l am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your assistance in the transfer of this deposit to your country. Furthermore, you can indicate your option towards assisting me as l believed that this project would be concluded within seven days you signify interest to assist me by contacting the security company.
Hoping to hearing from you soon. May God bless you as you extend your helping hand to the needy.
Best wishes
NNA Roberts.
wow, are you going for it, rt..we've had lots of these, loads of people praying for us...or rather..for our money , congratulations ;D ;D ;D
I feel left out, I haven't had that one!
;D
if it was a 19 year old girl wanting me as a guardian with me expert "advise", i'd probably risk it.....what have I got to lose??
though I removed my email from the profile ages ago
Hello. I received one too!
Quote from: Rhubarb Thrasher on January 19, 2008, 08:12:12
thought I was missing out on all this SPAM. My first one - via A4A!
.........................
Best wishes
NNA Roberts.
Sorry to hear you are now a target for junk mail RT. I doubt if profiles are able to be seen by non-registered peeps so if this person has registered I wonder if Dan has a way of finding out who it is and remove them from the site.
I have my email on A4A hidden. ;) For those who haven't and want to do so, go into "Profile", then "Account Related Settings" and tick the box "Hide email address from public".
RT, your email is still showing on your Profile. Toadflax, yours is there too. Saddad has his hidden same as myself.
i'm now looking forward to getting some of the silly ones - like the poor Nigerian astronaut that's stranded in his space station when the money ran out. ;D Actually with that one the joke's on us- Nigeria really does have a space program
Looking at the list of "Users Logged in Today", I noticed that someone called Nnanna registered at 0454 hrs and was on for about ½ hour. Most of the other names I recognised.
Quote from: Toms Lottie on January 19, 2008, 10:46:16
I Have Got One
Yes, your email address is open to all. Please see my earlier post on how to hide your email address.
Quote from: Paulines7 on January 19, 2008, 10:06:52
Looking at the list of "Users Logged in Today", I noticed that someone called Nnanna registered at 0454 hrs and was on for about ½ hour. Most of the other names I recognised.
My money is on this person! Let's just hope people aren't daft enough to follow up on them. Don't even reply. Better yet, install Gmail...great spam catcher.
Ken.
http://www.419eater.com/
go on i dare someone...
I got one, and thanks Paulines7, have followed your instructions and hidden email address.
valmarg
.
Reminds me of the mistake by Jeremy Clarkson. Not quite the same but a warning to keep certain info. from the internet.
This would be so funny if there were not dopes out there daft enough to have a go.
Mmm Sean Connery stranded on a desert island with his laptop and a yearning for just one thing .........me !!
Mmm. I might be gone awhile, gotta put my e mail back on.
XX Jeannine
Maybe it's time for an A4A spring-clean. There's hundreds of members in the listing who have never ever posted. Like many other sites, A4A is open to visitors and some of them trawl sites looking for ady's.
There is, so far as I see it here, a 'fail-safe' in that you can remove your Eaddress from the public forum but add your Email to your profile which is only open to registered members. Registering on here requires an Email address and that's one way of tracking offenders.
Best bet is probably to hide/remove your Eaddress on any site you register with. Here on A4A there is the facility to contact other members via PM's, so if you need someones Eaddress you would need to request it in that way.
The best advice is to delete any dodgy Email you get. The subject box should give you an idea of content. If it doesn't...bin it!
With nearly six thousand members, I wonder how many aren't active.
OH is a member here but has not posted.
I've moved my pin thing in google map thing for location to somewhere in the Atlantic.
When the membership was about half of this I did compile some statistics about posting, single time posters, regulars etc. but to do it for 6.000 would take far too lomg amd be very boring. I think only about 10 percent of registered users actually post, if my memory serves me right.
I came to same conclusion a couple of months back, Eric. In the members section, clicking on 'Posts per person' shows a heck of a lot of registration without posts. Some go way back. Do they visit just for a look now and then? No tally of people just visiting.
Quote from: Multiveg on January 19, 2008, 14:21:54
With nearly six thousand members, I wonder how many aren't active.
OH is a member here but has not posted.
I've moved my pin thing in google map thing for location to somewhere in the Atlantic.
Mine is on my allotment rather than where i live :)
Quote from: kenkew on January 19, 2008, 13:51:12
Maybe it's time for an A4A spring-clean. There's hundreds of members in the listing who have never ever posted.
I wouldn't do that Ken, I run Nik Kershaw's official forum and at a guess 40% of our members have never posted and never will but around half of those visit once a week and the other half only visit when I do a mass mail letting them know Nik is doing something or other, at a guess most of the non posting members on here use the forum just for the info they can find.
One thing I do have from running my forum over the years is a huge list of email adds these spammers use which has cut our spam by over 90% if the Admin here wants to add them to the forums ban filters he's welcome to them.
You can check when a person last logged in. I've just clicked on a name in the upcoming birthdays - last logged in in 2005!
mine too
One reason I asked about a 'Spring-clean' was to see how people felt about it. Although some join, never to return, I suppose there are some who actually do visit to make notes on the current gardening 'Do's & Don'ts' and it's not really a problem having people not return. Removing them isn't going to solve anything and once registered, people can't actually un-register, so there name just sits there.
