READ ME! Spam bots and banned accounts

chaoticshelly
chaoticshelly Posts: 0 Arc User
edited December 2012 in General Discussion
Hi everyone,

With the recent influx in spam bots advertising and spamming the forums, I've noticed several accounts used to spamming the forums are in fact accounts that have been compromised by an outside source.

If your forum account was recently perma-banned, please let me know via a pm and pm only as we don't allow bans to be discussed on the forums. I will try to gather a list of the accounts that were banned for spamming the forums and see what can be done in order to help the account owners.

In the meantime, please download malwarbytes or any other software made to scan and find keyloggers and other virus and malicious softwares on your computer to determine if your account was compromised by one, and remove it.

If you can still log into your account but can't post on the forums, please - and only after you've removed any malicious softwares from your machine - change the password.

This is not an official PWE message, but my own attempt to assist forum members, I'm not a GM and cannot ban or unban you.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Shelly

09/02/12 UPDATE:

Please refrain from clicking any links posted by the spam bots. Your account may end up getting compromised/banned by doing so.

08/30/12 UPDATE:

Those that messaged me about their forum accounts being wrongfully banned for being spam bots were taken care of by the team. If you still have an issue, please let me know.
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Post edited by chaoticshelly on
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Comments

  • Subtraction - Harshlands
    Subtraction - Harshlands Posts: 690 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    dayum bots
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "Ewa Sonnet has the best pair of jugs ever. Nothing else compares." - Eoria.
    HE'S OVERALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE CLASS IS LEGIT.
  • VenusArmani - Dreamweaver
    VenusArmani - Dreamweaver Posts: 6,009 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    This is a pity. :\
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Thanks Silvy for the superb sig <3

    VenusArmani's word of the moment: Expand your Vocabulary, Expand your horizons!
    pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=17992481&postcount=189
    Pusillanimous:
    1) lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted
    2) Proceeding from or indicating a cowardly spirit
  • Sirrobert - Dreamweaver
    Sirrobert - Dreamweaver Posts: 3,395 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Nice initiative shelly, this really is getting out of hand indeed
    I would advise a stickey though (asuming you can do that), or this could get burried way to fast
    9 out of 10 voices in my head say I'm not crazy... the 10th is singing the music of tetris
  • FatherTed - Dreamweaver
    FatherTed - Dreamweaver Posts: 3,723 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Sirrobert - Dreamweaver wrote: »
    Nice initiative shelly, this really is getting out of hand indeed
    I would advise a stickey though (asuming you can do that), or this could get burried way to fast

    Especially as the new post button currently brings up a wall of such spam threads.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Thanks for the sig Ophida :3
  • chaoticshelly
    chaoticshelly Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I can sticky it, but it would be frowned upon as only official announcements should be stickied in the GD. I can sticky it anywhere else, but being as it would be ignored in the tech support forum, or any other forum that could be pointless.
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  • Sirrobert - Dreamweaver
    Sirrobert - Dreamweaver Posts: 3,395 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    ChaoticShelly wrote: »
    I can sticky it, but it would be frowned upon as only official announcements should be stickied in the GD. I can sticky it anywhere else, but being as it would be ignored in the tech support forum, or any other forum that could be pointless.

    Frowned upon or not, this is something that shoudln't get burried under spam
    9 out of 10 voices in my head say I'm not crazy... the 10th is singing the music of tetris
  • Irca - Harshlands
    Irca - Harshlands Posts: 186 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump For Shelly
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Ajiuo - Harshlands
    Ajiuo - Harshlands Posts: 708 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    BUMP FOR STICKY. atleast you're trying to get something done, who gives a rats behind if you get frowned upon. I dont see a sticky anywhere from offical GMs talking about this
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    ❤ No more PWI for me~ ❤
    ❝ＷＨＡＴＩＦＴＨＥＳＴＯＲＭＥＮＤＳＡＮＤＩＤＯＮＴＳＥＥＹＯＵ❞
  • Sneaker - Dreamweaver
    Sneaker - Dreamweaver Posts: 125 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump**
    Sneaker 105 sage sin

    "Memory is the guardian of all things"

    Cicero
  • Berserker_ - Dreamweaver
    Berserker_ - Dreamweaver Posts: 366 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    stickybump
    [SIGPIC]www.spades.tw[/SIGPIC]
    b:cute
  • Phoenix_Eye - Heavens Tear
    Phoenix_Eye - Heavens Tear Posts: 1,681 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Shelly for GM
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    <--- MALE Veno ..... Moved to G W 2 or maybe not completely , don't know ...... PW addiction
    {That TT xbow chain is one that describes someone's bowel movements after having too much spicy food. A loud **** (Thundercrack), then a burning sensation (Flash Fire), followed by an explosion of multi-colored poo-confetti (Blinding Radiance). Excellent...} By Quilue
  • VenusArmani - Dreamweaver
    VenusArmani - Dreamweaver Posts: 6,009 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for Shelly's thread being stickied. C'mon GMs this issue is important to the PWI forums, give her an exception just this once and let her sticky it.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Thanks Silvy for the superb sig <3

    VenusArmani's word of the moment: Expand your Vocabulary, Expand your horizons!
    pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=17992481&postcount=189
    Pusillanimous:
    1) lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted
    2) Proceeding from or indicating a cowardly spirit
  • XScootaloo - Dreamweaver
    XScootaloo - Dreamweaver Posts: 234 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    orbital friendship bump.
    With the living avatars of friendship by your side and the orbital friendship cannon at your back, look the wraiths in there soulless eyes and ask them. "will you accept my friendship undead scum?"

