Spammers

Spam is the Internet equivalent of junk mail - email you didn't ask for, and probably don't want. Freegle members will often have their own spam filters to detect and remove spam.

With the introduction of Freegle Direct Version 3, filters intercept most spam.

Messages which might be spam appear in ModTools for review - Message>Review.

Instructions about how to treat these, and the legal framework are visible on the page, or if not, can be seen by clicking the Show help button.

Suspect email addresses can be reported in mod tools, using the Spammer button

Fuller details about possible SPAM Posts and people SPAMMING are below.

Possible SPAM Posts and people SPAMMING

Modtools Main Menu

Options when posts are displayed

Submitting Spammer reports

This is available for pending posts, approved posts and approved members. You may get a post from a new member offering one of the known scammer items. Also you may identify something from Chat or by some other source that the circumstances are highly suspect. e.g. “I have now moved to some_distant_location but courier fess to send it to you would not be expensive”. In that case you would submit a Spammer report using the white button that is part of the Modtools page.

Your report should include as much helpful evidence as possible. That report would then be reviewed and if it is considered that the person is a real scammer they would be added to the Confirmed Spammer List. Then they would be banned from all Freegle groups and warning messages sent to anyone who has had correspondence with the scammer. If new facts come to light which show it to be a false alarm then the person can be removed from the Confirmed Spammer List, but they would then have to re-join a Freegle group.

Dealing with less suspicious posts

Circumstances to use these buttons:

or

The coloured Spam button at the bottom of a post is NOT to be used to report a spammer. You may also see a Spam Message button. Again repeated Spam clicks for a member may result in the member being reported as a spammer. They are purely an option to deal with a doubtful post. Make your own decision depending on the content of the post as it may be a perfectly valid post. If a member has sent a SPAM post to your group, possibly because their account has been hacked, then you can separately advise them then delete the post using the standard SPAM button above which should be in every group’s Modtools modconfig.

Warnings contained in the main Modtools menu at the left

SpamAssassin Flagging a possible SPAM post

This would show in the main Modtools menu at the left:

Example of a post trapped by SpamAssassin:

Click “Not a spammer” if it is a valid post and the post will be moved to Pending.
“Report as a spammer” should not be used for isolated incidents on your group. If the post or member is a serious threat nationally then use this button and on the following screen give full reasons for your report. This will then be sent to a team who will review it for validity. If a trusted member has sent a SPAM post to your group, possibly because their account has been hacked or spoofed, then you can separately advise them then delete the post using the standard SPAM button which should be in every group’s Modtools modconfig.

System Flagging a possible SPAM post

Example of a post trapped due to worrying words:

Click “Spam” if it clearly contains spam. The post will just be deleted.
Click “Not Spam” if some wording has been used innocently. The post will be moved to Pending or Approved depending on the settings for that member.

System Flagging a possible SPAMMING member

This would show in the main Modtools menu at the left:

You will have these three options:

Make your own decision depending whether the person is known on your group as it may be a genuine member. The person may already have been reported for being a spammer, then this fact will be shown on the information that the system displays.
Clicking “Report as a spammer” should not be used for isolated incidents on your group. If the post or member is a serious threat nationally then use this button and on the following screen give full reasons for your report. This will then be sent to a team who will review it for validity.
Clicking “Not a spammer” moves them back into Pending or Approved as appropriate.
Click Whitelist if you are certain that the person is not a spammer. You will then be required to state the reason why this person should be whitelisted – i.e. they will no longer be highlighted as a possible spammer.

Possible SPAM Chat Reported by System

This will show in the Modtools menu at the left.

Actual SPAM messages will be easy to identify e.g. there may only be a link to a website. However there may be some content, such as a phone number or email address, in Chat between members which the system could highlight as suspicious. Look at the conversation then decide what action to take. Clicking on the Spam button above will let the system learn what constitutes SPAM. It will not issue a report about the sender in the way that the standard SPAM button in every group’s Modtools modconfig does.
"Not spam" means you don't think they are a spammer. If they join more groups you may see them again, so that if they actually are a spammer we'll get a chance to spot that, rather than lose the chance because early on someone thought they were OK.
"Release and whitelist" - the member is just whitelisted in the system so the post is OK to be sent out if they include the same information again.
The other buttons are self-explanatory.
If you suddenly get a lot of spam chat messages then they do not have to be flagged as Spam individually. They can all be deleted with the button at the bottom of them all.

Spammer details held by the system

Again in the Modtools menu at the left:

Confirmed - These are members who have been reported as spammers. These reports are reviewed before a member appears on this list. Once someone is on this list, they will automatically be removed from groups. If you think someone is on this list wrongly, you can request that they be removed using the button below.

Pending Add – These are members who have reported as spammers by a moderator. These reports will be reviewed to decide whether to add them to the spammer list. Please remember that people may not be spammers even if they are reported. For example: • Members may join many groups because they are over-enthusiastic or have relatives in different places. • Mail can be spoofed or accounts can be hacked - so a member can appear to send spam but not be a spammer. For someone to be added to the list they need to have clear intent to deliberately spam/scam, or be a massive multijoiner. Only a limited number of people have the ability to confirm or reject someone as a spammer.

Pending Remove - These are members who are on the spammer list but someone has asked for them to be removed.

Whitelisted - These are members who have been exempted from the spammer list. Generally they are people who have legitimate reasons to join many groups.

Links:

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• How To Deal With
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