I was more thinking on the lines of trying to seperate those who join and run away as against those who join, copy addy's and pester members with spoof mail. I think today was a good example. I'm pretty certain who sent those spoofs to members. If that could be proven then that individual could be removed. It would mean him registering again and if his Email address could have been tagged, he could have been blocked.
Dan is aware of this problem and has on occasion put his World Wide Boxing gloves and his IT boots on to stomp on it. Can't catch all the villians, tho' eh?
Quote from: MickW on January 19, 2008, 15:30:50
One thing I do have from running my forum over the years is a huge list of email adds these spammers use which has cut our spam by over 90% if the Admin here wants to add them to the forums ban filters he's welcome to them.
I don't think the site has a big enough problem to go that far as yet, Mick, although Dan will know better than I do about that. Let's hope it stays at a low level.
Ta! Ken.
Now removed all my info and live on the moors in the middle of nowhere in the yorkshire dales. Not a building around as far as the eye can see. Sad state of affairs to go through to avoid getting some email. :(
Sounds like you live in my old house, KT... :)
i rarely post here, but read up at least once a week. i don't really know much about growing as i'm still a newbie! just a post from the other side.
Nice to hear from you G'.
Don't hold back from posting where you think fit. We're not a bad lot at heart... :) and don't worry that people won't help out with any sort of questions you have about growing almost anything. Even the oldies and long term gardeners here have questions! Many window-sill growers started here and are now looking for or have allotments!
Any questions you have, ask away.
Ken.
i've had my allotment for about 18 months, but i was 7 months pregnant when i got is so only really started working on it in the last 6-8 months or so. mainly clearing rubbish (well 4 skips so far, only another 4 to go!!)
How do I get rid of the map on my profile altogether?
Go to your profile then 'Forum Profile Information' left click on the red balloon to remove it, save the changes & the map should be gone.
Hi,
Remember people can only see your email address in your profile if you have allowed it, and they are logged in. Visitors can not see email addresses.
People do indeed look through forums tryng to find email addresses, I suppose it is no different to using a telephone book to find your physical address, hide your email address and you are ex-directory :)
With regards to the maps, I have mine at the allotment (don't go and have a look, it is a terrible state at the moment!). You could just have it on your town, it is quite interesting to see where members come from.
Cheers
Dan
Having a memory like a sieve I keep forgetting where I am, so I really appreciate the map. :D
I don't post often, so don't log-in when I come in for a little read, maybe I should. I do have my email hidden on here though which is good.
Makes you wonder about these people doesn't it.
Dan, is there a spot somewhere were we could see new members for maybe a week or two, rather than be just on the members list. I was very surprised to receive a seed request from someone I had not heard of, when I looked on the profile the person had joined 20 minutes earler and had made no posts,nor have they since by the way. I would be uncomfortable sending my address to someone in those circumsatnces , and I usually put a return address on seeds I send out.
A new members spot would also give us the chance to send them a welcoming message.
Just a thought.
XX Jeannine
spam started here..nationwide buiding society has a special relationship with us..even though we don't bank with them...morons ::) ;D
Quote from: Jeannine on January 20, 2008, 13:16:01
Dan, is there a spot somewhere were we could see new members for maybe a week or two, rather than be just on the members list. I was very surprised to receive a seed request from someone I had not heard of, when I looked on the profile the person had joined 20 minutes earler and had made no posts,nor have they since by the way. I would be uncomfortable sending my address to someone in those circumsatnces , and I usually put a return address on seeds I send out.
A new members spot would also give us the chance to send them a welcoming message.
Just a thought.
XX Jeannine
Seems you did exactly the right thing, Jeannine by checking him out. It's something we all should do if we get such mail.
Spoof mails belong in the bin. So just dump them! There's no such thing as a 100% secure web site unless you make it so difficult for people to join they simply don't bother.
This guy has wasted more our time on here than any damage his mail has done. Pointing the scam out once is fine to warn those who aren't so aware, but then I suggest after that, we just dump it and get on with A4A'ing. No doubt he's laughing his socks off at the time we're all spending on this.
Ken.
Thanks for the alert re email addresses. Like many others, I had mine open to the public, now changed.
We have such a good forum community that I would hate spammers and other bad users to spoil it for us.
I took mine off ages ago and like Dan and Cam my balloons pointing at my allotment, might go and check out Dans lottie just to see how bad it is. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Eerrmm....Not a good idea, unless you have a JCB.
He's stuck at the back of the shed. Can't get his wellies free of the mud. I have to post sarnies to him every other day..... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quotemy balloons pointing at my allotment
You can get an ointment for that, mate.
:o
A good spam filter or junk folder should stop almost all spam/phishing emails. I'm on yahoo and as basic as it is, nothing gets through that I don't want to - and I don't even have any filters set up on it.
At the end of the day, once you've had an unwelcome email, it only takes 30 seconds to place that address into the filter or block feature doesn't it?
I use Gmail....not only has it a spam catcher, you can delete the sender for ever. Best E-provider I've used and I've used quite a lot since the WWW came about.