    [sigpic][/sigpic]
  • Annalyse - Heavens Tear
    Annalyse - Heavens Tear Posts: 2,618 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump to make sure this thread stays at the top, if it isn't to be stickied. ^^
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Annalyse (veno) - Melosa (cleric) - Glynneth (archer) - Pickerel (sin)
    Florafang (wiz) - RubixCube (barb) - Laravell (psy) - Diviah (Mystic)
    Torchwood (BM) - Sataea (Seeker) - Wystera (Sin) - Allissere (SB)

    Looking for a mature faction on HT? pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=760842
  • Grelda - Dreamweaver
    Grelda - Dreamweaver Posts: 17 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for Shelly. :3
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Bubbles - Morai
    Bubbles - Morai Posts: 1,143 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I should note that this recent influx of bots is not just happening to the pwi forums.

    I am an admin for an unofficial forums for a game. I won't elaborate on what exactly I do there or what game it is but I have noticed a major increase in bots as well.
    Before this month, forum bots were quite rare but every once in a while they would show up and I would ban them. Some weeks ago, I noticed a major increase in accounts being registered, when I had checked to see why, I noticed these were all garbage accounts (account names were gibberish, emails were gibberish@mail.ru, and the ips were from russia or china).
    These bots were definitely not any potential players, the hits to the website were still average.

    I noticed that when this started happening to the forums I'm on, there was also a lot of spam here. The only difference is that my forums have a captcha for accounts under 5 posts, so there wasn't any spam on the forums. Somehow the bots were smart enough to evade captcha for registration, but not posting. The bots stopped registering on my forums when I added in security questions for them to answer, apparently they aren't smart enough to figure out acronyms.

    These bots are still visiting the forums, though they are unable to register due to the security questions.
    Most are from russia, some from china, and few in other places like Ukraine.
    It has never been our policy to ip ban entire countries.

    If PWE is smart enough, they should just enable captcha for accounts with <5 posts. I would assume vbulletin has some sort of feature for this (the forums I'm on is smf).
    That won't stop any potential takeovers of accounts but it will stop the spam.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • tweakz
    tweakz Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    ChaoticShelly wrote: »

    If your forum account was recently perma-banned, please let me know via a pm and pm only as we don't allow bans to be discussed on the forums.

    -lol? Glad my forum isn't vbulletin if it allows that.
    Be kind: Help the GMs to depopulate the servers.
  • GumyBear - Raging Tide
    GumyBear - Raging Tide Posts: 365 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for sticky b:thanks b:cute
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • crystalpink
    crystalpink Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for sticky
    (\__/)
    (O.o )
    ( > < )
    This is Bunny. Copy Bunny and this attached message into your signature to help him on his quest for world domination.
    Server: Abyss
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    Xfire username: crystalpink
  • TiaAi - Dreamweaver
    TiaAi - Dreamweaver Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for Shelly's non but should be stickied
  • Doom_Panda - Harshlands
    Doom_Panda - Harshlands Posts: 356 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump.
    Mains:
    Doom_Panda- 102/101/102 R9 3rd cast Demon Barb 40k HP.
    Dawnx - 100/85 Demon Cleric.
    PsychicTuna- 101/100 Sage Psychic.
    DawnMyst- 96 Demon Mystic.

    PANDAS FTW. AND I b:heart ARMA! b:avoid
  • Strife_son - Sanctuary
    Strife_son - Sanctuary Posts: 1,217 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Not sure if anyone has noticed, but I think we might have a problem with spam bots on the forums.
  • CroPsy - Heavens Tear
    CroPsy - Heavens Tear Posts: 476 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    We need more mods!
    Or at least active CM b:chuckle
  • TooLOVELY - Heavens Tear
    TooLOVELY - Heavens Tear Posts: 32 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump for Shelly, due to more incoming spam ):
    [SIGPIC]http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=9213154001&dateline=1296729821[/SIGPIC]
  • Vancore - Sanctuary
    Vancore - Sanctuary Posts: 262 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    oh how i hate spam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8huXkSaL7o

    and bump in the war against the foul substance
    Federation of United Casters Keeping Others From Failing And
    Positively Succeeding (Taken from SkogDyr of Lost City)
  • GumyBear - Raging Tide
    GumyBear - Raging Tide Posts: 365 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bumped again before it gets lost b:shocked
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Wickedbrew - Raging Tide
    Wickedbrew - Raging Tide Posts: 856 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    GumyBear - Raging Tide wrote: »
    Bumped again before it gets lost b:shocked

    It almost seems hopeless
    WeBeKinky Leader - lvl 10x psychic

    If you don't like my attitude, you should realize I don't care.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
  • Flare - Heavens Tear
    Flare - Heavens Tear Posts: 331 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    bump!b:angry
    100% Free to Play: +12 G16 axes, +12 G16 Fists,full +10ed armor
    You registered on: 2008-08-26 18:12:33
    Two Words: Old School
    Barbmaster: Literally - 23.6k hp BM, 19.8k hp BM, 33.3k hp Barb
    Shiniest BM/Barb aroundb:cute
    I check the PWI homepage for fail new updates/greed salesb:laugh
  • crystalpink
    crystalpink Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Bump to fight the bot spam
    (\__/)
    (O.o )
    ( > < )
    This is Bunny. Copy Bunny and this attached message into your signature to help him on his quest for world domination.
    Server: Abyss
    IGNs: Valentina (Magus), Amanita (Heretic), Avicenia (Slayer), Mirabillis (Champion), Solange (Berserker)
    Xfire username: crystalpink
  • Euthymius - Heavens Tear
    Euthymius - Heavens Tear Posts: 3,162 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Up you go!
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